《The First Legendary Beast Master》


 Chapter 1: No Second Chances

    <h4>Chapter 1: No Second Chances</h4>


    Today was the day of the tenth annual elite recruitment drive, and every graduating student at Lithium Mine Middle School was gathered in the gymnasium, waiting for the elites to arrive with the medicine that would decide their fate.


    The elites were the idols of the Golden Dragon nation, super humans with magical abilities that were born from the Divine Injection that the students were going to receive today.


    None of the children of the miners had ever seen one before, unless you counted the Mayor, who gave speeches a few times a year, and the excitement of having them right here in their school had been all that the students could talk about for months.


    So, one could imagine the disappointment they felt when it was not some famous idol, but a group of elites from the military that showed up to perform the injections.


    But although these weren''t the singers or movie stars that they all knew, it was no secret that these military elites were saviours that protected their nation against hostile armies and the ever present threat of magical beasts. The television in the caf¨¦ and the teachers at the school both told them so.


    While they had never seen an elite in person, they had seen magical beasts, and quite often. There were earth mice hiding all over the mining town, and the farmers nearby had been raising monstrous boars for generations.


    But until very recently, it was only the power of technology and the holy magic of the church''s High Priests and Priestesses that could keep the wild beasts at bay.


    However, when the more powerful monsters came, you hid, or you died.


    That was the way of life for the humans of the Golden Dragon nation, and indeed, most of the humans of the world.


    Karl fidgeted in his seat as he waited for the nurse toe and administer the serum shot.


    Today was the biggest day of a young student''s life, the day that they would be administered the Mana Awakening Serum, better known as the Divine Serum, and find out if they would gain the sort of abilities that could change their lives, or if they would be stuck asmon workers in a lithium mining town for the rest of their lives.


    This was also Karl''sst day at the government run school before he either started working full-time, or with any luck, left this decrepit mining town. If he waspatible with the Serum, he would be off to the Golden Divine Academy tonight, and ready to train his new skills as a defender of the Golden Dragon Nation.


    They had already sat through an hour of speeches by the Principal, reminding them of their duty to the nation, the glory of the Elites, and the importance of this chance that they were given. After all, they were just the children ofmon mine workers, dirt floor poor and unlikely to ever be anything else.


    Karl closed his eyes as the nurse rolled the cart with an open briefcase on it next to him, and then a violent pain shot up his arm and the world briefly went nk. Agony spread to every cell in his body, like he was being torn apart from the inside, and blood clogged his lungs, leaving him drowning while sitting in the metal folding chair of his school''s auditorium.


    This was wrong, the shot was only supposed to hurt as the needle poked you, not like this.


    As his consciousness faded, Karl realized that he was likely to be the one in a hundred, the rare fatal reaction to the shot which sorted out the defenders of the nation from themon people.


    But after a few seconds, his breathing cleared, the pain began to fade and his eyes fluttered open. A few seconds after that, Karl regained consciousness, with pain still coursing through every cell of his body. The nurse''s deep crimson eyes, a side effect of her own Serum injection, were staring directly back at him, and a slight smile was on her face.


    "There you are. I thought that we lost you there for a minute. It''s a good sign, zero casualties at this stop always means there is a powerful one in the bunch."


    The woman moved back, and Karl took in the smartly pressed green military uniform, pencil skirt and heels. It was all familiar, but all wrong. Did he lose some of his memories after the injection? Or was there something wrong with his eyes? On second thought, there was definitely something wrong with his eyes, the world was still a little blurry when he didn''t have someone to focus on.


    He flinched as his head began to pound again and a new wave of pain wracked his body, but the military woman with the strange red eyes seemed unconcerned as she stepped to a chubby young girl near him and took arge needle full of a glowing golden liquid out of the briefcase on her cart. Without a word of warning, she jabbed it into the girl''s arm, and the young girl directly fainted, then slowly recovered herposure.


    A quick nce down at his hands showed Karl a familiar bronze tan, but the scars and peeling skin from a childhood spent working in the mines after ss were mostly gone, reced with a deep red mark that looked like three long w marks running the length of his forearm.


    As he silently stared at the marks on his arm, they became more pronounced, and more realistic, as if the flesh had just been torn open, but the skin was smooth and undamaged under his fingers.


    After a few minutes, the sound of frightened children fell silent, and Karl looked up at the front of the room, where an officer in the formal military uniform was standing behind a podium, waiting patiently for the process to end.


    The red-eyed woman joined him, along with the six men in doctor''s coats, before he began to speak.


    "Thank you all for your cooperation. This year''s choosing trial haspleted, and those of you without the mark may return to your sses as usual.


    But for the rest of you, congrattions. You have been chosen as the prodigies of the Golden Dragon Nation''s new generation. The Blessed ones who will lead us to victory over our enemies, with the benefit of supernatural powers bestowed by the Divine Serum."


    Soldiers poured into the room, twice as many as there were children, and Karl began to panic. His mind still hadn''t quite grasped the fact that he was one of the fortunate ones yet, the children who werepatible with the artificially induced superpowers, the ones who would be mages, mighty warriors who could split a mountain apart, or even legendary healers that could even raise the dead.


    At first, the children resisted the idea that they would be grabbed and taken away by soldiers, especially the ones that had failed the choosing. The problem was that they actually needed the help to walk after the injections. The situation was only making Karl more confused, but he didn''t dare ask what was going on with his body, in case they determined that something had gone wrong with whatever the Serum did to the newly awakened elites and disposed of him.


    Or worse, sent him back to work in the mines.


    ording to the lessons that they had been taught in ss, he should be a mighty hero by now, not a below average sized teen boy wracked with pain and so weak that he couldn''t get out of his chair.


    "You look a little disoriented, kid. Just let us carry you, and you''ll be right as rain after a few days sleep. Just don''t forget to do the homework before we arrive." One of the soldiers who stepped up beside Karl instructed.


    That was how he found himself carried into a luxurious train car and ced in a private roomplete with its own desk and a call button on the wall that was marked with "Room Service".


    Unfortunately for his n to understand why this process was so painful, the moment that his head hit the pillow, Karl was asleep.


    How long he was out, he had no idea, but when he finally awoke, there was a stack of papers on the desk, along with a small textbook waiting for him to read it.


    [So, you''ve awakened your powers] was the title of the book, and the cartoonish cover made it clear that it was aimed at children.


    Not that he was old, he would only be fourteen this year, but being thest in his ss to hit puberty, his body was much younger looking than average. All he had going for him was a handsome face, and even that had gotten him beaten up a time or two.


    But now that he had the Divine Serum on his side, everything would change.


    Slowly, he opened the textbook to see what was inside.


    [So, you''ve awakened your powers. Congrattions, and wee to the upper echelon of society, the elite five percent that have been foundpatible with the awakening serum that will soon activate thetent magical powers in your bloodline, passed down from the time of our Nation''s founding by the Immortal Golden Dragon itself.


    Though you have all learned about it in ss, there are a few things that you don''t yet know. First, your powers won''t fully awaken until you use the first skill rted to your specialty. Just follow the guidelines in this text, and you will discover the primary awakening method for your abilities.


    Once you have finished that most basic task, you can begin the homework assignment.]


    Karl read the first page three times before he flipped the page. Next up was a listing of different marks that the awakened sses should have, and most of them seemed self-exnatory. Ice shards, fire, des, shields, paws, bows, and even an ornate fan were all detailed with page numbers that would lead the students to their awakening methods.


    But there was nothing that resembled w marks.


    So, instead he turned to the homework assignment, hoping for answers. But that was even more useless, it was all about the student''s abilities. How strong they were, the description, activation times, speed, energy usage, side effects. In short, he couldn''t fill it in at all.


    All the marks seemed so obvious as to what sort of abilities they represented. Even the red aura around a pair of axes was clearly a berserker in Karl''s mind, but the w marks didn''t make much sense.


    There was a simr one with an animal paw that was some sort of druid shaman, but nothing that was as simple, but confusing as his. Was he supposed to be a punching bag for monsters? That didn''t sound right at all, the book said that these marks represented superpowers.


    But after a few hours, there still wasn''t any clear answer as to what he was supposed to do. It was time to call for one of the soldiers and get some answers before the train reached its destination.

 Chapter 2: Into The Unknown

    <h4>Chapter 2: Into The Unknown</h4>


    While Karl was trying to find a way to awaken his powers, the guards were making the rounds, checking which new students were already awake. Those with the most powerful bodies always woke up first, but it had only been half a day of travel, and they weren''t expecting anything yet.


    "Sir, there is one active room already. Room 12a, a boy named Karl, no family name recorded." The patrol guard reported back to hismander in the front of the train.


    "What is his ss? Have we seen him activate any skills yet?" The General asked.


    "Nothing yet. He appears to have a nonstandard ss marking, three w marks." The guard replied.


    The General gestured for his assistants to go look for the details on this ss, but even after a few minutes had passed, there was still no news.


    Other markings in their records were close, but nothing exactly like that one was found.


    "Well, then he will have to awaken on his own. I hope that the boy has good luck or thick skin, he''s going to need it if he turns in a nk sheet for his assignment when he gets to the Academy."


    It wasn''t unheard of for a student to get the mark but fail to awaken their powers immediately, even if they followed the instructions. Some would have gotten a nonstandard starting skill, and some were just worthless at using the power that had been given to them.


    The General even recalled a case where a child had awakened the Mage ss, but didn''t have enough mana to cast any spells until nearly the end of the first semester. In the end, that student had proven to be a dismal failure, and had run away during a school outing to live the life of amoner without ever getting past the beginning of the first level of his training.


    That was the fate of many of the students who never learned to awaken their skills. Either because they werepletely unsuited to the abilities that they had received, or because they had a marking that no guidance could be issued for, like the three w marks boy in room 12a.


    The Divine Serum was a modern invention, created after extensive research of an astonishing archaeological find at a holy site under an ancient World Dragon Cathedral had detailed the inner workings of an ancient Divine Device known as the System Stones.


    The device itself was broken, but an initially unidentifiable power within it remained. Using the stones as a guide, and after decades of study, the Serum had been created to attune humans to that power and give the Golden Dragon Nation a chance to overtake the military might of their neighbours and change the fate of their citizens.


    What did it matter if the Ocean People had water Magic to guard their ships against the rockets and guns of the Golden Dragon fleet? Now, they had mages of their own. Even if the untamed monsters of the Beast Lands attacked, they had warriors and guardians with powerful skills that could cut down the most ferocious magical creatures with ease.


    That was the strategic value of the Divine Serum, and the reason that every student who was found to bepatible was taken in by the military and intensively trained in the duties and responsibilities that came with being a protector of the nation.


    Life wasn''t all military training and duty, though. If it were, there was an absolute certainty that the serumpatible and freshly empowered future guardians of the nation would rebel against authority and either turn traitor or stage a coup. So, they were treated as the legendary resources that they were, able to live in luxury all their lives on the condition that their power was enough to justify their sry.


    Once they could pass all the tests that the Golden Divine Academy ced before them, they would even receive official titles from the church, and a collection of legal and social benefits to match. Society had always belonged to the rich and powerful, but now the phrase had taken on an entirely different meaning.


    Karl was blissfully unaware of the topic of the observers'' conversations, and while they were discussing the likelihood that he might not be able to awaken his powers in time to keep up with his ssmates, Karl was preparing to ask the passing guards for advice.


    "Sir? Pardon me, but my skill marking doesn''t seem to be in the book. Could I be missing a page?" He asked as the uniformed guard passed by again.


    "Not in the book, eh? Tough luck there, son. The book only covers themon markings, the ones that ny percent of the new students get, but there are others possible. The injections are a mysterious divine force, and sometimes they give out results that nobody understands.


    The best I can tell you is to try everything, and whatever feels right probably is. If you''re lucky, you''ll awaken some powers before your sses start.


    Between me and you, you want to awaken those powers before you get to the Academy, the elite students are particr about the power rankings, and if you don''t, you''ll be starting school from the very bottom."


    "Thanks. But have you ever seen a marking like this?" Karl asked curiously.


    The Guard rolled up his sleeve and showed off the picture of a bear paw, the mark of a Druid, and ording to the guide, a nature magic user with an affinity for animals.


    "Since it''s a little like mine, and seems to involve animals, perhaps try things rted to either animals, or unarmedbat. There isn''t much you can do to attune with nature on a busy train, but the windows open a little if you need some fresh air.


    That''s what I had to do, I couldn''t awaken my powers without some attachment to nature. In fact, I didn''t awaken them on the train at all, they woke up as soon as I touched the trees on the way to the Academy Gates." The guard exined.


    "Thanks for the help." Karl called as the guard walked away. He didn''t seem to be big on talking, or perhaps he just didn''t want to get Karl''s hopes up. But the advice gave him something to go on.

 Chapter 3: The Early Bird

    <h4>Chapter 3: The Early Bird</h4>


    Karl flopped on his bed and looked out the window, to see if there was any sort of hint as to what his powers were supposed to be. The guard had a point, and the w marks definitely had to refer to some sort of animal. Humans didn''t leave marks like that.


    So, the first thing that he tried was focusing on adding ws to his hands.


    "w!"


    "Nope, yelling out skill names isn''t going to do it. How do the other sses activate their skills?" Karlined, unaware that the bored supervisors in the main car were watching through hidden cameras andughing at his antics.


    [Page 2, Magic sses


    Open the box of casting assistants under your bed using the thumb of your left hand, and extract the appropriate casting medium to begin attempting to activate your first spell.]


    "This doesn''t look like the sort of marking that a spell caster should have, next page."


    [Page 3, Combat sses


    Open the box of practice weapons under your bed with the index finger of your right hand and choose the most appropriate weapon for your desired skills.]


    That sounded more likely, so Karl knelt on the ground in front of the bed and unlocked the upper drawer, where he found a collection of simple weapons, and even some more obscure ones, like throwing knives, single-handed crossbows, and some sort of axe on a chain that looked like it would be more dangerous to the user than anyone else.


    He was, unfortunately, not yet among the physically gifted, so Karl picked a short sword from among the weapons while he cursed being thest in his ss to enjoy the full benefits of puberty.


    He had never actually held a sword before, but this one felt right, and Karl gave it a few tentative swings before trying for a more meaningful strike toward the door.


    [Pet Skills Not Avable. You must record a pet.]


    Karl blinked slowly as he worked to process the idea that hade to him as if imnted in his mind.


    It was a message directly into his thoughts, obviously from the effects of the marking, and now he somewhat knew what he needed to do. But how did he record a pet? It couldn''t be as simple as just writing it down, could it? Or maybe he needed to do something to memorize it?


    But first he would have to find some sort of animal. This was a shiny new military train, not thepany houses at the mines, there weren''t going to be any mice. If he had to touch the animal for the skill to activate, this could be much more difficult than he had been expecting.


    The obvious choice would be to try writing something down, and to see if that worked. Maybe there would be a book in the spell casting equipment.


    The drawer of tools slid open, and Karl stared in amusement at the wide variety of strange items held inside. He had absolutely zero clue about how these were supposed to be used. Some of them didn''t even look like they were anything special, like this silly snow globe with no base.


    What were they going to do with that? Sit and ponder their Orb?


    Karl picked the surprisingly heavy ss ball up in his hand, and suddenly, it lit up with a bright white light.


    [Taming Space viewing is not avable. Please Record A Pet.]


    At first, the message that appeared in his thoughts made no sense, but after a few seconds of focus, Karl could feel the change. In his mind, a vast emptiness was forming, giving him a sense of eternal power beyond anything he had ever imagined.


    "What about a Dragon? Can I have a Dragon?" Karl thought, trying to will one into existence in the taming space.


    Nothing. Of course, it wasn''t going to be that easy.


    Karl was deep in thought when someone touching his arm brought his attention back to the present.


    "Did you have any luck?" The patrolling guard asked, looking at the two open drawers, and the sword on the mattress.


    "Yes and no. I get the feeling that the de is the right choice, but I''mcking something to activate the skill. None of the other weapons I looked at are really appealing, though." Karl sighed.


    "Well, keep at it, you''ll find something that works for you soon. If you''ve already got an idea, you''re ahead of the others. Most of them are still asleep."


    "That''s something, at least. Maybe I can figure this out before we get to the Academy after all. I don''t suppose there is a kitchen here? I always think better on a full stomach." Karl asked hopefully.


    The guard smiled and gestured down the hall. "You woke up before the main kitchen for students was ready, but they won''tin if I lead you out of the room for a little something. You''ll learn soon that the food at the Golden Divine Academy is somewhat special,pared to what you are used to.


    The magical abilities that the elites use put a huge strain on the bodies of their users, and they need the energy of magical nts and beasts to recover quickly.


    Trust me, you''re in for a treat this time."


    They walked down the hall to another train car, past a half dozen rooms identical to the one Karl was in where other students from his ss were sleeping soundly, and into an empty dining room, past which a kitchen could be seen.


    "Just grab what you want and set it by the grill, I''ll get to you in a minute." The cook called from the freezer, not realizing that there was someone other than staff in the room.


    Karl didn''t mind though, it wasn''t like this was some fancy restaurant, it was more of amon area for the staff to serve themselves, with an actual cook on duty so that those who shouldn''t be allowed in a kitchen didn''t starve.


    Karl collected a pair of small steaks, a bowl of rice, a collection of assorted vegetables, anything that looked and smelled good. Then he noticed a small pile of oversized white eggs, and grabbed one to add it to the te.


    [Suitable Pet Target Found: hatching]


    The egg directly vanished from his hand, leaving Karl staring at the food in confusion and wondering just how long it would take for a monster egg to hatch in a magical void in his mind. Would it even hatch? The thoughts said so, but they weren''t giving him many details.


    A small straw nest slowly appeared in his mind, with a singlerge white egg inside. Over the course of the next few seconds, the Egg trembled, and then cracked open, shocking Karl into taking a step backward, though the sight was in his mind.


    He bumped into the guard, who thought he might be faint from hunger, and stabilized himself.


    "Sorry about that." Karl mumbled, while the guard gestured to the cook and led Karl to a table.


    "Don''t worry about it. Everyone is a bit off for the first few days after they wake up. Especially some of the magic sses, the power can really scramble their brains. Just focus on solving those strange markings of yours, and you''ll be fine in no time."


    The cook looked their way from behind his grill. "Having a hard time with a nonstandard marking? That''s a rough one. What does it look like?"


    "Three w marks on the right forearm. Big ones as well, not one of those wimpy little marks like the nerd sses get." The guardughed.


    The cook smiled and turned his hand toward Karl, who didn''t understand what they meant. They should be talking about a ss marking, but with the dozens of visible tattoos, Karl had no idea which one might be the one they were referring to.


    The cook tapped a small stick tattoo, and Karl realized that it was a mage type ss marking, a wand with sparkles at the end. It was on the top of his hand, and only a few centimetres long. If he hadn''t seen it in the book, he would have never noticed it at all.


    "There is a theory that the size of the tattoo has some rtionship to the talent of the recipient, but I don''t believe that''s right at all. Unless it''s not rted to the mentalpatibility, but just the ability itself. Have you got any clues about yours?" The line cook asked.


    "I felt right with a short sword in my hand, and the marking seems to have something to do with animals, so perhaps I''m a hunter of some sort, or a park ranger with bad luck." Karl joked.


    "Well, you''ll find out once you get your first ss skill to work. After that, you can just think the word [Status] and get an impression of how your magical abilities are growing. At least, that''s how it is for Mages." The cook informed him.

 Chapter 4: Windspeed Hawk

    <h4>Chapter 4: Windspeed Hawk</h4>


    While the cook got his meal ready, Karl closed his eyes and focused on what was happening in the strange spot in his mind. The result wasn''t words, but a somewhat detailed impression of the status of the bird. He had to trante it himself, but the actual information was pretty basic.


    [Beast Space Activated] 1 upant


    [Pet Number 1]


    [Name] Windspeed Hawk


    [Rank] Common


    [Connection] Low


    [Skills]


    [w] [Rend] [Super Vision]


    Karl felt an indescribable power flow into his body as the status waspleted, and a second round of physical impressions came to him.


    [Beast Master] Karl


    [Rank] Common


    [Bloodline] Human


    [Skills]


    [Beast Skill] Super Vision


    [Beast Attack Skill] Rend


    That didn''t quite mesh with the knowledge that he had from the booklet. Wasn''t he supposed to get some sort of instinctive guideline on how to progress? Maybe a little something about how he was doing in his training of the skills?


    "How does the power rating of the system work? Is there some sort of level, or grade, or something? How can we tell who has real power and who is like me, a newbie waiting on his skills?" He asked the two older men.


    Older being a rtive term, as they likely weren''t much more than twenty themselves, but older than him and finished their time at the Academy.


    "That''s the fun part. You don''t. Unless they directly tell you, or you have some special skill to sense energy fluctuations like some of the mages, you just have to go with your gut instinct or the public rankings.


    The problem with the Rankings is that they''re all subjective. You see, I''m a Wand ss Mage. I can use the Fire Element. If I was an Orb ss Mage, I could use two Elements at once, but that still doesn''t tell you anything about my power.


    The important part is that I never made it past level one in my spell book, I just don''t have the talent for it. But the Druid here, he describes his powers entirely differently."


    The guard nodded. "I''m a level six mortal grade Druid. My grade has never changed, but I can use much more powerful nature magic than when I was starting school, and I can even transform into a bear.


    Because everyone''s internal measurements are so wildly different, we judge everyone on the same scale as magical beasts. From Common to Mythical in Rank based on what they can defeat in battle, or how effective their healing and support skills arepared to beasts at the same level.


    So, while the cook is still considered to be in the Common Grade, I have made it one rank up to the Awakened Grade, and I can fight awakened Magical Beasts on my own. At least in limited numbers I can. But I was near the bottom of my ss, all the way through. My skills are varied, I can heal, fight, transform into a bear, even help nts grow, but I can''t do any of them worth a damn, so I''m stuck at the Awakened Grade."


    Karl nodded, understanding the concept if not the actual power level. Sometimes focusing on too many things would lead to you never getting good at anything. There was a guy like that in his neighbourhood, a jack of all trades. He could fix your car, your sink or your fridge, but only themon issues. If it were really broken, he would refer you to someone else.


    "I think that I follow the idea. How powerful were the top students of your ss?" He asked.


    "Have you heard of the Archmage Mia, that new idol spell caster? She was in our ss, and she reached the Awakened Rank in the first year, by the end of the second, she could defeat Ascended beasts with ease, and by the time we graduated, she was already a Commander Grade Mage.


    Then only a few years after that, she got some super secret resource from a mission, and it pushed her to the Royal Rank. That''s when everyone started calling her the Arch Mage, and the fame started to get to her head. She doesn''t answer our messages anymore, but we can still proudly say we went to school with someone super famous."


    Royal Grade monsters were a terrifying thought to Karl. Even one of them could level the mining town he grew up in without breaking a sweat. The strongest fighting force in town was likely the Mayor, a Commander Grade Warrior, and in Karl''s opinion, he was getting too old to be picking fights with monsters. Plus, the town didn''t have any sort of armed guard, other than the handful of police.


    If it came to a fight, the old Mayor would definitely not have a good time proving he still deserved his rank.


    Karl sat in silence for a moment as he ate, then smiled at the two senior graduates in front of him.


    "I suppose that I should get back to my room and see what I can do about awakening some sort of skill, then. If not, we will all be shut out of the ss idol''s phone list in the future."


    The cookughed. "I like the way you think, a bit of motivation goes a long way when you''re trying to find a reason to get through the most gruelling parts of your training."


    Karl thought a lot about that as he walked back to his room. The hardest part of any task was seeing it through to the end. It was easy at the start when you were motivated, but somewhere in the middle it became a dreadfully dull grind, with no reward in sight and very little progress to be made.


    That was when you would lose sight of the goal and start to ck. If you were lucky, you recovered from it, but if not, you would end up in trouble and behind schedule. Even the Mine Foreman had said the same thing to the students when he came to talk to them on career day.


    Not that anyone truly listened to him, with the prospect of the divine injectioning up only dayster. But the others, the ones who returned to ss afterwards, would be thinking more about it every day.


    Once the door to the room closed behind him, Karl stared out the window and tried a skill for himself.


    [Super Vision] grants the Beast Tamer the sight of the contracted Windspeed Hawk.


    The forests in the distance were suddenly crystal clear in his eyes, and everything in his peripheral vision became just as clear as what was right in front of him. A bit of movement caught his eye, and Karl noticed a Quill beast moving through the grasnd over a kilometre away.


    It was incredible, and the world was so much more vivid, with colours that he didn''t even have names for. As he recalled, not only could the Windspeed Hawk see into the Ultraviolet and Infrared spectrums, but they were also aplished nocturnal hunters, with excellent night vision as well.


    While [Rend] was the much coolerbat skill, [Super Vision] was incredibly overpowered in Karl''s estimation. Just being able to see where you were going at night would give him a great advantage over other students in the practical tests.


    Maybe the written tests as well. He could easily read other papers from across the room without moving his head or looking straight at them. Cheating on a written exam would be simple, if he weren''t already certain that none of the other students from the Mines were smart enough to cheat off.

 Chapter 5: Rend

    <h4>Chapter 5: Rend</h4>


    With the issue of activating his very first powers settled, Karl could finally rest easy for a few seconds. That was all it took for him to see the homework assignment on the table and realize that there was still a lot for him to do before they reached the Academy.


    ''Alright, let''s get this done in advance, and then I can rx.'' His silent motivational speech had very little effect, but Karl sat down with a pen and the homework assignment in front of him.


    Name, Karl. Age, Fourteen. Skill Name:


    It only had one spot for a skill name, and that made him assume that it was normal for a newly awakened student to only have one skill. But which should he put in there? Beast Taming, Super Vision or Rend? This homework would be posted for the ss, he was certain, so he didn''t want to give away the extent of his abilities to the other students and be the target of other students'' envy before he could defend himself.


    Plus, the contracted pet might be a magical beast, the Windspeed Hawk, but it was still a gosling, and wouldn''t grow into its full power for months or even years. Wouldn''t he just be a new target of bullying if he showed everyone a baby bird as his power?


    Super Vision seemed like it was much cooler and more useful, but it wasn''t abat skill, and for the elite,bat strength was King. So, he went back to the bed and picked up the short sword again, determined to make [Rend] work.


    Activating the skill was incredibly easy, a single thought lit up the de with a dull red light, and when he swung it toward the portion of the wall that was marked [Testing Area], a crescent arc of destructive power was thrown out and absorbed by the high-tech alloy.


    Drawing the de through the air when using Rend was like mixing thick dough, he could barely move his arm, and the de speed was slow, but the skill formed as the de moved, so with a bit more training, it should be faster to activate.


    Rend would definitely make him friends in ss. With a bit more effort, it could slice a wide swathe through enemies, and allow him to target an entire group.


    Karl hurried back over to the sheet and filled out the questions about his skill, including the restriction on movement speed when using the attack, which limited how fast it could be activated. If he thought about it, there might be a way around that if he was already moving when he activated the skill.


    Wasn''t that how Hawks hunted? They didn''t rely on strength, they came in at high speed and took out their prey in a single strike. If he could determine how that skill was supposed to be used, hisbat power would increase drastically.


    But other than the skill, the questionnaire also asked about the user. Any headaches, feelings that you had forgotten something important, physical increases or decreases?


    Karl tested himself, and other than the Super Vision, he had definitely also be a bit more flexible. Not by a lot, but it was clearly noticeable.


    In the end, he decided to leave that portion of the questionnaire marked with ''none''. If the agility increase improved in the future, he could me it on something else from his training. After all, some of the elite were said to be true superhuman monsters, and some were just as frail and human as always, but with mind-boggling supernatural powers.


    One of the idols had even sprained an ankle after stumbling to go on stage for a meet and greet event. That seemed like pretty conclusive proof that the injection''s skill distribution system did not distribute physical enhancements in a fair and equal manner.


    Once he was satisfied that the answers would be enough for the Academy to rate him fairly highly among his ssmates, Karl carefully slid the paper into the envelope provided and ced it in the tray by the door.


    That was everything that he was expected to do until they arrived at the Academy, but he couldn''t help wanting to try out more and better ways to use the [Rend] skill.


    What if he tried to be more like the Hawk? There should have been a wed gauntlet among the equipment there, as well as a trident. Both would replicate the three ws of the mark on his arm, but the trident was a stabbing weapon, which didn''t seem well suited to how the skill worked.


    He opened the drawer again and put back the sword before taking out a pair of gauntlets with wed tips on the fingers. As a weapon, they weren''t too impressive, but they looked like they would work with the skill that he had.


    They were a bit big on his hand, as Karl was slightly smaller than average, but after a few buckle adjustments, they fit well enough, and he tried the skill again. With his hand extended out in front of him, the way a Hawk would when swooping down on prey, he flexed his fingers, and four small streaks of red light tore through the air in front of him to hit the wall.


    Each of them was much less impressive than the one created by the sword, but the speed was incredibly fast, and they would hit multiple areas on the target. Against lightly armoured targets, that seemed like the better path. The more attack des they had to dodge or block, the better.


    Each time he used the skill, it seemed to drain some of his energy, and after only a few more swings, Karl could feel his arms getting weaker, and he had to sit down and catch his breath. This was going to be an issue very quickly while doingbat training. He had spent plenty of time in the gym, but he was trying to improve his physique, not build his stamina and endurance.


    But that was what the school was for, all he had to do was focus on his training, and it would definitely work out in the end.


    As Karl massaged his sore arms, the first of the other students were only just beginning to wake up and begin reading the guidebook. It wasn''t much of a head start, but the first awakened elite of the batch was already determined.

 Chapter 6: Dropoff Site

    <h4>Chapter 6: Dropoff Site</h4>


    "All new students, gather your preferred weapons, your school uniforms and wait for the notification to disembark. We are now five minutes from the Golden Divine Academy." The train''s announcement dered just after breakfast on the morning of the second day after Karl woke up.


    He packed the snacks he had obtained in advance from the train''s kitchen into the provided backpack along with the spare uniforms and shoes, then put on the ck metal wed gauntlets and hung the short sword from a scabbard at his hip.


    There was no rule saying you couldn''t prefer more than one weapon, and the guards hadn''t mentioned it when they saw him practising in the room that way, so it should be alright.


    The cook and the guard had both mentioned the walk into the Academy on the first day after he woke up, so the train wouldn''t be stopping at the gates. This was probably some sort of test, either to see how the students would solve a problem or get along or some nonsense, Karl decided, but whatever the reason, he was packing a lunch.


    As expected, the train came to a stop about a kilometre from the Academy, at the far end of a grassy field with a few well-maintained hedgerows along the way.


    "This is your stop. Thest bit is up to you. I will see you all in the Academy tomorrow after the train is cleaned and repaired." A slender man in a guard uniform announced.


    The students mostly stood by their open doors with looks of confusion, but Karl walked out into the hallway and stepped down from the train to take his first breath of the clean country air.


    Without all the dust from the mines, it smelled strangely like trees and flowers here, and he could feel the power of the Academy in the distance, like a tingle in his bones, warning him that it was something abnormal, something magical.


    The first student out was like a beacon to the others, and slowly the new students started to leave the train, mostly still exhausted from practising their new skills and ack of sleep, but the sun was directly overhead in the sky, and sleeping under the scorching morning sun wasn''t going to be easy.


    The slender man in the guard uniform stepped in front of them again once everyone was off the train, and raised his voice to address the crowd.


    "Wee, everyone, to Golden Divine Academy. As a special weing gift to all of our new students, we have prepared the traditional walk across the grounds to the front gates for you. Every year, the new arrivals make this trip, entering the gates as Awakened elites to begin their new lives.


    Now it is your turn. But be warned, the grasnds look empty, but that isn''t always the truth."


    He wasn''t lying. Karl could see that the train tracks circled the Academy at a distance of roughly a kilometre, passing through these grasnds, arge portion of forest, and even through a swampy bog around a river.


    They must drop every group off at a different point, so they could watch theme into the academy. It seemed like a strange tradition, but when he looked out over the field using [Super Vision] he could tell that there was a huge poption of Earth Rats, a Common Grade magical beast with incredible digging skills, and the ability to throw small stones using magic.


    They were mostly harmless, and Karl had dealt with them using a slingshot as a kid, but inrge numbers, they could be a real menace.


    In this case, it was likely to be a nuisance, just an ''amusing'' prank by the seniors to watch the new kids get pelted with rocks as they ran to school.


    [Mice, hungry.] A voice sounded in Karl''s mind,ing from the space where his Windspeed Hawk was kept.


    It was incredibly insistent, and eager to taste the mice, so Karl stepped forward into the field to see what they would do to the students who tried to pass. He might have hunted them before, but that was with a slingshot and in the house where they couldn''t use the earth to escape.


    Getting a clean kill shot here would be much more trouble, but he was fairly certain that he could do it with the speed of the [Rend] attacks. He just had to time them right.


    Karl stepped forward into the grasnd battlefield, against an unknown number of the weakest magical creatures, armed with a single untestedbat skill and a baby bird as a pet. Not exactly the most glorious of first battles as an elite, but it would have to do.


    The response to his invasion of their territory was immediate, and the ten centimetre long earth mice began to hurl small rocks at Karl, highlighting their position, and making the starving Hawk in his Beast Taming Space go insane with desire.


    A flick of his fingers, and four sharp red energy arcs flew out into the battlefield, taking out one of the mice before it even knew there was a danger, and then the other hand took a second.


    Super vision really was a remarkable skill for both eyesight and hand - eye coordination. His second attack hit a mouse as it was attempting to go underground to evade, and then his third reached its target as it tried to run.


    Karl jogged forward and picked up the bodies, then moved them into the taming space for the Hawk to eat before continuing on toward the Academy under greatly reduced levels of attack from the earth mice, who had sensed the presence of a predator in their midst and began to target the other students.


    Only a few brave ones would still throw rocks at Karl from a distance, all of which were easily swatted away with the armoured glove.


    "That glove is such a cheat code here in the open field." A dark-haired girl with a wand in her handined from directly behind his back.


    "You''re a mage, a real magic user. Just st them if they throw rocks at you." Karl reminded her after seeing the magical casting device.


    "And pass out again in the middle of a field? I''m not sure if you''re aware, but magic is hard. I can only cast like two or maybe three spells before I copse from exhaustion." The girlined.


    That was what had happened to Karl the first day as well. But once he got a bit more used to it, the consumption seemed not to be as bad.


    "Just stay behind me then, and undo your coat so you can hide your head. Earth Mice aren''t smart, and they won''t target your face if they can''t see it."

 Chapter 7: The Fields

    <h4>Chapter 7: The Fields</h4>


    The other students quickly saw the tactic that Karl and the mage hade up with and began forming groups. From what Karl could tell, almost all of the newly empowered students were some sort of magical warrior ss, and carrying various melee weapons.


    Not many of them had chosen shields, but those who did have shields took the lead in a group to push forward, while the ones with ranged skills fell in behind, encircling the mages and others who got no physical attribute enhancement.


    Two more ssmates fell in behind the mage, following the example of hiding their faces, though they didn''t know why they were doing it.


    The sight frightened the weak-minded Earth Mice. One scary guy with ws leading three headless humanoid monsters was terrifying to the small creatures, and they began to flee instead of attacking Karl on his way forward.


    That let him set a brisk pace through the field, and put the field full of mice behind him right until they made it to the first hedgerow, where they took a short breather for everyone to recover some stamina.


    "Magic uses far too much energy. How long does it take you guys to recover after using your skills?" One of the boys in the back row, a warrior ss with arge axe, asked.


    "I can use mine three or four times, as long as I don''t go all out. But then I''m tired, and I need to eat or rest. I haven''t tried to time it yet." Karl replied.


    The mage nodded her head. "I''m the same. Two spells, and I''m at my limit and I need a breather. But if I sit down for fifteen minutes or so, I can cast another. I saved my magic this time, so I can at least use one and keep going, or I can cast both in an emergency, but then I''ll slow the team down."


    The boy with an axe frowned. "I can only use mine once, and then I''m done. But I''m a woodcutter''s son, and I can swing the axe for hours if I don''t use the skill."


    "That''s good enough. So far, it''s just been Earth Mice, and only an idiot would chase them with an axe. But if there is something bigger and slower up ahead, you can go ahead and fight it without using that skill. Did the injection make you stronger? It was one of the questions on the homework, so it must be a thing." Karl suggested.


    "Yeah, a lot stronger." He agreed.


    The other warrior smiled. "I''m not so strong, but I was alright to start with. Unfortunately, my first skill is defensive, see the shield in my marking? The silly thing is, I have no aptitude with a shield. I tried everything with the one in the storage box, but nothing worked. However, if I use a two-handed sword, I can activate the skill no problem, and keep it active all the time.


    The only problem is that I can''t swing the sword fast enough to block those rocks the way that you do with your gloves."


    Karl nodded. "So, we''ve got a super strength axe man, a durable swordsman, a mage and me with my ws. That''s not bad, and it looks like the teachers wanted us to group up to fight our way through to the gates.


    Not that it''s been a tough fight so far, more of a practical joke by the seniors, but be prepared for something like Water Moles or Quill Beasts in the next field."


    After a short breather, they moved forward in the same formation, but without the coats pulled up over their heads. If there was something more dangerous than Earth Mice in this field, they wanted to see iting, and not find out when it reached them.


    Karl''s [Super Vision] scanned the field, but currently it appeared to be empty and easy to pass. Likely, whatever lived here was just sleeping or going about its daily business, unaware that something was about to invade its home turf.


    "Do you think that we should move through the trees? That would bring us to the academy without crossing the field, we just need to go to the side a little." The mage suggested.


    Karl scanned the treeline and shook his head.


    "There are at least two iron tusk boars in those trees. I can see the torn tree bark at different heights. It might be a different species, but those marks are pretty distinctive." He quietly informed the others.


    They were a long way from home, so it might be an entirely different species of boar, but if the tusk markings were simr on the trees to the ones he knew from home, then the animal likely was as well.


    "Then onward, valiant scapegoats of the freshman ss. Let''s amuse our seniors and get ourselves inside that gate before it gets dark." The woodcutter''s sonughed.


    They moved forward at a fast walk, not wanting to make too much noise or vibration underground that might disturb the beasts living there, but not wanting to waste time and let the others behind them catch up either.


    None of the other groups had entered this field yet. Most were resting, some were still struggling with either ack of courage or the mice, and some had decided to go the long way around, under the assumption that the direct route was a trap.


    That group probably wasn''t wrong, but that didn''t mean that the other routes were any better.


    They were halfway across the field when the next group moved forward, jogging to catch up to the leaders, and the field erupted with activity.


    Vines sprung up out of the ground around the feet of the new group, trapping their ankles and pulling them down onto the soft dirt, while loose vines whipped at their faces.


    It was some sort of nt monster, what sort, Karl had no idea, but the loud footsteps had awoken it.


    "Keep moving gently, it hasn''t attacked us yet, it''s just active in our area. Keep moving and we will get out without much trouble. Don''t attack unless you''re actually trapped, and don''t step on the vines." Karl instructed.


    "You''re the boss. But if we end up stuck in the middle of the field, I''m totally ming you." The Mage whispered with a rueful smirk on her face, fully expecting the worst.

 Chapter 8: Walk Softly

    <h4>Chapter 8: Walk Softly</h4>


    Soft steps got them almost to the end of the field before a sudden twitch of a vine put it right under their sword fighter''s foot, and not only did he stomp on the vine, he tripped, and his de sliced a dozen of them clean in half.


    "Get him up and let''s run. The vine monster will not be happy about that." Karl shouted, before beginning to dash toward the rtive safety of the hedgerow.


    The woodcutter hauled the other boy to his feet, and the four of them took off running, hoping to make it to the edge of the field. Entangling vines grabbed at Karl''s legs, but fast steps kept them from finding a good hold, and he was nearly out of the vines'' range before he was pulled to a stop.


    Coming up from behind him, the young mage used Karl''s immobile figure as a springboard, running across his back as Karl was getting up and leaping toward safety, only to be caught in midair and dragged t to the ground with a puff of dirt and a pained groan.


    "Good n, poor execution." The swordsmanughed from behind them as he hacked his way through the vines.


    Karl sliced himself free with [Rend] and then did the same for the mage, who frantically scrambled for safety in the trees.


    Thest to reach safety was the woodcutter, but he was also the most lucky, as he had experience with entangling vines in the woods, and knew how to smack them with the back of his axe to keep them from grabbing his ankles.


    "Sorry, it takes too long to exin the trick, or I would have told you all." He mumbled as he reached the trees a few seconds behind the others.


    "It''s all good. We each have our own knowledge base to work on, and there was no time for some long lecture in the middle of the field." Karl agreed.


    The Mage seemed like she was about to say something, but then reconsidered. There were only a few seconds between the stumble and the escape, there really was no time to exin.


    All that was left now was a section of freshly mowed grass, with a single cobblestone path that led to the gates. If they could make it through that, they were safe. Well, rtively safe. From what they knew of the elites, the culture favoured the strong, and they were not yet the strong. But they were all well suited to their ss, and in time they might be.


    "Stay off the grass. I learned that from my mum''s workce. Fancy people hate when you walk on their grass." The mage mumbled as they got ready to move.


    "Good point. I was looking forward to soft grass under my feet after growing up in the mines, but using the path just seems right." Karl agreed.


    These other three hadn''t gotten on at his stop, but they should at least understand the concept of the mines. There were ten other middle schools in the nearby towns, so even if, like Karl, they had never travelled, they had at least seen the mountains over the mines in the distance.


    Triumphantly, they walked down the path, with the swordsman doing his best to hide a slight limp and the mage brushing the dirt off the front of her uniform to look a little less like she had been rolling in the field for fun.


    They reached the gate, where a pair of teachers were waiting to greet them with arge bag full of textbooks and a table full of drinks.


    "Wee to the Golden Divine Academy, students Karl, Dana, James and Kruger. You are the first to make it to the gate today, and therefore the first to get to pick your rooms in the dormitory. The map is on the table, and you may pick any room on the second floor that is not currently marked as upied."


    They rushed over to collect a drink, and then gathered around the map.


    "Thisyout makes no sense." Kruger, the axe wielder, mumbled.


    "All the rooms are random. Look at this one, it''s tiny, but with a huge empty balcony, who would pick that?" Dana, the dark-haired mage, agreed.


    But a long, narrow room caught her eye. There was supposed to be a training target at the end which she could fire spells at from a distance, which would be great for practice.


    "I want the balcony room." Karl shrugged, then picked up a token from the table and ced it on the map.


    "Right, you have a wide area attack skill. If you want to practice, you need more space. I''ll take the training room here, with the Murphy bed that folds against the wall." Dana exined, picking her space.


    The other two went for thergest pair of dorms, with a training dummy in the main room and a separate bedroom. Each of the rooms was a bit special in its own way, but Karl noticed that there was one selectable option that seemed quite inferior. Someone could actually pick the supply closet as their dorm, it was marked as an option, and might be left to thest person toplete the trials.


    The Windspeed Hawk in Karl''s taming space looked out through his eyes and squawked in appreciation of the choice. The big balcony was one of the few rooms that had proper outdoor ess. In fact, it blocked a half dozen other rooms'' ess to the outside, unless they had a window that opened onto the balcony.


    It was perfect for the bird, and once it digested these delicious Earth Mice, the tiny monster was convinced that it would have the energy to grow enough that it could fly around outside. Baby monsters didn''t stay helpless for long, even in this situation, where it was being nourished by a human beast tamer and not its mother.


    [Are there more mice?] It asked hopefully.


    It was strange to hear the bird''s thoughts as words in his head, but unfortunately, Karl didn''t have anything else for the beast right now.


    [Just wait until dinner and I will get you as much meat as you can eat.]


    [I hope they serve mice.]

 Chapter 9: Room Choice

    <h4>Chapter 9: Room Choice</h4>


    "Interesting choices. I can see the others, but why did you pick the balcony? The room itself is barely a bedroom." The teacher in charge of reception asked Karl.


    "I can always set something up on the balcony, but mostly it''s for training. I have an area attack skill that I can''t train indoors easily. But the room is fine, it''s bigger than mine at home, and it''s got both a bed and a desk, with its own shower and water closet."


    The others quickly double-checked to make sure they had picked rooms with their own facilities and sighed in relief. Not only did the rooms they picked have a full bath, they also had a small kitchte with a fridge and hot te for cooking in the room while they were studying.


    "In that case, I will give you all your keys, and wish you well in your studies."


    The teacher''s smile told them all that they had probably screwed up somehow, but they had no idea what they should have done differently in that situation. Unless the juice was poisoned, they had just picked the rooms that seemed the most appropriate for their ss. Or the biggest ones, in the estimation of James and Kruger.


    They took a few steps, and students from the senior sses, wearing badges with White, ck and Bronze symbols on them, fell in beside the group.


    White for Common Grade, ck for Awakened, and Bronze for Ascended, ording to the text on the badges. The badges on the new students'' uniforms were all white, so Karl hadn''t noticed until now that they represented anything but the Academy.


    "Wee to the Academy. We will show you to your rooms. It''s always fun to see the newbies'' first experience of the dorms, you see. It''s apletely magical building, so whatever you were expecting, just put that out of your mind right now." The student with the bronze badge, the strongest of the three, exined.


    They didn''t say much more until they got to the main doors of the dorm.


    "On the right is the cafeteria, open from four in the morning until midnight. On the left are theundry facilities, they''re a drop-off service, just give them the basket, and they''llunder it and bring it back to your room. This isn''t a hotel, there are no maids, but the cleaning supplies are right here.


    Don''t forget to keep your room clean, everyone gets punished if too many students fail the dorm inspections.


    That way is the supply room, you can go visit himter, when you have academy credits, to get essential supplies and things you want for your room or your studies.


    Now, there is no elevator, but there are three staircases. The main ones are the best, as they''re five metres wide, and you don''t get jammed up with cross traffic.


    Your year is lucky, you got rooms on the second floor, mine is up on the fourth floor, and these two are on the fifth floor. It''s a long walk down to get to ss, but I heard that the rooms are nicer at the top than they are on the lower floors."


    The boy''s smirk told Karl that he was definitely pranking them. Either there was an elevator, or the rooms were all strange, no matter where you went.


    The three older students put their hands on the shoulders of the newbies and led them up to the second floor with a smile.


    "You two are right here, since you picked the square internal rooms." The leader of the senior students informed them, gesturing to the doors on either side of the stairs.


    That was a factor that they might have forgotten to consider. Being right next to the stairs could be loud. But the hallways were decorated with thick red carpets, hanging tapestries on the walls, and plenty of decorations that should prevent echoes.


    The two warriors opened their doors, and looked at the bare rooms.


    Stone walls with multiple scorch marks, cut marks and absolutely zero furniture in the main room greeted them. They stepped inside in shock, and found that the bedroom had a simple single bed in it, unmade, but with quality linens and aforter emzoned with the school''s crest folded at the foot.


    The main room had a stone golem standing in the middle, the training dummy that the diagram had informed them the room included, and the older students whistled in appreciation.


    "Now that''s a nice bonus. They left you the training dummies from thest senior ss. Those are Commander ss, you''ll never break them in the first two years, maybe not at all. I think it''s a good tradeoff for the initial cleaning you''ll have to do." The student with the ck badgeughed.


    Karl gave them a suspicious look. "Are these just as the students left them, or is there some system to it?"


    The others just smirked and shrugged. "Why don''t we let the others get settled in and see where you and the mage are staying?"


    Dana sighed and gestured down the hallway. "If I remember the map right, I''m that way. Room 17, the long training one."


    The student with the bronze badge nodded in appreciation.


    "I''m also a mage, so I picked the same room on my floor. Let''s see what you got."


    They opened the door and looked at an incredibly long hallway. Far longer than the actual dimensions of the building should allow.


    But at the entrance was a small bedroom, restroom and a kitchte along the wall, followed by the vast stone expanse of the training hallway. It was spotlessly clean, and there was a single potion sitting on the table with a wee note from thest upant.


    "Congrattions, you got a decent senior. Check out your weing gift, we will get Karl here settled into his room."


    The balcony room was just around the corner, and at first, Karl almost missed it. The supply closet room was right next to his, so the doors were narrow and very close together, but the older students knew which one it was.


    "Right here. Let''s see what it''s like. The balcony on our floor is empty, we didn''t have as many students as you guys do, so some of them aren''t in use."


    The door swung open to show a very in room past a short hallway with a bathroom on the left. The main room was just a metal desk and arge bed, trimmed in ck leather, with drawers underneath. The walls were painted dark grey, giving the room a very odd feeling, but the curtains were the academy logo gold ones that presumably came with the room.


    "Well, this must have been the kitchen witch''s room. Creepy goth girl. You can repaint once you get some credits to buy the supplies. Good luck with that." The Gold badged student sighed, obviously disappointed that there wasn''t anything special about the ce.


    But they had forgotten the most important part. Once they left and the door closed behind them, Karl opened the curtains to the balcony and stepped outside, only to find himself in the middle of a greenhouse.


    There were nts everywhere, blocking his view, and Karl smiled. He had never had nts in the house before, his parents couldn''t even keep flowers alive. But the Windspeed Hawk was overjoyed at the potted trees, flowers, and vines that were scattered all over the balcony.


    Karl didn''t recall seeing this from the entryway, and he should have, as they passed right under it on their way in. However, the more he walked, the more Karl realized that the balcony was not normal. It was at least three times the size that it should be, and nearly filled with nts, until he got to the far end and found a gazebo with a hammock, a curved bench, and a small table that contained a well-worn notebook.


    [Care and keeping of the balcony. Abridged version.]


    Karl smiled at the title and flipped the notebook open.


    [While I don''t know if you will appreciate the legacy of the greenhouse, you will find that it is effortless to care for, and every nt here has a purpose. You see, they are all edible. Most of them are for humans, to help your growth, but I have personally added a few important ones of my own.


    This is the catnip nt, the feline type magical beasts love it, and you can use it to keep them from reporting you when you sneak out at night. This one is the Honey Berry, which is popr with bear type monsters. If you smear the pulp of this nt on the shoes of other students, it will attract the giant grizzlies to them in the woods.


    Be sure to wash your hands before following.


    The final one is only edible in a limited quantity, the clear mind fruit. Use it before the major exams to help you focus. But keep in mind that it only works a few times, so use it sparingly.]


    The rest of the book was just a watering schedule for the nts, and a note that the magic of the balcony would take care of the rest.


    ''So, thest resident nted a fruit to help her cheat on exams, one to sabotage other students in the woods, and catnip to bribe the security so she could sneak out at night. This senior was definitely an interesting person.'' Karl decided.

 Chapter 10: No Mice

    <h4>Chapter 10: No Mice</h4>


    [There are still no mice.] The baby Windspeed Hawkined.


    He was right, even with super vision, which could see into the infrared spectrum and would pick out urine trails of rodents, there was no sign of mice. That should probably have been expected of a magical dorm, but it was a great tragedy in the mind of the bird.


    [Alright, buddy, we will go to the cafeteria and find some meat.]


    Karl headed for the main floor again, and made his way to the buffet of the Cafeteria.


    "New student? I don''t know you." The old woman behind the counter asked.


    "Yes, ma''am. My name is Karl."


    "Polite, that''s not bad. Alright, grab what you like, but only the white tes are allowed to be taken back to the rooms, and must be returned during your next meal. Eat all you like, magic affects all you kids differently, no need to be shy about your appetite."


    [MEAT!] The Hawk shouted happily in his mind, drawing his attention to a pile of raw fish set along one side of the long counter. It looked like a grocery section, where you could pick out your own ingredients to take to your room, while the first half of the counter was prepared dishes.


    "Then, pardon my hunger." Karl replied, and took a pair of white tes to fill for their dinner.


    Pasta and meatballs with cream sauce, roasted pork, some sort of vegetable that gave off an incredible feeling of energy, and then an entire te of raw meat for the Hawk.


    "Well, that''s one of the more interesting tes, for sure. But if you''re in a room with a kitchen, you can cook it as you like. In the future, you can just ask the cook to prepare it if there''s a special way you like your food." She exined.


    "Thanks, I''ll keep that in mind."


    Karl retreated to his room while the Hawk pleaded pitifully to be fed. If this was how adorably needy all baby birds were, no wonder their mothers would go to the extremes of even chewing food for them. Fortunately, the Windspeed Hawk had an extremely sharp metallic beak and could bite through bone with ease, even as a newborn.


    The meat chunks were all boneless, which the bird found disappointinglycking in crunch, but the meat was all monster meat, high in nutrients and energy, and its body was growing at a visible rate under the pile of nourishment.


    It somehow managed to chew through five times its body weight in ten minutes, and it was still pleading for the meatballs on Karl''s te as he finished his meal.


    [Fine, one meatball. But after that, you need to wait for dinner.]


    [When is that? I''m starving.] The birdined, then burped loudly and fell asleep.


    That certainly didn''t seem like starvation to Karl.


    By the time that it woke up, the Windspeed Hawk had grown to the size of a sparrow, and was happily flying around Karl''s mental space, an exuberant distraction as he cleaned the balcony of leaves, which were set aside to be sorted for drying, and then watered the nts.


    Everything here should be a magical resource of the most basic level, so even the leaves would likely be worth something if they were properly dried and preserved. The problem was that he wasn''t sure if this garden was sanctioned by the school, or if they would view all the resources here as looted school property.


    [Is it dinner yet? We should get crunchy food this time.] Hawk suggested.


    [Sure, let''s go down and see how everyone else is doing after I finish writing a letter.]


    The bird was confused by the concept of a letter, but Karl wanted to write home to his parents to let them know that he was alright and settling in well at the Academy. The students wouldn''t be home until the end of the school year, but he didn''t recall any rule saying that they couldn''t send a letter or a text message.


    Not that either Karl or his parents could afford a cell phone, but that wasn''t the point. Maybe he would get them one once he was finished training and started to get the elite stipend. If it was enough, he could probably even move them out of the mines and let them retire.


    It only took a few minutes to finish the letter home, and Karl put it in the box by his door, which could be essed from either the inside or the outside. That was where he had received and left the paperwork on the train, and it was where letters were picked up if you had to send them at home, so it should be the same here, Karl assumed.


    The dining hall was packed with new students, mostly in rather rough shape, with torn clothes, covered in mud and grass stains, and a few sporting visible injuries.


    Karl joined the line to grab dinner, then took a second te, scooped an entire roast chicken on it, and transferred it to the beast taming space while nobody was watching him. Then he took another, added a collection of cheeses and snacks to it, and brought it to an empty table.


    "You were the gauntlet guy from the first group, aren''t you? I didn''t get a good look at your face earlier." A girl with blonde hair and a heavily bruised face asked as he sat at the table next to hers.


    "Yeah, might I ask, what happened? Everyone looks like they were beaten half to death." Karl asked.


    "We were. I went with a group that understood going together for safety against the Earth Mice, and our lead warrior chased them off with a skill, but when we got to the second field, the nt monster was already going insane.


    So, we thought it would be safer to go around, and we decided to try the treeline to the right." She paused and gently touched her face, then flinched.


    "The one with the monstrous boars?" Karl asked.


    "Oh, you already know?"


    Karl nodded. "That''s why we went through the field. I saw the marks of the boars on the trees, and recognized them from outside the mining town where I grew up."


    The girlughed. "It''s me, Jasmine. I guess you really didn''t recognize me with my face like this."


    That exined why she didn''t introduce herself when she started speaking, he should have already known her. Karl looked her over again. He was absolutely certain that when they left, the Jasmine that he knew had not been a blonde, and that she had been at least twenty kilos heavier than she was now.


    "You look different. It must be the hair." Karl mumbled, not wanting to insult his ssmate by mentioning what she used to look like.


    Maybe it was puberty, but he should have noticed a change like that, he was sure of it. There were a few other familiar, but also not familiar, faces in the crowd. It was like everyone was a bit different than he remembered, and most of them had improved in the best of ways.


    Come to think of it, he didn''t remember sitting quite so tall at the table, and his uniform pants didn''t quite reach his shoes anymore. That wasn''t right, they definitely did this morning when he got off the train.


    Maybe his Academy experience wasn''t going to be a bad one after all. A little more height and he would catch up to his ssmates.

 Chapter 11: First Classes

    <h4>Chapter 11: First sses</h4>


    The next morning was the official start of their training, but there were no scheduled sses. Instead, everyone woke up to announcements that they should wait in their rooms for the teacher in charge of their group toe inform them of their new routine.


    That sounded like a much more rxed ss atmosphere than any school he had heard of before, and Karl became a little more jealous of the elite lifestyle. Perhaps he would even get lucky and have a kind and gentle teacher who didn''t shout at students for wrong answers, or believe thatps around the school were the cure for inattention.


    At breakfast, he gathered another roasted chicken for Hawk, along with a collection of raw meat, but the beast''s consumption had temporarily slowed as the bird had grown overnight.


    They weren''t arge predator by the standards of monstrous beasts, just a deadly one due to their eyesight and attack power. As they grew to maturity, most of them would perfect the knowledge of the [Rend] skill, allowing them to take down muchrger prey with a single strike.


    That might not sound too impressive, given that the full-grown bird only weighed a few kilograms, but when the proficiency reached a high enough level, a monster could actually ambush and kill monsters a Rank above its own, using the power of the mastered skill.


    It wasn''t a feat that many beasts could aplish, and it was entirely a result of the Windspeed Hawk''s incredible rate of skill growth.


    It was well after noon before the teacher showed up to talk to him, and Karl was getting bored with just standing around in the garden and waiting. He had practised his [Rend] skill until he wore himself out, trying to improve his uracy and activation speed, and then had a short nap, but he wasn''t really sure where to go from here, and none of the information in the bag of textbooks he had received told him anything on that topic.


    The sharp knock at the door woke him up, and Karl rushed over to open the door for the sharp - featured female soldier that was waiting outside.


    "Good afternoon, Karl. I am yourbat skills Professor, you may call me Sergeant Rita. In addition to teaching you martial arts and essential skills for the elites, I will be your personal guidance professor. The Academy has determined that your ss is too different from other warriors for the standard ss schedule to be useful outside the daily battle training courses, so we will be working together for the time being.


    Did you have the space here to take lessons, or would you like to move to a ssroom?"


    He had almost gotten his wish. Rita certainly wasn''t ugly, but her nature was about as far from kind and gentle as was possible, andps around the academy didn''t seem like they would be outside her list of preferred teaching methods.


    "There is a spot on the patio that should be suitable. Pleasee in, Sergeant."


    The gazebo seemed like the best learning space, and with the weirdness of magical training golems, staircases that only went to your floor and everything else in this dormitory, Karl couldn''t see how the nts left to him by the senior would be an issue.


    Sergeant Rita followed him into the unit, then onto the balcony with an intrigued look. But it was not the number of nts that shocked her.


    "Are these all freshly watered?" She asked.


    "There was a watering guide included with the room. Most only need it once a week, and I didn''t know when they were wateredst, so I did it the day that I moved in. They seemed fairly dry, but everything is still in good condition." Karl replied with a shrug as he walked to the Gazebo.


    "This is a nice unit, very outdoorsy. I''m not sure if it will rain on the patio, with the magic that''s in effect, but other than that, you lucked out.


    Now, I need to know everything that you know about your powers so that we can start a proper training n. How are the physical improvements, how has the power of your skill adjusted with a single day''s practice, and are there any other hints as to what you can do with it?


    I won''t lie to you, the sses that can send a golem or magical construct into battle for them are in much higher demand than any of the others except the mages who can use unique spells. But with a ranged attack from the start, you''re not in a terrible spot." The Sergeant informed him very sincerely.


    Her honesty startled Karl, and it felt like she genuinely had his best interests in mind as a guidance counselor. Hiding too many things from her wouldn''t do him any good, so Karl decided that it would be best to just put everything out in the open for her to understand.


    Maybe she would know how to help him and Hawk grow.


    Karl focused and brought out Hawk from his Beast Taming space. "We should start from here. This is Hawk, and my skill awakened him from an egg in the kitchen. It allows him to live somewhatfortably in a space inside my mind, and our thoughts are linked.


    Once I contracted with him, I gained the ability to use [Rend], the same attack skill that all Windspeed Hawks have, and my senses gained an incredible improvement."


    Sergeant Rita stared at the tiny bird for a few seconds, trying to process the information that she had received.


    "So, your ability lets you contract with monsters and what? Use their abilities? While that sounds pretty cool, it''s still a high-risk path to fight against other monsters." She asked.


    "Well, I guess that''s true, but we both know what the other is thinking, so with a bit of training I shouldn''t have to fight alone. I''ll have Hawk with me." Karl offered.


    Sergeant Rita smiled. "How about we see if we can''t find you another Beast Cub? If you can get something that''s a better fighter than the Windspeed Hawk, you might have a real chance to be one of the more powerful elites."


    Hawk squawked in indignation at the suggestion that he would be reced right after being born.


    [Does this woman have no shame? Looking down on the Windspeed Hawk. Fully grown, I am sure that I can make it to the Commander Rank, and she''s just an Ascendant warrior. Give it a month, and I''ll bet I could beat her up.]


    Hawk''s mentalmunication was apanied by audible screeching when he was outside like this, and the Sergeant smirked at the irate fledgling.


    "What is he saying?" She asked.


    "He says that when he grows up he will be a Commander, and you''ll still be Ascendant." Karl gave her the abridged version.


    The Sergeant red at Karl, who raised his hands in defeat. "You asked, and he said it, I''m just the trantor here."


    "So, it really is intelligent enough for coherent thought at that stage. Interesting. I know it''s the first day, but we should go to the training grounds to see what you two can do when working together."

 Chapter 12: Sparring With Rita

    <h4>Chapter 12: Sparring With Rita</h4>


    Sergeant Rita led Karl down to the main floor and out across the grounds to arge open coliseum.


    "This will be our venue for the day. You''ll love it, at least when it''s empty. With nobody here, you can send your Hawk as far out as you want, and we can spar with the training gear. Don''t worry too much, it''s capable of withstanding the attacks of Commander Rank magical beasts, we won''t be in any danger from the practice." She exined.


    The coliseum was actually a football stadium that was converted to an arena when the facility was repurposed as the Divine Golden Academy a decade ago after the injections were developed.


    It was huge and open, with more than enough room to fight, and ted with a powerful magical barrier and armoured ting to keep the battles from affecting the crowd.


    "Call out your bird, you two can make the first move." Sergeant Rita suggested as they walked to the middle of the battlefield.


    [Hawk, fly up high, and attack from the side, she will be expecting you to go behind her.] Karl instructed as he checked his gauntlets and drew his sword.


    As soon as he released it from the mental space, the Hawk flew up fifty metres in the air and began to circle, waiting for its master to be ready.


    [Go.] Karl instructed as he shed forward with the de, activating [Rend] halfway through to create a small arc of power that Rita blocked with ease using one of the two daggers that had appeared in her hands.


    Then she dodged to the side as the attack from Hawk streaked towards her, and parried again as a flick of Karl''s fingers sent more rending energy her way.


    Then she counterattacked, surging with energy and rushing toward Karl. He had no actualbat experience, but a sword was bigger than a dagger, so he sidestepped and swung his de, which she easily parried, but while she was distracted, Hawk''s next attack hit her in the back of the neck, leaving a bright red welt.


    [What do we do? Her neck doesn''t break when I attack it?] Hawk asked in a panic.


    [Just keep attacking. She''s stronger than us, but she is going to teach us how to fight.]


    Karl frantically blocked the daggers with his gauntlet, but he could see that she was holding back, pushing him to see his physical limits.


    "That bird''s uracy is deadly, I can see how you would have confidence against a Common Grade monster with apanion like that. If I were one of your ssmates, I would likely be in the infirmary right now after that strike to the neck." The Sergeant congratted them.


    She had underestimated how fast that bird was, and hadn''t realized that it had time toe in for another dive-bombing run so soon.


    Rita turned to keep them both in her line of sight as the bird continued to circle overhead, thenunched a flurry of attacks that knocked Karl to the ground just in time for her to block Hawk''s attacks.


    "Alright, I know where your weaknesses are now. The first thing that we need to train is your fighting skills. While the bird is equivalent to a repeated sneak attack, low output but incredibly difficult to dodge, you will have to face the wrath of your enemies until you can find a second pet or a group mate to take their attention."


    That made a lot of sense. In a way, he was still a warrior ss, just a pet warrior, who could fight alongside a magical beast. Learning an entirebat system wasn''t going to be easy, but at this point, his life literally depended on it after graduation, unless he gave up on the dreams of bing famous and powerful in exchange for doing some cushy job for the ultra-wealthy and somehow never get the reserve force call to battle.


    But if he did that, he wouldn''t be much different than where he had started, he''d just be at the bottom of a much fancier pile. Even most of the music and television idols among the elite were known to go and fight to improve their strength or deal with attacks.


    They just did it with assistants and cameras following, so the world would know how awesome they were, not like some bureaucrat orwyer who got sent to an attack that didn''t even make the news to fight alone against a rampaging monster.


    "Alright, what do we start with? Sword fighting? Martial arts? Some sort of secret magical body training art?" He asked.


    Sergeant Ritaughed. "First, we start with basic physical conditioning. Your body is adjusting quickly to the mana injection, and it triggers an awakening in ce of your natural growth. That''s why we give the shots at the end of middle school, so that all the recipients are still in the rapid growth phase and can adapt more easily to the changes.


    As your body adjusts, you should be able to move from a Common Physique to an Awakened Physique fairly quickly, and then you will be able to actually fight at an eptable pace, closer in speed to the movements of your Hawk."


    Karl sighed. He knew it, there were definitely going to beps around the academy.


    "Follow me to the gym. There will be a bunch of agility type fighters there now, so your standards should be suitable for the equipment that is out. I will lead you through a basic routine today, and then we will set your baseline for improvement.


    Within the next month, I expect that you will be able to make the minimum Awakened Standard, but you have until the end of the semester before the official tests are done."


    "So, most students take that long to make it to awakened?" Karl asked. That didn''t sound so bad.


    "No, many of them will make the minimum standard within the next few weeks. The true Geniuses will be getting close to Ascended by the end of the first Semester, and make it there eitherte in the year or at the beginning of the second year."


    Just like that, Karl''s dreams of easy days as an elite were crushed.

 Chapter 13: Agility Training

    <h4>Chapter 13: Agility Training</h4>


    When they got to the gym, the attendant issued Karl a workout uniform consisting of sneakers, shorts and a shirt in the Academy''s white and gold colour scheme, and sent him to the locker rooms to shower and change.


    That was their policy, shower before and after using the equipment. Apparently, new students didn''t wash enough on their own, and they needed to shower when they arrived. Or perhaps, like he was that day, they were expected to be sweaty already.


    It didn''t take long to get ready, but Sergeant Rita was already there, changed into a ck tank top and a different pair of green cargo pants with clean boots. Did they think that she might be mistaken as a student if she didn''t wear green? Or perhaps it was a military rule.


    Karl had heard that the elite soldiers weren''t officially military, but their own branch of the government. However, they didn''te to the mines, there was no reason for them to be there, so he had never actually seen one before the injection day.


    The agility type warriors, as Sergeant Rita called this ss, turned out to be almost entirely female. That made Karl wonder deeply about what sort of bias the mana injection had for the skills that it awakened in people, or what that said about his current physique.


    He might not be the most macho man ever, but being subtly told that you currently have the physique of a fourteen-year-old girl was hard on the ego.


    Then he looked through the ss wall and saw the strength type warriors from the senior sses training, and the ss was full of musclebound meatheads with arms the size of his torso.


    Maybe he was in the right ce.


    "Alright, first up, upper body strength. That skill of yours puts a lot of resistance on your body, and you need to be able to power through it, but without building up so much bulk that you can''t evade anymore." Rita began.


    What followed was two hours in hell. By the time that Karl limped back to the showers, he was sweaty, exhausted and ready to fall asleep right where he was. He was about to copse when Hawk pushed a piece of cold roast chicken out of the space for him to eat as a form of emergency energy, or a survival ration, Windspeed Hawk style.


    A very deeply missed survival ration, even though the bird still had a quarter of a roast chicken and plenty of raw meat left.


    Once he was changed, Karl made his way back to the dorms for the afternoon, and straight to the cafeteria for some much-needed sugar and caffeine. If this was going to be the daily routine, he was going to have to start eating much heavier meals than usual.


    Somehow, despite feeling like death, he still managed to look like he was in better shape than the next few groups to arrive. They were holding each other upright, and mostly bruised, cut, scorched or dripping with some sort of mystery liquid.


    "What happened to you?" Karl asked the mage sitting at the next table, startling him so much he almost fell out of his chair.


    "Skills training. All day long, the magic sses undergo skills and theory training. I have one spell, Lightning Bolt, and they had me drink supplements over and over to cast it thirty times today until it stopped hitting me and everyone around me." Heined, clearly in agony, and so tired he was about to pass out.


    "What about you?" The other mage at the table, a girl with charred sections on her uniform, asked.


    "I had abat ss with the instructor, then two hours of fitness routine with the agility type fighters. I think my legs have started to turn into pudding already." Karl sighed.


    "Two-hour fitness routine? What did you do to the instructor to deserve that? Even the newbie warriors only get a thirty-minute intensive weight training session and a thirty-minute cardio session along with their weapons training." The girl asked.


    "No idea. I think that she''s got high hopes for me, though, because she''s already talking about forging me into an Awakened body this month."


    The mages winced. "We need to get our mana levels up to awakened levels before the end of semester exams, but that''s way harder than it sounds, and we need to meditate whenever we''re off, but you can''t do it when you can''t focus, and we''re all too sore today."


    "Well, almost all of us. I think that she might be fine, that woman is a demon." The boy Karl had spoken to firstined, gesturing toward a woman covered in slime at the next table.


    "Slime girl?" Karl asked.


    "Don''t let it fool you, she''s a water mage, and her first spell is [Refreshing Water Slime]. It helps her recover stamina and mana, so she''s been wearing it like that all day."


    That was almost a cheat ability. From what these two said, the mages trained their aptitude by maintaining and controlling their spells, and hers refreshed her stamina and magic while she wore it, so she could do it all the time without getting exhausted. She would almost certainly grow quickly.


    That was the sort of luck that a true protagonist should have, Karl decided.


    [Slimes suck, you can''t even eat them, they just squish.]


    Hawk had a point, not only was he an excellentbat assistant, he was also edible.


    The students slowly made their way to their rooms, and Karl let Hawk sleep off his overindulgence while hey in bed, too tired to sleep, but too sore to do anything else. He wasn''t sure when that changed to blissful slumber, but he was very aware of his rm going off the next morning, alerting him that he had fifteen minutes before Sergeant Rita arrived.


    Karl took a quick shower and changed into his uniform before the Sergeant was at his door, impatiently knocking and holding a breakfast try in her other hand.


    "You''re runningte, so I brought food. Let''s go to the gazebo so you can eat while you study." She instructed.


    Once they sat down, Sergeant Rita took out a small stone, and set it on the table.


    "What do you think of this?" She asked.


    Karl looked it over. It wasn''t an egg, it was just a rock of some sort. He even poked it, first with the handle of his spoon, and then with his finger. No response.


    "It''s definitely a rock." He replied.


    "Interesting. So the psychic stone has no response to you, but you canmunicate with your bird." Rita noted.


    "Now, try this one."


    Again, Karl put his hand on the stone, tried to make it do something, but it was just a rock.


    Then another, and another. But when she put a small golden coin on the table, an ancient mary instrument from the Golden Dragon Nation they lived in, Karl immediately felt an affinity for the object, and when he touched the dragon on the coin, a sense of power filled him.


    "So, that''s the answer. That coin was blessed at the Dragon God Shrine during thest Dragon Festival. It appears that your powers resonate with the dragon energy. Since that''s the case, I want to try something else."


    Rita took out a small vial filled with shimmering red liquid.


    [Oh, I want it. Ask the evildy to give me that.] Hawk demanded.


    [You should be d that she can''t hear you.]

 Chapter 14: Updated Mission Statement

    <h4>Chapter 14: Updated Mission Statement</h4>


    "Hawk thinks that will be useful to him if he can have it. What is it?" Karl asked.


    "It''s mana infused monster blood. It''s the most basic of Common Grade resources for physical cultivation type elites. Drinking mana infused monster blood strengthens the body and can induce mutations. Without a proper method to handle and guide the process, it is often fatal, but for a monster or magical beast, it should be perfectly fine." She exined, with amusement sparkling in her eyes.


    For a moment there, she almost seemed like a happy young woman, but then her serious face was back as she gestured toward the table.


    "Call him out so that I can see the process. If it works, the Academy will get you more resources for the bird until it can grow into a properbat unit. ording to this morning''s briefing, leadership feels that trying to turn you into a frontline fighter with just one Rending attack is pointless, and the senior professors think that we might have more luck training the Hawk, with you as its backup and leader in a support or scouting role." She exined.


    Karl sighed. "Day two and I''ve already been sidelined?"


    Rita gave an honestugh at his disappointment. "All the mages are being cultivated in this direction as well. It is a measure to reduce casualties. The more people that we can have fighting behind golems, summons, barriers, and in your case, monsters, the better we can resist the Magical Beasts, and the more sess we will have against the armies of the other nations.


    They know that we have the advantage, and this rtive peace won''tst for much longer. If you don''t want to be cannon fodder, you need to act quickly to gain strength. So, strengthen the bird, and when you feel that you are strong enough to take on another pet, let me know and the Academy will find something suitable for you."


    That was a sharp change from yesterday''s regimen of focusing on building his physical strength as fast as possible, but if they didn''t know any more about his powers than he did, there wasn''t actually much they could teach him, other than methods that had worked for others with different powers.


    But Hawk was already out on the table, and happilypping up the mana infused monster blood while radiating an amount of power that was far beyond what anyone would expect of a Common Grade beast.


    After a few seconds, the effect seemed to fade, but the former swallow - sized hawk was now muchrger, and while it was still a Common Grade monster, it was getting much closer to fully grown and awakened level power.


    Then, something truly strange happened. Karl felt energy flowing from Hawk to him, clearing his mind, sharpening his eyesight, and leaving his muscles feeling fresh and strong.


    He had no way of subtly testing it, but Karl was almostpletely certain that his physical strength had suddenly increased as Hawk grew.


    Most of the people he had seen thesest few days were changing rapidly after the mana injection, so it might just be that, but the fact that it happened so suddenly after Hawk was given the monster blood seemed incredibly suspicious.


    Karl cleared his throat and looked at the empty vial on the table. "So, I resonate with Dragon energy, and Hawk likes monster blood. That second part isn''t exactly a surprise for a Hawk, but do you think that there is a known technique that will let us grow stronger more quickly?"


    "Well, we are limited in Dragon type energy, there just isn''t a lot of it floating around, but there might be another way. Carnivorous magical beasts grow stronger by killing and eating, absorbing the life force of other beasts. I think that moving the two of you to the practical courses as soon as you can finish basic skills and survival lessons would be for the best.


    We can''t just send you out of the Academy without getting you trained enough to defend yourself, the public would riot if they found out that one of the elite had died during training. The mana injections are great for us, we get the superpowers of all sorts, but to the average people, they are the promise of a safer future, without the nightmares of impending monster invasions or being left helpless during a war."


    Karl rolled his eyes as she got into the official propaganda. While she wasn''t exactly wrong, most of the students here would never fight in any war. Heck, half of them would never develop a skill that was actually useful during a war. No matter how cool a sword skill was, artillery still existed. Unless your sword could deal with an air strike, it was not suitable for use during a real war.


    But some of them really could deal with artillery using sword techniques.


    The Mages were a different story. But also, if his beast got powerful enough, or he managed to bond with a particrly powerful monster, he could also be a deadly fighting force. The hide of a powerful magical beast could stop bullets, and many types of beasts could breathe fire, call down lightning, or even slice apart armoured vehicles with their ws.


    He was already headed down thatst road, with [Rend], and if he could get it past the Awakened level of the power scale and into the Ascended levels, there was no reason that he couldn''t tear through an armoured vehicle on his own.


    "But for now, that''s mostly hypothetical. We''re not at war with anyone, and the magical beasts are being held at bay throughout the Golden Dragon Nation." Karl replied.


    "For now. Just trust me, Karl, you want to get in as muchbat training as you can, and I will apply for improved resources for Hawk. I know that birds are usually fine with whatever sort of meat you feed them, but if we want to force it to grow faster, it will take a detailed n." Rita informed him.


    Karl thought about that. A Windspeed Hawk was full-grown at four months old. But at that point, they were only low Awakened Level beasts with a Common Grade physique. It would take time and hunting stronger beasts if they wanted to grow past that strength level. Without some sort of reference or n, he could be stuck at a very low level in his second year.

 Chapter 15: Resources

    <h4>Chapter 15: Resources</h4>


    Rita started to take textbooks out of her bag, but a very different set of books than Karl had been issued his first day here. These were all about magical beasts, their diets, traits, abilities, and other factors that might be relevant to Hawk.


    "I will leave these for you, ande back tomorrow morning. What I want you to do today ise up with a care and feeding guide for the bird, and justify it with the information from the books. If it''s good, and it follows the information that we have in a logical way, I think that I can get you some more resources.


    At the very least, I can get some more of the mana infused monster blood. We stock quite a bit of that for the warriors and other sses who need an instant physical power boost." She informed Karl with a smile.


    Rita left Karl alone with the stack of books on monster data, which were all written from the perspective of a Hunter. At best, they noted what the beast''s usual diet was and where it could be found, but that was much different than a guide to help him properly raise them, much less one to raise them faster than usual topete against wild beasts and magic users.


    Fortunately, he only needed a care and feeding guide for Hawk toplete the homework, which was a perfectly reasonable level of workload for the day. Plus, he had a cheat.


    "Hey Hawk, what sort of things do you think would make you stronger? Something that you could eat, or keep near you to grow extra fast." Karl asked the happy bird, who had settled down in the space inside his mind to rest.


    [I like meat. And the red juice from the evildy, and those blue fruits over there. Can I eat those?]


    "Give me a second while I see what they are and what they''re for." Karl replied, before opening up the notebook for the balcony greenhouse.


    [{Mountain Gooseberries} Tasty treats for both humans and animals. Used to make monster bait. No nutritional value that I know of, but the smell will attract all sorts of monsters.


    This berry contains a high mana content, suitable for creating mana potions of the weakest variety. Even in concentrated form, it is not as strong as a normal mana recovery potion.]


    Karl read the description twice and then went to pick three of the berries.


    "You can have this many, one time a day. If you eat too many, you will get sick." He warned Hawk.


    Really, he just didn''t want the Hawk pigging out on junk food when he had a whole pile of meat in the taming space.


    The Hawk took the berries, looked at them with longing, then spread them all over the raw meat and began to tear it apart with renewed vigor.


    Karl added a note to the papers for his homework. [Windspeed Hawks will use the Mountain Gooseberry as seasoning on their preferred raw meat diet.]


    Once the Hawk had finished eating for a moment andy down to let the influx of mana and nutrients settle into its body, Karl started with the questions.


    "Why do you call Sergeant Rita the evil woman?" He asked.


    [Every time I see her, she wants me to work, but there is never food. What else could she be except evil?]


    That made a lot of sense. The baby Hawk was still a magical beast, and his stomach was a primary driving force for his behaviour. Whatever bond they had forged made Hawk friendly to Karl, but that consideration didn''t extend to anyone else around him.


    "Alright then, where is the mostfortable spot to rest?" Karl asked.


    [Right here, maybe the branches of that tea tree. Those ones smell good, and they hide your scent from prey. Tea trees are good trees.]


    All afternoon, Karl quizzed the bird and wrote out a report with the answers. Then he started to go through the textbooks, looking for supplements that might help monsters, or even elites with [Rend] type skills.


    The first group didn''t have much research on it, but the second one was prettymon. All sorts of warrior sses had a rending attack after a bit of training, and it was among the skill techniques that the Golden Divine Academy taught its warriors.


    Naturally, they had supplements that were designed to increase the ability of the warriors to explode with inner power. The question was if they would be effective on Hawk. Neither of them could tell from looking at the description, so Karl began to flip through the standard textbooks until he found the alchemy text.


    That one was more productive. Once they had the list of potential potions and treatments, Karl just had to check the ingredients and see if it was something that Hawk might like. Most of them were all herbal based, but once he got to the Strength Potion, he found something promising. It was made from monster blood, infused with the dust of a gemstone that gave off strong magical energy. The two together gave the human imbiber a long duration burst of energy.


    That stone was the promising part. He didn''t really need something that would give Hawk a burst of strength, it was a bird, not a gori, but the stone that it was made of radiated power that might help him grow more quickly.


    After that, Karl kept searching, but only found one other resource, a Wind Magic stone of the same sort. That one wasn''t a natural resource, it was created by Mages as a mana storage device. Hawk loved to absorb mana, and since it was air magic, Karl had some hopes that it would be able to work with that stone to improve its own abilities.


    That was four potential resources. High-energy monster meat with berries for seasoning, the infused blood, the strength stone and the wind stones. If he could get all four of them, he might even be able to get Hawk through to Awakened strength in the next few weeks.

 Chapter 16: Growing Fast

    <h4>Chapter 16: Growing Fast</h4>


    The next morning, Rita returned to collect Karl''s homework before breakfast, and then came back with a small bag for their ss work.


    "Alright, I got you what I could to see if the resources actually help a pet beast grow faster than the average. This isn''t going to be a short process, the Windspeed Hawk is going to need the whole semester to make it to Awakened naturally, so if you can do better than that, you should get good marks on your training.


    We will still work on your martial arts skills, though. If you get targeted by the opponents in a mock battle, you need to be able to defend yourself, and you do have at least one attack method of a magical variety." She informed Karl with a smile.


    "Well, at least I''m not expected to run and hide while someone beats up Hawk. What did you manage to find us?"


    Rita dumped the contents of the bag on the table, and Hawk went crazy in Karl''s mind. There were two strengthening stones, an entire litre of infused monster blood, and six blue wind stones that were giving off an incredible aura of power.


    "The Wind Stones were made by the headmaster personally. He was part of the first batch of sessfully injected elites, and he is now an Overlord Grade Mage. He says that if the Wind Stones really can be a cultivation resource for the Windspeed Hawk, he will dly make you more, and look into ways to awaken more elites in the same direction." Rita exined.


    [I take it back, evildy is actually nicedy.] Hawk screeched as it stared at the buffet in front of it.


    Karl ignored the bird''s antics in his mind, and ced one of the strength stones in a small dish full of monster blood. The energy seemed to seep from the stone to the ''soup'', but Karl wasn''t sure what to do with the wind stones.


    "You can''t crush the wind stones, it will break the spell. But if he just sleeps beside them, or wears one as a pendant, the mana should help. Assuming he can use it, anyhow. That''s how the new air magic users do it."


    Karl called Hawk out, and the bird immediately went to the soup, and licked the entire bowl clean before turning its head to the Wind Stones.


    Each was no bigger than the diamond on a wedding ring, but the energy contained inside was immense. Sleeping next to them shouldn''t be a problem, and Karl could even make a little pouch to carry them around Hawk''s neck.


    But the bird immediately ate one, and swirling winds began to build around the balcony, tearing leaves from trees and nearly knocking over nters for the smaller varieties, before Karl pulled Hawk into his mental space.


    [What are you doing?] He demanded of the tiny bird that was now radiating magical power.


    [It''s food. Amazing powerful food. What else would I do with it if not eat it?]


    Inside the space, winds whipped, and power flowed constantly from Hawk to Karl, strengthening his body as if he were the magical beast. But from the outside, from Rita''s perspective, everything was calm, and Karl was meditating or distracted by his thoughts, with no sign of external stimulus.


    All she could do was patiently wait until an hourter, when Karl finally opened his eyes and gave an exhausted sigh.


    "The Wind Stones are indeed an excellent resource for Hawk. Come on out and let her see you, my friend."


    The Windspeed Hawk appeared on the table, looking exactly as it always did, with cream feathers covered in mottled brown patterns that matched themon trees of the forest. But now it was muchrger, as long as Karl''s forearm, as a nearly full-grown Windspeed Hawk should be.


    It was also giving off the aura of an Awakened Grade monster.


    "Well, we can say for certain that feeding a Wind Stone to a Windspeed Hawk will cause an immediate growth breakthrough, and it will progress from fledgling to a young adult state within a few hours. He''s also starving again, and he has eaten everything I stored, so I''ll pour him some more blood into the dish." Karl offered as an exnation.


    "It really worked. There actually is a way to cultivate tamed monsters. How do you feel? Is it a strain on your body? Did you gain anything from the process, perhaps more mana, or a new power?" Rita asked, ready to take notes for the Academy.


    "I feel stronger, but I don''t know how to check my mana levels. Is there a device for that?" Karl asked.


    "No, the mages know instinctively, but I''m not a mage. We can bring you to er, and they can give us a reading for the records. But meanwhile, you can try to use your abilities and see how long it takes for you to get tired."


    Karl ran off to the closet in his small room to get the gauntlets, and came back out. A quick flex of his arms gave him a sense of great power, and once he got to the railing, he found that the resistance of the [Rend] spell on his actions was negligible. He had more than enough strength to move his arm normally, and the four thick arcs streaked through the air and out over the Academy courtyard.


    "Impressive. That is definitely at the Awakened Rank in power, but how many times can you do it? If there is no stamina, the Academy will ssify it as a Common ss burst ability on your part, where it is an Awakened Ability for the Hawk." Rita exined.


    Three more at full power was enough to leave Karl panting, but he had an idea.


    "Give me a few minutes to recover, and I think that I can do better."


    A short break, and a bit more to eat, had Karl back up to full strength, while Rita quietly made notes about his recovery speed.


    Karl tried again at half strength, and the drain on his energy was negligible. The feedback from Hawk was enough that Karl felt he could do this for hours, but instead he did it a dozen more times, alternating hands and directions of the cuts, as if he was shadow-boxing with [Rend] as the strikes.


    "Fifteen minutes at half output. That''s still Common Grade strength, but on the strong side of it, and it looks like you are improving as the Hawk improves. Once he is stronger, you should really be an Awakened Level fighter, or rather Beast Tamer, with the advantage of an Awakened Level beast to help you."


    "Not bad for the first week, right? If you leave those resources here, I think that we can do better by the end of the month. We might even have enough strength to fight with some of the second year students by the time the examse around."


    Ritaughed at Karl''s enthusiasm. "You had better make time in your day forbat training then, or even with Hawk, you''ll get beaten to a pulp."


    She had a point. This whole Beast Taming thing would be a lot easier if he had a giant rhino or something scary in front of him.

 Chapter 17: Proper Training Regimen

    <h4>Chapter 17: Proper Training Regimen</h4>


    Hawk went straight for the Wind Stones again, once nobody was paying attention, and grabbed another. But this time, it didn''t integrate into his body in the same sudden rush. Instead, there was a steady flow of Wind Magic from the stone to the bird, and its body seemed to be adapting to the excess energy at a much slower rate.


    "Does it only work that well once? That was a pretty high-level resource,pared to Hawk, so perhaps it damages the body when it is used in such an abrupt manner." Rita suggested, while flipping her short ck hair out of her eyes.


    "That''s possible, I can''t really tell and Hawk doesn''t understand either, he just wants the stones. I will ration them out for him, so he gets a new one when the old one is absorbed." Karl agreed.


    That would be a while, as after he ate the second stone, Hawk was begging to be let back into the mental space to sleep off its overindulgence.


    "Food Coma." Karl exined, when Rita gave the disappearing bird a confused look.


    She sighed and shook her head. "That''s not part of a proper training regimen. But today, we can forgive it, since he had such arge breakthrough. I approve of your diet n, and the infused blood will be brought to you regrly, along with a new strength stone, in a few weeks. Hopefully, this onests because that''s as fast as we can get another.


    It looks like your abilities are very fast-growing, but equally resource intensive. Perhaps if you grew naturally at the rate of the contracted beast, you could do it with only food resources, but from what we know of the wild magical beasts, they also need to eat some rare objects, or absorb strange energies to reach the higher ranks naturally."


    What Karl really needed was a way to improve the Hawk so it could beat other monsters at its level, and not just keep growing. They were likely to have to face beast packs and invasions in the future, and one monster on their side against ten on the other would mean very little to their chances of winning.


    Being able to work together was a nice start, but not enough to be considered a truly powerful sort of existence on his own.


    Hawk snorted in amusement in his mind. [What other Hawk of my level is so good with its magic or so majestic in flight?]


    [I know you''re the best, but I''m trying to think of ways to make us even better.] Karl countered.


    Hawk went quiet as he thought about it. Hawks only needed one skill, the ability to kill their prey, but he supposed that more ways to kill his food wasn''t necessarily a bad thing. Maybe if he watched other birds do it, he could find ways to do it better?


    The Windspeed Hawk wasn''t sure that was even possible, but it wanted to make Karl happy, so it was willing to try to use [Rend] in new ways.


    "Can we go down to the training areas? I think that the more we see actualbat while we''re training, the easier it will be toe up with ways to make ourselves better." Karl suggested.


    Hawk wasn''t going to being out for a while, so he might as well train himself while he had the chance.


    Rita led him out of the dorms and out into the field on the opposite side from his balcony. There was arge training area there, with stone squares in the open field, and arge group of students were training unarmedbat techniques there.


    They were all second year students, and very good at what they were doing, but just watching them gave Karl ideas on how he and Hawk could work together to ovee them.


    "We''re going to try something different today. Since you have a ranged skill of sorts, I want to start you on defensive basics. If you''re fighting from a distance without magical armour skills like the mages learn, then you need to have a way to block.


    Today, we will practice blocking iing attacks with your ws. The more you practice, the better you will get. Think of it like learning to y catch. Just hit the iing attack with your own."


    Somehow, that friendly description sounded extremely sinister to Karl, especially when she led him away from the unarmedbat field and toward a huge bunker.


    "There are mages at your level training here, stronger Common ss students that are close to breaking through to Awakened. They might have a bit more stamina than you do, since they''ve been practising longer, but it takes less to deflect the attacks than to form them.


    Now, at first, they will be firing down the training hall above your head. Don''t worry, they shouldn''t miss the target entirely at their level. Just do your best to deflect them off target."


    The mages nearby red at Sergeant Rita as she said those words. Who was she toe in here and interfere with their training? They were already at the bottom of their ss, but now she was bringing in some newbie hotshot just to mess with them?


    "Alright. Seniors, I apologize for the inconvenience." Karl apologized as he felt the res directed his way.


    "It is training for the mages as well. It''s one thing to just hit a target, but in the real world, targets will defend themselves. Being able to work around the defence tond a solid hit is also a necessary skill." Rita added.


    In the end, she was a teacher, and they didn''t have any say about her intentions for their training, but the thought that this was a real-world exercise, while they had been mostly abandoned to their own devices as the weakest of the elites, was somewhat reassuring.


    Rita led Karl to the other end of the training grounds, where a dozen targets were lined up.


    "Alright everyone, here is the goal. You just need tond hits on the targets, the same as always, but this time, Karl here will be doing his best to deflect those shots and keep them fromnding. With a dozen of you and one of him, it shouldn''t be hard, but he needs the stamina training to help stabilize his foundation.


    Have fun, and don''t be afraid to push yourselves to find new ways to get to the target."


    They started casting as soon as she finished speaking, and Karl frantically began to cast rending des at low output, letting them crash into the various spells. Some were deflected, some were only slowed, and some pushed through on their own with only a slight loss of power.


    It all depended on the element and the power of the spell as to what happened. Fire and water were the hardest to deflect, they just passed over with a loss of power, where ice, earth and other solid objects could be easily knocked off course.


    The next time, he only used one rending w per attack to save mana, but increased the power of each as he swatted aside and nullified the attacks.


    Karl panted with exertion and sighed. That was a mistake, the power needed was an exponential increasepared to the increased output. It was better to hit a target with multiple small attacks than one big attack.


    The Mages were actually beginning to enjoy themselves, as they realized that he wasn''t some wonder genius sent here to humiliate him, and that he was a newbie working on his mana control, just like they had been allst year.

 Chapter 18: Playing The Game

    <h4>Chapter 18: ying The Game</h4>


    With everyone limited in stamina and magical power, there were constant breaks, which also became part of the game that was yed between Karl and the mages. He would sit down to recover, but still swat at attacks if someone gotzy and an attack was particrly weak or slow moving.


    In the eyes of the supervisor, the lone teacher assigned to watch over the dozen mages in this ss, it was the best motivation that they had seen in months. None of these students were good at self motivating, and their abilities weren''t strong enough to get them a personal instructor, even one at the low level that Sergeant Rita had reached.


    To his trained gaze, the warrior with the Rending ws was likely to overtake her in power by the end of his first semester, while she had taken three years to make it to the middle of Ascended Rankbat power.


    Sergeant Rita was no genius when she had to learn magical powers, but she was a great martial artist, and from what he could see, a superb teacher. Not only had she motivated her own student, it was motivating his as well.


    Karl and the others trained together until lunch, after which the mages would be moving to theoretical training to help them learn new spells, and Karl would be moving on to either closebat training or theory sses on how to care for a magical beast and research assignments on the chances of increasing its power more than its species would normally allow.


    "Come with us for lunch. It looks like you awakened a pretty coolbat ability right from the start with the ranged w attacks. Most warriors are boring until they''re at least reaching the end of the Awakened Rank, and they can start to hit targets more than two metres away from them." One of the mages informed Karl.


    She was a tall and buxom blonde, but with the growth spurt that he had undergone thest few days, she was only a little taller than he was now, and Karl had hopes that he would reach an eptable height before he had enough sses with others that his reputation as a shorty would precede him. At the very least, everyone seemed to respect his abilities.


    None of them seemed to notice that Karl covered an entire te of raw meat in a drizzle of mana infused monster blood, or that it simply vanished into thin air, they were all more eager to discuss the ways that they had thought of to use their spells to get around his defences.


    "I think that if we increase the speed and fire them as double balls instead of a single, we can get at least one through to the target." One of the mages was suggesting.


    "Better if you send them a few metres apart, so that the other ws don''t hit. Or better, at slightly different speeds, that will make it harder to guess when they will arrive." Another mage sighed. His specialty was ice, and he had a terrible time getting the ice shards to hit the target when they were so easily knocked off course.


    "This is a different cafeteria than I''m used to, where are we?" Karl asked.


    "Oh, this is the cafeteria in the mage district. There is another in the warrior training area as well, for students who were a long way from the dorm cafeteria at lunch. The foods at each are totally different because they are specialized for the different groups.


    The warrior one has more nutrition-based options, designed to build muscle, while ours is more mana rich. The one at the dorm is a mix of everything, but mostly it''s used by the students who study in their dorms all morning, the nobat elites." The tall blonde exined.


    "That''s good to know. I have to train everything, but today, I definitely need the extra mana. I''m Karl, by the way."


    "Molly." The blonde replied.


    "Formerly known as Gertrude Dingwall." One of the boys teased.


    "But now I''m Molly. It''s on my ID card." The blonde replied in an annoyed tone.


    "You don''t have to put your real name on the sheet, you see. She asked if she could change it when she was on the train, and the guard said they''d call her anything she wrote there. Legend has it that some prankster a few years ago was known as Tater Sd for an entire year before he could get his card changed." One of the other mages informed Karl with a giggle.


    Hawk sighed in contentment as he feasted on the upgraded lunch package, courtesy of the red sauce that the not so evildy had left for him, and Karl sat and joked with the mages for an hour before Sergeant Rita came to inform him of his next training task.


    "We will see you all tomorrow morning, but for the afternoon Karl has actualbat training to do. He might have a ranged attack magic, but the Academy has determined that he is still a warrior ss."


    The mages made praying motions, wishing Karl the best of luck on surviving warrior training as well as ranged casting practice in a single day, then slowly made their way to theory sses with a renewed motivation to learn new spells that would get past his defence.


    Karl had been getting better all morning, but they all had thoughts on how to evade his defensive abilities.


    As they walked out across the grounds, Rita smiled at Karl''s concerned look.


    "Rx, it won''t be so bad. We''re going to the first year unarmedbat sses. It''s just basic martial arts, and most of them have very little skill. Your physique is miles beyond most of the other newbies, so you shouldn''t have too many problems adapting.


    Plus, I brought you one more resource that I scooped from the Mage ss instructor. It''s a memory drop, a condensed focusing spell that makes it easier to memorize things. It''s not powerful magic, but it''s incredible for studying. The Mages get them as a reward when they do well on tests."

 Chapter 19: Unarmed Combat Training

    <h4>Chapter 19: Unarmed Combat Training</h4>


    "Ah, Rita, wee. It''s good to see you back here as a teacher instead of a student. Who is this that you''ve brought with you?" The instructor, a small but muscr man in histe forties, asked.


    Chances are he wasn''t part of the elite, he was too old to have been chosen even a decade ago, but if he was a martial arts expert, he would be the perfect person to be training new recruits. They wouldn''t be stronger than he was, and they knew basically nothing, unless they happened to have some special training at home, with the hope that they would be in the lucky five percent that managed to gain an affinity to mana from the injection.


    That was a fairly big risk to take, but some would surely have done it, just in case.


    "This is Karl, he''s an agility type warrior with a ranged magical attack that utilizes the ws on the gauntlets. It has proven quite versatile, and since it''s a gauntlet type weapon, he should fit in fairly well in your unarmedbat sses as well." Rita exined.


    "Well, that sounds like it''s a properly versatile skill set. Alright, let''s see what you can already do, and what you still need to learn." The instructor agreed.


    Karlughed and Rita smirked. They both knew that he knew nothing, but with the enhancement that he had been getting from Hawk, at least he might not embarrass himself.


    The instructor noticed his uneasy look and smiled. "Don''t worry too much, it''s unarmedbat. Just leave your gauntlets over there, and we can spar a little. If you''re aplete newbie, just do what feels right, and that will tell me what way is best to help you develop."


    [Yeah, swoop down from above and break his neck.] Hawk added.


    [Not helpful, I can''t fly.]


    [Then jump or something. I don''t know.] Hawk pouted.


    Karl set his gauntlets off to the side and took abat stance that he had learned from Rita on the first day. At least he now knew how to throw a punch without hurting himself, but they would have to see how the actual match went.


    The instructor threw a sudden punch, and Karl swatted it aside as Rita had told him, then counterattacked with a punch of his own, which the instructor simply sidestepped to evade.


    For a man who couldn''t be an elite, he was insanely agile, and Karl''s follow-up punch also missed, making him think that Rita had been taking it even easier on him than he had first suspected.


    The instructor''s knee caught Karl in the midsection, forcing him back, but he swung his leg out in a sweep, trying to knock the instructor over.


    He misjudged the range, but being down low let him block the next knee, and tackle the instructor, who was only a little taller than Karl was.


    That turned out to be the wrong move, as the man caught him, and then suddenly Karl was spinning through the air tond on his back. Dust puffed up around him as the wind left his lungs and Karl gasped, but rolled to his feet.


    "Not bad, kid. I''ve got a good idea of how you like to fight now, so we will put you with the mixed martial arts group. Those stand up fighters do well against soldiers, but it looks like you will be better in bar brawls and nastier fights against monsters.


    It might seem counterintuitive, but with your speed and power, a punch to the head will stun many Common monsters, and grappling skills can be adapted to keep their ws away from you.


    It''s not an offensive art, you have your ranged attacks for that, but if they get past that, I think we can teach you to defend yourself."


    Somehow, punching a magical beast in the face seemed like an awful idea, but if the option came down to that or being bitten, he supposed it wasn''t all that bad.


    "Rita,e over here and give us a hand. Your student needs to learn the basics of the style, and we''ve already got an even number of students."


    Sergeant Rita looked like she had been prepared to sit this ss out, but when she was called, she didn''t resist. Not many of these new students would be Karl''s match anyhow, and it would just be bullying for him to spar with the ones who didn''t receive arge initial physical boost.


    Once again, Karl found himself headed back to the cafeteria for dinner, totally exhausted, sore in every muscle and barely able to walk. But the memory water was working, and he could recall each of the fifty techniques that he had been shown that day with perfect rity, along with the proper way to use them.


    After a few more weeks of training, so his body remembered it as well, he might even be able to consider himself a trained amateur fighter.


    Karl sat down alone at a table, but he was soon joined by other members of the unarmedbat ss.


    "Man, you won the lottery with that awakening, didn''t you? It''s the first week, but you''re already so fast, and you even got a personal trainer." One of the boys from the mixed martial arts group greeted him.


    Karlughed. "I got a personal trainer because my marking is different from any of the others, and they had no idea what sort of skill I was going to get. So, I was tossed a personal trainer, and we''re just guessing our way through it. Most of you guys should have gotten the grappler or monk marks, right? The open hand or the staff over the fist?"


    The small group at the table nodded. "Yeah, the initial skills are crap, but at least it was easy to awaken. All you need to do is punch something, and I managed that before I even got out of bed. I gave a fist pump in joy and hit the shelf, and that was enough to awaken my mark."


    "Plus, we get a load of extra stamina. Even if we can''t get to the most powerful ranks, we can at least grow up to be popr with thedies." One of the other boysughed.


    "It''s better than nothing. But sitting around all day talking about magic symbols like the mages sounds like much more fun than working my butt off learning martial arts and body strengthening skills."


    One of the other studentsughed. "Your head hurts trying to do basic math, you''d never survive as a mage."


    "It has to be easier than getting beat up every day. I''m a lover, not a fighter." The boyined.


    "We all know you''ve never done that either, so you might as well learn to fight."

 Chapter 20: Wind Stone

    <h4>Chapter 20: Wind Stone</h4>


    While Karly in bed, wondering how he was going to deal with the mage ss in the morning, Hawk was busily finishing absorbing the wind gem that he had been given. With the level difference between the Hawk and the stone, it should be giving him all sorts of benefits, but after the first stone, which brought him to the Awakened Level, there wasn''t much change.


    His mana levels were steadily growing, which was pulling Karl up with him, but nothing as shocking as the first stone.


    It was with great regret that the generous offer of resources was wasted that Karl fell asleep, only to be awakened before dawn as a surge of magic flowed through his body.


    [Skill Gained: Wind Shield]


    The absorption of the stone had granted Hawk a new skill, though the new spell was unavable to Karl, at least for now.


    "Now that''s more like it. Another spell for you, and that is one that a normal Windspeed Hawk wouldn''t manage to learn. Congrattions." Karl cheered for the bird, who was already settling back down to sleep.


    It had managed toprehend better magic with the help of the stone, and now it had no intention of being awake while it wasn''t hungry. Unfortunately for Karl, he wasn''t so lucky, and the excitement kept him awake for hours, letting him get back to sleep just before the rm went off to get ready for breakfast.


    "You''re looking chipper this morning. Aren''t you sore?" One of the boys from thebat training ss asked.


    "I recover pretty quickly. It''s all just a matter of eating enough to keep up with your needs." Karlughed as he pointed to the te in front of him.


    After the breakthrough yesterday, his appetite had grown muchrger, and again this morning, his clothes were a size too small. Before he went for training, he was going to have to go to the supply room and get new uniforms that actually fit.


    Karl made his way to theundry room, where the sign said they could apply for new uniforms, and was greeted by a veryrge woman in a raincoat.


    "What do you need then? A bit early in the day forundry, it won''t be ready untilter, and I''ll put it in your room." She announced.


    "Actually, I need uniforms that fit. I''ve been growing like crazy since I arrived, and neither of the ones I was given fits anymore, I can''t even do up my shoes, I''m standing on the heel." Karl replied.


    "Ah, right then. I''ll get you sorted out. Just bring the others down to meter."


    Theundry woman came back a few secondster with two uniforms in fresh stic bags and a pair of boots, plus a pair of shoes and sandals.


    "If you turn out to be one of those giants, then you might need the sandalster. Just try to keep things in good condition, so I can issue them to the other students once they''re all washed. Once you''re settled through the growth phase, you should be fine."


    Karl returned to his room to change, and then went down to meet Rita for their morning visit with the mages.


    [Hey Hawk, which one do you think is more mana efficient, Rend, or Wind Shield?] He asked.


    [Rend, of course. But Wind Shield can block big things, and water balls. Stupid water balls.] Hawk replied.


    Karl wasn''t sure what the water had done to him, the bird had been sleeping most of the morning yesterday, but there was a chance that the young bird was just moody and needed more attention.


    "Why don''t youe out and sit on my shoulder for the morning? We can block water balls together." Karl suggested, and Hawk was instantly out, sitting on the shoulder of his coat while impatiently rocking, waiting for them to get to work.


    "I take it Hawk is going to join us for the day?" Rita asked.


    "He was feeling a bit caged in, waiting to be able to do something other than sleep and wait. I think it will be good training for him as well, and there are plenty of spells for him to block. Don''t worry, he knows to block the spells, not to attack the casters."


    Ritaughed as she led them to the training grounds, where the mages were already assembled and waiting.


    "You have a pet bird? That is just awesome. Will he be watching? That''s a male Windspeed Hawk, right?" One of the girls from the mage ss asked.


    "He is. His name is Hawk, and he will be helping me out today with the blocking duties." Karl agreed.


    The mages looked extra excited. They were wondering what a magical beast would do to block their attacks, but they didn''t want to go find a wild one to find out firsthand. This was much safer, and they would be able to learn if the Hawk''s logic on what should be blocked was different from what a human''s would be.


    The barrage began again, but with faster attacks, variable speed attacks, and multiple castings to try to get around Karl''s defences. As soon as the fight started, Hawk leapt up into the air and circled behind the targets so that he could attack downward, the way that he was used to, and began targeting the water balls.


    Nobody else noticed at first, as there were only a couple of water mages, but they were quite certain that the bird had something against them.


    "Hey, did that Hawk just cast a Wind Shield? I swear that it used a barrier spell when my water balls split to go around the rending des." The water mageined.


    "It''s a Windspeed Hawk. Since when do they have a barrier ability?" One of the other magesughed, and then saw his fireball simply dissipate against an invisible shield.


    "Dammit, they do have a Wind Shield. Alright, I''ve got a counter for that." The Fire Mage raged, while the other magesughed and the Hawk screeched happily.


    His next attack was three fireballs, split in speed so they wouldn''t be easily blocked.


    Hawk spread his toes and swung his foot, sending a trio of rending des out to intercept. They hit all three fireballs at once, and the other mages cheered.


    "Man, he''s good. No wonder people tell horror stories about trying to get away from bird type monsters."

 Chapter 21: Outside? No, Keep Working

    <h4>Chapter 21: Outside? No, Keep Working</h4>


    After the skills training with the mages finished, and they had all managed to drag themselves to lunch, exhausted but satisfied with their progression, Karl began to mentally prepare himself for the afternoon skills training.


    Hawk was happily resting on the table with a chunk of roasted meat, but Karl could tell that the bird''s mind had already wandered to the monster blood treated delicacies that had been stored in the taming space for him to snack on all afternoon while his leader learned how to fight.


    "Do you think that they will let you go out with the newbie training patrols? I know that you''re training alone, and on a different learning program than everyone else in the first year ss, but we also heard the teacher talking today about how they might ck badge you soon, and then you''ll be able to lead a group into the woods.


    The actual sses always have wilderness assignments, but they can''t go without an awakened or stronger team leader, so most of the first years have to beg for favours from the upperssmen, or wait until the teachers organize an outing." One of the girls asked.


    She was also a ck badged awakened mage, but looked older than many others in the misfit mages ss, so she might be in her third year, not her second.


    "I will have to ask Sergeant Rita about it. I didn''t know that the others had to leave the academy grounds to do things in their first year, so it''s all news to me. Other than thebat training ss, where I don''t actually spar with many of the other students because I''m physically strong and untrained, you guys are the only student interaction that I have." Karl exined.


    "Oh, that makes sense. This early in the year, you wouldn''t be doing much of anything but learning the basics. It''s mostly the alchemists, druids, garden witches and such that have to go outside into nature to train. Their skill set requires it." The mage agreed.


    "Yeah, and the more esoteric mages often don''t leave the library for more than an hour or two a day for their entire time at the academy. They just learn as much as they can about spells, and then never actually use them for anything. I should have worked harder to be one of them, it would be less exhausting." One of the boys added.


    "If you can, you definitely want to go outside, though. There are all sorts of good things out there, especially for a meat lover like Hawk, and you''ll get extra credit for leading the group, which you can spend at the supply room."


    Sergeant Rita''s voice came from behind Karl. "Are you lot trying to steal away my student? He''s got a long way to go before he''s ready to go out into the wilderness unapanied."


    The Magesughed and everyone pointed at the bird on the table.


    "Did you know that the Windspeed Hawk can use [Wind Barrier]? With that and Rend, it''s already tougher than most of us. Plus, it''s a magical beast, and there''s still a whole Karl to go with it." One of the mages exined.


    Rita gave the mages a stern look that said she wasn''t going to be changing her mind on Karl going on wilderness outings, no matter whether he got the ck badge or not.


    "Your tes are empty, and Hawk has finished basking in the attention, so pack him away and get to the training ss. We will be testing your memory today." Rita ordered, then left Karl to clean up and follow behind her.


    "Looks like the mention of going outside got her upset. I''ll see you all tomorrow." Karlughed as he transferred Hawk back into the Taming Space.


    He could do that from a distance, but he wasn''t sure just how far it worked from, as he hadn''t tried it from more than across the room. That was another skill that he would have to practice with Hawk eventually, once their bond and bodies were strong enough that they could operate individually and didn''t have to rely on each other for everything.


    Well, maybe they wouldn''t wait on the bodies to get stronger, Windspeed Hawks were better known for their skills than their durability, but the sentiment was the same.


    Karl jogged down to the training area, where Sergeant Rita was waiting for him with a few older students, and the regr ss was just beginning to assemble in the locker room to get changed.


    "Give me two minutes and I will be back out." He called as he saw the Sergeant already changed and waiting.


    "Bare feet and shorts, shirt optional." One of the older students called back.


    That was the normal sort of training outfit for the mixed martial arts ss, so Karl didn''t think much of it as he got ready and came back out.


    "Not bad, still young but a good bit of muscle mass, lean and solid." One of the older students noted when Karl returned without a shirt. It would just get in the way while sparring, so he was carrying it with his towel and water bottle, both sourced from the shelves in the changing room along with the training outfit.


    Rita looked over Karl and the training group. "Alright, first we will start with a quick sparring session to see how much of your training you actually managed to remember. I remember giving you some resources that will help you retain knowledge, so I have high expectations."


    Karl couldn''t tell how strong these students were supposed to be when everyone was in training outfits, but the boy he was paired up with was only a littlerger than he was, and slightly more heavily muscled.


    None of the students in this training ss were pure bodybuilder physiques, it would interfere with their flexibility. That didn''t mean much when there were supernatural abilities involved. Many of the Warrior sses got strong physical enhancements as they practised, as good or better than the feedback that Karl got from Hawk.


    "This will be a three-minute round. Now, start." Rita announced.


    His opponent darted out a jab to test Karl''s reaction speed, which he blocked while moving forward for a knee strike. Being smaller, it was to his advantage to get as close as he could, where the other boy''s reach advantage didn''t mean anything.


    He had learned that yesterday while getting beaten up by Rita.


    He only knew a few strikes, punches, knees and elbows, along with a few blocks, but hopefully, it would be enough to get him through the next three minutes.


    The older boy aimed a strike at Karl''s head, which he ducked under and punched toward the stomach.


    This opponent was fast, nearly as fast as Rita, and he danced out of the way instead of blocking, which allowed him to move out of Karl''s punching range. It put Karl on the defensive as the boy counterattacked, but either he was weaker than Rita or he was holding back, and he didn''t manage tond a solid hit for the next minute as Karl threw a few kicks and tried to get back in close again.


    It wasn''t working, the boy had figured out the trick to keeping Karl away with knee strikes, and the two were at an impasse when the round ended.


    "Not bad. But neither of you couldnd a hit to save your lives." Rita admonished them.


    "He''s short, and stupidly fast. If you want someone who can beat him up in a sparring match, ask the Monk sses, not me." The boyined.

 Chapter 22: Situational Awareness

    <h4>Chapter 22: Situational Awareness</h4>


    After two hours and a dozen opponents, Rita finally stopped calling more people to the ring.


    "Alright, I have thebat data that I need. It looks like Karl here has a pretty good memory and instinct for someone who has clearly never won a fight before in his life. That''s good enough for us to get started on the next round of instruction." She announced.


    "The next round? What exactly are we going to have to do next? I''m already struggling to win a fight here unarmed, I''m not sure that throwing more knowledge at me is going to help." Karl asked.


    Ritaughed at Karl''s concern. "No, we''re not going to force you to learn even more in the next few days. Instead, what we will be doing is tying everything that you have learned into one practical lesson and then grinding it into your brain until it is impossible for you to forget it.


    You need to be able to block attacks while fighting, and work with Hawk at the same time. Like a Mage that has been tasked with both offence and defence, you''ll be working overtime, and you need to build your situational awareness."


    Karl nodded like he understood, but Rita saw right through his subterfuge.


    "What I mean is that you must be aware of where all threats are at all times, or either you or Hawk could get yourselves into a lot of trouble. You''re not indestructible, and enemies will try toy traps for you.


    That means you can''t let the Hawk act freely on instinct, they will know what to expect from that. You have to guide him while also protecting yourself and maintaining a solid offence so that you can fight your way out of trouble if it finds you." Rita exined.


    "Well, that sounds like a lot of work, so it must be important. How am I going to do that?" Karl asked.


    "Practical skills training ss. You will have uracy and speed training with the mages in the morning, martial arts training in the afternoon, and then an entire day of practical skills training every week.


    Now, tomorrow is normally the odd day for most students, where they take their elective subjects instead of their core training. For you, that means practical skills. Then the day after is an off day, so catch up on rest and healing, and you''ll be back with the mages on Monday morning."


    At least there was still an off day.


    "Now, you can call it an early day and go get something to eat. Tomorrow will be a long one, and the first time is always the hardest. But trust me, this ss will be important for you, especially if you start collecting more Monsters on your side." Rita added, then walked away.


    Karl wanted to argue that he could do perfectly well like the mages that he worked with, just doing theory for half the day and practical skills for the other half, but that didn''t seem to be an option now that he had been singled out as having a unique skill.


    The fact that he was currently one of the strongest freshmen briefly entered his mind, but as Karl hadn''t actually interacted much with the other new students, his skills could only bepared to the second year students, where even the misfits of the ss could probably take him in a fight.


    It didn''t feel all that impressive as a title.


    When he showered, changed and finally got back to the student cafeteria for an early meal, there were a lot more students than usual hanging around, chatting andughing. These were the other freshmen that Karl didn''t usually see, who were still undergoing mostly theoretical training for the nobat skills that they had awakened.


    Unlike the scorched, frozen and bruised freshmen who would show upter, these looked surprisingly cheerful, though Karl could see that whatever they were doing was wearing them out, and they were mentally exhausted.


    "Oh, it''s the first through the field. Why don''t youe and join us?" One of the girls asked as Karl stepped into line behind her.


    "It looks like I already have a reputation." Karlughed as more people turned to look at him.


    A boy a few ces in front of him nodded. "They use your group as the example of what sort of courage and caution we are supposed to have. You all managed to make it all the way without any issues, other than the ones caused by other groups that weren''t as good.


    The teachers want to make sure that we all know it too, and the others from your group, Dana, James, and Kruger are already living the celebrity life in ss. Well, mostly James and Kruger, since Dana disappeared into the Library to do her mage training on the first day and doesn''t reallye out much."


    The girl who had greeted Karlughed. "That''s because she wants to find a way to reduce the casting cost of her magic until she can use it for a whole fight. I told her that it''s not realistic, mages are burst damage sorts, st it hard and hope it dies, but she''s bent on being able to fight for longer without switching to area effects, which don''t work well in a group."


    Karl shrugged. "We''ve all got our own style, I guess. But being able to work in a group is important as well. I heard thatter in the year everyone gets a chance to go out on missions for extra credit, and that is normally done in arger group with one of the seniors."


    The students in line all nodded eagerly as the girl replied. "We''re looking forward to it. The extra credit isn''t about marks in ss, it can get you all sorts of special privileges. Well, it can get us all sorts, but I heard that you already have an assigned tutor and customized sses, so you don''t need to worry about the two biggest ones that everyone wants."


    "It''s not all sunshine and rainbows. A full-time tutor means full-time customized sses on their schedule, not yours. I would love to be able to ck off." Karlughed.


    The students around him snorted in amusement. "Even without them, the teachers are right on top of anyone who tries to ck. It''s like they know the instant that you''re not working as hard as you could be, and they''re trained to jump on you and make you catch up. The pure amount of homework that we all got the first few days because we treated ss like school was insane."

 Chapter 23: Practically Trained In A Swamp

    <h4>Chapter 23: Practically Trained In A Swamp</h4>


    The next morning Karl was waiting at the training grounds just as Sergeant Rita had instructed, when arge group of first year students arrived together, and a handful of senior students with ck badges came walking in with casual smiles on their faces.


    "Looks like we''ve got a new addition. Which group are you here to join?" One of the ck badged students asked.


    "No idea. Sergeant Rita just ordered me to be here." Karl replied with a shrug.


    The students all gave him an assessing look, trying to guess what his skill and power level was at, but even with his recent growth spurt, he just looked like a handsome teen boy, not yet old enough to be called a young man.


    Then the teachers arrived, two mages and Sergeant Rita, who had a bundle in her arms as she walked over to Karl.


    "Flip your coat inside out. You will be the g carrier for team five. Here is your actual g for the mission, wear it as a cape, and I wish you luck. As I said, the first day is always the hardest." She informed him with a smile.


    "OH? We get a rookie for today''s training?" One of the senior students asked.


    Therger of the two mages, an old man who must have been a natural mage and not one of the injected elites, cleared his throat and everyone fell silent.


    "Most of you know the rules. Odd numbered teams are on defence, protect your gs as well as you can. The g carriers are your team leaders. Even numbered teams are on offence, your senior will lead the team.


    This is a group training exercise, as you alone won''t be able to face down every threat thates your way during training. Sergeant Rita will hand out the tokens at random, while the seniors know their numbers already. Senior Geoffrey is out on a mission, so Karl will be taking his ce for the next few weeks."


    Rita walked through the groups of first year students and passed out tokens, which everyone pulled from a bag, then the students grouped up based on the token they drew.


    The fact that it waspletely random, and that they wouldn''t have any guarantees of a decent grouping, was already giving Karl a headache, but it looked like the others were well aware of the situation, and they were already making ns for how they would work with what they had.


    That was the point of the lesson. When there was an emergency call, whoever was close to the emergency answered. You didn''t get to pick and choose a front guard, healer and mages, you just fought with what you had, and there was no extra time to figure it out.


    Karl''s group was Dana, the mage girl who was behind him on the first day, along with sevenrge boys that all had shields and hammers or spears.


    "Oh,e on." One of the other students groaned as they saw the group forming.


    "How did group five end up with every defender in the entire ss?" One of the mages agreed.


    His group was five mages and three boys with short swords and daggers. If they were attacking, it wouldn''t be too terrible, but they were group three, and they would have to defend a g without anyone who could take an attack head on.


    The g carrier for group fourughed and pointed at his group. Eight first year mage girls, which left a grand total of two girls not on his team. Dana, and a warrior in group two.


    But, they had picked the numbers out of a bag, so if there was any trickery going on, it was not easy to detect.


    "It looks like today''s game will be an interesting one. Sometimes the luck of the draw means that you have to improvise. While group five has the shields, they don''t have a lot of mobility, and they only have one spell caster. It''s not impossible to overtake them and capture the g, you just have to get creative."


    Karl draped the ck g with the golden Academy logo on it over his shoulders as a cape and tied it off, then joined his group to see what they could do.


    "You will have two minutes to prepare, then we will move everyone to their starting positions." The older mage announced, while the other mage started toy out a mat on the ground that had all sorts of fancy symbols drawn on it.


    "Alright, what can everyone use for skills? With so many mages it will be difficult to just turtle, they will target me pretty quickly." Karl asked.


    "The joys of being the new guy. They''ll all be gunning for you because you''re the only leader who doesn''t know what he''s doing. I''m assuming that you''ve been training for this since we got here, but the other leaders are all in the second and third year. As far as skills go, I can create fog, or magic missiles." Dana exined, then swept her dark curls back from her face to tie them in a ponytail.


    "We''re allmon warriors, and we''ve all got the same two skills. [sh] and [Guard]. It''s a thing that apparently happens every year because Guard is the mostmon skill, and sh is easy to teach." One of the warriors exined.


    "Alright, what does [Guard] do exactly? At your level, that is. I''m not worried about how the Dragon Bulwark uses his in the movies." Karl replied.


    The studentsughed at the thought that they might eventually manage to use the Guard skill at the Overlord level to create a barrier that could extend a whole city block.


    "It covers an octagon about three metres across. It will take a couple of spells for the others to knock down, but if the attacking team leaders target one of us, we''re pretty much screwed." The boy exined.


    Karl nodded. "I expected as much. Does everyone remember the diator movies? The triple line formation and the turtle shell? When we''re attacked, form up to create an ovepping wall with your shields, and only when we''re in trouble, use Guard to block them out.


    Staying close together will make us harder to find, as long as we''re not in an open field, while Dana and I will have to be the offence unless they charge us."


    Dana sighed. "You know, magic missile uses a lot of mana, I can''t do it much. The fog is easier though, I''m pretty good at the fog."


    "Is there natural fog where we''re going?" Karl asked.


    The others all shook their heads.


    "Then save it until we''re under attack. I don''t want them to find us because of the fog itself. How fast does it cast?"


    Dana frowned. "About ten metres radius per minute, slowing as it expands. If we want to use it effectively, it will take time."


    [Time is up. Everyone, prepare to transport.] The mage shouted.

 Chapter 24: Swamp

    <h4>Chapter 24: Swamp</h4>


    Suddenly, they were standing knee-deep in swamp water, with a slight mist on the surface, and thick trees all around them.


    "Dana, begin the fog spell. Everyone else, crouch down in the water near that stand of trees." Karl whispered.


    Nobody was happy about being neck deep in swamp water. It smelled of rot and something even more foul, but they obeyed Karl''s order and hid in a circr formation, with Karl and Dana in the middle.


    Karl released Hawk and let the bird stand on his shoulder for a moment.


    "Hawk, go scout the area for attackers, they''re the groups with nobody wearing a ck cloak like mine. Don''t let them see you, ande back within five minutes." He whispered, speaking out loud so that the others could understand what his n was.


    "You have a pet bird?" Dana asked.


    "I do. It''s part of my ss skills. But it''s also a real bird, so I don''t want him hurt." Karl exined.


    "The bird scouts the area, to let us know when someone is likely to find us so that we''re not ambushed. The fog hides our exact location, even if they can figure out right away that it is unnatural. Being in the water makes us difficult to target, and gives us the chance tounch the first strike." One of the warriors deduced.


    "Exactly. Dana, don''t make the fog as thick at the edges, make it get thicker as you approach the trees behind us. If they are targeting by the centre of the fog, I want them to miss us by at least a few metres. If we''re lucky, they''ll find each other first, and we can face weakened groups." Karl added.


    Dana softly chuckled as she worked. "This is such a dick move. What''s next? Tearing vines from the trees to hide under?"


    Karl didn''t even have to say anything, the warriors immediately got to work pulling some vines free. Not tearing them from the ind, but pulling them up so that they could sit a nket of vines over the group and pretend they were part of the ind.


    The fog cloud was growing quickly, but the groups were spread out over a square kilometre of swamp, and they weren''t alone. There were Common Grade monsters here as well, bullfrogs and beetles, who made a lot of noise and distracted the groups that were trying to search for the defenders.


    A few minutes in, Hawk swooped down from the sky,nding on the vines that had been pulled over Karl''s head, and then disappeared into his Taming Space.


    [I''m full. I''m going to nap now.] He announced.


    [Did you eat bullfrogs instead of working?] Karl asked.


    [I worked. Nobody ising this way. Two of the other coat people are close together, and the others are all going that way.] The bird replied as it settled into the nest.


    "Hawk says that the other two defender groups started close together, and everyone else is headed that way. So, it''s three on two on the other side of the area. They likely won''te looking for us until that fight is over. Is there anything that we can do to help Dana keep up her energy and expand that fog?" Karl whispered.


    "Nothing. It''s not too draining though, I just need to keep focusing on it. By the time that theye looking for us, it will be big, but if they don''t lose people, they will be able to just walk in a line and find us."


    The warriors shrugged. That was actually fine by them. The ranged attackers wouldn''t be able to see the fight from more than a few metres away, and they were closebat fighters anyhow. Being found at thest moment was just what they wanted.


    [Hawk, go rest up in the trees. Keep an eye out for the other groups while you rest, since you can''t keep your appetite under control between meals.] Karl instructed.


    [Fine, I will go watch.]


    The bird was going to need some sort of discipline training soon, Karl decided, but he had no idea how to train an intelligent monster, or what would even work to keep the food motivated creature working hard and not gorging itself at the first opportunity.


    The fact that it had managed to hunt a Common Grade creature without any issues and return unharmed was a good sign that the Windspeed Hawk''s power was growing quickly, though. Much faster than was normal for the species, and Karl was quite certain that it had to do with their bond.


    There was far too much that he didn''t know about this power, but as Hawk settled into the tree and began diligently watching the ongoing battles with his keen vision and rying the y by y back to Karl, he began to understand a little more.


    Hawk did what he wanted and whined constantly for more food, as was the way of all baby birds, but when Karl actually gave him an order, the bird obeyed. It was just that Karl didn''t give enough orders, or enough details, so Hawk could take full advantage to twist them in the way that he wanted.


    Like the first mission, to scout and return. He did exactly that, and probably didn''t miss much during the seconds that it took to ambush the bullfrog. Then he promptly tried to take a nap because it wasn''t forbidden, and that was what a hawk naturally wanted to do after eating.


    When they were training with the mages, Hawk never acted up, but Karl was giving him instructions every few seconds to keep him in ce to block the sections that he couldn''t cover himself. Without the open-ended orders, the problem didn''t exist.


    [The fight on the other side is almost over. The old one has taken away most of the people, but there are four young people headed south now. They''re noting this way yet, but they''re looking for something.] Hawk informed him.


    "Hawk says that the others are headed south after their battle. Only four are left, and they''re following the edge of the designated area." Karl whispered to the others.


    "Only four?" One of the warriors behind Karl asked.


    "Yeah, I''m not sure which four yet. I will try to get details, but for now, I have an idea." Karl added.


    The rest of the group eagerly waited for anything that didn''t involve crouching in a fetid swamp to be the new n.


    "We will keep up the fog expansion from the same point, but we are moving. They know where the extent of thebat zone is, so we are going to hide and wait for them to search the fog, then return and let the time pse. Defending the g doesn''t have to mean fighting at all, we can frustrate them to death."

 Chapter 25: Found

    <h4>Chapter 25: Found</h4>


    From afortable chair in a small hut on the edge of the Academy Grounds, the old mage watched the scene in the training grounds in a crystal ball.


    "That new leader is sneaky. I like the way that he thinks, but he might be too afraid ofbat." He noted.


    Sergeant Rita snorted and shook her head.


    "No, he''s just avoiding any extra work. See the Hawk he''s got up in the trees? The two of them canmunicate. He''s ying cat and mouse with the other team because he knows there is a timer, and they won''t double back on an area they''ve just searched.


    If they don''t catch the trick, the time is going to run out with his people just sitting in the swamp." She exined.


    The younger mage nodded. "His task was to protect the g for the duration of the match, not eliminate the attackers. It is a valid strategy. It reminds me of when we collected that Grimoire from the Thalian Temple, and then just sat on the beach for a week drinking margaritas until the search teams moved on."


    The older mageughed softly at the memory. Their world had a rich history of magic to go along with the dangers of the magical beasts that lived in it, but as cultures shifted, the magically adept had gathered into their own enves, and leftrge parts of the world to rely on developing technology to survive.


    When they did survive, that was. Many of the magical societies in the ancient past had believed that the human poption shouldn''t exceed a few million for the entire, in order to keep the game preserves and rare species that they used as hunting grounds and reagents for their spells intact.


    So, when those left behind with no magic and insufficient weapons were eliminated, they didn''t take any action to prevent the disasters.


    That bit got glossed over in the history books, described as a failure of allied nations, rather than magic users banding together to the exclusion of everyone else, but that was mostly because the few powerful magic users who stayed in ces like the Golden Dragon Nation were instrumental to helping the civilization survive while they developed enough technology to stand on their own.


    Karl led his team south through the swamp, hiding behind trees as the attackers moved through the fog, and then waited as Hawk ryed their efforts to double-check the area, as the foggy area in the swamp was not only suspicious, it was the perfect hiding ce for a group of warriors who didn''t want to engage in rangedbat.


    Among the four attackers, there were two group leaders, who were both warriors with ranged attacks, and two first year mages. It was a well-bnced group of survivors, but they were outnumbered by the defenders and couldn''t afford to be caught from behind if they missed someone.


    "They''ve moved. I don''t sense any life hererger than a bird." One of the leaders whispered.


    "If your skill says so, then we can keep going. But I think that they will return once they believe that we are gone, so let''s circle back." The other agreed.


    The mages weren''t particrly happy about wading through swamp water all morning, but they got extra credit for just being part of the special training program, a reward for top-performing students, so they weren''t going toin and risk getting switched out.


    The attacking group headed north to check for the hiding spot of thest defenders, and Karl prepared to give the order to move again.


    "There are only fifteen minutes left." One of the warriors whispered.


    "In that case, we wait right here. Hawk says they''re going north, so they''re not likely to find us at all."


    The group silently waited as the attackers moved north, then with ten minutes left in the match, they turned back south, moving more quickly and searching for thest defenders.


    "They''reing back. Hawk says they''re almost to the fog now." Karl ryed as their scout exined the change.


    They were deep in the fog when one of the two leaders noticed the disturbed roots and groaned in frustration.


    "They hid here at the start, but they must have heard using and moved. They''re not north or east, this is almost at the western edge, so they have to be south." He whispered to his team.


    "So, we search for them in the fog again?" One of the Mages asked.


    "No, they should be outside of it, the fog hasn''t spread that far. Just don''t let them ambush us because they might have split up to set a trap instead of being in a tight formation."


    The attack group moved cautiously, but they were moving directly toward the spot where Karl had hidden the defenders.


    Unlike the first spot in the swamp, they were not in the water here, they were lying among the thick foliage on rtively dry ground, counting on Hawk''s warning to prevent them from being caught in a disadvantageous position.


    [Hawk, once the fight begins, you attack with Rend from above, but keep your distance. They can attack back, and I don''t want you getting hit.]


    Then Karl whispered to his team. "Once we spot them, everyone to their feet, turtle formation. Dana, prepare your attack spell, and I will as well. Go for the leaders first, they''re the real threat. We will leave the mages to Hawk, since they likely can''t take a hit."


    The warriors smirked. They hadn''t seen Karl in action yet, but he had to have something going for him if he had been picked as a substitute team leader for the day.


    The attackers came into sight, and the defence group rose to their feet, forming up and lifting their shields.


    "They''re in a full circle formation. It looks like they''re on to your tricks." One of the warriors quietly joked.


    The other had managed to master a movement technique that would allow him to move with incredible speed for a few seconds, so he could attack from unexpected angles.


    Karl, of course, had no idea. He had set the turtle shell in case the mages had tricks up their sleeves so that the team could create a full dome of protection with [Guard].

 Chapter 26: A Bird In The Bush

    <h4>Chapter 26: A Bird In The Bush</h4>


    "Now." Both team leaders ordered at the same time, and [Guard] barriers went up at the same time that two blinding sword lights tore across the intervening gap, and six red streaks came down from the sky toward the mages'' backs.


    Karl shed an uppercut toward the attackers, sending his own [Rend] attack into the iing sword light. The collision dissipated the ws, but dimmed the light of the sword attacks, before the second [Rend] stopped them entirely.


    The warriors on Karl''s team smiled in victory as Hawk''s attacks took down both of the mages, activating the defensive charm on their uniforms and sending them out of the battle.


    "Sonofabitch, what just happened?" One of the attackers shouted, unaware that they had been ambushed.


    They looked around frantically, unsure of where the next attack woulde from. Hawk was still in the trees behind them, unwilling to fly out and make himself a target if he didn''t have to. It distracted them for just long enough that Karl couldunch two more attacks of his own, forcing them to defend, while Dana prepared her Magic Missiles.


    She took longer than most to cast them, but when she did, her strength was much better than average. The attacking team leaders couldn''t do anything about the magical projectiles, as their des were already out of position from trying to parry Karl''s [Rend].


    They took the hits, absorbing them with their enhanced physiques, then jumped sideways to dodge the next attack by Hawk.


    "That''s just low. How did you trick the monsters into being on your side." The boysined, while Karl''s teamughed.


    "Didn''t they warn you? Karl has a pet Hawk, it''s the talk of the first year dorms." Dana joked.


    Their banter was interrupted as they were all surrounded by glowing magic, and moved to the staging area where they had started the battle.


    "The match is over. I let you chat for a moment, but the victory goes to defence team five." The older mage announced.


    "How did we lose?" The attackers demanded.


    "You might not have noticed, but there were more than two sets of Rending ws in the air when you evaded. You jumped right into the second set, and my defensive magic absorbed it for you, so it didn''t y your backs open.


    You, Karl, was it? How long will it take for your Hawk to get back here?" The mage added.


    Karl focused on his taming space, and Hawk appeared, disgruntled about having been left behind. The training area was part of the circle around the academy though, so he had only been a kilometre away, and could have been back in a matter of minutes.


    "If I didn''t call him, only a few minutes. We were only transported a kilometre or so. That is an incredible spell, by the way." Karl replied.


    The younger mage smiled at Karl''s enthusiasm. "It is a magical item that came from an ancient ruins. The ability to transport more than one student at a time allows for a much more immersive experience, but the protective magic is entirely the providence of the Senior Professor."


    "Well, we should get you all washed off. It''s not often that a team decides to actually hide in the swamp, normally they choose a more stand-up fight on the drynd. But I must say, that ambush was masterful. They didn''t even realize that they were under attack until the mages were already eliminated." Sergeant Rita added.


    "Yes, while theundry team might not appreciate your ingenuity, the execution was wless. I think that the young Sergeant has made a wise rmendation, adding a scouting and ambush specialist to the team leaders. Simply having warriors and mages who knew each other''s style was a bit dull." The old mage agreed.


    Sergeant Rita nodded. "Alright, everyone, get cleaned up. The bonus will be added to your student cards before you''re back to your rooms. Good work everyone, it''s been a long time since we had so many winners and such a challenging fight."


    Karl''s team walked a little more proudly as they returned to the base. The extra credits could get them some cool stuff for their rooms, little luxuries, or even more special treatment in the Academy.


    This group didn''t really need that, they were already recognized as worthy of the extra training, but they were quite intrigued as to how the Academy had known that Karl was going to be so outstanding right from the start.


    It had to be that Rending w skill. That was deadly, and he could block the attacks of two Awakened Rank team leaders at once, without exhausting himself. The fact that there was also Hawk, who could do the same, was just an unfair advantage in the minds of the other students.


    What sort of ss gave you abo set right from the start?


    But if they got to be on his team again, there was a good chance that they would get the extra bonus at least once more this semester. So far, all of their battles had ended in a phyrric victory, with the attackers only having a few remaining students when the fight was over.


    The bonus wasn''t cumtive, each winning student got the same, unless the teachers decided that they didn''t do well enough to deserve it. So having all nine of them get the bonus was a huge victory for their pockets.


    "How about we meet at the study hall after we shower? There are some good ces to rx and study for the afternoon, if you''d like to join us." One of the warriors asked.


    Dana smiled at Karl. "What theory sses do you have? I haven''t seen you in any of the magic ones, so it must be a physical attack skill that you use."


    Karl tried putting on his best innocent face, but the others caught it immediately.


    "You don''t have any theory sses handing out homework, do you? Are you in all practical sses?" Dana demanded, with jealousy showing on her face.


    "I have skill interception training in the morning, martial arts in the afternoon, and then Sergeant Rita assigns me lessons as she sees fit. It''s not really a ss, just a bit of study on things I should know, like monster anatomy." Karl exined.


    One of the boysughed. "Well, you''ve got it better than Dana. She''s got theoretical magic and practical skills in the morning across from our ssroom, then she''s in modern dance and cosmetology all afternoon."


    Dana blushed, while Karl gave the cute mage an assessing look. She wasn''t the sort of stunning beauty that would grow into a supermodel, but even covered in mud, he couldn''t deny that she was the sort of adorable that you just wanted to hug on sight. How he had missed it the first day, he had no idea. Perhaps it was one of the side effects of the Divine Injection, like his extra height.


    There was only one reason that she would have to take dance and cosmetology so early in her first year. They wanted to train her to be an Idol, whether she had previously wanted to or not.


    "Just be d it''s not you. Those teachers have a lifetime of shattered dreams that they want to live through the students, it''s hell." Dana muttered.


    "I''m not sure that I''d look good in eyeshadow and lipstick. But I will join you in the search for a good study spot. I''ve got a bunch of books waiting for me to read them." Karl agreed.

 Chapter 27: Best Study Spot

    <h4>Chapter 27: Best Study Spot</h4>


    Once he was finally freshly showered, and the filthy uniform was sent to theundry room, Karl headed down to the designated meeting spot, where he found only Dana waiting.


    "It looks like the other two cancelled on us. Theirbat teacher met them on the way down, and he took them for some additional training after he heard that they were getting so good with [Guard] skills." She exined.


    "Well, then there will be more room for us to study. What do you have to work on today?" Karl asked.


    "Mana theory. It''s one of the big ones for the mage type sses, both to grow our own mana pool and to reduce the casting cost of the spells that we know. At first, we''re really inefficient, but it gets better all the time. The idea is that as we get better, most mages will get some insight into new spells or skills, it''s just part of the mage ss.


    Then we can use that to expand our spell book without having to learn the spells in ss, which is way faster, and the ones you get from insight tend to grow faster and more powerful, which will help rank up." She exined.


    "That actually sounds like a lot of work. Mostly, I just need to practice my fighting skills and my physical abilities so that I can keep up with my growth. At least, that is it for now. They don''t know anything about the ss marking that I got, so unless I get an insight like the mages do, I will only have the one skill, but it grows more powerful as Hawk does.


    My body does as well. The stronger he grows, the stronger I grow." Karl replied with a smile.


    "Well, that''s both a tough break and a huge win. You get stronger just by existing and training your pet. No intense study needed. But only having one skill would be a bit limiting eventually."


    They walked in silence for a few seconds, then Dana pointed to a pathway that led into a garden.


    "That''s where we''re going. There are a bunch of gazebos with tables there, and we can do our study. Once I get a few more credits, I am totally getting one of the Academyptops, or a tablet. It will be so much easier than handwriting these notes all the time.


    I don''t think that I''ve used a pen that much since I was in elementary school, but the mages on the teaching staff are all ancient, and they think that Tomes are the way to go. Just book after book of handwritten knowledge."


    Karlughed. The majority of electronic devices had onlye about in thest twenty or thirty years, so anyone who was over sixty tended to favour pen and paper, and some of the mages from the old tradition, before the Divine Injection, were hundreds of years old.


    They were not going to change their ways any time soon, even if printing pages made for much more legible tomes, and diagrams that everyone could clearly read. Part of the mystery was trying to sort out the bad handwriting, secret codes and shorthand of the author, it kept magic inessible through the ages so it wouldn''t be misused.


    Now that there was such a huge influx of elites, with a dozen or more new mages every year, that mystery was being lost, but the old mages were in their golden age, teaching spells and skills they thought might never be passed down to people who would be viewed as heroes, not potential traitors to the magical nations, or wealth hoarders.


    Like anyone else with power that the nation needed, many mages had only ever been loyal to themselves, demanding exorbitant fees and living in luxury. They weren''t viewed horribly, but more like the oligarchs of the tech revolution, as detached by their wealth and power, and not entirely trustworthy if you weren''t on their social level.


    "Actually, having aptop sounds wonderful, but I don''t know how to type. I came from the mines, and my family couldn''t afford aputer, so I never used one before. I know most of the kids from the city use them all the time, but not us."


    Dana smiled and nodded. "I forgot that you grew up there. My family ran a clothing shop in the city, so we neededputers for everything. Taking orders, tracking inventory."


    That was just one of the many downsides to living in a rural mining town. Infrastructure spending didn''t make it to them, except for the railroad improvements that got the coal and metals to town. The twin mines were a core asset of the nation. One was a massive coal seam that ran the power nts, the other extended the other direction across a fault line, and held a load of precious metals.


    It was everything that a growing nation could need, but it belonged to the government, and none of that wealth made it back to the people actually doing the mining.


    Dana led them to a small gazebo tucked into an alcove in the hedge maze, and when they sat down, the enchanted bushes grew around the small building, blocking them from passing students and giving them privacy to study.


    "This is wonderful, and it smells so good." Karl sighed, thinking of both the coal dust at home and the filth of the swamp.


    "Yeah, lcs are my favourite to begin with, so it''s difficult to beat this ce." Dana agreed with a smile as she set out her textbooks across from him.


    Karl set out his current study guide onmon monsters around the Academy. This was the book that all the student groups who got to go out on expeditions were required to memorize, and Sergeant Rita had demanded that Karl learn it as well, even though she had no intention of letting him leave the Academy grounds so soon.


    What she wanted him to learn was all the abilities of the monsters so that he could formte a n for his own growth. Once he had that, Karl assumed she would make good on her promise to find him another monster cub to try to add to his collection, one more durable than Hawk.

 Chapter 28: The Maze

    <h4>Chapter 28: The Maze</h4>


    Studying monsters was fun, but between the smell of lcs and whatever shampoo Dana had used, Karl was finding it difficult to focus. Hawk didn''t care at all, as he found his nest morefortable than the lc bushes were likely to be, but Dana smelled wonderful, and her presence in this private gazebo had Karl more flustered than he would care to admit.


    But, he did his best not to be a creep and work on his studies, carefully making notes about each of the monsters in the area that might be somewhat worthwhile, while memorizing the others, in case he ran into them in the future.


    The more that he knew, the more likely that the Sergeant was to relent on her stance of keeping him here for training instead of letting him go outside.


    Not that the Academy wasn''t beautiful or well-equipped, but Karl had rarely been outside the mining town while he was growing up, and he had seen many kilometres of wilderness on their way here. Just getting to see it with a group would be an adventure, like the camping trip that his father promised on that mythical ''day off'' that he never got.


    The two studied silently for hours, until the sky started to change colours as sunset approached.


    "Well, that''s our cue to go back inside. If we don''t get going soon, it will be dark before we get to dinner, and they don''t light any of the academy grounds except the paths between buildings." Dana sighed, annoyed to have to stop her work.


    "You seemed really into your studies." Karl noted.


    "Yeah, the other two are goodbat partners, but lousy study partners. They don''t take anything seriously, and they never stop talking. Just being able to sit and study is a pleasant change." She agreed.


    As soon as they packed their things and stood, the bush around the gazebo opened again, allowing them ess to the maze, but the moment that they stepped out, the world got incredibly dark, as if the sun had already set an hour ago, and the gazebo had been providing its own light.


    "Crap, I can''t see anything." Dana muttered.


    "I think it''s just because we''re behind the bushes and in a cloud''s shadow, once we''re back outside it should be better. But I can see just fine, so if you take my hand, we should be able to make it out." Karl suggested.


    Dana''s hand bumped his arm, then slid down to clutch at his fingers, and Karl realized just how dark it probably was to anyone else. None of the colours that he could see were ones he had names for, but the light wasing from the grass under their feet. It must be a form of bioluminescence that was outside the normal human range of sight, which meant that the darkness here was likely unnatural.


    They hadn''t mistaken the time, someone had cast a darkness spell on the maze.


    Dana''s hand was surprisingly soft and warm in his as Karl led the way back down the path, and her breathing was bing more frantic as she nearly stumbled in the grass.


    "Don''t worry, I''ve got you. Just rx and follow my steps." Karl whispered.


    Dana moved to his side, so Karl wrapped his arm around her shoulders, not letting go of her hand as they made thest few corners to exit the maze.


    Their spot hadn''t been far in, with little chance of getting lost in the maze itself, but the walk had still been quite the pleasant memory.


    Dana sighed with relief when they made it back into the fading evening light, but she didn''t move to step away from Karl until they heard someone softlyughing nearby, behind one of the trees.


    "Congrattions, you are the first ones out of the Maze of Romance. And such a cute young couple as well." The person behind the treeughed.


    "Maze of Romance?" Dana asked softly.


    "Didn''t you know? This is the Academy''s most famous make out spot, thanks to the hidden bushes. We cast a darkness spell over them whenever we get bored to see whoes out as a couple, who leaves their partner behind, and who thinks that darkness blocks sounds and takes things one step further." The senior ssmate exined.


    Dana blushed, but Karl had a brilliant idea. He leaned over to whisper in her ear. "If everyone believes that we''reing here to make out, nobody will bother our studies. We can be here all night and nobody will try to stop us."


    For a second, she actually fell for the trick, then she looked up at Karl and her cheeks blushed a little darker as she realized what he was actually suggesting. The two of them, alone in the Academy''s top spot for couples. It would be a scandal among the mage ss students, and the boys of the warrior sses next to them would certainly whine about her and Karl being together, meaning that the other boys didn''t have a chance.


    But she didn''t want any of them, and Karl seemed content to let her actually study, at least most of the night.


    Dana pushed the thoughts of what they might do during the times they weren''t studying and nodded her agreement with his n.


    "Tomorrow is an off day, we cane after breakfast to study." She whispered back.


    "In that case, I will pack a lunch."


    The two of them turned to leave, just as the sound of two people arguing came from near the exit of the maze. Whatever couple wasing out next was not happy with each other, but neither Karl nor Dana was interested in other students'' drama tonight.


    They didn''t even notice that they were still holding hands until Dana turned toward her unit in the dormitory, and was briefly pulled back by her grip.


    "Sorry, I forgot. I will see you in the morning." She stammered, then ran down the hall to her room.

 Chapter 29: Sleepless Nights

    <h4>Chapter 29: Sleepless Nights</h4>


    Karl was nearly too excited to sleep that night, and he was at breakfast first thing in the morning, just after the sun came up, and he decided that it must be somewhat eptable to leave his room. But he wasn''t the only one that was excited about their first day off since arriving at the Academy, and themon areas were already packed with students nning what they were going to do for the day.


    The consensus was that they should explore every bit of the grounds today so that they could find all the best spots for the next time that they had a bit of time off, but that would put a serious damper on his ns for a calm day of studying with Dana.


    She joined him while he was eating, looking just as tired as he felt after a sleepless night.


    "Good morning. It looks like we misjudged the best spot to study today." Dana greeted him as she sat down with a bowl of oatmeal and a beverage that was so incredibly bright green that Karl was certain it must be toxic.


    She softly giggled at the concerned look on his face, then sipped the drink.


    "It''s an energy drink, they keep them in the fridge over there for students who spend too much time awake studying. It''s not as bad as it looks." She exined.


    Karl nodded reluctantly. They had them at the corner store at home, but he''d never seen one that colour before. The miners liked the ones that were mixed with coffee or juice, depending which side of their shift they were on.


    Karl tapped his mug. "I will stick with coffee, thanks. But if it''s going to be far too loud to study in the garden, why don''t we go to the patio in my room? It''s plentyrge enough, and there is a spell that istes it from the rest of the campus. It''s perfectly silent, and there is a good table out there."


    "That actually sounds really pleasant. My room is incredibly loud, you can hear the explosions from the students on three sides practising, and I swear if it was any worse you could hear them breathing."


    Neither of them noticed the many envious nces they were getting as they left the cafeteria, or the flurry of conversation surrounding whether they had known each other before they arrived at the Academy, or if they had met for the first time on the way in.


    With all the studying that they needed to do during the first few weeks here, gossip was all that they had time for to distract themselves. The students were taken straight from school to the Academy, so they had none of their old belongings with them except what they had at ss.


    Some of the students from therger towns had brought packed school backpacks full of memories, and they had to cram it all into the Academy issued backpack when they left the train, but Karl hadn''t actually owned anything worth keeping.


    The only real restriction that the elites advised in advance was not to bring clothing, as the chosen students would be required to be in uniform at the Academy, and outfits would be provided for special events.


    There was a single picture up on the wall, and the upgraded furniture in the room when Karl moved in, so at least his room wasn''t as bare as some of them were, but it was the patio greenhouse that he was hoping would impress Dana the most.


    She stopped off quickly to get her books from her room, and followed Karl into his suite, staring in surprise at the dark colours and padded leather bed frame.


    "Well, this is, uhm, unique. I take it that there is room to study on the patio?" She asked.


    "Plenty. After you." Karl replied with a smile, and pulled the curtains open.


    Dana''s eyes lit up as she saw the nts outside, and she rushed out onto the balcony to take a look.


    "Hey, this is a moon berry tree, and one of the fruits is ripe." She gasped as she stopped under a tree with small fruits that were slowly turning from green to white.


    "Oh yeah, I meant to look that up and pick it when it was ready. Do you know that fruit?" Karl asked.


    "Moon berries are supposed to be super healthy and good for the brain. I saw them one time being brought to a fancy restaurant downtown." She replied.


    "Then go ahead and pick it, we can split it as a snack." Karl agreed.


    She reverently pulled the fruit down, and followed Karl down the path through the trees and bushes to the gazebo with the table.


    "These gazebos are really popr here, aren''t they? It''s the same style as the maze." She noted.


    "The chairs arefortable, though, so I can see why they picked it. The greenhouse, as they call the garden out here, has been passed down between residents of the balcony suites. I didn''t bring any of this, I just water it and pick up the leaves for drying, since most of the magical nt leaves are good for something."


    Dana looked out over the school grounds and smiled. "It really is absolutely silent here. I can see the students walking under us, but I don''t hear a thing. This is a fantastic study spot."


    Karl smiled and opened his tactics textbook, the next in the stack of lessons that Sergeant Rita had left for him to do in his out of ss time. This one would have been useful to have read before yesterday, which made him wonder if he was actually cking too much on his studies.


    She hadn''t set any sort of due date for anything, and she wasn''t giving him tests, so he hadn''t thought about it. But perhaps she was, and the training lessons were the tests. Karl felt like a bit of an idiot for not having at least read the titles of all the books he was given. If he had known what they were, he could have read the ones that seemed most likely to be needed for the next day in advance.

 Chapter 30: Snacks

    <h4>Chapter 30: Snacks</h4>


    Dana cut the Moon Berry fruit into pieces, and they snacked as they studied the morning away, feeling instantly refreshed every time they ate another piece. The tree only had a dozen or so fruits, so it wouldn''t be possible to eat them every day, but one every off day to wipe away the stress and fatigue of the week didn''t sound bad at all.


    The tactical manual was incredibly boring to read, and Karl was a quick study with the help of a refreshed mind and Hawk''s input on the best ways to hunt prey, so his mind began to wander. There were so many different nts here, and while he had looked through the journal, he didn''t memorize the use of all of them, especially the ones that didn''t have any fruit on them at the moment.


    So, he switched books, reading through the details of the journal on the greenhouse instead, and discovering that there were a lot more fruits like the Moon Berry, but most importantly, there were a variety of teas, tonics and potions that could be made with the various nts, though some required a particr magical affinity.


    The previous resident had been what the seniors called a witch, and she had been quite adept at brewing potions, but Karl had very little experience with that. His kitchen at home wasn''t big enough for more than one person to work in at a time, so he hadn''t ever tried to usurp his mother''s position making breakfast, and two of his meals a day were provided by the school and the mine, respectively. Precooked and ready to eat.


    That was one of the advantages of working a short shift in the mine yard after school, you got a guaranteed hot meal, and it would be portioned for a hardworking adult.


    As he searched through the textbook, he noticed that Dana was getting increasingly excited, and beginning to glow slightly with some sort of magical effect.


    She had already learned one spell other than her initial magic since she arrived at the Academy, and it looked like she was about to grasp another.


    He didn''t actually know how fast spells were usually learned, but from the chatter in themon areas and cafeteria, it sounded like most of the students were still working on their initial spell, trying to master it before moving on.


    But ording to the cook and the guard on the train, everyone had different capabilities, so maybe Dana was one of the fastest learners? The cook made it sound like he had never managed to get through even the basics of the spells he could have learned, due to ack of aptitude, but she seemed to be the opposite.


    The easiest way would be to just ask.


    "You''re really moving through the spells, onto a third one already." Karl remarked.


    Dana looked up and smiled. "I''ve got an excellent memory, and while my power isn''t as strong as some of the others, I am excellent at new magic. I had my first spell under control before we even left the train, but casting it twice was all I could do. Now, I can get a third casting in, or I can channel the fog slowly, but Gil, the strongest in our ss, can cast five magic arrows at a time, and do it repeatedly. His power is insane, but he''s still having trouble controlling the direction and stability of the arrows."


    "So, the early advancement is more about what you''re talented in? I can see how having lots of power but no control would be a problem rather quickly in ss. But having too little power, like the cook on the train, means that anything else doesn''t really matter.


    They must have high hopes for you if they''re setting you up to be a public figure, though." Karl suggested.


    Dana rolled her eyes. "The dance instructor said that it''s because I''m a fast learner. You don''t need to be really powerful to be famous, you need to be versatile. As long as I can make it to the upper end of Awakened before I graduate it should be fine, but Ascended would be best, ording to the choreography teacher."


    Karl chuckled and Dana raised an eyebrow at him. "What do you think that they''re training you for? Not many get a dedicated tutor, and you''ve got a whole dedicated ss schedule. They''re obviously grooming you for something special."


    He shrugged. "The first thing that they told me on the train was that it would be better to have a golem to fight for me, and that''s how they want to guide thebat mages who can learn it. So, they''re probably hoping that I will join the military or the government to do monster control.


    I don''t really have a skill set that is good for much exceptbat or scouting, so that''s most likely the only thing that they could think to do with me, and it''s a unique ss, so I don''t even fit into the regr courses."


    Dana thought about it for a while. "Hawk learned another skill after you got him, right? I heard from the second year mages that he can use Wind Barrier. Maybe you can teach him to use more skills, or you can learn to use more monster skills. That might make you more versatile.


    If you could do something like using the ability of the Ascended version of that cooling aloe nt, you could heal wounds. That would make you into a top medic all on its own."


    Karl looked at the nt. "That thing can heal wounds?"


    Dana shook her head. "No, that one can treat rashes, sunburn and numb pain a little. It''s really useful, but it''s amon grade magical resource. They sell it at the drugstore, and in the supply room downstairs. There is a higher quality version of it, which can reach the Ascended Grade, and that one can actually cure all sorts of wounds, but not illnesses or disease. I saw it in a nature drama."


    Karl''s family didn''t own a television, so he only ever watched what was on in public, and that was rarely a nature documentary. He had taken a few sses on magical botany, but they were pretty basic, and didn''t really cover much on medicinal nts, they were more concerned with the ones that might kill you if you happened across them in the wilderness.


    "Well, I don''t know much about raising them, but maybe it''s worth looking into how to improve the aloe nt up another Rank so that it can treat more wounds. There are plenty of special nts here, but the guide that came with the greenhouse said that they''re almost all edible ones, snacks for the residents." Karl exined.


    Snacks that might help their abilities grow, but still snacks.

 Chapter 31: Stress Induced Learning

    <h4>Chapter 31: Stress Induced Learning</h4>


    They managed to study smoothly until mid-afternoon, when they were both too hungry for more research, and they headed down for an early dinner.


    "I should practice my stamina training and then meditate for the evening to improve my mana, but can Ie visit again?" Dana asked with a gentle smile.


    "I would love to have you over anytime." Karl agreed.


    Studying was much more pleasant with her around, and she knew the strangest things. It was good to have a friend here at the Academy, and the more that he learned about the way that Mages advanced, the more ideas Karl got about how he could expand his own skills.


    Meditation sounded like it might be worth something as a technique. The crystal ball in the train car said that it could look into his beast space, so there should be some connection between that and the method to improve it. If everything was driven by the monster inside, it would be totally contrary to the other elites, whose whole goal was self strengthening in some way.


    [What do you think, Hawk? Is meditation the way to improve the space you''re in?] Karl asked.


    [Dunno. But if it can be bigger, with trees, and mice, that would be good. Don''t forget the mice.]


    Karl was not about to put mice in the space alive, as he was worried it would bond them to him, and he would end up with a tortured Earth Mouse as apanion, right until Hawk killed it. That would be unfortunate, to say the least.


    So, when he returned to the garden after lunch, hey down in the hammock in the shade of the pair of coconut trees, and closed his eyes to focus on the beast space.


    At first, nothing seemed to happen as he tried to envision a pine tree for Hawk to rest in. The space was just there and empty, but Karl could feel that it had the potential to be more, he just didn''t know how.


    The next thing he tried was focusing energy into the space, like when he wanted to use [Rend]. Adding energy while meditating might improve the space somehow, the energy had to go somewhere. Or so he assumed.


    It felt like that was doing something, but even after an hour, the changes weren''t visible.


    [It feels better in here. Keep doing that.] Hawk encouraged.


    That led to Karl channelling energy and meditating on the image of the tree that he wanted to create for Hawk to live in.


    During hour two, there was a sprig of a tree growing from the ground near the nest, a single pine branch in the darkness. It really was working, just not instantly as he had hoped.


    At the end of the night, the tree was almost as tall as he was, but Karl was feeling refreshed and empowered, as if the improvement had granted him some extra energy. That would be easy enough to test, today was a ss day again, and his first lesson was in skill control with the mages.


    The weekend seemed to have done them all a world of good, and they were all looking much more fresh and ready to practice today than they had been thest time he saw them on Friday.


    "Wee back everyone. We have an extra defender with us today. Along with Karl and Hawk, we will have Tori from the graduating ss here to help motivate you all." The teacher announced with a smirk.


    Tori was a tall blonde girl around eighteen years old, the graduation age for the Academy, Ascended Rank, ording to her bronze badge, so she would be stronger than any of the students in this ss individually, and wore her hair in fancy ringlets, along with the short pleated uniform skirt that was somewhat rare among the students, as almost everyone preferred the pants.


    She looked like the sort of girl that should be extremely popr in school, but from the looks on the faces of the students here, either she was one of the "Mean Girls" or she was hated for some other reason.


    Of course, it could be because they struggled in their sses that made them resentful. But she was graduating as an Ascended Mage, so she wasn''t some super prodigy that made everyone feel inferior about their skills.


    "Now, are we all ready? Excellent. Begin when you are ready."


    Karl called Hawk, who flew up into the air, while Tori began to form small blue spheres, one after another, which floated around her in a circle. It was fascinating to watch, she just formed them in her hand, then let go, and they hovered around her, slowly orbiting.


    Then the attacks began, and Karl realized why everyone in this ss disliked her.


    The orbs released small bolts of magic that intercepted the spells and knocked them off course, or in the case of the weaker mages, nullified them entirely.


    But the orbs didn''t dissipate, they kept slowly sending out more attacks, and the number of them increased as she worked to form more spheres.


    Karl quickly noticed that they did very little to the fire and water mage attacks, but the solid attacks and the magic missiles had a terrible time trying to stay on course after she intercepted them.


    The water attacks were fine, Hawk had a personal vendetta against them for flowing around his [Rend] and that left Karl to deal with the Fire mages.


    After a dozen spheres, Tori stopped making more, and had to focus on just maintaining the spell. It would only be a matter of time before she was exhausted, or the spells needed to be refreshed, but currently, a solid three quarters of the attacks made by the ss were being intercepted.


    Karl was working on pacing himself as well. He didn''t need to overpower the spells to block them, [Rend] tended to split apart attacks and destabilize them even at lower power outputs. That allowed him to use far less than full power and still aplish the blocks.


    With Super vision and a bit of practice, he was getting very good at defending against attacks, but Hawk was improving even more quickly. The small bird was making a mockery of the water mages'' attempts tond a hit, and they were starting to get creative in how they used their magic.


    Finally, one of the Mages managed to turn his water bullet into a collection of small raindrops, which hit the target like a shotgun after the [Rend] attack only took out a third of them.


    The mage had mastered a new spell entirely on his own out of pure frustration.

 Chapter 32: Efficient Nutrition

    <h4>Chapter 32: Efficient Nutrition</h4>


    After lunch wasbat training, the physically taxing counterpart to the mental workout that the morning''s skill training was. Karl was certain that if they kept this up for much longer, he would bepletely exhausted and just operating on autopilot within a few weeks, but Sergeant Rita didn''t seem too concerned.


    "Isn''t it a bit much to have high intensity sses all day long? It''s only four in the afternoon, and I''m so sore that I can barely move." Heined once the training was done for the day.


    "Fortunately, you have the garden on your balcony to help refresh you until your body adapts. Give it a few weeks and this will bepletely natural to you." Rita insisted.


    "Is that even how it works?"


    The Sergeant sighed at his whining and helped Karl to his feet. "That is precisely how it works, and the harder that you push yourself during the first few weeks, the faster you will adapt to the training schedule. Short-term suffering for long-term gains."


    Karl sighed. He couldn''t actually prove her wrong, but he had a sneaking suspicion that as he got stronger the training would get harder, so he would never actually get to adapt to the training level.


    "Alright, I''ll go meditate and get some dinner then. It seems to help with the mental space where Hawk stays." Karl reluctantly agreed.


    The Sergeant didn''t argue with him any further, she just took out her notepad to write down her observations about his practice, and the remark about meditation helping. Karl knew that it would likely make it into his routine now that she knew, but it was for the best, as he was going to need it to keep the Windspeed Hawk happy in his living space.


    Compared to that, the extra effects of growth were just a bonus, as the Hawk was very vocal in his mind when it needed or wanted something, so letting it get bored would be a disaster for his mental health.


    The cafeteria food seemed to be a bit different today. He had ordered the pasta special with a side sd, but the meal tasted a bit different than he remembered, and the energy content was definitely higher. Only a few bites in, Karl was feeling like someone had electrocuted him and energy was pouring into his body.


    He finished the meal, and was going to go for a jog to burn off some energy, but it seemed like it would be more worthwhile to meditate and try to integrate some of this energy into the taming space. Hawk was the main source of his power and advancement, so the more that he could do to help the beast grow, the better off he would be by the time that he graduated.


    But Karl was beginning to understand why some sses never managed to advance or even unlock their skills. If he hadn''t picked up that egg and foundpatibility, would he have ever guessed that petting monsters was the answer? Probably not. You would have to be an idiot to try, and the Academy certainly wouldn''t have given him the opportunity to touch a living monster, just on the off chance that it worked, and he didn''t get killed.


    Once he settled down in the hammock, his preferred meditation spot, and began to focus the extra energy in his body toward the upgrades for Hawk, he found that the excess was transferred very quickly, and in only an hour he found himself hungry again.


    He could meditate as usual, but the tree was growing quickly in that mental space, and there were some des of grass around it now. If he just kept loading up on energy, he could probably do much better now than he had before.


    What had changed wasn''t clear, but he could ask the kitchen staff if the menu changed. It might just be meat from a different monster that was morepatible with him. If that was all that it took, he could request it all the time.


    The kitchen worker looked at him a bit strangely when he returned so soon after a heavy meal, and Karl gave her an apologetic shrug.


    "It seems that with the breakthrough in my abilities over the weekend, I''ve got some catching up to do. Even an hour of practice leaves me starving, so I hope you don''t mind if I stock up on food to go." Karl exined as he began to load tes.


    "Just tell me what you need, and I will bring it up in the service elevator." The older woman informed him with a smile.


    "Did you change the recipe of the pasta special? It seemed different than I remember." He replied.


    "Nope, same ingredient batch asst week, we didn''t get anything in for that dish. Did you want to try a selection and see what works for you? I know that some of the sses get a taste for new things as they train.


    The Berserkers in particr like extra spicy foods, and the more powerful they get, the spicier they want it."


    "That sounds like a great idea. If you can give me a bit of each of the specials to start, I will pick the ones that seem best." Karl agreed.


    She began to load a te with a little bit of everything, and Karl took it back to an empty table, where he began to work through them one at a time. The effect was the same as the pasta, his body was just absorbing much more energy from the food than it had been before, and the excess was building up for him to channel into Hawk''s surroundings.


    Karl smiled at the cafeteriady as he returned his empty te.


    "I think that the pasta and the meatloaf are the two best specials of the day, but whatever changed in my body, they''re all better for my training efficiency."


    "How much do you need for the evening?" She asked, lining up tes on her counter.


    "Two each should be enough for the night. I''lle early in the morning so that I can have a heavy breakfast as well."

 Chapter 33: Heavy Eating

    <h4>Chapter 33: Heavy Eating</h4>


    The food arrived outside the room at the same time that Karl did, on a small cart pushed by one of the staff members. They had covered the loaded tes with foil to keep the heat in, but Karl could smell it following him down the hall, and Hawk was getting increasingly excited about the idea of both more food and an improvement in his living conditions.


    "Thank you for that. I will return everything in the morning." Karl informed the kitchen staff worker.


    "Just set the cart in the hall with your dishes, and we wille pick it up when we clean the halls." The worker exined.


    Then she walked back to the elevator, and Karl took everything inside so he could focus on eating and meditation. The food smelled delicious, and even the first serving, which had filled his body with energy to be burned off, wasn''t enough to actually sate the hunger.


    Once he was settled into afortable meditation position in the middle of the bed, Karl began to focus on the improvements to the Taming Space.


    The excess energy was pouring freely from him into the space, causing the tree to grow, and the patch of grass underneath to slowly, but steadily, expand.


    Once that burst of energy was gone, Karl paused to pick a te from the pile. The obvious choice would be the pasta dish, as he knew for sure that it was a good one, and he had it devoured in a matter of minutes, while briefly wondering how much he was going to regret his over indulgence in the morning.


    The energy flowed into him just as smoothly as it had the first time, and Karl poured it all into the taming space, then repeated the process with the meatloaf special.


    As he finished transferring the energy from that one into the space, a feeling of fullness, like he wouldn''t be able to transfer much more energy, appeared in his mind. That was a good sign that this was not some bottomless pit where he was throwing energy with no end in sight, but the space itself was far fromplete.


    As the space began to resist more transfer, Karl carefully moved the nest up into the tree, so Hawk could have a more natural spot to sleep, and looked at the small grass patch at the bottom. At this rate, it would take months to even fill the rest of the space with grass, much less add a sky and everything else it would need to feel like its own little world.


    But the feeling of power in his body was being influenced by the abundance of energy both in his body, leftover from the meal, and from the beast space itself. Maybe he could get Sergeant Rita to test his strength next weekend, after he had more time to adjust. He might really have made it to the Awakened standard, and not just based on the attack power of [Rend].


    Now that the beast space was fully sated for the moment, Karl focused on seeing what he could do with the leftover energy. First on the list, since it was food-based, was to try giving the excess directly to Hawk.


    The bird''s body happily epted the power, but Karl couldn''t tell if it was making any appreciable difference. It made Hawk happy, though, so it really wasn''t a loss. They were partners now, and a happy partner was never a bad thing.


    For the rest of the night, Karl focused on using all the energy that he could muster to empower Hawk, who had finally reached the end of his growth phase, and had started to increase only in power, but not in size.


    Karl managed to finish the remaining two meals at breakfast, as Hawk was feeling hungry again, and wanted the filtered energy in addition to its meat and the daily allowance of berries to vour his food. With the amount that Hawk ate, Karl felt like he might have restricted the consumption of junk food too much. It made a good seasoning for Hawk''s meals, and it didn''t hurt his appetite, so there was no real reason not to let him use them all the time.


    On the way back to the room from the patio to wait for Sergeant Rita, Karl went and picked another three Mountain Gooseberries.


    [Now that you''re fully grown, you can have more of the berries. They won''t make you stronger, but I know that they taste good.] Karl informed the overjoyed Windspeed Hawk.


    [Mmm, good stuff. I will put them on everything.] Hawk agreed.


    That gave Karl an idea. The meat that Hawk was eating was just in meat. Normally, the discount cuts that his mother bought would marinate in a sauce overnight. If he squished the gooseberries into a bowl of water and threw the meat in with them, it would coat everything, just like Hawk wanted, without running them out of berries.


    He would set that up tonight, so Hawk''s meals would be ready for tomorrow.


    A knock at the door let him know that it was time to get to work, and when he opened it, he noticed that Rita was giving a curious look at the cart full of empty dishes.


    "Something changed in my appetite yesterday. It seems to be back to normal now, but I was just ravenous, and my body was taking in all the energy that it could get." Karl exined.


    "That''s rtively normal. It usually happens to warriors when their body advances a Rank and needs to adapt to a new power standard. I suspect that you actually made it to the Awakened Rank in bodyst night, or Hawk did, and the energy needed toe from you.


    One of those two answers is most likely the correct one. How is his growthing?" Rita replied.


    "He looks fully grown for a Windspeed Hawk. He was growing quickly against night while I was feeding energy into him and the space in my mind, but then it seemed to settle."


    Karl called Hawk out onto the bed, and Rita crouched to get a better look at the proudly preening Hawk.


    "He looks more mature now. The softer feathers are gone, and the pin feathers arerger and stronger than thest time I saw him. Your skill is brilliant. One week to bring a Windspeed Hawk to maturity. Even if your ability was just to trainbat birds, I can guarantee that the Academy would still rate it as a top-notch sess."

 Chapter 34: More Resources

    <h4>Chapter 34: More Resources</h4>


    Karl smiled at the Sergeant. "If it''s a great sess, that means there will be more resources, right? We''re still finishing the ones you gave us, but now that Hawk has reached full maturity, his growth is slowing to a crawl, and it''s going to take more than just my efforts to keep him growing at this sort of rate."


    Sergeant Ritaughed. "If you can keep growing at that rate, what would the rest of the elites call themselves? I think it''s natural that you would have to slow down at some point and consolidate your powers, but if you can keep feeding Hawk extra energy, he should progress toward the Ascended Rank from Awakening in a rtively short time.


    I will find you what resources I can, though I''m not sure what the Hawk can use now that we''ve tried the two that seemed the most beneficial to it."


    "Well, if there is an upgraded version of the strength stone, or some more powerful infused blood, that would be great. I don''t know if the air stone will do much. He''s still digesting the second one he ate, and the first was so powerful that it caused a huge breakthrough. But if there are other air type resources, maybe they will help him as well?


    Every time that he improves, my body improves as well, I just need to train my skills and stamina to keep up, so resources for Hawk seem to be the most effective way for me to grow." Karl suggested.


    Hawk was definitely a fan of that n. He didn''t mind if Karl got strong, they were a team, but if the n was to make him the most powerful Windspeed Hawk, then it was definitely a good idea.


    Their next stop was back at their usual training grounds, and Hawk was looking forward to being able to show up the mages of the ss with his new skills. Now that he was fully grown, and his power was getting better, he could block many more shots to protect the targets.


    Karl could tell that it wasn''t actually about the target, it was more about Hawk wanting to show off his skills and get praised, or cursed, by the mages. Both were fine in Hawk''s mind, as long as they were recognizing his might. That was the important part in the Hawk''s mind, reminding them all that he was the predator here, and all the mice were his.


    "I swear that Hawk is picking on us. It gets better by the day, just to remind us all that we''re beneath it." One of the mages announced, sweaty and exhausted at the end of the ss.


    "It''s a Windspeed Hawk, do you really think that it has some innate grudge against mages?" One of the others scoffed.


    Everyone turned to look at the Water Mages, whose fluid attacks drove the bird particrly crazy, and then back at the questioner.


    "I mean in general. It''s pretty obvious that the Hawk has a hatred for water attacks. But I doubt that he hates mages in general."


    Karl smiled. If only they knew that Hawk really did see himself as innately better than humans, who couldn''t fly, could barely see, and didn''t even hunt their own meals.


    The fact that Hawk himself didn''t hunt his own food was a matter of luxurious living in its mind, so that didn''t count. At least, to him, it didn''t.


    Instead of returning to rest, Hawk decided to circle in the sky for the afternoon while Karl trained his martial arts skills. His great hope was that he would finally find something that was able to be hunted in this Academy. Unfortunately, there were no rodents, no pests, nothing at all wandering around the grounds. The spells that the mages had put on the Academy, and the constant use of powers had long since scared everything away from the academy itself, and he didn''t have permission to go out in to the fields around the grounds to hunt for a snack.


    Karl''s words had been "Be where I can see you" and that didn''t extend out into the fields on the far side of the wall. If Karl had told him to stay where the others could see him, Hawk might have just given up and gone back to rest inside.


    But while the hunting didn''t work out as he had hoped, Hawk did find a few good things. There was a nice tree along the side of the strength training grounds, where he could rest his wings in the shade. There was a carving on one of the buildings that almost looked like him, there was an olddy who kept taking pictures of him, and finally, the truck docks.


    Once he could figure out how those things worked, he would be in for a treat. Even from up in the sky, he could tell that the buildings behind the docks were just packed full of good stuff.


    Karl mostly ignored Hawk''s adventures, and only asionally reminded him not to make trouble for anyone, or take food from strangers. Not everyone would know that he was Karl''s Hawk, so some might try to poison or attack him like he was a wild monster.


    Sergeant Rita had another book full of information for them to study, this time on Monster Biology, in hopes that they would stumble across something that might help Hawk continue to grow at an elerated rate.


    Every Elite wanted to be famous, powerful, or both. That was the whole point of the training regimen here. So, her job as a private instructor was to do what she could to help Karl keep advancing and live up to the potential that the senior staff believed he had when they observed him on the train.


    If the final result was intense early growth, leading to stagnation and a growth teau, that just meant that they didn''t understand the next step in his training. But the next time that they saw a ss like this one, they could use his experience as a baseline and start growing the new elite from there.

 Chapter 35: Efficient Casting

    <h4>Chapter 35: Efficient Casting</h4>


    Karl sat on the balcony of his room with a stack of textbooks, trying to determine if there would be some surefire way to help Hawk advance from the Awakened stage to Ascended without arge dy.


    From what he knew of the Windspeed Hawk, their progression usually came from improved skills with [Rend] along with an increased ability power level. The mana infused monster blood should help with the second part, and they were doing daily training, which no wild Hawk would ever have a reason to do.


    Mostly because they hunted for food, not for sport, so they wouldn''t use their skills a hundred times a day. That gave them some sort of advantage over the wild growth rate, but there had to be more that he could do than just grind their skills over and over.


    Hawk had already learned the [Wind Barrier] from the Headmaster''s Wind Beads, so the Windspeed Hawk could absolutely learn new things from mystic resources, he just had to get his hands on them.


    A knock on his door distracted him from his confusion, and Karl went to open the door, finding Dana with a smile and a bag full of books, plus a small te of food.


    "I brought a gift for Hawk. Someone told me that they had them around their house in the farnds, and the Hawks really liked these, so I asked the kitchen to find one." She greeted him.


    That caught Hawk''s attention, and he flew in from the other room tond on her shoulder and check out the te.


    It was a small animal, skinned, but intact and raw, but to the Windspeed Hawk, the smell was divine.


    "It''s an Iron Jaw Mole. They''re farnd pests, as they dig huge holes for their nests. They''ve got great jaw strength, as you would expect, but that''s it. Unfortunately for them, they''re even weaker than the Earth Mice in the fields outside the Academy, and they''ve got no ranged attacking power at all."


    The trio walked back to the patio and Dana set the te on the table, where it was immediately attacked by Hawk.


    "Mind your manners, I don''t need you getting blood stter on the textbooks." Karl reminded him.


    In response, the Hawk pushed the te to the far side of the table, but didn''t slow his pace, happily tearing the small animal to bits.


    "What are you working on today?" Karl asked as Dana set out a pair of notebooks, but no reference text.


    "Mana control. ording to the teacher, I still use too much for every spell, and that inefficiency is why I''m having trouble with multiple spells and my channelling speed. For now, they''ve asked me to just focus on Magic Missiles and Fog, and not to expand my spell repertoire yet, or I will ingrain bad habits into new spells.


    So, I want to get my efficiency increased as quickly as I can." Dana exined.


    Hawk looked up with interest. That topic sounded like it would be useful to him too. He could kill more water balls that way, and taunt the mages. Taunting mages was way more fun than Hawk had expected it to be, especially when they weren''t allowed to attack him directly.


    "That sounds like good advice. I need to find a way to keep Hawk progressing now that he''s reaching full growth. All this good food and the handful of special items they could find that were suitable for Hawks have brought him up to full-grown in record time, but he is going to hit his natural bottleneck soon, and then it''s up to training whether we can make the leap from Awakened to Ascended before the first semester is over."


    They studied in silence for a few minutes while Hawk finished eating, and then the bird flew up into the trees and brought them back a singe pear, perfectly ripened.


    Karl remembered this one from the guidebook. It was supposed to help refresh the body and remove stress. Amon enough effect for magical nts, but useful when studying.


    Karl cut it into thin slices, and Hawk took one small bite before ruffling its feathers and turning away.


    The pear smelled incredible, but it was too sweet, not at all to Hawk''s liking. The humans could have it.


    Karlughed at the Hawk''s disappointed look and cut the pear into slices for them to snack on. Then, Hawk stepped across the table and directly onto Dana''s notepad.


    "What are you doing, little man? Have we ignored you too much?" She asked, and stroked his head gently.


    Hawk preened at the attention, then shook himself and focused.


    He raised one w, and created a [Rend] de in front of him, then decreased the intensity to almost nothing, before bringing it back up again. Then down until it was almost invisible.


    [Tell her about the waste.] Hawk demanded.


    "He wants you to understand that the harder you push yourself, the more mana you waste. Try what he''s doing with your Magic Missiles, and I think you''ll see, hold it in ce and keep decreasing the power. The mana cost drops exponentially." Karl exined.


    Dana looked skeptical, but she did what he asked. The first few Missiles nearly fired out across the Academy Grounds, as she had never before tried to hold them in ce, but after a few minutes, she could hold and guide them where she wanted as she slowly reduced the power from the default full activation to barely a glow of light.


    "How did you know to do that?" She asked as she mimicked Hawk''s cycle through the power range.


    "It''s instinctive for Hawk, and he taught me. By the logic of a Windspeed Hawk, you should hunt with just enough power to take out your prey, so you don''t waste more energy than you get back." Karl exined.


    "So that''s it. This is a huge breakthrough. I can see where I was going wrong, I was just focusing on the spell activation sequence, and letting it go. I thought that I was doing well by controlling the direction, but if I focus on the mana flow, I can do so much more with it.


    There are likely so many things that we can learn from magical creatures that we have never thought of ourselves. The teacher''s directions aren''t even this detailed, and I''ve never seen another student actually reduce the power of their spells. They just increase their endurance and cast everything at full power every time, but with better control as they grow."


    Karl thought about that for a moment and shook his head.


    "No, the senior students have learned to control and split the power as well. I guess they just thought that it would be too difficult for a new mage? But it makes casting spells way easier. Even if you do it at half power, you should be able to cast at least five missiles for every one that you could before."

 Chapter 36: Practice Makes Perfect

    <h4>Chapter 36: Practice Makes Perfect</h4>


    Dana and Hawk spent the rest of the evening practising their skill control together, while Karl focused on finding more about the growth cycles and power increase triggers of various magical beast species.


    There were so many, but Karl was certain that if he worked on it, he could find some sort of pattern to the triggers. It should be either something to do with their skills, their body''s alignment to an element or some sort of environmental factor. He didn''t believe that it waspletely random and that it was all up to luck, with study, they should be able to trigger the advancements deliberately.


    The meditation and movement of energy to Hawk was certainly going to help, though he couldn''t tell how much. But every meal since the advancement had given him a surge of energy, as he was absorbing the nutrients and embedded mana much more efficiently than a regr human would.


    That should be something normal for the Elites, as the kitchens did deliberately prepare that sort of meal for every student, so the real difference should be that he could share the excess with Hawk, instead of wasting it.


    Once it started to get dark, Dana finished making notes on what she had learned, and then returned to her room for the night, while Karl prepared to eat one morete night meal and meditate on transferring that extra energy to Hawk to help him grow.


    The only problem was that they would have to wait until there was a noticeable change to find out if these methods were working, and even then, they wouldn''t necessarily know for certain which of the methods were the ones that had thergest impact.


    There was no exact measuring method, which was why they had just loosely grouped monsters into categories based on their power rankings, but that also meant that near the boundaries of those rankings there could be some uncertainty, unless the body or power went through a notable change.


    For example, when a Devil Cat went through the process of moving from awakened to Ascended, it grew a second tail. That was a pretty simple and surefire way to tell. Many birds would gain a distinctive pattern on their feathers as they grew more powerful, and most mammals would increase in size in a sudden growth spurt.


    Windspeed Hawks didn''t go through most of that, they kept their appearance, except for the ws. Once a Windspeed Hawk reached the Ascended level, their ws would turn from a dull ck, to a translucent obsidian, and that w material was an exceptional resource for elites learning simr skills. It could be ground up and mixed with monster blood in the same way as the strength stones, and drinking it would increase skill understanding.


    [Haha, yeah, make them eat my w clippings. They grow back quickly.] Hawk giggled in Karl''s mind, equating the broken w parts to human toenail clippings. Just a shed waste product that it no longer cared about.


    [Well, if we can help you grow to that level, we can help the others out then. We will show them how far ahead you are, just by being yourself.] Karl joked, stroking the bird''s ego for a moment before he began to meditate.


    In the morning, they both felt refreshed and a bit better than they had the day before, so that became their routine. Mornings with the mages, afternoons of martial arts training, and then evenings of book studies, while Karl worked on learning all that he could about magical beasts and the triggers that could cause them to advance, while Hawk worked with Dana on their mana control.


    His rate of growth was incredible, and while he had an advantage to begin with, thanks to his species, Hawk was rapidly outgrowing anything that could have been expected of a juvenile Windspeed Hawk.


    Normally, they wouldn''t need to use the [Rend] attack more than a handful of times in a day, as it was primarily for hunting, and asionally for self-defence. But by the end of the week, he could keep it up for hours at a time.


    Dana was also progressing at a crazy pace with his help, and she now had full control over her magic missiles. It was quite impressive to see her hold them in ce, or move them around the room with her mind. The process still drained her much faster than she would prefer, but it was a vast improvement on the first day that she started working with Hawk, when she didn''t understand at all how she was supposed to control the mana flows.


    So, it was with greatly improved confidence that they headed for the meeting spot for the next practical skills meeting.


    The same group of fifty-four students were gathered in the field, waiting for the teachers to arrive, and Karl took his spot next to the other team leaders.


    Sergeant Rita arrived a few minutester with the two mages, driving one of the Academy''s cargo buggies filled with gear.


    "We have something new and fun for everyone today. These are the new experimental products from the weapons development department at the Golden Dragon National Research University. What you all are going to do today is go on a little field trip. The danger will be a bit higher than usual, as you will be leaving the Academy Grounds entirely, and not just going to the outskirts, but the University has asked us to test whether these new weapons with their fancy technology can actually improve the user''s strength by a whole rank." Sergeant Rita announced.


    The mages were more than a little skeptical, as their powers were based on mana flow and control, which were both internal factors, they didn''t use weapons in the same way that the warriors did. If it was just for the warrior sses, it would be a great safety measure for Elites in general, but not specifically for them.


    However, when they took the tarp off the cart, there was a box with everyone''s name on it. The University really hade up with something for everyone, and the students began to be excited to see what it could do.

 Chapter 37: New Claws

    <h4>Chapter 37: New ws</h4>


    Karl made his way to the stack of boxes, where Sergeant Rita was organizing everyone into a single file line to get through the stack more efficiently. She handed him arge box, and he stepped aside, trying to decipher how to open a box with no visibletches.


    The answer turned out to be a fingerprint scanner in the middle of one side, hidden beneath the paint. To students who grew up in the city, it was obvious, but the small towns didn''t have any need for such high-tech security in their daily lives, they just taped the boxes closed and called it secure.


    Inside the box was a new set of gauntlets, simr to the ones that he already had, at least in external appearance, but they were lighter than the training units, and the ws on the fingers seemed to be made from some sort of actual monster w, instead of alloy.


    What sort of difference that was supposed to make to his [Rend] attack was a mystery, but there might be something else hidden under the nondescript ck metal upper glove that covered his arm nearly to the elbow which would help with mana channelling, or serve as some sort of amplifier for his skills.


    The only way to know was to test them, so Karl stepped away from the crowd, where the warriors were happily beginning to wave their new swords around, and gave them a flex to send a w attack into the air.


    The power activation feels much more natural, even than when he is doing it barehanded. The gauntlets weren''t strictly necessary for the skill, unlike a sword skill. He had fingernails of his own that would do the job, but with these new gauntlets on his hands, the power seemed to flow to the monster ws and form much more smoothly than he could manage on his own.


    It didn''t feel like it was more powerful than usual, and the energy he put in was the same, but his recovery felt like it was faster than usual, as if the weapon was returning some of the expended energy to him.


    With these gauntlets, Karl was certain that he could fight all morning with ease, and not have to take nearly as many breaks during the defensive training with the mages. It would certainly drive his ssmates insane to have that many more skillsing up to block their attacks, but they were getting better anyhow, so it could be good for them.


    It only took a few minutes to get all the weapons handed out, and for chaos to spread through the field where they had gathered. There were sword attacks and spells flying all around, arge stone golem standing to one side, and the ground was trembling from someone''s magic.


    It was insanity, but the teachers were content to wait until the students had all begun to calm down before they said anything else.


    "Alright, calm down, everyone. You know what''sing next. But this time there is a twist. This week, we will be putting you in pairs. There are two of each number in the bag, pick one paper and find your partner for today''s exercise. You will all be working individually in arge region, so don''t expect backup if there are issues." Sergeant Rita exined, while the two mages looked excessively pleased with their ingenuity.


    The device that the University had made for the mages varied from person to person, but mostly, they were in the form of a small rectangr frame full of crystals and tubes that could be hung from the user''s belt.


    Aesthetically, they were a strange choice, but better than the hooded coat with the wires running all down the inside that one of the mages was wearing.


    Dana had one of the boxes, a tter one that was a littlerger than a paperback novel.


    That gave Karl a great idea. If they were allowed to keep these prototypes, he could suggest putting a regr book cover over some of them so that they blended in with the academy''s usual apparel a bit better. That should also protect them from damage and dirt, which clearly wasn''t a concern for the design team working on magician enhancing tools.


    "Sergeant Rita, what are these gauntlets made of? Do you know?" Karl asked as she approached him with the bag of numbers.


    "Just various monster partsbined, as far as I know. It''s supposed to be something aboutbining the aspects of magical beasts to create magic items." She replied with a shrug.


    Karl took a number from the bag, and waited for the rest of the students to choose.


    He had drawn number seventeen, but the look on the teachers'' faces said that simply shouting your number to find your partner would not be tolerated. Or at least not before the numbers were all passed out. So, Karl decided to wander and check numbers with the others who had received their cards.


    He was at the edge of the group to begin with, and his path simply followed the Sergeant through the crowd. The others were doing the same, but in an organized manner. They were beginning to line up based on the number of their paper, with number one moving over toward where Karl had been standing in the beginning.


    Karl caught on quickly and moved to roughly where he thought pair seventeen should be, and found himself standing next to Dana, who was holding a card identical to his.


    "Well, that makes it easier. We already know each other''s basic skills, and they should work well together. You take the lead, Hawk scouts, and I will deal damage from the back." She informed him with a smile.


    "That works for me. How is your new tool? Is that mass of stuff really better than what you were using earlier?" Karl asked.


    "It seems to be, but we will find out once we actually have to use them. The box is a focusing device, and you use it when you''re casting the spell to intensify the effects. It''s a bit difficult to use properly at first, but with some practice, it should increase my magic power by quite a bit." Dana replied.


    "Now, we just need to find out what we''re going to test it on."

 Chapter 38: Are We There Yet?

    <h4>Chapter 38: Are We There Yet?</h4>


    Once everyone was sorted, the Mages began their spell casting again in preparation to transport the group somewhere. This version seemed far moreplex than the first time that Karl had seen it, and the effort was visibly draining on the two mages. That must mean they were going quite a bit further than the outskirts of the Academy, which had been a simple and effortless spell for just the elder teacher.


    But they appeared in the target location just as smoothly as they had the first time, and Karl found himself standing next to Dana in a ruined warehouse, still stocked with bags of dry goods and one slowly leaking barrel of honey that had attracted a huge number of bees.


    "We should move before we anger them. I don''t fancy being stung by bees today." Karl whispered as Dana took in their surroundings.


    Hawk was eager to get out and see what was going on, but until they knew what sort of danger level they were facing, Karl didn''t want to send him up blindly.


    Dana gestured toward arge hole in the wall that seemed to lead out to a main road, and the duo began to move, making their way out into a ruined vige.


    "This just happened. I can still smell fresh blood and gunpowder." Karl whispered.


    Both smells were unpleasantly familiar after a childhood of helping at the mines, and with his enhanced senses, courtesy of Hawk, he could pick them out much more clearly than ever.


    "What do you mean?" Dana replied softly.


    "This vige was attacked in thest day or two. That''s probably why we are here, to help clean out the monsters that have tried to move in. I will send up Hawk now, so we know what we''re up against, and then we cane up with a n.


    It''s a good thing that you have been working on your mana control because I think that you''re going to need Magic Missile far more than the fog today."


    This would be a brutal crash course for the first year students, even if they were the handpicked best of the batch. They had only been at the Academy for a few weeks, and they were mostly working with one or two abilities that were still at the Common Grade.


    That should mean that the threat level here wasn''t too high, but if it were just Common Grade monsters, the townsfolk should have been able to chase them off. Perhaps the response hadn''te quickly enough and the elites had dealt with the stronger monsters toote, leaving just the dangerous local wildlife for the students to clean out.


    [There are angry pigs. We''re killing them, right? Then eat them?] Hawk reported.


    [Tell me exactly where they are in rtion to me, and how many. I also need to know how strong each is, or how many of them are Awakened or higher.] Karl replied, training the Hawk how he wanted the scouting reports to be structured.


    [Nine pigs, all injured. One with awakened power. Two hundred metres in my direction from the building. Oh, there are more monsters south. If you go that way, there are six Goblins, none awakened. They''rezy, making a campfire.]


    [You know the routine, work first and then eat. Lead us to the Goblins and keep an eye out for more monsters. The book said that Goblins travel inrge bands, so there are likely more of them around.] Karl replied.


    "There are some wild pigs that Hawk wants to eat, but there are Goblins on the south side of town. That would exin why things went so badly here. Even if they''re weak, they''re smarter than most wild magical beasts, and theye inrge numbers.


    We are going to have to clear out the six that are left here first, and then we can look for more stragglers and anything else."


    Anything else, meaning survivors, but it would be uncouth to say that out loud so early into their mission.


    Dana nodded grimly, not really ready to see a true monster in person and in the wild with just one other student beside her, but she knew that this was the training mission, and they had been sent here specifically to take care of this threat.


    Hawk circled the town, looking for movement and anything else that the other two might find. Work first, and then eat, so the faster he helped them get all the work done, the better. That meant that he couldn''t miss any of the targets.


    [I found more Goblins. In a house, four doors up from you and across the street. I can see two of them from my perch.]


    Karl ryed the message to Dana in a whisper, and then kept walking.


    "What are you doing?" She hissed.


    "If they know that we have seen them, they will call for assistance instead of trying to ambush. Hawk has his eyes on them, he won''t let them actually ambush us, just stay close to me and when they rush, you cast Magic Missile." Karl whispered back as he walked.


    Karl crossed the street, watching the building that Hawk had marked with his enhanced peripheral vision without turning his head. The Goblins didn''t have great eyesight, so they would assume that if he wasn''t looking at them, he hadn''t seen them, and sure enough, as soon as he passed, they charged out with a battle cry.


    It was just three wounded Common Grade Goblins, and two of them fell to Hawk''s [Rend] before either Karl or Dana could respond. Karl took thest with a flex of his fingers, and the town fell silent again.


    [Hawk, keep searching, that cry might have alerted the others.] Karl directed.


    The Hawk flew away, and Dana gave it a look of admiration.


    "He''s got great reflexes." She muttered.


    "He''s definitely a good friend to have on a day like this. He''s gone to scout for more Goblins, in case something heard and responded to that battle cry."

 Chapter 39: Goblins

    <h4>Chapter 39: Goblins</h4>


    Karl kept them moving south toward the edge of town, even when he felt the asional pull of exertion, as Hawk took out lone Goblins that had been hiding in town. He was not happy about the situation, as they smelled terrible and were inedible to him, but there was the promise of Iron Tusk boars in the distance as soon as he found and eliminated them all.


    "They really prepared a brutal test for us today. Hawk has found five more wandering Goblins so far, and we''re still not to therger pack of six. Take out whichever ones you want when we arrive. Your spell is slower to cast than Rend, so I will let you lead off the attack, and then I will keep them from getting to us.


    How are you doing on the multiple missiles'' effort?" Karl asked.


    "I can still only control two at a time, but once I get the spell started, it should be much faster to send the next volley. Are there any awakened rank Goblins in the pack?" She replied.


    "ording to Hawk, they''re all Common grade followers, there is no sign of a stronger leader. The Elite who came here first likely dealt with the stronger foes and then left the rest, or they ran and came back." Karl replied.


    Karl caught a glimpse of mes in the distance, on the outskirts of town, and put a finger to his lips to signal silence from here forward. The goblin camp was loud, preparing for something, and they didn''t even have a guard out when Karl led the way to the edge of the clearing where they had set up. Once they were close, he crouched, getting low to the ground so that his uniform didn''t stand out quite as badly, and did his best to move silently.


    It was clear that there had once been many more Goblins here, but presently only six remained, easy prey for the two Elites.


    Dana focused and put a pair of Magic Missiles into the back of two of the goblins near the fire pit, while Karl took out the one closer to them. Then he aimed for the one who reacted the fastest, and another who was trying to run.


    Dana got thest of them in the back, and Karl rose to his feet to go make sure they were really dead. There would be nothing worse than having what they thought was a defeated enemye from behind and ambush them, but as he made his way through the camp, Karl immediately began to regret moving in for a closer look.


    He had forgotten what Goblins eat, which was mostly the flesh of the vigers they ughtered, and the stench was overpowering. But after motioning for Dana to stay put for the moment and watch for reinforcements, he checked all the bodies, giving them all a quick stab with a pilfered goblin sword before moving back to their hiding spot.


    "They''re finished. Let''s move back into town and take care of the rest of the targets, then we can kill the pigs and have some lunch before waiting to see what else we are supposed to be doing here. I think that this should be it, but I was expecting a bit more guidance." He exined.


    "So was I. When they said that there wouldn''t be much of a chance that we would be meeting the other students, I didn''t think that they meant we wouldn''t even be in the same town. What does Hawk say about the situation?" Dana replied.


    [Nothing else is moving. I even went up high, and there was nothing else around but the pigs. I even stopped at the houses, and there was no sound of heartbeats or movement inside. Does that mean that we''re done, and we can have lunch now?] Hawk replied, hopefully.


    [Meet us before we go deal with the pigs. There is an awakened one there, and it might not be safe for you to go alone. Who knows what sort of ability he might have.]


    The wild Iron tusk Boars were happily rooting through the town''s garbage pile when Karl arrived, with Dana right behind him and the Hawk circling overhead.


    Thergest of them was Hawk''s target for lunch. It was newly into the Awakened rank, and gave off a sense of power that Dana recognized long before Karl did.


    "It has magic. I''m not sure what, but it can use some sort of magical spell." She whispered.


    "Alright then, we ambush it. All three of us at once will attack thergest boar, and then we will deal with the others. How is your stamina holding up? Have you rested long enough since the fight with the Goblins?"


    Dana nodded. "I held back, so the expenditure wasn''t nearly as high. I am ready to fight."


    She moved to Karl''s left, then climbed up on top of a small stone shed andy on her stomach to get a good angle of attack. That should keep the boars away from her for a moment, until they could knock down the wall, but she wasn''t so high that she would get hurt jumping down.


    [Hawk, your dinner is served. Attack the big one when Dana does, with as much as it takes to kill it. I will deal with the others.]


    Dana fired a pair of Magic Missiles into the Awakened boar, and six streaks of [Rend] came down to meet them, converging on its neck as the beast reared back to block the missiles with its tusks.


    Then Karl attacked, throwing Rend attacks into the closest two boars and moving forward to attract the attention of the remaining three. They were all close to Awakened in power, and their hides were beginning to toughen, but it wasn''t enough to keep his attacks from prating.


    Then Hawk arrived, sending out two more attacks into the back of the charging boars, while Dana targeted thest survivor, a greedy one who hadn''t stopped eating as soon as the others had.


    "Well, that was anticlimactic. I thought that it was going to be a much harder fight." Dana noted.


    "Don''t jinx it, we are still not back at the Academy. But I will cut up these boars so that Hawk can get a fresh lunch, and we will bring them back with us."


    How he was nning to do that was a mystery to Dana, but after Karl pulled a textbook from his coat for reference before beginning to butcher the pigs, she assumed that he had some actual n.


    Then, the first of them disappeared, just vanished in front of her eyes, and Karl moved on to the next.

 Chapter 40: Not A Day Trip?

    <h4>Chapter 40: Not A Day Trip?</h4>


    "What the heck was that? Where did they go?" Dana gasped as an entire hundred kilo boar vanished for the second time.


    "There is a mental space granted by my powers. That''s where Hawk stays when he''s not out ying. I can store things in there, like meat, and it doesn''t go bad. There is only one small issue that I''ve found. Only food can go in there. I tried to put my textbooks in, and it wouldn''t work. But meat can go in and out no problem." Karl exined.


    "What a strange restriction. But it is for your pet, right? So perhaps it''s only things that are good for the pet that can go in and out. Why don''t you try with a resource that you know he can''t useter and see what happens?" Dana suggested.


    "That is brilliant. Perhaps the magic of the beast space will help me learn what will be best for Hawk. Trying to find a way to help him advance more quickly is my current topic of study, other than the basic training." Karl exined.


    "d I could help. But shouldn''t someone have shown up by now? It''s getting close to lunch, and these practice missions usually onlyst an hour."


    Karl shrugged. "Well, technically, they''ve got us all day. So, I suppose it''s not a big deal if we have lunch here at the nearest house. No, scratch that, I heard from Hawk what is inside, let''s just eat out here."


    Karl used his sword to cut some sliced pork to grill over a fire, using branches as skewers, while Dana prepared a fire.


    "Give me just a second. I know the spell to create a small me, I just haven''t mastered it yet. We don''t have to make fire the hard way, or go rummaging through houses looking for a fire starter." She exined.


    The vige had been ransacked by Goblins, so whatever they found inside the houses was not going to be pleasant. Dana was aware of the stories about Goblin atrocities, but she really was not intending to find out first hand what it looked like up close.


    It took three tries before she managed to get sparks to form and the dry branches to light, but after that, the fire started to burn quite well, and the duo waited for the heat to build so that they could begin to roast the meat.


    "Do you think that this could be some sort of surprise survival test? Tomorrow is the day off, and we don''t have sses for another day and a half, so there wouldn''t be any dy to our learning if they had us stay here to hunt for an overnight trip." Karl suggested.


    "I hope not. I don''t know about you, but I didn''t bring any sort of camping equipment." Dana joked.


    There was a whole town behind them, but without any sign of survivors, and no visible battleground, being able to search the town itself for supplies was questionable. There was no telling how much was left in town, and how much had been taken with the ones who fled.


    "Well, if nobodyes for us by dinner, we will have to go looking for supplies to get through the evening. I don''t know if we want to stay in town, as the ruined town will draw more monsters searching for food."


    "That is a good idea. We should get settled in as if we were waiting for a conventional pickup after a mission. That seems like the best option, since this ss is intended to prepare us for rescues and missions after we graduate." Dana suggested.


    The three of them settled in around the fire, waiting out the time until the meat was cooked, and deliberately ignoring the fact that there was a ruined and abandoned vige right behind them. They would have to face the fact that numerous people likely lost their lives here in the recent past, but for now, they would focus on their lunch and the possibility that they didn''t get all the monsters that were nearby.


    But two hourster, after they had finished eating, and Hawk had searched the town twice over, going into every open house to make sure that there were no survivors or other hidden monsters, but there was nothing. In fact, there were very few bodies at all, though there was quite a bit of blood in some of the houses, ording to Hawk.


    "Should we go back to where we started, in the middle of town? Perhaps there is some sign there that will let us know what we''re supposed to be doing. I feel like we should have gotten some message by now, and that maybe we weren''t supposed to be sent to an empty town.


    I mean, think about it. We''re both technically still Common Grade, though I am already at Awakened in peak power. They shouldn''t have sent us out into the unknown unsupervised for too long, it would make more sense if we were here to deal with the Iron tusk Boars.


    Maybe there was supposed to be someone here to meet us, but they were gone before we arrived because of the Goblin attack."


    "So, you think that someone was supposed to let them know that we were finished? That makes some sense, since it is sanctioned by the Academy. Perhaps we could find something that would let us contact them? I mean, even a cell phone would do the job, and there should be a workingndline in some of the buildings." Dana suggested.


    Karl got to his feet, and sent Hawk back up to scout the town, in case there was anythinging for them, while they walked back to the town square. It was an eerie feeling, now that there was nothing around and moving. No birds, rodents, nothing at all. The town was justpletely silent.


    But there were lights on, so it hadn''t beenpletely destroyed, just left uninhabited.


    Just as when they arrived, the centre of town was empty, but now, Karl wasn''t looking for monsters, but signs that someone knew they wereing and might have left behind a message for them.

 Chapter 41: Low and Slow

    <h4>Chapter 41: Low and Slow</h4>


    The first thing that Karl noticed about the centre of town was how clean it was. There was no sign of battle here, no indication that there had been ast stand to defend this ce. So, logically, the majority of the inhabitants must have simply left, or fought to the end in another part of town.


    Reluctantly, Karl checked therge stone building nearby, whose doors were left open to the elements, and found that while the interior was a bit messy, there was no sign of a battle here either. So, either they left in advance, or the attack happened at night when nobody was at work.


    If the battle did take ce at night and made it past the perimeter security that every vige should have, it would make sense that there was very little to see in the streets. The Goblins would have invaded homes, and by the time that the rm was raised, most of the town would have been killed in their sleep.


    The government building still had power to theputers, so Karl whistled to catch Dana''s attention and gestured for her toe inside.


    "Do you know how to work this? I''ve never seen that operating system before." He asked.


    "Oh, no problem. We used the same one at school. It''s even still logged in. I wonder why theirputers don''t have a time-out feature when you''re gone too long?" She asked.


    She tapped a few keys and then clicked on the home button and smiled.


    "It looks like they did leave us a message. There is a text file in the middle of the home screen."


    [Dearest explorers and salvage teams. The residents of this vige intend to return within thirty days of the posting of this notice, making the town''s property ineligible for salvage. A surprise Goblin attack with the threat of ongoing invasions forced us to evacuate to safe point Alpha, as designated on the government maps for this location, and once the region is deemed safe and the Elites have finished their work, we will return.


    Mayor Dingwall.]


    "That''s dated this morning. We were likely already gathered for the morning briefing when this was posted, but I think that a lot of the blood we saw was a fair bit older than that." Karl noted.


    Dana thought about the timing of the message and its implications, and then looked back outside.


    "They said that it was likely there would be continued attacks. We only found a handful of stragglers, plus whatever Goblins Hawk killed inside the houses. That doesn''t really constitute an ongoing threat, does it? I think that tonight they are likely toe back again, looking for survivors and loot."


    "I think that you''re right. They are going toe back, not just the small scouting squad that they left here, but a whole Goblin tribe looking for supplies. The book I read on monster biology says that they don''t like being outside during the day if they can avoid it, so it will probably be after dark.


    That gives us about seven hours before they might start to arrive, assuming they attack with the twilight. But what can we do to fortify and prepare for them?


    This building is solid stone, with a stone roof, so it''s not too bad. We could lock all the shutters and wait here, or we could barricade this ce and return to it after we hunt Goblins in the town.


    They won''t be expecting someone to be hunting them while they''re scavenging for food." Karl suggested.


    "The problem with that is I can''t see in the dark. Maybe you can, but I definitely can''t. I would be working blind, and I''m not a closebat fighter, so I can''t really stay behind alone with my skills." Dana reminded him.


    "Why don''t you create a huge fog bank that hides the entire town? It will make the Goblins easier to hunt one at a time, so I can send Hawk to ambush any of them he finds out in the open, and then we can fight whichever ones manage to make it here.


    They won''t realize theirpanions are under attack right away if they can''t see them, and the shouting won''t lead them straight to us, so we can fight them in smaller groups.


    Unless there is a better building here in town, but it looks like the rest of them are mostly made of wood, and I wouldn''t trust that the Goblins won''t burn them down to get us out if they''re desperate."


    "Alright, that n works. I will start building the fog now, since itsts until I want it to dispel. Once it hides the whole vige, we should be a little more safe. How well can Hawk see through the fog?" Dana asked.


    "Keep it closer to the ground and it''s fine. If you can see for ten metres in the fog, that means that if it ends at ten metres in the air, Hawk can see through it just fine. Even five metres off the ground should be enough to blind the Goblins and still leave them visible from the air."


    It was a devastating advantage to attacking from above, and the Goblins wouldn''t be expecting a monster attack on their raiding party. Not many monsters would attack Goblins, as they weren''t edible. They would only attack if their territory was invaded, or the Goblins made the mistake of getting greedy and targeting them.


    "We should prepare a fire as well. Lanterns, something that will allow us to light the room so that we can see properly around the entrance once the fighting starts. The power might go out at any time if they''re attacking, Goblins are pretty smart, so some torches would be a good idea." Dana added.


    "There is an auto repair shop just down the street. I will get a bunch of oil and rags, then tie them around branches. That will work for torches to light the area, but I will look for an oilntern as well. I''m not sure that they will have one here, but they were prettymon in the mines."

 Chapter 42 Well Rested

    <h4>Chapter 42 Well Rested </h4>


    The mechanic''s shop was just down the block, and Karl approached as silently as possible, in case there were still goblins inside. Hawk said that he hadn''t found any, but he was also under orders to either stay high in the air or out of sight so that he wouldn''t get attacked before the real battle started.


    The building was an old cinder block building, darkened with years of soot all around the three bay doors, with a small office to one side. What he needed would likely be in the shop itself, but he also wanted to find a proper lighter and some food that wasn''t just roast meat.


    There should be a vending machine inside, and if anyone came back to see it broken, they would just assume it was the Goblins, since they trashed everywhere else in town. But strangely, the ss doors were intact, the windows unbroken, and the shop itself seemed undamaged.


    That could be an issue if it was all locked up, but when Karl tried the side door to the actual shop, it opened smoothly, revealing a dimly lit set of three bays, each with a car parked in them.


    Karl went to the first, and found a cigarette lighter in the cupholder, which went to his pocket, then he noticed a grease barrel on a two - wheeled dolly.


    That was perfect. It would burn slowly, it stuck to the rags for torches if the power went out, and there was a whole drum of it here on wheels. Karl loaded arge bag full of rags on the grease barrel, then went through the door to the front of the shop, where the distinctive smell of a workshop faded, and a pungent odour of herbs prevailed.


    Maybe that had something to do with why this ce wasn''t trashed? It was worth a shot, and Karl quickly found the source of the smell, bags of herbs soaked in fuel, giving off a rather obnoxious odour.


    There were spares in the front office, ready to be assembled, so Karl grabbed two and a small can of fuel to activate them. Then he made his way to the vending machine, which was unlocked and open, seemingly prepared for the likelihood that someone would be here before they returned. So, he grabbed a few bags of snacks and stuffed them in his coat, just in case they were here all night.


    "Hey, is anyone here? We''re elites from the Academy, here to deal with the monster issue." Karl called, just in case someone was hiding in this well protected shop.


    There was no answer, and the room was deathly silent, so Karl returned to his work. He needed at least a few long sticks for the torches, and those should be found in the parts department. Any long metal or wooden rod would do, and as luck had it, they stocked cargo bars for securing freight inside trucks. Two metres long, made of light metal and easy to disassemble to shorten them up a little.


    They would make great torch bases, so Karl grabbed four and brought them to the grease bin along with the scent buckets. There was arge length of chain nearby as well, so Karl added that to his pile of goodies and headed back out the way that he came in, carefully closing the side door so it didn''t make a loud noise.


    Dana''s fog was already spreading out from the government building, covering most of a city block and pouring down the streets. Given a few more hours of work, and she would certainly have the whole town covered, making Hawk''s work easier this evening.


    "I''ve got what we need. Snacks, torch materials, and even a couple of bags of herbs that should get soaked in fuel to keep monsters away. The shop waspletely untouched, so I''m pretty sure that they work. We can set them up in the entryway to the building and see if they keep the Goblins away for the night." Karl exined.


    "Perfect. Once I finish with the fog, I will need some sleep, so if you want to rest now, I will wait for Hawk''s signal that something ising. It''s going to be a long night." Dana reminded him.


    "Good point. Hawk''s warning should wake me up, but if it doesn''t just poke me or something. I''ll rest on the couch at the back of the lobby, out of sight of the doors, in case something passes by."


    He had left the door open a crack, the same as they had found it, and there were only a few lights on in the lobby, but there was still a chance that a monster passing by the door would notice them.


    "Wait, first put the herb bags where you think they need to be. It will be toote to mask our scent if we do itter in the evening." She reminded him with a grim look.


    Karl was still hoping for the best, that there wouldn''t be anythinging back tonight, but Dana was prepared for the worst, and that was a full goblin tribe arriving to clean out the town tonight, and finding them holed up in this one stone building.


    The bags were quick to prepare, and the scent rapidly filled the lobby, making Dana''s nose twitch in irritation at the pungent odour. But if it kept monsters away from their resting spot, it was a good thing, and they might actually be able to rest until Hawk gave them the signal that something wasing.


    He was resting in the Beast Space right now, preparing for his night of activities, but he woulde out once Dana was finished with the fog, or the evening approached. Some foods could only be hunted at night, and the Windspeed Hawks, as a species, had a great sense of when the transitions would be, as that was the point when the nocturnal animals would be active, but groggy and not quite as alert as usual.


    But he didn''t get to sleep that long. Dana woke them both up around six in the evening, an hour before sunset, to let them know that the fog was finished, and it extended out past the edge of town. Now, she was going to rest until the attack started, while Karl and Hawk could take over.


    [You know what to do. Head up into the sky and make sure that nothing is going to sneak up on us. Let me know if you see anything moving out there.]

 Chapter 43 From Above

    <h4>Chapter 43 From Above </h4>


    The hawk took off into the afternoon sky, making arger loop around the town to see if there was anything approaching, while watching for anything that might take the opportunity of the fog to move about.


    He was pretty sure that he hadn''t missed anything during the day, but there were always ways to hide from him, so maybe like a mouse in a hole there were hiding monsters in the town just waiting toe out.


    He had gone ten kilometres out, moving in a spiral pattern as he circled the town, when he found what they were waiting for.


    [I found it. A whole bunch of Goblins are headed to the town now. They''re just putting out their fires and starting to move. Do you want me to follow them?] He asked.


    Karl frowned. That was close to the worst-case scenario that they had imagined when they prepared for the evening.


    [Keep tabs on them, but make sure that is the only thinging our way. We can likely deal with a pack of Goblins, but if there is something stronger than a Common Monster, we could be in trouble.] He replied.


    Karl had an impression of where Hawk was in rtion to himself, so he knew that that Goblins weren''t too close to the town yet, and he had some time before they arrived, but not enough that he could count on making any real fortifications.


    What he should do was call the Academy and make sure that this was part of the n. Since they didn''t know if the teachers were aware the town was empty when they were sent, it would be best to make sure. All he had to do was find the academy''s phone number somewhere. Assuming that it was even listed.


    Contacting the Elites wasn''t something that a regr person could just do casually, so the number might not be easily avable even with theputer here in the lobby. They should have most of an hour before the Goblins reached the town, so he would wake Dana up in half an hour to get freshened up and have something to eat before the fighting started.


    [The Goblins are splitting up. They will be going all over town, but not in a big pack.] Hawk did his best to exin the situation as the Goblins got closer to the town''s low wall.


    [Alright, you can start working once they are in the fog and separated. Just don''t get hurt. I will wake Dana now.] Karl replied.


    He gently shook the mage awake and gestured toward the break room in the back of the lobby.


    "There are washrooms back there, if you want to get clean and grab a drink before the fight starts." He whispered.


    "How long do we have?"


    Karl listened to Hawk''s running updates and did his best to calcte.


    "I would say about five minutes until they''re actually in town, and fifteen or twenty before they reach this side of town. They''re about to reach the outer fog now, and they have slowed to a slow walk as they search."


    Dana disappeared into the back room and came back a few minutester with a lunch box in each hand.


    "They''re still good. Or at least they smell like it. They were in the break room fridge, but I''m sure that whoever''s lunch this was will forgive us."


    "Do you know the Academy phone number, or how to find it? We should probably call them to make sure this is part of the n." Karl suggested as he finished the container of leftover spaghetti and the two sandwiches. Whoever brought this had a serious appetite.


    "I can try finding it, but I''m not sure that it''s a public number. Let me know if anything is getting close." Dana agreed.


    She sat at theputer to search for the Academy''s contact information, and Karl moved to watch the outside of the building on the monitor at the other desk. There were only a few security cameras, but they circled the building, and there was an extra one at the entrance.


    "Wait, we forgot to check the other doors. Give me one minute and I will make sure that none of the side doors are unlocked." Karl hissed as he realized that they had missed an important step in securing their base.


    There was only one other exterior door, a fire exit at the back of the lobby, but when Karl reached it, he realized that it wasn''t and couldn''t be locked. But he had some supplies, so there was a chance to barricade the door.


    He went back to the front and got one of the cargo securement bars and the length of chain he had taken from the auto repair shop. The bar could be set across the hallway, and the chain looped around it and through the handle on the door. The hooks on either end of the chain would hold it in ce, and the handle looked solid enough, bolted through the thick metal fire door.


    Karl didn''t know for sure how strong a Goblin was, but there was no chance that he would be able to pull that door open, even if he had someone along to help him.


    It took a few tries to get the bar in the right spot across the hallway walls, but once he had the chain pulled tight, the door was very secure, and they no longer had to worry too much about anything sneaking in behind them.


    [They''re in the fog. I will start to eliminate the Goblins now.] Hawk reported.


    "They''re in town. Hawk is starting to work now, but we''ve got a bit before they reach this side of the city. They''re probably going to try to loot the houses as they go, so it might take quite a while before they reach us." Karl whispered.


    [They''re not all stopping. A bunch of them are running further into town through the fog. They could be near you soon. Do I scout or do I hunt?] Hawk asked.


    "They''re not doing a methodical search, they''re spreading all over town anding our way. Get ready."


    [Try to give us a warning when anything gets close to us, but hunt as much as you can.]

 Chapter 44 Night Fight

    <h4>Chapter 44 Night Fight </h4>


    Karl checked the cement of the scent bags in the lobby, making sure they were going to fill the room to deter goblins, then put another one out in the back near the lunchroom, in case they had to retreat. Making it harder for the Goblins to pick up their scent would make it easier to ambush them, and the more that they could kill before the tribe realized anything was wrong, the better.


    [They areing right for you. Maybe they can smell you?] Hawk asked a few minutester as he watched the Goblins headed directly for the middle of town, next to the government building where Karl and Dana were hiding.


    [Thanks. We''re on it.]


    "Dana, climb up on that desk and open the window above you. You can fire magic missiles from there, right? That should give you a better angle on the Goblins that areing for the town square. I am going to step outside and close the door behind me, so I can attack them properly." Karl whispered.


    Dana didn''t approve of that n, but if they were going to fight the Goblins, it was better if someone drew their attention away from her. If Karl was inside the building, he couldn''t do it. But if he was outside and her scent was blocked from the Goblins while she attacked, it could work well enough for them to clear out most of them with little risk.


    The real danger would be that they would get tired from the exertion of multiple spell castings. They would be restraining their powers, so the exponential mana cost as you approached your limits wasn''t as much of a hindrance, but there were still limitations on how much they could do.


    Even Hawk couldn''t hunt all night long without a break, that wasn''t in his nature at all.


    What Dana needed to focus on was making the magic arrows more like actual arrows. Normally, they were glowing spears of magic. But she didn''t want them to glow tonight and give away her position.


    The first Goblins came as a pair, skulking through the streets searching for something that they would never find, as Karl''s [Rend] tore them both apart at the same time. Their bodies fell into a bush along the side of the road, next to the building that they thought would hide their presence, and Karl returned to waiting.


    The smell of Goblin blood would certainly bring others to him, which was precisely what Karl wanted at the moment. They were all spread out across the town, so they wouldn''t arrive in a group, but if they arrived a few at a time, they would be no match for him and Dana.


    Given his physique, even if he were just to fight them, Karl was fairly certain that he could take one or two Goblins at a time without using skills, but there was a serious risk that he would be wounded, and neither of them knew any healing skills.


    Karl heard the rustle of a branch, when there was no wind in this fog, and turned to find another trio of Goblins trying to sneak up on him. A streak of faint light hit one in the back, punching a hole through its chest, before Karl tore the other two apart with [Rend].


    Even at a quarter power, which put virtually no strain on his body or energy, the four streaks of light shredded the Goblins with ease. They might be strong for their size, but they were soft, and their hide was no match for his attacks.


    In the sky above, Hawk had realized the same thing. He used only the bare minimum of power to take out his targets all over town, saving as much as he could forter. Karl always gave him a reward for doing a good job, and it had to be an excellent reward if he managed to keep up the battle until all the Goblins were gone.


    Unlike Karl, who simply fought where he was, Hawk had started his battle on the downwind side of the town. That way, the scent of Goblin blood would be blown back across the areas he had already cleared, instead of wafting over the vige, as Karl''s kills were doing.


    Not that the Goblins were all that concerned. Most of them were still focused on loadingrge bags of stuff from houses, and Hawk just had to wait to kill them until they came back out. But as they moved through the houses and didn''t hear their fellow tribesmen anymore, they were bing concerned, and that was causing more of them to move toward the smell of blood.


    [You have more iing. They can smell your fight.] Hawk warned as he took out both a Goblin and an Earth Mouse at the same time.


    Karl probably hadn''t banned him from eating his kills. At least Hawk didn''t remember him doing it, so he happily ate the mouse before looking for more Goblins. It was a good night. There was work, but there were also mice, and a promise of rewardster. Maybe he could even convince Karl to give him a whole vial of that blood juice that was so good for his strength.


    Dana tapped on the windowsill to get Karl''s attention and pointed through the fog to where a group of four Goblins was trying to sneak up on them. It was a terrible effort, as their eyesight was not good, and through the fog, Karl could see much further than they could.


    What they were going by was the smell of blood, but there was none on him, or in the building where Dana was hiding, so they were on the wrong side of the square, out in the open when Dana''s spell took two of them out before they even noticed they were in danger.


    Karl was about to attack when instinct told him to move, and he sidestepped while turning, barely avoiding being hit by a flying dart fired from a Goblin blowgun.


    Using his full strength, [Rend] killed the creature and three of itspanions at the same time, slicing them into pieces that fell into the grass.


    Dana took out the other Goblins across the park, and Karl gave her a thumbs up in approval.


    He would have to be extra careful of those darts, in case they had some sort of poison on them. They didn''t look like they would kill if they didn''t, and that made them hisrgest concern in the increasing darkness.

 Chapter 45 Easy Pickings

    <h4>Chapter 45 Easy Pickings </h4>


    The darkness was also a benefit to Karl, as he could hear the Goblins running into various things around town, where the lights in the houses had been broken or turned off. They might have a sneaky dart gun, but if they couldn''t see him, then it wouldn''t really matter what sort of weapons they had, they wouldn''t be able to hit him.


    With that in mind, Karl shifted into the shadows of an alcove and waited for more Goblins to be attracted by the noise and the smell of blood.


    He could hear Hawk hunting in the distance, the short shrieks of Goblins as they were assaulted from above, cut off before they could get a full word out, but Hawk''s narration said that he was still high in the sky, using the dark to his advantage while attacking down into the fog.


    The Goblin tribe didn''t stand a chance tonight, and they were so easy for him to kill that Hawk was barely trying, just using multiples of very low powered attacks to eliminate the pests without tiring himself. Bird type monsters were the reason that Goblins lived in caves, and they had no real way to deal with an irate bird whose territory they had invaded. They could only wait for it to swoop, or run and hide until it calmed down.


    Another pair of magic missiles from Dana took out two more Goblins on the edge of the central square, while Karl saw another scurry into the corner by a set of stairs.


    It had seen itsrades fall, but couldn''t see the attacker, so it was hiding and waiting for its chance. He couldn''t afford to let it warn the others, so Karl crept up to the stairs and then tossed himself into the air using the railing so he could see down at the hiding Goblin.


    The height shocked him. Karl wasn''t really used to the additional strength of his body, and he had thrown himself nearly three metres in the air, but it gave him a good view of the target, and his [Rend] took it out with ease.


    Then Karl caught the edge of the roof beside him to slow his fall, and carefully dropped to the ground, limiting the noise he made on the sidewalk.


    The soft thump didn''t seem like it would carry far, and Karl returned to the shadows in front of the government building to wait for more Goblins to approach. Their eyesight might be terrible, but their hearing and sense of smell weren''t, so they had to know something was up by now.


    The stench of Goblin blood was all that Karl could smell, and he didn''t even have any on him.


    Then, the sound of bare feet pping on the concrete as they ran in his direction caught Karl''s attention. There was arger grouping for them, and as they reached the square, they started to shout, calling for reinforcements as they searched for the culprit.


    Karl stepped out into the street and cut down two of the closest Goblins from a block away, where they were barely visible through the fog, even to his eyes. Dana hadn''t started firing magic missiles yet, so she probably couldn''t see them, but the Goblins understood which direction they were under attack from and turned to run toward Karl, waving rusty des and clubs as they screamed.


    Swinging his arm in a wide arc, Karl sent out a three-metre wide quartet of attacks which scattered the Goblins, with some leaping to the side, some dropping to the ground, and an unfortunate few being torn to shreds.


    That made them stationary targets as the first Magic Missiles hit them, and Karl picked off a few more with smaller attacks that would be harder to see in the dark.


    More bare feet were running toward them in the fog, and a shrill screech of Hawk hunting came from overhead as he followed his targets back toward Karl.


    It took a moment to activate Rend, and Karl couldn''t do it as fast as Hawk could, but for a moment, the Goblins were held at bay, creating a mess of bodies in the middle of town, and covering the blood in ck blood that stunk of rot and metal.


    Then, the Goblins were too close for Karl to keep them away with Rend, and he decided to switch tactics. He drew his de and chopped at the closest one, breaking its arm and knocking its crude wooden shield aside before the de cut deep into its neck.


    Dana focused on the Goblins closest to him, keeping them from surrounding or bypassing Karl and heading for her, while Hawk worked his way in from the back.


    It was impossible to tell how many were left in the fog as Karl traded blows with three more Goblins, trying to get an attack in without leaving himself open. They were surprisingly strong for their size, but not strong enough to be called Awakened Monsters, as they were learning as they failed to stop Karl''s counterattack.


    A wave of sword light in the form of [Rend] sliced through the Goblins in front of him, giving Karl some breathing space, but therger attacks were hard on his stamina, and he wouldn''t be able to do that too many more times.


    Instead, he retreated toward the government building, using smaller Rend attacks as he went, and the Goblin pack began to falter.


    "I can''t keep this up." Dana warned from the window above him as Karl reached the door to the building.


    "That''s fine, you don''t need to. Lock the window and take a break, I will defend the doorway while Hawk works outside. I think he has a bit more in him." Karl wheezed, winded from the exertion of fighting arger Goblin pack.


    [I have been going easy on them, small attacks is all it takes, and they''re too dumb to fight back.] Hawk gloated.


    [Just keep it up and get rid of the rest. Don''t let them find a way into this building.]

 Chapter 46 Don’t You Listen?

    <h4>Chapter 46 Don''t You Listen? </h4>


    Hawk circled the square, targeting the Goblins who tried to leave the area in other directions, while seeing Karl standing in the doorway of the building, under the lights, drew more of them forward.


    Dana slumped as she climbed down from her perch on the windowsill, and went to sit in one of the chairs in the break room to recover and get some energy back.


    The snacks weren''t much when you were used to roasted monster meat, but there was some of that left as well, and the break room was well supplied with energy drinks and a free coffee maker.


    The Goblins were hesitant at first to approach Karl, after seeing him kill so many of their own, but mostly they were waiting for more numbers. Numbers were strength to Goblins, and once they had enough, their courage was unbreakable.


    Karl leisurely cast Rend at the best targets, forcing them to keep moving or be lumps of meat, while Hawk gave him steady updates.


    [We are down to less than ten of them now. Most are in the square, but there are some on the other side of town who are running away.] Hawk informed Karl after five minutes of the cat and mouse game with the hiding Goblins.


    [Don''t let them get out of town. If we''re going to make the area safe for the locals to return, we can''t have them sending survivors back to wherever they came from. I will keep fighting these while you''re gone.]


    Karl sensed Hawk turning to find the cowards, and looked for a clean shot at the remaining attackers near the building. They were trying to sneak up on him, staying in the bushes around the other buildings, but that wasn''t hard for Karl to pick out. What he didn''t want to do was to attack too fast and tire himself out before they made arge push toward the door.


    Hawk said that there were less than ten, and with the one he had just killed in the rose bushes, that should be less than six, but he didn''t know how many were still hiding somewhere nearby and how many the Hawk had found running away.


    The bird was too distracted with his hunt to give updates, but there was nothing moving near Karl right now.


    So, he waited, and then waited some more, until finally, one of the Goblins came sneaking around the corner of the building, and tried to jump him. Karl didn''t even turn his head as he flicked his finger and sent a de of energy to cut the creature''s head off, dropping it on the steps with a thud.


    Hawk finished his work and began to circle the town, looking for more targets, but there were none to be found. Everything in town was either dead or in hiding, which meant that all that remained was for the local police force or militia to do door to door searches and clear all the houses before the residents went back in.


    Hawknded on the roof, and Karl opened the window for him, so he coulde inside when he was ready.


    "I''m going to close the door and rest for a bit. Hawk, keep a lookout at the front of the building so nothing surprises us. Dana will switch with you in an hour or two." Karl informed the bird, making sure that Dana could hear his side of the conversation.


    They both needed the rest, and though they wouldn''t be getting much sleep today, just rxing and meditating would help a lot. That''s precisely what Karl had nned. Some roasted Monster Meat to get the energy flowing through his body, and then meditation to refill his and Hawk''s energy storage.


    With a bit of luck, they would feel refreshed again in a few hours, and they would be ready to face the next day, after calling someone toe find them.


    For the next hour, Karl rested and meditated, regaining most of the energy that he had burned through, while Dana did the same, then they both got up to check in with Hawk and make sure that nothing had been happening around town.


    [Make one more flyover of the ce and if there isn''t anything changed fromst time, you can return to the beast space and sleep for the rest of the night. I think that we''ve gotten through most of the threat now, and I will take care of getting us back to the Academy in the morning.] Karl informed his feathered partner.


    Hawk flew off, making his rounds over the town, while Dana went to search theputers in the office to find a useful phone number and Karl guarded the door.


    "I''ve got something. There is a government emergency line here, direct dial red phone. Do you want to make the call, or should I?" She asked.


    "You can make the call. Let them know that we''re students sent out on a mission, the town appears to be clear, and that we could use a ride back to the Academy."


    Karl listened to the one-sided conversation and tried not tough as Dana struggled to get anyone to believe her.


    "No, we are students from the Academy sent here to clear the Monster infestation.


    Of course, I know the town has been overrun, and it was evacuated, that''s why we''re here.


    We are elites from the Academy.


    Yes. No.


    Let me try this again. Sergeant Rita and Professor Mills sent us here on a mission, using a transport spell. We have finished clearing out the Goblin tribe, and we need a ride back.


    Just contact the Academy, don''t make me take this to your supervisor.


    Oh, he''s right there, is he? Put him on the phone.


    This is the Awakened Rank Mage Dana, assigned with the Awakened Rank Warrior Karl, to do monster control of this town. The Goblin tribe has been eliminated, and we need you to contact the Academy to pick us up, our phone was damaged.


    Yes, over fifty Goblins were found and killed, the entire tribe is dead, unless there are some that left the area entirely. There are no more signs of Goblins here.


    Yes, I understand very well what making a false report and impersonating an Elite could mean. But as I''m not doing either, please send for an Academy transport.


    Fine, sending for a military police unit works just as well. I will remain on the line until they arrive."


    At that point, Karl couldn''t hold it any more, and he began quietlyughing, using his arm to stifle the noise.


    Not for long, though. The sound of helicopters in the air alerted Hawk to iing visitors only a few minutester.


    [Return to the Beast Space, I don''t want any misunderstandings. They''re all idiots, and they''re not listening to Dana.] Karl instructed.


    [At least it will be light soon, so they won''t be dumb and blind.] Hawk replied.

 Chapter 47 Incoming Troops

    <h4>Chapter 47 Iing Troops </h4>


    Dana sighed over the phone and dissipated the fog so that the helicopter could see tond.


    "Yes, I know there is an unnatural fog here. I created it and I am dissipating it now. They will be able tond in under a minute." She was exining over the phone.


    "I will send Karl out to g them down with a torch, that should be pretty recognizable, right?


    Yes, we prepared for a power outage, should the monsters be smart enough to cut the main power.


    You''re not all that bright either, but you''re right here on the phone with me, aren''t you? Don''t underestimate the monsters."


    Karlughed as he grabbed a pole and tied a rag around it, then dunked it in the grease and lit it up. The torch created a bright me with thick ck smoke as the excess grease burned, but it was impossible to miss in the rapidly thinning fog.


    The helicopter didn''tnd, it just dropped a group of ropes, and a team of men in ck uniforms with rifles in hand dropped into the town square and formed a defensive ring. They seemed a bit too paranoid by Karl''s estimation, they should have been informed that the threat was already gone, but they seemed to take their jobs very seriously.


    "Academy warrior Karl?" The team leader shouted over the noise of the helicopter.


    "That''s me. The helicopter cannd over there, we already cleared the town, so there shouldn''t be any more Goblins here." Karl shouted back.


    Instead ofnding, the helicopter moved to a higher altitude and away from thending zone, flying in a circle around the town, presumably looking for more threats.


    "Let''s get you to safety. Where is the mage?" The team leader asked.


    "Inside. But as I''ve told you, it''s already safe. Look around you, there are no more living Goblins." Karl repeated.


    The team leader hustled him back inside, but most of the team remained outside the building, searching the square, which was covered in dead Goblins from an evening of battle.


    "I need you to put your index finger on the scanner for me." The team leader insisted, and Karlplied, scanning his identity the same way he had a thousand times before, clocking in and out of the mines for his after school shifts.


    [Identity verified. Golden Divine Academy Elite student, Karl. Awakened ranking assessment under review pending formal exam.]


    The man looked between his identity scanner and Karl, then at Dana and back again with a surprised expression.


    "See, we told the guy on the phone what was happening, but it looks like nobody actually believed it. You are wee to explore the town, though. It will still need to be swept to make sure that there isn''t anything hiding in the houses that we didn''t detect, and someone will have to clean up all the Goblin bodies in the streets. I''m reasonably sure that''s not part of our job description." Karl exined.


    "There are moreing. We were scrambled in advance from the base when we got the report that there were some kids pretending to be elites in the town, but they were already scheduled to be dispatched here to clear the vige and find the Goblins.


    It should be two hundred men, so they can scour a town this size on their own. Now that we have determined that you two are who you say you are, is there any coffee?" The team leader replied.


    "Right here. There is a free coffee maker in the lunchroom. We weren''t sent with overnight supplies, so we owe a couple of people for a lunch, but other than that, everything in the building is still mostly intact." Karl informed him with a smile.


    "Oh, that''s an easy fix. You don''t have them yet, as you''re still students, but once you graduate you''ll get a code generator app for your phones. Just write out the redemption code for anything that you need to use in the line of service, and they can apply for reimbursement from the government. I will put in for it today, it will make their overall damage im easier to process with one preapproval code in ce."


    The team leader grabbed a couple of napkins from the counter, and wrote down a string of numbers and letters on each of them before stuffing them into the empty lunchboxes. Then Dana put them back in the fridge where they found them, and the rest of the team started to enter the building.


    "Sir, the area is clear. No sign of life anywhere in the area. We will secure the building now." One of the soldiers informed them in an extra serious tone.


    "You can rx, they''re real elites from the Academy, not kids ying pretend where they shouldn''t be. I''m not sure why we didn''t get the message, but when they say that they killed off the Goblins, I believe them." The team leader informed his men, who began removing their face masks and lining up at the coffee machine.


    "Best news I''ve heard all day. I can''t believe we got chased out of bed at five in the morning because some pencil pusher didn''t know what to do with Academy Elites who don''t have an authorization code yet." One of the men grumbled.


    The team leader set his mug down and nodded in agreement.


    "You have to understand, they''re minimum wage assistants. The ones who answer the phone, that is. They live off the minimum subsidy for Elites, and answer the phones at the call centre for elites and government officials, but they''re not Elites themselves. They don''t have much else, so they like to go on a power trip at work.


    Just give them your student ID number the next time they ask, and it will automatically transfer you to one of us. Their job is to deal with local bureaucrats requesting assistance, but when we call, they''re just the receptionist.


    I''m assuming that the two of you are starting your final year, preparing to go into the military?" The team leader asked.


    "Actually, we''re in our first year, and they were preparing her to be an Idol. We are both in the practical skills special ss, since we''re a bit ahead of most, and they sent us here for training without any exnation.


    I would assume that they thought that there was still someone here to greet us, since the town was evacuated only a few hours before our arrival, but it is what it is. The situation is dealt with now."

 Chapter 48 Special Forces Inbound

    <h4>Chapter 48 Special Forces Inbound </h4>


    The special forces team all turned to look at Dana with smirks on their faces.


    "Oh, they''re preparing for the next Archmage are they? An Idol''s career is notoriously short, and her attitude is shit, so they''re going to have to rece her sooner than expected. Don''t get me wrong, her power is top-notch, and she will be one of the top Elites for a long time, but as an Idol, you can''t be that horrible to your fans forever." One of the special forces team membersughed.


    "Does everyone just know everyone, then?" Dana asked as the soldiersughed.


    "Well, there is only one Academy for the Elite students, you see. Other than the Team Leader, who is a bit older, we''re all about the same age, so we were in school together. Once you''re through the first year of crammed sses, you''ll find that there is a lot of time to socialize and get to know each other.


    The most popr people in school be famous outside school as well, and there are only a hundred or so of us per year who graduate at Ascended or higher. You''re both reaching Awakened in your first year, so you''re almost guaranteed to be part of that group, and you will know a lot of soon-to-be famous people, that''s just how it is as an Elite."


    That made sense. Only one Rank above Ascended was Commander, and they were the sort of powerful people that everyone in their hometown would know by name. Either because they became politicians, or because they were so fantastically wealthy that they owned half the town.


    The Lithium Mines had a Commander Rank warrior who took the experimental treatments during development of the Serum as the Mayor, but most towns only had a few elites stationed there for security. Between the government stipend for powerful elites and their connections, it wasn''t hard for them to get wealthy in only a few years and live in luxury wherever they had been stationed.


    Other than the two that were on duty at the door, the rest of the special forces team gathered to ''secure'' the two young elites and drink coffee while they waited for the main force of the army to arrive.


    "Did you find anything stronger than a Common monster here?" The team leader asked as he got up to pour another cup.


    "Just one Irontusk Boar that was clearly awakened. If there was a leader among the Goblins that wasn''t at the Common Rank, I didn''t notice. They''re a bit difficult to tell apart in the dark, especially with the fog, but I don''t recall any of them surviving a direct hit." Karl replied.


    "Why did you choose to cover the town in fog anyhow? Wouldn''t that just make your job harder?" One of the special forces team members asked.


    "Not really. It makes it harder for the Goblins to see where they''re going, so they''re attacking blindly until they''re almost on us. But I''ve got a Hawk as part of my ss skills, and he''s great at hunting in the fog. You see, if it stays close to the ground, he can see down into it, while they are looking forward and unable to see much." Karl exined.


    "Oh, so it is like the Druids that have an animalpanion instead of a beast form?" One of the others asked.


    "Sort of. It''s a Windspeed Hawk, and he''s just made Awakened Rank."


    "An actual magical beast, not just a Hawk? Now we''re talking. That would exin your confidence in hunting in the dark. Those things are a menace." The man grumbled, remembering a time when his team was attacked by one.


    They all sat and waited until the team''s radios announced that the trucks were reaching the town limits, and the army was spreading out to do a full search of the town.


    "Well, that''s the end to happy fun time. They will want us all on standby in case they find something. They''ve got rifles, but they''re not Elites, so they will call for us if they find anything more than a lone injured Goblin." The team leader exined.


    Then he led them all out into the open area in front of the building, what Karl had deemed to be the town square, which he now realized was actually used as an open air market, but all the stalls had been packed away until its next open day.


    Today was Sunday, the usual off day for mostbourers, so it would have likely been opened, if there were anyone left in town. But the empty space had made it much easier to fightst night, and eliminated most of the good hiding spots for the Goblins to sneak up on them.


    [More Goblin corpses here. Requesting sanitary cleanup.]


    [Goblin cleanup at sixth and main as well.]


    [And at seventh and main.]


    Karl smirked as the reports of bodies strewn all over town came in, and the special forces team tried not tough.


    "You really did just set a Windspeed Hawk loose in the fog, didn''t you? There are dozens of them here, which makes sense for two elites fighting together, but there are random bodies all over town, one at a time. You would have to be pretty sneaky to get them like that without alerting the others." The team leadermended them.


    "It was an excellent tactic. With Dana''s fog, not only didn''t they see Hawk, they didn''t see the bodies of their tribesmen either, so they just kept doing what they were doing until he had time to get to them."


    A few minutester, the Command Vehicle, an armoured sedan car, reached the centre of town, and promptly ran over a goblin corpse, spreading the stinking blood all over the undercarriage.


    "I hope they don''t want us to get in that. The smell is going to linger for days." Dana muttered.


    "Don''t worry about that, you will be returning with us to the Academy. I already sent for approval from your teachers." The team leader whispered.

 Chapter 49 Streets Swept

    <h4>Chapter 49 Streets Swept </h4>


    A sharply dressed officer in his formal uniform stepped from the sedan car with a grimace on his face for the smell of dead Goblin that his driver had just run over.


    "Greetings, it is a pleasure to meet you both on your debut mission. I am Base Commander Colonel Ryan, in charge of the purge of the town today." He greeted them, sounding much more enthusiastic and less professional than either Karl or Dana had expected.


    "Greetings, Colonel Ryan, but this isn''t our debut mission, this was a training mission from the Academy, we''re not up for graduation this year." Dana replied with a sweet smile that seemed to rx the officer even more.


    "Not a debut mission? Well then, I guess there is no need to plead for tickets to your inaugural event. But to have sent just the two of you for an incident of this magnitude is incredible. To think that a pair of Elites in training could be this powerful." He gushed.


    Karl didn''t miss how the Special Forces team all rolled their eyes at his ttery, but with the enhanced peripheral vision, he didn''t have to turn his head to see them clearly, so the man didn''t notice that Karl''s attention wasn''t on him.


    "I have two hundred men scanning the town now in pairs. They shouldn''t take long to do a door-to-door sweep and search every home, then we can return to the base to wait for one of the older Elites toe pick you up." The Base Commander informed them.


    "Sorry, Colonel. There are already arrangements in ce to bring them back with our team. We will be extracting them to the Academy as soon as we have verified that the mission isplete, and the town is safe for residents to return to.


    Unfortunately, there will be no time for photo shoots or any publicity events this time, but I''m sure you understand. Security is paramount for the Academy, after all."


    That was when Karl realized what the Colonel was after. He was trying to make friends among the younger elites,working to expand his connections in the future. It was probably part of his job as a basemander to be in the know about everything that was happening at higher levels, but it was a bit strange for both Karl and Dana for someone with that sort of influence to have an interest in them.


    With so many soldiers moving through the town, it almost felt like things were getting back to normal. There were people in the streets, hurrying about their business, workers with wheelbarrows cleaning up, even a fire truck had been pressed into service to clean the streets of Goblin blood, as the stench was bing unbearable in the sun.


    But in the minds of themon soldiers, it only reinforced how terrifying the Elites were. These two were still students, and already they were tearing through entire Goblin Tribes that would have taken their whole unit to safely deal with. Everywhere they went, there were more Goblin bodies, and even Karl hadn''t bothered counting how many of them Hawk had dealt with since they arrived here.


    All that really mattered was the number that were still alive, and when they could be finished with this assignment and go home to a proper meal.


    In the distance, at the town''s garbage dump, a filthy fire was sending thick ck smoke into the air as the soldiers used diesel fuel to ignite the bodies of the Goblins, purging them so they wouldn''t spread disease through the area, and eliminating the worst of the evidence that monsters had actually overrun the town.


    From what Karl could hear on the radio in the Base Commander''s car, they were instructed to clean up as much as possible so that the residents would feel safer when they returned, as if the disaster had been mostly prevented, not dealt with after the fact.


    It was one of the small political niceties that helped the people feel confident that they were being looked after, and in this case, it could have been much worse. If they had waited for the army, the Goblins would have looted the majority of the houses and caused massive amounts of property damage during the overnight hours.


    The Special Forces team leader observed the progress with satisfaction. "They will send a cleaning crew through in the afternoon, as it appears that the town really has been cleansed, but the soldiers will remain for most of the week, just in case. We can start getting ready to head back. Was there anything else that you wanted to make a note of before we leave?"


    "Yes, these herb packs, I want to either know what is in them, or bring one with me to analyze at the Academy. They seem to be an effective monster repent, and it kept the Goblins from trying to go straight for us in the government building." Karl noted.


    The team leader opened the bag in question, sniffed, and then nodded. "I have the recipe for this. It''s a prettymon pest deterrent, but the herbs for it only grow in a few areas of the country, this being one of them. I didn''t know that it would work for Goblins, but it works very well on insect type monsters, as well as regr bugs."


    The local mosquito repent deterred Goblins? Perhaps it just masked the scent of humans so that they didn''t realize the area was inhabited. But if it worked, it worked, and Karl gave the team leader a thumbs up to signal that he would want that recipeter.


    "Excellent. Then we are off to the Academy. Base Commander, we will return this evening with a full report for you." The team leader announced.


    "Thank you, Major. I will look forward to the detailed exploits of these two outstanding trainees."


    The helicopter returned as they were speaking, andnded on the roof of the building, which was essible through an internal stairwell that was marked "Smoking Area".


    "You look more excited now than you did when we arrived." One of the team members noted.


    "I''ve never been in a helicopter before." Dana and Karl replied in unison, then burst intoughter at their synchronized thoughts.


    "Well, we can change that. Hop in and fasten your harness. The Academy won''t forgive us if you get injured on the ride home." The team leader informed them with amusement clear in his expression.


    "Yes, sir!"

 Chapter 50 Career Paths

    <h4>Chapter 50 Career Paths </h4>


    The helicopter lifted off and turned toward the east, flying high over the treetops, and roughly following a river.


    "It''s beautiful from up here." Dana spoke into the microphone, nearly drowned out by the noise of the helicopter.


    "It''s like nothing you''ll get to see on the ground. You two did good down there. I don''t know what the Academy originally sent you to do, but I''m pretty sure it wasn''t for the Goblins. I checked while we waited, and the other teams of students all went to take out a handful of magical beasts and then called for a ride home the first afternoon." The team leader informed them, now that there were no more curious ears around to overhear them.


    "I thought that might be it. There was a group of wild Irontusk Boars near the town. That was a nice light start to the day, and at first, we thought that might have been it, but then we realized that all the houses were empty, and they hadn''t just brought everyone inside to wait." Karl agreed.


    "So, you just started to scout the town for Goblins and then killed them all until we showed up?" One of the other special forces soldiers asked.


    "We thought that we might have underestimated the teachers, so we cleared out all the Goblins and then called in on the hotline in the government building, but they didn''t believe us and threatened to send the military police.


    That ended up being you, and they asked that we stay on the phone until you arrived so they didn''t have to put out a search warrant for us." Danaughed.


    The soldier rolled his eyes in amusement. "They''re a bunch of idiots. I''m sure the boss went over proper protocol already, but calling them is usually ast resort. Getting in contact with a military unit or the Academy directly will make your lives a lot easier.


    Do you think that they''re going to give you a promotion after this? I see you''ve still got the first year Common Grade badges on, but there''s no way that either of you is still Common Grade. We saw the fog and the bodies, that is definitely beyond the skills of two Common trainees."


    "We will see. If they do, it will be great. You know how it is at the Academy, power gets respect. So, if we can get them to give us the ck badges, we will at least be able to show off to our fellow first year students." Karl agreed.


    The special forces teamughed at their own memories of school. They were also among the first to advance, so they knew very well that there were plenty of social benefits that couldn''t really be quantified about being the first with the ck badges.


    Thenter, when you moved up to the Bronze Ascended badge, usually in your second year, you were among the real powerhouses. With the body enhancements of the warrior sses, Ascended Rank brought about huge changes to their physique, and it was at that point when they could be called truly superhuman.


    Karl could already jump up onto the roof of a single story house, but that was still usible, by Elite standards. When you could throw someoneover the house, then you were getting into the feats associated with the Ascended.


    "We''re not far from the Academy now. It will be about another half an hour before we arrive, but you should prepare yourself for a lot of questions from the students. It is the off day today, and you''re returning in a special forces helicopter. I wouldn''t call that subtle, so your friends will want to know what you were up to." The pilotughed as he gestured to a spot in the distance that should be the Academy.


    The helicopter wasn''t flying particrly fast, and the side doors were open, allowing the team members to let their legs dangle out the side while they were held in by a safetynyard. Normally, that would be concerning, but Karl had seen them rappel down ropes from that same position, so it couldn''t be too dangerous, no matter what it looked like.


    As they got closer to the Academy, they could see all the students out in the yard rxing and studying, and Karl could see all the heads turn as they noticed the sound of an iing helicopter. It wasn''t the sort of noise that you would hear every day, so it attracted a lot of attention, especially when it started to set down on the helipad next to the main building.


    The doors were open, so everyone could make out the two white and gold student uniforms among the dark green special forces outfits, and the innate need to know all the school''s gossip kicked in.


    "The teachers should be out here soon. They want a statement from you on what happened during the mission, so I wouldn''t count on keeping your day off." The Pilot informed them as the rotors began to slow to an idle.


    "Yeah, I was afraid that would happen. But hey, if you guys put in the good word for us, maybe we can get those ck badges right away." Karl joked.


    The men at the door unhooked themselves and stepped down to offer a hand to Karl and Dana as they exited the aircraft, while Sergeant Rita and two teachers that Karl didn''t recognize were jogging across the field toward the helipad.


    "It looks like we''re in for it right away. Sergeant Rita is my personal tutor." Karl informed the team member beside him.


    "She''s not all bad. But if I recall, she really loved her physical fitness, so as her student, it might be difficult to see." The man joked.


    "She is pretty good, honestly. But I''ve got a ss that nobody has seen before, so she''s always pushing for every bit of new information. This report will be a long one." Karl exined.


    Dana seemed to recognize the other two teachers, so they must be from the mage sses, and they were gesturing for everyone toe meet them, not just Karl and Dana.

 Chapter 51 Safe And Sound

    <h4>Chapter 51 Safe And Sound </h4>


    "Karl, Dana, it is good to see you back in one piece. The mages said that they were monitoring your vital signs, and you weren''t heavily injured, but we got the message that the town was overrun after we sent you. Tell me, what happened after you got there?" Sergeant Rita demanded the moment that they were far enough from the helicopter to speak somewhat normally.


    "We found a pack of wild boars on the edge of town, so we hunted them and packed them up for meat, then we went to take care of the Goblins that were around town and the group that they left on patrol.


    That part was easy, as it was almost all Common Grade monsters.


    We had Hawk clear the ones he found looting in the town, and then we went to the government building to see if they had left us a message or something. It''s not like we''re sent anywhere at random, so they should have known that we wereing.


    But we didn''t find anything, so we assumed the mission wasn''t over, and we set up a fog trap for the Goblins that would return that night. We managed to eliminate the entire Goblin Tribe by morning, and then we called these fine gentlemen for a ride home."


    The Special Forces team leader smiled and nodded along, then gave Karl a gesture of approval.


    "Short, sinct, but covering all the major steps of the n. I approve, excellent summary." The soldier chuckled.


    "I will expect a full report by tomorrow morning. But before that, we all need to have a meeting. It appears that the Base Commander has some fine things to say about you all, and it has raised some questions here at the Academy." Sergeant Rita informed them.


    "And that is my cue to retreat. Have a good afternoon, Cadets." The Special Forces leaderughed.


    "Oh, no. You''reing with us. We need a full report from your team on what they found when they got to the town, body counts, the state of the students''bat readiness, and anything else that the magese up with. Since the students imed to be Awakened Rank when they reported to the phone operator, we need to determine if they lied to a government official."


    The soldiers smirked at her assertive manner, as the Sergeant didn''t actually outrank them, she was just the messenger passing on the bad news that they would not be returning home so easily.


    "Well, we''ve got just the thing for the testing, then. We have an entire Special Forces team of trained officers at the Commander Rank who are willing to test the two students right now if necessary.


    I believe that not even the stuffiest of bureaucrats will question our judgment if we can show the results." He replied.


    With that much of a power gap and their level of experience, it wouldn''t be a problem for them to somewhat urately gauge the performance of the attacks made by Karl and Dana, but this particr team had their own estimation method.


    "I will have Lieutenant Keyes set up a series of barriers, each one at ten percent increments of his total power. There is no doubt that he is in the middle of the Commander Rank, but there is a big jump between Ascended and Commander, the power nearly doubles.


    If they can make it to fifty percent of his barrier at full capacity, I would say for certain they can put out Ascended level damage. If they can make it to twenty-five percent, it should be at least Awakened level damage.


    That''s straightforward enough, and then we can just have them repeat it to prove they have the stamina for a fight. I don''t think that will be an issue either, after seeing that they could cover an entire town in magical fog and kill Goblins all night long."


    The teachers from the Mage department were much happier than expected with that n. They were around the same power level, and they would have used the same general testing method, but having an official examination done by the army would remove all questions about bias in the testing.


    They were the instructors of the students in question, after all. If someone thought that they had passed too easily, it could hurt the teachers'' reputations.


    Sergeant Rita pointed to a building at the side of thepound. "Let''s do this in the practice gym. It''s set up with all sorts of protective walls so nothing gets damaged, and we don''t have the whole school as an audience."


    Karl shrugged, not concerned one way or the other. He knew that he could pass this test. But Dana was happy to get out of the public eye, just in case the teachers were not convinced that her magic missile was up to the standard for an Awakened Mage.


    She had been holding back quite a bit all night long, but the Goblins were pretty soft targets, and they were easy to kill even with a third of her total power.


    Getting away from the crowd just wasn''t going to happen, Karl realized once they made it into the gym. There were viewing boxes up on the second and third floors, and with the scene that they had made, arriving with soldiers and going straight to the gym with a group of teachers, they had gathered numerous curious students that were anxious to find out what was going on.


    Normally, only the senior sses would be off campus at this point in the year, so seeing two new studentsing back from somewhere was gossip worthy all by itself. Seeing theming back like this, and getting a full weingmittee from the school that wasn''t the disciplinarymittee, was even more juicy of a story.


    "Alright, who wants to go first?" The mage known as Keyes asked as he set up a row of glowing squares along one side of the room.


    Karl stepped forward. "I will go first. I will do it alone first, then with Hawk, since we''re a team, but the testing is supposed to measure the elite."

 Chapter 52 Awakened Exams

    <h4>Chapter 52 Awakened Exams </h4>


    Keyes nodded toward the barrier squares that he had set up, and two of the other team members set up cameras, while the teachers took out a set of sensors.


    "These measure energy disturbances. They will give us a pretty good idea of how much power you are using on each attack. We would like you to use all your power on each strike, even if you know that it will break the barrier. There is a sensor dummy behind that, made of armoured te, and it will measure the residual impact if your attack isn''t dissipated." The teacher exined.


    "That should be simple enough. I will send a full strength Rend at each of them, and we will see what the barriers say." Karl agreed.


    As soon as he stopped speaking, Karl sent the first attack at the barrier that should be ten percent of the mage''s total power. The barrier shattered without any hesitation, and the ting behind the barrier lit up with the impact.


    "Not bad. Keep up the pace, and then we will have you continue your attacks on the barrier that you can''t break to test your endurance." The teacher reminded him.


    The second attack likewise shattered the barrier without issue, but the third left the Rend attack visibly dimmed.


    The fourth barrier seemed for an instant like it was going to hold, but it also flickered and copsed, nullifying the attack the same way that Karl had been nullifying attacks against the school''s mages during practice for thest two weeks.


    After seeing that, Karl knew that a simple Rend was not going to take out the next barrier, no matter what he tried to do, and the teacher wouldn''t call multiple concurrent attacks a win for actual attack power. So, he held the Rend on the ws of his new gauntlets, and shed at the barrier with his hand.


    The brute force did what the ability alone could not, and the fifth barrier cracked, but held together for two attacks, and only copsed when Karl hit it a third time.


    Karl coated the ws on both gauntlets and fiercely attacked the sixth barrier, leaving w marks on the magical shield that quickly reformed to a smooth surface. For ten minutes, Karl beat on the magical barrier with no sign of it copsing, then he stepped back to catch his breath.


    "That''s what I''ve got." He informed the professors and the gathered Special Forces team.


    The Special Forces team leader nodded in satisfaction before speaking. "Impressive,bining the skill with a physical attack noticeably increased the total damage output, and you''ve still got your pet in reserve. There is no doubt that you are at the Awakened level. Being able to reliably break the third barrier until you are exhausted would be enough for that.


    If you could have gotten through the fifth in a single attack every time, we would call it the minimum for Ascended, but you''re not quite there yet, even with the physical and magicalbined. We allow the warriors to enchant their swords, so the methodology is sound. You have our certification that you are indeed an Awakened Rank Elite."


    The teachers and Sergeant Rita conferred for a moment, and then the longer haired of the two nondescript teachers cleared his throat.


    "The teaching staff is in agreement. You are promoted to the Awakened Rank." He dered.


    "Student Dana, please step forward to begin your test." Sergeant Rita requested as the Special Forces mage recast the spells.


    The team leader leaned over to whisper to Karl as Dana mentally prepared. "The reason it has to be one attack is that if there was an actual mage on the other side of that barrier, they would be reinforcing it constantly to keep their defences up. If you can''t break it in one shot, you can''t hurt the mage."


    That made a lot of sense. The Commander Rank mage on the Special Forces team had just put the barriers there, he wasn''t doing anything to upkeep them. But a magical beast with a barrier ability wouldn''t let you just keep attacking without even trying to defend itself.


    Unfortunately for Dana, Magic Missile wasn''t well suited to this test, or tobatting creatures with magical barriers. It was more of a multi target, dispersed damage type of ability.


    But it could be condensed to fire all the mana she could gather into a single spell. It would be best if she held back a bit until she knew what she needed to break the barrier, though. Unlike Karl, who had an easy time using multiple Rend attacks, her magic drained her stamina rapidly at full output.


    But she focused her Magic Missile into a single full power bolt and shattered the first two barriers in rapid session, then the third, which nearly nullified her missile, but which shattered smoothly enough that the teachers gave a satisfied nod.


    "You can split it into multiple missiles, and we will still count it as one casting. We understand the limiting nature of the spell." The professor encouraged her.


    So, the fourth was a barrage of five missiles, thest two of which made it through the broken barrier, but the fifth remained solidly intact, only glowing briefly the same way that the sixth had for Karl. She tried multiple attacks, long sustained barrages, heavy single attacks, but nothing worked.


    The fifth barrier simply wouldn''t break for her.


    "That''s good. We have seen enough to know that you can sustain Awakened Rank magical output. Congrattions, Student Dana, you have been promoted to the standing of Awakened Rank Mage."


    Cheers went up all over the waiting rooms, as the two first year students were officially promoted, and the teachers handed over the ck embroidered student badges to go on their jackets.


    "You''re not free yet. I still want those reports done, and that means you too, Mister I''m Special Forces now and too cool to call my family on the holidays." Sergeant Rita added, looking at one of the team members with a hard re.


    The entire team burst intoughter at that, and Karl marvelled at the twist of fate that must have been for their rtives. Having two sessful awakenings in the same family was incredibly rare, from what Karl knew. But then it could just be that there weren''t many big families in the mining town, so it just hadn''t happened to anyone he knew.


    It was quite possible that certain families had much more luck than the average in awakening their talents. The so-called blessed families, as the Nobility referred to themselves, but for apatibility with the serum, and not their rtion to Royalty.

 Chapter 53 Mission Report

    <h4>Chapter 53 Mission Report </h4>


    Sergeant Rita led them all out of the gymnasium and into a ssroom, where theputers had already been brought to the screen for an official mission report.


    "I want everything, the General insists on no less than a thousand words, and then you can leave." She announced, and closed the door behind her, leaving Karl and Dana with the bemused special forces team inside.


    "So, that''s the infamous cousin that you''re so afraid of, is it? You know that you''re stronger than she is now, and higher ranked, she can''t bully you." The team leader joked.


    "What does strength have to do with anything? That woman holds a grudge like no other." The man muttered, making his team members smirk.


    They had obviously been over this before, though they hadn''t met her in person, and the air of friendly camaraderie set Karl and Dana at ease as they sat down to begin their reports.


    The tapping of keys filled the air as everyone got to work, ignoring the previous conversation in favour of getting the unpleasant part of their day out of the way as fast as possible. The warriors had a clear advantage here, Karl included, in that their bodies were enhanced, so even if they were not the greatest typists, their hands were so fast that they could still easily type out the entire report as fast as they could frame it in their minds.


    The reports from the Special Forces team were more detailed and structured, as they had done them a hundred times before, but Karl and Dana did their best to not forget anything that they had done or seen after they had arrived in that town.


    "You two got quite the first mission, didn''t you? I can''t think of thest time I talked to someone who got to do something as amazing as a pair mission against an entire Goblin Tribe for their first time out." The team leader announced once he was finished his writing.


    "Unless you count Jenny, but I think that we all know her story isn''t quite as verifiable as this one." One of the others added with a short burst ofughter.


    Karl looked up in interest as they joked, and the team leader filled him in.


    "She was a student a few years younger than us at the Academy. She was with a four-person team, looking for herbs in the forest for her first mission. ording to her, she ended up meeting with a mystery man that she said was one of the local elites, who was in the woods for the same reason.


    Long story short, she was pregnant when she returned to the Academy. She only found out two monthster, when she started getting morning sickness." He exined.


    Karl avoided the mental math that told him there was something wrong with that age gap, but since he didn''t know exactly how old Jenny or the Elite in question were, he decided to keep silent. For all he knew, it could have been a cover story for a rtionship with someone else entirely.


    Dana looked up from her work. "Jenny Starpepper? She''s from my hometown."


    The team leader nodded. "That''s the one. Have you met her kid? I heard he''s adorable."


    Dana shook her head. "Calling him cute is being extremely kind to him. He''s just going into elementary school now, and they have to put mittens on him to keep him from wing at people. The word around town is that his father was a Berserker, and the rage skill got passed along to their kid, who can''t turn it off.


    But that''s mostly just gossip. She''s married to one of the bankers now, and their younger two really are adorable."


    They all quickly finished their reports and chatted while they waited for Sergeant Rita to return. They could have gone looking for her, or simply left, in the case of the Special Forces team, but when they got back to base they would have to work again, to do the report for their own Commander, who would expect something other than a copied and pasted version of this report, and they were in no hurry to do that now that they werefortable here.


    "Can we meet your Hawk? You''ve been talking about him, but I haven''t seen him since we arrived. Is he flying outside somewhere?" The team leader asked.


    "Actually, my ss created a separate space for him. Hawk,e out and say hello." Karl replied.


    The bird appeared in the air in front of him, then settled onto the top of one of the monitors and warily stared at the new people.


    Dana gave him a slice of jerky from her pocket, and Hawk''s mood immediately improved. He would dly meet more people if there was food involved.


    One of the team members nodded his head and whistled in appreciation. "Awakened Rank Windspeed Hawk, Male, and my ability says he''s under a month old, but that''s far too young for him to be fully grown."


    Karl nodded. "My skills helped him grow much faster than usual. I hatched him on the train on the way here, so that''s as old as he is. We''re just hoping that I can keep him growing at this rate so that he can be a true Elite among magical beasts."


    The soldier nodded. "Well, it''s not impossible with a bit of energy and some resources. All beasts grow based on what they eat. It''s not a precise science, but what I do know, as a Hunter, is that they will instinctively search out stronger creatures or nts to eat, and if they don''t get them, their growth will either stagnate or they will get weak from starvation.


    The more powerful the beast, the more powerful the food source must be. That''s why there are a limited number of truly powerful beasts, there simply isn''t enough food for more of them in most regions."


    "Oh? That''s a useful ss skill." Karl noted.


    "Yeah, my talent is to know where and how to hunt things that I have seen before. I can see the Hawk, so I know where one would usually find them, as well as some of their habits, and I built up the rest of the knowledge through observation and practice." He shrugged.


    "Well, it''s still useful to me. I was going to request some higher ranked foods for him, to try to force progression. I started absorbing nutrients much more efficiently a few days ago, so it should be good for both of us." Karl suggested.


    "Just don''t overdo it. If the difference is too great, you won''t be able to absorb anything. It would be like going back to your first few days, before your body adapted, when you couldn''t absorb proper nutrition from the foods."

 Chapter 54 Quality Kibble Is Needed?

    <h4>Chapter 54 Quality Kibble Is Needed? </h4>


    Karl considered the information that the Special Forces team had presented him with. If it was true that the quality of the diet limited a monster''s growth, it made perfect sense that most Windspeed Hawks never made it past the Awakened Rank.


    Their favourite food was the Earth Mouse, a Common Grade monster. Eating that every day would give them a steady source of nutrition, but of a limited quality. If they were going to advance further, they would need higher quality food, but their usual hunting targets couldn''t provide that.


    They were capable of huntingrger targets, butrger bodies would bring scavengers and other predators, which would interfere with their usual hunting grounds and force them to move.


    So, they would end up trapped in a vicious cycle where they could only rarely eat higher quality meals, and they would slowly grow to Awakened Rank as they got older.


    Hawk was certain that he would make it to the Commander Rank, just like these Special Forces men, but that wasrgely wishful thinking on his part, and unless Karl could provide the diet he needed, it wasn''t realistic in the time they had at the Academy, much less in the short term to overtake Sergeant Rita like Hawk wanted to.


    But the Academy should be able to provide him with at least that much assistance. If the food in the cafeteria was Common Grade monster meat, then just increasing it one rank should bring about a new growth spurt for the Hawk.


    That would be the first thing that he requested, other than more of the mana infused blood with the strength stones in it. Hawk loved that stuff, like Karl had loved ketchup on chicken nuggets when he was little.


    Though, the bird''s actual dietary requirements had slowed a lot since it hit maturity. Now, it was relying more heavily on the energy provided by Karl, and not eating multiple times its own body weight in a day. Hawk was still a little glutton, but when the total amount was under a kilo of meat a day, it was much more reasonable.


    At the rate that they were going, the Awakened Rank boar meat wouldst Hawk for months, and it seemed that the meat left in the space would not spoil. Or at least it didn''t spoil as quickly as it would in a refrigerator.


    "Since we''re here at theputers, we should send a letter home. I can send it to the mayor, and he will print it for my parents, since they don''t have a phone or aputer." Karl suggested.


    "You know that almost everything about your life is currently confidential, right? They will censor any information that outsiders are not supposed to have, like the location oryout of the Academy, plus any details of your training." The team leader reminded him.


    "That''s fine. Just a little update to let my parents know that all is well is enough. I know that some of the other students are more eager to get away from home, but I was just eager to get away from the mines." Karlughed.


    The shortest of the team members reached over to pat him on the head. "That is understandable. I came from an ind fishing vige. There are no options there but the fishing boats or the cannery, you work on one or in the other. The day I left was the happiest day of my life, but I still send a little something to my parents now and then."


    The others nodded in agreement.


    "There are money transfer limits, but we can still send them enough to be doing well. My dad is an ountant in the capital, and he still loves his job, but he''s one of the most boring people I know. My mom always tries to convince him to agree to going somewhere fancy for dinner when I visit, but he likes roast beef and potatoes so much he''d have them for every meal." One of the othersughed.


    Dana smiled as she wrote a short letter home, not directly referring to her rank or ss, but letting her parents know that she was doing well, and that the Academy was treating her well, with a beautiful room.


    She omitted the part about it being so loud that she preferred to study on Karl''s balcony, but her parents would take that the wrong way, no matter where she was.


    Karl kept his nice and simple, telling them that he had finally gotten a proper growth spurt to catch up to the height of his ssmates, and that he was making friends and meeting plenty of new people.


    The soldiers thought that was hrious, given the circumstances, but it was the sort of letter that could be sent home entirely unredacted. Most would want to include details of their training or their rooms, which would be scrubbed by the Academy staff before the message was sent.


    While they both knew that they wouldn''t be getting a letter back any time soon, as the Academy wanted them to focus on their studies, not the life they had left behind, it was stillforting to know that their parents didn''t have to worry about them.


    Karl looked over his letter with satisfaction, then hit send and clicked the button that confirmed the message would be viewed by Academy staff before being sent to an outside address, even if it was a government email address in his hometown.


    "Alright, that should take care of the important parts. Now I just need to talk to the Kitchen to work up a new diet n for Hawk and I can start on the next phase of my studies." He informed the others, then sighed in relief.


    The team leader gave him aforting pat on the back. "That is always the fun part. We were the third year of Serum injections, so when we were here, nobody knew anything about how to keep progressing. They hadn''t even had any graduates yet the first year that we were here.


    But it''s all about going with what feels right. For the mages, it''s mostly focus and practice, for the hunters, druids and rangers, being at one with nature is a major part of their growth. I think for Karl here, it will be mostly about keeping Hawk growing.


    The official position is that the Serum is the future, but we''ve learned something interesting in thest few years. The sses can be passed on. Some of them can be taught to older people who never got the injection but have potential, and others can be inherited by children. I don''t think that it will be long before they start looking for ways to optimize the serum to give the best sses to those with the most potential."

 Chapter 55 The Prince and the Overlord

    <h4>Chapter 55 The Prince and the Overlord </h4>


    Dana gave them an excited look. "You think that is possible? I mean, if they could make a whole corps of Golem Mages, it would be huge for both the army and for major construction projects. I heard that was what they wanted to try to teach us all, just to see if we could learn the spell."


    "More than just that. I think that they want to find an option that can be taught to people who aren''tpatible with the Serum. I know there have been some attempts to teach sword skills to students who don''t have thepatibility with the serum.


    They''ve been a failure so far, the same as trying to teach them magic, but that could just be ack of mana. Who knows, maybe they will happen upon something good, but that''s in the future, and you two are too young to be worrying about your children''s future." The team leaderughed.


    Theirughter was cut short when Sergeant Rita returned with the Headmaster of the Academy, as well as the old mage who worked the transportation magic and two men in expensive looking suits.


    "It is good to see everyone in such high spirits. We were just in a meeting about the incident when your reports came through the system, so these fine gentlemen came to speak to you all before they left." The Headmaster informed them politely.


    If the headmaster was sucking up to them, these two had to be someone important, but Karl had no idea who they might be. There were too many important people in the world, from Elites to government officials and even Royalty.


    "Royal Prince Axel, Overlord Drake, it is a pleasure to meet you in person."?The Special Forces team leader announced, while everyone else gave a hasty bow for the Royal.


    Karl did his best to follow along, but he had no idea if he was doing the formal bow properly. It wasn''t exactly the sort of thing that came up in ss as a kid.


    The burlier of the two men, with his long ck hair in a tidy braid, smiled back at them. "No need to stand on formality. We''re here on business, not in our official roles. I wanted to see the promising newbies, and to hear firsthand how they feel about seeing the real threat to the nation."


    That must be Overlord Drake, as Hawk felt the man''s power and warned Karl that he was dangerous.


    "Overlord Drake, it''s an honour. I must say, seeing Goblins for the first time was more disgusting than anything. They smell terrible, especially when they''re dead." Karl replied.


    Dana nodded her vigorous agreement, and the two men smiled back at them.


    "That wasn''t quite the response I was expecting. Weren''t you terrified to havee across real monsters?" The Overlord Rank warrior asked.


    "I don''t think that it even urred to us. The first group we found was only the six of them, and we were confident enough of taking them out, so by the time things got dangerous, we were already past the initial shock." Karl replied.


    Dana nodded her head and added. "Goblins are horrifying creatures, but they''re so filthy and disgusting that it kind of overpowers any sense of fear, you know?"


    The Prince, with a slight smile on his delicate features, shrugged his shoulders. "I wouldn''t know. I have seen many things since I graduated, but I have never met a Goblin in real life. I am told that the smell of them is somewhat revolting."


    [Why does he look like he''s in charge? The big guy is way stronger than he is.] Hawk asked Karl, unclear about the human hierarchy.


    [His family rules this whole area, so he gets respect as a future leader, not for the personal power he has now.] Karl replied mentally.


    [Oh, like the cub of a big predator. I understand.]


    That was close enough for Hawk to guess where everyone''s proper spot in the rankings was. It was critical in his mind to know what was prey, what was not, and what looked like prey but could bring a very dangerous threat your way if you tried to eat it.


    "Was there anything that we could do to help the two most promising students of this ss grow?" The Prince asked the Headmaster, preparing to leave now that he had made his determination of the character of the people they had been speaking about.


    "Well, Dana is a standard mage, her first spell was Magic Missile, the same as yours, so anything that you can tell her about your own advancement might help. Or perhaps the Royal Library has a useful spell that might assist her? But Karl is a unique ss. He has a deadly pet Windspeed Hawk that imparts power to him as it grows. That could be more difficult, your Highness." The Headmaster replied.


    "What spells do you know now?" Prince Axel asked Dana.


    "Magic Missile and Fog Bank."


    The Prince thought about it for a moment and then held out a hand behind him, then realized that he hadn''t brought his assistant into the room.


    "If you have some time, I will give you a spell tome. It''s a talent hand behind him, then realized that he hadn''t brought his assistant into the room.


    that I learned when I strengthened my inscription skills. In theory, if you arepatible with them, you can read it and immediately learn a new spell to a proficient level." He exined.


    "I have all the time in the world, Your Highness." Dana chuckled.


    "Right, first year student. You won''t be going far, or at least you won''t be gone long if you are. I will have my assistants deliver the spare one I brought to your roomter."


    Drake reached into the inner pocket of his coat and held out a small red book. "It looks like this, but likely thicker than this one. This is the attack skill that we have been trying to teach all our warriors. It''s a wide area attack skill, great for clearing groups of monsters. Perhaps Karl would like to try?"


    Karl looked at the cover of the book, which was just nk red leather.


    "What is it called?" He asked.


    "Rend. It''s not a difficult one, but it is powerful, thanks to the bleeding effect that it has on targets that survive the initial hit, and we are hoping that all the warriors can learn it by the end of their second year." Drake replied.


    Karl sighed and shook his head. "Rend is the basic skill of the Windspeed Hawk. It is currently the only skill that I do know."

 Chapter 56 Shredded

    <h4>Chapter 56 Shredded </h4>


    "In that case, I think that I might have something good for you. After Rend, there is an advanced version of the skill known as Shred. They''re simr in function, but Shred is much more deadly at the same rank and leaves jagged wounds that make it difficult to stop the bleeding if theyck magical healing.


    I will get someone to bring you a skill book to see if you can learn it, or teach it to your Hawk. If either one of you knows it, you shouldn''t have too many problems fighting above your level as an Awakened warrior." Overlord Drake announced.


    [Better than Rend? Is he being silly? Rend is the greatest skill in the world.] Hawkined.


    [It''s an improved Rend used by more powerful creatures. Trust him, it''s a good thing.] Karl replied.


    Then he bowed politely to the powerful warrior. "I would appreciate any help we can get. I don''t know what the limits of this ss are, but if we can learn some more powerful attack magic, it would be incredible."


    The Headmaster reached into a bag hanging from his side and pulled out a book that looked the same as the one for Rend, but with a bit of silver trim on it.


    "I have a spare copy with me, just send the new one to my office and I will give this one to Student Karl." The Headmaster suggested.


    "That is much easier. My assistant should still be waiting there, and he has one with him. It looks like the lull is over, if these two are anything to go by. It has been a few years since any really outstanding students began their training, and we were beginning to worry that it was only luck that brought us a flood of geniuses in the first few years." Overlord Drake announced.


    The Headmaster handed over the book, which was warm and soft in Karl''s hand, and everyone stared at him expectantly.


    "Go ahead, try to open it and see what happens." The Headmaster insisted.


    Karl gently flipped open the manuscript, and a flood of power flowed into his body.


    [Skill Learned: Shred]


    [Pet Skill Learned: Shred]


    Hawk popped out of the Beast Space andnded on Karl''s shoulder to show off, making sure that everyone could see the blood-red feathers streaked through the cream colour of his legs.


    "Wow, I was not expecting that. But where did the book go?" Karl asked.


    "It vanishes if someone who can instantly learn the skill uses it. I have to tell you, that was a shock to the Inscriptionist teams when they first learned of that little bit of information. They cried for a week when they found out that the books they were making would just vanish to strengthen others, since they couldn''t use them themselves." Drakeughed.


    "So, there are limitations?" Karl asked.


    The Prince nodded. "Very strict ones, though we don''t really understand why. Certain books can exclusively be used by those with certain types of mark, but it varies from skill to skill, and even ones that are simr might not work for the same person. But when there is one that works like this, it saves so much time, and the user will be able to activate the skill at full force, the same as they could for their first skill, with none of the failures or half - power activations in the learning phase."


    Dana was beginning to get excited about the prospect. "And the Elites that have an affinity for Inscription can just make these? That is incredibly powerful, even if they''re not abat ss."


    The Prince shook his head. "They need an original copy to work from. The only ones they can make are ones that we have managed to find an original working copy for, or that were created with the help of an Elite that has mastered the skill well enough to teach others. The total number of spells that we have tomes for right now can be counted on my fingers, But Rend, Shred, and Golem are the ones that we focus the most on, since they are all advanced skills, and are harder for Elites to learn on their own.


    Things like Guard and sh we don''t need to use a book for, you can just teach the warriors the skills."


    Dana nodded in understanding, and the Prince got a curious look on his face before he took out another book from his pocket.


    "How about you try this one? It''s not one that I can use, and our Marks are the same, but I haven''t actually had anyone else try it since it was copied out." He suggested, passing her the book.


    Dana focused, and flipped the cover open, showing an intricately detailed set of notes and diagrams.


    "That''s what I thought would happen. It''s a Vine Whip spell that we found in some ancient Ruins. We gave the Headmaster a copy for the Library here as well, but we haven''t found any ss but the Druids, the ones with the animal paw mark, that can actually use it."


    Karl examined the book, trimmed with the same silver the Shred tome was before speaking. "That makes sense. The one working as a guard on the train said that his powers didn''t activate until he touched a tree, so their bonds to nature would make them the perfect candidate to use a vine spell. If there are others that are animal rted, I might be able to use them, while the mages should be able to use ones that are rted to their first spell, right? I''m not sure what the mages limits are, but from what I have seen, everyone has their own niche."


    The Prince nodded. "Exactly. We all have our niche, but nobody knows exactly how to tell what the limits are. If there was some way to urately define the powers of the Elites, or tell what skills they would be able to use without having an identical ss mark test the ability as a reference, it would save us so much time and effort. Too many of us have wasted months trying to learn a new ability that was simply impossible for our ss."


    He was going to continue, but a knock on the door interrupted them, and a group of men in servant uniforms stepped inside.


    "Your Highness, there is an urgent matter at the Capital, we need to go." The first man to enter announced.


    "That is fine. Pass this young mage a copy of the Golem spell so we can see if she can use it. Then we can leave."

 Chapter 57 Golem

    <h4>Chapter 57 Golem </h4>


    Dana epted the Golem spell book and hesitantly stroked the cover, hoping that she would be able to use this one the way that Karl did [Shred].


    After a moment of hesitation, she flipped open the cover, and the book vanished. Prince Axel and the other mages didn''t look surprised, but Dana was nearly vibrating with joy as she learned the spell, improving her repertoire to three spells in total.


    "Now cast it, and we can see how it turns out. Each mage has a different Golem, based on their proficiencies, and it''s the best way to tell the forward path for them." Prince Axel exined.


    Dana cast the Golem, which came out looking more like an ancient statue, white marble and distinctlycking clothes, other than a loincloth. As soon as she saw it, she blushed bright red, and she was about to dismiss it, but the teacher stopped her.


    "It wille back the same way every time. But a stone Golem is a good one, second only to the Iron Golems in versatility. Most of the students get a y, wood or sand Golem, which aren''t as strong, though the sand Golem is quite difficult to damage.


    The clear visualization of the human form is actually a sign of superior mana control, which improves its agility, and it should be as physically strong as a monster at your Rank, so it won''t be weak in battle." The professor exined.


    "Once you learn the [Mage Armour] spell, you can dress it in proper clothing." The Prince whispered in a teasing tone.


    Karl examined it for a few seconds, wondering why it looked so familiar, even though he had seen numerous golem spells cast by students since he arrived, and one of the other team leaders in the Saturday group had arge mud Golem among his spells.


    Then his mind went to the training Golems in the rooms that the other two members of his team on the first day chose. That was where he had seen this sort of detailed Golem before, but those were both armoured, and not in some sort of semi nudist ssical art style.


    The teacher smiled at Dana''s embarrassment, but his satisfaction was immense. Not only had two of their first year students made it to Awakened Rank this week, but the senior Elites saw fit to grant both of them and the school some new abilities to teach the students. Nothing was going to bring him down off that high today.


    "How well can a stone statue stand up against a magical attack, though?" Dana asked, as she had never personally fought against one before.


    "The stone is magical as well. Though it looks like a simple statue, hacking at it with a regr sword will do nothing, and hitting it with an Awakened Rank spell will only do minor damage most of the time." The professor exined.


    "It appears that I no longer have the advantage in numbers or in power." Karl joked as Hawk gave the statue an evil re.


    Every Hawk knew that stones were hard, and it probably wouldn''t break easily if he attacked it, so the big stone guy was a threat to his position as top pet. It was just a good thing that it couldn''t fly, so it was unable to steal his scouting spot.


    Sergeant Rita patted Karl on the shoulder as she consoled him. "Just wait. Once we find a suitable target pet, we will try getting you to bond with another monster. But the advantage that you have in growth rate is definitely way above most of your ssmates."


    Drake, the burly Overlord Rank Elite that arrived with the Prince, smiled at Hawk and then sighed.


    "I always liked birds. I will make sure that the Academy gets approved to try feeding him some special resources to see if he can either learn some new skills or advance faster. If nothing else, we can at least spare him some of the Ascended and Commander Rank monster blood to mix with the strength stones.


    That concoction should keep him growing at a steady pace for a little while, until his body has reached the limits of its natural potential. Thebs have tested that already, and it works on almost all monsters." The big Elite exined.


    "I would appreciate it. The faster he grows, the faster I grow, which helps both of us keep going. I think that once he has reached Commander Rank, it might be difficult, but Hawk has confidence that he can make it there with just a little help." Karl replied.


    Drake nodded in satisfaction. "Good, keep up that confidence, it''s key to be strong. Once you lose confidence, you start bing more cowardly. Once you start down that path, it''s difficult to turn around, and you have to spend time undoing the mental damage you did to yourself."


    So the aura of dominance that all the stronger Elites gave off wasn''t just the arrogance of the strong, but a mental trick to keep themselves from falling off the path to greater strength? That was not going to be an easy attitude to emte, but keeping a certain level of confidence shouldn''t be too difficult.


    The Prince''s assistants were tapping their wrists, indicating that he needed to hurry up, so Karl and Dana both bowed politely and looked toward the door, hoping to excuse themselves from any more formalities now that they had gotten all the benefits without upsetting anyone.


    "Yes, we should all get back to our business. Don''t forget to dismiss the Golem, they''re not allowed in the hallways." Prince Axel agreed, then gestured for his assistants to hand over the information that they had brought him and walked out of the room.


    Sergeant Rita smiled at the students as the senior officials left. "Well, I must say that went better than any of us could have hoped for. If you''re done socializing with the soldiers, you should get something to eat and then meditate or practice to consolidate your gains. New spells and skills can be tricky the first few times even if you have used a Skill Book to learn them, so don''t overestimate yourselves."


    The Special Forces team leader chuckled. "Not that we would know, none of them were publicly avable when we were in the Academy."

 Chapter 58 Interrogated

    <h4>Chapter 58 Interrogated </h4>


    Karl and Dana headed back for the main floor of the dorms, where there should be dinner served right now, and silently hoped that the other students had not noticed who got out of the helicopter.


    That hope was in vain, as the moment that they entered the cafeteria they were surrounded by other students that they trained with, including all the others from the special training ss.


    "Alright, spill. What happened to you two that you came back a dayte in an army helicopter? That is badass, by the way, but our mission barely took an hour." One of the other first year students asked, while the girl beside him nodded.


    "Well, you see, it was just a minorck ofmunication. The town we were sent to, with the intention of having us eliminate a group of Irontusk Boars headed by an Awakened Rank beast, had been overrun by Goblins an hour before we left. It was toote for the Academy to see the update, so we were delivered to an empty town with no idea what we were supposed to do.


    We just killed every monster that we could find and waited for someone toe get us. They didn''t seem to be in a hurry to do that, so we called in the morning when we were sure that the Goblins were all dead." Karl exined.


    "And how does that rte to you both having Awakened Rank ck badges now?" One of the other students asked.


    "The Special Forces team that came to get us vouched for us, and they let us do the test when we got back instead of waiting until the end of the semester or having to beg a professor. We both passed, so we got the badges right away." Dana informed him with a smug smile.


    "That''s just not fair. If we had been the ones to get sent there, we could have been the first to get our badges." One of the other studentsined.


    "We nearly got killed by a single Shadow Cat, and it hadn''t quite reached Awakened yet. If we had to face off against a whole tribe of Goblins, we would be missing persons right now." His partner reminded him.


    "It wasn''t that bad." The boy defended himself.


    "Other than the seventy stitches, the broken hand and the loss of your sword?" One of the other students asked.


    "It was just a little mistake, the cat caught me by surprise."


    The studentsughed as Karl and Dana made their way to the counter to grab a meal, and quickly rearranged their seating pattern so that the two of them would be ced in the corner, where everyone could see and talk to them.


    "It looks like you two are famous today, so you might as well enjoy your time in the limelight. Now, tell us more about the fight with the Goblins." One of the students insisted.


    By the time that they were done, it had been nearly two hours of giving every minute detail of their overnight adventure, and Karl was bing increasingly certain that they had narrated the details of each action that they had taken more than once.


    If Hawk could talk, they might have dragged it out for another hour, since the students wanted a blow-by-blow recounting of the entire fight on a level that not even Sergeant Rita''s official reporting required. But it felt good to be popr for the moment, and with the ck Badges, they would be entitled to some extra credits from the school every week to upgrade their rooms and lifestyle.


    Dana''s first thought was to get some soundproofing for her bedroom so that she didn''t have to hear the neighbours training at every hour of the day, but Karl was stumped.


    They were going to bring him resources for Hawk free of charge, and he wasn''t sure what he needed. Plus, his room was perfect the way that it came. Sure, he could redecorate, but that wasn''t really necessary, and they had to be in uniform on campus, so even if he was a fashionista it wouldn''t matter. He could get some more notebooks, and maybe a tablet so he could digitize all his information, but that was about it.


    When they finally escaped the cafeteria to head to their dorms, the sounds of explosive attacks were echoing through the hallways. The noise wasing from the two doors on either side of the stairs, where therge square rooms for warrior training were.


    Dana sighed in resignation at not being able to sleep, but Karl had a better idea.


    "There is a hammock on the balcony if you''d like. It''s quiet, and the only one likely to wake you up out there is Hawk, unless it starts raining. I don''t know if the spell around the greenhouse balcony actually stops rain, since it hasn''t happened since we arrived." Karl offered.


    As soon as he said it, Karl realized that he should likely get an award for the most awkward way to invite a girl to spend the night in your room ever, but she clearly needed the sleep, and even when they got to his door, he could still hear the first year students frantically training on their day off.


    The news that two of the students had made it to Awakened Rank had spread like wildfire, and everyone who thought they had a chance to be next was working hard, as well as those who were a long way from the goal, who realized that they might be the first to be shunted to the slow progression courses.


    Nobody wanted that.


    It was a necessary part of the Academy''s curriculum, and they weren''t really the slow sses, they were the regr sses, but as time went on, the top third of the ss would be moved up to special training, leaving the others behind.


    Karl was among that group for all of his training, while Dana was already there in the Saturday sses, with a good chance that she would be gaining a personal tutor in the next few days. They were already way ahead, and only gaining more ground on the rest of the ss as they got the sort of special treatment that the true Elites enjoyed.


    But while the special treatment that the most powerful got was enviable, the fact that they seemed to be together as a couple was enough to provoke jealousy in the hearts of many students.

 Chapter 59 Contact and Contacts

    <h4>Chapter 59 Contact and Contacts </h4>


    Karl woke up the next morning to the sound ofughter, and stomping feet. It wasn''t abination that he associated with his room, which was normally silent, and for a moment, he waspletely disoriented.


    "Hawk, he''s not a perch, I am trying to train the golem to fight." Dana''s voiceughed.


    The sense of confusion faded, and Karl hurried to get dressed before heading out to the balcony, where a nearly naked statue was doing some sort of Kung Fu, while Hawk sat on its head and chirped directions that neither the Golem nor Dana could understand.


    "He says that the foot is too high, and it makes you vulnerable to leg sweeps." Karl informed the mage as he stepped outside to meet them.


    "Oh, good morning. I hope you don''t mind, I used the shower first. The nts are all watered as well, and I think that hammock is enchanted. I might not have slept for long, but I haven''t felt this refreshed in a long time.


    I was meditating, but Hawk was bored, so we started to water the nts, and then I thought I should try out my new spell. The Golem is good at smashing, but I think if it''s used by someone who actually knows martial arts, it will get better.


    The Golem responds to mentalmands, but I know almost nothing aboutbat in that sense, so all I can tell it to do is basic attacks." She rambled as she adjusted the Golem''s movements, so its steps weren''t as high.


    "If it works that way, you''ll have to get the teachers to let you sit in on some of the fighting sses I attend. I use wed gauntlets to fight, so it''s almost the same as martial arts, even when I''m armed." Karl suggested.


    "Or you can help me teach the golem. Once I understand the basics, it should be enough to get started." Dana suggested, with a determined look at her summon.


    "Alright, let''s start with the three basicbat stances, and then we can move to the guarding positions, since he already understands the basics of punch and kick from the spell."


    Dana led the Golem to mimic Karl as he moved, and the Golem caught on incredibly quickly. They weren''t intelligent in a true sense, but the spell allowed the Golem to be slightly adaptive, and the more it fought, the better it would do the next time that it was summoned.


    The understanding was mostly the mages, but either the System or the spell itself enabled it to retain skills it had gained when dismissed and resummoned.


    After about ten minutes, Karl and the Golem began to shadow box, holding back their powers so that they didn''t actually injure each other, though they both had Awakened Rank physiques, at least in theory.


    Karl hadn''t had to test that yet, but he hadn''t been injured during training since the day that his absorption of energy from food had improved, despite taking just as many hits in training.


    However, kicks from sparring partners and a full power punch from a stone fist would be an entirely different experience, he assumed.


    "Alright, now that I''ve had a morning workout, I need to shower, and then we should go get some breakfast before sses start. Will I see you again after ss?" Karl asked.


    "I''ll be back after dinner to study. I suspect that we''re both going to be busy today, with all that happened this weekend." Dana agreed.


    She waspletely right. By four in the afternoon, Karl waspletely exhausted from the upgraded training regimen, and Sergeant Rita still had more ns for his day.


    "Now that you have been promoted to the rank of Awakened, you are considered somewhat of a proper Elite, though you are still in school. Normally, this sses up in the second semester, but we need to start going over the duties and responsibilities thate with the position of an Awakened Elite, and the chances that you could be called to assist with attacks whenever you are off campus.


    Well, theoretically you could be called to them when you are on campus as well, but there are plenty of senior students to go through before it would be your turn, as we award credits for outside duties, and there is a waiting list." Rita exined.


    "Wait, there is a waiting list for the emergency responses around the Academy?" Karl asked.


    "That''s the part that caught your attention? Yes, the senior students all want to have them to pad their resumes, and for the extra resources that they can get. Especially if they''re graduating at Awakened or barely into Ascended Rank.


    But right now, it is important that you know the basics, like how to send a message to Elite Operations, the emergency contact numbers, and a few other things that would have helped you out on yourst trip.


    I''m sure you''re aware that the phone call could have gone more smoothly if you knew to give them your Student ID number as an introduction, so you would be transferred to someone with a functional brain, but you could also have contacted the Elite Force stationed at the airbase directly and saved some time.


    Also, there were other Elites in the area that you could have called on if things went wrong, they just didn''t respond because the Mayor sent the signal that they had all evacuated safely. With the civilians gone, the military could take their time."


    While the Sergeant''s exnation made a lot of sense, as it was undoubtedly safer to hunt for the Goblins in the daylight, it would have made more sense to do the whole job the first day and not wait until the second day to deal with the rest of the Goblin infestation, after the homes had been looted overnight.


    But, Karl assumed that this wasn''t the only thing that they had to do, so he wouldn''t hold it against the soldiers for showing up when they were ordered to.


    "Alright, let''s see that data. I will start memorizing it before dinner, then keep working on it after ss until I have it all down." Karl replied, resigned to the overload of data that wasing his way.

 Chapter 60 Orders From Above

    <h4>Chapter 60 Orders From Above </h4>


    The information turned out to not be all that bad. He had a few dozen items and protocols to memorize, but once he had seen them, they were mostlymon-sense items, and they wouldn''t be difficult to remember at all.


    He wrote down the emergency call numbers and essential protocols for meeting Elites with high positions on a cue card, and took it down to have the supply roomminate it on his way to dinner, but other than that, there wasn''t much that he couldn''t remember on the first day.


    "The top of the ss has finally graced us with his presence. How does it feel to be the most elite of the first years?" One of the second year mages from his morning skills training joked when Karl entered the cafeteria.


    "I''m not sure, you will have to ask Hawk." Karl joked as the worker passed him the daily special, a fried noodle dish withrge chunks of monster meat in it.


    "That''s probably true, his skills are insane. I heard that they''re going to move up your studies again, does that mean you''re not going to get to practice with us in the mornings anymore?" The blonde boy asked.


    "I don''t think they are nning to take me out of that training so soon. I heard from Sergeant Rita that they will change my closebat training partners, but they were already preparing to do that. Part of my abilities seems to be faster learning speed, so I''m doing really well in the mixed martial arts ss, but I still can''t block magical attacks fast enough or inrge enough numbers that the morning ss needs to change."


    Karl''s reply made the other mages in the roomugh. If one Elite could block all the attacks from two dozen of them, did they really deserve to be assigned the same rank? Even if he could block half of them, it was already an unfair advantage at the same peak power level. But the nature of his skill, that the Rend could separate into multiple parts with a single cast, made it much easier to hit multiple targets, and the mages had to admit that both Karl and Hawk had impable aim.


    Again that evening, when Karl went up to his room after dinner, the hallways echoed with the sound of students furiously practising, and he knew that Dana would be waiting for him to let her in. He didn''t even have to wait after knocking on her door, she answered instantly, as if she had been standing right behind it, and had her school backpack at the ready, packed with her books and a change of uniform for the morning.


    "I asked about a soundproofing measure for the room, but it''s not cheap. We would need to take on at least one more mission at the same level as thest one to afford it." She apologized as she closed the door behind her.


    Karl winced at the sound of echoing attacks from the neighbouring rooms. "It''s still a good ce to practise, and once the others calm down it shouldn''t be too bad. I can see why all the senior students like to spend time outside, though. Even here in the hallways it''s loud, so in their rooms it must be terrible."


    On the far side of campus, in a meeting room facing a wall of security camera feeds, the school administrators watched the two young students walk into the second floor greenhouse room.


    "Are you certain that this won''t lead to a premature pregnancy? I feel like we should separate them, for the good of their nned career paths." An older woman insisted.


    "Despite the appearances, they''re two pure souls. I think that even if they were sharing the same bed, we wouldn''t have to worry too much about it. Besides, there are prophctics avable for free, and we can have their individual counsellors rmend long-term birth control injections for both of them." The Headmaster replied with a shrug.


    "They''re advancing much faster than the others, despite not having the strongest starts, should we put a camera in the greenhouse room to see what sort of training they''re doing?" One of the other board members suggested.


    The Headmaster made an annoyed sound and shook his head. "Feel free to ask them, but I will not allow cameras in the students'' dorm rooms. There are standards here, and I won''t bend on that one."


    Every one of the Elites had some secrets of their own, and when they were exposed, they could expose weaknesses of their ss and abilities, which could put the Elite in danger from the human sort of enemies.


    It was better that the students could keep those weaknesses to themselves, the Headmaster had decided when he was appointed, and for ten years, it had been working very well for everyone.


    "Which one should be reassigned, or are we going to separate them into career training paths as nned?" The leader of the Elite Career Training Oversight Board asked.


    "The Beast Master is going to be a strategic asset if he can bond more than one pet. I say that we allow them a bit more flexibility than the other ss leaders. Let them practice together, a solid bond between the two will help reduce his reluctance to go along with the testingter." The board''s lead researcher suggested.


    The first old woman to speak gave a derisive snort. "You think that having a friend is going to make him more likely to go along with your ns to throw him into danger and study the growth rate and reactions of the bonded monsters? I know that young men can be hormonal, but he''s not an idiot, he will just run away from any real threats, and you''ll never get your data."


    "And if we send the cute idol girl with him?" The researcher asked.


    "Absolutely not. I have over seven thousand hours of work already nned for her, including three albums, hundreds of public appearances, and an advertising campaign for whatever the cause de jour is in five years after she has graduated." The Celebrity Development Officer of the board insisted.


    The lone military officer in the room just rolled her eyes. "She''s a mage, and a powerful one if she keeps growing at this rate. Just like the Archmage, there is no reason that she can''t have actual missions rolled into whatever song and dance nonsense you had nned because of her cute face. You are going to have to adjust your expectations. If she makes it to Commander Rank before she graduates, she will have too much authority for you to pressure her into showbiz anyhow."

 Chapter 61 Colonel Valerie Boris

    <h4>Chapter 61 Colonel Valerie Boris </h4>


    Karl and Dana had no idea of the extent that the Elders were making ns for their future. Instead of worrying about those sorts of things, they were busy studying, and trying to find ways to grow their powers more efficiently.


    The fine control work that Dana had been doing with Hawk had helped her immensely, and Karl''s growth rate didn''t seem to be slowing at all, even though they hadn''t gotten any new resources yet after his advancement.


    It was almost as if his powers were just reaching maturity, and like his body had in the first two weeks here, they were beginning to enter the growth phase, where he would start to truly blossom and show off the real potential of his unique ss.


    While Dana worked on training the Golem to operate as their frontlinebatant, Karl worked on constantly improving the mental living conditions for Hawk. It felt like the more that he improved the space, the faster Hawk was growing, and even after a few days of work, he was certain that he could see the change in the bird.


    It wasn''t gettingrger, but the power was improving, and the lustre of Hawk''s feathers was improving, as if his health was getting better, despite there being nothing wrong with him to begin with.


    The minute changes in monsters as they advanced was a field with very little study done on it, as the leadership felt that being able to identify the general power rankings of the monsters was more important than guessing the exact progression rate of wild beasts. So, Karl was only able to guess by what he was seeing, and if he was right, then after only a few more months, Hawk would likely make it to the Ascended Rank, and his ws would begin to darken and turn glossy.


    That growth level was feeding back to Karl, and his body was getting stronger every time he woke up in the morning, but more importantly to him, as a formerte bloomer, it was not just getting taller, but he was getting toned.


    Not in a burly and muscr sense, more of a professional athlete, lean muscle mass way.


    The three of them, Karl, Hawk and Dana, kept up that same routine all week, with their regr sses all day and a new addition, the "Social Adaptation" lessons, as Sergeant Rita called them, where they learned all sorts of small things about interacting with other Elites outside the Academy, as well as some geography and important figures that were not well known to the general poption.


    A regr elite wouldn''t be calling on someone like the President without a very good reason, but there were dozens of powerful and reclusive Elites and older magic users that were important enough that they should receive an invitation to everything, even if you knew that they would never show up to your event.


    Ironically, the Headmaster was on that list of people who should be notified of and invited to all major social events, even though it wasmon knowledge that he rarely left the Academy. Not inviting him would be seen as rude, and his staff would be left in the dark about the event when others asked him about unexpected events that might have happened at it.


    Finally, it was time for the special ss to assemble again for their weekly training, but when Karl and Dana arrived at the grounds, they found a pair of new faces among the crowd, and a new professor waiting there as well.


    The older mage in charge of the ss raised a hand to get everyone''s attention, and the group fell silent, eager to find out what was going on.


    "Today, we introduce two new promising students, Jenna and Brittany. Both are first year mages with exceptional growth rates, and I hope that you all get along."


    The teacher paused, and the team leaders realized that the numbers no longer worked. There were six teams of nine. Plus two didn''t leave them with even team numbers. That meant someone was probably leaving for special training or a mission again.


    "Yes, as you have guessed, two of our students will be shifted to another specialized ss. The government''s Bureau of Elite Development has determined that they will be guiding these two toward smaller group missions, and therefore their days will be better spent with another professor." The old mage informed, them with a heavy dose of annoyance in his voice.


    These were his students, and he didn''t like the bureaucratic meddling any more than anyone else did. He just didn''t have the political power to stop them from doing it in this case.


    "Karl and Dana will be training for individual and small group missions, and I wanted them to have a chance to say their farewells to the whole group before they go off with their new professor, Colonel Valerie Braless."


    "Boris. My name is Valerie Boris." The woman snarled at him, looking like every student''s worst nightmare.


    Her uniform was so heavily starched and pressed that even standing here in the heat and wind, there was no sign of the creases rxing, and with the sides of her head shaved under her cap and the gold lensed aviator sses she wore, she gave off an air of unwavering uprightness and adherence to military regtions that no teenager would possibly enjoy. She was probably still under thirty years old and a powerful Elite from the first batch or the initial testing, but her appearance made it challenging to tell her exact age.


    "It is a pleasure to meet you, Colonel Boris." Karl and Dana replied in unison, causing the woman to turn and look down her nose at them.


    "You may call me Professor Valerie." She replied curtly.


    "Understood, Professor."


    Even Sergeant Rita was distinctly not looking at the woman, keeping her eyes forward toward the rest of the ss, as if she was signalling that the two of them had nothing to do with one another, and that her duties were to the advanced group training ss.


    The Colonel looked around the field onest time, appearing dissatisfied with something that she saw, then gestured for Karl and Dana to follow her as she turned and walked away without another word.


    [I owe not so evil woman an apology. This one looks much more evil, I bet she doesn''t even believe in snacks.] Hawk muttered in Karl''s mind as they walked.

 Chapter 62 Small Group Training

    <h4>Chapter 62 Small Group Training </h4>


    Professor Valerie led Karl and Dana out of the field and behind the gymnasium building, where she had a military sedan car parked, with a driver waiting for them.


    "Climb on in, time is wasting, and I am under orders to have you back here before dark." She instructed as she settled herself into the front passenger seat.


    It was obviously a sanctioned trip, as she had just been introduced as their instructor, but it seemed odd to both of them that they would be taken off school grounds on the first day by their new Professor for small groupbat, or whatever she intended to teach them.


    No words were spoken until they were out of sight of the Academy grounds, and then the Professor turned back to look at the students in the back seat.


    "What we will be learning is not for the ears of the general poption of the Academy, or for the busybodies watching the security footage. As you were informed earlier, I am from the Bureau of Elite Development, a division of the National Security Agency, and I will be teaching you the essentials of how to operate as a pair.


    It is not guaranteed that you two will be working together after graduation, but the Bureau sees promise in you both, and we intend to guide your growth. There are certain things that the Academy can''t or won''t do for you, but I am under no such restrictions.


    Have you both managed to get a grasp of the new abilities that you were taught over the weekend?" She asked.


    "We have." Dana replied, somewhat stiffly.


    "Excellent. Today we are going to introduce you both to some real experts. Sergeant Rita isn''t bad, but she coddles the students too much in the first and second years." The Colonel insisted.


    Karl considered rebuking the woman, as the Sergeant was an excellent teacher and she had put in significant effort to help him get this far, but it was probably wiser not to anger the Colonel and get Rita into trouble with her superior through no fault of her own.


    The car stopped at a warehouse ten minutes away from the Academy, on the outskirts of a small town. The door opened, and the driver parked off to the side, next to a military bus.


    "Follow me, and meet the rest of the teams." Valerie informed them, then straightened her uniform with a gust of wind magic and strode away.


    "You get used to her." The driver whispered as Karl and Dana were getting out of the vehicle, and the smile on his face helped assure them that this wouldn''t be as terrible as they had been fearing.


    The Colonel led them into a side room where ten other pairs of Elites were gathered. A few of the pairs were clearly soldiers, but most were in civilian clothing.


    "Wee back, Colonel." They greeted her in unison, all giving sharp salutes that made Karl and Dana feel out of ce in a room full of professionals.


    "At ease everyone. Meet the new students, Karl and Dana. ording to the Academy Board, Dana is ted for an abbreviated career as an entertainer, followed by an extended career using that fame for messaging, while Karl is designated as a test subject for his unique ss. Someone at the top sees promise in it, and they want to exploit it."


    The two students stood there stunned at the blunt revtion that their entire lives were actually being nned in that level of detail only weeks after they had started at the Academy. It was disconcerting to say the least, but from the responses of the others here, it was either not unusual, or it was not going to pan out the way that the board wanted it to.


    "So, they''vee to us for what? An introduction to Elite Society? Or did you have other ns?" One of the men in civilian clothing asked.


    "For small groupbat training. They both made it to Awakened Rank already, and there is a good chance that both of them will hit Commander Rank before they graduate." Colonel Valerie exined.


    "Oh, so we''re going to pull rank and drop them out of their life n? Now that does sound fun." One of the women in military uniformughed, and nudged the man standing beside her.


    "You know they''re looking at us like we''re working for Central Intelligence, right?" The partner replied with a huge smile on his face that made him look much less frightening.


    "Oh, yes. Introductions are in order. Everyone here is an investigator for the Bureau of Elite Development. We not only guide promising young Elites, we also ensure that the others are living up to their duties, and solve problems when an Elite reaches a bottleneck in their growth.


    The Department normally operates in pairs, so that information won''t be lost if an investigator ispromised. That means they are the perfect people to teach you pairedbat skills.


    They will also cover a number of other subjects during the semester that we will be working here, and if I determine that more intensive study is needed, one of your regrly scheduled days may be shifted to this training centre." The Colonel informed them.


    The woman standing next to Dana wrapped a friendly arm around the girl''s shoulders and smiled. "Rx, she might be a bit intense, but I''m certain that you will have much more fun here than you did in that regr training ss."


    Dana giggled, and the woman gave her a questioning look before Valerie spoke again.


    "I am not certain that we can guarantee such a high level of enjoyment. Did you know that theirst mission turned into the elimination of a Goblin Tribe that was looting an abandoned town? Compared to that, I fear that our training sessions might be a bit dull.


    But we do have some advantages that the other Professors do not. For example, N is an Inscriptionist. Once you have mastered the spells that you are working on, she will be able to make you copies of new skills to be directly learned.


    Also, I have arranged for an outing in the near future to look for infant monsters with high potentials topliment Karl''s Windspeed Hawk. The Bureau of Elite Development is intensely interested in the possibility that you might be able to contract more than one monster and gain additional powers from the process."

 Chapter 63 Modification

    <h4>Chapter 63 Modification </h4>


    The odd collection of Elites that were called here from the Bureau of Elite Development seemed like a cheerful bunch to Karl, and even more so after they were given no real restrictions on how to deal with the two new recruits.


    They were all used to working in pairs, which was so they had someone to watch their back as much as it was intended to prevent corruption, as the Colonel had suggested, so giving them a warrior and magebo was perfect for their preferred fighting style.


    "I think that what we should start with is actually more of a skills'' development than tactics. Normally, we would work with students about to graduate, so they would have a half dozen skills in their repertoire, but I am assuming that you two both only have one each." One of the warriors in civilian clothing suggested.


    "I have two now, thanks to Overlord Drake, and Prince Axel gave Dana a Golem spell book. Plus, she knows Fog in addition to her base magic missile already." Karl exined.


    The man looked impressed, and turned to the ginger haired female soldier beside him. "It looks like they really are on the path to fame, they''re meeting all the right people already."


    "Don''t mind Josh, he''s jealous that you got to meet the Prince. You can call me Anise, and I will be helping you with your adaptation skills. One of the most important things you can do with your abilities is learning new ways to use them.


    The more creative you can be with them, the more useful even the basic skills will be. For example, the Fog spell. It''s not considered one of the more powerful spells, but did you know that you can condense it in just a ring to create a solid visual barrier?


    That alone will give you a huge advantage inbat, as you can block off the view of your enemies while you escape. If you block a spot in an alley, it bes much easier to run into a building without being followed. Anything pursuing you will have to guess what building you went into. Or you can cast it over the outside of a moving vehicle and make them crash." She exined.


    Dana was shocked by thatst suggestion.


    "Do the elites get into conflicts with other people a lot?" She asked.


    "We do. Most of the Elites are a different story, but the teams here don''t just guide the other Elites toward more power, but away from taking the wrong paths in life. Sometimes we will be sent to deal with Elites gone rogue, drunkards and abusers.


    But the same techniques can be used against intelligent monsters. For example, the Mythril Tiger. They''re smarter than most people you will meet, and if you want to lose them once they''re following you, it will take a lot of effort.


    The full-grown ones are on the strong side of Commander Rank, and even two on one, it can be difficult for Elites at the same rank to take them out unless they''re caught in the open." Anise agreed.


    Karl didn''t quite understand the crossover between this conversation and his own skills. Rend and Shred seemed pretty simple, but the versatility of Fog seemed to be pretty high if you could use it to blind the target. That would take some real practice, but as long as it was possible, then there shouldn''t be a problem for Dana to figure it out.


    The mages took Dana off to one side of the room to exin whatever they wanted to do first, while the other half of the group gathered around Karl.


    "Alright, we''re going to try something different. Have you ever attempted to just hold Rend on your hands?" One of the men asked.


    "Yeah, that''s not a problem. I can hold it in ce on the gauntlets for as long as I need." Karl agreed, and coated his hands in the Rend attack, lighting up the ws of the Gauntlet with faint violet light.


    "Nice, you understand the basic concept that we''re going for then. What you want to do is learn to set it in ce somewhere, and not have it move. Think of it like a string, or a snare being ced." The soldier suggested.


    Karl conferred with Hawk, who thought that it should be possible, but if they wanted it to stay on an object that wasn''t attached to their own body, they would have to see it.


    "Alright, I think I can do it." Karl agreed, and then focused on creating a Rend attack that crossed the space between two pirs, using them as anchors to keep it in ce, the same way that he wrapped it around his gloves to enhance the ws.


    "Oh, that is superb. Well done. Now, to see if it actually works or just looks like it does."


    He tossed a metal bar against the thin beam of light, and it cleanly cut in half, ttering to the ground in two pieces.


    Karl gasped in shock. "That''s brutal. I can see how that would be an incredibly dangerous way to use this ability. The only problem is that if I don''t watch it to keep it in ce, it won''t stay. Rend doesn''t want to be stationary, and Shred is even more violent, I doubt that I could keep that one stable at all."


    "That''s fine. The more practical uses of this skill modification training are to create snares and trip lines for passing monsters and to stop them from following you. If you can learn to do multiple stationary traps, you can block a path well enough that a pursuer won''t be able to just step or jump over, and you will have time to either regroup or get away."


    "Alright, that is good enough for me. Not dying is always priority one." Karl agreed.


    "I take it you came from the woods, where there are a lot of monsters?" One of the civilian dressed women asked.


    "Nope, the mines, where we''re always worried about the roof copsing on us a kilometre underground." Karl replied with a chuckle. "So, not dying is priority one. Getting the job done is priority two."

 Chapter 64 Get The Goods

    <h4>Chapter 64 Get The Goods </h4>


    The rest of the day was spent on improving the new ways that the teams hade up with to use the Rend skill. Mostly Karl worked on his control to keep a strand of it stationary, but they also worked on disguising the skill, as some monsters would recognize the Rend ability and have a trick to deal with it.


    For example, some beasts with tusks could take the Rend directly and let it break against the tusk, doing little damage to their body. But if you made it look like a different skill, for example having the rend form not as a streak of energy but as a disc or a spear, it would confuse them, and they might not be able to deal with it.


    Dana had done something simr during the fight, by dimming the light from her magic missiles. The small alterations to a spell could make just enough of a difference to get you through a tight spot or to get an edge on yourpetitors.


    "Alright, everyone, you''ve had your fun. We will meet back here again next week at the same time." Colonel Valerie announced at precisely four in the afternoon, the usual ending time for sses.


    The Saturday sses were usually a bit more flexible with their timings, but Karl was fairly certain that her personality didn''t allow her to run overtime without prior written authorization. If she was off schedule, she was definitely the sort of person that would be bothered by it.


    "See you two next week. Don''t forget to practice, if they give you some leisure time. We will be making up a lesson n for you." One of the magesughed.


    The Colonel hurried the students back to the car while the others changed tasks to nning for something, obviously in a rush to get them back to the Academy on schedule.


    The drive was a quiet one as Karl and Dana both focused on the things that they had been learning for the day. Learning new ways to use skills was entirely different from just learning the skill. Instead of just gaining knowledge, you had to work to change the way that you thought about, imagined and solidified the spell. It was a different way of using the knowledge that you knew, a way that ran contrary to how you had been thinking about your skills.


    It was more of a test of mental flexibility and creativity than anything else, and for Karl, it was draining in a way that normal training was not. Eventually, he was certain that he would get used to it, but today he was oddly exhausted and d that tomorrow didn''t have any ns but staying in to rx and practice.


    When they were back on school grounds, the Colonel put back on her ''Professor Valerie'' friendly facade and her expressionless professionalism turned to a polite smile that was somehow stillpletely devoid of emotion.


    "So, what did you think of the first day of special training? Was it everything that you had hoped for?" She asked, looking at them in the rearview mirror of the car.


    "It was certainly something unexpected, that''s for sure. I never thought about trying to use my skills that way, but it is going to make a huge difference the next time Ie up against monsters like that Goblin Tribe." Karl replied.


    Hawk was in full agreement. Rend was his ability, he should be best with it, but they had weird human ideas on how to make it work that would be great for harvesting meat. Especially pigs. Pigs were stupid, and he could make them stampede in rage, so they would trip over the Rend wire, or get their tusks stuck on it, and he could attack their soft and juicy underside.


    [Hawk, go have a snack. Your food daydreams are distracting.] Karl reminded his partner.


    Hawk wasn''t wrong, though. Plenty of creatures could be made to charge in rage, and they wouldn''t be looking closely enough to notice the thin string before they ran into it. They would be too focused on what he was doing, and the trap could be set in advance.


    Dana turned toward her noisy room with a soft smile on her face. "Let''s see how the neighbours like me now. I''ve got some great ideas on how to make the Golem and Magic Missile work together, so I will be practising themte into the night."


    Karlughed at herment. The booming noise of the neighbours practising their attack abilities could still be sporadically heard, they hadn''t given up on their goal of being the next to reach Awakened Rank yet, but the stomping of a Stone Golem would be horrendous where the Magic Missiles were normally silent.


    "I think that I will focus on trying to improve the actual power of my abilities. Stretching the attack out the way they want puts a lot of drain on my mental abilities, so I need to work on them first and control second." Karl replied as she waved goodnight.


    But before he turned in, Karl realized that he did actually have some Academy credits after their away mission, and he didn''t need to change his room, so he could spend them on some resources for Hawk.


    He headed back downstairs to the supply room and waited for the clerk to answer the bell.


    "Wee back. I saw you headed off campus this morning, so I didn''t expect to see you today. What can I do for you, possibly a uniform repair?" The man asked.


    "Nope, my uniforms are fine. We were just doing some offsite training, not a mission. What I need is an Awakened or Ascended Rank strength stone, and some Ascended Rank monster blood if you''ve got it." Karl replied.


    "Ah, the strengthening mixture. Be careful using too strong of a potion when you''ve just broken through. It''s best to mix a little bit into a shot of water and see how that works out for you." The clerk warned him.


    "Thanks, I will be sure to portion it out slowly if you''ve got the good stuff." Karl agreed.


    The man opened theputer to some sort of inventory screen, and entered Karl''s identification by scanning his badge, then frowned.


    "You''re still a bit short on credits. I can get you an Ascended Rank stone, but no blood, or both at Awakened with the credits you have."


    Karl nodded. He had expected that a simple mission wouldn''t get him too far, even if it was the mostmon of items.


    "I will take the Ascended Rank stone, and I will mix it with the blood I saved from the mission. I still have a fair bit of Awakened Rank boar blood." Karl agreed.


    He actually had the whole boar, so he would be able to get half a litre or more of the blood out of it, enough tost Hawk for weeks at the proportion it should be mixed with the crushed stone.


    "Pleasure doing business with you. Do you want that stone ground fine or coarse? I''m assuming you aren''t going to try to eat the thing intact." The clerk asked.


    "Ground as fine as possible. It mixes better that way." Karl agreed.


    "And there you are. Good luck with your training."


    As soon as the transaction was done, the man disappeared into the back room, leaving Karl holding a small bag of powder, like some illicit drug transaction.

 Chapter 65 New Foods

    <h4>Chapter 65 New Foods </h4>


    Karl ced the powder in his beast space and mentally formed a bowl to pour boar blood into. Hawk was already prepared, and happily drained the beast, then slowly swirled the concoction with his ws until he had the desired consistency and an even distribution.


    A quick lick of the ws to clean them brought a happy trill, then he began to dip the boar meat in the bowl like he had seen Karl do with chicken at dinner.


    Karl ignored the bird''s antics and sat on his bed to meditate the afternoon away, continuing right through until morning as Hawk adjusted to the change in food and the feedback strengthened Karl''s body and mind.


    [It looks like we might not have to slow down, buddy.] Karl informed Hawk when his rm went off for breakfast.


    [I told you, we will be stronger than that Sergeant in no time.] Hawk agreed.


    That was the first time that Karl recalled the bird calling her by Rank instead of just "Evil Lady" or "Not so Evil Lady". Hawk was getting smarter, he was certain, and he was beginning to remember names for people.


    Fortunately for the both of them, today was the weekly day off, and they didn''t have any major ns, other than continuing their basic training and meditation schedule.


    But ack of ns didn''t mean they weren''t going to do anything. First thing in the morning, before Karl had even gotten up to go to breakfast, the supply staff was at his door with a delivery of upgraded food products for Hawk, various meats, sausages with infused resources of some kind, and a pungent ointment that thebel said should be applied to the ws to help them maintain their flexibility and not be brittle.


    That gave them plenty of work to do after Karl had finished eating, as Hawk was a fairly picky eater when the food product was not meat. The sausages had been created with humans in mind, so Karl would eat them himself if necessary, but some of the order seemed to bepletely nt-based.


    It looked like meat cubes, but when Hawk poked them, they were just wiggly and soft, definitely not meat. Karl thought that they might be tofu of some sort, created with a magical nt to help strengthen the body, but Hawk resolutely refused to eat them.


    The spicy sausages were an instant hit, and Hawk didn''t care that they had visible herbs in them. The cheese sausages as well. He made a mess of himself as he tore apart the juicy cooked meat tubes, but Hawk was instantly in love with the vour of cheese.


    Karl made careful notes of the response to each food product, as well as Hawk''s estimation of the absorbed energy content and any reactions that his body had to the food.


    Only one caused an unusual reaction. The spicy sausages that Hawk loved gave him a stimnt boost and made him hyper, a fact that Karl noticed, but Hawk did not. They might be some sort of drug to the Windspeed Hawk, but his thoughts were as clear as always, just faster and more easily distracted.


    Once Hawk had a sample of everything, Karl tried the rejects, and found that while they were edible, none of them were going to make his favourite foods list. They were all easy to digest, which was a small blessing, and Karl spent most of an hour meditating to burn through the energy before he got up to water the nts and check for any ripe fruits or flowers that should be harvested.


    He still had to use the manual for that, as most of them were only just beginning to change from when he had arrived, but a few were more prolific. The berry bushes in particr seemed to be constantly flowering and growing more fruit as they were picked, and the tea trees constantly dropped leaves that needed to be dried.


    That took him nearly to lunch, but he had a small collection of fruits in the beast space now, in addition to the berries that Hawk liked to season his meat with.


    ''I should go do something today.'' Karl mused to himself as he finished eating again and meditated away the excess energy to improve the beast space.


    It was really beginning to take shape, and he had most of a clearing worth of grass forming around the single tree already. Next he was going to create a small bush. Hawk liked to fly around the balcony and dodge the branches, so a bit more scenery would be good for him, Karl thought.


    [How about ake? A bit of water would be good, so I can practice my diving for fish.] Hawk suggested.


    That shouldn''t be too hard, just like the grass, he only had to focus on adding theke bed to the nothingness of the space.


    [Don''t you think that it''s gettingrger in there? I swear that it used to be much more crowded, and you didn''t have as much room to fly around.] Karl asked as he began to work on theke.


    [I agree. I used to have to make small circles around the tree, but now I can fly for a few minutes before I have to turn around. Do you think that this ce will get bigger as we get stronger? I could have a whole world to myself once we get powerful enough.] Hawk suggested.


    Maybe that was the goal? The space was getting more powerful andrger with effort, and naturally, it would be an impressive home for the Windspeed Hawk, but asking for a whole world was on a whole other level. Awakened level was only going to take him to a kilometre or so in diameter at this rate, and the density of the world inside the space seemed to be improving in a linear way, while the size had made a jump at some point that Karl hadn''t noticed until now.


    That would be another item to add to his mental list of things to track.

 Chapter 66 One Day Off Isn’t Enough

    <h4>Chapter 66 One Day Off Isn''t Enough </h4>


    Dana came over after lunch, intending to study and meditate in the silence of the balcony. But Hawk had other ideas. He had far too much energy after his change in diet, and he needed to burn some off, so he wanted to y.


    By y, he meant practising their skill control together, since his and Karl''s were too simr to be entertaining.


    So, she studied new ideas and techniques between rounds, while Karl focused on expanding the ke'' to the size of a pond from a puddle. He worked on that until mid-afternoon, when the urge to go do something crept up on him again.


    "We should see if there are other things to do on the day off. They have to have some sort of entertainment that isn''t working." Karl suggested.


    "There are movie rooms, the games lounge, and a few other facilities that we haven''t explored yet. Or we could go to the pool." Dana suggested.


    The pool was technically a training area for aquatic specialists, but on the rest day, it was simply a leisure spot for everyone to hang out, swim and rx. The problem was that it meant there would be a crowd of people around, and neither of them were really the social butterfly sort.


    Being the first to Awakened Rank in the first year would draw a lot of attention, and they were hoping to let the furor die down for a few more days before they went out to mingle with people who didn''t have anything better to do than ask questions about their training regimen.


    "How about the movie lounge? Just sit and watch a movie and eat popcorn." Karl offered.


    "That sounds excellent. But even better is the fact that nobody will crowd us and ask loads of questions because there is a movie ying." Dana replied, nodding in satisfaction.


    So, that was how they found themselves side by side in a dark room, eating junk food and trying not tough as a group of girls ahead of them in the small theatre gushed about how handsome the star of the action movie they had picked was.


    ording to the boy they had seen leaving when they came in, it was just starting again, for the third time that day because the girls had put it on repeat and nobody was brave enough to argue with them when it was actually a good movie.


    After the movie, they took dinner to go, and ate on the balcony as they watched the sunset. Karl couldn''t help but feel that they might have just been on what would pass for a proper date, but by the time that he worked up the courage to say anything about it, Dana had fallen asleep in her chair while meditating.


    Karl moved her to the hammock where she usually slept and ced her bag on the table where it would be easy to find, then turned in for the evening and forgot all about the stress of Academy life for a night.


    After waking upte and rushing to get showered and fed before ss, morning training still managed to go even more smoothly than usual with the innovative ways that they hade up with to modify Rend. Instead of a simple w streak, Karl focused on expanding and stretching them as they flew, and then cut a second pattern perpendicr to the first, creating a square grid of Rending attacks that took out a whole swathe of spells at once.


    It wasn''t perfect, as some managed to fly through the pattern, but with a minimal energy cost, he could block five or six out of twenty spells in a volley.


    "Is that even the same ability anymore? I mean, it looks the same at the start, but that''s all they have inmon." One of the magesined.


    "It is. It''s just an extended reach version of the attack. If you notice, it''s shorter range as well, as I can''t stop it expanding once it has started, so it destabilizes if it flies too far, unlike the original." Karl exined.


    "So, it''s simr to the process that led to creating the Water Shotgun, except not as extreme of a modification. I like it." One of the other mages replied with a gesture of approval.


    Even the teacher thought it was impressive, and horribly difficult to evade if it was thrown at you that way. The best that anyone could do was to block it, there would be no evasion. That would be a nightmare for the Rogues and the agile monsters, who weren''t well known for their ability to take a hit.


    "Alright, that''s it for today. See you all here tomorrow." The instructor shouted seconds before the bell rang, giving the mages time to finish onest spell.


    Karl and the mages rxed through lunch as Hawk preened and showed off his new red feathers, the change from learning a second skill. Everyone had seen them all morning long, but they hadn''t had a chance to really admire them with the Hawk flying around above them.


    "You know, I have never seen a Windspeed Hawk with feathers like that. I''ve got my tablet with me, and the photo analysis doesn''t even recognize it. It says that it''s a mutation and not a strength progression for the species." One of the mages exined.


    One of the others gave an excited look, eager for all types of new information. "So, you think that Hawk is on a whole new path forward now that he''s learned another skill? Usually, monsters that reach maturity in the Common and Awakened Ranks will have one skill at the most, and they rarely learn another. Since learning that Shred skill changed his feathers, I think it might have been part of what he needed to break through the racial limits for a Windspeed Hawk.


    At least, it certainly doesn''t look like it was a detrimental change, and Shred is supposed to be much more powerful."


    Karl nodded. "Hawk thinks the same thing, that he will be able to advance quickly. With my help and maybe another skill as he gets toward the top of Ascended Rank, I think that he can make Commander way before I graduate."


    The mages sighed. None of them in that ss would be making Commander before graduation. In fact, it was unlikely that more than a handful in their year would show that sort of potential, but Karl was already looking past the Awakened Rank and into Ascended when they had barely started their first semester.


    Common Grade? What was that, he had barely even touched on it before he had left it behind. That alone was enough to let his training partners know that he was abnormal in the growth department.


    They finished lunch and went their separate ways, leaving Karl to face a grumpy Sergeant Rita all by himself when he reached the training grounds for the martial arts ss.


    "Did you enjoy your new training regimen with the Bureau of Elite Development? A bit more exciting than the usual group training in the field?" She asked, and Karl realized that she wasn''t upset at anything that he could control, she was mad that her authority as his development guidance counsellor and personal tutor had been usurped by people from higher up the government food chain.


    "It was definitely different. They focus on working in pairs instead of in a bigger team, so the whole mindset is different. Really, doing both would probably be better, but there are only so many days in the week." Karl replied carefully, not wanting to volunteer to give up his leisure time.


    "I am d that you think so. Now, with your official advancement, we are changing your training partners to someone more durable. Meet Tank, he is the berserkerbat instructor, and you will be helping him demonstrate the ways for unarmed and agility fighters to deal with berserkers today."


    Karl decided that Rita was definitely taking out her frustrations on him. That guy was huge.

 Chapter 67 Tank

    <h4>Chapter 67 Tank </h4>


    "Good afternoon ss, I hope that you all ate well, but not too well. Rich foods will make you sluggish." The Elite known as Tank greeted them.


    "As you heard, my name is Tank, and I am a part-time teacher here at the Academy, as for most of the year I am out hunting monsters. Today''s lesson will be a simple one, like the Berserker fighting style is simple.


    Now, you may think that simple means easy to defeat, but you couldn''t be further from the truth. I have heard that our volunteer for the day is quite durable, and he has an assistant. Karl, please call for your Windspeed Hawk, and I will begin the demonstration."


    Karl stepped up to the giant Berserker, and the teacher dropped into abat stance.


    "First, go with your instinct, and guide your Hawk to assist you. It will help the others see how the usual tactics against a martial artist won''t work on a Berserker." Professor Tank instructed.


    Karl immediately threw a of crossed [Rend] attacks, and stepped to the side, intending to kick the knee out from under the teacher, while Hawk went for the obvious attack to the back of his armoured head.


    They had learned that the neck was well defended in the training outfits, and this man was likely too powerful for the attack to work, but if [Shred] hit the back of his helmet it might leave him dizzy.


    The execution was wless. Shred hit his helmet a split second before Karl''s foot hit the teacher''s knee, but that''s where everything went wrong. The hit to the head triggered the Berserker''s [Rage] and Karl''s foot simply bounced off the huge man''s leg.


    Then, faster than Karl could react to even begin to dodge, one massive meaty hand had backhanded his chest, sending him flying.


    Professor Tank smiled at the ss, while Sergeant Rita helped Karl to his feet. He was in a daze, disoriented from bouncing across the ground.


    "That, young students, is called [Unstoppable]. The reason I showed you that first is because it''s an ability that can be synthesized with magical drugs, so those of you who are in the army might run across it among other nation''s soldiers in the future.


    Unstoppable is a basic skill of the Berserkers, most start with it. You cannot knock them over without immensely overpowering them, any part of their body is equal to their entire mass. Also, while the attack to the back of the head from the Windspeed Hawk, Shred, I believe it used, will trigger Berserker Rage, which increases their power and movement speed multiple times.


    Now, the Common Grade Berserker Students in your year aren''t all that scary yet. But they will be.


    Instead of what you would normally do, which is taking them down with a throw or leg sweep to put them off bnce and make them stationary targets for abuse, you want to aim for vital areas, soft spots and nerve clusters. That will slow the Berserker down until the damage piles up enough that Rage wears off, and they start feeling the pain." He exined to the ss.


    Karl frowned. "So, basically, we dodge and avoid getting turned into paste until repeated attacks start showing their effects, but no leg sweeps and avoid hits to the head?"


    Tank nodded happily, like a child receiving a present. "Just like that. Also, avoid the face and the crotch. Not because the attack won''t work, but because it tends to cause an instinctual bump in the rage effect, and you might get hurt during training."


    The other studentsughed. Of all the bad ideas they had generated so far, punching a man three times their size in the dick was one of the fastest to be dismissed. The hits to the face were only second to be dismissed because half of them couldn''t reach his face without jumping.


    Karl prepared to continue, then asked onest important question. "Does the Berserker ss make them huge, or are you just naturally that size?"


    "It makes them more muscr, but the height is all natural. I''m not even the tallest of my brothers." Tank gloated.


    Were they from some species that Karl didn''t know? The people at the mines were shorter than average, as it was a benefit to be smaller in the narrow shafts, so therger families had moved on generations ago to find more suitable work. But Karl was reasonably certain that humans weren''t supposed to grow more than two metres tall, much less two and a quarter.


    Karl tried again, ducking under the professor''s guard tond a kidney punch, while Hawk went for his lower back and then the backs of his knees.


    Karl had to tumble to the side to dodge the counterattack, but Tank was holding back on the speed that he had shown earlier when enraged by the hit to the head, and Karl managed tond a solid hit to the sternum before a kick sent him flying again, but this time he was able to twist enough tond on one knee and slide to an ungraceful stop.


    "Don''t underestimate a Berserker''s strength. Karl here is Awakened, with the physique of an agility type magical beast, but even with that advantage a Berserker at his Rank could shatter ribs with a solid hit.


    While they will usually wield weapons, that doesn''t mean that their melee abilities are any less damaging than your own sses. Especially when they are in solid armour." Tank exined as Karl circled him, looking for an opening.


    Tank threw an attack, and Karl blocked it with Rend. That gave him an idea. He had ranged attack powers, but he wasn''t fast enough to get away from the professor to use them. However, he could wield them as a shield, as well as the way he had been using them as short ranged attacks.


    The Professor threw another punch, which Karl knocked up over his head, just as Hawk hit the elbow andpletely redirected the strike. Tank was Unstoppable, but those attacks would have either cut through or thrown someone his size to the ground with the amount of power that the duo had put into them.


    The deflected arm left his side open to attack, and Karl quickly sliced three times, while Hawk distracted the Berserker by attacking his chest and stomach, soft areas that he had to block with the one hand that was in position.


    "That''s much better. I didn''t think you had it in you, but that Rend really packs a punch." Tank announced with a smile.


    "Now, in the advanced armour, those attacks didn''t cause me anything more than a bruise which will heal in seconds, but against an attacker at your Rank, even wearing Awakened Rank armour, thatstbo might well have taken an arm off before slicing open his side and making his insides be his outsides." The berserker finished.


    "But most of us don''t have slicing skills like Rend." One of the studentsined.


    "You''re a Monk, right? Bring your weapon ande up here. Karl, you can take a breather while I demonstrate how to fight a berserker using pressure points."


    The whole ss gave the boy sympathetic looks for bing the next volunteer, but Tank wasn''t nning to wait at all, and was impatiently gesturing for the boy toe forward.


    Right, Berserkers didn''t feel pain. So although he had bruises from the attacks, he didn''t feel them.

 Chapter 68 Cocktail Hour

    <h4>Chapter 68 Cocktail Hour </h4>


    Karl watched carefully and Hawk rested in the Beast Space as the fights continued, with the huge professor giving each of the students a chance to try against him. Karl had been the only one who really stood a chance, as the rest had all been training only against their own styles or had specialized in grappling and submission techniques, which wouldn''t work on Tank.


    But you didn''t get to pick and choose your targets in a fight. There was a threat, and you had to deal with it, so this sort of training would be incredibly valuable to themter. Karl knew that there were many species of giant humanoid monsters as well. Orcs, Trolls, Ogres, Owlbears and many more.


    This sort of training would work on them as well, with only a little modification.


    It was hard for Karl to imagine what a troll or ogre might look like in person, but after seeing Tank, it became a bit easier. Ogres were supposed to be close to three metres tall, so they would tower over the Berserker the same way that he did over the agility warriors in this ss.


    That was a terrifying thought, but they also wouldn''t be in armour, so there was a chance that Rend would actually cut them apart as it was intended to, as long as they weren''t too much more powerful than he was.


    As the day progressed, Professor Tank showed off a dozen different fighting styles, and the students began to wonder if he had taken this job just because he was a battle junkie and there weren''t constant threats at a level where he would be sent out.


    Fighting the students gave him a chance to let off some steam, even if he couldn''t go all out. But there were other students here as well, and some of the stronger Ascended Rank seniors from the other training group of the ss were enough to actually make him work for his victories, not like Karl and the first year ss, who he just toyed with.


    The Mixed Martial Arts instructor raised his hand to get everyone''s attention. "Alright, that''s it for the day. Professor Tank will be working with a different ss tomorrow, but don''t forget the lessons you learned today. Integrate them into your fighting style, and prepare for his returnter this week."


    That would be easy enough. None of them were likely to forget this day any time soon.


    Karl headed back toward the dorm rooms to begin the studies that he had been assigned on monster biology, intending to spend the evening focusing on finding ways to make Hawk stronger.


    But when he rounded the corner, he found Colonel Valerie standing at the door to the dormitory waiting for him with her trademark frown on her face.


    "Student Karl, follow me. We have numerous things to do today before dinner." She announced as she started walking.


    Karl sighed while Hawk gloated and dug into the pile of meat in the Beast Space. The new Strength Stones with the Awakened Rank Boar blood were doing great things for him, but Karl had to rely on the feedback and work while Hawk ate.


    The Colonel led him toward the next building and into a private ssroom, where one of the pairs from thest training day were waiting. It was a warrior and mage pair, like him and Dana. They had arge selection of pills, loaded needles and food products set out on the table waiting for him, making Karl pause at the door in concern.


    "Are we not concerned about interactions between multiple treatments?" Karl asked.


    "Not particrly. All of these are known to work together asionally, and we are not sure how many, if any, of them will actually work on you." The Colonel replied with a shrug.


    "You know that deadpan voice is why everyone thinks that you''re a heartless bitch, right?" The other woman in the room asked, forcing Karl to nearly swallow his tongue to avoidughing.


    That definitely wouldn''t go over well with the upromising Colonel, but despite her hard re at her subordinate, she did relent a little and exin her idea.


    "These treatments aren''t as nefarious as they look. Each of them is carefully chosen to enhance an aspect that you have already shown an aptitude beyond the normal in. The pills are mental stimnts moremonly used on psychics and visualization type mages. The injections are all magical equivalents of steroids, and the foods are specially preparedbinations of materials that are intended to trigger skill understanding breakthroughs."


    The other two in the room nodded in satisfaction, as if that was enough of an exnation for Karl to just ept that he was going to take over a dozen treatments all in one sitting, possibly with a short break in between for everyone to take notes.


    "Alright, where do we start?" Karl asked reluctantly.


    "With the mental improvement. From what we have deduced based on your reports, you meditate to improve the conditions and power stored in the mental space that Hawk inhabits, correct? So improving that mental ability should help both of you. Compared to a physical enhancement which only treats you, it is clearly the better option."


    The lone man in the room nodded in agreement. "These are all well-known and tested treatments. Both of us have taken them already without side effects, though they didn''t do much for me other than increase the speed that I learned new skills."


    The speed with which he learned to improve his skills was a huge part of Karl''sbat power, so this could actually be a big break for him, Karl decided as he picked up the first little paper with a single glowing green pill on it.


    "That is a Dragonite pill. It''s made with the empowered bones of long dead dragons that have crystallized. It is mostly for mages, as it gives a notable improvement in mana growth, but it also has incredible effects on intellect and mental strength." Colonel Valerie noted as the other two moved to theirptopputers to take notes.


    Karl popped the pill in his mouth and was about to wash it down with water, but the pill dissolved, and his mind seemed to be flooded with golden light. Power seemed to be flowing into him at an incredible rate, and the world within the Beast Space began to grow at a visible pace.


    "Well, it definitely worked. It''s like a golden light in my mind, and I can see the improvement in the Beast Space already." Karl exined, so the others would know what was happening.


    "Excellent. Give it a few minutes to settle and we will move on."


    Hawk trilled happily as he flew around in the space, absorbing the energy until the feeling of the space returned to close to its original state.


    "Now that it has settled and Hawk absorbed a lot of the excess energy, it feels like the improvement is noticeable, but not as strong as it felt at first." Karl added.


    "So, it helps the Hawk as well? That is impressive. We will prepare another doseter, so that you both get the full effect." Valerie noted.


    "Perhaps we should double the dose of everything that we have spares for?" The female mage suggested.


    "That is a valid theory. If Karl and Hawk share everything, we are actually dosing both of them, so the increased dosage could be necessary for some of these treatments to work properly." The warrior noted, running his fingers through his short brown hair.

 Chapter 69 Pills and Pokes

    <h4>Chapter 69 Pills and Pokes </h4>


    The Colonel took out a briefcase from a safe in the room and set out another whole array of pills, except for the one Karl had already taken.


    "Dragonite is a restricted substance, and difficult to get. We don''t have a second dose, and it''s not something that the Academy usually has ess to." She exined, then gestured for Karl to continue.


    Karl took the next two pills, and a warm feeling washed over him while his thoughts seemed to be a bit more clear. It wasn''t a big change, and everyone seemed disappointed, but Valerie gestured for Karl to move on to the next.


    [That one smells good.] Hawk noted as Karl picked up the pills.


    [Let''s hope it works. I have no idea what it is supposed to do.]


    The pills dissolved the same as the Dragonite pill had, and suddenly the proper method for activating his skills became clear in Karl''s mind. How to make them more efficient, more powerful, faster to activate. Everything about the two skills became clear, and then the whisper of a third skill entered his mind as Hawk gained new insights into [Wind Shield].


    Karl couldn''t use it yet, but as Hawk''s understanding improved, the feedbacking from Hawk''s advancement was giving him glimpses of the method.


    "That one is incredible. I understand my skills so much more clearly now, and even Hawk is having a breakthrough in understanding, despite his knowledge level already being incredibly high, as Rend is an innate skill to his species." Karl exined.


    "Wonderful. That pill can be hit-and-miss. Some people don''t understand much, while others make great strides. We will keep a note in your file so more will be avable once you have learned more skills." The Colonel replied.


    The next pill vanished with a swirl of energy into the air around him, as if his body was forcefully rejecting the pill.


    "Well, that was different. Something about that one is ipatible with him, despite the effect being nearly the same as the second one you took." The magemented as her fingers shed over the keys, making a note of the strange energy phenomenon.


    "You don''t think that it''s a matter of saturation, do you? Like when you eat too much and can''t eat more?" Karl asked.


    The other three shook their heads.


    "No, we typically give this entire course at once, either the strength or mental improvement, and that has never happened before." The Colonel replied.


    The next few mental improvement pills were absorbed without fanfare, or any immediately noticeable effects. That was disappointing, but thest pill in the line looked more like a gemstone, and Hawk was getting excited just looking at it.


    "This is a crystallized Mana Drop from a higher ranking beast. Normally, it is for increasing mana pools in the mages, but it should also be useful for your Hawk, so we brought it with us." She added.


    Karl took the object in his hand and Hawk immediately stole it, pulling it into the Beast Space where he tucked it in his nest.


    [You know, I''m supposed to eat that.] Karl reminded him.


    [It will be better here. I can slowly absorb all of it this way, instead of you getting a stone in your stomach.]


    "Hawk says that it''s better to slowly absorb it in the Beast Space to help his growth. I can feel the energy flowing into him, but it could take some time before the effects are obvious enough for me to tell what it is doing." Karl exined.


    "Well, that''s fine. We have a bit of time while we move onto the potions. I hope you''re not afraid of needles because about half of these are injected, while the half without needles are taken orally, but the plunger type baster reduces waste on the walls of the container." Valerie exined.


    "Well, I''m not the biggest fan, but if it''s all for the sake of rapid growth, I''m not going to argue." Karl replied.


    The mage smirked. "Make a note: Subject''s mental state has improved his understanding. He now understands in advance that expletiveced inside thoughts are the key to interacting with the Colonel."


    Colonel Valerie red at her, but Karl realized that the two were actually good friends, in some strange way.


    The man loaded the needles into a mechanical injector, and gestured towards Karl''s chest.


    "You need to take your shirt off. We will inject them into the upper arm. The other optimal spot is the buttocks, but it''s a bit forward to ask you to drop your pants without warning." He joked.


    Karl removed his jacket and the simple white uniform shirt and set them over the chair beside him.


    "Alright, this will hurt. I''m not going to lie or sugar coat it. Just mentally prepare yourself, and we will wait for the injection to settle before we move on to the next."


    Karl nodded and turned his head away before a pain shot up his arm and across his chest, feeling like his body had been set on fire.


    "Here, drink this, you will need it." The mage''s voice was a distant whisper, but she poured the drink into Karl''s mouth as he clenched his eyes closed to keep the painful light out of his eyes as his body burned.


    The drink seemed to contain some sort of energy, and the burning of his body faded as it absorbed the power. Then, the power began to flow back into his mind, and Hawk suddenly shot up in size, going from Hawk sized torger than a turkey or a condor in a matter of seconds.


    Hawk was a gangly and malnourished giant, but he was slowly filling out as the bird frantically tried to fill its ravenous belly.


    "Hold up, something in that one made Hawk grow uncontrobly. He''s huge and starving, but there is food for him in the space. Give it a few minutes before we do anything else." Karl exined, still holding his eyes closed, though he was unable to meditate with the pain.


    "Alright, notify us when Hawk has stabilized, and we will give you the second dose." Colonel Valerie agreed.


    Hawk panicked a little at that news, but Karl had already known that the Colonel wouldn''t give up on a treatment that was producing results so easily.

 Chapter 70 Big Hawk

    <h4>Chapter 70 Big Hawk </h4>


    It took half an hour before Hawk was settled, and the kitchen had already delivered a special order of monster meat for him to eat during the second dose by the time that the pain in Karl''s body faded.


    "Just keep your eyes closed. The food bowl is beside your hand, just move it into the space for Hawk. Your body has stabilized along with his, but there is one more dose of that to go." Colonel Valerie insisted.


    [You ready to be a giant Hawk?] Karlughed, while the bird trilled happily at the influx of Ascended Monster meat the kitchen had brought him. Not all of it was his preferred vours, but at the moment Hawk didn''t care what animals it hade from, as long as there was a lot of it, and it was all energy rich to make up for the energy that he wascking.


    It only took a few more minutes for the bird to demolish the food shipment and decide that he was ready for another round of the special treatments.


    Karl nodded to signal that he was prepared to continue, and the pain spread through his body from the left side this time, overwhelming his mind, but the effect on Hawk wasn''t as extreme. He didn''t grow any more, but his body filled out with powerful muscle. Now he looked like a proper Hawk again, butrger.


    He finished the meat bowl and flew up around the space in joy, then cried in despair as he realized that his nest was too small for his new body.


    Karl worked to change the shape as quickly as he could under the circumstances, while Hawk made sure not to lose his precious new stone before he settled down into the tree. Satisfaction flowed from his mind as power flowed in from the stone in the nest, and then the space itself seemed to change.


    It was growing, but it reached a teau where Karl had expected the quality to improve. Only that wasn''t what happened. The space seemed to split, and the growth went to a second space, separate and barren, the way that Hawk''s had been when he first bonded with Karl.


    [Do you think that spot is made for someone else? Like, we have improved the size of your resting spot enough that it''s time to improve a home for a new friend?] Karl asked his feathered partner.


    [I think so. I can''t go into it, so it''s not a separate bedroom for me.] Hawk replied, annoyed that not all the growth was going to his space. There was still room to fly, but he was much bigger now, so shouldn''t the room to fly have expanded proportionately?


    "What happened?" The warrior asked after a few minutes of Karl trying to stabilize both his mind and the new beast space.


    "The mental space seems to have reached a teau. The injection increased the size along with Hawk, but then it stopped, and split into a small second space. The quality didn''t improve, I will have to do that myself with meditation, or more of the first set of pills, but this is a whole other space. I think that I might actually have the ability to add a second pet now." Karl exined.


    Karl opened his eyes and noticed the smiles on the faces of the three Bureau of Elite Development workers. Their gamble had paid off, and if Karl could now add a second beast, his effective power would multiply.


    The second thing that he noticed was that the table was empty, with two used multiple injectors and two empty shot sses on it. He had assumed that he was two out of twelve injections into the process, but they had injected them six at a time, and the second shot was the second dose of everything.


    "No wonder that hurt. It was like my body was on fire, but the second time faded much faster, and Hawk didn''t have an explosive growth spurt, instead he filled out to proper Windspeed Hawk proportions, but over a metre tall, and with a wingspan that looks like a little over three metres." Karl exined.


    Colonel Valerie gestured impatiently, and Karl called Hawk out to stand on the empty table behind him.


    The mage whistled in appreciation, and Hawk preened, identally puncturing the steel desk with his ws.


    "Well, the ws haven''t gone translucent, so he''s likely not at Ascended Rank yet, but he is a huge pretty boy." She cooed, then stood up to go pet Hawk''s head.


    "It''s definitely a mutation again, like when he learned Shred, but this time it was physical growth. There is no record of this happening to a Windspeed Hawk before, but then I doubt that anyone would have been crazy enough to give a wild one that same sort of treatment just to see what happened." The warrior noted.


    "Interesting. Hawk, could you please w at this barrier for me?" The mage asked.


    "Wait, the room is too small for him to fly around and attack the barrier, and it won''t hold up to an Awakened Rank Rend attack if he seeds." The warrior stopped her.


    "Right, sorry. We can do actual improvement testing tomorrow after the regr sses. I''m not sure if you noticed, since time passes differently when you''re absorbing that much energy or in pain, but it''s been over two hours already, and it is almost dinner time." The mage agreed.


    "Just enough time to finish up as nned." Colonel Valerie agreed with a gesture for the food on the tray.


    Hawk delicately sniffed at them and then shook his head.


    [There is no meat, I''m going to rest.] He announced, then vanished back into the Beast Space.


    "He says there is no meat, so he''s not interested." Karl exined as he examined the various dense squares and puddings.


    "Each of them should help with the understanding of a skill. The rest of the squares were passed out to the relevant sses today with promising results, so go ahead and try them one at a time and let us know if anything happens." The Colonel agreed, looking a bit less severe for a moment.


    The results really must have been good if the head of the Elite Development Department had a soft spot when they were mentioned.


    Karl bit into the first one, which tasted a bit like burning rubber smelled, then waited before shaking his head. If anything happened, he couldn''t tell.


    One after another, he went through them until he got to the one that smelled like freshly welded steel. As soon as he bit into it, he could feel the energy, but then the vour became familiar and a glimpse of insight on how [sh] was an introductory and inferior version of [Rend] filled his mind, giving him ideas on how to use lower power attacks with more energy efficiency.


    "That one is sh. I see it as an inferior Rend, but I think that I could use it, or something like it, using Rend as the base skill and then stripping away most of the benefits to use a more energy-efficient attack." Karl exined.


    The warrior looked vaguely offended, while his partner chuckled.


    "Well, that''s one way to look at it, I suppose. If you use Rend as the basis and strip away the bleeding effect to have just the sword light, it would create something like sh." He eventually agreed.


    "Now, let''s see what else you can get out of this pile."


    A few more were eaten with no real changes, but thest one tasted like stone dust, and Karl sensed the familiar feeling of a Golem, but the energy was so foreign to him that his body immediately rejected it.


    "I think that should have given me insight into the Golem spell, but my body just rejected it straight away. The taste was familiar, like the magic of the spell activating, but my body isn''tpatible with that." Karl exined.


    "Interesting. All of these should taste like regr food, but none of them seem to have tasted like that to you. Perhaps it''s a result of your bond with Hawk, who is more sensitive to all sorts of magical abilities and threats? I will put it in the report with a note to investigate." The mage informed them.


    "That concludes the day''s special programming. We will bring you a fresh uniform, then you can return to your room."

 Chapter 71 Lean and Cut

    <h4>Chapter 71 Lean and Cut </h4>


    Karl looked down at his body, and noticed that while he was only a little more bulky, he was absolutely shredded. There wasn''t an ounce of visible fat on his upper body, and he could feel the itchy feeling of a bearding in on his face.


    That was a new experience for him, as he never really grew more than a bit of a scraggly moustache before, but this felt like a full beard.


    Karl judged his body, then his uniform, and put the shirt and jacket back on. They were a bit strained in the arms and chest, but they still closed.


    "Oh, I see where this is going. Undo the top two buttons, and you''ll get all thedies with that physique." The mage joked.


    Colonel Valerie gave a faint smile, then shook her head. "That fitment is not within academy regtions. We will get you a fresh uniform and a razor before you leave this room.


    Daniel will help you shave if you haven''t done it before, and I will take Alice to guard the door to prevent any curious eyes from seeing you before you are ready."


    The uniform was brought in, and the two women left the room, while the warrior gave him an assessing look. "We should cut your hair as well. It got really shaggy with the rapid growth. Don''t worry, I''ve got practice and I will keep you looking good for that little mage girl."


    The sly wink that Daniel gave him made Karl blush, but the warrior was all business as he took out the electric shaver from an Academy bag and dug a set of clippers and scissors from his own kit.


    It was a shorter process than Karl had expected, as the hand speed of an Elite was so much higher than his mother, who usually cut his hair. In fifteen minutes, he was dressed, the waste hair was in the trash and everything was cleaned to Daniel''s satisfaction.


    "Well, that''s the best I can do, the rest is up to you. Good luck with the romance." The warriorughed as he gave Karl onest twirl to make sure his haircut was perfect.


    "Thanks. Honestly, this is overwhelming, everything is changing so fast that I don''t even wear out clothes any more before they are discarded for a new size. Heck, I didn''t even have that set long enough tounder them before outgrowing them." Karlughed.


    "You should be settled now. Well, close to it. The first advancement or two are thergest changes, now you''ve just got to grow into your body. You''re powerfully built, but it''s still immature. Give it a few more years of regr training, and all that fancy muscle will be much harder, and you will be able to apply it more effectively.


    Old man strength is a real thing with the Elites." Danielughed.


    "It''s a real thing with the miners as well. Some of them are much stronger than they look." Karl agreed with a smile on his face at the memory of an old man from the third shift showing up a supervisor from the city who couldn''t get a rusted gate open.


    They left the room, and the three adults split off with a short nod toward Karl, who headed straight for the dining room.


    It was filled with excited voices of students who had gained something from the day''s treats, and the ones who had special training for the day because there wasn''t a special advancement food for their skills. The first year mages in particr were freaking out, as four of them had mastered Golem in one ss, while the rest of them were on the way to learning the spell. It was a huge moment for the mage trainees, and they had earned the right to gloat for one day.


    The warrior sses mostly worked on improving basic skills with the food, and Karl wondered if Dana had gotten special treatment as well, as she already knew the Golem spell. She might have gotten the same food buff that the others did, to elevate her skill with the spell, but she had been in the special training with him on Saturday.


    Then she came into the room, apanied by one of the women from the Elite Development Department, who looked concerned that she would copse.


    "Are you alright?" Karl asked, walking over to take over the assistance needed to keep Dana on her feet.


    "Yeah, we did a bunch of mental enhancement training, and it left her a bit dizzy. Not all the treatments went as expected." The older mage exined with a meaningful look at Karl.


    That look meant ''don''t discuss this in public'' so Karl nodded and helped Dana through the line to get dinner, which the soldier Dana came in with carried to their table before sitting down to join them.


    "It looks like the special training was much kinder on you. I expected you to be in worse shape." The womanmented.


    "Thest few lessons helped a lot and allowed me to focus. Not all of them worked, some of them werepletely ineffective, but enough of them worked that the Colonel almost smiled." Karl replied.


    The woman smiled. "Well, now that is a new one. She doesn''t do that much. In fact, we all thought she had her sense of humour surgically removed when she got her oak leaves."


    That was a reference to the rank insignia for the Lieutenant Colonel, one military rank below where Colonel Valerie was now.


    "Jill, be nice. You know she will chew you out the way that she did Dave if she hears you." Dana whispered.


    "She''s too busy berating him toe back this fast. But I will see you soon. Probably tomorrow to get the updated notes on how you''re doing. Karl, it is good to meet you. I will be taking over as Dana''s personal tutor, so we will be seeing each other every morning." The petite blonde informed Karl with a smirk that made Dana blush.


    It took a moment to register, then Karl was blushing as well. The mage knew that Dana usually slept in his room, and not knowing how Karl''s room wasid out, had made the logical leap to the fact that rooms normally only had one bed in them.

 Chapter 72 Hawk’s Concerns

    72 Hawk''s Concerns


    Karl didn''t let that little bit of judgment change his ns for the evening, though. Hawk wanted to show off to Dana now that he was so much bigger, and she wanted to get a decent night''s sleep while the other students were going even more crazy with their training regimen.


    They had all gotten a bump in power and skills today and that had renewed their gging faith that they would be able to progress to Awakened before the end of semester exams when the ranks would all be reviewed.


    As soon as they were back on the balcony, Hawk popped out of his space andnded on the table, being careful not to damage it with his ws. "Holy crap, is that Hawk? What happened to you, buddy? You''re massive." Dana gasped before pulling the bird into a hug.


    "One of the treatments caused an extreme growth reaction. It took him a lot of food to recover, and he''s still working on filling in the muscles, but he''s definitely an impressive beast now." Karl exined.


    "Well, now he''s going to need a lot more food, but I''m sure that the Academy can keep his belly full." Danaughed.


    That would be another issue after he graduated, Karl realized. The Elites got a stipend, but he would be spending a massive amount on food if he couldn''t regrly hunt for powerful monsters to keep Hawk fed.


    Then there would likely be a second monster as well, since the Beast Space had split. That meant two ravenous beasts looking for sustenance, and it would have to be suitable to their rank, which would not be easy once they were much more powerful. It wasn''t like any grocery store actually had Overlord Rank meat in stock, or even Commander Rank for that matter. Once you got past Ascended Rank, the monsters became incredibly dangerous to evenrger towns, so their poption was controlled in the inhabited regions, meaning that Karl would have to go looking for them if his energy wasn''t enough to sustain his team.


    Hawk squawked happily as he tried to exin the new things that he had learned, so Karl tranted for him, while the bird had a deep conversation with the mage. "I also got plenty of gains, though not in quite the same way. Look at this." Dana announced, then cast the Golem spell, which created two copies of the stone Golem, both as impressive as the first had been.


    "One of the treatments gave me the insight to multicast spells that I know. So, two Golems, or six magic missiles. It doesn''t do much for Fog unless I want to make twoyers, but it''s really powerful, even if it is a bit hard on mana.


    I have more of it now, and I recover much faster as well. Those pills were a miracle." She sighed.


    "We went through a round of pills as well, then there were injections of physical enhancement potions. The idea was that I needed the mental abilities for Hawk''s space, and the strength to actually fight. There might be a second beasting soon as well, but I''m not sure when the Academy is going to set that up. I will be holding out for something good, a beast that can fight and get along with Hawk." Karl informed her.


    "That shouldn''t be too hard. Hawk is easy to get along with."


    The bird pped his wings in annoyance, and Dana began tough. "Oh, I see the problem, you don''t want to share, is that it?"


    Hawk nodded and took a piece of meat out of the Beast Space. He threw it in the air and swallowed it whole, trying to exin the issue to Dana in a way she would understand.


    "Oh, they might try to steal your food. Yes, that would be annoying." She agreed.


    They both sat and meditated for a few hours before turning in for the night. They knew that they would be getting up early, but when the knock sounded at the door promptly as the sun came up, neither of them was ready.


    Karl slid his pants on and answered the door, finding Jill and Rita both waiting outside.


    "Give me a few minutes to freshen up and eat, then I will be ready. Isn''t it a bit early?" He asked.


    "It is. But we have a big day again today, and this is Dana''s first day with Jill as her personal tutor. She is here, right?" Rita asked.


    "Yeah, in the hammock on the balcony, probably still sleeping, since the area is soundproof. Jill can go wake her up, but be careful, Hawk and a Golem or two are likely both active in there." Jillughed. She was a Commander Rank mage, she wasn''t particrly concerned about the Golem, but Hawk could be an issue if he didn''t want to let her near Dana. She couldn''t afford to hurt the bird, but even with a magical shield protecting her, it would be challenging to get around an angry Hawk.


    She came out a few minutester,ughing and cursing with her hair all messed up.


    "Did you know that Hawk ispletely miserable if you wake him up? But what did they do to him? That bird is massive." She asked.


    Sergeant Rita gave Karl a curious look. She had gotten the brief summary from Daniel and Alice, but they had been on their way out and hadn''t filled in the official report yet.


    "One of the treatments made him grow." Karl exined as Hawk waddled into the room, barely able to fit through the patio door unless he tucked his wings tight to his body.


    "Are we sure that''s even still a Windspeed Hawk? I doubt that there is a mouse that could feed his appetite any more, he will be hunting deer and wolves soon enough." Rita asked.


    Hawk panicked for a moment, then remembered something that he had seen Karl reading.


    [There are the Giant Swamp Rats, the size of dogs. They are a kind of mice.] He suggested, hopefully.


    "Hawk says Giant Swamp Rats still count." Karl ryed, while the womenughed.


    The Giant Swamp Rats were an Awakened Rank monster, so he could hunt them already, but Rita was more excited to see if his power had grown proportionally to his body. If either his stamina or raw power had levelled up by a significant amount, he would be a menace inbat at the Awakened Rank. If it were both, he would be pushing the limits of what could be called an Awakened Monster.

 Chapter 73 Annoyed Rita

    <h4>Chapter 73 Annoyed Rita </h4>


    Sergeant Rita led Karl to the morning training, where there was a new face waiting for them. Alice, the mage who had been in the room for Karl''s treatments yesterday, was sitting in a chair by the door, and waved happily as Karl walked in.


    Rita frowned as she realized who the woman was, then turned away, as if by ignoring her, the woman would go away. But Alice didn''t make any move to get up, she just sat by the door as Karl took his position and called Hawk out.


    "Goddess, what did you do to Hawk? He looks like he wants to eat us." One of the mages gasped.


    "It''s not a big deal, a treatment just made him grow to a giant size. He''s only a little stronger than he was." Karl replied.


    While that was reassuring, the fact that there was a giant monster in the sky above them was enough to intimidate all the students at least a little bit. It was an instinctive reaction to arge flying predator that could possibly carry away a full-grown person.


    It wasn''t likely, his actual body was only a little over a metre long, but with the wide wings and long tail feathers, he looked much more imposing in flight.


    Their first few spells were a bit hesitant, but once they realized that Hawk was blocking them the same as always, they began to get back into the swing of things, and worked to ovee his increased number of attacks, which were travelling at a higher speed today than they remembered.


    The mental improvements that both Karl and Hawk had gained were helping with both the targeting speed and the ability to rapidly form and send the Rend attacks at the target.


    Karl heard Rita''s voice as she talked to Alice and split a bit of his attention from the attacks.


    "Don''t you think this is a bit too easy? I mean, they''re not even attacking the defenders, just the targets near them." Alice was asking.


    "It is the safest way. We can''t afford the sort of fatal incident that happened a few years ago. Even if you put a barrier on them, there is still too much of a risk." Rita replied.


    "They''re not going to break my barrier, and it would be better for the two of them if they had to actually avoid and block attacks, instead of this bodyguard scenario where the attackers are only concerned with the target behind them." Alice replied.


    "Are you the tutor, or am I?"


    Rita was definitely mad now, and Karl was tempted to continue listening as they lowered their voices to argue, but that would take too much of his attention from the task at hand.


    The ss paused at the half hour mark for their usual five-minute breather, and Karl grabbed a water bottle for himself and Hawk, squeezing it to spray water into the open mouth of the oversized bird, since he couldn''t easily drink out of a bowl without making a mess.


    "Alright, everyone back at it. But we are going to change things up a bit this time. Your skills are improving, so you will be aiming at moving targets. That means not only will you have to hit a moving target, but Karl and Hawk will have to defend moving targets." The professor in charge of the ss instructed.


    Karl couldn''t tell if that meant that Rita or Alice had won their argument, but it would make the ss more interesting. It was also going to be a real challenge for some of the students who had struggled with their aim at the start of the year.


    They were better at hitting stationary targets, but Karl would have to make sure that he didn''t get himself hit. He had the Academy''s training armour, a long coat and helmet, but that was only a limited level of protection that should keep him from being seriously injured if he took a direct strike from one of these spells.


    But then, they were mostly on the low side of Awakened, and his body was getting much stronger, so perhaps they wouldn''t actually be too damaging through the coat. When he hit Tank with full force spells, it barely bruised him, but he was two ranks above Karl and Hawk.


    The mages in the ss were using limited power to extend their stamina, a quarter or less of their ability. That seemed safe enough.


    The spells began to fly toward the targets, which were now much closer to the ground, and Karl moved to make interception easier. His presence between the mages and the moving targets frustrated many of the students, as even if Karl didn''t sessfully intercept the spells, they couldn''t hit the target with him in the way.


    But now that they wereing toward him instead of over his head, the attacks were easier to target and block. The vertical axis was nearly removed as a factor, and attacking straight forward would hit many more spells if he used a wide arc or the technique of ovepping Rend attacks.


    But that also put the mages in the line of fire, so he had to be careful about his range so that the abilities dissipated before they reached the attackers.


    They weren''t wearing armour, and asking the teacher to constantly intercept his counterattacks would probably put the older mage in a bad mood.


    "Now, that''s much better. See how much morebat effective this is?" Alice was asking Rita, letting Karl know that she had won that round of their exchange, at least for the most part.


    The mages were still attacking targets behind him, but they were at least throwing spells in his direction, as the mage from the Bureau of Elite Development had wanted.


    Karl tore a wide arc in the air, using full power, and stopped a dozen spells at once before the four streaks were finally dissipated and the air between the two groups was clear.


    "Dammit, they really increased the difficulty level, didn''t they? We''re all attacking at the same height, so he can burn energy to intercept us all at once." One of the mages realized.


    "But that burns his stamina as well, so he won''t be able to do it all the time. He''s just blocking the ones that are most likely to hit himself or the target. Everyone who messed up their aim might have a chance if you can bring it back on target once you''re past him." One of the othersmented.


    But they had forgotten that Hawk was in the sky above them, attacking downward, so he could still hit the attacks that tried to correct their trajectory when they were past Karl.


    "I told you that they had real promise. You didn''t need to get involved so quickly." Karl heard Rita mutter as the ss was ending, while Alice smiled back at her.


    The two Elites were like oil and water. They both wanted the same thing, but they had very different ideas about how it should be done, and they simply seemed ipatible with each other. No matter what the goal was, Karl could see that they would have a hard time getting along.

 Chapter 74 All Day Long

    <h4>Chapter 74 All Day Long </h4>


    After the break for lunch, with both Rita and Alice eating in tense silence at his table and scaring the other students away, it was time to go to the Mixed Martial Arts ss for his physical training.


    Tank was back again, ready to continue his lesson, while Daniel, Alice''s partner, was sitting on a nket at the edge of the training ground, waiting for the others to arrive.


    "Come on over and getfortable. Good to see you again, Rita." He greeted them, then waved at Karl and gestured for him to join the ss as usual.


    Karl wasn''t the only one who could tell that Rita was annoyed at this point, but there wasn''t much that she could do. There was no rule stating that the people from the government couldn''te sit and watch the ss, and they weren''t interfering with anything but Rita''s development ns, which was within their operational authority, Karl assumed.


    "Karl, you will be training with Tank today, while everyone else trains what they learned. Sorry about your luck, but you''re the odd one out, and Sergeant Rita is busy at the moment." The professor informed him with a smirk.


    Sergeant Rita would much rather be training than ''busy'', Karl was sure. But Tank turned out to be an excellentbat instructor, with a profound understanding of both martial arts and armedbat.


    Today, the big man had a wooden training sword in his hands, while Karl wore the training gauntlets that he had obtained from the train.


    "Those should be good enough to block, but be aware that my strength is far above yours, so you don''t want to try to overpower my attacks, just deflect them so you can counterattack.


    If you can do it with your abilities, that''s even better, just keep the power level down so that you don''t chop through the training weapon. After some time, you will be used to the sparring limitations, but it is best to err on the side of caution for now." Tank exined.


    "Alright. Are we having Hawk rest for the afternoon?" Karl asked.


    "For today, yes. He got his training in the morning, and a growing beast needs a lot of food and sleep. But he will be watching, so you can consider this a theory lesson for him. For now, the two of you can fight together, but once his power level goes up, it is unlikely that your body will be able to keep up. Not many sses can im the physique of even the more fragile Magical Beasts." He exined.


    "So my job in the future is what? To train the beasts aboutbat and let them go at it?" Karl asked as they exchanged blows.


    "Dunno, that''s above my pay grade. But I would assume that for a ss that focuses on monsters, making them stronger and teaching them all the things that they wouldn''t naturally know will be a big part of your job.


    How many Windspeed Hawks are familiar with Martial Arts? How many of them even understand the intricacies of various magic spells? It might not seem like much, but your Hawk already has a massive advantage over other beasts."


    Tank emphasized the word ''beasts'' with a chop of his sword that Karl barely deflected as he spun out of the way. It was easier to start an attack from the side or the back of the Berserker, as he would be facing Karl before it was finished, and the extra time would allow Karl to prepare a defence that would allow him to keep moving.


    Hawk was impressed with the huge man''s understanding of animals. As a Windspeed Hawk, there were numerous things that he didn''t know at birth. Normal Hawks would have to survive their first learning experience to begin to understand things like mage attacks, but he had gotten to practice dealing with them every morning.


    Plus, the Berserker Man advocated for naps and food, so he was definitely wise.


    By the time that they finished, Karl was exhausted, and even Tank had broken a sweat, which impressed the other students far more than Karl thought that it should. Sure, he was a monster inbat, but he was also still vaguely human, so a three-hour training session of that intensity was sure to work him at least a little.


    Karl might not be as powerful, but he was fast enough to keep the Berserker moving, a technique that Tank advocated for, as most of the berserker type opponents would have a time limit. Enraged magical beasts usually burned through their energy reserves at an incredible rate, so if you could hold out for five or ten minutes, they would exhaust themselves.


    Even most of the drug induced berserker states wouldn''tst more than half an hour before the user would crash and be left in a far worse state than when they started. For that reason, they would go all out while they could. They knew that they had to win within the time limit, and they would get desperate as it got close.


    So, the agility type fighters could string them along and wear them out, then finish them off once they crashed. Cardio was incredibly important for agility fighters, who couldn''t always finish a fight with a single strike.


    "Alright, that''s it for the day. See you all tomorrow." The instructor called, and the group began to disperse back to the showers, or to their rooms to shower and change there.


    Karl was one who preferred to shower and change immediately, which left Rita and the pair from the Bureau of Elite Development waiting for him toe back out of the crowded locker room in the small building beside the training field.


    "Do they always hold this ss outdoors?" Daniel asked.


    Rita nodded. "Unless the weather is bad. The grass is softer than the gym floor, and the mats aren''t a realistic footing scenario. Most of their fights will be outdoors, so it''s better to train in the field than on the hardwood."


    "Understandable. Alright, I think that we learned what we needed today. I will see you both tomorrow." Daniel agreed, then waved as he left, with Rita glowering at his back.

 Chapter 75 Early To Rise

    <h4>Chapter 75 Early To Rise </h4>


    It looked like being up at the crack of dawn was going to be a regr thing, Karl decided, as Sergeant Rita and Jill were at his door first thing the next morning. Rita had a book with her on monster biology, but this one was different. It focused on the innate skills of various monster skills, instead of just giving an overview of the species.


    It was written from the perspective of a researcher who was trying to develop more ways to strengthen the skills of the elites with simr abilities, and for Karl, it was much easier to understand than the vague descriptions in most of the other textbooks.


    "By the end of the week the Bureau of Elite Development will probably have a n to bring you before other juvenile monsters, either newborn or still in eggs, for the avian and reptile species.


    I don''t know what they will find you, or if they''ll even give you options other than the ones they prepared, but now that they''re convinced that you can bond a second pet, they are determined to try. What you need to do is understand the skills that they have so that you can build a proper team out of your tamed monsters.


    You can focus on a specific skill set, like stealth and scouting, or a generalizedbat team that can take on most threats, but you don''t have much time to make the decision before the next step happens." She exined.


    They were seated at a table in the cafeteria, which was still almost empty so early in the morning, but that gave him nearly two hours to go over the various species in the book before he needed to get to his first ss.


    "These Tortoises, exactly howrge do they get? I think that the text is incorrect." Karl asked.


    Rita looked at the book and shook her head. "No, that''s right. They grow between eighteen and twenty-five metres long. They''re a saltwater species, but they can happily live nearly anywhere.


    If all your pets grow as fast as Hawk, I wouldn''t rmend that option if you are given it. There aren''t many situations where you will have room for a twenty-metre-long turtle. It''s too wide to even fit down most city streets without damaging the buildings on either side."


    The thought made Karlugh. A massive roadblock of armoured shell, just blocking an entire roadway to prevent a target from fleeing.


    Then there was the Demon Croc. Technically, they were an alligator, but at an equally impressive twenty-five metres long and able to run at over a hundred kilometres an hour in short spurts, Karl imagined that the shape of its snout was the least of anyone''s concerns when meeting it.


    Then there was the Red Gold Panda. At a maximum height of twenty centimetres high, it was adorable, but its innate skill was Vampirism. If it bit you, it could drain a human of blood in a matter of seconds.


    "If we knew what they were going to bring, it would really help." Karl sighed as the time ran out, and it was time to go to morning uracy training.


    "Best to be prepared for anything. The more you know about monster skills, the better that you will be able to n for the skills that the ones they do present can use." Sergeant Rita replied with a shrug.


    Rita''s mood only got worse as Daniel and Alice came to watch the training all day long. By the time that the day was finished, she was visibly annoyed, but the other two seemed to be enjoying the show, and they were happy to give training hints to the other students who were training near Karl and Tank.


    Originally, Karl had assumed it was the fact that they were here from the Government that had annoyed Rita, but some of it seemed to be personal. They obviously knew each other from before this week, and were close enough in age that they should have been in the Academy together.


    The number of Elites was small enough that it was a bit like a small town, everyone knew everyone in their age group. It was a strange thought, as Karl had always viewed the Elites as a sort of untouchable existence that was above themon people like the mine workers, but now that he was here, it had a simr vibe to the mining town, but with a different sort of hard work and less of the ck lung.


    The daily training became predictable, with Tank increasing the difficulty every time that Karl thought he was getting better, while the evenings of that week all went the same. Eat, train, then Dana woulde over in theter evening so she could actually sleep, as her neighbours had realized that she was torturing them back with the Golem which didn''t have to be summoned all the time.


    But what they didn''t know was that while the Golem had been practising his line dancing until the small hours of the morning, Dana had been asleep on the balcony of Karl''s room.


    Her daily training had also intensified now that she had Jill as her personal tutor, and she was so exhausted that she had to be literally carried out of bed some days to get ready after Karl had left with Sergeant Rita.


    Unlike Karl, who just hurt everywhere from physical training, her mind waspletely frazzled from the requirements of her mana expansion training, leaving her feeling sleep-deprived even in the middle of the afternoon.


    Perhaps that was what the Colonel had meant when she said that Sergeant Rita went easy on him. He hurt everywhere, even in ces he didn''t know could hurt, but he was still functional, and it was clear that Dana wasn''t going to make it much longer at this rate when the Saturday training session rolled around and Colonel Valerie was the one that met them at the door in the morning after breakfast.

 Chapter 76 Hold Position

    <h4>Chapter 76 Hold Position </h4>


    "Good morning, Colonel. We are ready to go." Karl greeted her at the door, then winced as she patted him on the shoulder in greeting.


    Dana was awake, but in a daze, not in any shape to be vocal, so Karl was doing the speaking for the both of them. Colonel Valerie seemed to recognize that, and she didn''t push for more speech out of them as she led them to the car and back to the same training warehouse from a week ago.


    The teams all smiled as they saw the two bedraggled students stumble in, leaning on each other to remain upright. Karl, because he could barely walk, and Dana because she was half asleep.


    "Well, they made it through hell week, but I''m not sure if they''re in any shape to make it through one more day of training to make it to the day off." One of the magesughed.


    Alice, the dark-haired mage that watched Karl''s training every day, smirked at him and gestured toward the pair.


    "Try them, I think you will find that they''re in better shape than they look." She suggested.


    The teams moved closer to begin an attack routine, and the two students responded in unison. Dana summoned a Golem and Karl called Hawk out, letting the giant bird fly freely around the warehouse.


    Colonel Valerie gave a rueful chuckle, and the team members backed away with a smile.


    "Well, that might not be the ingrained response we were hoping for, but it works, I guess." One of the warriors agreed.


    "I can still fight, just not as energetically as usual, unless you''ve got some painkillers. I swear that my bruises have bruises right now." Karl replied.


    "Good thing that you can fight a ranged battle, then. Should we wake Dana up and get this started?" The man asked.


    Dana didn''t open her eyes as she answered. "I''m awake. What''s our first activity?"


    "This week is not as bad asst week. We want to see how the two of you work together to defend a spot in the middle of the warehouse against multiple attackers. But we will have to call Hawk back because there isn''t enough terrain set up to sneak up with him hanging out in the rafters." One of the warriors exined as he began to equip a set of training armour.


    The helmet had a face shield, and a neck protector, giving the attacking team full coverage as well as the shielding from their mages, so they shouldn''t get hurt no matter what Karl and Dana did to them, but in the eyes of the attacking team, there wasn''t much they were likely to do in that state.


    This was an essential part of the first week''s training, learning to function on limited sleep and while exhausted. It wasn''t as severe as the military put the regr soldiers through, at least not in the physical sense, but the students were also younger, and the mental exhaustion was undoubtedly just as great.


    Alice led Karl and Dana to the centre of the impromptu maze, while a group of the warriors scattered through the crates that made up an approximation of either narrow alleys or an office building''s maze of walls.


    Karl wasn''t sure which it was meant to be, as he hadn''t personally seen either, but it was going to make it easy for them to get close before they were detected.


    Karl''s eyes were much better than human, but his hearing hadn''t changed much, nor had his other senses, but his eyes could only see for a few metres around them.


    "Set the Golem to guard this spot and I will set up traps. Then you start spreading fog, but in random banks around us, it doesn''t have to epass our position." Karl whispered.


    The random fog banks might confuse the attackers, and Karl would set traps using Rend, as they had taught himst week.


    They didn''t have much time, as the warehouse was not a huge ce, but Karl worked quickly to get traps set up on most of the routes into the centre by putting them just into his line of sight. There were a few routes behind him that he couldn''t keep visible, so the Golem would guard those approaches, and that would have to be enough warning for them.


    The team approached silently, for the most part. The sound of someone bumping into a wall in the fog alerted Karl to their approach, but he couldn''t be certain if it was an ident or a deliberate distraction.


    Then there was another from off to his left, and a sharp intake of breath as the warrior stopped short just before he would have run into the trap. Karl carefully added one more trap, down by the ankles and a half step further than the first, which was at chest height in the fog.


    There was a full second of silence as the warrior checked the trap in the dense fog, and then a crash as he ducked under it and hit the second line, falling out into the open only a few steps from the central area Karl was guarding.


    Karl sent a Shred attack his way, and the warrior raised his hands as the attack mmed into his helmet. That should be the signal for ''out'' because after that, hey on the ground and yed dead.


    There was another footstep and a soft chuckle from behind him, as the next man in line assumed that Karl had gotten the drop on him, then a loud cuss as he stepped on the trap line and retreated around the corner.


    That made the others much more careful, and Karl nearly missed the next one until the Golem surged forward to attack down a corridor.


    It was going to pursue the target, but Dana called it back to them, waiting to see what the warriors would do, and smart enough not to let the Golem out of her sight where they could trick the simple reactions of the automaton.


    A few secondster, they came all at once, making Karl and Dana bothsh out with spells as fast as they could for the next few seconds as the warriors dodged and parried, until they found des at their necks, marking the end of the defence.


    "Not bad. We have one chased off by the golem, three downed by traps, and four more downed in the final rush. Now, grab an energy drink and something to eat, we''re going to go over some more effective defensive measures using the skills that you both have." Colonel Valerie congratted them with a nod of appreciation for their effort.


    That was the best praise that they had managed to get out of her yet, and Karl was sure that it was a good sign that she was warming up to them a little bit.

 Chapter 77 Pet Suggestions

    <h4>Chapter 77 Pet Suggestions </h4>


    Karl sat down with the warriors, one of whom was still nursing a sore foot with his boot off.


    "As you can see, the most effective strategy against many targets is actually the feet and legs. They''re not as protected, and while the target will be careful what they step on, that also means they will be hesitant to approach you." Daniel exined, taking on the role of the spokesman after having watched Karl in his regr sses for a week.


    "That makes sense. The boot has to have some feeling, or you won''t be able to walk as smoothly, but that also means that the armour is limited. I wasn''t expecting someone to actually step on the trip wire, though." Karl agreed.


    That made the other warriors chuckle.


    "Thin wires in the fog is a greatbination technique, and it was what we were initially nning to suggest. There are only so many different ways to use Rend, but if you treat it like wire, then you should be able to make a number of quality traps, as well as set up ambushes.


    Our discussion today will be less about new ways to use your technique, and what we should be finding you for a second pet attempt. If you had someone who could fight at your side in that situation, like the Golem, you would have increased your potential defences by a lot, and it might have been enough to deal with all the attackers.


    The official position is that we should have you try with more newborns or eggs, as that was how Hawk started. If you try to bond arger, aggressive monster, there is a strong possibility that it would remain hostile to you and waste your talent until it is put down.


    There is also the chance that a lost pet might not be able to be reced. The sses that can summon a Familiar or helper pet are like that. Once it''s gone, it is gone and they can''t do it again.


    Your ss is unique, and you can bond with actual monsters, not use magic to summon a mouse or cat levelmon animal, plus you can bring them into that space in your mind, that nobody knows the limitations of. But that is why we are being cautious, there is a lot of potential there, and we don''t want to make a fatal error." Daniel exined.


    Karl nodded slowly. The exnation made sense, but the space felt more like it was a nest, a home for whatever lived there. It didn''t stop existing when Hawk was outside, and the second space was just sitting empty, waiting for Karl to build a nest for something else.


    "Alright, what did you have in mind? Is there like some strategic reserve of monster babies for study or something?" Karl asked.


    The teamughed and shook their heads. "No, what we''re going to do is go for a little adventure. There are a few tame species of monsters that the scientists study, but those aren''t what we need for an Elite that cultivatesbat pets. Instead, we are going to head to the southern ins and go find you a proper monster.


    The ce is infested with them, and they''re all brutal killers. They have to be to survive there among their own kind. So, the initial n is to drive around until you find one that feels promising to your ss, then hunt it.


    We have surveince, and we''ve marked nearly a hundred nests and infant monsters, so there is a good chance that we can find what you need.


    Look at the hawk. He started out as an egg in the kitchen, and now he''s one of thergest birds of prey that I have ever seen. Most birds his size, even the monstrous ones, are flightless, but his body is light and powerful despite his size. If another pet went through a simr advancement, we could be looking at a whole new strain of monster that is more deadly than any other on its level."


    Daniel was clearly excited as he finished his speech, and the others were preparing to bring out the maps to show Karl the possible matches that they had found.


    "We''ve got everything from snakes to badgers to a Crystalline Mammoth cub tracked. So whatever you think would be best can be avable." Daniel added.


    A crystalline Mammoth would be a nightmare for anyone to fight against. They were supposed to have incredible magical powers ording to folklore, but the book said that it was a result of their hide reflecting and changing any attacks sent against them.


    Plus, they stood over five metres tall and could crush armoured cars with just their feet. Having one would be cool, but feeding one could be much more difficult than keeping Hawk happy.


    One of the others gestured to spots on a map they unrolled. "We have also prepared for the possibility that your skills only allow you to bond with birds, so there are six different powerful potential avian partners who have eggs in their nests.


    Now, actually getting the eggs won''t be easy, but that''s why we''re here. We will send two teams with you to gather the new pet, and then we will impose a full ckout on the information so that it doesn''t leak out until you are ready for others to know.


    If it is a baby, you will need time to help it grow, and nobody wants everyone to know their true power if they have the chance to hold a secret skill back for emergencies."


    Daniel smiled at Karl''s hesitation. "We''re all on the same team, but we''re allpeting for the best jobs, the next promotion, that special chance that will give us something that we want. Having a little something in reserve can help impress people at just the right moment."


    Karl smiled at the warriors as he understood the logic. "Alright, when do we leave?"


    "Now. I will go get Alice, and we will take Jodi and Anise as well, so that Dave and Jill can stay to watch over Dana as she recovers. They will likely spend the night here, resting and practising through the off day. The Academy is too loud to really focus, so having a night to just sit in silence should be appreciated." Daniel exined.

 Chapter 78 Begin The Search

    <h4>Chapter 78 Begin The Search </h4>


    Jodi was the stereotypical blonde, handsomedies man, while Anise was a short but muscr ginger woman, and both were among the military half of the Bureau of Elite Development agents. That seemed to be a deliberate choice by Daniel as he led them all to a military vehicle which was far better suited to off-road use than the car that they had taken from the Academy.


    "How long will it take us to get there?" Karl asked as they got in the truck.


    "Not long, we''re close to the region that we want to start the search in, so we will drive a few hours and stop at a way station for the night. It would be better to search for the targets when we''re all fresh and rested. Mistakes happen in the dark, and I despise writing incident reports." Daniel replied with a teasing smile.


    They didn''t wait for any long goodbyes, they just headed out and followed the highway south, intending to make their destination in time for dinner.


    That was still going to be difficult, Karl realized as the sun set, and they were still driving, but a few hours after that, they were pulling up to a walled town that opened the gates for them and let them in to park next to a small motel, with a row of units in two levels, and gun turrets on each end of the roof.


    "I take it that this ce is a bit more dangerous than it is at home." Karlmented with a gesture toward the guns and the spotlights that were mounted on every building near the wall.


    "A little bit, but mostly it is a precaution againstrger predators trying to break into the city. Nobody wants to run to the wall for every emergency, so they build turrets on their workce instead." Alice exined.


    Daniel checked them in, and Karl found himself alone in a small room with a single bed and a television. It wasn''t anything special as far as hotels went, but it was quiet, so he spent the next few hours meditating and working on the new Beast Space to prepare it for upancy.


    [Get something cool.] Hawk demanded.


    [And what do you think would be good? If you say a messy eater so you can steal the scraps, I will have to remind you that you mostly eat in separate spaces.] Karl replied.


    [Something that will scare targets. Maybe a huge snake. Everything is afraid of snakes, even if they''re easy to chop with Rend.]


    Karl thought for a second. [I think that it would be best to get another smart species. We work well together because we canmunicate easily. If they can''t follow the same instructions, it will just make it harder to fight.]


    [That rules out snake monsters. They''re dangerous, but not intelligent. What about a Warbear? They''re smart. We should get a Warbear.]


    They were also seven metres tall when standing on all four feet, covered in heavy natural armour and infamously ill-tempered, Peak Overlord Rank monsters. A Warbear would take on anything without fear, from a juvenile Dragon to a main battle tank.


    [I don''t think we will be in a mood to celebrate if mama Warbear finds us trying to steal her cub.] Karl reminded Hawk.


    The Windspeed Hawk and the Warbear actually got along well, as the Hawks liked to chirp for assistance when they wanted a partner to take down prey, and the Warbear would happily kill anything that walked on its territory. But it didn''t consider birds a threat, as they stayed off the ground unless they were hunting, and they were smart enough not to hunt anything that the Warbear liked to eat.


    Karl drifted off to sleep a few hourster, and woke up to the sound of a warning siren.


    He quickly threw on his uniform and got up to see what was going on. As an Elite at the Awakened Rank, it was part of his duty to respond to these sorts of emergencies, even if the town was prepared.


    They had the four escorts from the Bureau as well, so he wouldn''t be in any real danger, but if it was a monster attack, there was a chance that it might lead him to an opportunity to find his second partner.


    As soon as he stepped out the door, there was a man in a police officer''s uniform pointing at him.


    "You''re an Elite, right? Ranged or Melee." The policeman shouted.


    "Either. Where do you need me?" Karl asked.


    "On the wall. It''s a locust swarm."


    The officer was obviously panicking, and Karl wondered why a bunch of tiny insects were causing so much panic to people other than the farmers.


    Jodi and Daniel were outside a few seconds behind him, while Alice and Anise were up in the tower on top of the hotel, and were already preparing to start casting spells.


    [Hawk, stay inside. They''re shooting at anything that moves.] Karl warned his partner, then ran to the wall a few metres from the hotel.


    The swarm was hundreds of metres wide, and behind them, there was nothing. Not branches or grass, nothing but bare dirt and locust droppings. That exined why the vigers were terrified of these things, and they were muchrger than Karl had read about in the book.


    These were a Common Grade monster species, andrger than his forearm, instead of the size of his finger.


    Nothing was trying to eat the locusts, as Karl had expected of this insect buffet, and he quickly realized why. Every one that the locals shot was instantly devoured by those around it, leaving nothing behind. With that sort of cannibalistic instinct, not even Hawk would want to attack and have most of his food stolen before he could retrieve it.


    Karl shook himself out of his reverie and sent a constantly widening set of [Rend] attacks into the front of the locust swarm, tearing dozens apart with each of the four attacks.


    That wasn''t even close to enough firepower to slow the tide, but the power consumption was low, and Karl was throwing them out twice per second.


    The mages were the ones that made the first real change in the tightly packed ranks of the swarm, by using fireballs to burn huge holes in the pack that quickly filled with other locusts eating the bodies and caused the front line to waver as the insects were distracted by the prospect of food left behind.


    That made for an even more densely packed group, and Karl changed to creating a with two Rend attacks, and stretched it into a thin wire, which took a bit more power, but which tore apart arge patch of the locusts.


    The more of them that were destroyed at once, the slower their progress got, buying time for the locals and their guns to get in position and begin defending their homes.


    The buildings would likely hold up against the swarm, Karl assumed. But the gardens and everything else would not. Thend would be leftpletely barren after the swarm passed, and they would have to start over from nothing.


    "Wee to the South." A man with a rifle and a cart full of equipment greeted Karl as he made it up the ramp.


    "Quite the morning. What do you have there?" Karl replied as he continued to attack.


    "Automated methrower turret. If we have to retreat to the bunkers, they will burn most everything that tries to get into the town. Bloody locusts will even eat the metal when they get close, not much else you can do."

 Chapter 79 Locusts

    <h4>Chapter 79 Locusts </h4>


    Karl kept up the low-power attacks as the locust swarm began to dwindle under thebined firepower of the town and the efforts of the Elites. Jodi and Daniel were currently using rifles, as they were closebatants, but they were highly skilled with them, and every shot counted against the pure numbers of locusts.


    "How long can you keep that up?" The man beside Karl asked as another fence of four rend attacks tore apart the front lines of the swarm.


    "Long enough. They''re going to be here before I''m worn out." Karl replied.


    "Perhaps not,d. Just wait. Once they''re close enough we will start with the explosives, and that should thin them out quick, fast and in a hurry." The man informed him with a smile.


    The first explosives were a line ofndmines that the swarm set off, tearing apart the entire front line of insects, and then the one behind it as they reached the second row of mines. That was over a quarter of the insects in a few seconds, but they were leaping into the air now, flying over the minefield.


    That made them easier targets for Rend, as now they were right at Karl''s eye level and the attack would tear through multiple ranks of them before dissipating.


    Then the city''s police force began firing grenadeunchers into the swarm, hitting some in the air, and others on the ground. The rifles were having a harder time against the flying insects, but Karl and the mages were not. The exploding magical fireballs and crimson streaks of energy were stopping everything that the grenades didn''t, and the flying portion of the swarm began to descend to in order to eat the bodies.


    That set off more of thendmines, and the number of attackers began to fall to the point that they hardly seemed like a threat anymore.


    But even a few could run amok through the town, and each of them could kill a human, then use the body as nutrients for more locust eggs.


    Karl began to sweat with exertion, and Hawk was pushing toe out and assist, even if he was standing beside Karl on the wall.


    [It''s alright, buddy. We''re almost done here. One more minute and they''ll be all gone, then whatever cleanup the town does can start.] Karl replied, cating the bird for a moment as he slowed his attacks to avoid overtaxing his stamina.


    The locusts made a field of green blood and body bits in the distance when the rm finally sounded again, marking the official end of the battle, and the start of the cleanup effort, which would ensure there were no survivors or viable eggs left behind.


    "Thank you Elite. Might I know your name?" The man beside Karl asked politely.


    "Karl, Awakened Rank Student at the Academy." He replied, and the man chuckled.


    "I must say I''m a bit jealous. You did an impressive job here today. Your skills are well suited to town defence against the swarms of weaker monsters. Come back again sometime and drinks will be on us."


    Danielughed as he came over to the pair.


    "No getting the students drunk so young." He reprimanded the local.


    "Bah, you city folk are too uptight. Out here in the sticks, we start drinking beer with breakfast as soon as we can walk."


    Karl chuckled. That was because the water was no good, so you had to filter it, and beer came ready to drink. His own family had done the same thing, though they thinned the cheap beer with the more expensive drinking water for the kids.


    "Still, we''re headed out into the long grass, so no drinking this morning, even if the beer is free with breakfast." Daniel cautioned Karl with a frown.


    "Got it boss. No drinking before we go monster hunting."


    It took a few minutes before things had calmed down enough that the staff returned to the restaurant next to the motel, but there was hot coffee in the pots, and the four agents were happy with that until the cook returned to take their orders.


    Alice was the first to address their ns for the day. "As we''ve all been vividly reminded. The South is not a safe area, and it belongs more to the monsters than the people. So, we will have to watch every move that we make as we travel further from civilization. The first spot that I want to stop is here, by the river.


    I don''t know if Karl gets some sort of calling to his potential partners, or if it will be a conscious decision every time, but there should be a wide variety of options along the riverbank. Most monsters need to drink, so they will have to go there eventually.


    The optimal targets would seem to be the Stoneskin Rhino, the Golden Dire Bear, the Giant Crocolisk and the Armoured Ape."


    They were definitely aiming to get Karl a tank for the next pet, but they were right, those would all be great options. The Stoneskin Rhino could spread its armour over nearby targets, the Golden Dire Bear had an extremely impressive strengthening ability, the Armoured Ape also had armour magic, and the Crocolisk was basically a living tank.


    Karl would put it at the bottom of his list as it didn''t have innate magic that he would be likely to learn, but as far asbat power, it was certainly near the top of the list.


    "Since I gained Hawk''s [Rend] skill, I think that another innate skill would most likely be passed on as well, so it might be just as important to pick a good skill as it is to pick the toughest of monsters." Karl suggested.


    "We could go a bit further and try to find him a Giant Cerro?" Daniel suggested.


    "You think that a giant armoured lizard with Rhino horns is what anyone would want as a pet?" Alice asked.


    The warrior shrugged. "It''s a herbivore, so easy to feed. It''s huge, armoured, and it has the [Rapid Regeneration] innate skill. When it activates that ability, it will heal from the most egregious wounds in seconds. How would that not be useful?"


    Jodi smiled. "I just think it will be amusing to see someone try to fight an ancient lizard the size of a small elephant."


    Karl had never heard of such a creature, but it sounded terrifying.

 Chapter 80 Down By The River

    <h4>Chapter 80 Down By The River </h4>


    Their drive took them out of the grasnd, and down a road that led through a marshy area, where the Crocolisk could be found. There were other magical beasts in the area, ones that hadn''t been gged as the most likely ones to build a strong team with Hawk, and some of them were not shy about being around the roadway when they passed.


    For example, arge antlered animal roughly the size of their truck, with long legs, and a thick neck that promised those broad antlers weren''t just for show.


    "What exactly is that?" Karl muttered as they passed it by.


    "Southern Moose. They''re not a magical beast, but most of the Common Grade beasts won''t mess with them." Alice replied.


    That was understandable, the beast was massive.


    Up ahead they spotted a few smaller magical creatures, and the others watched Karl carefully to see if he had any sort of response to them, but Karl was just in wonder at all the scenery, unlike anything he had ever seen before.


    "First up, there should be a Stoneskin Rhino nest around here somewhere. It is further back off the road, so we will have to walk in to find it. One team wille with you, the other will stay to guard the truck so we don''t have to walk home." Daniel informed him seriously.


    "Alright. Let''s go see what we can find." Karl agreed.


    ording to the map, they would have to pass by a bit of the marsh, then they would be back at the river, and that was where they were likely to find the Rhino nest, as well as many other predators.


    "Stop. Don''t leave the truck. It looks like we found one of our options early." Alice ordered, and Daniel abruptly, but silently, pulled his door closed again.


    Off in the trees, there was an enormous furry creature with a mottled pattern of golden spots through jet ck fur. That should be the Golden Dire Bear that they had informed him of, and it had a small cub with it.


    The problem was that they were together, and the mother was paying close attention to her young cub, which meant they wouldn''t be able to sneak up on it and see if Karl could bond it.


    "The mother is Commander Rank, and she doesn''t look impressed to see us here. How about we go a little further along?" Jodi suggested.


    Karl considered the options for a moment. The Golden Dire Bear would be a good team member, especially as they grew so naturally powerful, but getting into a fight with one on the off chance that the cub would forgive him and work together seemed risky.


    "We know where they are now, we cane backter, perhaps with some meat, and see if that puts her in a better mood." Daniel agreed, while Jodi began to slowly drive until the bear decided that they were no longer a threat and went back to watching her cub.


    "It''s a bit further from the river, but up ahead here there are some survivors of the Giant Lizard breeds. There aren''t many of them left, at least not outside the breeding farms in the west, but any of them should be a viable option.


    They''re not dragons, but there are some Drakes among them, and almost every species has some sort of innate skill." Jodi exined as he turned down a dirt path.


    They drove for another ten minutes, when Jodi stopped the truck and pointed to the far side of a clearing where there was arge group of animals, roughly the same two metres tall as the Golden Dire Bear had been on all four feet, but with thick scales and three horns on their wide heads as the Cerro were described. They were happily munching nts with beaked mouths, which made Hawk happy, and they seemed to be nonaggressive unless threatened.


    "Those are a subset of the Cerro. They''re less than half the size of the ones we were looking for, and theyck the full extent of the healing ability, but they have a rather unique racial skill that you might like. These beasts can coat themselves in magical lightning. They use it both as armour and as a weapon when they charge." Jodi exined.


    "There are eggs in the nests, and they''re closer to us than to the beasts. Do you think that we should take a little trip out and see if we can get one to test?" Daniel asked.


    Karl agreed that they looked like they would be a suitable option, and they had heavy scales all over their body that looked imprable, as well as the three long horns and the armoured head.


    [Let me. I will be in and out in seconds.] Hawk suggested.


    "I will send Hawk." Karl informed the others, then opened the door a crack to call the bird out into the open.


    Hawk streaked through the trees, and as soon as he grabbed an egg, alerting the herd to a predator in their midst, Karl called him back into the Beast Space.


    He could feel the egg, the life form inside of it, and it had been pushed to the other space when Hawk entered his home, but it was not ready to hatch. There was something missing for Karl to form a bond with it.


    "I think it''s a possibility, but I need to do something, and I''m not sure what." Karl informed the others, as Jodi began driving again. Slowly, as if the bird had nothing to do with them.


    "Then we will keep looking. ce the egg here in the padded bag, and we will hold on to it in case it''s the best option." Alice exined.


    In the taming space, Hawk shook his feathers, and something else moved to the secondary space.


    [Did you get something on you?] Karl asked curiously.


    [Not sure, what happened?] Hawk asked, unable to see the other space or its contents.


    [There is a tiny egg. Like miniscule.] Karl exined as he examined the egg.


    "There is another tiny egg there as well. I think that it was on Hawk when he came back. I''m not sure what it is yet." Karl informed the others.


    "Can you bring it out? Or is it too fragile to move easily?" Alice asked.


    "It looks very soft, not like a bird egg, but there is something alive in there for certain, I can feel it." Karl exined, then moved the egg to one of the padded bags.


    The others looked at it in horror, and Alice opened the door.


    "Get that thing out of here. That''s a Bloodbath Spider egg."

 Chapter 81 Bloodbath Spider

    <h4>Chapter 81 Bloodbath Spider </h4>


    Karl looked down at the egg. The Bloodbath Spider was an urban legend. They were an invasive predator from a nation to the East, and survived entirely on blood, like a mosquito. But unlike themon mosquito, they grew to the size of a small car and had mandibles that could tear through steel to get to what they wanted.


    They were supposed to have been hunted to extinction, but it seemed that there were still some hiding out here in the wilderness.


    Karl was still admiring the soft egg when the truck made an abrupt turn, circling back the way that they had arrived from, and Jodi increased his speed.


    "You know that it is an egg, right? It''s not hatched." Karl reminded the yboy.


    "Yeah, you say that now, but where is mother Bloodbath? Theyy their eggs on the strands of their web. If Hawk came back with a spider egg on him, he broke a strand of the web as he flew over to get the other egg.


    They don''ty many eggs at a time because it would overpopte an area too quickly, so they''re probably going to be very protective." He replied, beginning to panic.


    "The mother can bite through the armoured roof of this truck." Daniel whispered to Karl, exining the situation more clearly.


    They had four fully trained and high-ranking Elites, but precisely zero who fancied walking home after their car was demolished by a giant spider.


    Karl moved the egg back into the secondary Beast Space. If they didn''t find another option, this Bloodbath Spider hatchling would do very well.


    It looked like the spider and the Lightning Cerro might be his only options if they were picking today because Jodi was headed straight back to town, and he wasn''t even slowing down when they got near the river, where the other options on the original list should be.


    "Well, it appears that I''ve got two choices. How about I hold them both, and see which one I can get to hatch and bond first?" Karl offered as the town walls came back into sight.


    "Two is enough." Jodi agreed.


    Alice looked ready to disagree with him, but the other two looked like they were on his side with the n to not spend any more time in the wilderness after the day that they had. They had only run into a few predators, but they were the worst possible ones to anger.


    At the very least, they would wait one night before going back out again.


    The Academy had given permission for the trip, and they didn''t have a set schedule, so they could stay out here for a week if they needed it. As long as the answer of whether Karl could bond another monster was clear, they could take all the time that they needed.


    Once they were both safely set in the secondary beast space, the two eggs seemed to be coexisting without any issues, but they couldn''t be moved to Hawk''s space anymore, which made Karl wonder if he was going to have to move one of them out the minute that the other one hatched and bonded.


    There was one easy way to find out. Karl began to meditate and pour energy into the space, which flooded into the eggs.


    They were both immature eggs, though of more powerful monsters than the Windspeed Hawk, and the change was immediately noticeable.


    The embryos in the eggs began to develop at a massively increased rate as the space increased in size to amodate them. He should probably pick one or the other well before they hatched, but both were growing so well that Karl didn''t want to change anything yet.


    There was always the possibility that he could have multiple beasts in the space once they were bonded. Perhaps this second space was for unbonded pets in waiting?


    The first to hatch was the Cerro, with small horns smashing through the eggshell, and a sense of mingled joy and relief flooding Karl''s mind as the small reptile bonded with him.


    As Hawk had done, the beast began to grow rapidly out of its awkward newborn phase, but the Cerro wasn''t as helpless as a baby bird, and he was screaming for food already.


    Karl focused, and found that he could move the creature to Hawk''s space, but he felt like a visitor there. It wasn''t his space, but the small prehistoric looking beast began to happily graze on the imaginary grass that Karl had made, and its body fleshed out with the influx of energy.


    So, Karl kept adding more energy to the second space with the Bloodbath Spider egg, which was still growing and maturing.


    "What are you up to? We''re here." Alice asked.


    "I need to focus. I think that the eggs can both be hatched and bonded." Karl muttered, not opening his eyes.


    "Alright, just follow me to a hotel room and you can finish your work." Alice instructed as Jodi parked the truck.


    The others went to talk to the staff, while Alice led Karl to a room, then closed and bolted the door while she waited there with him.


    "If that spider hatches, and you can''t bond it, you will need one of us here to keep you safe. It will be weaker than you, but they''re fast, and they can dig inside the skin, which makes victims panic." She exined.


    Karl hadn''t considered that possibility. If he couldn''t bond it, he likely couldn''t keep it in that space either, but he wasn''t sure that either he or Hawk could handle it running wild in the hotel room. A tiny spider running loose would be a nightmare to catch, but Alice was a mage, so she likely had some way to deal with it.


    Karl forged ahead and kept the progress going on the spider egg in the secondary space, growing it to the size of a baseball, with a transparent membrane that held arge ck spider inside. It was almost ready to hatch, and the space had been expanded by quite a bit, though the quality of it still seemed very lowpared to the first space.


    In retrospect, that was the wrong course of action. But Karl had no way of knowing that until the egg hatched, and the pain hit his mind.

 Chapter 82 Mistakes Were Made

    <h4>Chapter 82 Mistakes Were Made </h4>


    The moment that the spider egg hatched, the two Beast Spaces in his mind were nearly torn apart, with a third trying to form, and the imbnce between theplete space and the iplete one was not allowing them to find amon distribution rate to form the third space.


    "I need high-energy food, whatever you can get." Karl informed Alice with a pained wince, feeling like his head was going to explode.


    "What is happening?" The mage asked as she sent a message on her phone to the others.


    "Both of them hatched too close together for me to equalize their living spaces. It is trying to create a third space in my mind, but the second is not ready to be split, and the first can''t give up the energy that it already has. I need that energy." Karl demanded.


    "It''s on its way, just hold on for a few more seconds, and we will get you something." Alice exined.


    The reserves for Hawk were almost all raw meat, which Karl would have a horrible time digesting, but there was some roasted chicken in there, which Karl pulled out as a stopgap measure until he could get something with more energy.


    "Does it have to be meat?" Alice asked frantically.


    "Anything with an Awakened energy level or better." Karl replied as the energy influx from the chicken flowed through his body.


    Jodi rushed in with a bag from the truck, and began pulling out supplies until he got to the prepackaged meals.


    "These are all Ascended Rank meat for the main course, and the other dishes should be decent. They''re made for Commander Rank Elites on energy-intensive missions." He exined as he tore the first pack open and handed it to Karl with a spoon.


    A cold ration pack was not exactly fine dining, but it was edible enough, and the energy flow was enough that the immediate pain was fading, while a sense of mental stress was settling in as a third space began to form.


    Both of the hatchlings were drawing immense amounts of energy from him, and even after Karl did his best to feed them what power he could absorb, it wasn''t enough.


    "I need monster blood andrge amounts of magical nts for the new beasts. I think that things will stabilize once they are fed and not drawing energy straight from me." Karl exined, while otherwisepletely focused on feeding himself and keeping his focus well enough to stabilize the newly formed space.


    Magical nts were something that they had plenty of, since the nts didn''t have to be edible to humans. Daniel brought back what appeared to be an entire hay bale, while a few minutes after that, Jodi returned with a five gallon pail full of blood.


    The shrub was put into the newest area, as the baby Cerro seemed to be the more cid of the two, while the Bloodbath spider took its name literally, and identally fell off the rim of the bucket into the blood before climbing back out to drink more carefully.


    "You need to keep eating." Alice advised him as Karl began to rx.


    That made him open his eyes, and look at his hand as he reached out for more food.


    "What the hell? What happened to me?" He gasped as he looked at the skeletal thin arm in front of him.


    "You tell us. You suddenly started to wither, and it''s still ongoing, though not as fast as it was at first. You look like hell." Alice replied.


    Karl dug into what looked like a set of tes from the buffet, piled high with whatever could be grabbed, and tried to form his thoughts.


    "The monsters don''t share a space the way that I expected them to, or rather, they can''t. I didn''t realize that until the third one hatched and bonded. It needed to form another mental space, and I wasn''t prepared. It drew the energy it needed from me, and it looks like I barely managed to keep up.


    If the beasts hadn''t been hatchlings, they would have needed more energy to stabilize a space at their power level, and I would most likely be dead right now, or one of them would have broken free. There is a cap on the size, but not on the power density of the first space that I have reached. But there is a minimum requirement to properly bond a new pet, I know that now. One separate mental space, with as much or more stored energy than the creature being bonded has.


    In the future, it would be best to keep going with hatchlings, unless I have time to form a space for them in advance and to stock it with massive amounts of energy. But right now, I need a lot of food for growing beasts, and to try to recover what was spent. I don''t even know how long that will take. Have any of you ever seen anything like this before?" Karl exined.


    Jodi frowned. "I have, but it was the result of a hostile spell, not bacsh from an ability. It looks like there are dangers to overextending yourself in this way. But are the two new beasts really stable?"


    Karl inspected the Beast Spaces. "Yes, they are stable, at least for now. They are going to need some time before they''re ready to actually begin training, but they are stabilized."


    "Then our priority is to get you back into functional shape. We will help you eat and try to regain energy tonight, and then in the morning we will determine if you need to be hospitalized until you can regain enough of the lost mass to be safely moved back to the Academy." Alice informed him with a pitying look on her face.


    "I guess I had better get to work on my recovery then. What do we have for higher rank foods? I will let you know when it''s too much for me to digest efficiently." Karl sighed.


    "Start with this sd. It might taste awful, but it''s the most potent in the group. It was prepared for us to recover quickly from injuries, so it has healing properties and a Commander Rank base." Alice offered.


    Karl took the first bite, and energy flooded his system at a rate faster than anything he had ever experienced, then began to drain into all three of the Beast Spaces as fast as he could eat. It took immense focus to keep some of that for his own body, but after a few bites, he was getting the hang of splitting the energy four ways.


    The mental strain of the new spaces was diminishing as the energy influx became greater than the beast''s need to draw from him in order to stabilize their early growth, but the pounding headache that Karl had was only getting worse. It felt like someone was kicking him in the skull from the inside, but he had no idea what he should do about it.


    Then, after a few minutes, and three of the four sds, Karl found the reason. A new voice broke through the pain and whispered in his mind.


    [This food is good. Is there more?]

 Chapter 83 Thor

    <h4>Chapter 83 Thor </h4>


    The cid voice wasing from the newest of the spaces in his mind, which was currently upied by the Cerro, who was happily munching away on the nts as his body grew from its hatchling state.


    [I will get you more before that runs out.] Karl agreed.


    That was enough to reassure the creature, and with it the pressure on Karl''s mind. At least, some of the pressure on his mind. The bond with the Bloodbath Spider was still not strong enough, and while the creature seemed happy with the situation that it was in, the bond between them still needed work until Karl could speak to it mentally and ensure that it wasn''t going to escape and run rampant through the town.


    Hawk had a habit of wandering out of the space anytime that he wanted, but Karl was fairly certain that he could keep the beasts in the space if he wanted to.


    Once the bond was formed, they would obey his orders without too many questions, and asking that they stay inside was a simple enough request.


    With the singr goal of stopping the pain in his head, Karl kept adding energy to the spaces, working to strengthen them while he rebuilt the damage that was done to his body as well as he could with the excess energy that he could spare from the process.


    A few minutester, a man in a white coat came into the room, carrying arge box full of various potions and assorted tools that Karl vaguely recognized as medical devices in his distracted state.


    "He''s stable, ording to my skill, but he''s got a long way to go. I will give him a regrowth potion, and I hope that your overseer will cover the cost. These things aren''t cheap." The doctor informed the other Elites in the room.


    Danielughed. "We were sent here directly by the Bureau of Elite Development. We can put it on the expense ount, no need for a reimbursement filing."


    That was the best news that the doctor had heard all day, and with that magic promise of a direct billing to the expense ount, he was eager to break out all the best treatments to get the young student fully recovered from whatever mishap he had sustained.


    "Might I ask what caused this? If I know, I might be able to treat it more effectively." The doctor asked.


    "That''s a fine question, and we really don''t know the answer. He is a strange ss marking, and he bonded a Windspeed Hawk type magical beast to him in order to gain power. On this outing, we wanted to see if he could add more monsters and expand his powers.


    Well, it worked, and he added two, but there was some sort of bacsh, it was too much mental strain, but then it started siphoning off his body as well." Alice exined.


    "What two monsters?" The doctor asked.


    "A Cerro, probably one of the smaller lightning adept varieties, and a Bloodbath Spider, both hatchlings." She exined.


    "It is possible that the Bloodbath Spider was not getting what it needed, and it fed from the Elite''s body instead. Did you find some food for it? Hatchlings are born hungry." He asked.


    "We did. There is a lot of Awakened Quality blood for it and a smaller amount of Ascended because we weren''t sure what it would be able to digest." Alice exined.


    The doctor pulled another set of potions out and began to set up an IV drip for Karl, to make it easier to keep feeding him potions until he recovered.


    "I suspect that a lot of the issue will be blood loss, and extreme dehydration. Did you say that the Cerro has lightning or Regeneration as its primary racial skill?" The doctor requested, with a notepad in his hands.


    "We would assume Lightning, as they were the smaller variety at the nest, but it''s freshly hatched, and we haven''t seen the bonded animal''s ability yet."


    That was good enough for the Doctor, and he added more rapid healing medication to the bag, and an electrical instor on the stand. One thing that he didn''t want was for his expensive treatment to get shocked into uselessness if the monster broke free during treatment.


    He needn''t have worried so much about that particr pet. It was perfectly happy eating in the Beast Space, with little to no motivation to do anything else right now.


    The Bloodbath Spider, on the other hand, was glutted on monster blood and bored, looking for something to do, while it was stuck in a featureless space with barely enough energy to befortable.


    [I will add more featurester, so that you can start making yourselffortable.] Karl cated the spider.


    [At least a tree to build my web in, something.] The spiderined, not understanding the intricacies of building the contents of the space.


    Karl took a branch from the pile of food that they had brought into the room for him to feed his pets, and moved it into the fist sized spider''s area, near the bucket of blood.


    "That''s a start." It sighed with relief, then set about making a nest in the branch, with stringers that ran to the bucket, so it didn''t have to walk across the unnerving nothingness to get there.


    An hourter, the doctor switched the medicines in the IV bag, and Karl''s body began filling back out to something closer to his natural state. It wasn''t a full recovery, but the Elites in the room were feeling a lot better about his chances of not only surviving this mishap buting out better for it.


    The two monsters that Karl had bonded would both grow up to be extremely powerful without any additional help, but the evidence showed that simply being bonded to Karl would help them grow to be smarter and stronger than usual in a much shorter time.


    Between the Hawk, the armoured body of the Cerro, and the Bloodbath Spider, they would form abination that very few Elites would be able to take down once they were fully grown.

 Chapter 84 Physical Recovery Begins

    <h4>Chapter 84 Physical Recovery Begins </h4>


    The bond grew as Karl stabilized the spaces all through the next day, and after a few sses of straight monster blood, they were beginning to make progress on returning his body to its normal state.


    Currently, the feedback from the two new monsters wasn''t great, and mostly it was them drawing from Karl and Hawk, who was also eating heavily to sustain the burden of their two rapidly growing hatchlings.


    But already Karl could feel that the demand was decreasing as they grew in power, and soon it would reverse, with them beginning to strengthen his Awakened Grade physique.


    The Bloodbath Spider in particr. It was born on the strong side of Awakened Rank, going by its physique, but nobody in the room really knew what its innate skill was.


    It could tear apart an armoured car with its mandibles, and smoothly cut through monster flesh with the ws at the end of its legs, but pure power wasn''t enough to exin its deadly reputation at its level.


    Just after lunch, the best sign that the bonds were normalizing appeared. The Cerro, who insisted its name was Thor, after someone in the room had mentioned the mythical god of lightning, had settled in to sleep off a heavy meal, and Karl received a mental impression of a new power.


    [Refreshing Lightning] Create a lightning barrier around the caster that damages enemies and increases healing speed.


    "Thor''s lightning isn''t just lightning. It is a magical effect that also slightly increases healing speed. I just gained ess to it, but I don''t dare use it in bed and hooked up to the IV. At least not the first time." Karl informed the others.


    Whoops of joy filled the small hotel room, and the weary Elites began to celebrate the fact that there didn''t seem to be any lingering damage to Karl''s body from the mishap.


    "Now, we just need to find out what the ability of the Bloodbath Spider is, and we''re set." Alice cheered.


    Karl checked on the spider in his mind. It had gone from the size of a baseball to the size of a volleyball overnight, and it had consumed nearly a third of the bucket of blood that they had provided for it. But it was happily sleeping in the hammock it had made in the small branch it had been given, and wasn''t ready to answer questions yet.


    "Give it a bit longer. They''re both sleeping it off, and I need to do some more strengthening of the spaces before they grow any more powerful.


    The incredible body growth speed is great in theory, but I wasn''t prepared to contain them, and I''m still worried that they will grow faster than I can keep providing a home for them. Hawk was good that way, his initial power level started low, and he grew with practice, but these two are growing powerful quickly without any training at all." He exined.


    "That''s fine, take all the time that you need. Should we get you more of the monster blood to drink?" Jodi asked, concern clear on his face.


    "It''s fine. I think that the initialck was due to the spider, and once we got a bucket of blood in there for it, I just needed to replenish what I lost." Karl sighed.


    That waspletely unexpected, but they had gained valuable insights into the bonding process, and the possible side effects of bonding to something beyond your level.


    The spider still hadn''t made direct contact with his mind yet, though he could feel its curiosity about where it was and what Karl was. They were lone predators by nature and had only recently taken to protecting their young as their numbers dwindled. Before that, they were nomadic, and once they mated, the females wouldy single eggs every few days as they travelled, spreading their clutch far and wide.


    For most of the day, they all rested, moving past the excitement of the night before, and just before dinner, the doctor came to remove the IV stand and the needles from Karl''s arm.


    "It looks like you''re healed well enough to be in the clear now. Not all Elites heal faster than normal, but you should be alright on your own, and you will just need some training to rebuild the muscle mass that you lost." The Doctor informed Karl with a professional gaze.


    "Thanks Doc. I will get to that as soon as the headaches are gone, and I''m feeling less dizzy. I think it should be within a day or so. Possibly, right after dinner." Karl replied.


    The doctor got back to tending to the rest of the frontier town, which Karl had learned was as much a military outpost as a town. They might not dress like it, but most of the townsfolk were low-level Elites, people who never made it past Common Grade, and who signed up to work for the Defence Department.


    Like the Doctor, who could make various medicines, but nothing amazingly powerful by magical standards, they were still Elites, but doing the most dangerous sort of job by keeping the wild monsters restricted to the South and not moving into the more popted areas.


    "Let me stand up, and I will see if this lightning is enough to help me recover." Karl suggested.


    "Outside. Try the first time outside, in case you can''t control it properly." Daniel reminded him.


    The first few attempts to stand up were shaky, but Karl was feeling better by the step, and once they were out in the parking lot, he was ready to give the [Refreshing Lightning] a try.


    Soft blue light crackled over his body, and Karl felt his body strengthening, while the sleeping Thor woke up for a moment to see who was under attack. Once it realized that it was just Karl healing himself, the newborn beast went back to sleep, secure in its small home and tired from the effort of growing so much.


    "Impressive. The muscle mass is growing back at a notable rate, recovering from the damaged and dehydrated tissues, your skin is clearing up, and your pores are getting cleansed. You even smell faintly of ozone. It''s a healing effect and a spa treatment in one." Jodi noted with glee.


    "Unfortunately, I can''t put it on anyone else. But I think it''s going to be a fairly reliable defensive technique." Karl agreed.

 Chapter 85 Physical Examination

    <h4>Chapter 85 Physical Examination </h4>


    Thest thing that they needed to do to determine the usefulness of the ability was to test it. Alice raised a barrier in between them, and gestured toward it with her fist.


    "With just the lightning up, give that a punch as hard as you can. It will tell us how your muscles are recovering, as well as if the lightning can already stand up to an Awakened Rank impact. If it can''t, it will break around your fist when you hit the barrier." She exined.


    Karl snapped a fast punch at the barrier, and frowned. His strength wasn''t fully recovered, and the physical strength wasn''t as high as he would have preferred, but the lightning crackled against the barrier, making it glow bright blue, and held firm.


    "Well, it''s an Awakened Rank ability, for certain. Karl will need to keep the lightning up as much as possible for a while, but the barrier is as good or better than that Awakened Rank training armour." Alice informed the others.


    "Is it safe to touch? As in, can you sit down in a chair without scorching it?" Daniel asked.


    Karl took a step back and saw the faint scorch marks where he was standing.


    "I''m going with no. Even through my shoes, it''s burning the ground. But it''s not burning off my uniform, which is a big win for my dignity." Karl replied with a shrug.


    "Yeah, best not to tempt fate. You aren''t recovering as fast as the big Cerro or the Trice with their [Indestructible] innate ability, but it''s still much faster than I had expected." Daniel agreed.


    "I feel well enough to sit for a proper dinner now, so how about we go eat?" Karl suggested as he released the Refreshing Lightning ability.


    [Eat?] A soft feminine voice hissed in his mind.


    [Are you hungry for something different?] Karl asked delicately, hoping to make a good first impression on the spider.


    [No, blood is life, life is power. I need a bigger nest before I lure prey.] She replied.


    The spider reminded Karl of when Hawk was a baby, all about food. Always with the mice requests. Of course, if he hadn''t had a massive growth spurt, those requests might not have stopped, but the focus on making the beast''s situation right forfortable eating was the same.


    The group sat down to a proper dinner at a restaurant down the street, while the spider peered out of Karl''s mind, content in its small nest, but intrigued by the world around them.


    [They killed it and burned it? Why do they do that to the food?] The spider asked.


    [For humans, it tastes better this way, and we can digest it more easily.] Karl informed her.


    [Interesting. I will try some.]


    Karl put a bit of steak in the Beast space, and the spider happily tore it apart before eating it in delicate bites that directly contrasted with the ferocity used to portion it.


    [Not bad, it simtes the warmth of living food. Humans are strange, but smart. It is very tender, and they put something on it for vour as well. I approve.]


    Karl smiled at the response, and Alice gestured for him to share with the group.


    "My new spider friend gives herpliments to the chef. She approves of making the meat hot and tender, as well as the seasoning." Karl exined.


    "Does she have a name?" Alice asked.


    Karl knew she was listening, so he waited while she came up with an answer.


    [Even if you don''t that is fine. I can help youe up with what you would like to be calledter.] He soothed the spider.


    [What should I be called? For I am the bringer of death, the one that all are fearful to speak of, the shadow that stalks the night and haunts the dreams of prey. I am power and stealth, what name could suit such a mighty being?]


    Karl could sense the immense pride, but it was for her speech, and not for herself. She was very proud that she hade up with something good, and she had no concept of what an edgy emo teen was, so she had no idea how much she sounded like one.


    "She hasn''t yet picked a suitable name. If Ie up with one, we will decide on itter." Karl informed the others.


    [We wille up with something suitably impressive for you. But maybe it will be simple. Thor named himself after the God of Lightning, so perhaps you would like to be named after the Spider Goddess, Arachne?] Karl suggested.


    There was a pause as she considered it. The spider didn''t know anything about human gods.


    [Is she a cool god?] She asked.


    [Very cool, and the most talented of gods at weaving.] Karl agreed.


    [That name is too coarse. I will be Rae, short for Arachne.] She decided.


    "Change of ns. She will be called Rae, short for Arachne, the Spider Goddess." Karl exined to the group, who were all waiting, while he had a silent conversation in his mind.


    "Hawk, Thor and Rae, all superb names." Danielplimented the beasts before continuing to eat.


    "Please let us know when we can meet her." Alice replied with a smile, and Karl felt the spider looking out of his mind.


    [Later, not now. It is too bright and too far from my nest.]


    "Maybe tonight. She isn''t fond of bright ces while she''s still growing." Karl exined.


    "Oh, that makes sense. We will meet tonight if she is up for it, and then after we have done some basic tests tomorrow we will head back to the Academy. I''m sure they''re concerned about you, and Sergeant Rita is probably going to murder me for ruining her lesson ns again." Aliceughed.


    Karl gave her a questioning look, and the mage continued.


    "Well, you''ve got three pets now, right? Hawk is well versed in working with you, but he''s never worked with the others, and they haven''t done any survival training at all. Once they are back at the Academy, the Sergeant will want them all trained to work in a team for safety and to enhance their power." She exined.


    That got Thor''s attention.


    [There is safety and power in numbers. Together is much better than alone.]

 Chapter 86 Hyper Cerro

    <h4>Chapter 86 Hyper Cerro </h4>


    On the way back to the hotel, Karl called out to Thor, who immediately began to run in a circle, sniffing the other team members so that he would recognize them as friendster. Then he came to stand by Karl''s feet and looked around for something to eat.


    "There isn''t much food out here. But there are more friends. When we get back to the Academy, I will introduce you to other trustworthy people as well." Karl exined.


    The Lightning Cerro was the size of arge dog already, up from the ostrich egg size that he started from, and his horns were already beginning to grow. One on his nose, above the thick beaked mouth, and two more on the armoured frill that looked strangely like jade stone, slightly shiny, with wavy white lines through it in a pattern that spread down all its scales and thickened to pure white on its belly.


    The tail ended in arge armoured ball with small studs all over it, like a living wrecking ball, but Thor was careful not to smash people with his tail as he ran around.


    The townspeople looked at them like they were crazy, wandering around with a baby Lightning Cerro, but the creature was happy like a puppy and not attacking anyone, so they didn''t voice theirints about the danger of bringing monsters into town.


    [Humans don''t get big, do they? Just wait, I will be big enough to take care of you soon.] Thor informed him with certainty that made Hawkugh.


    Karl hadn''t realized that the beasts could hear each other when they talked to him, but Hawk certainly could hear Thor.


    Thor wasn''t worried about Hawk, though. His scales were so hard that the average Windspeed Hawk would only pose a minimal threat to him, and they would be unable to drag him away into the sky with his size. Hawk still might not be able to lift him easily, but with Rend and Shred, the winner of a fight between them was unlikely to be Thor until he grew up.


    [Humans don''t have to be huge, they''re smart. Haven''t you been looking at all the strange things they have made? This ce is like one huge web for hundreds of them.] Rae added in her gentle voice.


    Thor didn''t understand. Webs weren''t a danger, they were just silk strings. But there were plenty of humans here, a whole herd of them that stayed in one spot, so they must be strong somehow.


    Thor took in everything that there was to see, and ryed the information to the others. Rae didn''t want toe out in the light, and Hawk knew that they were likely to shoot at him if he flew around town.


    Jodi led them to an open field near the edge of town, a sport field for the local school, and then stopped the group.


    "Let''s get everyone out now. I know that Rae isn''tfortable in the light, but we''re all friends here, so it should be alright." He announced, using his tone to imply that it was more of an order than a suggestion.


    Hawk happily went to stand by Thor, but Rae hesitated, still ufortable being in the open and around anyone in the light.


    Karl went over to stand in the shade of some trees at the edge of the field, and Rae relented, exiting the Beast Space to hide in the branches.


    [If there is a threat, I will pull you right back into the space if you don''t notice it first. Just focus on the space, and you can return to it when you are close to me.] Karl informed the skittish spider.


    "Isn''t sheing out?" Jodi asked, and Karl sensed Rae''s smug smile even without looking at her.


    "She''s a Bloodbath Spider. Her body adapts coloration to her surroundings. She''s in the tree, you idiot." Anise reprimanded him, speaking for the first time all day and startling everyone.


    She was normally quiet and let the boisterous blonde man do all the talking, but when she did speak, her reprimand brought him to an instant stop.


    "Oh, right. Yes, there she is." Jodi stammered, while Alice openlyughed at him.


    [I like your friends. They''re funny.] Rae giggled.


    "Miss Rae, would you mind attacking a barrier spell for me, so we can see how your abilities are growing?" Alice asked politely, before making the barrier in the branches of the tree, so the spider didn''t have toe out.


    Rae inspected it for a moment, then her body surged with power, and she descended upon the barrier in a frenzy of violence.


    As soon as she attacked, Karl understood the brilliance of the Bloodbath Spider''s evolution. The energy on her front ws and mandibles adapted as soon as she first touched the barrier, and insight flowed into Karl''s mind.


    [Offensive Adaptation] passive ability that allows attacks to take on a more efficient form based on the target.


    Alice whistled in appreciation as the blows rained down on the barrier until the spider exhausted herself and backed up to the trunk of the tree, annoyed that the barrier didn''t break.


    "That is impressive. Just on attack power, you would certainly be ranked as Ascended, though the actual energy level is much lower and at the bottom end of Awakened." Alice informed her.


    Then the mage turned to Thor. "Would you like to try as well?"


    She set up the barrier on the ground, standing as tall as herself, and Thor ran off into the distance, then coated himself in lightning before charging forward.


    The beast hit the magical barrier with a bang, and rebounded, lifting himself up off the ground and hurling himself back half a metre.


    Then heughed, ran off and came at it again.


    [This is awesome.] Thor cheered as he mmed into the spell again at a full run.


    "Be careful, or you''re going to break a horn." Karlughed as the Lightning Cerro made for a third pass.


    [Horns are hard. They will be fine, the Lightning isn''t breaking.] Thor replied, then mmed into the barrier again, lighting it up and flinging himself into the air.


    "How his neck is fine after that, I have no idea. I''ve never seen an animal seriously injure themselves in a charge, but it''s not normally that violent." Daniel joked.


    Thor roared in pride, and mmed into the barrier again beforeughing and panting.


    "We will have to work on your cardio if you''re going to y with the barrier all day long." Karl informed him.


    [I don''t know what a cardio is, but I trust you.] Thor replied as he caught his breath and prepared to go again.

 Chapter 87 Divulging Secrets

    <h4>Chapter 87 Divulging Secrets </h4>


    The group sat in the grass and watched Thor charge the barrier over and over, while Raeughed at him and Hawkzily circled in the air over the field.


    Once they had realized that the monsters were with the Elites in the field, the local citizens'' panic had subsided. The Elites had seen stranger things in their time than a few tame beasts, so although they were deadly, the townsfolk quickly realized that they weren''t a threat.


    Once it started to get dark, Rae finally came down from the tree, blending into the grass as well as she could until she was hidden behind Karl''s back where he sat at the edge of the field. That let her observe the humans from much closer, while Hawk and Thor returned to their spaces to rest.


    "We now know what allows the Bloodbath Spider to be so deadly. Lovely Miss Rae here can adapt her attacks to whatever she is targeting, so it''s the most efficient option for destroying it." Karl was exining to the others.


    [Hey, why are you telling them that.] She protested.


    [So they cane up with a way to help you make it even stronger.] Karl replied.


    She had to think about that for a while, as did the other Elites.


    "Can you do it, since you''re bonded with her?" Alice asked.


    "I can, but not as well as she can." Karl agreed. He couldn''t modify his gloves or even his fingernails with the ability like she could her ws and mandibles, but the energy from Rend could be altered to some degree when it was held in ayer over them.


    Alice brought up another barrier, and Karl focused for a second before throwing a full strength [Shred] at it.


    The spell changed from red to golden as it hit the barrier, and the field filled with golden light as the spell was dissipated.


    Painnced through Karl''s skull, and he cradled his head in his hands.


    "It looks like I''m not quite at full recovery yet. The energy draw still makes my head hurt after a single attack. Once the spaces are in better shape, I think that it should be fine. A week, maybe two." He exined.


    The others sighed in resignation. They would have to exin that he was injured during a training mishap if he wouldn''t be healed before they returned, and they really didn''t want to have to fill out the paperwork involved in returning an injured student to the Academy.


    "Why don''t we give it another day here, and you can meditate with the lightning barrier up the entire time except for meals? Then we can judge whether it will take the full two weeks topletely recover." Daniel suggested.


    "That''s not a bad idea. I will start as soon as we get back. I understand now how to hold the barrier tight to my body so it doesn''t burn things through my clothes." Karl agreed.


    Daniel gestured for him to try, and then grabbed Karl''s shirt and nodded in satisfaction when he didn''t get shocked.


    "That works for me. I will go buy a good cushion or a beanbag chair for you. If you''re going to meditate that long,fort is important." The warrior informed the group.


    Karl ushered everyone into the space, against Thor''s protests. He was tired, but he wasn''t done with the barrier game yet.


    "You can y againter. There are more mages at the Academy who can create them, and Miss Alice will be at most of my sses to make them while I work." Karl exined.


    Thor was excited, but Rae wasn''t much less eager to test that barrier again. She would take some time to figure out how it worked, and grow a little more, then she was certain she could find a way to destroy it. If it existed, she could eventually find a way to tear it apart to get to the good bits inside.


    Maybe that was it, she might just becking motivation. She would ask Karl to put food inside the barrier when she was ready to try again. That should help. Or she could practice on Thor''s barrier, and try to break it right before he could ram it. That would be fun too.


    The fact that Alice was a Commander Rank mage made no difference to Rae. It was just a matter of time in her mind before she would be able to smash that barrier with a single strike.


    Karl had two goals that night. First, he would create a nice shady set of low trees for Rae to rest and make her web in, and he would make a training field for Thor to run around. That Karl had two goals that night. First, he would create a nice shady set of low trees for Rae to rest and make her web in, and would be enough to keep the two of them happy for a little while, and the standard of having decent nt life corresponded to the level of beast space development that Hawk needed when he first advanced to Awakened Rank power.


    Karl was assuming that the development of the space that was needed would be the same for all beasts at the same power level, and he would just have to keep up while they went through their initial growth phase, so the space didn''t fall behind and cause him this same mental pain again.


    Being unable to use the abilities that he had was a huge step backward for his personal power, even bigger than the degradation of his body that had yet to recover.


    Jodi returned not long after they reached the hotel with arge beanbag chair and a smile on his face.


    "This one is perfect. It is filled with ss beads. They''re an electrical instor, so the shock shouldn''t travel anywhere, even if it leaks from Karl," he announced.


    That wasn''t quite how magical lightning worked, it would melt the beads, but nobody bothered to mention that, as a beanbag chair was precisely what they needed, and even if the lightning leaked and melted the beads, it should form a morefortable seat for Karl tonight.


    Once the recovery process wasplete, Karl wouldn''t have to split his energy into healing himself, and the development of the Beast Spaces would improve, but for now, the teams were more worried about avoiding a lingering injury report and light duty training modification appeal to go with the incident report that they were already going to have to do.

 Chapter 88 Life Is About Balance

    <h4>Chapter 88 Life Is About Bnce </h4>


    Karl started with the easier parts, the increase in the quality of the two spaces, and the addition of simple grass to the ground. Instead of the short grass that Hawk liked, it was longer grass. Rae liked to hide in the long grass, and Thor liked the way that it tickled his belly scales.


    No judgment.


    Then Karl left Thor''s mostly empty, as all the other nts in the space were going to be food products. The power density of both was increased evenly at the start, but after a few hours, Karl began to experiment and found that Rae actually required much more power in her space to relieve the strain on his mind.


    Her species was the more powerful of the two, and her power was growing more rapidly as well. The side effects of that could be problematicter, but the short-term benefits would be huge.


    By the time that the sun came up in the morning, Karl was no longer feeling the drain of the two monsters on his mind, and he was beginning to feel an influx of energy instead. Each of the three had a different feeling to it. It was difficult to describe, but Karl likened it to the feeling of wind in his hair, grass under his feet and afortable nket.


    He briefly stopped for breakfast in the restaurant downstairs, which had amassed a huge amount of meat, blood and magical nts to restock his pets, then returned to his meditation. If he ever returned here, he would owe them a huge favour for helping him out with the feeding duties, as he now had weeks worth of food stored for everyone, and someone had even found him another strength stone to mix with the blood for Rae.


    That was a winningbination, ording to the Bloodbath Spider. The extra energy in the blood was helping her body form, which was improving the feedback, which in turn was restoring Karl''s body and increasing the quality of her home.


    It might not look like they were getting much done, but the three monsters were undergoing a massive strengthening. Even Hawk was getting in on it now that the other two had stabilized. The three spaces seemed to feed off each other and the monsters within. That helped the others grow as much as it did Karl, and hour by hour, they were actually getting further ahead of him on the strength scale.


    It didn''t feel like a problem, as long as the strength of the Beast Space held up, it didn''t matter how strong his own body was. It was improving, though. He was stronger than before he had arrived, if not by much.


    That news was a massive relief to the others at dinner that evening. Seeing Karl recovered and glowing with power assured them that they had made the right choice in bringing him here and letting him bond both monsters. There was a short-term setback, but now they were ahead and still gaining.


    "Do you think that there will be any long-term damage?" Alice asked as Karl finished his dinner and prepared to go back to meditation.


    "Not really. There will be a definite reduction in maximum growth speed, with three spaces to enhance instead of two. I will be spending most of my spare time in meditation, with little time for anything else until they are full-grown. But after that, the extra space means what I can provide will be split three ways, and it will be up to the feedback from the monsters to progress.


    Until I reach the higher side of Commander Rank, that shouldn''t be a big issue, as their natural growth will provide a significant portion of the strength growth we need. But after that, it''s going to be a hard grind, and then I will either have to find another way to keep us growing or find a fourth partner with even higher potential to pull us all up.


    I''m not even sure that will be realistic, though. You saw what happened this time. Even if I prepare, how much strain will an Overlord or Royal Rank monster cub put on my mind? They''re even more intelligent than these three, or so I have heard, and their energy requirements have got to be immense."


    "So, you''re saying that your ss will have a minimal impact on the growth of the monsters beyond their adult peak?" Alice asked.


    "Not quite. It will have a muchrger impact on the ones with lower innate potential, and then after that bonus from the early growth phase ends, we will be looking at years and not weeks or months to move up a rank.


    I can''t guarantee that it will hold true forever, but with the scaling once Hawk was full-grown, and the power difference between the levels that is described in the textbooks, I would say that making Commander would be rtively easy, but it might be pushing it to make Royal before graduation, and then Monarch by age twenty-five.


    Of course, a new pet, a new technique, or even just a better understanding of how to leverage resources for growth could shorten that considerably."


    Aliceughed out loud, drawing the attention of the others in the restaurant.


    "Don''t let the others hear you call Royal before eighteen years old a slow progression rate. Even I''m more than a little jealous, and I''m still a young maiden." She reminded him quietly.


    Karl was fairly sure that neither of those words applied to Alice anymore, at least not from his perspective. But who was he to argue with her self assessment?


    Daniel tapped the table to get everyone''s attention. "We will be heading out in the morning. Karl has recovered enough to return to his regrly scheduled sses, and the pets are both bonded and growing smoothly. Thatpletes the conditions of our outing, and the Colonel will not be happy if she finds out we decided to take a little vacation after the job was done."


    There was no doubt about that. Colonel Valerie had a bit of a human side, but it was hidden deep under her adherence to rules and regtions.

 Chapter 89 Rae Meets Dana

    <h4>Chapter 89 Rae Meets Dana </h4>


    To say that Rae was excited about the car ride was an understatement. The Bloodbath Spider naturally wanted to travel to spread their brood and find a mate, and as they gained intelligence, that instinct turned into a form of wanderlust.


    Being able to cover this much ground in one day was wonderful for the young spider, who watched everything from the safety of her growing nest within the low trees and bushes that Karl was creating in the space for her.


    On the other hand, Thor had no interest at all in the scenery. He was content to munch all day long as long he was certain that he wasn''t being left behind. Evenpared to Rae, he still had a lot of growing to do. Most of her size woulde from her long legs, with aparatively small body, so she was going to reach full maturity before he would, but he also had a solid and durable body to form with armoured tes that needed time to solidify.


    Hawk was more eager to get back and show Dana their new friends. She had two Golems now, but Karl had three pets. They weren''t outnumbered anymore, and with the amount that Thor was growing, they wouldn''t even be the physically smaller team for long.


    It was a good thing that the Lightning Cerro was content to remain within his safe space because he wouldn''t be able to wander around the balcony for long.


    Karl was more worried about Dana''s response to Rae. The Bloodbath Spider was a sensitive soul, and having someone be terrified of her at first sight would be a heavy blow. Not everyone was terrified of spiders, but monstrous spiders the size of a small table might be a different story.


    They drove through the day, and sses were long over by the time that they made it back to the Academy. From the direction that they arrived, Karl realized that they had actually detoured around to the far side of the area by nearly fifty kilometres because there was only one road leading in and out of the Academy, and it ran alongside the railroad tracks.


    Keeping the Academy isted was best for both safety and security, but he hadn''t realized how remote this region was until he was paying attention to the trip during the daytime.


    "Alright, everyone will need to fill out a mission report for the morning, and this one is going to be significantly longer than usual, with the progress that was made. I will let you all rest for now, and see you allter." Alice instructed the others while looking at Karl to ensure he knew that meant him as well.


    The Academy and the Government would naturally want to know all about the new pets, as well as the bacsh from bonding two when his mind was only ready for one weaker pet.


    Normally, he would omit the spective parts when he made a report, but this time it seemed important enough not to skip, so he added it to his report, along with a note about how trying to bond a fully grown monster might be a disaster if it was significantly more powerful than he was.


    Not to mention that fact that if it wasn''t significantly stronger than him as an adult, then bonding it would be a mistake, as it would hinder his growth.


    A brisk knock at his door after dinner alerted him to a visitor, and Karl let Dana in, noticing how he looked a bit panicked and exhausted.


    "What happened? Did theye up with new training for you as well?" Karl asked as she flopped down on the bed.


    "You could say that. The choreography and singing teachers have decided that we''re not paying enough attention to them with all the cutbacks in their allotted time. They have to split the afternoons now, and they have been prohibited from issuing homework, as Jill decided my magic is more important than their department''s ns.


    So, they''re going crazy every day to pack everything they want me to learn into the time that they have." Dana exined, staring at the ceiling.


    "Have you eaten? I can grab something and bring it to the room. I have some new friends after this trip, and they could use a bit more variety in their diet." Karl suggested.


    "I did. Jill brought something to the end of choreography ss, and I ate beforeing over. I think that she''s trying to pull me out of the sses entirely, but someone senior to her isn''t going for it."


    Karl smiled. "In that case, would you like to meet someone? She is a lovely fuzzy Bloodbath Spider, and she likes meeting people, but not in the bright sunlight."


    Dana smiled. "You bonded a spider?"


    He nodded. "And a Lightning Cerro, but he''s sleeping right now. Rae is growing more smoothly, and she wants out to explore the room."


    Dana nodded, and Karl brought the spider out to sit on the bed next to her.


    The two stared at each other for a few seconds, then Dana smiled and Rae moved closer, as if to get a better look at her.


    [So, this is a juvenile female human? She''s cuter than the other ones. Tell her that I say hello.] Rae instructed.


    "Rae says hello. I''m not sure if you can shake hands safely, given her ws, but she''s very friendly." Karl exined.


    "Do you know about magic? I need to study some spells, and it was too loud in my dorm for that. It was great for focus training, with the random explosions from the neighbours rooms making it harder to keep the spell stable, but for reading, it is just distracting." Dana asked the spider.


    [I know about magic. Lots of animals use magic. What is reading?]


    Karl briefly exined the concept of books, writtennguage and learning from recorded information, which shocked the young spider.


    [That is great. You don''t even need them to be nearby to learn from them. Books are good. I will watch her technique.]


    Karlughed. "She''s still quite young, and hasn''t seen enough books to learn to read yet, but she wants to watch you. I need to meditate to improve the power level in her mental space, but you two are free to work."


    Rae ran out onto the balcony and disappeared into the foliage, then followed Dana to the gazebo and began admiring the hammock before creating one of her own from webbing. Bloodbath Spider web was very versatile. It could either be flimsy enough that the smallest of disturbances would break it and alert the spider in its web, or it could be strong enough to hold a hundred kilogram monster in ce despite attempts to escape.


    What she used this time was the stronger kind, but without the stickiness, so that she could more easily move about and watch the reading process below her.


    Karl settled in to meditate, listening to Rae''s reactions as she admired the pictures in the book and contemted what the runes would mean. Dana was narrating things to her, thinking out loud, as she worked on the assignment to improve her spell formation speed.


    Rae wasn''t much help, as she only knew one ability, but the moral support seemed to be helping the two of them bond.


    With Rae outside, it also reduced the strain on his mind a little, as she was burning her energy and not using his to actively grow. Karl realized that this would be a great advantage to him, and he worked much harder on her space, getting it further ahead of Thor''s space, in bnce with the progression speed of the two species.

 Chapter 90 Not Morning People

    <h4>Chapter 90 Not Morning People </h4>


    The next morning, Karlpletely forgot to warn Jill about the spider on the balcony, but when she failed to return with Dana after a minute, he went in to check on them and found her wrapped up like a cocoon, and glowing with power from her hastily raised magical barrier.


    "Thanks for finallying to check on me. Now, would you kindly ask this youngdy to let me go so that I can get my charge to ss on time?" Jill requested.


    Karl considered the look of restrained rage at being attacked for a second time by Karl''s pets when she went to wake Dana up, and for a moment, he contemted whether it might not be safer to leave her there.


    But she could break out easily enough, she was just waiting for him to do it so that she didn''t have to fight with the Bloodbath Spider.


    "Rae, you can let her out. She is Dana''s teacher, she won''t hurt her, just wake her up for early morning instructions before breakfast." Karl instructed.


    [That sounds like torture to me.] The spider replied suspiciously, then vanished into the Beast Space, which was now bing much morefortable after another night of work by Karl.


    "Alright, she''s definitely not a morning person. But she won''t attack any more today." Karl informed the teacher, who gave him a pointed look.


    "Right, the web."


    Karl activated the enhanced Rend on his index finger and cut the surprisingly durable webbing down the front, releasing Jill to shake Dana awake.


    [See, she''s not even just vibrating the web, she''s shaking her like some animal.] Rae informed Karl in an insulted tone.


    "Five more minutes." The young mageined, and Karl smiled. It was the same thing every day, but her schedule was so packed that she couldn''t waste any time in the morning.


    Karl walked over and gently rocked the hammock, then plucked a string by Dana''s head, which she should hear vibrating next to her ear.


    "Fine, I will get up." She mumbled and opened her eyes.


    "How did you do that?" Jill asked in shock.


    "Wise advice from the Bloodbath Spider. She knows all the best ways to operate a web." Karl exined.


    Jill looked down at the mass of spiderweb on the ground, then picked it up, expecting a mass of loose strands now that it had been cut open, but the strands were stuck to each other and interwoven, creating a form of nket.


    "You know, this is actually pretty well-made, all things considered." Jill noted as she admired the soft white silk.


    "Karl brought me a silk nket? That looksfy." Dana agreed, while Karl tried not tough.


    "No. A certain someone thought it was appropriate to wrap me in webbing when I tried to wake you up the first time. Now, we need to go, or we will bete. Karl, we will be borrowing your shower, there isn''t time to make a detour across the floor." Jill insisted.


    "You cut the times awfully close. Go ahead, I will head down and eat first while I go over my day with Sergeant Rita. I''m sure she has a few questions about my mission report anyhow."


    But Rita didn''t lead him to the cafeteria, she led him to the staff lounge, where they could talk without the curious student ears listening in. The teachers were all privy to the official reports, so there was no point in hiding it from them.


    Karl and Dana had been the talk of the staff for a while now, and once the new pet was spotted, everyone would be gossiping about it.


    "Start at the beginning. There was a lot in that report and I want it y by y from the time that you left the Academy," she instructed.


    Karl went over the trip, the early morning locust attack, and then got into the sighting of the Golden Dire Bear.


    "So the other pet, the one named Thor in your report, is a Golden Dire Bear?" Rita asked.


    "No, we left it alone. Picking a fight with it and stealing its cub seemed like a monumentally bad idea when it was ready to charge our truck, so we left and went looking for something less hostile." Karl exined.


    He realized his mistake. In his report, Karl had only briefly mentioned the species of the pets, and had been referring to them by name for the rest of the document, so a cursory scan would be confusing.


    "We were headed further into the trees, and away from the river, when we came across a clutch of Lightning Cerro eggs, while the herd was on the far side of the clearing. I sent Hawk to recover an egg, then brought them both back into my mental space. But it wasn''t just the one egg. There was a Bloodbath Spider egg stuck in his feathers as well.


    So I set about hatching them both." Karl exined.


    "And of course, nobody realized that would be a terrible idea until after you were injured." She replied with an eye roll.


    "Exactly. I didn''t expect them to hatch that close together, and I was unprepared for the requirements that each of them must have a separate space, even though they can move to the other beasts'' space.


    So I had to mentally form the third one in a hurry when the Bloodbath Spider hatched, and that put a lot of strain on my mind and body.


    The extra mission time was to recover enough to stabilize the bonds, and now I''m back to as good as new, or something close to it." Karl agreed.


    "Can we see?" One of the teachers at the next table asked.


    "Of course. Rae, do you want toe see people? Thor, if youe out to say hello, they will rub your head for you." Karl instructed.


    Thor bounded out, nearly knocking one of the teachers out of his chair before stopping himself, while Rae appeared, but hid under the table on Karl''s thighs.


    "Oh, she''s shy. Alright, we will admire her from a distance." The older mage who taught his morning uracy training ss said softly, with a gesture for the others not to scare the spider.


    Thor had no such restrictions, and therge dog sized animal happily bumped against people, asking to be patted, nearly spearing a dozen people before realizing that his horns were going to be in the way if he kept charging at them headfirst for attention.


    "Is this the Lightning Cerro variety? The smaller ones." One of the teachers asked.


    "Yeah, he will get about two metres tall, if he''s the size of his parents, so he will be big, but not elephant sized." Karl agreed.


    The teacher happily rubbed at the scales on Thor''s side. "He''s going to be beautiful with these deep green and white scales. Have you decided what sort of training he will undergo?"


    "Not yet. That''s what Rita is ring at me for, I think. And maybe the fact that there is a giant spider climbing up her leg."


    That made the teachers burst intoughter, but Rae was intrigued by the Sergeant''s uniform, and she wanted to find out what the buttons were made of.

 Chapter 91 They Need Exercise

    <h4>Chapter 91 They Need Exercise </h4>


    The button, as it turned out, was made of ckened brass, and after poking at it for a few seconds and then rubbing her mandible against it to see what it felt like, Rae gave up on the button and returned to her space to avoid the attention that she was getting while out in the open.


    "Once she''s fully grown, I think that she will be more open about being outside, but for now, she is much morefortable in ces where she can camouge herself, especially dark ces." Karl exined.


    "We won''t force her out where she''s ufortable then." The leader of the mage training agreed, while he rubbed Thor''s head.


    One new and friendly pet was good enough for the teachers, but Rita had brought Karl here for an actual reason, and not just to talk about how his weekend went.


    "Are you healed well enough to begin full training schedules again? The notes said that there had been some mental damage, and there is no good way to quantify that." She asked very seriously.


    "I feel better, but the only way to know for sure is to actually start training again and see if the pain returns. The two new spaces have advanced enough now that I am getting feedback from the pets, and not needing to constantly feed the spaces to keep them contained, so it should be alright. I''m not sure how much training I will be up for, though. I am going to need a lot of time to work on mental strength just to keep ahead of their growth rate." Karl exined.


    "Alright, then we can go to the morning sses as scheduled. The afternoon sses will be changed starting today, as the decision has been made that there is not enough training for your pets now that there are three of them.


    Sending Thor out to get his head rubbed is not officially training, no matter what the other Professors tell you." Rita reminded him.


    What exactly they were going to teach Thor was a mystery to Karl, but as they finished their breakfast and headed for the training field for Hawk to practice, Rita got a much better idea.


    "Thor is a growing boy, and he needs his exercise, so what we''re going to do today is to have you sit and meditate while Hawk blocks the attacks, and I will bring some mages from the early Ascended ss who are working on barriers to help Thor practice his skills."


    As soon as he heard the word barrier, Thor''s head perked up in the beast space. He loved the barrier game, and it would be even better with more barriers.


    "Won''t that be a waste for the other students?" Karl asked.


    A few of the nearby magesughed and Rita shook her head. "Taking full force Awakened Rank attacks repeatedly will burn through their mana faster than you might suspect. The goal is for them to keep the barriers up as long as possible, while Thor rampages through the field building up his muscles."


    "Normally, they have the students from the Awakened Rank warrior sses smash at the barriers all afternoon. Setting them up for Thor won''t be any different. But who is that? A new pet, I take it?" The mage student beside Karl asked.


    "Yeah, a Lightning Cerro that I just bonded. The teachers are all in love with him, and he adores the barrier game. Once you see him y, you will feel thankful that you got Hawk instead." Karl joked.


    The students got set up, and Hawk took to the sky for his daily training. It only took a few seconds for Rita to grab four of the students who were working on barriers, and to instruct them to set them up at different angles around the field, making a cube of sorts.


    [Go, have fun.] Karl instructed, and Thor ran out of the space at his best stumbling run, still a bit uncoordinated, in the way of newborn animals everywhere.


    But when his horns hit the first barrier, and it wavered slightly as he bounced away, the mages knew that this training would not be easy on them.


    There was no rhyme or reason to the attacks, he charged at whatever one he saw, as long as it wasn''t the one beside him. That was too close to get a run at, and he wanted to run as much as possible.


    In actualbat, that would rarely be the case. They would sweep and spear with the horns to tear apart their enemies, but there was just something satisfying about charging at the glowing magical walls.


    The mages that were attacking the moving targets below Hawk had to work hard to pay attention and notugh as Thor trumpeted happily, a long warbling note like a military war horn, and continued to charge at whatever barrier managed toe back up first.


    It had only taken him twenty minutes to smash them all, and the first break wasn''t scheduled until the half hour mark.


    But if they weren''t up, he would wait until one was. The students could all see his disappointment when he had to wait, and that silent judgment, that they weren''t good enough to even be a long-term y toy to a monster like him, was wearing on them.


    They had thought that the barriers they had made were exceptionally impressive, and they were a Rank above him, but when there was no offensive power to deal with the threat, it didn''t take long for him to smash through their mana reserves.


    The lightning barrier only stabilized his body and prevented him from breaking his horns. It had copsed multiple times already, but even without it, a Lightning Cerro had incredible raw power.


    Thory down in the grass when the break was called, and a few of the warriors from the group of warriors that was training on the Ascended barriers came over to get a better look.


    "You know that technique has some merits. We use skills and swing our weapons, but he''s basically throwing a hundred kilo dinosaur coated in lightning at them. I bet if I grabbed John and swung him at the barrier, we could do even more damage." One of the boysughed.


    "Don''t even think about it. Just be d that they didn''t send him to us to test our Guard ability because someone would have gotten seriously injured." The other boyughed, while Thor panted in the grass, replenishing energy for the next round.


    "He has to be tired, right? He''s been running wild for half an hour." One of the Ascended Mage students asked.


    "You would think so, but no. His natural recovery means that by the time the break is up he will be ready for another round of the barrier game, and you had better be ready to y, or he will be very disappointed." Karl informed them.


    Thor perked up at the mention of y, and the mages all groaned to themselves as they realized that trying to contain a monster was not as simple of a task as they had expected it to be. If it were an attack, they would have to keep the barrier up and attack at the same time, without letting the barrier fail, or they would be in trouble long before reinforcements could arrive.

 Chapter 92 Teamwork Makes The Dream Work

    <h4>Chapter 92 Teamwork Makes The Dream Work </h4>


    Thor was almost tired when the morning sses ended, and he returned to his space for lunch, but Hawk was having a glorious time. Without Karl there to take up half the work, he got to just freely attack anything that he wanted, and ording to the students, he had an uncanny talent for picking off the ones that were actually going to hit the moving targets, while ignoring the ones that would miss.


    Even when they sent out a cluster of attacks, he would just knock a portion of them out and let the others fly past the target. It was incredibly energy efficient on his part, and it wouldn''t have been possible with the stationary targets, as the mages would rarely miss those.


    They were even beginning to take note of who Hawk seemed to totally ignore because their aim was so bad. Those mages were going to have to improve quickly because the rest of the ss wouldn''t let a giant bird make a mockery of them forever without joining in on the fun.


    It was after lunch when things took a drastic change. Sergeant Rita, as well as the duo from the Bureau of Elite Development, had decided that martial arts training, now that he had sufficient proficiency to deal with minor threats without resorting to skills usage, was no longer the most efficient use of his time.


    Instead, the afternoon would be a group training exercise for Karl with the pets.


    Coaxing Rae toe out and y might be difficult, but today''s practice was on the basics of working together against a target that was stronger than they were.


    It was a situation that would inevitably happen in the future, and with three of them in the team, they could now easily work on group tactics.


    "We have enlisted a small group of volunteers, and they will be your targets today. The goal is to intercept the three infiltrators and disable them without seriously harming them. These are all guards, so they know how to fight, but they are all at the Ascended Rank, so you can''t just go all out with the attacks like you did against Tank and the barriers." Alice was exining.


    That got Hawk''s attention, but Thor was disappointed. If he couldn''t just smash them, it would be much less fun. But Hawk''s exnation that these exercises were practice for being an adult was enough to get the growing young Cerro on board.


    Rae considered the situation for a few moments, and then came out to climb up Karl''s back and look at the battleground from rtive safety.


    "Alright, everyone is on board. The targets are instructed to take it easy on you, but they will be attacking in your direction with actual attacks. They are wearing training armour, but they are not going to be magically shielded so that you can take them down naturally.


    I will step in if someone looks like they will be seriously injured." The mage instructed, while the volunteers smiled at the sight of Thor prancing around in the grass, eager to y.


    They got into position, out of sight around the corner of a building, with Karl as their target. They would try to grab him, as abductions by foreign agents were a real threat, while he and the beasts would work to prevent that.


    The idea was to give them limited response time, in as realistic of a scenario as they could concoct within the school grounds, which meant the volunteers were close, so that Karl didn''t haverge amounts of time to prepare.


    It didn''t make much difference, though. The three beasts couldmunicate with each other, and since Hawk could see the attackers, as soon as the practice team was given the order to begin, and charged, the beasts were right on them.


    Thor held back on the full force charge, and instead shielded himself with lightning against the lead warrior''s [sh] and then threw him into the air with a horn between the legs that had Alice bringing up a barrier to soften his fall. Thor turned on the other two, who had raised their [Guard] to deal with Hawk''s [Rend], while Rae hadunched herself off Karl, and hit the barrier at a tremendous speed, which allowed her wed legs to tear right through it.


    Shended on one of the men''s legs, and he panicked as he realized that she was a Bloodbath Spider, which let Hawk''s attack hit him without resistance, pummelling him unconscious through his helmet.


    Thest man didn''t fare much better, as he could only parry Thor''s attacks for the next second as the Cerro iled its horns at him, and then Rae was there on his back, tearing into the armoured coat with gleeful abandon.


    "BREAK! That''s a victory for the defence team. You know, you don''t have to take down the strength of your defensive abilities, just the attacks." Alice announced.


    "We didn''t. The Hawk and the spiderbined tore through them faster than we could bring them back up. I''ve never seen a rending attack shatter a [Guard] barrier like that." The winded man who had been pummelled on the back by Rae announced.


    "The training that Hawk has gone through so far has done wonders for his attack strength, but Rae is a very fast learner, and her Offensive Adaptation innate ability makes deleting barriers a breeze. Just wait until she''s fully grown, barriers a Rank above her won''t even slow her down." Karl praised his shy teammate.


    "Can we test that, so we can make a better strategy?" The one who had been thrown into the air asked as he limped over, nursing an injury to the groin from Thor''s horn, despite the armour.


    He stabbed his sword into the ground in front of him, and activated [Guard] which Rae took down almost instantly with a strike from her mandibles and both front legs in unison.


    The pure smugness of her attitude was clear to everyone, and Karl couldn''t help but smile.


    "Do you have a stronger defensive ability?" He asked.


    "No, we trained as covert bodyguards, we don''t usually use powerful defensive abilities, but parries and sudden strikes. Maybe we should try the next one without the pets already deployed? It will be good training for everyone." He suggested.


    Also, that would give them a few more steps before they were noticed, and perhaps his testicles wouldn''t have to meet the horn of a Lightning Cerro again today.

 Chapter 93 Ambush Practice

    <h4>Chapter 93 Ambush Practice </h4>


    The team came at Karl again, spread out and sneaking up on him through the dorm building, with one even leaping out of the window.


    [Now.] Karl ordered the beasts, sending them into the battlefield.


    Hawk moved to intercept the flying target, while Rae spit out arge mass of web to trip another, and Thor went with his signature charge, throwing another man high into the air with a flick of his thick neck.


    The three of them crashed to the ground at the same second, and Rita blew her whistle.


    "Karl, how did you know that they wereing?" She demanded.


    "A side effect of bonding Hawk. I have fantastic peripheral vision, and I can focus on any spot I can see without moving my head. I had all three of them located before they attacked." Karl exined.


    "Then was it necessary to throw me again?" One of the men wheezed, climbing to his knees.


    Thor had gotten the same target twice in a row. Although he didn''t spear the man between the legs this time, the two upper horns made for an excellent tossing tform, and he had peaked well over five metres in the air.


    "He didn''t injure you this time. I mean, with the hit. The sudden stop at the end looks like it wasn''t much fun." Karl amended.


    "Are they aware of what is happening around you before you call them out?" One of the men asked.


    "Probably more than I am. I don''t know how much they can actually see, but they do have a solid awareness of their surroundings." Karl exined.


    "Alright, so it''s not easy to sneak up on you either. We should check on Agent A, he looks a bit rough." The wheezing man replied, referring to the one that Hawk had intercepted.


    Alice rushed over, and noticed that the man was conscious, but having a deep moment of personal introspection as he stared at the sky and began to question his life choices.


    "Is anything broken? I have healing potions from the Witches." Alice offered.


    "Just my pride. Can you fix that?" He asked, and Alice noticed that there were six deep scratches in his training armour.


    Not only had Hawk knocked him out of the air, his attack had broken the man''s Guard and Hawk''s ws tore up his armour before dropping him on the ground.


    "It feels like we were the ones who got ambushed." The third man agreed, nursing a twisted ankle.


    Rita and Alice both sighed, but it was Rita who spoke first. "I can already see that this will not be a viable training method in the long term. They already understand basic strategies and their response time is fast enough that it will be very challenging to actually ambush Karl even if they are resting. We will have toe up with another method of preparing them forbat."


    Rae gave her a pointed look, which the Sergeant returned for a moment before shaking her head.


    "Even I can tell what that look means. The only way to truly train forbat is to be inbat. Karl knows enough martial arts that he should be alright in a fight, but the Academy wouldn''t approve of putting you all in danger just to get better training results." She reminded the spider.


    [Hawk would agree to let us go outside.] Rae pouted.


    Hawk''s mind became curious, and the spider beamed the mental version of a smile at him.


    [If we were hunting outside, you could eat them after you killed them.] She announced.


    [This is not a democracy, majority rules don''t win here.] Karl informed them in his best stern tone.


    Rae had already found Hawk''s weak point. As soon as she mentioned food, the Windspeed Hawk would be on board with whatever she wanted to do, and Thor would go along simply because that''s where everyone else was going.


    "You look like you''re having an intense discussion." Alice noted as Karl talked to the beasts.


    "They all want to go outside to train. I don''t necessarily disagree with them, as our training options are limited here, but it is safe here, and safety in numbers is a good thing." Karl replied.


    Thor bobbed his head happily as he heard those reassuring words from the boss, and the instructors did their best not tough. They had been brutally bested by the Lightning Cerro twice in as many hours. But still, it didn''t feel like the creature was a threat, he was just too friendly.


    "Let us discuss that for a few minutes. There are groups of students looking to go outside on missions, and we might allow you to lead one of them, as long as there is a second Awakened Rank or higher member, as you are still a first year student and untested in the field." Alice exined, earning herself a re from Rita.


    Daniel wisely sat at the back of the field, as he had been doing all day, and avoided drawing attention to himself as the two argued over the appropriate course of action. The student training missions were normally not dangerous, certainly no worse than the Goblin Tribe had been, and Karl was much stronger now than he had been even that recently.


    With the addition of the two new pets, he alone would rampage through a Goblin Tribe. Nothing that they could do would significantly injure a Lightning Cerro unless they managed to swarm it and pin it down. That seemed unlikely with Hawk and Rae both in the fight, even if you didn''t count Karl himself as abat asset, as he would be mostly watching out for the other students.


    The oue seemed inevitable, and after twenty minutes of discussion and a few tersely worded phone calls, thedies returned with a smile on both of their faces.


    "You will be allowed to lead an away mission. Student Dana will be going with you, along with eight of the Common Grade first years. It is a herbal resource gathering mission in a lightly monitored area, and there will be emergency assistance avable on a ten-minute helicopter ride, should you activate the emergency beacons." Sergeant Rita informed Karl.


    "Understood, Sergeant. Thank you for this opportunity." Karl replied as seriously as he could while trying to ignore the excitement of his beasts.


    They were finally getting to somewhere that there might be mice, and Hawk was overjoyed at the prospect.

 Chapter 94 Student Led Mission

    <h4>Chapter 94 Student Led Mission </h4>


    The mission was to start the next morning, and they would be delivered by train to the location. There was no road near where they were going, but the train tracks ran only twenty kilometres from the location of the suspected magical resources.


    That would be close enough for them to hike in, and it would be up to Karl and Dana to make sure that the team didn''t get lost.


    With Hawk on duty, that should be a simple matter, as he could see where they were going from above, so Karl didn''t have too many concerns about the situation.


    There were also no reports of major beasts in the area, only some of the ever present wild boars and a few small monsters that liked to live in the forest. That could be an issue for most teams, but it would be a great test for them, Karl thought.


    The small monsters were all Common Grade, and he could deal with them in a matter of seconds, but they would be a good opponent for the students who were still struggling with their early growth.


    Also, having Dana along with her pair of Golems would be enough security against therger creatures that very few things would dare to attack them. The golems didn''t take much upkeep, and by now she should be able to get them to followplex orders without much distraction from her other casting, which would make them excellent guards.


    They all called it an early day, as the supply train arrived at three in the morning, so that supplies would be sorted and ready for pickup by the time that everyone started to wake up. But that also meant that if you wanted to catch the train out, you had to be at the tracks by half past three in the morning, or four at the verytest if they were slow unloading.


    The train didn''t wait for groups toe to them unless it was an urgent mission, so being on time was a major part of your responsibility.


    That was how Karl found himself waking Dana up at two in the morning, much to the protests of both herself and Rae, who was sleeping above her in the rafters of the Gazebo.


    "It''s time to go. I''m going to water the nts quickly, and then we need to grab breakfast and get on the train." Karl reminded her.


    Rae disappeared back into the web in her space, while Dana got up and ready. They both met their team at the cafeteria, with the lone night shift worker on staff for asions such as this. But there weren''t enough of them, they were still missing two people, and it was getting close to three in the morning.


    "Does anyone know what rooms the other two are in? We should go wake them up." Karl insisted.


    "I do. They''re just a few doors down from me." One of the others agreed with a vicious smile that said she would enjoy waking them up much more than most.


    Three students came back down ten minutester, and the girl who went to fetch them settled back down with her breakfast, while the two boys looked rather lost and half asleep.


    "Cook, can we get some food for them, and some lunches to go? We''ve got ration packs in the gear that the school provided, but I think a nice fresh sandwich would be better." Karl asked as he finished eating and got thest two stragglers settled.


    "I will get them something to go. The train is already here, so you should be going if you want to make it before they''re unloaded." She reminded him with a smile, then handed over a tray full of brown bags, two of which were muchrger.


    Dana worked to usher everyone out as they finished their meal, for the kilometre walk from the school grounds to the train stop on the ring around the Academy.


    "Did anyone bring a light? I can''t see a thing." One of the warriorsined as they left the academy grounds and began to walk down the road.


    Everyone looked to Karl, who was leading the group, and he shrugged. "Sorry, I forgot for a moment that I''m the only one who can see in the dark. I''ve got a shlight in my pack, and there should be one in everyone else''s as well."


    The packs were issued to them by the supply room, dropped off in their dorm after they were approved for the mission. So, they should have everything that the Academy thought the student needed for the trip, as they weren''t expected to n out their whole gear set during their first year.


    One by one, the students brought out their shlights and spun the cranks to charge the batteries. The Academy knew that they would forget to bring spare batteries, so even the campingntern that was in Karl''s pack as team leader was powered by a hand crank charger.


    Thentern also had enough battery storage to charge the emergency phone, which served as their lifeline to civilization.


    "Ten of you, then?" The train''s usher asked with a gesture toward the passenger car.


    "Yes, sir. I''ve got the mission order right here." Karl replied.


    The man looked it over, then picked up a phone mounted to the wall and confirmed the dropoff location with the engineer.


    "Alright, climb aboard and stow your bags in the overheadpartments. We have a few more stops before yours, so you won''t be there until lunchtime."


    Karl settled into a seat at the front of the train car, where Dana promptly fell asleep on his arm, and the rest of the team did their best to get a few more hours of rest while they travelled the morning away.


    They napped, meditated and yed games until the conductor gave them the warning that they had one more hour before dropoff. That was when Karl decided it was time to get them all ready to move.


    "Alright everyone, have your lunch early, use the washroom, double-check your gear and make sure that you have your weapons ready. Not in your bag, but on your hip and avable for use at a moment''s notice. While it isn''t likely that there will be monsters next to the stop, we will get off in the wilderness, and there won''t be anyone there to clear the area." He warned them.


    "Got it." The team agreed, while the Conductor nodded in satisfaction to see that the team leader of this first year mission was taking things seriously.


    Not all of them did, especially an easy mission like this one was supposed to be, but it always made his life easier if there were no injured students when the train stopped to pick them up again.

 Chapter 95 Off The Train

    <h4>Chapter 95 Off The Train </h4>


    The train pulled to a stop in the middle of nowhere, and the students rose to their feet.


    "Good luck, young Elites. Just g down any train you see passing by in the other direction, and it will take you back to the Academy, or close enough for you to walk in." The conductor exined.


    "Got it. We will see you soon." Karl agreed, and led the others out the door.


    Dana brought up the rear of the group, making sure they were all off the train, and when Karl called out Hawk to scout for them, she called her pair of Golems to guard the back of the pack.


    It was quiet out here, other than the sound of the train beginning to move again, but that didn''t necessarily mean safe, just that they hadn''t noticed any threats yet.


    The students were all incredibly nervous, flinching at every sound of their teammates moving in the long grass, but as Karl led them into the trees toward where they should find the magical nts they needed, they became almost petrified with fear.


    That couldn''t be natural, they had been so excited a moment ago, but when Karl searched the area, he couldn''t find a reason for it. The feeling seemed to fade quickly as they walked, until finally, one of them pointed out a small weed growing near the tree trunks.


    "Terror weed. The pollen causes a mild reaction that causes a fear response. It''s the nt''s natural defence mechanism, someone must have stepped on one in the grass." He exined.


    The students all felt a little foolish when that was mentioned. The first thing that the warriors learned was to watch where they put their feet. They needed a solid footing for their sword skills, so the ground under them was as important as the enemy.


    But someone had still stepped on amon toxic nt.


    "Everyone, put your masks on. Who knows if there are other dangers like that in the area, and we don''t need anyone poisoned on the first day of the trip. Do we have a healing ss with us?" He asked, while mentally going through the students'' descriptions he was given.


    "I can do a minor heal and a poison cleanse." The lone Druid in the group mentioned.


    "And I have healing potions, but we''re here to get materials for more." One of the two witches added.


    "Perfect. We will save the potions for as long as possible, as the warriors will mostly heal pretty quickly. As I discussed on the train, if we are attacked, fall back to form a ring, with the casters in the middle.


    No, that''s not because they''re weaker, but because they''re squishy. The warriors are the shield, while the casters are the primary damage. The Golems will back you up, and my beasts and I will range outside the defensive circle." Karl reminded them.


    He would have liked to actually practice the manoeuvre, but ording to Hawk, the first nts that they were searching for should be only a few hundred metres away. There was another spot marked on the map, many kilometres away, but Hawk was certain that he had found them just up ahead.


    Once they got the first target, the mission could be considered a partial sess, and everything that came afterwards would just bring them closer topletion.


    [Definitely found it. Bright blue flowers shaped like shoes.] Hawk informed Karl, with a mental impression of where they were.


    [Keep an eye out for threats. I don''t want you getting ambushed as you fly over.]


    Hawkughed a little at Karl''s concern, as he was hundreds of metres above the trees, but he appreciated that his human cared enough to make sure he was safe.


    Karl adjusted their course, pretending to follow the map, and within minutes they were standing next to a field full of beautiful blue flowers.


    "These are the ones, right?" He asked.


    "Yes, but everyone, please stay out of the clearing. Only one in ten blossoms has the magical properties of the nt, the rest are all decoys. If someone breaks the wrong one, we will havee here for nothing." The witch pleaded.


    "You heard her, stay here while the witches gather their ingredients. Hawk will be watching from above, and I will be right here at the edge of the clearing in case something is hiding in the flowers."


    The two witches moved delicately through the field, avoiding stepping on any of the flowers as they picked the ones they wanted. The nts weren''t going without a fight, though. Multiple times, the witches stopped right as they were about to pluck and grabbed a different one, then continued on their way.


    Once they had a few dozen in total, they returned to the others with careful steps.


    "That''s enough. You can''t pick too many, or you will kill the patch, and we hope toe back here again soon. The nts are smart, and when they sense that they''re going to be damaged, they will pull their essence back to their roots, which renders the flowers worthless for potions. That''s why we had to be so careful." The more outgoing of the two witches exined.


    "Alright, on to the next one." Karl agreed.


    [It''s not far, one hundred metres south.] Hawk informed him.


    The next should also have been much further, but if Hawk had found some that weren''t on the map, that was even better, as their collection wouldn''t remove a listed herb from the directory for the other students who wanted to do a mission near here.


    "Hawk thinks that he has found another of our goals already. Move as silently as possible so that we don''t disturb the wildlife." Karl reminded the others in a stage whisper.


    The students began to move, but a whistle from Hawk drew Karl''s attention. He had seen something dangerous, and it was close.


    "Everyone hold position, Hawk sees something." Karl whispered as he raised his hand in a gesture to stop.


    [White cloth, two figures, running your direction. Possibly human, but maybe not.] Hawk warned him.


    Humanoid monsters were rare, but poachers, aggressive hill folk, and foreign soldiers might not be. They didn''t have enough information about the area''s human poption in the data to be certain.

 Chapter 96 White Robes

    <h4>Chapter 96 White Robes </h4>


    Karl''s keen vision caught sight of the white cloth moving toward them at a run through the forest, a full second before he managed to associate the clothing with its most likely owner.


    "Those are clergy robes. No more than 150 centimetres tall, I think that they''re students from one of the Seminary Academies." Karl informed the others, then moved to intercept the two running figures.


    If he was wrong, he had all the advantages, and if they didn''t want to stop, he could just have Rae tie them up until they calmed down.


    The two came barrelling through the trees, then paused when they saw the Academy uniforms, and began to gesture wildly.


    "You have to get out of here. There is a giant monster in the sky." One of them shouted.


    "Three metre wingspan, kind of brown with a creamy belly and red streaks on its legs? That one is trained, he''s with us." Karl informed them, and the two clerics simply stared at him as if he had grown another head.


    "A what now? That sounds terrifying. But no, there is a giant beetle flying this way. It killed our lesson proctor, and he was an Ascended High Priest." The young boy eximed.


    "How far have you been running? We are all Elites, and we are hunting for magical nts in the area. There are ten of us, with two strong Awakened Rank leaders." Karl tried to calm the pair.


    Clerics weren''t known for theirbat power. They would empower the weapons of warriors and their healing magic was remarkable, but as far as actual fighting abilities, they were just humans with swords if they were even carrying them.


    These two weren''t.


    "That might be enough? Can you fight an Ascended Rank beast?" The boy asked hopefully, while the girl beside him did her best to hide her face.


    "I can confidently say, yes. We can fight a lone Ascended Rank monster. If there were a bunch of them, we would lead you away with us, but one is something that we can defeat." Karl replied with a gentle smile.


    Hawk was getting excited as well. Most beetles didn''t fly well, they only flew a short distance and thennded. His gic memories told him that beetles were crunchy and nutritious, though he wasn''t sure that this one was a species that could be eaten.


    Rae was likewise excited about the prospect. To the Bloodbath Spider, all insects were prey.


    The sound of crashing through the trees brought another trill from Hawk, who had spotted arge ck figure headed their way, covered in blood and reeking of death. That had to be the beetle, and it was tracking the two humans.


    "Everyone in position, get the clerics to the middle of the circle." Karl ordered, doing his best imitation of Sergeant Rita.


    He did it so well that even Dana responded, ushering everyone into position, while her Golems remained outside, ready to face whatever threat Karl had noticed.


    The crashing through the trees was hard to miss as the beetle chased after the escaped prey, so Karl called out the other pets in time for the students to get used to their presence.


    "These two are Thor and Rae. DO NOT attack them." He warned the others.


    The students stared in confusion at the sudden appearance of the Lightning Cerro, who was already the size of a small bear or a huge dog, but it took them a few seconds to find Rae, who had appeared in a tree and instantly hidden herself.


    The beetle came in sight, and Lightning shed around Thor''s body. That caught its attention, and the creature began to charge, keening in a way that made Karl feel like the creature was starving and desperate for food.


    "Wait for my signal. Thor, block the initial charge, then move out of the way for the students to retaliate." Karl called.


    The beetle pped its wings to fly at Thor, then crashed to the ground as Rae tied them together above its back with a spurt of spider silk.


    The muscles that moved the wings weren''t particrly strong, and it couldn''t break free as Thor charged into it, flipping the creature on its back with a jab of his horns.


    "Now!" Karl ordered as Thor moved away, sending his own attack to join thebined spells of the mages.


    They wouldn''t actually do much damage to the Ascended Rank beast, but as his Shred tore apart the chitin, and the wings were held up, exposing its vulnerable sides, even the Common Rank magical attacks proved rtively effective.


    With a screech, the beetle tore its wings free of their confinement, and charged at Thor again, drawn to thergest threat.


    The students paused their attacks, waiting for an opening, while Karl moved in for the kill.


    Thor''s lightning wavered and flickered out of existence for an instant as the two beasts shed, and the beetle began to celebrate its impending victory, a split second before Raended on its head and began to stab its eyes out with her wed feet before tearing into the chitin of the beetle''s skull.


    Karl helped that along with a condensed [Rend] to the back of the creature''s neck, and the Bloodbath Spider moved in for the kill, tearing through the hole to sever the muscles.


    The giant beetle fell to the ground with onest desperate il of its wings, trying to dislodge Rae, but it was far toote. The strength left its body, and the spider began to tear the shell open to get at the good bits inside.


    "Don''t go getting yourself covered in bug guts, there''s no river nearby to clean off in." Karl warned her, just as Rae was about to take a dive directly into the carcass.


    She grumbled out aint and pulled the head into her beast space, while Thor gave it onest kick for good luck.


    "Problem solved everyone. We will keep an eye out for more dangers, but the beetle threat is gone.


    Where are the cleric students? How far did you run, and how many more were in your group?" Karl asked.


    They both just shook their heads. "There was just us and the High Priest out gathering herbs. I don''t know how far we ran, we just ran."


    Karl nodded. "I will have my Hawk go look for the scene of the battle. I know that the church has some formal burial rituals and such, right?"


    The two young clerics nodded numbly, not quite sure how to process what was going on.


    "Well, then we will get it all sorted out so that the High Priest is taken care of. Don''t worry, we won''t just leave the body here in the wilderness." Karl informed them.


    There likely wouldn''t be a body to leave in the wilderness, but a little white lie wouldn''t hurt anything, and if there was a blood soaked keepsake that the beetle didn''t eat, it should be enough for their purposes.


    It would make both the cleric students and the other Elite students feel a bit better about the situation, Karl decided, then wondered when he got so casual about death.


    [Meat is meat.] Hawk replied, unconcerned.


    Rae wholeheartedly agreed, but Thor just shook his head. Fragrant leaves were better than meat any day.

 Chapter 97 Cleanup At Tree Three

    <h4>Chapter 97 Cleanup At Tree Three </h4>


    With the responses of his pets, Karl began to realize how much their way of thinking was influencing his own. He should be horrified by the situation. But the calmness of his pets affected him just as much as their excitement did, and he just couldn''t bring himself to be suitably agitated about the situation as Hawk searched for the site of the original battle by following the beetle''s trail through the woods.


    [I have found it. It didn''t finish eating, it just took the good bits and then chased the others. I think I can fit it all in this bag they brought.] Hawk informed him helpfully.


    That was a disturbing thought.


    [Pack him up and bring him to the Beast Space, we will make sure that he makes it to a proper burial. No, wait, I will ask the clerics if he should be buried right there first.] Karl replied.


    "What is the burial ritual for High Priests? Should I have Hawk preserve the remains of the body, or should he be buried on thend?" Karl asked.


    The older of the two clerics took out a small book and began to flip through it.


    "I''m not sure, that isn''t supposed to happen. I mean, this is a safe zone, there shouldn''t be anything stronger than a weak Awakened beast here." He mumbled as he flipped through the pages.


    "Oh, here it is. Yes, he should be brought back to the church for a burial in state, thanks to his high station. There will be three days of mourning for the clergy surrounding the funeral, and some other things that don''t really involve you, but please preserve the remains." The student replied.


    Karl ryed the message, and Hawk did his best to get all the bits into therge herb gathering bag that they had brought, and began the flight back to Karl. Once he was close, Hawk shifted the bag into his beast space, while Rae imed the beetle body, leaving the area strangely empty.


    "What just happened?" One of the Elite ss students asked.


    "My beasts have a separate space where they can store food forter. Rae put the beetle away, and we will strip the good parts of chitin for trade to the Academy. They pay for monster parts, since they can be used in armour and weapons, as well as some magical items." Karl exined.


    "Oh, that''s right. Will you ask Rae if I can have one of the horns? Beetle horn is on my list of ingredients, but I never thought about keeping it from the giant beetle."


    Rae broke the horn off with some effort, and ejected it from her space. It was just a solid lump of chitin, andpletely inedible. Therefore, it was worthless to her.


    The student stared at the horn in reverence. "You know, it died so fast that it never really sunk in. That was an Ascended Rank beast, wasn''t it? I can feel the power in the chitin, but it died so easily."


    Karl smiled. "That''s partially thanks to Rae''s specialty. She''s excellent at finding ways through chitin. Plus, my attack power is high, and with its wings lifted, the less armoured sides were exposed."


    The students were making mental notes, in case they had to fight something like that again. The shell that covered the wings was the strongest part of the giant beetle''s body, so normally you wouldn''t attack its back. But with the wings lifted by the spider silk, that left it vulnerable to attack, and Karl''s ability had left an open wound for them to target.


    "Now, we''re near the next herb that we came here for, so let''s keep going. My apologies to our new friends, but we still have a mission toplete. I will make sure that you make it back safely, though if your pickup point is further afield than we''re going, I will bring you back to the train tracks instead." Karl added.


    "That''s good enough for us. I don''t know where we were supposed to be picked up, The High Priest was responsible for that. But there are other groups from the Seminary School out here somewhere. The train dropped us all off only a few minutes apart, so we might find one of them before you go." The young cleric replied.


    One of the warriors smiled at the boy. "But in the meantime, we''re counting on you and your Holy Magic."


    The boy nodded, and the shy girl gave them a thumbs up. Holy Magic was the one thing that they were confident in. They had been out with the High Priest mostly to serve as pack mules as he picked herbs, and not as much for training as the warriors of the Elite Academy were. To the Church, obedience and subservience were more important thanbat skills, and serving the High Priest on his mission was good training for their future works of service to themunity.


    "What is next? Didn''t Hawk say that there was something nearby before the emergency happened?" Dana asked.


    "Just this way. Hawk is already back up in the air looking for more threats, so we will just follow his path toward the next set of herbs, and then we will move on to the third marked location." Karl agreed.


    Technically, he would be skipping the third location marked on the map, since it was either at or very close to the battle site, but if they couldn''t find that resource elsewhere he might lead them there at the end of the trip.


    The way that he had nned to bring them would go right past the battle, but with Hawk''s discovery, he could change the route to make a big loop around it and end up back near the tracks as they finished. If that covered everything that the group needed, then they could skip a few potential resources and head back satisfied.


    Though, if the clerics needed some of the others, he would dly bring them around to help gather. They had enough trauma for one trip, so putting a good memory on top might help.


    Karl seemed to recall hearing that somewhere as a kid, perhaps from the school counsellor after one of the many incidents down below in the pit.

 Chapter 98 Tree Apes

    <h4>Chapter 98 Tree Apes </h4>


    If anyone had felt rxed about this easy mission when they arrived, they didn''t feel rxed any more. The whole group was on high alert, searching the woods for anything that might be a danger.


    Karl let Thor lead the group on the ground, following Hawk''s guidance, while Rae hid in the beast space with the remains of the giant beetle that she was carefully dissecting to improve her understanding of exoskeletal species for [Offensive Adaptation].


    Minutes after they started moving again, an angry grunt caught Karl''s attention, and the crashing of arge animal through undergrowth drew the attention of everyone else.


    [Three tree apes. Common Grade. They don''t look tasty.] Hawk reported as the creatures approached.


    "We have a small pack of apes in the trees iing. Group, you know what to do. It is up to you if you want to attack them or let them pass." Karl informed the others, which made Dana smile at him.


    They could attack anything that moved, but that would anger everything else. So, if it wasn''t hostile, she would prefer not to make it hostile.


    One of the mages shook his head. "They normally don''t attack people. They just like to shout at them from the trees. If they don''t attack, we should keep moving, since they will scare off any other small monsters with the noise they make."


    The group patiently waited, and moved in a triple column, putting the warriors on the outside with the mages and clerics between them and the Golems at the back. But the tree apes behaved just as the mage had anticipated, and they remained in the upper branches of the trees, screaming at the humans, and asionally throwing nuts and berries at them.


    The monkeys thought that the whole thing was hrious, and theyughed as the warriors swatted aside the projectiles, but they didn''te any closer, and they didn''t do anything that would provoke an all out attack.


    [The spot is just ahead. Should I scare the monkeys away?] Hawk asked with a hopeful tone in Karl''s mind.


    [Sure, go ahead and get your snack.] Karl replied, likening the monkeys to junk food.


    [I told you they don''t look tasty.] Hawk replied indignantly as he folded his wings and dove out of the sky.


    He hit the monkey at well over a hundred kilometres an hour, nearly shredding its body as he pulled it away from the branch in his ws and returned to the sky. That was what a normal bird of prey would do, as they had all the advantages when they were flying.


    Some of the students didn''t realize that was Hawk at first, and they began to panic at the presence of another powerful attacker, but that only helped the tree apes make their decision. The humans were afraid of that thing too, so it would likely attack them next if the ape tribe left.


    Hawk peeled the ape apart and took one tentative bite before discarding the body, which bounced down through the branches as the rest of the tribe scattered.


    [Good work, they''re still running.] Karl congratted Hawk, just as the bird speared down to get another of the tree apes and bring it into the sky to use as a projectile. But this time, it wasn''t on the apes.


    Instead, he found a lone ck Mane Bear and circled up to an altitude of five hundred metres before diving hard and releasing the corpse. A p of his wings sent him on a glide path over the forest, and the bear roared in anger as the body smashed down right where it had been standing a second earlier.


    [Why are you angering the bears?] Karl asked as he heard the noise.


    [Why would I not anger the bears? You should have seen it, it was hrious.] Hawk replied.


    [I hate that I can''t argue with that. It probably was hrious. But the others are already freaked out enough without an angry bearing their way.]


    [Do you know how a Windspeed Hawk usually learns to fly? I mean, not me in the space, but other ones.] Hawk asked.


    [Don''t they just p their wings in the nest until they can take off?] Karl asked.


    [Nope, they''d remain in the nest forever that way. Once they''re grown enough to fly, their mother pushes them out of the nest. They either learn or they hit the ground.] Hawk replied.


    Karl''s smile caught the attention of the warriors at the front, and they were suddenly very worried about the safety of their "low risk" training mission. Did they get two awakened leaders not because Karl and Dana were both in their first year as well, but because they were going to need more than one?


    What was out here that was making the monster man so happy?


    He was already so much more powerful than anything that should be in the area, perhaps he forgot that the rest of them were not looking forward to actually meeting monsters on this trip to get resources?


    The sound of the angry bear retreated into the distance as it moved out of the territory of the annoying bird, but the group''s tension level didn''t drop any lower until they made it to the next spot, a section of fallen trees where an Awakened Rank moss grew abundantly all over the dead fall.


    "This is what we are here for, the best of the resources in the region." One of the warriors quietly cheered.


    Karl''s confused look let them all know that he hadn''t had time to study the properties of the resources here, only their locations. So one of the warriors helpfully filled him in.


    "The moss is dried and then lightly roasted to create a tea that supplements the strength stones for sses that have physical enhancements. I don''t know if it will work for your ss, but a kilo each of that moss will keep us for the entire school year.


    You can''t use too much, it will just be a waste, but a cup in the morning will make nearly as much of a difference as a strength stone twice a month." The warrior exined.


    That was more often than Hawk was going through strength stones mixed with blood as food seasoning. So, it should be a good resource for the pets, and Karl would have to get some.


    [It looks good.] Thor agreed, letting a bit of drool slip out of the corner of his mouth.


    "Alright, do the mages need this resource? Or should we split it between the people who can use it, stopping at a kilo each, so it doesn''t go bad before everyone can use it?" Karl asked.


    "Mages can''t use it, it won''t do anything beneficial for us unless we''re weakened. But the Witches can use it in recovery potions, so they will need at least as much as the warriors." One of the warriors exined.


    The pair of witches looked grateful that he had stood up for them, and the resource intensive needs of their potion making.


    "Is there anything else I should know before I harvest this? Parasites, dangerous creatures that like to live under it?" Karl asked.


    The group all reluctantly shook their heads, and Karl drew his short sword from the scabbard at his hip. The rest all thought it was a bit odd that he didn''t take the sword out to fight, but he carried it anyhow, though they didn''t say anything.


    The Team Leader was responsible for loot distribution, ording to Academy Regtions.

 Chapter 99 Moss Tea

    <h4>Chapter 99 Moss Tea </h4>


    Karl looked at how the moss grew, down the top of the logs, and the one side, but not the bottom or the other side. If he wanted it to keep growing, he had to leave enough in the right spots that it didn''t ruin the moss bed too badly.


    So, he cut diagonal stripes across the log, removing thin strips amounting to half of the moss on each log, while leaving the rest securely attached. That should grow back over, he assumed, and then it could be harvested again.


    "Where did you learn that?" Dana asked as Karl cut the careful strips from the moss.


    "I''m actually just guessing here by the way that it grows. But I''m only taking half, and leaving the other half in the way that looks like it will grow back the fastest. Moss spreads from the edges, you see, and only grows well on the sunny side. So, if I only take half and leave as many good edges as possible, then it looks like this.


    That should be the fastest pattern to grow back, and by my guess, I''ve cut nearly twenty kilos of wet weight moss from this one tree. I haven''t even touched the other ones yet, and we''ve got enough to fill all the warriors and the witches requests. I just need to grab a little for Thor here, and we can be on our way to the next spot." He exined.


    "I don''t suppose we could spare a bit more... There is an awful lot of it growing here." One of the warriors suggested.


    The witch closest to Karl nodded in agreement. "The Academy expects you to provide for your own when it''s not a standard part of the growth n, and it''s not like they ept these items as a trade in, at least not from the first years who are supposed to be looking out for themselves first, but normally, we would never see so much of an Awakened Rank resource in one spot.


    If this was up on the market, we would be rich. Well, until we all got arrested for trafficking controlled substances to the masses, but you get my point. We could earn plenty of favours from the other students in ss if we had a bit to trade them, you know?"


    "Alright, I will harvest another log." Karl agreed with a smile.


    He cut the same stripe pattern on one log, and then had Thor quietly move the log hidden behind where he was working into the beast space. A beast his size would need a lot of the moss to equal out to a cup of tea a day, and a bit added to his usual diet every morning would help him grow big and strong.


    But even the Lightning Cerro realized that the herb should be rationed. He ate a lot of higher rank nts as his general diet, but this one was special, and the effects were limited, so it was more of a treat than a basic staple of the diet.


    The second batch was spread the same as the first and stuffed into backpacks, while Karl looked at the map to see what was up next. They were going to go around the battle from earlier, and that would bring them to one of two spots. Either a spot that might have another strengthening herb, or one that was known to grow crystals that helped focus and increase the mana pool growth rate.


    Karl decided to lead them to the crystals first, in the interest of fairness. If anything went wrongter, at least they should all have gained something from the trip that way. It would also help the clerics that they had rescued, so they wouldn''t go home empty-handed.


    The signs of monsters got more prominent the further that they went, and Karl began to question whether the intel was wrong, or if this was actually what they considered a low-risk area in the wilderness.


    He knew that there were countless monsters in the wild areas, and thatrge portions of thend barely held any humans, but he was seeing signs of magical abilities and trees that had been downed by something powerful enough to w through them.


    That was no Common Grade monster, and most of the marks were too far up to have been the giant beetle.


    Even Thor was bing nervous with all the signs and scents of predators, but he had arge pack with him now, and he wasn''t as concerned as he would have been if he were alone. He trusted Hawk to find anything really dangerous, and the bird was currently circling their destination, making sure that nothing was hiding around the cave.


    He hadn''t checked the inside, but the surroundings were clear of anyrge animals, and a few more of the small ones as well, as Hawk was feeling a bit hungry after all that flying.


    "The crystal cave is just ahead. Remember, we haven''t checked the interior yet, so I can''t say if the crystals are there, as the report said there would be, but I can say that Hawk found the cave right where they said it was." Karl reported.


    The mages shared an excited smile, while the warriors prepared their minds for the charge into an unexplored cavern system. If they found the crystals near the entrance, they wouldn''t have to go far in, but if not, they would need to explore, and that brought a whole new realm of danger with it.


    "Hold up." Dana warned them as they approached the clearing outside the cave entrance.


    "I saw some unique nts in the clearing. They''re not on the list, but I recognize them from the botany books that I had to read." She informed the team.


    Karl looked carefully, and began to smile. One of the nts was a Winter Berry bush. Not powerful, but he would have to pick some for Hawk, who loved the vour.


    [I already got some.] The smug bird informed him. Karl checked the mental space and found that there was an entire bush there, nted in the ground as if it would keep growing.


    Maybe it would. Karl didn''t really understand how the spaces worked, but he was feeding them magical energy, so it wasn''t impossible that a magical nt might survive in there, although the majority of the ground was just a mental image.


    Dana addressed the group. "There are nts with narrow spiny leaves. Collect the leaves without letting them touch you or your clothing. We will want as many as possible. I need four warrior volunteers."


    Four hands went up, and Dana sent them out, then she pointed to another nt. "These are tiger leaf weeds. They''re exceptional for fire magic training. All the mages should gather at least a few of them. They are eaten one at a time just before you try to learn fire magic, so dry them and save them."


    The mages began to move out, so Karl gathered the rest of the warriors. "We are on guard duty, but as you move, keep your eyes open for these purple and white berries. They''re delicious. Not much of a magical effect other than slightly refreshing, but they''re a great seasoning for oatmeal."


    That made the warriors smile. Oatmeal was not only a staple of the breakfast menu at home, but it was also in the breakfast pack of all their travel rations. Being able to vour it with some fresh berries would make their first morning in the wilderness much more enjoyable.

 Chapter 100 Crystal Chamber

    <h4>Chapter 100 Crystal Chamber </h4>


    The team made their way carefully across the field, grabbing everything that they thought might be valuable, while being careful not to kill the nts, even when they needed a portion of the roots for their training.


    It was a bit odd seeing these strong warriors being so delicate with flowers and weeds, but if it meant that they coulde back here in a month or two and harvest the same resources again, it was well worth the effort.


    Although they had met up with a group from the clergy, it was rare for people to head this far into the wilderness, and with so much ground to cover, and only an aerial scan to indicate that there might be resources, the chances were that nobody else would return here after the report was filed that they had harvested in this region.


    It took them nearly an hour to finish their work and make it to the cavern, where all the team members realized that they had a real problem on their hands. They had found so many other resources that they had filled their bags already, and they were only at the third stop. Well, technically the second stop, as the first one hadn''t been one of the intended map points to harvest resources.


    "If we pack the moss a bit more tightly we might make room for one more stop, but if it''s arge leafy nt, or a flower that shouldn''t be crushed, we will be really short on space." One of the warriors noted.


    They had loaded up with the moss, but the mages had filled their bags with the flowers and leaves here in this field, where they had actuallye to gather crystal from the cave.


    "Alright, same formation as before. I will keep Hawk in reserve, but here in the darkness, we will have Thor and Rae." Karl exined.


    He felt Rae''s amusement at the thought of Thor stomping around happily smashing all the crystals that they were here to gather.


    "On second thought, I will keep Thor in reserve as well, and Rae will help me with the scouting duties on point. The golems will take up the rear, and the rest of you mingle your ranks, warrior then mage. You all know the drill." He amended.


    The group adjusted their positions and prepared their shlights with a rapid round of cranking the chargers, just to make sure that the batteries were absolutely,pletely charged.


    Unlike Karl, who had very little reason to be afraid of the dark, the others were much morefortable in the light. Rae decided that was the perfect excuse for her to scout ahead, so she would be out of the range of the lights, and vanished into the cave.


    [It''s shiny in here. Oh, pretty stone. That''s for me, and a bit of glowing moss for my nest, and a mushroom.] Rae happily narrated her scouting mission.


    [Just remember that we''re here to help the others level up so that they can catch up to us, so don''t loot everything before they get there.] Karlughed at the Bloodbath Spider''s excess.


    [They''re not valuable, just pretty. You cane in now, the entrance doesn''t have anything scary in it.]


    Karl stepped inside, and for the first time noticed that there was something strange about his night vision. It was never truly dark in the Academy, with the lights in the yard, the dim lighting in the hallways and all the other light sources around.


    But inside the cavern, before the others entered with their lights, Karl could see in a whole new way.


    Not how Hawk saw in the dark, as that still relied on some level of light being present, but how Rae saw in the dark, through abination of thermal imaging and echolocation. Each footstep made his surroundings seem more vivid, and he could see the difference where there was cold water running over the warmer stones.


    It was no wonder that Rae liked it in the dark, she was perfectly in her element.


    Then the group followed behind him, lighting up the tunnel with theirnterns and shlights, and Karl''s night vision naturally shifted back to the more detailed low light resolution that he had inherited from Hawk.


    Rae had been correct, none of the students were interested in the remains of the interesting objects that she had found, and the spider carefully led them down to the first chamber of the cavern system.


    "There''s one. I see one of the crystals." A mage whispered.


    One wouldn''t be nearly enough, but it meant that there were, or had been, some here.


    "Leave the first as a marker that they are still here, and let''s move further into the cave to check for more. Rae, do you see what that one looks like? That is the type of crystal that they need." Karlmented.


    [On it.]


    [There is another good room up here, but something is in it. There is a pond in the middle, and I can sense something moving under the water.] Rae reported.


    [Stay back, and we will approach it as a group.]


    "There is a cavern up ahead, with something living in the water. Rae doesn''t know what it is, so prepare for a fight." Karl reported.


    He moved slowly to the entrance, where Rae was hiding directly above his head, blended in with the stone of the wall, and followed her gaze to the softly glowing waters of the pond. It was magnificent, giving off a dim glow of magical power, and the bottom was lined with crystals.


    There were hundreds of them in this room, but something felt off, like taking any of them would bring about a bacsh.


    "Wait before you pluck any of the crystals on the walls. I have a feeling that they''re rted to whatever is in theke." Karl warned the group, who were about to go into a frenzy at the sight of so many resources.


    They paused for a moment, but it was obvious that they thought he was being overly cautious on nothing more than the word of a spider.


    One of the warriors used a stick that he had brought in with him and sshed the surface of the water, waiting for a response, but there was nothing, just ripples in the cid surface.


    The mages hesitated for a few more seconds, then one of them used a knife to pop a crystal from the wall. Still no response from anything, and the others smiled in victory.


    The mage took off his glove to examine his prize, and a sh of light filled the room, engulfing and blinding everyone, as well as forcing Rae back into the beast space.


    [I told them there was something here.] She muttered as she waited for her eyes to adjust.


    The first to adapt was Thor, who had been sitting with his eyes closed as he chewed, and he ryed the situation to Karl.


    [There are things here. Dangerous things, I will go out and chase them away.]


    The Lightning Cerro took action as he spoke, and his bugling call to arms echoed through a muchrger space than Karl had expected. They couldn''t be in that same cavern, unless it had copsed, it sounded more like they were outdoors, next to a mountain valley.


    The noise was enough to hold whatever was there at bay for the few seconds that it took Karl''s eyes to adjust, but what he saw was nothing he could have anticipated.

 Chapter 101 Forgotten Temple

    <h4>Chapter 101 Forgotten Temple </h4>


    They were standing in a lush green valley, as he had guessed from the sound, surrounded by mountains, with a massive golden pyramid temple in front of them.


    The steps up each side pulsed with magic that he could feel even from hundreds of metres away, while between him and the temple stood thousands of glowing crystal golems, the same rainbow hue as the crystals that they hade here to recover.


    "I''m going to guess that there was no warning about not touching the crystal with your bare skin. But wherever we are, we might be in trouble." Karl informed the others, who were a bit slower to adjust than he was.


    "How did we get here? And holy hell, are those Golems? I want one." Dana gasped, shocking Karl with her unexpectednguage.


    The Golems were beautiful, and they looked powerful, but if Thor''s guess was right, they were far from friendly.


    Thor activated his lightning barrier, ready to fight, but the Golems didn''t move at all. They just stood there, watching the group of intruders from a distance.


    Karl stepped forward to calm the nervous Cerro, not wanting to start an incident before everyone was recovered, and they had some idea what was going on. If touching the crystal brought them here, then doing it again on this side might send them all back.


    That would likely be for the best if it was possible.


    But when he got a few steps forward, a message appeared in the air in front of them.


    [Wee to the World Dragon Temple''s Trial Instance]


    "Do you see that?" Dana asked from behind him.


    "I do, and I would rather that I didn''t if it means we''ve got to fight those golems." Karl agreed.


    "I think that we stepped into an ancient holy relic. The crystals must have been the ruins of its activation array before it was buried under the cavern, and now we''re in some sort of trial ground that the World Dragon Church set up for their members." She added.


    "That''s not reassuring at all."


    Though most of the holy relics from those ancient times didn''t lead to death, a trial ground might, especially if it was damaged by time.


    While they tried to make sense of the message, one of the Golems stepped forward.


    [The trial is simple. Make it up the steps to im your reward. If you fall down the steps, you may continue to attempt to pass your previous high mark.] The Golem spoke in a strange ent, directly into their minds.


    The lines of Golems split, leaving the road empty, and Karl took another step forward with Thor between him and the crystal giant.


    It made no move to attack, and Karl simply shrugged at the other students as he began to walk toward the golden temple.


    If they had happened upon a holy relic, there was bound to be something left behind from the Mythical times, when magic users reigned supreme, and legendary beasts vied against dragons for supremacy of the skies.


    ording to the tales of his childhood, the World Dragon, and the World Dragon Church of those times, had made a pact that had allowed the humans to live glorious lives of power and wealth.


    Now that the Elite Serum had been developed, Karl and everyone else knew that it was likely rted to the System Stones, but the fairy tale only got more popr instead of fading once it was proven to be usible historical fact.


    Maybe he would learn what had happened to end those glorious times, and how such a powerful culture fell into ruin. This ce looked intact, so it had to have survived hundreds of thousands of years of history, buried beneath the forest.


    Behind him, the rest of the group moved in the defensive formation, with the mages and clerics in the middle row, and Dana taking up the rear as she did her best to examine the Golems for ideas on how to make one.


    The clerics simply stared at everything with reverent awe. This was a holy relic, a legacy of their church, their own ancestors. Temples like these were the ancient seat of the church''s power, the source of the healing magic that they had managed to sustain with their faith through even the darkest of times.


    When they reached the clearing around the temple, another one of the Golems stepped in front of them, and seemed to stare at Thor, who was still bristling with lightning.


    [There are four sides to the Temple, four staircases to walk, and four levels of difficulty to master the lessons of the Trial.


    Walking up the first side will test your strength. It is the easiest, as strength can be trained by any of the chosen.


    The second will test your magic. Like strength, magic can also be trained by any of the chosen, but it is the more difficult path.


    The third side will test your will. Will can be tempered, but should the tempering fail, it will shatter and leave you broken. For that reason, the third side is the most dangerous.


    The fourth side will test your affinity with fate.


    Approach the temple and speak the side you wish to challenge. Each visitor may challenge one side per day. Every day you remain on a chosen side, the difficulty of the other sides will increase.]


    All the students stared at each other in shock. What sort of trial was this? They just had to walk up the stairs, and it would test them somehow?


    Then, Thor disappeared, and reappeared a secondter on one of the staircases to the temple.


    [Nothing is stronger than a Cerro.] Thor announced proudly in Karl''s mind as he stepped onto the first stair and a crushing weight seemed to descend upon him.


    [See, nothing at all.] He gloated, then took another step and the weight doubled.


    One more step and he began to reconsider his position.


    [Except maybe these stairs.] He amended when he was forced to a stop.


    There were a thousand steps, by Karl''s estimation, to get to the top. Thor was struggling at step three and hade to a stop at step five.


    "Well, that''s how it''s done, I guess. Just will yourself to the trial you desire, and see how that works out for you. We will stay here as long as we can, at a very minimum, we will stay four days, so we can try all the routes. We have enough resources for that in our packs, and it''s only half a day to the train tracks." Karl informed the group.


    "I like the way you think, team leader. Now, let''s go do the trial before the clerics start crying in joy." One of the warriorsughed.


    "Have you two taken the Divine Injection yet?" Karl asked the clerics as the rest of the group began to move forward.


    They shook their heads. "Not until next year. We''re still trainees at the Seminary School."


    "Then this will be quite a day for you. Just do the best that you can, and maybe start with the magic route, since you''ve got some skill with holy magic already."


    Karl let Hawk and Rae out of their spaces, and Hawk immediately vanished from sight, going to one of the tests that they couldn''t see from their position.


    The mages and warriors all seemed to still be visible, so it would be willpower and fate that were on the far side of the temple.


    Rae went to join Thor on the strength training side, as she wasn''t confident in her magical abilities, while Karl considered what route he should try first. The Golem said one route a day, so he would try willpower first, as that was one that he was more confident in.

 Chapter 102 Willpower

    <h4>Chapter 102 Willpower </h4>


    Once you had learned to get past the fear and ustrophobia of the crushing depths of the mines, not many things would bother you. Plus, he had noticed that his will was stronger than most thanks to the beasts, and that might earn him some reward.


    There were only a few others on the willpower testing stairs when Karl arrived. Hawk, plus the female cleric student and one mage.


    Karl set foot on the first step, and a sense of doubt began to set in. What if the test rewards were only for the first trial? Surely, it would have been better to go to the other stairwells first in that case.


    But Karl kept to his decision, and took another step.


    The more that he thought about it, the more likely it was that this was also a test of character. Would the temple think that he had nothing else going for him but pure determination? He had met dozens of students like that in the uracy training sessions.


    They had remarkable willpower to keep going, keep training and grinding away every single day, but where did that get them? It got them to the bottom of the ss, that was where.


    Because willpower was all that they had.


    Karl had talent. He had magic, he had strength. If he had tested those first, the temple would still see his determination, his willpower to keep going. Why had he chosen this staircase?


    Another step and another, as the self-doubt crept in and the world around him faded until Karl could only sense what was around him. He barely noticed as he passed the mage, who was on the fifth step and in the middle of an existential crisis, or when he passed Hawk on the seventh step, who had stopped to have a little snack before he continued.


    The Golem hadn''t said anything about being timed. Perhaps Hawk had the right of it, and you should save your strength and keep refreshed.


    No, if he stopped, it would be that much harder to get going again.


    Karl made it past the tenth step, and the worldpletely vanished around him, leaving him in a vision of the mines. He was trapped in a copse, his legs pinned, but ahead of him was another miner, closer to the emergency bell, and gasping for breath.


    The man''s rebreather was broken, but he could get to the button.


    Karl took off the miner''s mask he was wearing and threw it to his struggling coworker, then held his breath against the toxic fumes as the faceless man scrambled for the button, and the emergency supplies locker beside it.


    Ten more seconds, that was all he needed. Ten seconds and the man would being back to throw him a new mask.


    Nine, eight, Karl struggled to hold on. If he passed out, he would start breathing again, and the toxic fumes would linger in his lungs, adding a bit more permanent damage to the lifetime of injuries that a miner would suffer.


    In his mind, Karl was still young, he hadn''t taken the Divine Serum yet, and he knew that childhood lung injuries could ruin a man before he even became a man, leaving him useless underground. He would hold on, he had to.


    Then the miner was back and pping the mask over his face with a st of fresh,pressed air and Karl was back in the real world, looking at the staircase in front of him.


    "What was that?" He muttered as he looked at the steps in front of him.


    The Golem had said that it would test his willpower, but it didn''t say anything about that.


    Another step forward and the reluctance built. This was an impossible task, There was no way that anyone was going to make it to the top with that sort of horror in their minds. No wonder the mage had stopped, and the cleric girl was moving so slowly, this was torture.


    Worse, it was self-inflicted torture, with no promise of rewards.


    There was no reason for him to keep going, he could just go back down and rx for the rest of the day. Maybe the warriors would be able to use the strength wall as a training event. He could go there tomorrow and try it as a gym day, building some muscle strength as he tried to move his physique toward Ascended.


    But even with the doubts in his mind, Karl forced himself forward another step.


    There was definitely a reason he picked this side. He couldn''t remember what it was right now, but he was certain that this was the right side for him to test himself on first.


    That thought got him through two more steps before he realized that you were unable to see the other stairs once you were on one. How would anyone even know if he did well? He could just ck off and wait here for hours and then tell everyone that he did well.


    It was just the cleric and one mage here, and they were both lost in their own minds already. They wouldn''t say anything against him.


    But another step reminded Karl that he had work to do, he would make it to the top and find out what sort of recognition he could get from the temple.


    But another step reminded Karl that he had work to do, he would make it to the top and find out what sort of recognition If it was impressed with his determination, his willpower, maybe it would grant him a boon of some sort, a bit of magic that would help him in his training.


    Training the beasts. That was his ultimate goal, to help them grow and let them pull him up to the top with them. He couldn''t be less determined than they were. Even Rae was out in the sunshine, testing her strength on the stairs, he could feel the pressure that she was under, as if a mountain was trying to crush her to the stone steps, but her spindly little legs were still holding strong and pushing her upward.


    That was determination, that was willpower. He would keep going. Even Hawk was moving again, now that he had realized that the cake was a lie, and that whatever delicacy he had seen was just a way that the temple used to convince him to stop, to give up and not progress any further.


    The sun began to set over them when Karl forced himself to the forty-first stair, pulling his mind out of a nightmare of desperation, where he had lost everything, even his pets while trapped and starving here in this broken relic with no way out.


    "Well, that one hit a bit too close to home. I''ve got this, one more step." Karl mumbled to himself, unconcerned if anyone thought that he was a madman.


    Then the sun settled below the horizon, and Karl, along with everyone else who was still undergoing the trials, found himself standing in the grass near the second Golem who had spoken to them.


    [The trialsst one day at the most.] The Golem informed them, then went back to its silent judgment of their efforts.


    "Perhaps we should have waited until morning to start our first attempt, but I think that we did pretty well." Dana mumbled as shey on the grass, staring at the darkening sky.


    "I''m not sure if we would survive a whole day of that. Even with these few hours, I had to back down two steps near the end because the weight was bing too much to bear." One of the warriors replied.


    "Well, there''s always tomorrow. But first, we should make some dinner and set up camp." Karl reminded them.


    He was not going anywhere near the willpower steps again, tomorrow or ever. He had done enough of that.

 Chapter 103 Setting Camp

    <h4>Chapter 103 Setting Camp </h4>


    Setting up the camp proved that there had been some serious oversights in their mission training. It was assumed that the leaders would be experienced, and not just powerful first years who had never actually used any of the kit before.


    So, an hour after dark, they were only just finally managing to get the tents set up around a small magical fire that they assumed was intended to be their campsite.


    It was made of ming rocks, which gave off a gentle blue glow, as well as a level of warmth that reminded everyone that while this was a magical realm, it was still getting colder at night.


    For most of the students that wasn''t a big deal, but some of them came from the warmer climates, or from the big cities, where the apartment buildings were maintained at a steady temperature. They weren''t expecting how fast it got cold out, even with the fire nearby, and many had chosen to pitch their tents further away for privacy.


    That situation changed quickly, and the students who had camped further from the fire found themselves moving out of their tents anding forward.


    Karl and Dana had both chosen spots near the fire, but not because they knew about the temperature. They were both used to it getting cold at night and were somewhat used to the change, but they had wanted to be closer to the centre so that they could respond evenly to an attack from any direction.


    Both Golems and Rae were on lookout for the early portion of the evening, while Hawk would be taking over from Raeter so that they would both have enough sleep tonight. They could both see well enough in the dark, with the simted stars overhead, but nothing that they were seeing was enough to concern them, and Karl didn''t wake until Hawk informed him that it was first light and that Thor was being annoying.


    The Lightning Cerro had realized that many of the students couldn''t sleep in their cold tents, so he had volunteered hisrge, warm body to help them out. Which naturally led to the students going around in the morning to find snacks for their scaly benefactor, and a lot more movement than the grumpy Hawk would have preferred.


    One of the students tapped a spoon against his metal canteen to get everyone''s attention.


    "Everyone, bring out the breakfast packs and anything you have to season them. If you brought something that you think looks good, you can bring it out as well. What I''m going to make this morning is known as a cowboy stew.


    I''m not sure how many of you know how to cook at all, but I grew up on a cattle ranch, and we learned that if everyone brings a different bit of the basics, we can actually make onerge decent meal out of ten lousy ones." The boy exined.


    The students that Karl had set to pick berries each brought out a couple, as well as the packs of dry oatmeal, gran and dried fruit that were in the breakfast ration pack.


    The rancher''s son brought out a pot that he had managed to stuff into the bottom of his pack, and one of the mages filled it halfway up with a water spell. Then he added all the various ingredients in, and Karl brought him three sticks to create a tripod to hang it over the fire, the way his mother did at home in the summer.


    It got too hot to cook inside, and this method was much better for cooking over the fire pit in the yard.


    Then, Karl brought out the masterpiece of the meal, much to Hawk''s annoyance. Arge piece of Iron Tusk Boar meat at the Common Rank. One of thest pieces from the very first boars that they had killed during the fight against the Goblin Tribe, and a food product that Hawk routinely ignored, in favour of the many better options in his space.


    Food didn''t go bad in there, it seemed to be in stasis. So, though Karl couldn''t keep books in there, all forms of food and other resources were a valid option, and it was going to make their breakfast much more enjoyable.


    One of the mages scrubbed off a t rock, and began cutting the meat into small cubes, making forty of them in total, then conjured a collection of long sticks and began to skewer them.


    "Now, this is what I''m talking about. See, everyone, with just one chunk of meat and a few berries, we''re all going to be eating well today." The warrior stirring the oatmeal gloated.


    They weren''t master chefs, and some of the kebabs got a bit burnt on the edges, but the oatmeal was fruity instead of nd, with no dried chunks of leathery mystery fruit to gnaw on. That left each of them with a small package of nuts left over, and the drink mix to go in the stic drink pouches if they wanted something other than water.


    Once they finished eating, Karl stood to address the group.


    "Alright, you can try the same site again, if you think that you will gain something from it, or you can try a different one. I know we all discussed our experiencest night, and the willpower side was definitely not the most popr among the options, but for those of you with trouble concentrating on your abilities, it might still be a valid and valuable training resource.


    Take some time to choose your path. You can only do one a day, so there is no need to rush right to the wall this instant. I will see you all when we get back, but don''t forget to bring water and something to eat, in case you find a spot you wish to train on all day." He informed the group.


    As terrible as the willpower stairs were, his meditationst night had made huge strides in the improvement of the living spaces for his pets, and Karl was briefly tempted to go back, just to see if he could meditate on the higher steps and improve the beast spaces even more rapidly.


    If the spaces were at their peak, it might make it easier for the three beasts to grow. Hawk was certainly advancing far beyond what anyone would expect of a Windspeed Hawk.


    But it was also possible that what they needed was a more magical environment. Karl was human, they were all magical beasts. What if the real limitation was the fact that he had a virtually nonexistent mana pool?


    He might not think of it the same way that a mage did, but ultimately, the energy needed to use [Rend] was still magical energy, so there should be some merit to going up the mana improvement stairs.


    The warriors of the ancient times had powers beyond anything that he could dream of holding for himself, so was it possible that they did it by having a well-rounded set of abilities, and not some super rare ss and an Immortal Ancient bloodline that allowed them to leave theirpetition in the dust?


    Three of the sides of the pyramid appeared to be intended to train every aspect that a true warrior could need, and they were intending to stay here longer, so there was no harm in using one of the days on the mana stairs. Even if they didn''t help much, he could still meditate and make the best of his time.


    Hawk had the same idea. He had tested his willpower, and the stairs had tested his appetite. So today he would train his magical stamina instead. Rae had decided to stay on the strength stairs to build her rapidly growing body to a standard she was happy with, while Thor didn''t see any other option than strength as being worthwhile.


    All the warriors were with him on that one, except for one Berserker who was staring toward the willpower stairs, which startled everyone around him.


    "Are you thinking of building your willpower to extend the amount of time that you can maintain the pain nullification and enhancement of Berserk? I think it should work. I trained for a few days with Professor Tank, learning how to fight against and alongside Berserkers, and there was a lot of willpower involved on his end." Karl encouraged the young fighter.


    The mention of the massive Berserker made the warriors smile as they reminisced about meeting him, and that steeled the boy''s resolve.


    "One day, I will be as mighty as him." He agreed, then stepped up to the guardian Golem and vanished to his chosen trial.


    One by one, the rest split up, and Karl found himself standing next to Dana at the bottom of the mana staircase.


    "You''re training mana with Hawk? That''s unexpected." Shemented as Karl stared up the staircase.


    "Magical beasts, magical energy. I think it will help. If not, I''ve wasted a day, but I can meditate on the steps." Karl shrugged.


    "Well, if you''re willing to risk it, I won''t stop you. Good luck, I''ll look back now and then to see how you''re doing." Danaughed as she set off up the stairs.


    The first few weren''t going to pose any problems to her, especially now that she knew how it worked, but the moment that Karl put his foot on the first step and felt the overwhelming magical force on his body, he knew that he was not going to be impressing anyone today.

 Chapter 104 Mana Stairs

    <h4>Chapter 104 Mana Stairs </h4>


    Karl managed to make it to the third step before the crushing weight of the mana test forced him to a stop, freezing his body in ce and preventing him from taking another step.


    There was an enormous amount of power around him, and he had very little clue about what to do with it. It wasn''t the same as the energy in his beast spaces, but it was simr. It almost felt like an unformed magical attack, power waiting for guidance.


    That was a concept that he understood a bit better. The energy that he used to form attacks came through the beast space, normally Hawk''s as Karl hadn''t tried really using any ability but Rend and Shred. He could use the Lightning Shield to afortable standard, and Offensive Optimization was more of a passive ability that worked all the time, so it was the one space where he normally got his power.


    But if he reversed that path, taking the outside power and pulling it back into the space, would that improve them? There was one way to find out, and this trial hadn''t hurt any of the mages who drew the power in, so it should be safe enough.


    Karl stood motionless on the third step as the mages all walked past him with curious looks. The worst of them had made it to the fifth step yesterday, but Karl, who was much more powerful, was stuck on the third.


    From their point of view, the test definitely favoured mages, and they had made the right choice to keep training their strengths before worrying about their weaknesses. Their strengths were still weak enough that they couldn''t be neglected.


    Karl managed to get a trickle of energy to flow into the three spaces, filling them with sparkling motes of light that slowly integrated themselves with the constructs that Karl had made to flesh the spaces out into their own small worlds.


    He did his best to meditate as he stood there, frozen in ce, and the trickle eventually became, well, it was still a trickle, Karl couldn''t lie to himself and call it more than that, but it was a steady one.


    The nt life was multiplying, improving theke in Hawk''s space, the grasnds in Thor''s and the bushes in Rae''s home, while also condensing a stronger energy inside. The expansion rate was still the same as it had beenst night, but the quality of the space was actually improving now.


    That hadn''t really been the case before. It would improve a little when Karl focused on adding an element, but mostly he improved the size of it so that it would stabilize and allow the pet''s energy to feed back to him.


    Karl wasn''t sure how much time had passed when the burden on him began to lessen, and he managed to move up another step. But he noticed that the sun was no longer overhead, and it was on the side of his face when he moved up to the fifth stair.


    The team was going to be overjoyed when they got back home tonight. Karl''ske was an actualke now, with small silver fish made of pure energy flitting about in it, Thor''s grasnds had a number of solid stone pirs that he shouldn''t be able to break and enough room to get a good run at them, while Rae''s dark bushes now had a half dozen trees, ced so that she could spin a web between them all to create the ultimate nest.


    The energy level was noticeably higher, and it was beginning to feel closer to the mana rich atmosphere of the mage training areas than the open training fields where the warriors worked at the Academy.


    Karl continued right until the sun touched the horizon and the Golems kicked them all out, then went back to sit around the campfire, where the self-appointed cook was collecting ingredients for the evening meal.


    "We''re doing the beef stew packages today, if you could toss me yours." Their designated cook announced as Karl walked up.


    "Yeah, give me a second, it''s in the tent."


    The clerics had collected a number of herbs while they were out, as well as some edible roots when the group stopped outside the cave, so although they didn''t have any rations with them, they could still contribute to the pot.


    The roots weren''t very nutritious, but they wererge, and they added volume to the meal, making it look even more impressive. The rations were supposed to be lightweight and easy to pack, but that meant calorie dense, notrge and filling.


    They were just about to settle down with the pot full of rations heating when the cleric girl seemed to have a sh of inspiration, and she began mumbling a spell while glowing with soft golden light.


    Nobody dared to interrupt her. This was a World Dragon Temple, and she was a priestess. A trainee priestess without much power to speak of, but still, a priestess of sorts.


    As her spell finished, she spread a cloth out in front of her, and arge golden orb began to form in the air in front of her hands. Then, it solidified, and arge ball of soft white grains fell to the ground,nding on the cloak that she had spread.


    "I did it. I finally got the spell to work. That, my friends, is the sign of a true magical Acolyte of the church. Blessing of Nutrition." She dered in a tiny, quiet voice.


    It was rice. Nearly five kilos of it, Karl was certain.


    That was far more than they would be able to eat even in a few days, but Karl had seen this magic before. The priests who came to town to help the poor would use their magic to create a giant pot full of rice and beans that would feed hundreds.


    This was just the rice, but it was more than enough for today.


    Karl patted her on the back in congrattions, then scooped up a bit of the rice with the bowl that attached to the bottom half of his canteen. He poured a bit of water over the top and set it by the fire to cook, signalling the others to do the same.


    "Good work. Now we don''t need to worry about running out of food so quickly. Even an extra day or two here will be a great help to everyone''s training." Karl congratted her.


    The boy beside her looked both jealous and proud, as if he was envious of her achievement, but unable to hold a grudge over it. Instead of trying to copy her to show off, he began to pray and created a soft golden glow over them all that soothed aching muscles and minds. It wasn''t a fully formed spell, but it was close enough to a minor healing spell to refresh the students and allow them to fully rx as they waited for their aching muscles and minds. It wasn''t a fully formed spell, but it was close enough to a minor healing spell to refresh the dinner to be ready, now apanied by arge portion of rice.


    "How is everyone else doing? Is the training on the temple stairs giving you real results?" Karl asked as his beasts finished their patrol around the camp and returned to the beast spaces.


    "It is for the mages, for certain. The amount of mana that I can handle is up by nearly a quarter. But more importantly, I gained an insight into how to make it grow more quickly even after we leave." Dana agreed.


    The other mages nodded happily, as they had been sharing the trick with each other on the stairs all day.


    The warriors decided that flexing and posing would be more appropriate, though Karl couldn''t tell if they were actually any more muscr than they had been a day ago.


    "I can''t say for certain how much of a difference it is without something to test against, but I''ve made it four more steps today than I did yesterday. If this pace keeps up, then I think that I will be able to pass the Awakened Warrior exam after another week at the most." One of them exined.


    "Alright. Enjoy your dinner, we will be headed back to train first thing in the morning. Make a n, I doubt that we will get another chance like this again, unless we can return here." Karl reminded them.


    The cleric girl shook her head. "This is a trial ground. Most of these can only be essed at set intervals, or worse, once in a lifetime. After we leave, it could be a long time before anyone can use this ce again, but I will make sure that the clergy marks it off as a protected holy relic so that nobody destroys the crystals that operate the entrance."


    That was what Karl was afraid of. There were other holy relics that opened only on certain holidays, and the serum could only be used once in a lifetime. But they had been able to use this one, and he was going to make the very best of it.


    So far, he had tested his willpower, which helped him grow the size of the beast space while meditating, and his mana control, which helped him improve the power of his beast space, so tomorrow, he could either focus on the mana control, which needed the most help, or on his body, which was already strong, and improved at a fraction of the rate that the pets were improving.


    The initial burst of power that he had gotten from the pets had been impressive, but after that, the feedback was limited and his growth was slow. He would need a lot of training to get physically powerful, but if he focused on the pets, hisbat power would shoot up much faster, and eventually drag his body along with it.

 Chapter 105 Quality Over Quantity

    <h4>Chapter 105 Quality Over Quantity </h4>


    The answer was made when the beasts settled into their improved homes.


    [Oh, this is nice. I can feel the power soothing my muscles. Whatever you did today, do it again.] Raemended him as she spun an expanded web between the new trees.


    [Yes, this is the right improvement. I can feel myself getting more powerful.] Hawk agreed.


    The two of them waited for Thor to say something, but he was staring in wonder at one of the stone pirs.


    [Did you make a smashing pir for me? You are too kind.]


    He was nearly tearful with joy over the addition of the pirs, and the other two beasts immediately discounted anything else he said for the evening. Like giving Hawk an extra rare species of meat, the Lightning Cerro had been bribed with the thing he wanted most, and his opinion was unreliable.


    Karl considered their answers for a moment, and then replied.


    [Alright, I will go back to the mana training tomorrow and see how much I can improve the spaces for you all. After all, the faster you grow strong, the faster I grow strong in return.]


    A good night''s sleep brought about some notable changes to the trio. Not so much to Hawk, but Thor was a full hand taller than he had been yesterday, enough that it was immediately noticeable to everyone when he came out for some attention in the morning, but Rae was the one who caught everyone''s attention.


    She was not onlyrger, but the armoured chitin on her legs was beginning to turn the deep crimson that helped to give the Bloodbath Spider its name. As they grew older and more powerful, the red would spread up from the ws until her entire legs and portions of her ck underbelly were deep crimson, as if she had been standing in a pool of blood.


    She wouldn''t lose the short ck fur on her body, but the carapace underneath would change colour as a warning to others that she was not to be trifled with, and no longer needed to hide in the darkness.


    Karl hadn''t expected it to begin so early, as she wasn''t even fully grown yet. The training must have been good for her, not discriminating against users, even if they were not human.


    "Rae is looking really powerful. I didn''t know that spiders got that big." One of the warriors noted.


    "That''s not even half grown for a Bloodbath Spider. When she''s full-grown, she will be able to grab and flip an armoured car with her legs. They''re scary enough that even the team that took me to the wilderness to find new pets didn''t want to meet the adult version. I got Rae here as an egg." Karl exined.


    The warrior wasn''t quite sure he believed Karl''s bragging, but that spider was huge, and if it was still growing, it was going to be nightmare fuel for countless students. All the ones here had met Rae, and knew that she was friendly, but if she crept up on them in the dark, they would still freak out.


    Karl returned to the mana enhancement stairs, and slowly made his way to the fourth, and then the fifth stair to begin his training. That shocked the mages a little, as they had all expected him to go work with the warriors today toplete the rotation, but with two of the three pets there already, Karl was more concerned about making sure that their homes could keep up with them.


    That day, the progress up the stairs began to really increase for Karl. He was getting the hang of pulling energy in from the outside to feed the beast space, whereas before he was only converting food to energy to build them. With him starting at rock bottom, he had nowhere to go but up, and by the end of the day, he had moved from the fifth step up to the tenth, where the pressure was immense on him, but he could still effectively channel more power than the step before.


    That was enough to get ahead of their growth needs, and the beast spaces were actually starting to look like inds in the void. There was no real sky or anything like it, other than a few fake stars Karl had put in Rae''s darkened space to simte nighttime, but they had a fair amount ofnd after two days of training on the stairs.


    Butpared to Karl''s internal improvements, the others were beginning to show real signs of the gains that they had made here.


    Both of the clerics eyes shone with a faint golden light, the mages were all filled to the brim with power, and the warriors were bing the toned and muscr Elites that they had dreamed of being since they found out that they werepatible with the Serum.


    They were well into the afternoon, and everyone was exhausted and ready to turn in when the Golems made an announcement. Speaking in unison, their magical voices reached every one of the students.


    [You now have twenty-four hours remaining in your trial. Choose yourst day''s event wisely.]


    Those words sent a wave of panic through the group. They had no idea that there was a four-day time limit on the trials. Many of them had intended to try to push through to the Awakened Rank, then spend a few days checking on the other sides, just in case they could gain something important from them.


    Karl didn''t have any particr regrets. His body was already stronger than his mind, so testing his willpower and mana made the most sense. The question was: What would he do for thest day?


    He could bnce it out, and go for the willpower side again, but something told him that the neglected stairs, the random gamble that was the Fate Challenge was going to be much more entertaining.


    It might only be good for a story around the campfire, but all of them should have some sort of affinity with fate, since they all passed the trial of the Divine Serum, and proved themselvespatible.


    That settled it. He had gained what he needed from the stairs. He learned how to more effectively expand the beast spaces, and he could ask Rae and Thor about the effectiveness of the body training. So, he would take a chance on the final day, and he would go for the fate stairs to see what would happen.

 Chapter 106 Fate Stairs

    <h4>Chapter 106 Fate Stairs </h4>


    The next morning, the team realized that they might not have been as prepared as they thought that they were. They had only packed a week worth of rations, which were now over half gone, and they were almost out of the berries for the oatmeal vouring, which would leave them with just the dehydrated bits that came in the ration pack.


    They didn''t have to worry about starvation any time soon with the clerics avable, but the variety of their diet would soon begin to disappear if they spent too long in the woods before returning to the train tracks.


    But with the time limit imposed by the trials, they would be outside today, and once the cleric trainees had properly marked the spot on their maps as a holy relic, they could be on their way to give the news of their trip to the church.


    Before he went to the Fate Stairs, Karl stopped next to one of the Golems, hoping that it would answer a question for him.


    "Excuse me, do you know how often this trial can be essed?" He inquired politely, with the assumption that a bit of courtesy might get the magical construct to answer.


    [The Trials open at the will of the World Dragon.]


    Karl bowed and stepped away, then focused on being sent to the Fate Stairs. The answer he got was both informative and useless at the same time. If it opened at the will of the Golden Dragon God, the World Dragon as it was sometimes known, then there was no way that he could predict the next opening date for anyone who asked.


    But what he could confirm was that it would open again at some point. If the Church kept a close watch on this ce, they would probably be able to tell when it would open.


    The Fate Stairs were different from any of the other sides. They were cloaked in thick ck shadows, which made Rae immediately regret going back to strength training. That darkness looked wonderful to her, but Karl suspected that it had some other purpose.


    It was likely something along the lines of everyone''s fate is their own, so you could only see your own path forward, and everything else was shadowed, but it could also be intended to change if you stepped away from the path you were on.


    Could that be what it was meant to do? Show you ways to change your fate through the decisions that you made? There were Oracles among the Elites, blind seers of the future, and their visions were uncannily urate. This could be the same sort of magic, but built into a massive temple to show more than just a glimpse of the possible futures.


    One step forward brought him onto the first stair, and Karl looked upward, seeing visions of first power and glory, then tragedy in front of him. But to his left and right on the second step were misty figures of himself.


    Instinctively, he knew that he could step up toward one of them and see what changes would be made if he changed the first major event along this timeline. From what he could see, he returned to the Academy and imed credit for leading the team that found a Holy Relic.


    It would make him a darling of the church and the media. His fame would rise even faster than his power would, but after some time, that fame would fade, and the lingering resentment of those who had lived in his shadow would leave him alone in the world, discarded by those he had left behind.


    Both of the options would reject that next step, but neither were clear to him. Karl''s first thought was to step to the left, but he found that he could only move forward unless some condition was set.


    Perhaps he needed to make a choice? If he decided not to im the find, but instead attributed it to the group, the glory would be shared between all of them and the clerics.


    He thought that he could also imply that it was the presence of the future servants of the Golden Dragon that caused the trials to activate, but then how could he exin that he knew it was all at the will of the Gods, or keep them from ending up in that same discarded and shunned state he saw for himself?


    It was better to put it all down to chance. They had been the first ones here after the World Dragon had willed that the trials be opened, so they were pulled in. Glory to the World Dragon and all that pious sentiment.


    Yes, that seemed best.


    Karl saw the path to the right begin to be a bit more clear, and resolved to make that the reality. He would instruct the others, and say that he had seen a vision on the Fate Stairs instructing him to give glory to the World Dragon. Few would argue with that, and those in power would be more inclined to listen.


    Karl stepped up to the right, and a new future path became clearer in front of him. In this one, the ten members of the team all became much stronger, and began to surpass the average, bing notable among the Elites of the Academy.


    His mind began to spin as the visions of ten different people''s futures were slowly yed out in front of him, and Karl saw the impact that a single decision could have on the futures of everyone around him.


    He didn''t see any horrible endings for them, they would all end up with some level of sess and recognition, while their two clerics would be pirs of the church.


    The Pirs were those in favour of the Gods, who could use Holy Magic at Royal Rank or higher. Each of them would gain a boon from their chosen deity, a special spell that only they could use. From what Karl remembered, the current head of the church naturally followed the World Dragon, and was granted the boon of Rebirth. He could bring the dead back to life, with some limitations.


    What those limits were, Karl didn''t know, but there was video footage of him resurrecting a murdered cleric after an attack on one of the churches near the border. Every student in the Golden Dragon Nation had seen that footage in primary school.


    With such bright futures for everyone in the vision, Karl took a step forward and found himself somewhere entirely different.


    He was still on a staircase, but one with no start and no ending point. It simply floated in a sea of stars, and a sense of power and timelessness surrounded him.


    The first trial must have been to choose a path for your immediate future. Once you found a decision that you were content with, or intended to follow through, the vision ended.


    But this ce didn''t have any instructions. He could go up or down endlessly, it didn''t seem to matter which he chose, though upward was generally seen as the correct way. You should strive to work hard and move beyond, up the social ranks, increasing in reputation, up was used to signify all things beneficial.


    But down seemed so much easier. If he were going to travel indefinitely, he could certainly make it further going down than up. His strength and willpower wouldst longer, and he would see so much more if it were going to give him visions or rewards.


    Then an absolutely insane notion came to mind. This was just a staircase floating in the nothingness. The mental spaces where he kept Hawk and the others began as an empty void as well. If he simply stepped off the side, what would happen?


    Could he continue walking as he wished? Would he fall endlessly? The curiosity was egging him on, encouraging him to do something wild, just because he didn''t know and couldn''t know what would happen.


    As he considered it, Karl felt a sense of curiosity and amusement flow into the space. Not his own, but as if there were someone or something watching him. Someone who could read his thoughts.


    "A little help here? What way is the right way?" Karl called into the nothingness.


    For nearly a minute, nothing happened, though the sense of amusement remained.


    Then the whisper of a man''s voice filled the space.


    [There is no right way. There is definitely a wrong way. But there is only your way.] It spoke.


    Dammit. He was terrible at riddles and brain-teaser type problems.


    There was no right way, only his way, but there was a wrong way for it to be his way? Or his way was destined to be the wrong way?


    Jumping off the side of the staircase was beginning to look like a better option than trying to figure out what way was the best, and that feeling was increasing by the second.


    Karl took the ration pack spoon out of his pocket and began to flip it in his hand as he considered his options. Over and over it flipped, then Karl noticed something odd. The more he focused on the spoon, the slower it spun, as if gravity stopped working correctly because Karl was focused on the spoon being where it was.


    That gave Karl an idea. He would go up. Not up the stairs, but straight up into the air.


    So, he crouched and gathered his strength, then jumped, flying high above the staircase for one brief glorious moment, seeing the staircase fade into the distance beneath him as if he were a God himself, floating through the universe.


    Beforending exactly where he started.


    [Not very bright, is he?] Karl heard a second voice ask.


    [But entertaining.] The first whispered, and then Karl was back in the grass next to the campsite.

 Chapter 107 Skill Master

    <h4>Chapter 107 Skill Master </h4>


    Karl looked around the camp site and realized that it was mid-afternoon. Over six hours had passed since he left, though it only felt like a few minutes in his mind.


    He went to move toward the fire, where there should be some fresh skewers to cook meat for lunch, and nearly tripped over a small golden chest at his feet. That wasn''t anything that he had seen before, but the moment he touched it, the chest vanished from his hands, and a burst of knowledge entered his mind.


    [Taming Ability: Skill Master] Increases the chance of a beast learning new skills when actively used during training.


    Was that what his ss was supposed to be? He wasn''t just collecting the beasts and creating a ce for them to grow strong, he was supposed to be teaching them new skills as well? Was that even possible without the help of the Skill Books?


    They were a powerful magical item, and it had taken the Inscriptionist group nearly a decade to learn how to make them, but this new ability Karl had been rewarded with seemed like he would be able to teach them new magical abilities at will. Hawk had been able to use [Wind Shield], so if it was the right element, they might even be able to learn magical spells.


    There was more to the knowledge than just the title, and as Karl focused on the skill, he began to understand the way that it should be used. With the skill active and the beast watching the ability that you wanted them to learn, as well as some rted resources as needed to increase theirpatibility, he should be able to teach them to use an incredible variety of new skills.


    They lived at the Academy, there should be all sorts of skills avable to watch on any given day. He might even be able to teach his pets some of the skills that the others already knew.


    Karl brought up Thor''s lightning barrier around himself to help clear and focus his mind, as well as recover from the strain of the previous days'' trials and three nights sleeping on the ground. If he could teach this to Rae, how much more dangerous would she be? Or [Shred]. If she could learn that ability, she would absolutely annihte anything that she attacked.


    The real question was if she would bepatible with either of them. Karl couldn''t see Thor being capable of using Offensive Adaptation or Rend without some major attunement, or Hawk using Refreshing Lightning as he needed the delicate adjustments of airflow over his wings to fly.


    But Rae might be able to use some new attack abilities, or possibly even fog, or a stealth skill, as her body coloration would naturally adapt to her surroundings. Just thinking about the possibilities was getting Karl excited, and the beasts weren''t even finished their daily training for him to try anything.


    So, he passed some time meditating, and improving the beast spaces while he wasn''t on the stairs, giving himself a chance topare the two training environments.


    The difference was depressingly obvious. Though he had learned the technique to improve both the size and quality of the space while he was in the trial, his actual effectiveness at it when he was not partaking in the trial was less than a tenth as high. It would take him a month to get as much gain as he did in two days on the mana training stairs.


    Butpared to before he had learned and refined the techniques here, it was still much faster. That one month, which would feel so long after being on the stairs, was still equal to an entire semester or longer before they had gotten this opportunity.


    So, there was no denying that this Holy Relic was a massive improvement for anyone lucky enough to have been able to enter, or that the change would havesting benefits that could help them through their entire life.


    As the sun got closer to the horizon, the other students began to tire of their training, and prepare to head back for the night. They had gotten an incredible amount from the Holy Relic so far, and most of them were only staying until the day ended out of general principle.


    So, when the first one toe back early arrived, he wasn''t expecting to see Karl sitting by the fire, and he certainly wasn''t expecting the small silver box that appeared in his hands.


    "What is this?" He asked nobody in particr.


    "Try opening it. I got a gift from mine." Karl replied, eager to find out what the others would be rewarded with.


    The warrior pressed thetch, and the lid popped open, then the small chest vanished, and arge ming sword appeared in his hands.


    "This is... wow."


    Karl nodded in agreement. "That is pretty astonishing. I don''t know what you''re going to do about the safety measures needed to carry a giant ming sword everywhere, though."


    The boy smiled, and the sword vanished. "The chest says that it is bonded to me, I can use it at will and dismiss it when it is not in use. That will be so usefulter, being able to have a de in reserve on asions when carrying a weapon is forbidden."


    "You''ve got a point. Especially after you graduate and take up a job of some sort. If you''re in an office somewhere, you''re not going to be able to keep weapons handy all the time, and if you get an emergency call, it would take quite a while to go to your car, or run to the nearest armoury to get them.


    Plus, it''s a giant ming sword. How cool is that?" Karl agreed.


    A few minutester, another student came back, one of the mages, and she was clearly nursing a sore head. She must have over exerted herself in the rush to get a gain before the trial ended, and had to leave early.


    She tripped over the small silver box in front of her, as Karl nearly had with his golden one, andnded on the ground holding her head.


    The warrior was only a few steps away, not quite fast enough to catch her, but he was there a split second after.


    "Are you alright? You tripped over the reward from the trial. Pick it up and open it when your head feels better." The boy told her, eager to see what she would get.


    If he got a sword, then the mages might get a spell, or a wand or something equally amazing.


    It took her a few minutes to recover, but she picked up the box with curious reverence, as if it might crumble in her hands, but she simply had to see what was in it. The box was tiny, and nearly fit in the palm of one hand, but when she opened it, arge book appeared in its ce.


    For a few seconds, she was silent, likely listening to the trial inform her of what she had been granted, and then she began to squeal and dance around happily.


    "I got a spellbook. An actual spellbook." She cheered as she dismissed the book and pulled the warrior into a swinging happy dance.


    "That is remarkable. So, you can just cast all those spells by looking at the book?" He asked.


    "Even better. I can just cast all those spells because I know them now. But if I hold the book, I get a bonus to my magical damage and mana recovery rate." She exined.


    Then the influx of students began, as the trial forced them all from the stairs as the sun went down.


    [You will be ejected from this space in twelve hours. The trial is nowplete.] The crystal Golems announced, while all the students were still staring in wonder at the small boxes in their hands.


    Some looked like jewellery boxes, some were small treasure chests, and a few of them seemed to be poorly wrapped holiday presents. There was likely some method to the madness, Karl assumed.


    Then he noticed the colours. Almost all of them were silver, but Dana''s was a small gold chest as his had been, and the worst wrapped of the lot were all in bronze paper.


    It might be based on their aplishment while here in the trial, as Karl and Dana were the most advanced and best prepared to begin with, but Karl suspected that it had something to do with their power levels, or some outstanding student who had been a bit slow at the start of the school year likely would have gotten a gold box as well.

 Chapter 108 Rewards

    <h4>Chapter 108 Rewards </h4>


    The quality of the reward was also directly linked to the quality of the package. Not that any of them were useless, or anything less than a priceless treasure, but there was definitely bias being shown in the rewarding process.


    The items that came from the bronze wrapping paper were mostly trinkets and pieces of jewellery that would help with growth or strength. But the items from the Silver category were more practical.


    They included mostly weapons, the mage''s spellbook, and in one case a scroll that would let the user pick one newbat skill from a set list.


    But Karl had gotten a rather incredible new ss skill that would let him easily teach the beasts new skills, and Dana had gotten a newbination attack and defence spell that nobody had ever heard of before.


    [Nullification Barrier] simply dispersed anything that touched it. It didn''t matter if it was a magical attack, or a stick that the warriors swung, it simply lost all energy and stopped when it hit the barrier.


    The offensive use of the spell, [Nullification de] surrounded a weapon, and would cut through anything that they could find with ease, even the other mages shields.


    Nobody was willing to try with a magical item, for fear that it would be disenchanted, but the barrier appeared to be much stronger than the usual ones they trained with.


    If it hade from a skill book, she would have been fabulously wealthy beyond her wildest dreams, but the golden chest simply taught her the skill the same as it had taught Karl. Both were what the Academy would call Tier Three skills. Not the basics, or the advanced versions of the basics, but something that was entirely new and on another power level.


    They were incredibly rare, and often unique in the world, with only one Elite having ever learned them. But more than that, they had a growth rate that scaled proportionately to their advantage. If they were twice as deadly as normal skills at Awakened Rank, they would be twice as deadly as other spells when you were at Ascended and Commander Rank as well.


    They were simply superior in all ways.


    Karl''s was mostly only relevant to himself, but it didn''t specify that the animals had to be bonded to him, and that was something that he wanted to test.


    "Druid, sorry I forgot your name. Do you have a bonded animal?" Karl asked.


    "Not yet. Most druids get the ability, but I''m still at level three, ording to the way that Druids see their progression, and I don''t have that ability yet.


    My healing got much better while I was here, though, and I learned to use an area heal spell while training on the stairs." The druid replied.


    "What did you get from the box?" Karl asked.


    "A staff. It vanishes when I want it to, and it applies its additional magic damage even when I am wild shaped." He exined.


    "Oh, you''re a transformation type Druid. Never mind. I was thinking about trying to teach a Druid''s spirit animal a new trick when we get back to test out the reward I got." Karl exined.


    That made the others curious. Karl had returned first, so none of them had seen what he had gotten, and so far, he hadn''t spoken of it. But if it was a transferrable power, a skill that he could teach others, wouldn''t that just be too powerful?


    If he left to join the army, he could teach his whole unit that power, which the team assumed should be at the Ascended Rank, since the item type rewards everyone got were generally a Rank above themselves. The thought that it might be a Tier Three skill that would scale with his growth, and not simply a more powerful normal Skill, never crossed their minds.


    "We have some time before we are ejected, so get some sleep after you eat. We will get up early to pack our gear before we are pushed out, and then we can finish the mission and find the other nts that we came here for." Karl decided.


    "Wait, we''re still doing the mission? Even after we found a holy relic and got all these rewards, we are still going to get the nts?" One of the warriors asked.


    "Do you not need them anymore? Will they not be effective on you now that you''ve gained some power?" Karl asked.


    The warrior looked sheepish, and his friends consoled him. Technically, it looked more like mockery, but what were friends for?


    "See, we will finish the mission, and then make sure that our new friends from the church make it safely to the train with us. Now that we''ve found the Holy Relic, it is not just about getting them back safely, but they need to properly ry to their superiors the information that we have gathered about this ce so that it is protected and not disturbed before the next time that it decides to let a group in." Karl exined.


    The cleric students nodded rapidly. "They will likely want this to be kept all hush-hush. You know how it is with holy relics. If we talk about finding it, then any Elite could look up our mission information and find the general area that it is in, toe here and try to exploit or destroy it."


    That was something that Karl hadn''t considered. The church did good things for the poor, and they had the best healing magic, but not everyone was a big fan of theirs, partially because of the power that they had. Karl didn''t watch the news often, but there was always someone mad about something that someone else did.


    It was an undeniable fact, and the Church inevitably got caught up in arguments when their programs conflicted with someone else''s.


    The students all seemed to be in agreement, and as Karl brought out a bit more of the Awakened Rank boar meat for their final dinner here, the talk turned to what they might find at the other herb sites.


    So far, they had found two spots that weren''t on the map, an Ascended Beetle, a Holy Relic, and two refugee clerics. If they kept up at this rate, they might find the lost city of knowledge, one of the students suggested.


    The thought of that was hrious. The City of Knowledge was just a legend from mythology, and it was supposed to be where the young World Dragon learned the power to travel between worlds to find a new home to protect. But the World Dragon and its offspring were immortal, and given the nature of the legend, the City of Knowledge probably wasn''t even on this.


    Not that it had stopped generations of treasure hunters from going looking for it.


    The final meal was arger one than usual, as everyone who had gathered food donated a bit extra for the celebration, and they made a massive pitcher of punch out of all the energy drink pouches that they hadn''t been using.


    The ns to sleep early had gone right out of everyone''s mind, and when the ever vignt Golems warned them that they had one hour left before being ejected, they were all still sound asleep.


    "Everyone up and get packed. We don''t want to end up leaving half our gear here, unless you all fancy sharing tents for the rest of the journey." Karl warned them all.


    That got them up and moving. The boys all knew that the girls wouldn''t want to share with them, and Karl was right about them not wanting to cuddle with each other in a tiny tent with a single sleeping bag.


    Breakfast was dyed, but they all got their gear packed in the next half hour, though it was quite disorganized, and most of it would need to be repacked before they went anywhere.


    "Everyone, shoulder your packs and make sure there is nothing left on the ground, no signs that we were here at all." Karl added.


    That took a few more minutes, while they adjusted their packs enough that they could be worn properly without gear falling out, but once they were settled, Karl called out to the Golem.


    "Sir Golem, we are finished and packed, will you please send us back out?" He requested.


    Instantly, he was standing outside the entrance to the cave, along with the other eleven members of their team.


    "Alright, clerics, take two warriors and one of the golems as an escort and mark the entrance of the Holy Relic, then we can get going."

 Chapter 109 No Access

    <h4>Chapter 109 No ess </h4>


    The Clerics returned a minuteter with concerned looks.


    "The end of the tunnel is gone. Everything past the first chamber looks like solid rock, the whole tunnel is hidden. We marked it as the entrance of a Holy Relic, but I''m not sure that anyone will believe us if they can''t see the crystals." The male cleric informed Karl.


    "That''s fine. When it opens again, there will be no doubt that it leads to the Holy Relic. Perhaps it''s better this way. Anyone else who stumbles across it will be trying to get a portal to open on the wall, while only those who should know will understand that the tunnel will appear when it is ready." Karl replied.


    The students started to repack their gear into the best approximation of its original state, helping those who just weren''t getting it, until they were all ready to move again.


    Having been in the same spot for a few days gave them some backpack space again, thanks to the rations that were used up. That would give them a bit more space for more resources to bring back, but they had already gained far more than they expected, even just measuring by the actual nts that the team had harvested.


    Normally, you would only find a few flowers, or a small patch of moss, not entire trees and fields worth of them.


    That led to many arguments in the student groups if they hadn''t worked out a proper rotation for who got the resources, instead of having enough for everyone to split what was avable.


    "The next one is straight east of here by ten kilometres. I will send Hawk up to scout, but be prepared for a long walk." Karl warned the group as they set off.


    Through the woods, ten kilometres was going to take them half the day, but there was always the chance that Hawk would find something along the way.


    "Do you think that the abundance of resources we found was because the Holy Relic was about to open? I mean, it should give off lots of power, right? So it might be the reason that there are so many resources in this area." Dana suggested.


    "So, you''re saying to forget the map and look around the cave for more good stuff? Everyone, what do you think of that? Do you mind staying in the area for a day or two, in case there are more nts for us to find?" Karl asked.


    They were the leaders, but the other eight were the ones who had actually nned the mission. The resources were mostly for them, and had been expected to be a level below what Karl and Dana would need.


    Most team leaders would add a mission point of their own to the trip if possible, if not, they would do it just for the Academy Credits and the time away from the regr training schedule.


    That was the important part to a lot of them. Getting to go out and explore on their own was much more rxing than being in ss, and the missions picked by the first year students were rarely dangerous.


    Even the Ascended Rank beetle which had been mauled by their team was an outlier. The mission report hadn''t expected anything that dangerous in the area.


    [Hawk, circle the area. Any magical nts or other interesting things you see, let me know and we will go explore it. Even if it doesn''t seem too useful, it''s still a resource.]


    Hawk turned to circle around the cave in increasinglyrge circles for the next ten minutes until he found something of interest.


    [There are shiny rocks over here. The mages like shiny rocks.] Hawk offered, as if he wasn''t quite sure what to look for if it wasn''t food or a resource he had seen a picture of.


    [That is good. I have shown you all the resources on the list, and if there are any that you have seen on the balcony, or in the botany books, you can tell me about those too.] Karl suggested.


    He focused on Hawk''s location for a moment, and then turned to face it.


    "Hawk has found a possible magical crystal source. We will go there and see what it is." He informed the others.


    Dana smirked at the other mages. Ten minutes outside the cave, and they were already on their way to even more resources.


    It was a short walk, with everyone keeping their eyes open for more hidden magical nts and any signs of threats that might havee looking for them.


    After the incident with the beetle, and then the Holy Relic, they had realized that they wouldn''t be the only ones drawn to the magical resources in the area. Monsters would be as well, and that meant they would have topete for what they could get.


    As they walked, Rae darted out and grabbed a small vine from up in a tree to bring back into her beast space.


    Karl wondered just what the limitations were on that. Vines, meat, branches, leaves. Those could all be brought in, but he couldn''t put his backpack or textbooks in there. Clearly, it wasn''t that they were a physical item that was the issue, so it must be that they weren''t a resource for the pets.


    As they approached the point that Hawk had marked, the Clerics started to get a strange look on their faces, and the mages were getting really excited, while the Warriors wondered why. Then they stepped over a small ridge and saw the situation.


    There was arge pond with small glowing yellow stones at the bottom. Even the warriors could feel the magic now that they were this close, and the cleric girl looked like she was going to faint.


    Her legs gave out after one more step, and Karl caught her in his arms.


    Her partner pointed at the pond with a shaky hand.


    "Those are Holy Mana Stones." He mumbled.


    Dana looked at him, then did a double take at the pond. There had to be a hundred of the stones in theke, and each of them was an Awakened Rank resource. They were to mages what the Strength Stones were to the warriors, only infinitely more rare.


    They wouldn''t be crushed to dust and ingested, as they were impossible to rece without an especially powerful High Priest, instead they would be kept in a locket or other safe ce and the user would draw on their power as they meditated.


    Even just having one was a huge status symbol among the clerics, to the point that priests would wear them outside their robes when visiting important people or hosting nobility, just to prove their favoured status.


    They also apparently couldn''t be stolen. They decided who was able to use them, and you couldn''t touch them if they judged you as unworthy.


    "Everyone, if those are Holy Stones, they won''t approve of a greedy heart. Put aside any thoughts of taking them all, and pick one that you like. Go for that one in particr, and if it lets you pick it up, put it somewhere safe." Karl informed them a moment before they were set to run toward the pond.


    The cleric nodded fervently. "You must not entertain greed or violence in your heart, or they will reject you."


    Karl jerked to the side, startled when Dana poked him on the arm.


    "You can set the priestess down, she''s awake again."

 Chapter 110 Shiny Rocks and Big Ferns

    <h4>Chapter 110 Shiny Rocks and Big Ferns </h4>


    Thor looked out of his space and popped into reality to run across the field and ssh in the pond.


    "Well, we can say that the water is safe. Go ahead, everyone, and try not to let Thor ssh you too much if you''re not going to strip down to swimwear." Karlughed.


    After sshing around for a moment, Thor settled into the pond with a sigh, letting just his snout show over the surface as he rxed in the cool water.


    [It feels so good on the scales.] He informed Karl happily.


    Karl walked down to the pond, following the others, who were searching for a spot that felt right to them so they could pick a lucky rock.


    Hawk thought that it was hrious, as he had no interest in the rocks. Nor did Rae, as they glowed and would mess up the vibe in her space. How could she be a mysterious predator in the dark and use a nightlight?


    [You could make a walkway with them down the sides.] Karl suggested.


    [So bright. How would I ever sleep?] Rae objected.


    Karl looked over at Thor, who was now snoring as he rxed in theke, and the spider began tough.


    [Point taken.]


    Karl decided he would pick a stone after everyone else had theirs. He wasn''t strictly a magic user, so it didn''t matter whether he found some perfect or most powerful stone, he would just pick a nice-looking one and call it a day.


    So, while the others put great effort into their choice, Karl focused on making a rxation pond for Thor in his mental space. If the Lightning Cerro liked the water that much, it only made sense to give him a pond of his own.


    Finding the stones only took a half an hour, but then the warriors began to strip down to their shirts and underwear to go for a swim with Thor. The water had magic in it, and a swim might give them some benefits that they wouldn''t get just by standing near the shore.


    Most of the mages were more reluctant, as they weren''t as physically toned as the warriors were, but eventually, they caved and ran back into the bushes to change into swimsuits from their bags.


    Having to recover a resource from the water was an anticipated scenario, and the suits didn''t take much space, so they were standard kit. They were also useful on rainy days in hot environments, when it was easier to just get wet and keep your kit dry than to try to dry your clothester.


    Karl finished the small pond for Thor, which he could expandter, and changed before he came out of the trees to join the fun. Thebination of the Lightning Cerro, whose refreshing lightning made the water mildly charged and refreshing as he slept, and the natural magic of the pondbined to make an outdoor spa.


    They likely wouldn''t get much more done today unless they left soon, but Karl let everyone soak for an hour and y in the pond before Hawk reported that he had seen some strange ferns that were definitely magic.


    "Hawk has found another resource. Has everyone found what they need here?" Karl asked.


    "Yeah, give us a bit to change clothes, and we will be ready to go." Dana replied, giving the water a longing look.


    They couldn''t take it with them, but there were still plenty of magical stones in it, so they coulde back on another mission to the area and y in the water again. The Holy Stones that they had gathered wouldn''t wear out if they just used them as a meditation focus to improve their growth, so they wouldn''t need to take any more of them, just rx in the water.


    Once everyone was changed and shouldered their packs again, Karl called Rae and Thor back into the space. Thor was still half asleep, but Rae had only been sshing at the edge of the water, unwilling to go into water deeper than her lower torso.


    Like a cat, she cleaned herself. There was no need for her to bathe in a pool of water, and she didn''t see the appeal.


    It was only when they were halfway to the next resource when Karl realized that the bottom of the pond in Thor''s mental space was now lined with very real gravel and arge number of Holy Stones. He had taken them with him when he transferred back in, and it seemed that the Holy Stones didn''t prevent their transfer.


    [How does he do that anyhow?] Rae asked, meaning how he let his head float with his nostrils out of the water as he slept.


    [His nose and mouth are fully separate. He fills his mouth with air and closes it, then it makes his head naturally float while he breathes through his nose.] Karl informed the confused spider.


    [Make him stop, it''s freaky.]


    Thor snorted in amusement and moved a little, so his head was on the shore and not floating in the water.


    [Better.]


    The ferns that Hawk had found were a primary ingredient for healing potions, a thick stem filled with numbing gel that could be used alone as a painkiller ointment, but whenbined into the potions by witches or other healing sses with alchemy skills, they would be able to heal major injuries almost as well as the expensive medicines that the doctor in the frontier town had provided to Karl.


    "These aren''t easy to store. Does anyone have extra ss jars for the gel?" One of the witches asked, hopefully.


    Each of the warriors dug in their bag and took out one of the specimen jars, then realized just how inadequate they were for the task.


    The jar held half a litre, which seemed like a lot, until they realized that the stem of the fern branch she wanted to drain was taller than they were, and as thick as their leg.


    Karl thought about the issue for a moment, then unpacked one of his jars and went to a smaller fern branch. A slice of Rend cut it off past the first branches, where it should likely regrow, and then he stuffed the bottom of the thin stem into the jar, holding all the gel inside.


    "There. Problem solved." He announced.


    "I never thought of that. We will look silly with fern branch gpoles on our backs, but it will give us so much. I mean, so much." The witch cheered.


    Karl passed the jar of fern to Thor, who looked at it for a second before realizing it was medicine and not food. That was interesting. He couldn''t put the jar in the space empty, but with medicine in it, he could.


    The witch was staring at him now, so Karl shrugged. "I can store food and medicine in the same mental space where the pets rest. Just food and medicine so far, but that''s where I put the fern."


    The witch made a pleading look, then looked down at the pile of jars. It would be a nightmare to try to carry ten of the metre tall smaller fern nts, but sitting in Thor''s space it wasn''t an issue.


    "Alright, I will give them back when we''re done the mission." Karl agreed.


    They stuffed ferns into the jars that had been donated to the Witch, and then cut down one extra fern and portioned the gel between everyone, including the clerics, who had leather pouches instead of jars. They didn''t seal as well, but they folded t and didn''t take up as much space when empty.


    "Now, we''ve all got medicine rubs, so let''s look for more resources before we go home. Not too much more, though. We''re all out of space."


    The studentsughed. There was no better problem to have during a resource gathering mission than finding so much that you couldn''t carry it all.

 Chapter 111 Go Around

    <h4>Chapter 111 Go Around </h4>


    The group headed out toward the next likely spot that Hawk had discovered, which turned out to be on the far side of a swampy riverbed. The river itself was shallow and slow moving, but the marsh didn''t look like a pleasant ce to cross, and it would be the home to at least a few monsters.


    [Hawk, how far is it to go around to a better spot to cross.] Karl asked as Hawk detailed the route.


    [Far, but there is another good thing over there. It is further, but you can get it thene to this one.] Hawk suggested.


    [Alright, lead the way.]


    "Good and bad news, everyone. That marsh doesn''t look fun to cross, but Hawk found another spot. It will be a fairly long detour, and then we wille back for what he found here. Were there any other resources on your list that you absolutely need? We can make them a priority." Karl announced to the group.


    The warriors shook their head. "The moss was the essential one for us."


    Dana smiled and touched the Holy Stone that she had tucked in an amulet on a chain around her neck.


    "The mages found something much better than they came here for. The Holy Stone can rece the original resources."


    "Excellent. I noticed that this next stop is near the train tracks, so we can pick it and then return to the Academy. There''s no need to go overboard when we can just apply to go out again. If the results are good, they should approve our second trip to the same area, and this is remote enough that not many will travel through here before we can get approval." Karl suggested.


    "But next time, we bringrge sacks for all the extra loot. I''m already considering using my coat or the rain cover for my backpack to get more storage." One of the warriors agreed.


    The mages were a bit more reserved. They didn''t have supernatural strength. Even if they wanted to carry more, their packs were heavy.


    The prospect of applying for another trip as soon as they returned, as a group which included proper leaders, was appealing, though. With Karl and Dana on the list, they might get approved to head out in the next few weeks for a second mission to get what they couldn''t this trip, and that would give them an enormous advantage over students who were still waiting to find a chance to head out on a field excursion.


    That was the hardest part of arranging a mission as a Common Rank Elite. You needed an escort, and the escorts all had better things to do. Most of the Awakened Rank students would be looking for Ascended Rank students to lead them on more dangerous missions, while the Ascended Rank students would be petitioning to go out with teachers on their own training exercises.


    Even if that failed, entire missions of Awakened Rank and higher students were an option, so the chances for the Common Rank students to get a leader were far lower than the number of students looking to go on an excursion.


    The mostmon reason one would agree was because they wanted something in the area, and didn''t want thepetition of a stronger group. Not out of altruism or a fondness for the new students.


    It left all the junior students scrambling to find a senior in a good mood, or who needed something near the things that they needed. Sometimes there was an ovep, as some resources would be useful to nearly anyone, but that was fairly umon when viewed across the entire poption of the Academy.


    Karl followed an animal trail toward the next location, where Hawk was flying overhead, scanning for threats.


    [I see some small creatures, but not mice. Nothing big and nothing powerful so far.] He informed Karl.


    [There''s not going to be a bunch more of the small things hiding in tunnels, is there?] Karl asked, thinking about the Earth Mice and their hiding tactics.


    [No, these are tree small things. Furry, kind of fluffy.] Hawk replied, as he didn''t have a name for them.


    Some things, like the Earth Mice, his gic memory instinctively knew, but these were unfamiliar, and while they were the same size, they certainly weren''t mice.


    "Careful now. There are monsters in the trees, small ones, possibly squirrels." Karl warned the others.


    Normally, the magic enhanced versions of squirrels were like Earth Mice, and not a real threat to anyone, as they weren''t that hostile. But those were the ones near the towns, who were ustomed to humans. These, who might not have seen a human in generations, could be a different story. Like themon gradep cat, who was known as a great house pet, but the feral versions were deadly.


    They came up to the spot that Hawk was pointing out, and Karl couldn''t help but to smile. There was a single memory fruit tree here, heavy with ripe fruit ready to be plucked.


    "Good news everyone. This is the memory fruit tree. I have seen this one before. You can only use these a few times in your life before they start losing effectiveness, but they allow for the perfect recollection of everything that you know for a short period of time.


    As I recall, you can dry them for longer-term storage, but they should be used within six months to a year, even if dried and stored." He informed the group.


    "What use would that be? I mean, do they just let you remember things, you know?" One of the warriors asked.


    The group''s druid thumped him on the back of the head with a smile. "Idiot. Yes, they bring back the memories of everything that you learned and then forgot. Do you know how valuable these things will be for the end of year written exams?


    We might coast through the first semester exams, but the end of the year is both physical and written. If you want a good cement in second year, you need to ace both.


    And if you have one of these fruits conveniently dried and stored away, you just need to cram study for a week before the test and then eat the fruit, and you''ll ace the written portion."


    The rest of the students looked somewhere between reverent and horrified. That nt was definitely cheating on the tests, a performance enhancing drug, but that wasn''t something they tested Elites for. In fact, you were silently encouraged to take things that helped you perform and grow.


    Or not so silently, in the case of Karl and the other students on a curated training path.


    That also made the other students wonder if there was some secret distribution system for bits of this fruit, to help the students who were chosen as the top of the ss.


    Karl and Dana were the top of the first year already, and they didn''t need this, but they were going to have it anyhow. It was almost enough to make the other students cry at life''s injustice, giving all the good stuff to those already fortunate, but today they got to piggyback off that good luck and get something exceptional for themselves.


    "One a piece, as there are thirteen fruits. We will leave thest one here for any lucky person who happens toe along behind us." Karl instructed.


    The cleric girlughed. "Can you imagine? Just walking through the forest and finding this, with onest lonely fruit on it, waiting for you. It would seem like a miracle, and they will never know that we were here and took all the rest."


    "But in a way, it is a miracle, isn''t it? Wouldn''t anyone else have just taken them all and sold thest one?" One of the magesughed as she took a fruit off the tree.

 Chapter 112 To The Tracks

    <h4>Chapter 112 To The Tracks </h4>


    Once everyone had their loot safely stowed away in one of the many pockets of their packs, Karl ordered Hawk to find them a good route back to the train tracks. They had a long journey ahead of them, since they had gotten so off track, but they could likely make it to the tracks before dark, which meant they could catch a train in the morning.


    At least Karl hoped there was oneing the other way in the morning. He didn''t know how busy that track was, but it should be the route that the daily supply delivery for the Academy took. That one was going the wrong way, but in the worst-case scenario, they could take it to the next town and then switch to go back.


    Their rations were still holding out, so Karl wasn''t worried about staying an extra day to wait for the right train, but it would be nice to get back to civilization and get a proper shower.


    Maybe they would have the good pumice soap. It didn''t smell as nice as the stuff the Academy had, and normally, he didn''t need it there, but after a few days in the wilderness, he felt like he could use a good scrub and a cup of thick ck miner''s coffee.


    He could see the squirrel type beasts as they walked through the dense mass of ash trees, just watching the group silently from their perch in the branches, and trying to avoid attracting the attention of the humans. But something told him that there was more here. Something that Hawk couldn''t see from the sky.


    The woods just had a feeling like that, as if he was being watched, and Rae agreed, though she hadn''t found the source either.


    The others seemed unaware, so it might be a creature with its attention directly on Karl, but it could just be his heightened senses giving him an advance warning of danger.


    The beasts couldn''t always exin how they knew that there was a threat. They just sensed it, and now Karl did too. Then, a kilometre from the memory fruit tree, he found the first signs that there was somethingrge enough to threaten them.


    There were w marks on a tree trunk, over a metre above his head.


    Anything that could leave w marks up there was bad news, even if it was something that could fly. Karl would have said, especially if it was something that could fly, but they had Hawk with them to help with flying predators.


    He didn''t need to warn the others about the chance to be attacked, the w marks were enough of a warning, and their progress slowed even further as the group did their best to move in a defensive formation, so they weren''t ambushed.


    But there was no sign of whatever made those marks.


    At least not for the next twenty minutes, before they saw even more of them, and a few downed trees that spoke of a conflict between two huge creatures that were likely Awakened Rank or higher.


    "It looks like the intelligence on the area missed a few things. While they might have just been passing through, most Common Grande Monsters can''t take down an ash tree the size of my torso." Karl remarked as they passed the destruction.


    "Thanks for the reminder." One of the warriors replied sarcastically.


    Unlike Karl, he was at the Common Grade, and he couldn''t take down a tree like that either. At least not without using [sh] as an axe to hack away at it. The trees they were seeing on the ground had been knocked over by a single brutal impact.


    Something that was either massive or moving very fast had hit the tree and broken it off.


    Then there were torn up chunks of ground and more signs ofbat, including burn marks that had to be from an ability, and some random slice marks on the branches overhead.


    "What in the world happened here?" Dana muttered as she looked around, instinctively pulling her Golems closer to her.


    One of the other mages moved up to scan the area, touching the broken stumps and making gestures toward the shes as she moved about.


    "My guess is that this was an Elite battle. It''s not fresh, see that bit of moss growing in the broken tree stump? It''s at least a week or two old. The shes on the tree suggest that it was a warrior type ss, and the broken trees say that whatever they were fighting was significantlyrger than human sized.


    So, they might have cleared this area of the real threats before they reported it to the Academy as a lower risk gathering area for resources." She suggested.


    One of the warriors rolled his eyes at her determination. "And you determined all that by what? Dancing around the area a little?"


    She shook her head. "Come over here and bring out your sword. We don''t really have anyone big enough to be the opponent that was fighting here, who could leave w marks three metres in the air, but follow my lead."


    She ced him where she wanted, then began to reenact the first few moves of a fight scene, stopping to point at marks on the trees as she went.


    "Then he was forced back, and there are those slices in the branches. My guess is that he was knocked over and attacked upward at the beast. It matches with the torn up earth right there. Then, a few more attacks, and he sent the beast flying into that tree." She exined.


    "Never underestimate a detective drama nerd when they say that they can recreate a crime scene." One of the other magesughed.


    Karl smiled and nodded. "I believe she''s right. It matches, and if Thor was bigger, I think that we could see just how close it would be. The creature was likely fighting in a bipedal manner though, a bear or something simr."


    "Yeah, I was happier not knowing that." The warrior who did the reenactmentmented.


    "Well, at least now you know what to look for. We''re halfway to the railroad tracks, so just keep moving and stay alert. Once we''re there, we can rest and wait for the train toe." Karl reminded him.


    "The sooner, the better." The warrior agreed as he got back in line and everyone prepared to move again.


    Now they were barely making any progress, as everyone was so nervous, but Karl and Dana kept pushing them forward, preventing them from stopping for every noise in the forest. If there was something the size of whatever broke the trees, Hawk would have seen it, and he was only reporting fun facts about the tree monkeys and other small random creatures he was seeing.


    But as they got closer to the tracks, the strange sense of being watched continued to grow, making Karl increasingly nervous, despite the forest seeming otherwise peaceful.


    The reason for that eerie feeling became obvious when Hawk finally expanded his search far enough to reach the railroad.


    [There are people here. Lots of people in white. They look very angry about something, and they''re just standing around the metal road.]


    That didn''t sound good, but they might be the rescue party that hade for the High Priest.


    [Stay out of their range, but return to the beast space if they''ve seen you. They might be looking for the beetle, or any other monster in the area. I will call Thor back in as well.] Karl replied.


    [I am on my way back. They definitely see me up here, they just can''t reach me.]

 Chapter 113 They Weren’t Alone

    <h4>Chapter 113 They Weren''t Alone </h4>


    Karl tried to focus on Hawk''s memories of the people at the railroad tracks, but he couldn''t get a clear image. Theirmunication was more verbal than imagery, and Hawk had described them as being in various forms of white clothes.


    That sounded like clergy, but he couldn''t be certain.


    "Alright everyone, the clergy group up ahead may or may not actually be clergy, and they might be here with ill intentions. Hawk got a weird vibe from them, so we should be cautious approaching.


    They are at the railroad, though, so unless we make arge detour and stay back in the trees, they will see us waiting." Karl informed the group.


    "They shouldn''t have any reason to be hostile to us." The cleric boy reminded them.


    One of the warrior boys frowned. "You mean, other than the missing High Priest? I know it''s not your fault, and so does everyone else here, but the question is if they''re going to listen to a bunch of trainee Elites when one of their own is missing in the area. One of the High Priests had his carriage robbed while he was in my town, and the church was not happy with anyone."


    Put like that, it would be best to be careful how they phrased the first interactions with the group up ahead.


    Everyone turned to Karl, and Dana smiled at him.


    "Well, good luck, Team Leader. We''re counting on you to make a good first impression." She announced.


    "Fine, I will go talk to them. Everyone else, wait here for me to return." Karl sighed.


    Karl walked thest few hundred metres to the tree line, and then out into the open, covering thest half kilometre to the railroad tracks, where roughly fifty men in clergy uniforms were gathered.


    There were two High Priests that Karl could see, and four young boys, about the age of the two students that they had rescued, along with the fifty clergy guards. Hopefully, this was the group from the Seminary Academy that had been out gathering resources.


    The closest of the guards raised his fist in a silent greeting, which Karl returned as he walked. If he recalled right, that was done by guards and soldiers so that their voice didn''t attract monsters or the enemy.


    Once he got close, the guard began to speak.


    "Who might you be, all alone out here in the woods?" The middle-aged guard asked.


    "Not all alone, just cautious. I take it you''re with the Seminary Academy, out to gather herbs?" Karl replied.


    The guard nodded, and his gaze turned curious. "You met with the missing team, or you wouldn''t know that. Are they alright? Where did you see themst?"


    "Their escort has been killed by an Ascended Rank Giant beetle, but I brought the students with me on our mission for safety. We happened to discover a Holy Relic, and when one of our team touched the crystals, we were pulled into a World Dragon Trial Instance, as the guardians of that ce called it." Karl exined, skipping most of the details to get the important part out.


    "A Trial Instance? What did it look like?" The closer of the two clerics asked eagerly.


    "A forested space with a gigantic golden pyramid temple in the middle. There were stairs up the four sides, testing your strength, magic, willpower and fate. We remained there for four days, until it kicked us out, but I got the guardian Golem to tell me that it opens at the will of the World Dragon, so it''s not broken or anything, just waiting." Karl exined.


    "Before you two go on a tangent, where are the students?" The guard asked.


    "And did you find the body of the High Priest?" The other cleric asked.


    "I found the body, partially eaten by the beetle. I have it with me so it could be given a proper burial. The students are with the rest of my group, I can go get them." Karl replied.


    "Why so cautious?" The second cleric asked.


    "Not to sound rude, but we are trained to be cautious of everything out here in the wilderness, and we couldn''t be sure that you were really from the church just going by the fact you wear white. I didn''t want to put my team at risk." Karl replied quietly.


    "Understandable. But your badge says you''re still an Awakened Rank student, wouldn''t that put you at risk?" The first cleric asked.


    "Better one than all. I am the Team Leader, it is my duty to keep them safe." Karl replied with a shrug.


    The guards nodded in appreciation for a good leader, though their attitude seemed a bit insulted that he appeared to think that he could take them all at once, even if it was just long enough to escape. Even if as an Awakened Elite, he was one, and they were fifty with Holy Magic from the clerics.


    Really, Karl was just trusting in his physique and Lightning Shield to make a break for it if things went wrong.


    "If you would please go get the rest of your team, there should be a train here in the next two hours. We were going to return and call a search team, but if you have them with you, we can all return home." The closer of the two old clerics suggested.


    "Of course. I will go get them and I will be right back."


    Karl turned to walk away, and sensed both Thor and Hawk in their spaces, watching the group as he disappeared back into the trees.


    [They''re not following you, but they''re watching closely.] Hawk informed him.


    [Alright, that''s normal. They''re expecting me toe back with their students.]


    Karl walked back to the group and gestured them forward. "There are two more clerics, I think they''re High Priests, as well as four boys about your age. They have fifty guards with them, and they''re waiting on the train to go back to the school."


    The two young cleric trainees gave each other a high five.


    "Did you exin about the Holy Relic? Because they''re going to be able to sense the Holy Magic as we approach." The girl asked.


    "I did. I didn''t go into much detail, but I told them that it existed and that you two were safe." Karl exined.


    "That should be enough. Are we going now?"


    Karl nodded and turned back to the tracks. "Everyone, follow us, same formation as usual, keep the mages and clerics in the centre of the triple file. We''re heading toward a group of career soldiers, so try not to make yourselves look like the brand-new students that you are."


    The teamughed at the notion they might look like anything but a bunch of first year students out on their first mission. Sure, they had grown in power a lot since they arrived at the Holy Relic, but that didn''t make them any more experienced about being out in the world.


    They exited the trees with Karl in the lead, and he could see that the clerics were actively looking for the two students. Then, as they got closer, the two priests got a strange look, and began to search around in every direction.


    "Is there something wrong?" Karl called, and motioned for the team to stop.


    "I sensed Holy Magic, there is someone else here." One of the clerics called back.


    He was clearly nervous that someone was following them, so perhaps they hade across something good as well and didn''t want another iming the credit for their discovery.

 Chapter 114 Marked

    <h4>Chapter 114 Marked </h4>


    Karl waved to the cleric as he got the team moving. "False rm. It is probably the students. We had an encounter with a Holy Relic, remember? They''ve grown much more than expected in thest few days."


    "They''re from our school. Those two are professors, not High Priests, but strong with Holy Magic. I don''t know the guards, but the other students are familiar faces. I didn''t know that they were out here as well. The High Priest only told us we were leaving, not anything else." The cleric boy with them exined.


    "Well, at least we can confirm that they''re really clerics. Let''s get there and get settled in for some storytelling. They are not going to let us just silently board the train without giving them all the details. I hope that you are ready to relive the dangerous parts." Karl whispered back.


    "I think so. It''s not my favourite memory, but I doubt that I''m going to panic if I happen to remember it." The boy replied.


    The guards moved to encircle them once they got close to the group. They were all facing out, alert for some sort of danger, and definitely not threatened by the students. But Karl still had that creepy feeling, like something was wrong.


    Only now that he was close, he could tell that it wasn''ting from this group of people, just from this area in general.


    So, he didn''t rx, and he prepared to bring the Refreshing Lightning barrier up as soon as he sensed a threat. Calling the beasts out would be ast resort, as he would have to exin to all the soldiers beforehand, but keeping the barrier up shouldn''t be too much of an issue.


    Everyone expected the Elites to have some sort of supernatural powers.


    The two clerics came over to the group and began examining the students they had rescued, while the other four students looked on in envy. Even they could sense the power from the two newly arrived students, and it was obvious that they had been gifted with magic by the trial.


    "This does pose a bit of a dilemma. It is holy magic, but so much of it might make the Government believe that they are Serum Awakened, and not justmon clergy." The older of the two sighed.


    "Is there a distinction within the church?" Karl asked, hoping it wasn''t rude.


    "There is. The ones who awaken cleric marks with the divine injection are sent to us, while the ones raised by us that awaken other marks are sent to the Academy. There weren''t anyst year, only one got a mark, and it was a cleric, but our group does not have many students to begin with." The priest exined.


    The other four boys nodded in unison.


    "There are only eight of us in our year for the whole region." One of them offered.


    That made sense, the Seminary Academy was normally raising selected orphans as priests and nuns to help keep the church running, not to be elite magic users. The main orphanages were in the big cities, where there was the most need. The fact that some of their intended helpers did gain exceptional levels of holy magic either from the Serum or from their faith was just an added benefit.


    "If I didn''t know better, I would say that you were awakened by the Serum. Have either of you gotten a mark on your body after the trial?" The cleric asked.


    Both of them carefully took off their gloves, revealing the mark of a bishop''s sceptre with a dragon wrapped around it.


    That wasn''t the mark that the cleric in front of them had, Karl noticed. His was a simple ankh, a cross with a looped top on the back of his right hand, but these two were much more ornate and detailed. They were alsorger. Much like Karl''s w marks, they took up an entire forearm.


    But the cleric knew what they were right away.


    "You, Team Leader, do you have an emergency phone?" He asked.


    "Of course. Do you need to make a call?" Karl replied.


    "Dial 777, and when they pick up, put us on speakerphone." The cleric instructed.


    Karl did as he requested, and the phone only rang once before being picked up.


    "Speak." The person on the other end replied.


    "Cleric ss Professor 8675309." The priest replied as soon as Karl hit the speaker button.


    "Verified. What is your emergency?" The bored voice asked, sounding nothing like it was an emergency.


    "Two Dragon Priests found. Awakened at a Holy Relic before the Serum injection." The priest replied.


    "Eight minutes." The voice informed them, then hung up.


    Karl looked at the group, who mostly seemed as confused as he was.


    "They''re not really talkative, are they?" Karl asked.


    "It''s better if they''re not. Remember that number in the future, it is the direct line to the Holy Inquisition. They''re the church''s version of special forces, and a number of especially devout Elites work with them to prevent damage to sacred sites or attacks on travelling clergy." The priest informed him.


    "Well, it looks like we will be separated very soon, so let me be the first to congratte you both on your awakening. From the response, I would say that your ss is a good and well-known one, so your futures should be secure." Karl congratted the two students, who had kept their awakening to themselves this whole time, though everyone had known that their magic was growing more powerful even before their eyes first glowed with golden light.


    "Do you know what dragon?" The priest asked the students, who shook their heads.


    Dana raised her hand. "I think that we do. Their eyes glow golden in the dark."


    The guards looked reverent at those words, and shifted their defensive postures, as if they were ready to guard the two students even against the other clergy.


    "Then thank the gods we called the Inquisition. I was not looking forward to facing the Academy Matron, or worse, the Grand Priestess to report that by myself." The second priest muttered.


    Karl and a few of the guards couldn''t help butugh. Some things were truly universal, and one of them was the aversion to being called out by your superiors. Even if you hadn''t done anything in particr wrong.


    They were beginning to rx and count down the minutes until the reinforcements arrived, when the creepy feeling that Karl had been getting intensified, and now even the clerics and mages were feeling it.


    "There really is something else out here. Everyone on guard, I feel a disturbance in the mana flow." The leader of the guard troop announced.


    "In position, circr formation." Karl ordered, and the students moved to surround the clerics, with the mages inside the ring of warriors, behind the front lines of the guards.


    "Are you not moving inside the formation?" The older priest asked Karl, who had moved to stand with the guards in the outer ring of the defensive line.


    "Guards, I have three tamed beasts with me, as part of my ss skills. A Lightning Cerro, a Windspeed Hawk, and a Bloodbath Spider. If I have to call them out, I need you not to attack them. They are not a spell, they are living creatures." Karl called out, and got a sharp response from the guards.


    "Understood, Sir." They called in unison, and Karl settled into his ce among the guards, next to their team leader.


    If there was an attack, it would be easier if the two of them could coordinate their orders.

 Chapter 115 Drakes

    <h4>Chapter 115 Drakes </h4>


    For a few tense moments, everyone waited for something to happen. Then, the cause for the rm became clear. There was a flight of drakes inbound, with riders on their backs.


    "One full wing of Drake Riders, 140 degrees low on the horizon." The guard Sergeant reported.


    That was nearly behind Karl, but the guards on his side of the formation didn''t turn away just yet. Training told them that an attack rarely came from just one direction, and if it was a flying enemy, they could easily circle the team to attack where it looked weakest.


    "Once they''re in range, odd numbers turn to face the threat." The guard leader announced, getting back a wordless noise of confirmation.


    Karl had no experience with that sort of group training, but the students were willing to follow the church guard''s orders and when Dana whistled, the mages all turned.


    "They''re nearly in spell range now. Call it when you want the attack to begin." Karl informed the guard leader.


    "Hold fire. They might not be hostile, but the drakes would have sensed the presence of Dragon Magic a while ago if they''ve flown this far ind. That''s the only reason the Drake Riders are ever willing to leave their borders." He replied.


    Karl struggled to remember geography, but he was reasonably certain that the Drake Riders were from a nearby ind nation, so they must have flown hundreds of kilometres across the Golden Dragon Nation without being intercepted, looking for the magic that had awakened these two new clerics. That was an impressive feat for twenty of the giant flying lizards.


    "I will ask for detailster, but what are the chances of attack?" Karl whispered to the guard leader.


    "If they''vee this far and haven''t found what they''re looking for, I would say ny percent. They view themselves as the rightful heirs of the Dragons." He replied grimly.


    Drakes didn''t use magic or breathe fire. At least, Karl hoped that they didn''t. But the riders on their backs most likely did, unless they were going to dive into meleebat and use the beasts the way that Karl would have Thor and Rae fight on the ground.


    The flight of drakes circled the group once, as if verifying their targets, then as one, they dive bombed the group.


    "OPEN FIRE!" The guard leader announced.


    "Guards up!" the Sergeant added, causing the team to raise barriers all around them.


    Thor didn''t have a ranged attack, but Karl called out Rae with a simple mental instruction.


    [Tie their wings and make them crash.]


    Karl was in the odd numbered position, and as the team rotated to face the flight of Drakes, he joined them, waiting for the beasts to get close enough for their ws to rake across the [Guard] set up by the warriors before unleashing [Shred] into the belly and throat of the two Drakes closest to him.


    The beasts roared in pain, and the whole flight circled up into the sky, except for one unfortunate soul who was caught by Rae''s web and thrown from his saddle when the drake pped its wings, tearing the web.


    [Web isn''t that strong, they won''t crash.] Rae muttered.


    [That''s fine, just pull the riders from their seats.] Karl replied with a smirk.


    The drakes were trained to obey orders, and without a rider, they should lose their organization.


    Thick ck blood dripped on Rae''s head, and Karl felt the surge of energy from her link, as well as the joy as she absorbed it.


    [If we kill one, I will take it for you.] He informed her, as it was clear the drake blood was better than anything else he had been able to feed her.


    The damages from the mages and Karl weren''t enough to deter the Drake Riders, and a flurry of ming arrows flew through the sky to impact against the mage barriers in the centre of the group. The barriers began to waver, but Dana focused, and they stabilized again, while the Golems red up at the Drakes.


    Her Nullification Barrier seemed to be up to the task of stopping the arrows, but it would drain her energy reserves quickly if she was the primary defender, instead of spreading it between the five mages.


    The clerics were quick to help, and a faint golden glow of Holy Magic covered her body, refreshing her mana and strength in preparation for the next attack.


    That reminded Karl that he was cking, and he brought up the Refreshing Lightning around himself, hoping for a bit more energy recovery, then gave in to Hawk''sints and let the beast free.


    Even as grand as he was,rger than a Condor, Hawk was tinypared to the drakes. It was a small blessing, as nobody would mistake him for one of the enemy, but it was concerning, as he was going to be at a major strength disadvantage if he were caught.


    Instead of facing them head on, Hawk treated it like training. He gained altitude quickly, getting above the attackers, so he could strike down at them, and aimed for the riders.


    [Now.] Karl ordered as the attack wave reached the defenders from the church again.


    Rend attacks flew down at all the drake riders, while Karl threw Shred up at the drakes bellies again, targeting the same pair. Pained screams filled the air as the two beasts crashed to the ground, one bleeding heavily from the neck and the other with a wing nearly severed.


    Three more broke off the attack as their riders died, but the remainder of the wing crashed into the barriers again, shattering the [Guard] encirclement, and tearing apart the soldiers opposite Karl.


    The rider of the drake with the slit throat hopped free at thest instant and charged at Karl, who took his head from his body with a Rend attack, and tried not to gag at the sight of the decapitated corpse falling to the ground.


    It had been instinctive. Hawk''s instincts telling him that the best ce to strike was always the neck, but he hadn''t really been prepared for what came after.


    A quarter of the wing of Drake Riders had been killed, but the soldiers were struggling to get their [Guard] back up, and the holy magic that was flowing into them to reinforce their spells was still not enough to face off against fifteen drakes.


    "Mages, extend the barrier. Warriors fall back into a double rank." The guard leader ordered.


    That was their best chance of survival, as the Elites had more individual power than the two clerics, and there were ten of them to the two Professors.


    "Warriors to the outer ranks." Karl ordered, as that would let them mingle their [Guard] abilities with that of the soldiers. The ability was short ranged enough that despite their reluctance, the boys moved up.


    Not to the front rank, but to the second, sandwiched between the professional soldiers. That was good enough for their spells to cover the perimeter, and they should be able to take a few more hits before the group would be in trouble again.


    Two drakes broke off from the formation to chase Hawk as they realized their wing was under attack from above, but they didn''t have the altitude to close on him that easily.


    A wire thin Rend from Karl took one of the riders from the saddle, while Rae pulled the other free, sending them both tumbling fifty metres to the ground.


    They managed to cast spells to soften theirndings a little, but they were too close to the tracks, and the clergy guards were on them with [sh] attacks instantly.


    That made five loose drakes, who began to fly away, trained to return home in the event that their rider was lost, and two more that were downed by attacks.


    The drakes dove again, but this time the mages didn''t counterattack when the arrows flew. They focused on their barriers, keeping the vicious ws off them while Hawk attacked the drakes from above, and Karl coated the flying web being sprayed out by Rae with [Rend], turning the sticky silk into razor wire that tangled around two of the drakes, shredding beast and rider alike, before pulling them to the ground with a sickening sound that was definitely going to haunt Karl''s dreams tonight.


    Then, the most glorious sound in the world reached their ears. A helicopter was inbound, and the drakes turned to flee, unwilling to face the Elite forces equipped with military heavy weapons.


    Of the twenty Drake Riders that had attacked, only ten were going home, and a few more beasts would survive to take a new rider.


    "Move forward. Check for survivors. The inquisition will want to interrogate someone." The older of the two clerics ordered.


    Rae raced through the long grass, pulling one of the dead drakes into her space before anyone noticed or had time to count, then she began checking the bodies.


    [There are no living ones. Well, that one is kind of living, but not for long.] She amended.


    [How so?] Karl asked as he moved forward, and the cleric hurried to join him.


    The man was one who had been pulled from his seat by Rae, and his body was twisted in an unnatural way, with blood bubbling from his lips as he struggled to breathe.


    The cleric got right to work, casting a healing spell on him, and then forcing a potion into his mouth to stabilize his condition.


    Karl hadn''t realized that the clergy could do that. Bringing a man back from that close to the edge of death was worthy of being called a miracle, and it was happening all over as the other Cleric and the students were working to save the clergy guards who had been mauled by the drakes or who had taken a magical arrow.

 Chapter 116 Recovered

    <h4>Chapter 116 Recovered </h4>


    The drakes were faster than the helicopters, and both were rapidly fading into the distance as the clergy did their work, saving one attacker and most of their guards.


    Then they waited. And waited some more until the special forces team gave up the chase and returned a half hourter.


    From the look on their faces as they stepped out of the helicopter, it was not a triumphant return, and the Drake Riders had escaped their pursuit, but it was still good to see them.


    "Priests, students, and who might these be?" Therge man leading the Inquisition team asked.


    "A gathering team from the Divine Golden Academy, led by the Awakened students Karl and Dana, here to gather herbs, sir." Karl replied, as he was the closest of their team members.


    "Two Awakened Team Leaders for a resource gathering mission?" The Inquisitor asked.


    "Yes, sir. We''re all in our first year, so they sent an extra Awakened member on this Common Grade mission to make up for our inexperience." Karl exined.


    That seemed to be enough to mollify the Inquisitor, who just nodded in satisfaction as he looked over the team.


    "It looks like you''re all the leaders of this year''s ss. Congrattions on your eptance by the Divine Serum." The Inquisitor replied.


    "The World Dragon smiles upon us." Karl agreed.


    The two cleric students who had been with him nodded enthusiastically, and even the Inquisition smirked at that reverent response. The group had discovered two Dragon Priests, more correctly, a Priest and a Priestess, as the Inquisitors began to realize. If that wasn''t proof of the World Dragon''s favour, then he wasn''t sure what qualified.


    "We will need to extract the entire team at this time. Notification has been sent to the Divine Golden Academy, and they wille to recover their students once we have had an opportunity to speak." The Inquisition team leader announced with a gesture toward the helicopter.


    The clerics looked nervous, which made everyone else nervous as well. What did they know that nobody else did? The team hadn''t done anything wrong, so surely there was no need to be frightened, Karl thought as he called Hawk and Rae back into their space for the trip.


    Both had stolen Drake bodies forter, which someone would certainly notice, as the scales were incredibly valuable, but that could be discussed once they got back to the Academy, as they could also be counted as a strengthening resource.


    Many scaled beasts used potions with the scales of Dragon type beasts to help their growth, and Karl had Thor, who might be able to get something from the exchange.


    "Can you show me the marks?" The leader of the rescue team asked, looking at the two newly awakened Clerics directly.


    They both pulled up their sleeves and the man smiled, then gestured toward the helicopter. "Everyone in. We''ve waited here long enough."


    As soon as everyone was in therge, twin ded helicopter, it began to move, not even waiting for them to get buckled into their seats.


    This matter must have been a bigger deal than what Karl or any of the others had suspected, and they hadn''t even been asked about the Holy Relic yet.


    They only flew a few minutes, before theynded at arge cathedral surrounded by low stone buildings that were built in the middle of nowhere. This was the Seminary Academy, where the clerics trained their new clergy, and raised orphaned children who were left in their care. Only a promising few would get the preferential treatment that the six students in the helicopter had, but they would all be given the Divine Serum when they came of age, to determine if they would continue a mundane life or start moving on to bigger things.


    "It is unorthodox to have students awaken outside the ceremony, but with the presence of Holy Relics, it is not unheard of. There is one in this school as well, and it is known to grant boons to those who the World Dragon favours.


    That is the first ce we will be going. The response of the World Dragon Temple will tell us much about you." The leader of the Inquisition team informed them.


    They were led out of the helicopter and toward a small golden building, with ramped corners that reminded everyone of the stairs at the trial site.


    "Is there something familiar about this ce?" The inquisitor nearest to Karl asked.


    "The stairs. The trial instance that we were in was a Golden Pyramid temple with staircases up the four sides like the ones on the corners of the building here." Karl quietly answered, trying not to disturb the peaceful vibe of the area.


    The man didn''t say anything more as they were led into the small temple, and the two newly awakened students immediately began to glow with golden light, before their robes changed from student uniform robes to more ornate cleric habits in a gold over ck doubleyered fashion.


    Karl felt a weight around his neck, and found that he was wearing a simple golden dragon - shaped pendant, but when he tried to touch it, he discovered that it was some form of illusion, and not solid at all.


    The inquisitors moved through the group, looking them all over for some sign of the World Dragon''s favour, and then quietly escorted the other four students out of the room. They weren''t taken anywhere, just left by the door, which was closed in front of them without a word.


    Only when the doors were sealed and the priests who had been in the temple had moved to guard them did the Inquisitor speak.


    "It appears true that you all did undergo a trial in a Holy Relic. Those pendants are a mark of lingering favour, and the design tells us how you did in the trial. Congrattions to you all, and we do hope that you enjoy the rewards granted for your hard work.


    Now, we will be bringing you individually to speak of your experiences so that we can get a clear picture of what the Holy Relic is and how it functions, or possibly when it might open again. A team has already gone to secure the location, and they will verify your stories." The Inquisition team leader informed them.


    That exined why the others were sent out. They weren''t with the team, and they didn''t have the rank of the priests to stay in the room and hear such sensitive information.


    "Who would like to go first?" The Inquisitor asked.


    Karl raised his hand. "I will go first, if there are no objections."


    The students looked nervous as Karl was led into the other room, where tworge men, shirtless in ck leather pants, were standing on either side of a metal chair with arm rests.


    Karl wasn''t an idiot, he knew that this was an interrogation room, not a ''friendly meeting with new friends'' room, but as long as he exined clearly, he didn''t see any reason for there to be a problem.


    Most of the intimidation of the room came from the knowledge that you had something to hide, and Karl really didn''t have many secrets. At least, he assumed that was why it was supposed to be horrifying, as the room was immactely clean with no signs of prior use, other than the scuff marks on the floor by the chair.


    The man who escorted him in gave Karl a friendly smile as he settled into a folding chair facing the metal one Karl was led to.


    "Alright, let''s start at the beginning. I mean the very beginning. Who are you, where are you from, and what was your life like before you found out that you werepatible with the Divine Serum?" The inquisitor began.


    "Well, my name is Karl. The working people of the mines don''t customarily give family names. I am in the first year at the Academy now, from the most recent batch of Serum candidates.


    I was going to school on the standard four-day schedule and working six quarter shifts in the mine a week, as the rules allow for students.


    I can''t say things were all that bad, my mother was a good cook, and my parents hadn''t run up any debts that I know of." Karl began, then paused, unsure what else the man might want.


    The inquisitor nodded. "You don''t hold any resentment against the mine owner?"


    Karl shook his head. "I''ve never even met the man. Or perhaps it''s a woman? The foreman is a good guy, though. His daughter was in my ss, but she didn''t have thepatibility."


    "How has your time at the Golden Divine Academy been? Are you making friends?"


    Karl smiled. "Very much so. I''ve been advancing faster than most, so I keep getting moved between training programs, and everywhere I go I meet more good people."


    "Why do you think that is?" The Inquisitor asked, taking notes on a paper pad.


    "I have a theory that everyone who gains the favour of the World Dragon has something inmon. Have you noticed that there are suspiciously few douchebags in the first year sses? Maybe not. I don''t know if you were a student. But the truly cruel and the bullies don''t seem to have made the cut." Karl exined.


    The Inquisitor looked like he was about tough at Karl''s seemingly naive response, but as he thought about it, it was true of the first years. They came in decent, and only really devolved as the year went on, and the power differences began to appear, which caused resentment, bitterness and envy.


    By the second year, the cliques had fully formed, but at the start of the first year, as Karl was experiencing, his ssmates would all still be somewhat starstruck and hopeful.


    "Now, I need every single detail of your mission. The wording, everyone involved in its assignment, and anything else you can think of." The Inquisitor demanded, turning serious, but softening his voice enough that it didn''t sound like a threat.

 Chapter 117 Questioned

    <h4>Chapter 117 Questioned </h4>


    Karl thought about the question. Who all had been involved?


    "I proposed to my personal tutor, Sergeant Rita, that it would be better for my development if I could get out for some practical training. There is only so much I can do in the limited environment of the Academy, and she discussed it with the agents from the Bureau of Elite Development, who agreed to the mission, and picked the one I was assigned to."


    The Inquisitor looked confused. "What was a Bureau Agent doing there?"


    Karl shrugged. "There are two of them assigned to me. One is there all the time, either a mage or a warrior. They took me on the trip to find my second and third beasts, then approved this as my first student mission."


    The Inquisitor looked like he was getting a headache.


    "Back up a step. When did the Bureau first start showing an interest in you?"


    Karl shrugged. "A few weeks ago? At least that was when I noticed because they sent Colonel Valerie to escort me and Dana to a training day on the Saturday."


    One of the two goons left the room for a moment, and the Inquisitor waited, not asking any more questions.


    A few minutester, the man came back in with a picture in his hands, and a man in a business suit.


    "Do you know who is in that picture?" The Inquisitor asked.


    Karl looked over and smiled. "That''s Jodi, one of the Bureau Agents. Real yboy vibe, but he''s actually a good guy. He was on the mission to find me the additional pet and at the training course."


    The man in the suit pocketed the picture, while the shirtless man returned to his position.


    Then the door opened again, and a familiar face entered the room. Overlord Drake walked into the room with an expressionless professionalism, letting his powerful aura fill the area, which made the others visibly shrink back a bit.


    Not Karl. He had nowhere to go in the metal chair, but he already knew that the man was simply intimidating, and that had nothing to do with his mood.


    "Overlord." He greeted politely.


    "Oh, it''s you again. How is that skill working out for you? Got you all powered up and looking to join the Inquisition in your first year at the Academy?" The powerful man asked, unaware of the situation.


    "We called you down here to use your skills to help determine truthfulness, as the Bureau of Elite Development has gotten involved with a first year student." The Inquisitor announced.


    The burly man looked a bit sheepish. "That might be my fault. They were the talk of the Academy when I visited with the Prince, which led to us teaching them a couple of new skills, and probably attracted the attention of the Bureau."


    The Inquisitor definitely looked like he was getting annoyed now.


    "Alright, it appears that there are numerous details left out of your recounting of your time at the Academy. It''s only been a little over a month, I thought that we had covered everything. Now, let''s start over.


    What did you learn as an additional skill? Where did they take you looking for pets, and what did you pick?" The Inquisitor asked.


    Overlord Drake perked up a little at that. Karl could see the curiosity in his expression.


    "I learned Shred as an additional skill from a skill book provided by Overlord Drake. The team from the Bureau took me south to get pets, and I picked a Lightning Cerro and a Bloodbath Spider. There is an official report made." Karl exined.


    The shirtless man went and got aptopputer out of the cab at the back of the room, and the Inquisitor tapped away as he logged in and opened the report.


    "You had quite the adventure. Alright, that should be enough of the background. What happened on this mission? Where is the High Priest''s body, and how did you find the Holy Relic?"


    "I have the body stored. Do you have something? I had to put it in a bag to store it with my beast, and it''s a bit undignified."


    The Inquisitor looked mildly horrified, but gestured to the floor. "Is it intact and whole? ce it there."


    "It isn''t. The Giant Beetle that killed him ate part of the body." Karl replied, then ced the blood soaked bag on the floor.


    Overlord Drake cussed, and made the symbol of the dragon, with his thumbs crossed, and his fingers spread to imitate the wings of the World Dragon.


    The Inquisitor seemed unfazed, and didn''t bother to open the bag. So, it wasn''t the thought of blood that had horrified him, but more likely the idea of being eaten alive by a Giant Beetle.


    "Thank you for recovering the body. Now, details."


    Karl recounted everything from getting off the train to meeting the clerics, and then stopped when they got to the part when they were pulled into the trial instance.


    "Astounding. Now, the rest of the details."


    Karl spent over an hour answering questions about the trials, his experiences, and what he thought they meant.


    "And the reward that you got was a ss Skill? You''re certain that it said ss Skill?" The Inquisitor asked.


    "It called it a Tamer Skill. Which I assume is the trial''s name for my abilities. It wasn''t just a regr skill, or named like an offensive or defensive skill." Karl exined.


    "Interesting. But not my department. Possibly, Overlord Drake''s." The Inquisitor replied.


    Then they asked what he knew about the other students'' rewards, before a group of six men showed up with an ornate metal casket.


    "Uhm, you''ll want to clean him first. I didn''t want to mess with anything." Karl exined.


    A flood of golden magic flowed from the men with the casket, and the blood vanished from the bag, which stretched out to human proportions before lifting off the ground and vanishing into the casket, which was closed and then sealed shut with some sort of solder and a torch.


    "Alright, I think that we''re done here." The Inquisitor announced.


    Overlord Drake raised a hand to stop him as he went to stand. Karl realized that he had no idea how the Overlord was supposed to have verified his truthfulness, but not all skills could be seen, so maybe he was like a lie detector.


    "First, I want to see how the pets are doing. You said a Lightning Cerro and a Bloodbath Spider, as well as Hawk, right?"


    Karl nodded. "Yes, sir."


    He called the three out, with Hawk appearing on the back of the chair and Rae in hisp, covering far more than the avable space, so her front four legs were standing on the ground, which put her face perilously close to the other chair.


    Thor stood between Karl and Drake, giving the man a pleading look that Karl recognized as a desire to have his head rubbed,pletely oblivious to the normally serious mood of such an ''interview''.


    Drake smiled and scratched at the ridge between his upper horns, which brought a soft bugling noise of pleasure from the Lightning Cerro.


    "Well, aren''t you just the most lovely big boy. But Hawk has gotten huge. The newer two have some growing left to do, but for what it matters, I approve of your choices. They look loyal, and they''re well-bnced to each other''s strengths.


    I would ask more about the matter, but the Colonel would cause a fuss if she thought that we were interfering with your training. Now I will go see that mage. Excuse me, gentlemen." Drake announced, walking out of the room and leaving Thor looking to the Inquisitor to rece his source of attention.


    "I believe that we have enough here. Thank you, Karl. I will escort you back to the waiting room."

 Chapter 118 Satisfactory Answers

    <h4>Chapter 118 Satisfactory Answers </h4>


    The waiting room was full of terrified students, huddled together for some sense of safety. They looked up when Karl returned, then got confused when he didn''t seem to be bothered by the situation, and that he had Thor next to him, who was headbutting the Inquisitor, looking for affection.


    The man gave Karl a look of annoyance, and Karl patted Thor on the side before sending him to the beast space. The little show of escorting him back was probably intended to either intimidate or pressure the other students, but Thor had messed up the impression that the Inquisitor was going for with his innate sense of who was actually a threat.


    "That is everyone, except student Dana, who is still speaking with the Overlord and will be back momentarily. Once she arrives, we will settle you into rooms for the evening. It might not be at the plush standards of the Golden Divine Academy, as the Church takes vows of poverty, but I can assure you that they will be warm and there will be dinner served soon." The Inquisitor announced as Karl moved to join the others.


    Dana was only seconds behind them with a smile on her face and an Inquisitor beside her.


    "That''s everyone then. Let''s get a move on, I have things to do." The leader of the Inquisition team announced.


    The Inquisitor led them out the door, and then a group of clerics in simple grey robes, marking them as Acolytes, themon workers of the churches, led them to arge dorm room.


    "This is for the males, other than the one called Karl." The Acolyte leading them announced.


    The boys filed in, with another of the acolytes stepping in to exin everything to them.


    Then the remainder of the group turned down a corridor where the trim on the wall turned from blue to orange.


    "This room is for the women other than Dana." A female acolyte announced.


    The girls waved goodbye to Karl and Dana, leaving them with just one female Acolyte.


    "Your rooms are upstairs. You have both been registered as Awakened Elites already, and that means you stay on the second floor." She exined apologetically.


    "That''s fine. As long as there is food and a bed, I''m satisfied." Karl agreed.


    "It is quiet here, which is a pleasant change from the Academy. It''s always so loud with everyone training." Dana agreed.


    The room was a small cloister room, just a bed with a symbol of the World Dragon on the wall and a small desk that used the bed as a chair, due to the limited space. But it was a private room, which was something.


    With the thick stone walls of the Seminary Academy, it was even properly private, to some extent. The window in the wall had no shutter, so if there was someone outside looking in, it wasn''t all that private, but the natural light was a blessing in what would otherwise be a stuffy stone cell.


    Karl rxed on the bed for a while, until a knock at his door informed him of a guest.


    "Awakened, Karl. Your presence has been requested." The man informed him simply.


    "Lead the way." Karl replied, unsure what this was all about.


    He had a sneaking suspicion that this was going to be some sort of turf war between the church and the Bureau, or possibly the military, that he was getting dragged into. But when he reached the destination and the Acolyte stopped and gestured for him to go through arge door arch, there was nobody inside what looked like the Seminary Academy''s library.


    It might be some sort of prankmon with the clergy, a form of hazing, but Karl doubted it. Even if they ditched him here, he knew his way back, and there was no actual door in the archway to lock him in the library.


    After a few seconds, Karl heard voices up ahead, so he moved forward to see who had called for him. It was clearly an argument, but the content of the argument was quite interesting to Karl, causing him to pause for a moment before entering.


    "It''s not possible that there would be two Reigning Dragon Priests at the same time. I am telling you that the oracle wasn''t wrong. One of them is not going to take over the Church. The other has another fate, serving the World Dragon''s interests." One soft female voice was insisting.


    An angry male voice replied. "Do you think that we can just let someone of that potential wander around outside the church''s supervision? No, they must both be raised as the heir to their Patron. That is the fate of all Dragon Priests."


    Karl sensed that one of them had noticed him, so he knocked on the bookshelf closest to him, and stepped around the corner.


    "Apologies for intruding, I was informed that I was summoned." Karl informed the two people sitting in the padded chairs at the back of the library.


    "You were. Please,e sit. I have questions for you, that only you might be able to answer." The woman in fancyyered robes replied with a smile.


    Karl took a seat to the side between the two, settling into the soft leather with a sigh of pleasure.


    The woman paused to gather her thoughts, then turned a brilliant smile at Karl that had both Hawk and Thor hissing in displeasure, while Rae took it as a personal challenge, and nearly charged out before Karl could stop her.


    [Calm down, she''s not going to attack us here.] Karl informed them.


    The smile seemed friendly enough, but the beasts had all taken it as a threat from a predator, and that put Karl on guard, though he did his best to keep a neutral smile.


    "I am told that you gained a Golden Chest from the trial instance, that you were the only one who gained that level of recognition." She began.


    She seemed sincere, and Karl wondered whether he had mentioned that Dana had as well. It didn''t seem to havee up in conversation, so perhaps nobody knew.


    "I got a golden chest, yes." Karl agreed.


    "Two Dragon Priests were awakened there, and yet, the Trial Instance didn''t give them a level of recognition as great as yours. Why do you think that was?" She asked, while the man sat silently, still brooding about their previous argument.


    "I believe it was because the rewards were based on power. If there was someone of Commander Rank or higher in the group, we likely would have seen a fourth type of box generated." Karl replied.


    That seemed like the most probable cause to him, anyhow.


    "Three ranks would suggest that you were at the Ascended Rank and not the Awakened Rank." The man spoke slowly.


    Karl shrugged. "I am on the high side of Awakened. I don''t presume to know how the Holy Relic sorts or rewards its visitors, I was just guessing based on who got which types of box."


    "A very political answer. It appears that the Bureau has been training you well. Let me rephrase that. The skill that it gave you, you described it as a way to teach beasts. If I brought a beast here, could you teach it a skill?" She asked.


    "If it waspatible with one that I know, it should be possible. That is what the skill said. I haven''t had a chance to test it." Karl agreed.


    The man whistled, and a Nekomata, a two - tailed magical cat, came over and stood in front of Karl. It must have been listening to their conversation to have gotten there that quickly, and it looked intrigued by the topic.


    "I want you to teach her a skill. Any skill you know. As you may be aware, their innate skill is stealth, so it won''t interfere with your options." The Priestess demanded, and her eyes turned as grey as her hair.


    "How about Rend? You have lovely ws, do you think that you could learn to rend?" Karl asked, addressing the cat directly.


    It looked confused, so Karl focused on his new skill.


    Magical runes appeared in his vision, and a few secondster, Karl began to understand what he had to do. The ability was cast on the animal, then you had to show it the skill you wanted it to learn, and have it practice for a period of time, unless you knew the skill well enough that the teaching ability would let you transfer the knowledge directly.


    But the only way to know if you had that level of expertise was to try, so when the cat made an affirmative noise, Karl tried his best to activate the skill with Rend attached.


    It worked, in a way. The magic seeped into the cat, who looked perplexed about what was going on around it and stared off into space for five solid minutes, while nobody said anything.


    Then, suddenly, it raised a paw, and a faint light surrounded the four short ws.


    [That is the saddest excuse for Rend that I have ever seen. Even the first day that I taught it to you, you did better.] Hawkughed in Karl''s mind.


    "That is Rend. I am certain of it." Karl offered, while the two clergy members stared at the proud Nekomata.


    They were silent for a few more seconds, as the cat swung its paw about, testing the ability. It was an Awakened Rank beast, but the skill was definitely not. It was barely there, a Common Grade skill that would need much more practice or instruction to be truly useful.


    "So, it is not instant? That is a shame." The man finally replied with a sigh.


    That seemed like a lot to expect of a single skill from an Awakened Rank Elite. Maybe they thought it was like a reusable Skill Book, and Karl could just stand there and teach hundreds of beasts a new skill in an hour?

 Chapter 119 Good Intentions And Bad Ideas

    <h4>Chapter 119 Good Intentions And Bad Ideas </h4>


    The look that the Nekomata was giving the two High Priests promised violence. It was very proud of the fact that it had learned a new skill, and the fact that it could activate it after one day was extremely impressive in the Demon Cat''s mind.


    The new clerics took years to start using a new skill, and it had done so in a single hour. But these two still had the nerve to look down on its learning rate? If they weren''t the ones who fed it, the cat was seriously considering wing their eyes out to show them just how impressive its new skill could be.


    Karl cleared his throat and nodded politely to the Nekomata. "It''s a brand-new skill. The beasts that I teach will know the skill itself, but it''s not an innate ability. Just like with students, even if they know it, it takes time to do it properly. It''s a bit of a shame that I can''t grant them that experience instantly like a skill book, but it''s still pretty impressive, I think, and with practice you will have the first of a kind Nekomata with Rending ws."


    He might have actually made things worse, as now that the cat realized that someone was on its side, its re at the two clergy members was even more intense, but the man just dismissed it with a wave.


    "You can go now, fur ball. Yes, it is actually quite impressive, but not what we were hoping for. Thank you for your time, you can return to your room."


    Karl took that as a dismissal, and turned to walk out of the Library, where he found Overlord Drake standing outside the archway.


    The Overlord quietly gestured for Karl to apany him, making it quite obvious that he wanted to talk, but not where they would so easily be overheard by the pair that were sitting in the Library''s back room.


    Whether those two would be able to actually hear them was a mystery to Karl. They weren''t Elites, but the Mage''s Professor back at the Academy did have hearing that was well beyond anything that he would associate with normal human senses as a result of his magic. So, it would not only be prudent, but also polite to move away from the Library before they began to talk at all.


    They turned into a nondescript hallway, and the Overlord smiled down at Karl, doing his best to make his smile reassuring and not intimidating.


    "They''re a pleasant pair, aren''t they? Don''t mind them too much, they''ve got very little affinity for living things and much prefer historical scrolls. I was speaking to the Colonel while you were in there, and she''s got a much higher opinion of your potential skills, and a n to make them work for you, not some grand n to supplement the clergy guard."


    Karl took a moment to take in what he had heard, while Drake nodded reassuringly.


    "I take it they didn''t mention that part. They wanted to add a tamed animal for each guard, like service dogs or the old war dogs, but magical beasts. But there is a reason that neither of them is on the security council, and they don''t have the patience needed to train new soldiers, much less new soldiers who can work together with magical beasts." Drake chuckled quietly.


    "Then they should have been looking into faster ways to get the animals to bond, not faster ways to improve their power, shouldn''t they? I mean, the hard part is getting the magical beasts to like people." Karl suggested.


    "Exactly. But there are promotions to rece a few aging Bishopsing up, and those who have a shot are all scrambling to do something impressive enough to earn a seat. But you didn''t hear that from me." The Overlord rank warrior exined as he led Karl down a series of hallways.


    "Dinner is this way, but you and Dana will be pulled away from your team for the evening. There are people here that you should meet, and who you will likely be working with in the future. All the clericse from this school, and they''re an invaluable asset to every major mission team, as well as the emergency response events.


    Since the two of you are both Awakened Rank, with a solid chance of reaching Ascended by the end of the year with the good fortune that you''ve had, I thought it best that you meet some potential party members." Drake exined.


    "I appreciate it, sir. But might I ask, what brought you here? I thought that you were attached to the Prince in a way?" Karl replied.


    "You brought me here. Or rather, your team did. I was called to the emergency response to secure the Holy Relic as soon as it was reported, and we were on site before the team even made it back here with you.


    We searched the area while you were being questioned, and the Bishop that we brought with us confirmed the intense concentration of Holy Magic right where youter said it would be. The cavern is now under constant security, and will remain that way until we determine when it will open again.


    The find has been attributed to abined effort of the Seminary and Elite Academies, but you all will probably get another reward when you get back, just so that nobody gets ideas about making the matter public or trying to im individual glory." He informed Karl with a knowing smile.


    There was always someone who was more eager for fame, and it might have been Karl if he hadn''t seen the oue of that choice on the Fate stairs.


    "I didn''t expect the church school to have so many levels of politics going on." Karl whispered as they walked, and the big Overlord burst intoughter.


    "Oh, your Academy is just as bad, they just put on a better front. The clergy are terrible at poker, and they can''t hide their intentions from anyone with eyes. At the Golden Divine Academy, the real heavyweights of politics do their scheming. I thought that you would know that by now."


    Karl smiled and shook his head. "I knew that. I just didn''t expect it here. You know, white robes and virtue, all of that."


    Drake keptughing and patted him on the back. "It''s mostly harmless. You see, if they go off the rails, they lose their powers. Which brings us to the next thing you should know. When they begin a formal dinner with other ranked clerics, they will all glow for a second. They''re checking each other for corruption, or an inability to activate Holy powers. It''s like a failsafe, the way that we check our weapons at the door."


    That was an amusing thought. Even without a weapon, they were weapons. But it was the thought that counted, Karl supposed.


    They stepped through the door into a mostly filled dining room, and a grey robed Acolyte announced their presence.


    "Overlord Drake and Awakened Karl." He spoke simply, causing a few heads to turn and nod politely before they all registered that the man had said Overlord.


    Being so far up the rankings, above even the Royal and Monarch Rank Elites that came after the Commanders who made up the professors of the Academy, Drake was owed a lot of respect.


    To the Clergy, he was on par with one of their Bishops walking into the room, but the way he behaved was without all the expectation of formality that normally apanied his position. He was so informal about his power that even Karl had nearly forgotten that the man could physically level this entire Academy in under a minute if he so wished.


    "You''re over there, with the other Awakened. I''ll be up on the stage with the Headmaster. Good luck, and make good friends. Just like you, they need parties to go out on missions, but they''re not the fighting sort, so if they can call on Elites, it''s better for everyone." Drake whispered, then gave Karl a gentle shove toward his table.


    Dana was already here, at a different table, and Karl hid a smile at the way that the clerics had arranged themselves. Her table was almost all boys, with only one other girl, while Karl''s table was entirely girls.


    There were far more female clerics in the room than male, Karl noticed. Nearly four to one, in fact. Some of them would have been raised here and then shown an aptitude for Holy Magic but not the Serum, but the vast majority would have awakened to Cleric type sses in the Ceremony.


    A very short blonde girl stood up to greet Karl as he approached the table with his namete hanging from the back of a chair.


    "Karl! Wee, please,e and join us. We were just discussing the opportunities to gather more herbs in the area around the new Holy Relic. We talked to the students you saved, and they said that there were more locations you didn''t get to, and that you were careful not to destroy the ones you harvested.


    You have no idea how amazing that is. Even most of our students still manage to ruin the resource patches they find, and we''re reminded before every mission to harvest sustainably."


    Karl smiled back at the vertically challenged cleric. "We''re not the only group that needs those resources, and most of them will grow back in just a few months if we''re careful. It''s better not to ruin them so that we can return."

 Chapter 120 Formal Dinner

    <h4>Chapter 120 Formal Dinner </h4>


    Karl didn''t miss the disapproving look that Dana gave him as he took his seat, with the bubbly blonde sitting next to him and discussing the difficulties of arranging a mission for clergy students.


    "You see, since we''re not fighters, we have to wait for a Professor, or a group of guards to be going to the region that we''re looking to visit, and convince them to help us with what we''re after. Greed isn''t encouraged among the church members, so it has to be for a good reason, and even then, it''s up to the goodwill of others.


    Mostly we only go out once or twice a year unless there is an Awakened Rank or higher mission for the Elites, and they call on the clergy for a healer." She was exining.


    "So that''s how it works. My power grew faster than my knowledge of the wider world, you see. It''s one of the side effects of reaching the Awakened Rank in the first year, but it is good to know that I can just call the school and request that they send out a healer." Karl replied with a polite smile.


    One of the girls across the table from him took out a sheet of paper and passed it across to him.


    "You can ask for us personally. Most of the active Elites, the ones who volunteer to go on higher ranked missions, have a preferred team. Obviously, we''re still students, and we''re not on one yet, but other than the end of semester social events, we don''t get many chances to meet people from the other Academy.


    It''s not easy to make that sort of connection in a crowded hall with loud music and half the students drunk on some illicit punch." She exined, rolling her eyes so far that they were almost entirely white.


    "While that does sound like it might be interesting, and like it might lead to a number of adventures, it doesn''t sound like the sort of event to pick a quality party member." Karl replied, making one of the girls choke on her water, and the others struggle to keep theirughter from interrupting everyone''s dinner.


    Karl flipped the paper over, and found that it was a diagram of the table with everyone''s names on it. That would be usefulter when he was trying to remember who was who. The names were on the back of the chairs, so he couldn''t see any of them while he was sitting, but with the sheet in front of him, he could cheat.


    "Aren''t you afraid of monsters? I heard that there are some terrifying ones out in the wilderness." The little blonde asked in a coy voice that had all her ssmates wondering if she had forgotten that the professors could hear them.


    "Oh, my specialty involves beasts. I have the most adorable pet named Rae." Karl suggested.


    [Do it. Let me out.] The spider demanded, eager to tease these strange new humans for a moment. Her thoughts were filled with the shock and horror that would surely ensue if someone as magnificent as her appeared in their world.


    It was rather dark in the dining hall, with a single overhead chandelier, but that was perfect for the dinner ambience. Unfortunately for the students, it was also perfect for Rae.


    "Can we meet them? I heard that you have pets, but I didn''t realize that they were monsters. They won''t attack, will they?" The blonde asked, and Karl noticed Dana smirking at him from her table.


    "Of course not. Rae is a very gentle and shy girl. She wouldn''t harm a soul. Hawk is more solitary, but Thor, he likes to cuddle a bit too much, and his enthusiasm can overwhelm people."


    [I''m not going out if I can''t fly around the room.] Hawk warned Karl before he could be involved in this game.


    "Please let us see. It''s not amon thing to see magical beasts here, other than the Nekomata that prowls the grounds, looking for students out of bed after hours." The blonde pleaded.


    Karl called Rae out behind him, forgetting just howrge the Bloodbath spider had gotten. There was no way that she was going to hide behind the chair without falling t to the ground and changing her coloration, but she didn''t intend to do that.


    Instead, she moved right to the girl''s chair and stared at her, wondering if the girl had the nerve to stroke her head the way everyone did to Thor.


    There had to be something to it, or the big softie wouldn''t keep demanding it. But she had never tried it herself.


    "EEEEKKKK!"


    The girl''s squeal of horror drew the attention of everyone in the room, and a number of clerics shot out of their chairs, preparing magic.


    "It''s not a threat. Rae is a pet, and they asked to meet her." Karl shouted, calming the clerics, while Overlord Drakeughed himself to tears at the front of the room.


    The student in the second chair from Karl caught the blonde as she passed out, and tilted her upright to wait until she recovered, but Rae had a better idea, and tied her to the seat with a single strand of silk, before looking at the rest of the students.


    The dark-haired girl on Karl''s left got up out of her seat and walked over to the spider.


    "She''s beautiful. I had a tarant at home, but nothing like this. Is she intelligent? Or do you have to give explicit orders? Rae, right? What a lovely big girl." The student crooned as she approached the Bloodbath Spider, doing her best not to rm her.


    When she was close enough, she gently stroked Rae''s head, and the spider sent Karl a confused thought.


    [I don''t see the appeal.] Shemented, confused about why Thor loved it so much.


    Then Rae studied the cleric, tapping her with her legs as she circled the girl, and most of the room watched on, unsure if they should be horrified or amused.


    "She won''t be injured, right?" One of the other students asked cautiously as the spider circled her ssmate as if staring at her next meal.


    "Of course not. Rae is just curious, as she doesn''t get to interact with people much. After they have properly met, I will return her to her resting area so she doesn''t freak out the entire dinner party."


    Rae ran the side of her leg over the coarse woollen robes in dismay, not impressed with the quality.


    Then she aimed her head high, and spun out arge, thin sheet of white silk a metre wide and three metres long. The girl caught it as it fell to the ground, unsure what to do in this situation.


    [Tell her to stop wearing ugly things, and thank her for satisfying my curiosity about head rubs.] Rae announced, then returned to the taming space.


    "She says thank you for satisfying her curiosity, and to make clothing from that silk. She doesn''t like wool." Karl exined with a smile.


    A man at the front of the room tapped a spoon against his ss, catching everyone''s attention.


    "Now that we have all had our fun, the Matron is about to arrive. Please inform our new guests of the protocols." He announced.


    The spider lover took her seat after carefully folding the cloth into a small square, and leaned over to whisper to Karl.


    "Stand when she enters, and don''t sit until she sits. When the food is served, she takes the first bite, and then we eat. Don''t leave the table until she is finished, and then we all leave together. That''s the basics of it, along with no talking above a whisper.


    She has very sensitive hearing, and she doesn''t like loud noises while she is eating." The girl exined.


    The sarcastic one across from Karl smirked in a way that said the Matron just didn''t like overly talkative people, so she had ordered everyone to shut up during dinner. But rules were rules, and if she was in charge here, she set the rules.


    If Karl wanted to get a regr supply of healers for missions in the future, it would be best to stay on the good side of those in charge at the various monasteries and especially the Seminary Academy.


    Everyone rose as the woman walked in, and was pulled into a friendly hug by Overlord Drake, then they all sat after the two of them took their seats again, and the food was brought out. Large tters were ced in the middle of the tables, and then the servers retreated to a side room, where Karl could hear them taking more tters back to their own tables.


    It was most likely a chore rotation, and not the same students every day, a duty that reminded them that service was part of their oath, but it worked well enough, and within minutes everyone in the building would be served.


    Karl noticed that the Matron waited until the sound of tters hitting tables in the other room stopped, and then she took the first bite and the dinner started. So, she really did have enhanced hearing. Karl''s was much better than the average human, and the sound of the trays been quiet even to him, while she was on the far side of the room, not near the side door to the other dining hall.


    That made him wonder how many people here actually understood the timing, and how many thought that she was just randomly making them wait, like some test of patience, before they could begin to eat.


    Karl knew the reason now, but it was obvious that the students didn''t, and he wasn''t entirely certain why it hadn''t been clearly exined to them in advance.

 Chapter 121 A Different Style

    <h4>Chapter 121 A Different Style </h4>


    His question was answered by the girl two seats to his left.


    "Thirty seven seconds this time. I know I''m close to understanding the timing. As soon as I work out the algorithm, I will ace that homework assignment." She whispered.


    Karl smiled at her and barely whispered back. "It''s not a math problem, it''s a human question. How long did you have to wait when you were in the Common Rank dining room?"


    The girls considered it for a moment, then one of them shook her head.


    "It''s a test of patience that only begins once we reach Awakened Rank. But the teachers assigned us to answer the question of why every day''s meal has a different time to wait than the one before it.


    It''s not a thing in the other dining hall.


    They start to eat as soon as the food hits the tables. There aren''t any seniors there, so your team is likely to have a grand time." The girl replied with a gentle smile.


    So that was the question they were asked. Now it made sense why they thought it was a math problem.


    Karl turned over the paper with the names of the people at the table on it and took a pen from his uniform jacket''s inside pocket to write a note.


    [She doesn''t eat until all the tables in the other room have been served.] He wrote, allowing them a few seconds to see the answer before folding the paper and putting it in his pocket along with the pen.


    "I''m sure you will all understand the timing soon." He whispered, knowing that she would be able to hear their conversation, though she couldn''t see him from where she was sitting.


    They ate in silence for a few moments, and though the food was simple, Karl noticed that the quality wasn''t any worse than what was served in the Golden Divine Academy. The meat was monster meat, and the nts magically infused, but the seasonings were simple and there were no signs of fancy pastries orplex desserts in the building.


    What they did have was a rather tasty stew, and a seemingly unlimited mound of rice and beans. The same rice and beans that they served to the poor when they came to visit the small towns.


    "I didn''t realize that the clergy ate the rice and beans themselves. I thought it was like an alms for the poor thing." Karl whispered to the brte on his left.


    "Every meal except breakfast. The trick is to eat the main slowly while you fill up on rice. The main is portioned by the table in the kitchen, so every table gets an even share, but the rice is unlimited. If you run out, you can just take the tter to the kitchen and get more. But nobody ever runs out. It''s barely even possible to eat two thirds of this.


    But we will use the wax paper to make rice balls forter, and they''re pretty good."


    Karl didn''t quite understand why they needed rice balls forter, as it seemed that there were three solid meals a day here, but he went along with it anyhow, and when nobody could eat more, he helped them press the leftovers into solid squares.


    Then they waited for the head table to finish their meal, and when the High Priestess stood, everyone else in the room stood to join her.


    The students quickly wrapped the rice balls in the wax paper, and the short blonde offered him her hand.


    "Would you like toe with us?" She asked.


    "Sure, why not." Karl agreed after seeing that the table full of boys and Dana were already joining them with another pile of rice balls.


    The two Elites followed the young clergy out the back doors of the building, and found himself in the stables, where arge number of horses were eagerly waiting for them to arrive.


    That was right. Karl hadpletely forgotten that the church liked to use horses for transportation when they weren''t going too far. Horses didn''t need fuel or manufacturing facilities that the church didn''t have, and they could make their own saddles the same as they made their own outfits.


    That was where the flood of students was going. Right after the meal, they went to groom the horses, with pairs breaking off to go meet a specific animal.


    "We all get assigned a horse, two of us per horse, but those on stable duty take care of them all in the morning.


    This is more of an informal bonding exercise." The blonde exined.


    Most of the animals were eagerly anticipating their treats, which wouldn''t make even half a meal for an animal thatrge. Karl was concerned that rice and beans might not be good for the digestion, but if they did it every day, it couldn''t be too bad.


    The horses seemed to love the long brown grains, and Karl was about to go make new friends when he heard an angry whinny, and the stomping of steel shod feet on the ground.


    One of the horses was not impressed with its assigned pair, and everyone was looking nervously in that direction as it reared up and kicked at them the moment that they approached.


    Karl wasn''t bad with horses. As a small child, he used to go visit the retired ones that the mines no longer used to pull carts, but those were so tame that nothing bothered them. This was a very different animal.


    Karl walked over to the stable stall, where the two students had fled in fear, leaving their package behind. He picked it up, thinking to try to calm the animal with food, but something felt off about the bundle of wax paper.


    The balls hadn''t been well pressed, as if the students didn''t know what they were doing, and there were chunks of leftover stew in the pile.


    Karl tossed it aside and held out his hand to the student at the next stall, while the angry horse mmed at the gate.


    "Can I get a couple rice balls? The new kids messed theirs up with leftover stew. I think this guy doesn''t like the smell of meat." He asked.


    "They tried to feed him meat? Horses don''t eat meat. They don''t even like the smell of our dinner cooking." The older boy chuckled.


    He handed Karl two rice balls, and Karl activated [Skill Master] to test a theory. It never said it had to be a magical skill, so maybe he could teach the horse a simple trick.


    "Hey buddy, I have a proper snack. Calm down. That''s a good boy." He muttered in what he hoped was a soothing tone as he pushed thetch open on the gate and stepped into the stall.


    The surrounding students began to panic, but when Karl put his empty hand on the horse, it began to calm down and stop bucking.


    "Good boy. Open up for a treat." Karl suggested, opening his mouth in demonstration.


    The horse followed along, and Karl put a rice ball in his mouth, only narrowly saving his fingers as the horse''s jaw snapped shut around it.


    Then he held out his open hand with the other one on it, as he saw the majority of students doing, and the horse more delicately grabbed the other before bumping into Karl for a pat down.


    There were brushes lined up along the stall wall, so he grabbed one and got to work, giving the horse a brushing that was making Rae jealous.


    [You are totally brushing my furter. Keep one of those brushes.] She demanded when she saw how much the horse liked it.


    [I will buy one from them. I''m not stealing their tools.] Karl replied with augh.


    He stepped out andtched the gate when he was finished, only to find the pair of older clergy from the Library waiting outside the stall with Dana and two of the rescue team members. Everyone else had cleared the area, and most of the nearby stalls were now empty, as the students had taken the animals with them.


    "I hope I didn''t hold up any ns. The new students spooked him, so I calmed him down." Karl exined.


    "We saw that. But he''s never let them touch him before, we assumed that they were doing a terrible job breaking and training him, but now he looks ready to be saddled. Tell me, have you ever ridden a horse?" The old woman asked.


    Karl shook his head. "Never had the need or the opportunity."


    "Well, let''s see how he responds. It''s part of the student assessment. Do you know why he reacted so badly to them?" She asked with a curious smile wrinkling her features even further.


    "Check the rice pile. They mixed leftovers in with their rice balls." Karlughed.

 Chapter 122 Good With Animals

    <h4>Chapter 122 Good With Animals </h4>


    The High Priest walked over, looked at the pile and sighed in disgust.


    "There is always one pair that doesn''t listen, no matter how much you tell them. You see, those two don''t like carrots, so they won''t eat the stew. I wondered where it was going if they weren''t eating it."


    Karl was surprised at the revtion. "You know, they all think nobody is watching them at dinner."


    All the clergy present began tough at that, and one of the rescue team members from the Inquisition winked at Karl.


    "There are cameras in the room, we watch from the security station. It''s the same in your Academy, all the public areas in both academies have cameras, in case of idents or incidents." He exined.


    Karl nodded. That was something that he already knew, and the Elite Academy didn''t bother to hide. Of course, the Seminary Academy probably didn''t hide it either, they just didn''t go out of their way to tell anyone.


    "Karl, was it? Can you ask this fine gentleman to kneel so you can put a bridle on him and then climb on his back for a short walk?" The elderly High Priestess asked with a head tilt toward the horse.


    "Sure, I guess."


    Karl picked up the mass of leather straps from the hook on the stall and tried to determine how it was used, while he was certain that the horse wasughing at him.


    "Don''t be like that. What way does it go on?" Karl asked, as he activated the training skill, with the question directed at the horse, who stuck his nose into the contraption and grabbed the bit between his teeth.


    "You will want him to let to of the bit so you can tighten it properly, but that''s the right way." The old woman exined, sounding shocked as Karl finished the work.


    The horse didn''t give him any trouble, and when Karl tapped his side and willed him to kneel so he could get on, the animalplied easily.


    He hopped on top, and the horse stood back up, much to the surprise of everyone gathered.


    "Alright, you said for a walk, right? Everyone else went out that door, should I follow?" Karl asked.


    The horse was about to simply go, but the Inquisition team member held up a hand to stop them.


    "How did you do that?" The man asked.


    "Do what? I have an Awakened Physique, I could have hopped on his back without him kneeling, but this way was more gentle."


    Karl''s confused answer brought smiles to the faces of the two elderly clergy.


    "I get it now, I get how the skill works. You use it, and they learn what you want them to know, but it''s all up to their understanding. But the level ofpliance is remarkable. It''s like you''re naturally attuned to animals." She eximed.


    "It''s a trained horse. I don''t think it''s all that impressive for it to know how to get its own bridle on." Karl replied.


    She shook her head. "Not that one. They haven''t started training it yet. It attacks its students every time that they try."


    Now Karl was certain that the horse wasughing at them.


    [I agree, he thinks that you''re all idiots.] Thor joked.


    [Do you speak horse?] Karl asked.


    [Who needs to? You can see it in the bodynguage. He''s seen it all a thousand times before, he knows the whole routine, he just doesn''t like the idiots that they keep sending to him.]


    "My Cerro says that the horse probably learned all the routines ages ago and just doesn''t like his handlers. I will take him for a walk, if you''d like, and then bring him back." Karl offered.


    "Your Cerro? Who is Cerro?" The older priest asked.


    "His Lightning Cerro, one of the three tamed beasts he has gained with his ss abilities. Its name is Thor, I believe." The Inquisitor replied before Karl could find a polite way to answer.


    "Interesting. Well, if your animals need a ce to graze, we have an open field on the north side where they shouldn''t spook any of the livestock." The old priest exined.


    "They have a separate space to rx, thanks to my ss Skill. But I do appreciate your offer." Karl replied politely.


    "Well then, enjoy your ride, and try not to let the cat get underfoot. He''s been bothering us to let him out to see you all afternoon." The old man grumbled, while the Priestess and the Inquisitor hid their smirks.


    Karl rode out into the training field, where the others were slowly walking with their horses. His dappled mount began to prance a little, and Karlughed.


    "Fine, but don''t y too rough, we don''t want to hurt anyone." He agreed, letting the horse trot around the field full of shocked students, many of whom were struggling to control their animals.


    "That''s cheating. It has to be cheating." The blonde from his tableined as Karl''s horse walked past where she was standing, while her partner struggled to convince the horse that walking was more interesting than the grass along the fence line.


    "I''m not giving any advice, I have no idea what I''m doing." Karl warned them, making the girlsugh as he kept moving around the field.


    His mount didn''t want to be outside for long, and soon it was looking back toward the stable, where Karl could see that the stable hands had put out fresh bedding and cleaned the stalls while the animals were out.


    "Alright, let''s go back." Karl agreed, riding back into the barn and hopping down at the gate.


    He opened it, and the horse stepped inside, then pulled the door shut for Karl totch.


    "He''s smart. For the record, I didn''t teach him any of thatst bit, he already knew."


    "We guessed that. But if you would like toe with us, the church has a reward for the both of you, in recognition of your help finding the Holy Relic. The rest of your team is already there." The Elderly High Priestess exined.


    "Of course, sorry to have kept you all."


    The woman just shook her head. "It was good to see that one get out. We will have the animal handling teachers put the troublesome students in remedial sses. With so many studentstely, it has been challenging to keep up with everything.


    Back when I was a young Priestess, there were only thirty students in total here. Thirty. Now there are better than three hundred, with all the ones from the Serum."


    Ten years ago, she would already have been counted as an old woman, moving toward retirement from active duties outside thepound. The development of the Serum must havee as a huge culture shock for someone her age, who had lived a lifetime without it.


    They walked through the building toward an isted building furthest from the student dorms and the mess hall while the Priestess told stories of her peaceful youth here, training scribes and healers, then stopped when they saw all the other students waiting for them to arrive.


    "Good. Now we are all gathered, so we can discuss the important matters. Pleasee inside and have a seat. This won''t take long, but there is no reason not to befortable." She informed the group, with a suddenly gentle smile.


    It was obvious that she still saw everyone here, including the younger Priests and the Inquisitor, as children, but thenpared to her, they were. If she hadn''t devoted her life to the church, she would probably have great-grandchildren by now.

 Chapter 123 Holy Rewards

    <h4>Chapter 123 Holy Rewards </h4>


    The group took a seat, and Karl noticed that the two clerics they had rescued were also there now, but in their new gold and ck robes that appeared in the chapel, and not the standard student clergy robes. They somehow seemed more fancy, though they were still the same style as the others, and only had an extrayer that was visible at the cor and sleeves and better construction.


    "I will make this simple. The church would like to keep the location of this Holy Relic quiet, so we are asking that all of you don''t mention it for at least as long as it remains out of the public sphere.


    We will be building a new Dragon Temple at that location, but it will take some years to be ready and staffed. Having a flood of hopeful tourists and pilgrimsing to the site while we are working would be a nightmare for the construction team, and the Holy Relic isn''t open for them to go in anyhow." The elderly Priest began.


    Then the old woman took over from him. "But that doesn''t mean that you won''t be rewarded for your find. Your names will be recorded in the Temple as the original team to undergo the trials, and the Matron has prepared a set of gifts for you all.


    First, she has prepared a Scale for each of you."


    She paused there, and the two young clerics took out a silver tray with small golden dragon scale amulets on them. Karl could sense that they were some sort of Holy Magic, but he couldn''t tell exactly what they were supposed to do.


    "They are a good luck charm, blessed by the World Dragon''s Archbishop at the main temple. The blessings of the World Dragon are many, but you have all shown an affinity for his favour, so these might be just what you need."


    The amulets were passed out as the woman began to talk again.


    "The next reward that we will grant you might seem trivial to some, or irreceable to others. It is a scroll of Holy Light. Use it with an item or an ability for a one-time bonus to its abilities. I would rmend using it on a magical item, as the effects will linger until the enchantment on the item is discharged."


    That excited a lot of the students who had gotten magical items from their reward chests, but the Priestess was right, to others it was just a trivial thing. Karl hung the Dragon Scale good luck charm around his neck and tucked it under his uniform. You never knew when you were going to need good luck, and trying to get the charm out after things had already gone wrong was just about pointless.


    None of these things was a major reward so far, Karl noticed. If they were going to be privately rewarded for finding a Holy Relic and expected to keep their mouths shut, there was going to have to be something big, something that would equal up to the rewards that they would get for announcing it publicly.


    Karl had no intentions of doing that, as he had seen on the Fate Stairs how that would end, but there was no guarantee that others wouldn''t try to do the same. They had agreed, but once they were back at the Academy and their progress returned to something closer to normal, they might change their minds.


    But even with that in mind, Karl was shocked to see what the two smiling young Dragon Clerics brought out next.


    They rolled out an entire cart full of books, skill books handmade by the Transcriptionists of the church, but bound without titles.


    "There is a reason we passed out the luck charms first, and I do hope that you''re all wearing yours now, or at least before you choose. As you all know, skill books are rare, and a single one can change your growth path. So, we have prepared eight of them today, one for each of you." The elderly Priestess announced.


    "Eight? But there are ten of us." One of the students asked, confused.


    "Two of you received powerful skills as rewards from the Trial, and it was deemed unwise to simply add another new skill when they haven''t adapted to the first one yet. However, we have instead prepared a Holy Relic for them instead."


    The old woman''s smile set Karl''s heart at ease. She was right, with two new skills already this month, a third would have seemed a bit anticlimactic. But a Holy item would be something that he could keep with him for years toe.


    "First, choose your skills. The luck charm should guide your hand to the one meant for you. No need to second guess yourselves." The Priestess instructed.


    There were far more than eight books on the carts, but most likely it was eight different skills, out of the ten or so that the Inscriptionists could make, ording to Overlord Drake.


    The students rushed forward and a few began pacing in front of the carts, getting a feeling for the books, to see what might feel lucky. But the others just walked up and grabbed something, trusting to luck that it would be something that they could use.


    It looked like the World Dragon''s luck was no joke, and every book that was opened vanished. Even those who dyed and second guessed the luck of the charm they were given still managed to activate a new skill from the books.


    Karl knew that these would all be basic skills, the equivalent of sh, Rend, Fireball and such. But that didn''t matter to the students. It was a new skill that they could use, and that they didn''t have to go through the painstaking process of learning normally.


    The more versatile they could be, the easier their lives would be in the future, as an Elite''s reputation depended a lot on their personal skills, even more so in some cases than it did on their personality.


    Then the carts were taken away, and the elderly Priest left for a moment to collect the two Holy items.


    "These were made by our Matron just this afternoon. Or rather, they were enchanted this afternoon with the pair of you in mind. Please, do ept our reward." The Priestess informed them with a gentle smile.


    Karl and Dana both took the boxes, mostly to relieve the elderly man of the strain of holding them, and Dana rushed to open her reward.


    A simple golden sceptre sat inside the box in her hands, but when she touched it, the weapon lit up with soft white light.


    "That will add a touch of Holy Magic to every spell that you cast. A bit more attack, a lot more defence." The elderly Priest exined.


    Then Karl opened the chest in front of him and looked at the content with a confused smile.


    It was just a simple bracelet, gold, but without a visible mark on it.


    Karl put it on, and in his mental spaces, all three pets glowed with the same soft white light that the sceptre did.


    "The bracelet is a support item. It will increase the skill power of you and your allies whenever you are wearing it."


    The other students gave Karl a jealous look. More skill power for his pets? He was already basically four Elites in one, and now they all got a cheat code buff.


    "This will be wonderful. The others and I thank the church for its generosity." Karl informed him with his best imitation of the formal church salute, with the thumbs hooked together, and his fingers spread in front of his chest to imitate dragon wings.


    The bracelet would likely improve his ability to train skills as well. The more that he could teach these three, the better. They all had a unique role to y, but the real advantage that they could show in the future would be in their ability to use skills that no wild beast would be able to.


    "You seem more enthusiastic about a support role than I would have expected." The elderly Priest noted as he saw Karl''s reaction was true and not just him being polite.


    "My beasts are also allies, you see. This reward will do them a lot of good, and allow them to make the best use of their abilities in the future. Even if it seems simple, an increase to all of their skill power will stack up to a muchrger bonus than just enhancing myself." Karl exined.


    The Priestess nodded in satisfaction. "In that case, enjoy your evening everyone, and we hope to see you all again soon. Please don''t forget about our students when it is time for your next missions."

 Chapter 124 Bad Navigators

    <h4>Chapter 124 Bad Navigators </h4>


    With the meeting finished, the group was escorted back to the main building by one of the younger students, who had a bit of wisdom to share with them.


    "Breakfast is a half hour before full dawn. So, as soon as it starts to get light outside, the bells will ring, and everyone will be up and beginning their day. I don''t know when you will be picked up to return to your Academy, but if they''re sending you on the train, it''s about an hour after dawn, as it arrives just after breakfast." The boy informed them.


    "So what you''re saying is ''don''t stay up toote''?" Karl asked.


    "Exactly. Many of us have considered sleeping in when we don''t have morning chores, but those bells make it impossible. A few of you might manage, but we''re all so well conditioned now that it is impossible." The boy exined.


    One of the warriors smiled at the younger boy. "Were they afraid that we wouldn''t be able to find our way back? The building is right there."


    That made the studentugh. "Oh, it''s not for this part. You see, the inside of the main floor was designed during an age of strife, and it is designed to confuse breaching enemies. If you''re not familiar with theyout, it can be nearly impossible to end up anywhere but the main halls."


    The warrior chuckled. "Which is great for students. Since that''s where the food is."


    "Precisely. It''s why we didn''t bother to give you a tour. Because it just encourages people to get lost in the corridors, and then we have to go find them. Though the building is only a few hundred metres wide, the main floor has over four kilometres of winding hallways.


    I suspect that the area between the kitchen and the student dorms is actually abyrinth with fake doors, but I can''t prove it. There is no properly drawn map of the building, since we all grew up here, except for the Serum Clerics.


    But they start out with magic and rank, so they never live this far back in the Seminary. Plus, they automatically know the whole set of holy books for their patron, like memorized word for word, which ispletely unfair."


    Karl could only imagine the hours that a student expected to be an expert on theology when there were Six Major Gods, plus the Chromatic Divine Dragons, and the Beast Gods, and who knew how many others that nobody followed anymore.


    Karl barely remembered the basics of the World Dragon''s teachings, since they followed it here in the Golden Dragon Nation. But the clerics knew them all.


    As the boy had said, the corridor was definitely suspicious, and Karl realized quickly that it was not straight, nor was it level. It seemed that way at first, but by the time that they had walked for a full minute, Karl was certain that they were no longer on the same level as they had been.


    Rae had an excellent sense of spatial awareness to help her locate anything that had disturbed her web, and some of that had passed to Karl.


    They took a series of twisting turns, until even their guide seemed slightly uncertain of the next one to take. But there were windows now, and they were on the second floor, facing the inner courtyard, so they were very close to his room.


    "My room is to the right." Karl whispered, startling their guide into stumbling into the grey stone wall.


    "Are you certain?" He asked.


    "Once we''re around that corner, we will be able to see it. I remember it from earlier." Karl exined.


    "This is the guest area, and I don''t get here often. At least not from that side. I swear that one day I will have this entire ce memorized." The boy muttered under his breath.


    But he led them around the corner, and the first thing they saw was Overlord Drake, sipping coffee and looking out the window.


    With suppressedughter in his voice, the muscr warrior greeted them as if weing them to his own home. "Ah, good evening, I was wondering when you would be along. If you''d juste around to the front instead, you would have been here five minutes ago."


    "It''s like we went on a small adventure instead. Good evening Overlord." Karl greeted him in return.


    "There will be a bus here to pick you all up tomorrow after breakfast, bright and early in the morning. I suggested the helicopter, but they said it''s needed for actual work, and that it isn''t a shuttle service to bring healthy students back from missions."


    The friendly tone of his words made the young Elites much morefortable around the incredibly powerful warrior, but the young Cleric wasn''t used to such a fraternal camaraderie. If someone here smiled at you like that, they were trying tofort you before they gave you bad news, like extra chore rotations. If they were giving you good news, they would keep a straight face and try to downy it.


    That was just how the clergy culture was, Stoic to keep up their image, but secretly celebrating on the inside. Even the ones that decided that the clergy wasn''t for them and left the Seminary Academy when they were old enough to work regr jobs tended to keep the same simple tastes and expressionless default setting.


    "Where are you off to next? Somewhere more exciting than a hidden Holy Relic in its dormant mode?" Karl asked.


    Drake shook his head. "I am headed back to the Capital. I just happened to be in the area when the call went out. But I wish you all luck with your studies, and a good result on the end of semester promotion exams.


    Though, if you''re doing well enough, you might convince your Professor to give you a chance to do the promotion during the midterms next month."


    Then he walked away with a smile on his face as all the Common Rank students began to panic at the thought of trying to pass the Awakened exams in just over a month.


    Karl was honestly impressed. The Overlord had an impable sense of timing, and that smooth exit before the students could ask any more questions was wless. Even if it had been phrased as a casual remark, it was perhaps the best prank he had seen yed on the students yet.

 Chapter 125 Early Mornings

    <h4>Chapter 125 Early Mornings </h4>


    Karl and Dana returned to their rooms, while the guide led the others back to the dorms that they were sharing. Normally, that would have led to envy, but when they saw the broom closet sized rooms that the more powerful pair were staying in, suddenly the dorms didn''t seem as bad with their bunk beds.


    Until the snoring started.


    Karl joined the group of bleary-eyed students outside the dining hall the next morning, and realized that they were possibly even more tired than they had been before they went to bed.


    "I thought that we reminded everyone to sleep early? It''s a travel day, so you can sleep on the bus, but still, you''re Elites in the wilderness, you should be ready at any time." Karl reminded them.


    "I know you said that, but once we got to those nice,fortable cots, we learned a valuable lesson. Thor is not the member of this team that snores the loudest. Gerald is. How it wasn''t a problem in the woods, I have no idea, but we should get him checked or something before we leave." One of the mages joked halfheartedly, still mostly asleep.


    The girls all nodded in agreement.


    "We were across the hall and I thought that he was going to shake the pictures off the walls." One of them agreed with an annoyed re at Gerald.


    As they were arguing, one of the local clergy came over with the gentle smile that Karl was beginning to learn meant that someone was in trouble.


    "They may have forgotten to mention that we were forced to intervene when these youngdies very inappropriately stormed the boys'' dormitory and began to pummel their teammates." The young man calmly informed them.


    "It wasn''t that bad, really. We were just trying to make him stop snoring." One of the girls offered.


    Karl nodded. "While making him stop breathing will make him stop snoring, it is not the best option. We will discuss this on the very long ride back to the Academy. Thank you, Friar, I will take care of the situation."


    The cleric smiled at the proper use of his rank within the church. These days, it wasn''t used as much as their strength ranking, but the Friars were clergy who didn''t have the gift for Holy Magic. Some might be warriors, but mostly they were themon preachers, the ones that those in small towns and viges went to for matters of faith and not matters of healing.


    With onest warning look at the others, Karl headed for the second dining room, and found that while he was at the same table as before, it was a different spot, and all the people seated around him had changed.


    He took his seat, and the girl beside him, taller than him by a head and with arms roughly the size of his legs, smiled down at him.


    "We put the names out at random. Or at least we''re supposed to. It appears that someone made the order not so random yesterday. You can call me Sister Betty, and I will be apanying you back to the Academy today." She greeted him.


    "Good morning, Sister Betty. What brings you to the Divine Golden Academy?" Karl asked.


    "A group of final year students wanted to take on a level five mission to push for the Commander Rank. They have found some evidence of Commander Rank resources that they think will allow them to advance, but they needed an appropriate healer."


    Betty actually seemed excited to be going on a mission that dangerous, but Karl was thinking of the Locust Swarm that he had encountered in the south.


    "Well, I hope that it''s nothing you can''t handle. I went to the South to look for suitable partners, and we came across a monster attack on an outpost. Even with the team I was assigned to assisting the town''s defence, it was a bit dicey." He exined.


    Betty nodded. "I am a Priestess of the Red Dragon, The Dragon God of War. Healing is secondary among my abilities, as my Goddess grants me various abilities rting tobat buffs and Holy Light attacks. It makes me uniquely suited to this sort of mission."


    A young man, shorter than Karl despite being ten years older, and with a balding hairline that didn''t match his youthful features, walked up behind her and patted her on the shoulder.


    "What she''s saying is that she''s probably a better fighter than their warriors, and she''s always happy to get away from the sound of children crying." Heughed.


    "You work with children?" Karl asked in confusion.


    Betty smiled fondly at some memory as she replied. "War creates orphans, so the Dragon God of War charges her Priestesses with the care of them. When I''m here, I am the physical education teacher for the orphan children under age twelve, when they get sorted by the Serum and their aptitude for magic."


    Karl''s gym teacher in primary school was a paunchy and balding middle-aged man who couldn''t even keep up with the kids. He just stood in the middle of the field and yelled orders.


    "You seem like you would be an excellent teacher. I can see that you have a fondness for children."


    She nodded happily. "All Dragons do."


    Karl froze in shock.


    "Back up. Did you just say Dragon?" He stammered.


    "Oh, it''s so cute when they don''t know. Yes, all the Chromatic Dragon Priestesses have at least some Dragon features, either by birth or as a result of the Divine Serum.


    I am technically a dragonkin now, as I have no tail or wings and can''t transform, but I did gain some dragon instincts and senses. It is a result of the Serum Awakening, and lets me use magic much more easily than most humans, and gives me an affinity for my Goddess.


    You can think of us as something like the Berserker ss of the Cleric world."


    The boy beside her shifted his voice to a whisper in anticipation of the Matron entering for breakfast.


    "All clergy in the Golden Dragon Nation work together. It''s the same set of Holy Books, after all, and with the Serum, many Clerics now awaken to the powers of other Gods and Goddesses within the Pantheon. I am a Priest of the God of Magic, and the one who just sat on your other side is a Priestess of the God of Nature.


    It''s not really necessary to separate us most of the time, but like the mages and warriors of your Academy, we have slightly different powers."


    "And that is why we all use Brother and Sister as titles. Because it doesn''t really matter unless you have some personal business with our God." Sister Betty whispered.


    Karl had only known a little bit of that, and the details of how the inner rtions of the Church, and the way that the Serum enforced loyalty to the different Gods and Goddesses of the Pantheon, was an intriguing topic. They were all part of the same group, so maybe he could consider it more like a researcher''s specialties.


    Like how the mining town had four geologists, but they all specialized in different things.

 Chapter 126 How To Choose

    <h4>Chapter 126 How To Choose </h4>


    Karl realized that he hadn''t even noticed that someone had sat down next to him, and gave the young woman who had been introduced as a Priestess of the Nature God a tentative smile. She smiled back, a truly happy expression, but Karl noticed that under the smell of soap and flowers, there was a coppery note of blood lingering around her.


    He must have made some expression as the woman gave a softugh and patted him on the shoulder.


    "Betty is the same way, she can smell the blood as well. I am a midwife, and there was a birthst night, or technically this morning, at the hospital on the grounds. To everyone else, I should just smell like hospital soap, but for those like the Dragon Priestesses and some really sensitive Rangers and Druids, I tend to smell like blood and babies." She exined quietly.


    "My apologies, I didn''t mean to offend. I was just a bit startled when I smelled fresh blood here inside the Seminary Academy. When there is a lot of it, the smell lingers more than if there is only a scratch. I do hope the young mother is alright." Karl whispered back.


    "Here, in the Seminary Academy Hospital? We haven''t lost a mother during childbirth in most of a decade. Not all the children can be saved, but with magic, the actual childbirth process is much safer." She replied happily.


    Sister Betty stared at the trays of food waiting at the edge of the room for the Matron to enter.


    "As you can see, on the outside, we''re all the Golden Dragon Church. On the inside, we all have our specialties. So don''t go falling for those hussies who just want some outdoor adventures, you need to make sure that you''re getting a cleric that can handle the task that you need them to.


    I would say that you should pick one of those newly awakened World Dragon Clerics, but it will be years before they''re allowed to y unsupervised, and you''re already much stronger than they are.


    The Cleric doesn''t have to be the strongest Awakened on your team, but it helps if they can take a punch." She whispered.


    [Yeah because you should always eat the healers and magic users first. Then watch the rest panic and despair as they''re trapped in the web.] Rae added wistfully, not realizing how her spider instinct still made her sound like an edgy teen human.


    "You are smiling at something. Do you hear your beasts in your mind?" The Life Priestess asked.


    "I do. Rae, the Bloodbath Spider, said that it''smon sense to target the healers and magic users first, because the others won''t be able to get themselves free of the web." Karl replied.


    The Priestess shuddered at the thought, while the Priest of the Magic God looked horrified. But Sister Betty grunted in agreement. That was part of the reason she put so much effort into her fighting skills.


    [I like the dragondy. Ask if we can polish her scalester.] Thor suggested.


    Karl choked on his water as the Lightning Cerro''s voice entered his mind, and Betty smiled.


    "It has to be difficult having three more intelligent minds giving you suggestions. I used to have a pet Nekomata, and it got up to all sorts of trouble." Betty joked, then pulled back her blonde hair to show a long w mark that ran up the back of her neck and into her hairline.


    "She tried to climb my head as a kitten and slipped over the back because my hair was oily." She added.


    "What did your beasts have to say that made you choke?" The Priest of the Magic God asked.


    "Thor, the Lightning Cerro, wants to polish Sister Betty''s scalester. He likes her, but then he likes almost everyone."


    Betty smiled. "The only scales I have are on my forearms. But I bet that he has wonderful scales, very smooth and strong."


    Thor made a humming noise that was somewhere between a purr and his happy bugle. [See, she likes scales, I knew she would appreciate my scales.]


    "If we have timeter, he would be overjoyed to show you his scales." Karl ryed quietly as the juniors began to bring around pots of oatmeal and soft bread rolls.


    They finished the simple meal in silence, not wanting to disturb anyone this early in the morning, and as soon as the Matron finished eating, Betty pulled Karl to his feet and gestured toward a side room.


    "There are showers over there. Get freshened up, and pack your bags, we will be meeting in an hour. I will bring you from your room to the bus, so you don''t get lost." She informed him.


    "Got it. I will see you soon." Karl agreed as he rushed out to get washed.


    The signs for the shower rooms were carved into the stone above the door, so there could be no mistakes, even if you couldn''t tell by the different colour schemes. It was a quick wash so that he had time to make sure everything was ready before Betty came looking for him, and Karl began to realize that he had vastly underestimated what the words ''morning people'' meant.


    He got up just after dawn every day for training. But most of the people he had seen were already showered and ready before the sun had fully crossed the horizon.


    He wasn''t alone in his timing, there was a constant stream of studentsing in to get washed up before their daily chores, and from the talk, there would be even more after them, as some of the chores were dirty ones, and it would be rude to smell that bad all day.


    Karl hurried to check his bag, though he hadn''t unpacked anythingst night. Everything was still there, loaded up with supplies and herbs for the journey back to the Academy. Sister Betty seemed to have been ready for that eventuality, and only minutes after Karl was done checking his bag, she was at the door, knocking for him toe out.


    "Your team will still be a while, but we can go wait for the bus, and perhaps your Thor cane out and say hello." She suggested.


    That would exin the eagerness. Nobody could resist Thor''s charms, even when they hadn''t met him yet.

 Chapter 127 Fuel Stop

    <h4>Chapter 127 Fuel Stop </h4>


    That was how Karl found himself in front of the bus a half hourter, surrounded by clerics and a bus driver, while Thor rumbled happily as he got his scales rubbed. Everyone had gathered, and they should have been ready to go, but nobody could resist just one more pat, and the Lightning Cerro had gathered a huge fan following.


    "Alright, break it up. The bus has to leave now, and you all have chores to get to." An older man''s voice announced.


    The students scattered, and Karl''s team began to get on the bus while the older Professor watched to make sure that they were all behaving. Once he was certain that they were all going back to their assigned tasks, the professor came over and gave Thor a quick head rub, then motioned for Karl to put him away and get on the bus.


    The driver started out as soon as all the bags were stored, carefully stacked upright so that the contents weren''t dumped or damaged during the journey. It was going to be another long ride, though probably not as long as the train ride to get to the mission site, as it had made multiple delivery stops along the way.


    "Did you all have a productive trip before it was cut short by the emergency?" Betty asked as the bus left the Seminary Academy Compound.


    "Well, not as well as the group you''ll be going with, since we were after Common Grade resources, but we managed to fill our bags before we returned to the train tracks. Unlike your Academy which has all the healers, we are short on them, so we stocked up on the ingredients for healing salves and potions when we managed to find them.


    It''s not as cool as Holy Magic, but it''s a lot better than nothing, and a little on the wounds after a bad training day can help keep us in top shape." Karl exined.


    The muscr dragon clericughed. "Can you imagine if they mixed the two Academies, though? A bunch of frail and delicate little innocent clerics thrown to the wolves with the warrior trainees."


    The magesughed at her implication. They were the frail and delicate ones, but they had offensive magic. However, from what they had seen, delicate and innocent was a pretty small portion of the students at the Seminary Academy, as they were mostly sent there after the Serum Awakening.


    Apatibility with holy magic didn''t soften them that much, as Betty herself was a testament to.


    The bus bounced along the gravel road, then the ride smoothed as they got to proper pavement and passed through the edge of a few small towns.


    The small farm towns were even more rural than the mines were, and Karl noticed how the locals would turn to look at the bus as it passed, wondering if it would be stopping.


    The bus had government tes, and it was clearly for official purposes. Official purposes meant either one of the local businesses was getting audited by the tax service, or there was something horribly wrong that required a team of Elites to be sent out.


    So, if it looked like it was going to stop anywhere but the gas station or the diner, it was big news, and they needed to warn everyone.


    Or stop what they were doing and gossip about it, which was the same thing, really.


    So, when the bus did stop to let them out to get some lunch, Karl wasn''t surprised that the locals seemed to vanish from the streets at first, until the group had made the walk from the gas station to the caf¨¦.


    "Priestess, Elites, what can I get for you today? I''ve only got the one cook on, so it might take a minute." The older woman in a faded apron greeted them over the sound of bells ringing to announce their arrival.


    Betty smiled at her. "We will just take the special, Make it twelve of them in total, the driver is still fuelling the bus."


    "Coming right up."


    Betty turned to the group. "Do you know about the expense ounts?"


    Karl nodded. "Yeah, I got the card with my equipment. Direct bill, no need for a reimbursement form. I''m told that is the much more popr option when the amount isn''t so extreme that it exceeds the petty cash we are allotted for the mission."


    "The direct billing makes life easier. The Elites just pay with the card, but the clergy carry a bit of cash, and mostly rely on goodwill." She exined.


    In a way, that was the same case today, as it would all be going on the expense ount card that Karl had been given for the mission. He would have to ount for the spending, but he couldn''t see anyone arguing about them ordering the special at a small-town diner. It was likely cheaper than the recement of the uniform pieces that they had damaged during the trip.


    The waitress brought outrge bowls of stew with entire loaves of bread and fresh butter, a luxury at the mines, as they were too far from the suitable cattle grazing areas to get butter for cheap. The nutrition of it wouldn''t do much for the Elites, but it would fill their stomachs for the day, and that was the important part.


    "There you go, dears. It might not be so fancy as you are used to, but the farmers will tell you sure enough that there''s nothing better."She announced as she set the bowls on the table.


    Betty winked at the woman and gestured at her bowl with her spoon. "How could anything that smells that good not taste spectacr? Just set thest one here and the driver will be along shortly."


    The server smiled and nodded. "The station is full service, so he''s likely just chatting while the bus fills. It takes a bit, our pumps aren''t the fastest."


    The driver came in as she was speaking, making the bells on the door jingle as the old server nodded in satisfaction.


    "And that''s everyone. Holler if you need anything."

 Chapter 128 Storm Rolls In

    <h4>Chapter 128 Storm Rolls In </h4>


    The driver took his seat with a polite nod to the rest of the group, and began to eat with such enthusiasm that the server was beaming at him like her child had just won an award.


    "We don''t have long to sit around today. There have been issues along the road thanks to rain, and there is more bad weather set to roll inter tonight." The driver exined as he ate.


    "Alright then. We won''t hold the process up. Everyone, be ready to finish your lunch by the time that the driver is done. If you need more snacks, perhaps this lovelydy would pack us some sandwiches for the road." Karl agreed.


    She began calling back to the kitchen to get sandwiches made for the travelling Elites, and the driver smiled.


    "It''s likely the most business they''ve seen all week, other than the morning coffee crowd. Farmers love toe in and chat in the mornings, it''s how they pass the news around to those who don''t live in town." The driver quietly exined.


    The group finished eating as quickly as they could, and then walked back to the bus, which was just finishing receiving fuel.


    "At least this stop is along the pipeline, so there is no shortage of fuel. The bus holds over a thousand litres, so it takes some time to pump." The driver exined as the students headed back for their seats.


    The waitress had mentioned the same thing, and that their pumps were slow, but the driver quickly paid for the fuel and got them on the road.


    But their good intentions didn''t help for long. No more than an hour down the road, they turned off the paved highway to start heading for the Academy, and the skies opened up with rainfall so heavy that they could barely see where they were going.


    The driver slowed down to under fifty kilometres an hour, as the rain got worse, pounding on the bus roof in a pattern that was starting to sound more like marbles on a tin roof.


    "Can the mages keep a barrier up over the bus? It''s starting to hail, and the windows aren''t armoured. If we don''t have something, we will have to find cover and stop until it passes." The driver asked.


    "Yeah, that shouldn''t be a problem. We can shield the bus while you drive." Dana agreed.


    They worked out a n to each take a turn so that nobody got too exhausted, with Dana going first, as the hope was that the hailstorm would notst long. She had the best barrier out of all of them, and once it was up, the bus returned to silence, though they could see the hailnding all around them like tiny snowballs.


    "That weather is crazy. Is it always like this in the prairies?" Karl asked Betty, hoping that she would know the answer.


    The cleric shook her head. "No, only a couple of times a year. But if you get hit by it, then there is a good chance that your crop is ruined for the year, so everyone hopes that when the storm hits, it doesn''t hit their home."


    That made a lot of sense. This hail was brutal. They had seen a few hailstorms at the mining town in the past, but usually never with hailrger than a pea. These stones wererger than golf balls, and even Dana was beginning to grimace at the level of continued power that it was taking to keep the shield up.


    "This is a natural phenomenon, right?" One of the warriors asked as he looked out the window at the trees with their leaves gone and branches broken off.


    Some were lying in the road, but the driver wasn''t about to get out and try to move them. He just carried on, driving over them and hoping for the best.


    After a few minutes, the hail turned back to a driving rain, and the driver breathed a sigh of relief.


    "You can let the barrier go for now. If the hail picks back up, just bring it back. A bit of water won''t hurt the bus any." He instructed.


    But when they got another few kilometres down the road, they realized that the bus wasn''t the only thing that was in danger from the weather.


    Large chunks of the road had washed out, forcing him to slowly weave his way through the remains of the road, until they reached the river, which was running much higher than normal, and about to reach the deck of the bridge.


    "Think light thoughts, folks. If this bridge dips into the river, we''re all in trouble. The pirs will hold, but if the water hits the bridge deck itself, it will get washed away before you know it." He warned them.


    The options were going now or never, as the rain wasn''t getting any lighter, so the bridge was almost certainly going to be gone in an hour, but the students'' nerves were frayed as they reached the far side just as the water began to ssh up and onto the bridge deck.


    "Just in time. Now, we follow the railroad for a few hours and we''re home. Easy-peasy."


    The road led up to a ridgeline, and the bus came to an abrupt stop, just sitting at the top in silence as the students wondered what was going on.


    Karl moved to the front, so he could use his heightened eyesight to get a better idea of the problem, but what he found was far worse than he had imagined.


    The river had flooded, and it had uprooted a number of trees, which had formed an improvised dam in the gully up ahead.


    That had diverted the river''s route, and now the road, as well as the railroad, were under an unknown amount of water for at least the next four kilometres, before a hill rose out of the muddy rapids.


    "Looks like this is where we sit for the evening. The rain isn''t going to stop for a bit, and it will take a day or more for the water to go down enough to know the extent of the damage.


    The Academy will get the road fixed up as fast as they can, but unless it is urgent enough that they send a helicopter for you, we will be sitting right here until they do."


    One of the warriors gave a rueful smile as he watched the rain fall. "And we can''t even start a campfire to roast meat. I guess it''s diner sandwiches and ration packs for dinner."


    Betty wiggled her fingers as if casting a spell. "Don''t forget that I know how to make food. Plus, I''ve got cooking utensils in my bag, including a magic burning stove. It''s a real fancy item, but I was gifted it for helping with a dungeon raid at the end ofst year, and it''s been a lifesaver more times than I can count."


    The warrior smiled. "Well, the rice and beans are likely better than what is in my ration pack anyhow. It''s nutritious, but too salty for my taste."


    Betty kindly didn''t mention that the ration packs were designed that way so that they limited the number of times you had to use the toilet when you were in the field. The new students would learn that soon enough if they had been eating them all week.

 Chapter 129 Rainy Days

    <h4>Chapter 129 Rainy Days </h4>


    Betty got the cooking started, while the others sat and watched the rain fall. They were in a good spot, on an open hilltop with gently sloping sides that wouldn''t wash away easily in the flood, but they were essentially trapped.


    The bridge behind them was gone, and the road in front of them was flooded. They could try to head off through the open fields away from the river, but that didn''t lead to the Academy, or to anywhere particrly useful that was within walking distance.


    Betty tapped her spoon against the pot of rice and beans. "Well, the rice is ready, so we might as well eat. Who knows how long we will end up sitting here, but one thing that I have learned is that if you sit on the top of a hill long enough, someone or something wille looking for you."


    "Thanks for the words of encouragement." Karlughed as he looked out into the heavy rain.


    "Just making sure everyone is aware. There is a huge amount of the grasnds flooded, and there are thousands of small creatures that live there. They all need somewhere to go, and we''re on the high ground, furthest from the water." The cleric reminded them.


    "You have a point, and I''m not sure that I''m happy about it." Karl replied, making her smile.


    "You will find that I am very frequently right, and you will very often not be happy about it. But that doesn''t change the fact that we need to pay attention so that we''re not caught off guard if something startsing up that hill to get away from the floodwaters.


    Too many of the animals have lost their homes for the day not to need to relocate, so it''s best if we just set a guard now, and expect that we''re going to be attacked at some point this evening while we wait to see if the rain is going to stop.


    If it does, there is a chance that the sh flood will go down again fairly quickly, and the railroad has been built to withstand a fair bit of flooding.


    But if the flow is too fast, then there isn''t anything that is going to save that road, and we will end up either walking it in with our driver, or waiting here for them to fix the road." Betty reminded him.


    "See, that''s the part that we didn''t want to hear. I wonder if we could just let Thor outside to chase off the smaller monsters." He suggested.


    "Thor, chase off monsters? You mean y with them, right? Thor is the least threatening monster I have ever met, and I had a pet Nekomata." Bettyughed.


    "Good point. I would suggest Rae, but as much as she would enjoy eating the small creatures and insects, I can''t see her agreeing to go out and stand in the rain." Karl joked.


    [You''re smart. But I doubt that even Thor would be happy about standing in that rain. The vibrations on his scales would drive him nuts. Heck, the vibrations of the heavy rain on his scales would drive me nuts, and I''m over here.]


    [Well, be prepared for an emergency call out, in the event that we are attacked, and it''s more than a few spells can take care of.]


    Karl could feel Rae rolling ALL of her eyes at him, but he didn''t mind. She would go out to defend the bus if he asked her to. She just wouldn''t be happy about it.


    After two hours of sitting in the pouring rain, the torrential downpour began to taper off, which let them not only see more clearly into the distance, but to see the damage that had been done by the flood, which had previously been hidden by the thick curtain of rain.


    The base of all the hills had beenpletely washed out. The road ended in a dramatic cliff that led down to the current level of the floodwaters, and in the distance, there were train tracks torn up and pointed skyward, barely visible to Karl''s enhanced vision.


    "Well, that''s one question answered. We''re not driving out of here any time soon. But we can''t exactly just leave someone here to wait for them to build a new road. Even leaving the bus here would just lead to it being vandalized by monsters.


    Hopefully, the train tracksing into the school from the other direction are still in good shape because I can see from here that the tracks in front of us are demolished." Karl noted.


    The driver shook his head. "Fat lot of good it will do them. The suppliese from this side. If they go the long way around, they''ll be a whole day behind before they get to the academy, and with the limited amount of heavy equipment that the Government has in the area for this sort of emergency, it will take them weeks to get the tracks fixed.


    I will have to rely on you lot to get me to the Academy once the water level goes down. They can rece the bus, but I can''t rece me."


    "Good point. The bus is just a bus, but it would be nice if we could keep it. I don''t fancy walking all the way to the Academy from here." Karl agreed.


    "Well, the bus is set up for some minor off-road travel, so it might be possible to wait a day or two for the ground to dry and then go around on the high ground." The driver suggested helpfully.


    Betty snorted in amusement. "We''ve got five strapping young warriors and a set of shovels in the belly. They have superhuman strength, so I''m reasonably certain that they can tten out a few potholes and cliffs for us to get the bus through.


    Once the sunes up tomorrow morning, we will see what it looks like, and then we will ask them if they want to patch the worst spots in the road to get past the flood zone, or if they would prefer to walk thest eighty or so kilometres back home."


    The warriorsughed.


    "I think we can safely say that if it''s at all possible, we would rather work a shovel for the morning than walk the distance. Plus, it will get a bit of the road fixed so that they can get more vehicles through here in the next few days.


    If we y our cards right, the Academy might even thank us for taking a few more days off from sses to fix the road." One of them suggested.


    "Good point. We can call it strength training and tten out a path good enough to get the bus through, which will let them get the armoured cars through as well. It might be a while before they fix the bridge or the train tracks, but we can at least do that much.


    This part isn''t part of the river itself, I don''t think. It just flooded because those trees blocked everything up." Another warrior agreed.


    Betty looked toward the blocked portion of the river. "But before that, we need to send a Golem or something to pull that blockage free, so the river will flow properly. If we don''t, it will be days before the road is dry enough for anything to move through the area."


    She was disturbingly right again. That blockage was keeping the entire area flooded, and if it wasn''t removed, the water would never drain naturally, it would just remain stagnant here until a drought hit or the river found a new path.

 Chapter 130 To Remove The Blockage

    <h4>Chapter 130 To Remove The Blockage </h4>


    The students slowly snacked on the rice and beans as they watched the sun begin to slip further toward the horizon. Betty was right, they were going to have to remove that blockage before the valley would drain, and the best option to do it was Golems.


    The problem was that the mages who could use Golems didn''t really have good ones, other than Dana, so sending them to pull whole trees from a riverbank was a pretty big request.


    They were still Common Grade Golems, for the most part, so they wouldn''t have the strength, and many of them were small mud and y golems, which weren''t big on physical strength to begin with.


    Karl looked out into the pouring rain with a rueful smile. "Well, it looks like this one is on you, Dana. Just have them grab one of the logs and use it as a poker from the shore to break up the blockage a little, and it should be alright. We used to make dams in the creeks when it rained, so we didn''t have to pump water to y in. But when the creeks got too full, you had to drain them back down to normal levels."


    "Alright, I will have the Golems give it a try. They''re not the most intelligent, and I''m not going to go out there to supervise them. So there is a good chance that it will take them a while to get it right." Dana reluctantly agreed, not hiding the fact that she had no intentions of going out into the storm.


    "But on the bright side, if they do fall in the water, at least they won''t drown. All they have to do is just keep working until the log jam is broken, and it''s perfect." One of the other mages joked.


    The driver turned to look at them. "You know, she''s got a point. The golems are strong, right? I''ve got a length of chain here with a hook on it. You could have them hook a few of the logs and just pull. Most of the time, these blockages aren''t all that solid.


    It''s not like it''s blocking all the water, just enough that the increased flow of the river isn''t moving past, but the flow of the river will be filling up the gaps with sediment and mud, so the faster we can fix it the better."


    That meant that someone had to go outside to get the recovery hook, which was intended to attach to the winch on the front and back of the bus. But Dana kindly extended the barrier for him while the driver got the equipment out, along with a hundred metres of wire rope.


    "There. If you can exin to them how to use that, they will be able to pull the logs free in no time at all."


    Karl looked outside at the tangled mass of logs and shook his head. There was no way that the Golems were going to figure that out without help. But the rain was starting to slow down to just a moderate downpour, and he knew that he could give them proper directions.


    "I will go out with the Golems and give them the orders. I have a barrier ability that might help, and if not, I''ve got dry clothes here for when I get back. I will help the Golems get the river flowing properly again." Karl informed the group.


    Nobody was going to argue. The Golems needed a supervisor, and they didn''t want to go out in the rain with them, but Karl didn''t actually know if the Refreshing Lightning barrier would keep him dry.


    [Thor, any thoughts?] Karl asked.


    [Rain feels good on the scales.] The sleepy Lightning Cerro answered.


    [No, about the barrier stopping the rain.] Karl replied.


    [Oh? Probably, I guess. It blocks most things.]


    Dana called out the pair of Golems with directions to take the equipment and follow Karl''s orders, and Karl stepped out into the rain with the Lightning barrier active.


    The rain simply sheeted off him, not actually touching him, and Karl smiled in satisfaction. That would do well enough.


    It wasn''t far to where the blockage was, but he didn''t want to go down the hill and risk himself plus the Golems slipping in the mud and ending up in the floodwaters.


    He could likely get Hawk to save him, but it would be embarrassing, and unnecessary.


    "Pass me the equipment." Karl ordered once they were as close as he feltfortable getting to the edge of the washed out hill.


    The Golem turned over the coil of wire and therge hook, and Karl did his best to remember how they did thesso throw in cowboy movies. They had a cattle rancher with them on the bus who would know how to do this, but he didn''t want to wait all night for the rain to stop and the logs to pack up with mud to the point that it would take a construction team to extricate them.


    Karl tossed the hook, and when it had flown past the upright log he wanted to try first, he pulled back on the wire to stop it and throw again. But to his surprise, that made the hook dive down into the log, and as Karl tried to shake it loose, he ended up wrapping the one he wanted with the wire.


    "It looks like I intended to do that. Alright, you two, get a good hold on this cable and give it a nice steady pull until I tell you to stop." He ordered.


    The Golems grabbed the wire and began to pull, which began to tilt the log and lift it up out of the pile. It was really working. They might not get the whole pile free, but they had a good start on the first log.


    Then with a booming crack, the log shattered, and the Golems took two steps backward as the top half of the log came flying toward them andnded on the hillside.


    "Stop. That''s good enough." Karl ordered.


    The top of the pile began to copse, and a few dozen logs broke free to float down the river, which sent a torrent of water flowing over the top of the other logs, and dislodged even more of them.


    "Pull the rest of the rope back up here so I can free our log and try again." Karl ordered as the water level began to equalize at the top of the new dam a few minutester.


    Six failed attempts to replicate his first throwter, he had hooked another log, and the Golems gave a mighty heave, digging themselves into the dirt as it began to tilt. This one wasn''ting up out of the pile, it was taking the pile with it as it lifted out of the mud, and it was unclear if they had the strength.


    "Thor,e out and help pull." Karl ordered.


    Then he grabbed the wire himself, standing between the Golems and Thor, who had grabbed it in his mouth, further back than his sharp beak.


    The four of them pulled, and a massive explosion of logs was thrown up in the air, creating a proper breach in the dam, and a massive flood of water began to pour through, raising the flood level on the other side by over a metre as the water raced to escape.


    Anyone downstream of that was not going to be happy with him.

 Chapter 131 Free Flowing

    <h4>Chapter 131 Free Flowing </h4>


    As the log jam began to crumble, Karl threw the hook again, pulling another log from the edge of the pile furthest from his reach. The extra effort helped dislodge a bit more of the blockage, and widen the gap that the water had to escape from the flooded area.


    It was turning into a whole new riverbank at this point, but at least it was roughly following the original course now, and not trying to detour through a different valley.


    Thor had dropped his Lightning Shield so that he could bask in the feeling of the rain on his glossy green scales, and the golems remained silent beside Karl as he stood and watched the raging floodwaters begin to diminish as the downpour turned into a more manageable light drizzle.


    He had left most of the logs that were near the hill, trying to prevent the water from cutting the hill out from beneath him, and it appeared to have worked for now. Much of the sloping hillside was gone, but beside him, there was a solid barrier of logs that they could pull outter to make an improvised bridge to cross the worst of the damaged areas.


    The idea hade to Karl as he watched the way that the logs held up to the force of the water and the other debris that was smashed into them. Even if they were going to pack dirt on top of it to make a proper road, putting a row of logs out would make for a much more stable base than packing deeper mud.


    They even had plenty of Elites with slicing type skills that could split them lengthwise, making a t surface for the bus and giving them more to work with.


    So, instead of clearing more of the blockage, Karl set about pulling more of thergest logs from the river and up along the bank. It prevented them from piling up again further downstream, but more importantly, it left them nearby for him to work with when it came time to move the bus.


    All the students wondered what Karl was doing with his huge pile of logs by the time that the rain finally ended, but the Driver understood very well. In fact, he would have asked them to go hunt for some eventually because they were going to need them to get across that flood in.


    But he wasn''t going to send anyone out into that downpour and risk someone sliding down into the waters. There would be plenty of logs avable once the water went down, no matter where they looked. This area had been heavily forested, and they would naturally pile up everywhere that the waters were forced to divert by a hill or other obstacle.


    As the rain stopped, Karl sent Hawk up to scout the area and survey a path forward for them.


    [Good news. If we go from here across the spot where the blockage was, we can be on mostly tnd for at least the next ten kilometres, then the metal roades back and there is one more crossing, but its bridge is high and it is still standing.


    After that, the river and the metal road go in different directions.] Hawk reported.


    [Good work. It will take some effort to cut a road town the hill and across the other side, but we can do that easily enough with all of us. As long as that other bridge is as good as it looks, we should he home in time for lunch.]


    [Now we are talking. Drake doesn''t taste as good as it smells.]


    Once the waters began to slow, Karl called Thor and Hawk back into the beast space and returned to the bus, to be greeted by the energetic apuse of his ssmates.


    The driver addressed the group. "We will stay here on the hill overnight and set a watch. Get as much sleep as you can because there will be shovelling and log splitting in the morning. Awakened Karl, did you find a route home?"


    Karl nodded. "If we cross where I was working, and make a road up that hill, we can drive across a high t spot until the road curves back to meet us. Then Hawk says there is a tall bridge that is still standing, and after that, the railroad and the river go different directions."


    The driver took out a map and turned it to face the direction that they were.


    "I see where he means. That is a railroad bridge, but there are runners for the vehicles to pass as well. It is nearly sixty metres long, and sits atop a deep coulee, so the water would have been far below its base.


    Yes, that should work. Normally, that route would be considered impossible because of the hills, but if we cut them and make a new bridge to cross the river, we should be alright. It won''t be a pretty bridge, but with those big trees, we should have enough to span the stream once it calms down, and the rough boards will let us get up the other side once it is cut into a slope." He exined to the students.


    None of them had anything even resembling bridge building experience, other than the driver, who had to improvise to get across rivers more than once in his career, so they were trusting him on this one.


    When it wasn''t flooded, this wasn''t a big river, so they had high hopes for his n, as well as Karl''s collection of logs.


    Hawk''s voice interrupted Karl''s thoughts.


    [Let me out, let me out.] He shouted, and Karl realized that he had actually ordered them to stay in for the night, something that he rarely did.


    [Go ahead.] Karl agreed, and the Windspeed Hawk appeared on the roof of the bus, then gave a mighty p of his wings and streaked off into the darkness. Then he dive-bombed something on the ground and returned tond on the roof with the body of a massive snake.


    [Snek snek snek, chomp chomp chomp.] Hawk sang happily to himself as he began to portion it into manageable pieces.


    Most of it, he took back into his space with him, but about half he left on the bus for Karl and the others.


    "Hawk brought us breakfast meat. Who wants to go up on the roof to go get it?" Karlughed as he realized what had gotten the bird so excited.


    It wasn''t a mouse, but Windspeed Hawks loved to hunt snakes as well. Rend easily cut off their heads, and then they were left with a long tube of food.


    Sister Betty sighed as she looked upward at the metal roof. That was going to be a slippery trip, and the roof was sure to be bloody now with monster offal, which would draw even more monsters to them with its smell.


    "I will. Driver, do you have a sprayer to clean the roof? Monster blood will draw more of them." She asked.


    "Don''t worry about it, there is a bit more rain on the way, and it will rinse us clean. There are so many dead minor monsters and animals in the area that chances are nothing will notice.


    I do have a scent blocking spray, but I don''t want to waste it with more raining tonight." The Driver exined.


    "Alright. I will see you in a minute."

 Chapter 132 Night Watch Lizards

    <h4>Chapter 132 Night Watch Lizards </h4>


    Not long after the Priestess came back in with arge bundle of meat, far more than they would need for just one meal, the skies opened up again, and a steady light rain began. Not enough to cause more flooding, but enough that it was quickly rinsing off the bus.


    Then the wind picked up, which seemed to relieve the driver.


    "The winds will push the storm away, and help dry out the ground faster. At worst, we might be stuck for one full day, but no more than that before the ground is dry enough that we can move again." He exined, then tilted his seat back and pulled a nket from the overhead bin, signalling that he was done with conversation for the night.


    Bus seats wouldn''t be the mostfortable night''s rest, but they were dry. So, they split the group into four, giving each of them a three-hour night watch, and everyone did their best to sleep.


    Karl''s seat put him on thest watch of the night, but he knew that Rae was watching what happened around them with keen interest. This spot might not be a bad one, she had decided, once Hawk got a chance to go out hunting.


    Snakes were a pain, as they just slithered through and under the web, but there should be other things to hunt soon, and she hadn''t been ordered to stay inside. The night was her time, and if there was prey foolish enough to approach her den, who was she to say no to their kindness?


    She got her chance just before Karl''s shift started at four in the morning. A small group of Venom Fang Lizards had swum across the receding floodwaters and were diverted from their path by the presence of warm bodies on the bus.


    They were each about the size of a domesticated cat, and once they hit her web, they would be sopletely tangled that they would never get free again.


    The students on watch were startled and nearly shouted in fear when Raended outside the bus, but they quickly recognized her body, and that she was weaving a dome of web all around the bus.


    It almost seemed like she wanted to cocoon it in the strings of spider silk, but once she had a loose, she settled down under the bus and blended herself into the mud and darkness to wait for her prey.


    The lizards didn''t have great night vision, so they never saw the thin strings of spider web running from the bus to the ground. So, when they ran into it, just as Rae predicted, they panicked and began to il, tying themselves up even tighter with every movement.


    Their poison fangs would do them precious little good when they were trapped in the web, and Rae waited until she was certain that she had trapped them all before she darted out in a streak of inky ck motion and punctured their skulls to pull them into the beast space with her.


    "Did you see that?" One of the students on watch gasped, waking Karl and a few others nearby.


    "No, and that''s the part that frightens me. One moment they were in the web, and the next they were just dead and gone. I''ve never seen anything move that fast." The boy beside him whispered.


    "What''s happening outside? Should we wake the others?" A newly awoken student asked.


    "No need. Rae, the big spider of Karl''s was outside hunting lizard monsters. I think that she''s back under the bus now." The boy replied.


    Karl smiled. They wouldn''t understand that the mental space could be essed from some distance away, so they wouldn''t have understood how Rae simply disappeared once she had her loot. From their point of view it had to be absolutely terrifying to have seen the Bloodbath Spiderunch out to kill her prey then simply vanish.


    [It was impressive, if I do say so myself. I got perfectly blended while I waited, and I doubt that most of the humans could even see me, they just saw the lizards being pulled from the web.]


    [The apex predator of the night.] Karl agreed.


    "She''s definitely making fun of us for not being able to spot her. You can always tell by the look on Karl''s face when the beasts are talking to him." One of the students on guard duty whispered.


    Dana''s softugh caught the boys'' attention. "Of course she isughing at you. She can camouge herself, and it is dark outside. I bet you didn''t even notice right away that the lizards were gone. Rae is extremely fast, and in the dark, even I have a hard time spotting her, and I''m fairly used to looking for her."


    The boys chuckled, thinking that Dana was actually afraid of spiders. It would never cross their minds that the mage and the Bloodbath Spider both liked sleeping in hammocks on Karl''s balcony.


    Karl wasn''t sure how much longer that would be feasible, though. Rae was growing rapidly, and once she got close to two metres long, it would be hard for her to create arge enough hammock out of her web inside the Gazebo. It needed room to swing and attach at either end.


    Karl could feel the pride in Rae''s mind as Dana praised her. But what was more amusing was that half of the students hadn''t even realized that there was a spider web built over the bus. They had turned the interior lights off so that they weren''t a beacon on the hilltop, and for that reason alone, the very minimal evening light made the strands impossible for most of them to see.


    But the sky was beginning to lighten in preparation for the impending dawn, and the students would start to notice soon. Hopefully before one of them stepped outside and got entangled in the sticky webbing, but it was tempting to just not say anything and see what happened.


    Karl took his ce by the window of the bus and waited for the sun toe up enough that he could send Hawk out scouting again and check on the flood water levels. As long as the levels were receding as expected, they could probably start digging the ramp to their makeshift bridge, to make up for what the flood had washed away.


    But there might also be a better way than the first one that Hawk had found. Once the water went down, it would be easier to see what areas were stone or gravel, and therefore more likely to be solid enough to support the bus until they could get back to the high ground.


    Hawk and Thor were both still asleep, and Rae was just about to doze off when the sun came up, marking the end of the night watches, and the beginning of the long wait for the sun to dry out the ground enough that it would be safe to move from the well-based roadway.


    Thest thing anyone wanted was to spend all morning working, then get the bus stuck five metres from where it was now.

 Chapter 133 Aftermath

    <h4>Chapter 133 Aftermath </h4>


    Once the sun dide up, the surrounding area of hilltop began to change rapidly, seeming toe alive, and bursting with life and colour. nts rapidly grew and absorbed water forter consumption, flowers bloomed in a matter of minutes, and the standing pools of water all but disappeared, except down in the river bottom, where it was simply too saturated and most of the nt life was destroyed by the raging waters.


    But even there, the change was noticeable, as the ground was mostly visible now, exposing rubble and debris that had been carried downstreamst night.


    It was a mess down there, and theyer of silt that had built up turnedrge portions of the area to slowly drying mud ins, from which scattered nt life was struggling to break free.


    Despite the ferocity of the storm, what hadn''t been destroyed was thriving, taking advantage of the situation to get ahead of thepeting species.


    The same was true for the wildlife. Karl could see in the distance that there were numerous small scavengers and rodents out searching for their prize. Many burrows would have flooded or copsed, and this was a prime opportunity for them to eat something that they couldn''t normally hunt.


    Hawk was thinking the same thing, but he was still a bit sleepy, and the animals would be active all day long. He had time to go hunt when he wanted to.


    "How long do you think that it will take before it''s safe to start moving about and preparing to get back in motion?" One of the warriors asked the bus driver, who was scanning the horizon with binocrs.


    "Later this afternoon. The ground where we need to go is still saturated, so you won''t be able to dig that ramp at all yet. I know you young folk are all energetic to keep moving, but sometimes you just have to sit and wait."


    He had a point, but while Karl did have to just sit here for a while, he didn''t have to idle around and just wait.


    [Hawk, do you want to go scout the area? If you can find us a nice dry route, even if it is a bit further around, that would save time. Also, check for monsters who have moved along our intended path and any new obstacles we might encounter.] Karl suggested.


    [That is fine. I could use some time to stretch my wings and just fly.] The Hawk agreed.


    It wasn''t a sentiment that the other two beasts shared. Rae liked her web, and Thor preferred to be where everyone else was. The concept of just flying around by himself all day seemed very lonely to the Lightning Cerro.


    Rae thought that he was a bit of an idiot, constantly wanting to be around others when he could be peacefully alone, but with his energy level, he needed people to y with.


    Karl looked around at the bored students sitting on the bus.


    "Why don''t we send someone out to see how the ground is? I think that everyone could use a little stretch, and the thick grass should have kept the ground stable." Karl suggested


    The driver nodded as the students began to get to their feet, taking Karl as the voice of authority here, as long as Sister Betty didn''t object.


    The look that the nun was giving him said that she would like to see Thor again, so as the students went out, Karl sent Thor out to meet them.


    The ground was a bit springy under his heavy footsteps, but it wasn''t muddy, just upacted and thicklyyered with roots. Last night it had been worse, and there was water squishing up as he walked, so this was an improvement.


    He was the heaviest of them, and though he was far fromparable to the bus, Thor''s rapid growth had brought him to nearly two hundred kilos of solid chested Cerro. If they were back in the pack, he would be treated as one of the most promising youngsters with his healthy build and high energy levels.


    The group of students spread out around the bus, cutting away the remains of the web that Rae had createdst night, and enjoying the way that the morning sun began to heat everything.


    You could feel the moisture in the air as the sun evaporated it, and watch as thest of the floodwaters receded, leaving new wends among the mud ins that were beginning to dry out and crack at the top as their moisture was siphoned away.


    "This side of the hill looks pretty good. The waters washed away the dirt, and it''s all shale stone. If that stoneyer continues, then we might be able to make a durable road, but it''s going to take a lot of work." One of the students announced as he examined the hill down toward the blockage Karl clearedst night.


    "Would you like to examine it more closely? I can toss the chain down the hill to help you get back up, in case it''s slippery or soft." Karl offered.


    "Sure, I can see that you saved plenty of logs to make a bridge, so we should at least check the condition of the hillside." The boy agreed.


    Karl thought about it for a moment, and out of everyone here, he was the one who likely knew the most about rocks. Especially the shale stones that weremon in the higher levels of the mine. Further down, the mines had beenprised of thick lithium y and coal veins between graniteyers, but the upper levels had a lot of oily shale that had been left as intact as possible because it made the roof unstable if you dug underneath it.


    Unlike that stuff, this didn''t have that thick crude oil smell, but the grey stone was simr both in texture andposition.


    "I will go with you. There''s plenty of shale in the mines, and I know far too much about stones." Karl exined with augh as he went to recover the hook from where he had left it by the busst night.


    Sister Betty opened up the belly box of the bus and pulled out a pickaxe and a shovel.


    "They''re part of the recovery tools, so that''s what we will have to work with to form the road if you need to." She informed them as Karl and the other student caught the tools withfortable familiarity.


    "And go easy on them. They''re just wood." The driver shouted from inside the bus.


    "No problem. We will be gentle." The warriorughed as he shouldered the shovel, but the driver was right. They were both incredibly strong, and Karl''s strength would shatter a pickaxe handle on the first strike, as well as burying the head so far in the ground as to make it a pain to get back out.


    The hill was a gentle slope for the first few metres, then a steep descent down the stone cliff until they got to the river. They descended the chain, checking the surface as they went.


    "It looks like it''s all soft stone, all the way down. That is going to make an excellent road base." Karl noted.


    "Yeah, we can cut it away and pile it here at the bottom to make a smooth ramp to the river. If we put the log bridge five or ten metres above the water level, it shouldst a little while before it is washed away again. That sort of rain happens every few years, but not often enough that our improvements won''tst the summer." The boy agreed.


    "You''re from the area?" Karl asked.


    "Yeah, about fifty kilometres that way." He replied, pointing across the river.


    As Karl remembered the map, there was no road from here to there, and it was in the wrong direction to get to the Academy, but the weather would be simr enough that he wouldn''t be wrong about the frequency of such storms. In fact, it had likely gotten hit by this very stormtest night.


    They walked the few metres across the logs to the river crossing, as the other boy needed to be closer to see that the far bank was made of the same shale as this one. It was also a more shallow angle, as there hadn''t been much dirt for the water to wash away.


    Karl examined the situation with satisfaction.


    "Alright, if we cut away this side, and clear that side, we only have a short dig to get to solid stone. Then we will break the stone here, to make a better ramp angle, and run it out as far as we need to make the logs reach." Karl informed his teammate, who smiled back and nodded.


    "Then, let''s get started. Has Hawk verified that this is a good route to get back to the Academy? The route mentionedst night sounded decent." The warrior asked.


    Karl nodded. "Yeah, this is the route. He will check the next bridge, but it looked goodst night, and it''s all high ground until our routees back and meets up with the existing road. We will be making a big loop, where the road was nearly straight before, but it should all be drivable, even if I need to hook Thor to the recovery points on the bus and have him help pull."


    The Lightning Cerro thought that was an incredible idea. The wide bus wheels didn''t seem as reliable as his own feet, but between them, they should be able to pull the load of students across the grass. In a way, he was exactly right. The extra pulling force would help keep the wheels from spinning in low traction areas, and make it much easier to get where they were going.

 Chapter 134 Corps Of Engineers

    <h4>Chapter 134 Corps Of Engineers </h4>


    "It looks like it''s all shale underneath the surface. If we cut the topyer away, we can make a nice ramp to the bridge." Karl called up to the others.


    Hawk left his space and took off into the sky to survey their intended path, now that Karl seemed certain that this way would bring them across the river.


    "Well, the remains of the blockage are a good height above the water now, so should we set a temporary bridge?" One of the students suggested.


    "Not yet. We want it to be further from the water so that it doesn''t wash away in the next rain. How many pickaxes and shovels do we have?" Karl called back.


    "There''s a whole bundle of each. I think that they were prepared for all the passengers on a trip to help out." Sister Betty called back.


    "Sister Betty, you lovely, gentle and kind soul. Do you suppose that you could enchant these tools for us to help keep them from breaking when we work at full strength?" Karl asked with his best pleading voice, which had sometimes worked on the teachers at school.


    The muscr clericughed and rolled her eyes.


    "Of course I will. Divine Tool is one of the spells I am best with, and as I''m stronger than any of you with magic, you shouldn''t be able to break the enchantment while digging." She replied.


    The warrior began climbing the wire back up to the top, but Karl just took two running steps down the log andunched himself up the five metres to the point where he could walk safely.


    "That is so cheating. Do you want a pick or a shovel? They will both cut through stone once I enhance them." The cleric asked as Karl made it back to her.


    "I will keep the pick. Now, we just need to map out the route, so everyone knows where they''re working toward." Karl exined.


    Hawk circled back, and sent a pair of [Shred] attacks into the grass, leaving deep furrows in a straight line to the crossing.


    "That works too. Turn that into a smooth slope, ending at least five metres above the water level as it is now, and it should be good. I think the water is still higher than normal, thanks to the storm, so it should be enough for the bridge to survive awhile."


    Sister Betty took out the two bundles of tools and activated her spell, which made them glow with the same holy light as the guards'' weapons during the battle at the railroad.


    Karl moved near the edge of the cliff and swung the pick, shattering the stone and tossing it down the hill.


    "That''s too easy. I should take one of therger shovels." He called back to the group, who smiled in impending victory.


    Unfortunately for them, they didn''t all have Karl''s strength, so while he dug outrge amounts of stone and the ground shook with every hit, most of the warriors didn''t move much more than a shovel full.


    They tossed it with ease, like loose cotton, but Karl''s strength was making short work of the job while the others stood beside him.


    "Wait, I have an idea. I know another spell called [Impact]. It sends vibrations through things, and I use it to knock targets over. If I use it on Karl''s shovel, he can turn the whole slope to gravel." Sister Betty offered.


    "Alright, everyone, please step back. I will see how well this works." Karl agreed.


    The cleric added the spell, and Karl felt the possibility in the shovel as he hefted it. The vibration was directional, and proportionate to force. So, when he focused and put all his strength behind the hit, it should break up arge area at once.


    Karl stepped halfway through their intended path, and carefully angled his strike.


    The shockwave carried through the stone, and the hillside slid away, turning to gravel and piling up at the foot of the cliff. In a single strike, they were half done the work of creating their route.


    There was just one problem. To create the slope they wanted, they would have to create far too much broken rock. The bus wasn''t some extreme adventure vehicle, despite its wide and thick treaded tires. Steep angles didn''t work for it, and Karl''s second strike created arge amount of gravel with nowhere to go.


    "Well, now we just need to move this gravel to the far side of the pile and finish the ramp. It should be a decent slope when we''re finished." He informed the group.


    "Well, Karl and Betty did the worst of the work, now it''s our turn." One of the magesughed.


    Arge grey golem formed out of the loose stone, then scooped up an armload of rocks like it was a backhoe.


    "Gravel Golems aren''t the strongest inbat, but they can change shapes, a little like the Sand Golems. It''s limited, but ttening the arms into a bucket is no problem. Since it''s all gravel, I just need to add more magic, and he can move all of this.


    If it were dirt or mud, it would be much harder, since it''s not the Golem''s element." She exined.


    The Golem scraped a path through the crushed shale rock and pushed it off the far end, giving the warriors the right idea. They moved up with shovels and piled the gravel in the middle of the four-metre wide path for the golem to move to the river.


    They finished with a steep slope that ended four metres above the river when the gravel was gone, but they had a smooth slope to that point.


    "Now we just need to cross the river and build up a bridge footing on the far side." Sister Betty reminded them.


    Karl jogged down the slope and jumped. The flying leap put him on the far side of the river with ease from his elevated start, but the bank here was much more shallow, so they would have to build something up and not just pile loose rock.


    As he was considering it, Karl heardughter from the far bank.


    "You lot are fast workers, but not exactly the corps of engineers, are you?" The driver asked.


    "What do you mean? It''s sturdy, we shook the rock to settle it, and it''s not going anywhere." Karl shouted back.


    "Have you ever seen the spout of a jug when you tilt it? That''s what you created here. As soon as it starts raining, the water is going to pour down that ramp you cut into the hillside in a glorious waterfall." Heughed.


    Sister Betty began to giggle. "I see the problem now. Alright, we need to cut ditches on both sides of this ramp so that the water has somewhere to flow that isn''t the road itself. If we are going to leave this here for others, they should at least be able to use it."


    She got the others back to work, digging through the stone to make deeper spots at the edge of the ramp, and sloped sides so that they didn''t copse on the road. While they did that, Karl looked around for his options.


    He had plenty of logs on this side as well, and that gave him the idea.


    [Thor,e here and work. I want you to toss a bunch of logs from this shore toward the bank directly opposite the ramp. Then I will dig a pit in the hill for material, and fill the gaps with stone. Once it''s high enough, we will make a bridge deck.]


    The happy Cerro came vanished into his space, then came back out with a happy trot, and immediately ran over to push a broken log toward the jam with his two upper horns.


    A flick of his head tossed the broken log on top of the pile, though it strained his prodigious strength.


    "I will get you the chain so you can pull them." Karlughed, as he realized that his n underestimated the weight of a full tree.


    Thor shook his head, and went for smaller logs that had been shattered before their arrival. They would make good filler, Karl thought, and picked out a spot to begin digging gravel to throw into the pile.


    The two of them worked well together, and after a while, even Rae came out to lend a hand, in her own way.


    She made a silk harness for Thor, and then attached the logs to it with thick ropes of spider silk. The initial effort was exhausting for her, but once it was done, she just cut the rope, and then sprayed spit on the end, which caused it to liquify and mend around the next log.


    Within the reach of the Bloodbath Spider, its web was a versatile magical tool, not just sticky silk.


    That let Thor move some longer trees into position, elerating the process, as Karl threw gravel at it from a spot upstream. It took them under an hour to have the ramp sorted out, and then it was time to work on the bridge deck.


    Sister Betty pped her hands to get the attention of the others as they finished making what she thought was a sturdy enough footing for the bridge.


    "I have picked out four trees, all of them long enough to cross the river. Now, you need to do the hard work, gentlemen. ne off the top third of each log, so we can ce them to create a t driving surface, and then we have to drag them into position."


    "Got it sister. We''re ready." The warriors called back, sweating with the exertion of digging ditches and reinforcing the gravel slope as much as possible for thest hour.

 Chapter 135 Bridge

    <h4>Chapter 135 Bridge </h4>


    With the chain and hook, they dragged the four chosen logs up the hill, where the warriors got to work ning the logs to roughly the same thickness with their shovels.


    It wasn''t the most precise use of tools ever, but the logs split well enough when the enchanted tools hit them, and Sister Betty had managed to pick out four that were long enough to span the gap between the two hills without the need for any fancy joinery or a brace in the middle.


    They were well over a metre around, which the driver assured them would be enough to drive the bus over, as long as he was careful not to give them too much of a jolt. But he had plenty of practice at that, since not everywhere that he had to go to recover teams was on a proper and improved road.


    Karl worked to get the far bank ready as they worked, creating a ramp out of a spare log to roll the bridge deck into ce. The n was simple. Once they finished working the logs, they would attach a chain to either end and toss the other end to Karl, who would pull the log across the river, and let it float to the foot of the road.


    Then, with Thor on his side and the warriors on the other, they would pull the log up and into ce. Repeat that with all four logs and it would be done.


    In theory, it was simple, and they could have it done in an hour or two.


    "Ready for the fun part?" Dana called once the warriors had the first log chained up and ready to move.


    "Toss it over, and we will see if the n is good. Just remember, send it a bit upstream so that we don''t have to drag it against the current." Karl called back.


    The chain came sailing over to his side of the river, and Karl pulled it tight, with the eager help of Thor. The log slid smoothly into the river, and the two of them moved a bit further upstream, keeping it on course until they had their end on the shore, and they were ready to pull it up their makeshift ramp.


    "Alright, shift positions, and we will pull together. We have to keep it squared up between the two sides, or it will fall back into the river." Karl called as he prepared to shift the log up the freshly created hill.


    "Got it. We will adjust to match your side, just keep it nice and smooth." Dana called back.


    The warriors had nominated her to be the spokesperson for the team, since her Golems were the strongest and would be doing the majority of the work.


    The two sides moved, and the chains pulled tight again, moving the heavy log into ce, then dragging it across the footing that they had designed into the gravel ramps.


    The log was about four metres longer than necessary, but with a bit of adjustment and some digging, they had it in ce, and they were ready to do the second one.


    "This one will be easier. We can just take a short chain and pull it across the other log. I rmend the Golems do it, in case something goes wrong, and they fall in the river." Karl suggested.


    "That should be fine. With my two, and then the gravel Golem, we should have plenty of power to get the log moved. We measured them all when they were here, so they''re all the same length. Is the other side ready for it?" Dana replied.


    "It will be before they get here."


    The three Golems easily dragged the log over and dropped it in ce, then assisted Karl in getting it rotated with the t side up and level with the other log.


    Now, they had a foot bridge two metres wide, and the third and fourth logs went into ce with ease.


    All that was left was to bury the ends and drive a few posts into the road base at either end so that they didn''t shift apart when the bus drove across it.


    They didn''t have any spare rope, nails or anything else to fasten them, but with the t of the shovel, Karl had plenty of strength to hammer a fence post sized log into the ground on either side of the bridge deck. That would have to be enough to hold them, at least until a crew with more equipment coulde and make a better bridge, or fix the main road.


    The driver walked down to admire the handiwork once Karl was finished the process, and whistled in appreciation.


    "You know, for such an amateur endeavour, you lot actually built one of the better field bridges I have ever seen. Just the fact that you had the strength to move those huge logs instead of using smaller trees makes all the difference." He informed them with a pleased smile.


    "Well, Hawk and Thor say that the ground on the other side is pretty good, how does it look up there? Can we start moving the bus?" Karl asked.


    "Yeah, we can. I will ask that all the students take their bags and cross first, then I will drive the bus across with the tow cable attached to the front.


    Even if the bridge copses, Thor and the Golems should have the strength to pull the bus back to shore, and we might be able to drive home." The driver exined.


    "Good enough for me. The Gravel Golem says the base is sturdy, and I''m choosing to trust its expertise. We will see you on the other side. Then, we will hook Thor to the tow cable, and he will walk in front of the bus until we''re back on a proper road bed.


    That will give you warning if the ground is soft, and he can give you some extra forward motion when needed."


    It would also help tire out the Cerro a bit more. He didn''t get outside nearly enough, and the beast space was refreshing. So even if he yed with the bashing pir in there, he didn''t really get tired.


    Keeping Thor exhausted from y was good for his development, or so Thor insisted. His logic was that you had to work muscles constantly to make them grow big and strong. Now, that sort of logic also held true for humans, but with the Serum, they were all growing big and strong without the extra help, so it likely wouldn''t stop Thor from growing if he didn''t put in the work.


    Hawk, on the other hand, believed that you just needed to stay active to avoid beingzy, and Rae maintained that just waiting in your web for prey to y with was better than wearing yourself out for no good reason.


    So, Hawk floated in the sky overhead, Thor got ready to pull the bus around all day, and Rae cut up pieces of the lizards that she had caught in her webst night to see if she could find out how they managed to inject venom into things without making everything they ate taste like poison.


    For purely scientific reasons, of course.


    Karl went back to the bus and grabbed his gear to rejoin Thor on the far side of the river where the other students were waiting, and the driver began to make his way down the rocky slope.


    The ground was still a bit soft beneath his tires as the bus made its way over, but the thick mat of roots was enough that the bus wasn''t going to get bogged down, and the rocky decline provided ample traction, though it couldn''t be good for the tires.


    The driver stopped when he reached the bridge, and the recovery cable was run out to be held by Dana''s Golems and Thor.


    He carefully moved forward, but the sturdy tree trunks didn''t budge at all as the bus rolled onto them. There was a slight flex as the back end reached the middle, but Karl thought he might be the only one who could see well enough to tell.


    It was no threat to the bridge''s integrity, and the driver had no problem making it back up out of the river valley to the high ground to reload the students and begin their trip back to the road.


    "That''s the hard part done. Everyone, please get back on the bus and settle your luggage, I will be ready to go in five minutes." The driver instructed once he was parked on level ground again.


    "Is having Thor out front going to slow you down? I know the Lightning Cerro isn''t renowned for their walking speed." Karl asked.


    "We don''t want to be going at a high speed anyhow. With a bus full of people, even five or ten kilometres an hour is enough that it will be a rough ride in here over the open fields. We should be just fine with him as our guide." The driver assured Karl, with a thumbs up for Thor, who had the chain from the tow cable looped around his chest and in front of his legs like the walking harnesses that people put on small dogs.


    Karl took a seat near the front so he couldmunicate with Thor, and the small procession began its crawl across the fields, with Dana''s two golems nking the bus to help keep away stray monsters.


    Hawk keened out a relieved cry as they were finally moving again. He had circled from the bus to the bridge four times already, and checked for every sign of soft dirt that he knew. There were some signs that the rodent tunnels had flooded in some areas, and he was ready to lead them around those spots, but they would be on top of the ridge the whole way to the second bridge.

 Chapter 136 Home Stretch

    <h4>Chapter 136 Home Stretch </h4>


    Thor happily trotted along the route that Hawk was giving him, avoiding the puddles, likely soft spots and anywhere else that the Hawk thought looked sketchy.


    But the Cerro leading a bus was gathering a fair bit of attention from the residents of the grasnds they were passing by.


    Most of it came from the semi domesticated buffalo beasts, which were a primary source of monster meat for the Elites and raised by the ranchers in the area, while the rest came from the small animals who felt the vibrations in the ground from the oddbination.


    Their first thought was that the Cerro had stolen a bus.


    They were pack animals, and left alone, as the other monsters thought this one had been after the flood, they would try to return to their pack as soon as possible. The bus wasrge and shiny, just like his scales, so the local wildlife thought at first that the Lightning Cerro had just adopted the mechanical contraption as part of its new pack.


    Then they noticed that it was full of people who felt like power. The Cerro wasn''t alone and vulnerable, it had taken a pack of magic using humans, and it was leading them across the hills.


    They were carefully making their way around a wend area, where long reeds grew up out of the mud, when Hawk suddenly dove into the long grasses, and came back up with something long in its ws.


    [Haha, I got another one. Oh, this is going to be so tasty.] He cheered as he contemted the snake caught in his ws.


    To a normal Windspeed Hawk, this was not a target it could hunt, the snake was much toorge. But at his current size, the three-metre-long python was no match for him. It had an ability to harden its scales as armour, but it was still a Common Grade monster, and no match for Rend at the level that Hawk could use it.


    [Toss it in the space forter. No ying with your food when you''re scouting.] Karl reprimanded his partner.


    [Fine, fine. But I''m not stopping.] Hawk pouted, before decapitating the beast and throwing the body at the bus, where it vanished a few metres from the window, pulled into the beast space.


    "Care to exin what that was all about?" Dana asked carefully as she watched Karl staring out the window before Hawk threw a snake at him.


    "Hawk is pouting because I told him not to y with his food." Karl replied.


    Dana smiled and shook her head. "Is this his teenage rebellious phase?"


    The other students hid their smiles at the thought. Hawk had always been an independent sort of beast, but they had never thought of it as a teenager rebelling against its parent''s control.


    Hawk was back to patrolling the area to keep the bus from getting bogged down, and though there were some soft spots where Thor was definitely helping pull them through, they hadn''t had to stop once yet, and the map said that they should be getting close to the road.


    [There are enemies on the horizon.] Hawk warned them just after lunch.


    "Hawk says there is danger on the horizon. It''s still too far for even his eyes to make out the small details, but I trust his judgment." Karl informed the bus.


    He leaned out the window to see what the Hawk had found, and the sight ofrge wings in a V formation caught his attention. It looked like Drakes again, and they were a little closer now, enough that he could see the riders on their backs.


    They weren''t heading for the bus, they were flying toward the Holy Relic and the region where his group had been gathering that day.


    He pulled out the Academy issued phone, and checked the list of emergency numbers, then recalled that he already knew the one that he wanted.


    He dialed 777 and waited for it to ring through.


    "Speak." The voice informed him.


    "This is Awakened Karl, 95988. Full flight of Drake Riders spotted headed toward the newest Holy Relic from the south. The distance is roughly sixty kilometres." Karl replied.


    "Understood."


    Then the line went dead, and Karl put the phone back in his pocket, satisfied that he had done his duty.


    "So, do you think that they''re drawn to the location by the Dragon Magic?" One of the mages asked.


    "That''s my thought. At first, I thought that they were after the clerics, but this time they''re headed the same way, so it has to be the lingering energy in the area that they have noticed. It might not be safe to go gathering there again for a few months, but we can always go look for another spot.


    With the gains that we got this time, and our lucky charm amulets, we might be able to find another good patch of resources before these run out." Karl suggested.


    The other students smirked at the reference. They had gotten so much this time that they wouldn''t run out for quite a while, and some of the resources, like the holy stones, wouldst the mages for their whole training and beyond. But that only made them want to go out again once their strength had improved, so they coulde a little closer to keeping up with the leaders of the ss.


    An hour after the Drakes were gone from sight, Thor pulled them up onto a gravel roadway, and Karl called him to a stop. The bus was back on the road now, and they could make better time, so it was the end of his guide duty for now.


    He had gotten a solid workout, with the intermittent need to pull the bus through the soft spots, and Thor was happy to return to the beast space as Karl packed up the chain into the bus'' belly boxes and Hawknded on the roof to survey from a perch for a while.


    "The bridge should be less than a kilometre ahead. We will stop when we get there and inspect the footings to make sure it is in good condition, and then we will be on the home stretch to the Academy." The driver exined once Karl was back in the bus and Thor was snoring away in his Holy Stone lined pond.


    [It looks good. I searched over and under it, and it doesn''t look broken.] Hawk informed Karl in a distracted voice as he considered whether to fly over and eat one of the Earth Mice for nostalgia''s sake.


    He had gotten his fill of snake before throwing it into storage, so he wasn''t actually hungry, but they were mice.


    If the mice had known what he was thinking, they would have been terrified. But their eyesight wasn''t good enough to notice that he was sitting on top of the bus, whose vibration was hiding any presence that the Windspeed Hawk might have given off.


    The drive to the bridge was remarkably smoothpared to bumping over the tufts of grass in the grasnds, which had been irregrly packed by the buffalo.


    "Ah, the good life. I will never insult the quality of the gravel roads again." One of the warriorsughed as they drove up the bridge.


    The driver looked up in the passenger facing mirror over his head. "It''s all about life experience. The field saved us days of waiting or working, and now we''re almost at the bridge. I will need to check it out quickly before we go, to make certain that there was no damage, but that''s thest river crossing before the Academy."


    The driver pulled the bus to the side of the road, but Karl didn''t see any sign of other traffic anywhere, and hadn''t seen any all day long. If this road was regrly travelled, the traffic wasn''t out today. Most likely it was used by the farmers and trucks going to the viges in the area, but with the floods, everyone else would be stuck and waiting for road repairs.


    The driver''s inspection only took a few minutes, as he walked the length of the bridge and looked over the sides with a mirror on a stick.


    "Hawk is right, there is no damage, and the water didn''t cut away the base under the concrete. We are good to go." He announced as he returned.


    Hawk gave a self-satisfied noise, as if questioning why anyone doubted him to begin with, and settled down on the cargo railing he had chosen as his perch atop the bus.


    Once they were across, it was like the storm had never happened. The roads were bare and dry, with no signs of washed out shoulders, and an increased amount of wildlife. None that dared to approach the bus, but every few minutes Hawk would spot something and ry it to Karl.


    "And this is thest corner before the Academy. Might as well start getting your gear ready and packing up the dishes. We will be there in ten minutes." The driver reminded them an hour after they passed the bridge.


    The students groaned as they realized that it was their duty to clean up after themselves again, but Sister Betty had already started packing away the leftovers, and had packed the rice and beans into their usual squares, then fried them in the pan until they would hold their shape.


    Who she nned to feed them to was a mystery, but she had the traditional snacks all ready should she happen to meet a horse here at the Academy.


    "It has been a pleasure travelling with you all. Good luck on your next mission, and don''t forget about my brothers and sisters at the Seminary Academy." Sister Betty informed them as the bus rolled through the gates.


    "Best of luck on your mission, and may the fates favour you with all the resources that you need." Karl replied.

 Chapter 137 Home Sweet Academy

    <h4>Chapter 137 Home Sweet Academy </h4>


    The group were in high spirits when the bus parked in the front lot and the professors came out to meet them and see how their mission had gone.


    "Team Leaders, how were the results? Not the confidential portion, but the advancement resources." Colonel Valerie asked as Karl and Dana stepped off the bus.


    "We ended up with some improved alternate resources, thanks to Hawk''s keen senses. We''ve got our entire packs loaded full, and I''ve got some nts in my beast space for the witches to make potions from. Can we get a wheelbarrow, or a cart, or something? There is a lot." Karl replied.


    Dana nodded her agreement, and opened the top of her pack to show the Colonel the amount of loot stuffed inside.


    "Did the others do this well?" Sergeant Rita asked as she saw the densely packed resources.


    "We split things evenly, based on what everyone needed. The warriors and mages have different loot, but all of our packs are full, and we all have some of the aloe nt numbing and healing gel." Karl exined.


    "You really did have good luck, considering that you also got a present from the church for helping their students." The Sergeant replied with a warm smile that startled the students who didn''t know her.


    It was rare to see teachers that honestly happy, especially when they hadn''t been part of what had happened.


    The Colonel pulled Karl and Dana aside to make a proper report, and the professors in charge of the other students took them in to get their version of events, or as much as they could tell. They all knew that something had happened involving the church, and they wouldn''t ask too deeply or risk getting their students in trouble, but they still wanted details on how they ended up with ten loaded backpacks after leaving to look for a handful of rare nts.


    "Oh, before we go, the stuff for the witches. I will leave it on the ground here." Karl announced.


    The girls cheered as Karl unloaded therge fern nts, and the teachers stared at them.


    "Did you clear an entire de of them or something?" One of the professors asked.


    "Nope, we took about every fourth one, and only the smaller ones whose stems fit in the jars. There is way more of it still growing, and we cut these off well above the ground, so they should grow back without too many issues.


    Sustainable harvesting, as the clerics called it.


    We did the same with everything else. There is more where this came from for everything that we brought back." One of the witches proudly announced.


    "It''s like you''ve got the World Dragon''s own luck." The teacher sighed, then red around the parking lot as the students began tough.


    The closest student held up her hands in surrender. "They''re notughing at you, Professor. You see, our reward from the church was a Dragon Scale Amulet, the good luck charm. Then they gave us a skill book of our choice, but random choice, as they gave us books with no names on them.


    It worked out perfectly, though, and we all learned a new skill, except the team leaders, who already had a brand-new skill, so they got an item."


    Karl shook his wrist, showing off the in gold bracelet, and the teacher''s eyes went wide in surprise.


    "You got a Holy Item as a reward? Are you a bishop''s secret love child or something?" The professor asked.


    Colonel Valerie snorted inughter at the old mage''s response. She already knew the basics of what had happened, thanks to her position, and that their level of luck was far higher than what they had revealed so far.


    Karl followed the Colonel and Sergeant Rita away as the Professors gathered around the pile of ferns to admire the perfectly preserved state of the delicate nts. If they were lucky, they might even be able to rent these and get a sustainable source of the gel for the Academy.


    Of course, the Witches would get them all if they wanted them, but the Professors would willingly substitute credits or other resources for them in this condition.


    Normally, students came back with jars of gel, or dead and drying nts after days of travel, but these were still fresh with morning dew and trying to regenerate.


    "Get these to the hydroponics bay. I want them alive." The professor was ordering as Colonel Valerie led Karl and Dana into the main school building.


    They took seats at desks, while the Colonel paced in front of them, and Sergeant Rita lounged on the teacher''s desk, waiting for her turn to speak.


    "Well, you lot really broke the system this time. Congrattions on your results, and the gains you have made. I have been instructed not to dig into the matter, both by my superiors in government and the upper echelon of the Elites.


    But I do need some details. What sort of skills did you get? The rest can be kept private, but I will need to at least know the details of your skills to continue your training." The Colonel exined.


    Dana spoke first. "I got a new barrier spell that does a better job of nullifying energy that hits it. Karl got a new skill that makes it easier for him to teach skills to animals. I heard that he taught the Seminary Academy''s Nekomata the basics of the Rend skill."


    Sergeant Rita tried and failed not tough at that.


    "You taught a Nekomata how to use Rending ws? What were you thinking?" She blurted out.


    "They actually asked me to. Well, they asked me to teach it a new skill, and that was the easiest one. It can''t really use it well, but once it has a few months or a year to practice, it should be able to use the skill at its own level.


    If I had more time to train it, the time would reduce." Karl exined.


    Sergeant Rita sat up straighter.


    "You''re saying that there is a chance that the beasts can learn new skills in a short period of time?" She asked.


    "Not just a chance, a virtual certainty. The question is just which skills. Thepatibility of the target and the ability matters. The morepatible they are, the more easily they will learn it and the more powerful the skill will be when they do activate it.


    For example, teaching Rae a stealth skill should be dead simple, but teaching Thor to fly would probably never work."


    The thought of a flying Thor was highly entertaining, though it might be scientifically impossible. The Lightning Cerro was still growing fast, and in a few more weeks he would be shoulder to shoulder with Karl, and weigh closer to five hundred kilos.


    That was not the sort of creature that was well adapted to flying.


    "Are there any other resources that aren''t on the list and that might not have made an official report that you brought back? We can help you prepare them if you think that they will be good for your pets'' development." Sergeant Rita offered.


    Karl reached into his beast space and brought out a handful of scales from one of the drakes, freshly plucked, and still dripping with a bit of blood.


    Sergeant Rita blinked once slowly, then turned her attention to Karl.


    "I''m not going to ask how you got Drake scales, since that was omitted from the official report, but congrattions. Now, what did you think you could do with these?" She asked.


    "Well, they''re scales, and Drakes are tough. Thor has scales and they''re tough as well. Is there something that can be made with Drake scales to help him improve his durability?" Karl suggested.


    Colonel Valerie smiled as Sergeant Rita carefully picked up the scales.


    "Yes, there is something that can be done with these to help his growth and durability. Just don''t tell the warriors that you found these, or they might cry. Wait, they don''t have any, do they?" Rita asked.


    Karl shook his head. "I don''t think anyone else collected any. They probably know that I have some, but nobody said anything about it with all the chaos at that moment."


    "Alright, we will handle that when ites up. I swear, you two always get involved in the least likely scenario possible. Do you have any idea how rare it is for the church and the Elite Authority to both ssify the same incident? Now, how often do you think that first year students are involved in that scenario? I can''t think of another time it has happened." Sergeant Rita sighed.


    Dana smiled at her, and winked at Dave and Jill, her personal trainers, who were waiting outside the door.


    "Well, this time it wasn''t just us. All ten team members were there for it."


    Rita rolled her eyes, and the other two came in, followed by Daniel and Alice, who must have been waiting out of sight.


    "Hey, did you guys know that one of the team members got a dragon scale pendant? I saw the sh of gold as I passed them." Alice asked as she closed the door behind her.


    Karl smirked at him. "We all did. They were a gift from the church directly, not a random find in the woods. You might want to take a seat, and we will tell you what we can."


    "Start with telling me about the drake scales. If you don''t want them, I will buy one off you." Dave suggested.


    "I have enough to give you each one if you want it. I''m not sure what all they can be used for, but if they''re good, they''re good. So, you see, this is how it went." Karl began.

 Chapter 138 Barriers!

    <h4>Chapter 138 Barriers! </h4>


    Half an hourter and a number of interruptionster, Karl had finished catching everyone up on what had happened, without mentioning the Holy Relic, or going into details about the attack by the Drake Riders.


    He hadn''t known that part was supposed to be secret, but Colonel Valerie had warned him, and then sent a message for her team to make sure that the other students didn''t go spreading the story around campus.


    Tales of foreign invasion teams would just cause tensions, and discourage missions at a crucial time for everyone''s growth. The Colonel had a bit of insight into what they were up to, enough to assure her that they weren''t going to attack at random all over the nation anyhow. But she didn''t seem happy about all the extra work.


    Colonel Valerie finished taking notes and nodded in satisfaction. "Alright, with all that you two have gained, we are going to have to work on your new skills and test your growth before we do too much more. I will go with Dana''s team, and Sergeant Rita can do the report for Karl''s growth. I have paged Jodi toe get the scales and have them processed for use. If Karl has some extras, you lot can have them processed for yourselves as well."


    Karl smiled and passed over another handful, as well as a small vial of Drake blood.


    He didn''t want to give too much of it away, as Rae really liked the Drake blood, but the scales weren''t really useful to anyone as they were.


    "Is that all of them?" Rita asked as Karl finished piling up the loot.


    "No, is it not enough?" Karl replied.


    The Sergeant just shook her head. "Never mind. That''s enough for today. We will process more of them for youter if you still need them."


    Dana and the others split off to go test her abilities, and Sergeant Rita gestured for Karl to follow her to the training area.


    "I''m not quite sure how we are going to do this, but first I should ask if your pets have learned any new skills yet." She asked as they reached the field.


    "Nothing yet. I didn''t have an opportunity to help them as they observed new skills yet. But we had an opportunity to grow our strength and understanding, so we''re all a bit better than we were when we left. With the resources that we gained, and the extra growth time, everyone ising along fairly well." Karl replied.


    "That''s fine. I don''t think that your new skill is one that can be easily shown off, unlike the new shield spell. So, we will start with a strength test. Rae was still growing fast when you left, so why don''t we start with her?


    Just the simple test of how long it takes to remove the shield spells is enough to give us an idea where you''re at." Rita suggested.


    Alice set up the barriers, and Rae came out to examine them. Over the next few seconds, she went from shiny and ck to a dull green that matched the grass, but her curious ck eyes were fixed on the barriers.


    Alice nodded when she had them set up, and Raeunched herself forward, shattering the first three in the first second, then tearing apart the fourth and starting on the fifth.


    That one took some time to get down, so the spider backed away to consider how best to destroy the sixth barrier.


    The three elites stared in shock at the Bloodbath Spider. The level of absolute violence from her mandibles and armoured front legs was outstanding among Awakened Rank beasts, but it clearly wasn''t her limit. The great ability of her species was to adapt their attacks, and once she had thought of a way, she might be able to take down the sixth barrier as well.


    Karl activated Skill Master, and let the magic flow into Rae as she worked on a way to adapt to the barrier. Curiously, she didn''t seem to be trying to learn a whole new skill, she was just improving the one she already knew. But when she attacked, the sixth barrier fell in a matter of seconds, and the proud spider did a little spinning victory dance in celebration.


    "Good job, Rae. You got that barrier down in record time." Karl congratted her.


    Of course, that might only be because she went first, but he doubted that even Hawk would be able to take down the sixth barrier today, and Thor wasn''t really offensive focused.


    "Well, we can say that given time, Rae can build up to the borderline of Ascended Rank attack power. Her body isn''t quite there yet, but with her adaptation skills, her offensive power is far ahead of the average." Sergeant Rita noted.


    Thor nudged at Karl''s mind, asking to be let out to y with the barriers.


    "Who''s next?" Rita asked.


    "Definitely Thor. He will drive everyone insane if we make him wait forst to y the barrier game." Karlughed.


    Hawk also came out of his space to glide around the field.


    [You know, the outside is better. There is so much more room to fly. I could go for a whole hour, just flying around.] Hawk sighed wistfully.


    [Don''t worry, buddy. We will be back outside soon. We just need to work on our skills and power so that we''re ready for what we might find out there.] Karl replied.


    The Hawk waited until Thor was about to hit the first barrier, then shattered it with a Rend attack andughed as he flew overhead.


    [Stupid bird, those are my smashing barriers.] Thor pouted as he charged for another.


    He wasn''t going through them in order, but Hawk took them out in an orderly manner, shattering the first four and leaving Thor to smash into thest two until he wore himself out a little.


    "They make quite the team." Daniel remarked with amusement clear in his tone.


    "Thor gets a bit too excited when there are barriers involved. When he''s actually in the field, he''s much more serious and professional." Karl replied quietly, so he didn''t distract the happy beast from his y time.


    Rita smiled. "It''s easy to forget that they''re all still very young. They''re not adult monsters, they''re still children, and they need to y and grow."


    "You should have seen him pulling the bus along through the grasnds. He was right on top of things, pulling the chain tight when the ground was soft so that the bus didn''t spin out. We managed to make it all morning without getting stuck thanks to Thor''s help.


    But now that he''s had a nice long nap, he''s ready to y again." Karl agreed.


    Thor pranced around the open field, catching the attention of the students practising nearby. Everyone had heard about the Lightning Cerro''s love of smashing into barriers, but none of the sses who were out here right now were working on that, so they just watched as he ran around and charged at the two remaining barriers Alice had set up.


    Hawk could easily break the weaker of the two remaining barriers, but if he did, then Thor would have no second target for his game, and they were set up a few dozen metres apart, just enough for him to get a good run at them.


    "Alright, we have the basic data for the beasts now. It''s not precise, but we can set up a training n from there. What sort of skills did you want them to learn? Stealth for Rae, but what for the others?" Sergeant Rita asked.


    "I think that if we can get Thor to learn a secondary attack spell, that might be best. Lightning would obviously be the first option, and I''m thinking of trying to teach him a lightning breath type attack." Karl suggested.


    "Like he was a Kaiju from the movies? Breathing Lightning and stomping down buildings? That makes sense, and it should work with his skills. What about Hawk?"


    Karl shrugged. "That''s the part I''m stuck on. The skills he has are precisely what he needs. If he''s going to learn something new, it would have to be to grow in a different direction because he already knows the skills that are best for a Windspeed Hawk."


    Rita smiled. "Then we can work on that. What direction do we want to help Hawk grow in?"

 Chapter 139 Direction

    <h4>Chapter 139 Direction </h4>


    Karl considered the direction that would be best for Hawk. The bird was happy simply soaring around and scouting, and that was what Karl needed him for, but there really wasn''t anything that he needed to continue that role.


    "Well, Hawk is our scout for now, and he''s got incredible senses, plus long ranged attack power. I''m not really sure what sort of direction he would even be able to grow in that wouldn''t be contrary to his nature." Karl replied, stumped as to the answer.


    "Well, there is more to being the team''s scout than the actual scouting, I am certain that we can find something that will suit his talents.


    So, until then, we can start with the obvious ones. There are Rogue ss Elites in training here with various stealth skills. Why don''t we take Rae there to observe them and try to learn their skills, while we wait for the potion to be made of the scales you provided?


    She should have a natural affinity for those sorts of skills, and if your new ability is as impressive as it sounds, she might even be able to pick up the basics in a few days instead of months. Stealth skills are normally some of the hardest to master, so most of the Rogues who don''t start with them only learn the basics and prefer to hide in in sight instead." Sergeant Rita suggested.


    Karl felt Rae''s amusement in his mind. She was good at hiding in in sight as well, so visiting these Rogue people could be a very educational experience.


    "Maybe she can learn invisibility. Just think of it, an invisible Bloodbath Spider." Daniel suggested wistfully, while Alice and Rita looked horrified.


    Karl had to admit, that would be a truly terrifying experience if Rae wasn''t your friend. Already she was bing incredibly powerful, and if you couldn''t even see her when she got close, there would be very little chance of surviving an attack.


    Rae''s thoughts said that she was a big fan of the invisible Bloodbath Spider idea, but there was just one problem.


    "There isn''t anyone here who knows actual invisibility." Alice reminded them.


    "We have a few who can hide in shadows, which seems just about perfect for Rae''s style. It''s not perfect, but even a bit more of an advantage with her adaptive coloration, and she will be able to ambush nearly anyone." Daniel suggested.


    Rae eagerly agreed in Karl''s mind.


    "She thinks so as well. Should we try that for today? I haven''t found a skill to try to teach my partners yet, so while Hawk thinks up the perfect skill for himself, and we work on the Drake Scales, Rae can learn to blend into the shadows even more effectively." Karl agreed on her behalf.


    Sergeant Rita nodded in satisfaction. "Then that is where we will go now. The cultivation of the three beasts will be ongoing at the same time once we get the resources in ce, so your schedule will be a bit frantic, but I think that the advantages that your unique ss Marking provides are bing very obvious to everyone.


    The more that you can spread your skills around, the better, and after everyone is grown, we can focus on finding ways to help them break through their natural limits."


    That seemed like it was getting a bit ahead of the curve. Rae would probably be a Commander Rank beast when she was fully grown, and it would take a lot for Hawk and Thor to even catch up to that standard.


    But perhaps that was the point. Hawk was already stronger than most members of his species, who hadn''t had a fortunate encounter with some special resource. So, they would have to arrange more such meetings for him, to allow him to leave the standard of a Windspeed Hawk behindpletely.


    And, when he thought about it that way, Karl realized that simply growing Hawk until he couldn''t advance anymore was likely not the most efficient method. If they could change his course early, he might have an easier time growing up to match his more naturally powerful partners.


    Sergeant Rita led them into one of the buildings on the south side of thepound, and then down the stairs into an underground training area.


    The moment that they stepped inside, the room was pitch ck, and the others hesitated, to let their eyes adjust, not realizing that there was stealth training going on, and not a single light anywhere in the area.


    Not that it was a problem for Karl, but everyone else seemed frozen in ce for a moment, until one of the students seemed to sense them, andunched himself forward in an attack at the side of Alice''s head with his training de.


    Karl quickly shifted in between the two, and caught the student in a smooth hip toss, as he had been taught in the martial arts ss.


    The boy hit the ground with a harsh thud and a wheeze of escaping air, which triggered the teacher to turn the lights back on.


    Not much, it was still very dim, but the practice must have been to see who couldnd the first strike.


    "I think I''m going to die." The boy moaned as hey on the ground, gasping for breath.


    There was no blood underneath him, and all his limbs were functioning, so Karl assumed that he would be alright soon. The ground was covered in a soft mat that allowed the students to move silently, or close to it, so he hadn''t expected to be intercepted, much less grabbed and thrown like that.


    "Unfair advantage to the visiting team. Good morning Sergeant, Student Karl, and I''m afraid I don''t know either of you." The teacher greeted them.


    "Agents Daniel and Alice of the Bureau of Elite Development." Alice exined.


    "I see. Now, what brings you here today? I don''t recall our ss prodigy having stealthy tendencies before today. That was a beautiful throw, by the way. I assume you have a way to see in darkness?" The teacher replied.


    Karl smiled. "I do. It''s not perfect, but it works well enough."


    The only w to Rae''sbination of thermal vision and echolocation was the fact that it didn''t have the ability to see colour, but it was still true that it wasn''t perfect.


    The stealth ss students looked jealous of his ability to see in absolute darkness. If they could do that, this ss would be so much easier, and they might even get to move up to the more advanced sses.


    Sergeant Rita filled in the details for the confused professor. "We believe that one of his partners might have the ability to learn stealth rted skills. She is already superb at moving silently, but moving unseen through shadows would improve her ambushing abilities by arge margin."


    "Partners?" One of the students blurted out.


    "He raises pet monsters, remember? It must be that giant spider that they mean." One of the other students whispered back, loud enough for Karl''s sensitive hearing to catch.


    "Yes, it is Rae. Would it be too much trouble to have that sort of skill demonstrated for us? She will happily y along with stealth games in exchange."


    The teacher''s smile put all the students on edge. They weren''t sure that they wanted to y stealth games with a carnivorous spider the size of a small car. Because really, how tame could something like that be? Triggering her hunting instinct seemed like a terrible idea.


    "Really? If she''s fine with helping us train the students in low light conditions, I would be grateful. There are only so many ways to set up the equipment that we have." The teacher readily agreed.


    [Afraid to tease students in the dark? Do they not know that I am the thing that stalks the night? The monster under the bed that parents use to scare their children into behaving?] Rae asked, thinking of all the fun ways she could taunt the students.


    "You go a little vacant eyed when you''re talking to your team. Mind sharing?" Sergeant Rita asked.


    "Rae says that she is the monster in the dark that parents warn their children about, and she would love to y with them." Karl repeated.


    The students cast furtive nces between themselves, and the teacher chuckled.


    "I think that her and I will get along famously. Alright, if you can call her out, I will have the students try to move stealthily in the dark. Does she easily create webs? If she could create an obstacle course for them out of the strands, it would make this more interesting." The teacher suggested.


    Rae stepped out of the beast space and immediately faded from her natural shiny ck and red to a dull soot ck that perfectly matched the room.


    "Alright, she will set the obstacle course up right away."

 Chapter 140 Rae’s Game

    <h4>Chapter 140 Rae''s Game </h4>


    Rae sent out a maze of webs as she darted around the room, terrifying the students whose eyesight was good enough to keep track of her.


    "That should do it. She built an obstacle course around your existing course, made of sticky spider silk. If they catch one strand, it will ring the bell in the middle of the room, and if they catch a bunch, they will just end up tangled." Karl exined, with a gesture toward the bell, which was now the focal point of dozens of strands of silk.


    "How much light do you need to track movement?" The teacher asked.


    "Zero. I can detect movement decently well even with absolutely no light, but in this room, and in their uniforms, it would be nearly impossible for me not to detect them unless they were truly invisible." Karl exined.


    "Jeff, activate your stealth skill." The teacher instructed, and one of the boys seemed to simply vanish into the shadows.


    Even thermal vision seemed to have a hard time finding him, so the skill was magical and not just a simple trick.


    Karl nodded. "I should be able to track him, but not easily. Rae might do a bit better because she''s got the superior senses."


    "Alright, Jeff, you''re up first through the obstacle course. Everyone in the ss has a button, they press it when the student in question activates the button at an obstacle. If they get it right, it means they have seen through the skill. It''s how we work on our stealth." The teacher exined.


    The dark-haired boy began to creep through the obstacle course, focused on keeping his stealth skill active as he approached the first obstacle with a button. But his eyesight wasn''t as good as Karl''s and just before his hand reached the tform, a soft jingle echoed in the room as his leg bumped one of the web strands.


    He had to resist the urge to cuss and give his position away, but the effort he was putting into his skill was giving Karl high hopes that his [Skill Master] technique would allow Rae to learn it by watching it fairly quickly.


    With visible relief, Jeff made it past the first buzzer, then immediately turned and stepped without looking and found himself stuck immobile in the spider web. The boy cursed as he struggled to get free, and only got himself more stuck. That made his stealth skill fail, and now the whole ss could clearly see his predicament.


    "Alright, I will cut him free, and we will keep going. Remember, there are spider webs, and you have to watch for them, not just run the route by memory." The teacher admonished his stealth ss.


    The reason for the dimmed lights became obvious with the second student. His ability let him blend with the darkness, but not as well as the first, though his footsteps were rendered almost silent. Not enough that Rae had a problem following him, but enough that the other students would.


    He was also agile, and doing a decent job of evading the spider webs as he made it to the first button, and then the second. Karl briefly wondered if any of these students knew their skill well enough that Rae might learn anything, but all he could do about it was to just watch and hope that something in Rae''s mind clicked and let her understand the trick.


    Learning something new was usually down to the quality of the instruction that you received, but the teacher wasn''t showing off skills here, and honestly, the students weren''t much better at hiding themselves than Rae already was with her ability to change her exterior coloration.


    But even though the stealth training might not be as helpful as Karl had hoped, the Bloodbath Spider was having an incredible time making security traps out of her web for them to try to move through.


    It was a great exercise in tactical and practical thinking for the young spider, and as she kept adjusting it to rece the strands that were broken as the students kept running into them in the dark, she was getting better at cing them in just the right spot that students would unwittingly step into ones that should be easily avoided.


    The teacher was nearlyughing by the time that thest student stumbled as she made her way over a low web, only to get another across the face, and then fall into the tangled web attached to the room''s central bell.


    The bell jingled wildly as the girl iled in the webbing, and the others began tough softly.


    "Rae, would you mind going to help her out?" Karl asked, as the girl was now fully cocooned in the sticky silk, after rolling over in a vain attempt to escape.


    The spider stalked across the room, nimbly avoiding her own webbing, while blended perfectly to the colour of the flooring. Half of the students couldn''t even see how she was avoiding the webs as she went, only her main body, which wasrge enough for them to keep a close watch on.


    Once she got to the struggling girl, Rae cut a bit of the webbing free and picked her up with her front legs to consider how best to get her free of the tangled mess.


    This, predictably, caused the student to panic at being millimetres from the vicious mandibles of the Bloodbath Spider, and il even more, which only increased the entanglement.


    But Rae had a simple solution. If she couldn''t easily pull her free, she would cut her free.


    "I suggest that you do not move for this part, of you will end up having your uniform cut off you along with the webbing." Karl warned her, and the student wentpletely still in Rae''s grasp.


    The other students also fell silent as they realized that Karl was serious, and that this was an actual Bloodbath Spider, fully capable of cutting through them and not just the sticky silk they had all gotten caught in today.


    But once the student was immobile, Rae easily slit the silk and let it fall down around her legs, before returning the student to her professor, carried on the armoured front legs like a gift package.


    "Thank you, Rae. You did a fine job." The teacherughed as he epted the delivery and lifted the girl out of the spider''s embrace.


    With the ss finished, they took a break for lunch, where Sergeant Rita looked expectantly at Karl, who had called Rae back into his mental space, to keep her from teasing the students.


    Karl shook his head. "I don''t think that they''re good enough with the skills for Rae to learn them that fast. The better the teacher, the faster the results. I have a much better than usual grasp of Rend, and I could barely teach it to the Nekomata. So, I think we will either need the advanced ss to teach her, or one of the professionals."


    [The problem is that they''re not better at hiding than I am. What am I supposed to learn from them? They can''t even properly blend into the surroundings, just cloak themselves with magic, which I can smell.] Raeined, making sure Karl knew this was not her fault.


    "Alright, we can work on something else. There isn''t any particr rush to get them improved, but in a way there is. The Bureau is looking forward to a return on investment, and that essentially means proof that your ss can advance a magical beast beyond what it would normally be capable of.


    Not just by feeding it resources, but through some innate part of your ss skills." Rita exined, while Alice nodded in agreement.


    The mage smiled at them both as she began to exin. "The results are already excellent, and the beasts have already proven themselves superior to Golems, as well as proving their rapid growth speed. But in order to ressify your marking, they want proof that it can do the exceptional, like the handful of off brand ss markings that have led to Overlord Rank Elites in the past."


    That sounded like a big goal to Karl. There were only a handful of Elites above Royal Rank, and even the Royal Rank Elites who were out to the public were celebrities. Just suggesting that they would want him to make it to that level put a lot of pressure on Karl, but for some reason, Rae and Thor didn''t seem all that concerned.


    Hawk knew he was already well beyond what most Windspeed Hawks would reach, it was just difficult to prove that wasn''t the result of the resources they had gotten. But with so little avable for the other two, it would soon be clear that they were going to be greater than any other of their kind.

 Chapter 141 Teaching Thor

    <h4>Chapter 141 Teaching Thor </h4>


    Sergeant Rita drummed her fingers on the table as she thought about their next course of action. "Why don''t we try something different for Thor this afternoon? You suggested teaching him lightning attack skills, since he already knows Lightning Shield, or is it Refreshing Lightning?"


    "Refreshing Lightning" Karl confirmed.


    "So, while it might be tempting to develop him into a tank, I think that there is something to be said about the chances of him bing a durable frontline attacker. If he could learn a few attack spells to give himself a bit of range, just enough to engage or stun the targets before he charged, it would make a world of difference." Rita continued.


    Thor considered the proposal. It made sense that he should be able to use lightning to do more than defend. It was most important to defend the herd, but you still had to chase away enemies, and there was no reason not to use more than horns for that.


    "There are likely other ways that we can develop Thor as well. Basic things like more regeneration or an illusion spell that would make it look like there were more of him. Training new attack methods seems like the simplest option, though." Alice suggested.


    The thought of teaching Thor to make it appear that he had a whole herd with him seemed like it might actually be very well suited to him, and a great form of camouge. Not many people would question the fact that there was a herd of Lightning Cerro moving together, as that was how they normally lived.


    Inparison, one lone Cerro was much more suspicious. Especially if he was travelling with creatures of other species, or humans.


    "Illusion magic might be too far out of his abilities, but having Thor with a pack of Cerro would be a great disguise when we were travelling. Maybe we can teach some of the mages an illusion spell like that, which will make the group members look like Cerro to outsiders.


    Then we will have one real one to interact with others, and the rest of us will make it look natural, as if the herd was just passing through." Karl suggested.


    The tutorsughed at the idea of a whole team of Elites pretending to be Cerro and hiding under illusions. It should work, but it might cause a different set of problems as the creatures that considered the Cerro a food product would be attracted to them, in an attempt to pick off the slow and weak members.


    Compared to the real thing, most of the Elites would be slow and weak members of the herd, and the result could be less than desirable.


    "Why don''t we start with showing him some of the magical skills, or elemental warrior attacks, to see what he might feelpatible with? There are a wide variety of lightning attacks between the mages and the warriors, so I think that if we show Thor all of them, he should be able to pick the best one.


    I know that there are some mages working on lightning bolts today, so we can try that first." Rita suggested.


    There were no objections, so they finished their lunch quickly, and prepared to head across the grounds to Rita''s chosen location for training. But halfway across the field, one of the other training groups caught Thor''s attention.


    [I want to try that one.] He suggested, pulling Karl''s attention to the Berserkers.


    [You want to be a berserker?] Karlughed.


    [No, the smash. I wish to try the smash.]


    Karl watched them getting started on their training, and saw that it was the senior year ss, all Ascended Rank students, unless there was a Commander Rank among the Berserkers.


    "Thor wants to smash." Karl informed the others, with a gesture toward a student who was working on her [Earthquake] skill.


    "Earthquake? That seems a bit odd for him, but then the Cerro species all have thatrge spiked ball on their tail, don''t they? They normally attack with their horns, but the tail could be suitable to activate shaking and stunning type skills. I will go talk to the professor." Rita agreed readily once she heard it was Thor''s idea.


    From others, it might sound insane, but from Thor himself, it might just be viable for him to learn the skill. Nobody would know the beasts better than they knew themselves, or so she assumed.


    Plus, even if it didn''t work, it would be fun to watch Thor thumping his tail on the ground and trying.


    There was no real guidance to what he could or couldn''t learn, but if he was feeling enthusiastic about it, there should be at least some chance that Thor could learn Earthquake, or a rted skill.


    It was physicallypatible with him, as the skill was normally activated with arge blunt weapon. Either his feet or the ball on his tail filled that requirement, and his strength was far above the human standard already, evenpared to the berserkers at his level.


    His tail was thicker than any of their arms, and flexible like a whip, with the solid ball at the end. They would just need to convince the teacher of the ss that it wouldn''t mess with their students'' education to have the Cerro join them in ss.


    Many of the Professors were very protective of the groups who had been assigned to them, and suggesting that you wanted to mess with their training routine was a fast way to get on the bad side of many of the Academy''s staff members.


    So, it was with a sense of nervous determination that they approached the berserker training area, with Thor out and prancing along beside them, eager to join the training, but under orders not to mess around until he had permission to join the students.


    Karl gave it about five seconds after they actually reached the training area before Thor would have to either be forcibly restrained or allowed to learn, the way he was getting excited as he saw the students shaking the ground with their skills.


    It was a bit like the footsteps of therger reptilian species that caused the ground to shake with every step, and that sensation was ingrained into his gic memory to mean that a species was impressive. So, in his mind, any berserker that could use an Earthquake skill must be impressive.

 Chapter 142 Earthquake

    <h4>Chapter 142 Earthquake </h4>


    Fortunately for them, the ss was being taught by Tank, who was overjoyed to have new students to teach in his ss, even if it was a Lightning Cerro.


    "Come on over and join the Earthquake group. I know the skill as well, so if Thor encounters any issues, just ask me. But the ones here are all getting pretty good at it, even though it''s a very advanced skill, so it shouldn''t be difficult to learn from them.


    Just remember that they are berserkers, so try not to get in the way of their training." The massive professor instructed.


    "Got it. I''m sure that Thor will be fine, he''s always been well-behaved." Karl agreed.


    The berserkers gave the neers curious looks, as it was umon for anyone to visit their sses, and certainly not the juniors from other specialties, but when Thor was called out, they all changed from curious to bemused.


    The Cerro wanted to learn Earthquake? Alright then, let him try.


    They began their practice, with Tank guiding them to correct what they were doing wrong. The strikes sent up constant puffs of sand from the practice area, and Karl activated [Skill Master] while Thor watched intently.


    For a moment, he wasn''t quite sure how to adapt that to himself, but when one of the Berserkers used a spinning strike with a two-handed maul, Thor began to understand.


    He turned on the spot and whipped his tail ball around, pounding it into the dirt and sending up a plume of sand, but there was no earthquake effect, just the brute strength of an Awakened Rank beast.


    But everyone had to start somewhere, and after a few more strikes, Thor started to channel his lightning to his tail as he attacked, using up some of his limited mana to enhance the attack.


    The first few times he tried that, it just made an armoured tail, but near the end of the ss, he struck the ground, and it trembled, while Lightning spread through the sand.


    "Now that''s more like it. The strength wasn''t quite there, but he''s got the idea now." Tank congratted them from his spot across the training grounds.


    "He''s a natural." One of the seniors agreed, as Thor focused and pounded the ground again, creating a bit more of an actual Earthquake effect.


    "I wish I were as natural as that. I swear he''s cheating." One of the students who was training Whirlwindughed.


    Karl smiled at the older boy. "I am using a skill to help himprehend new abilities, but most of that is all him. From the look of it, he didn''t just learn Earthquake, this is a lightning variant. With a bit more practice, I think he will be able to use it to both stun and destabilize his opponents."


    "Well, if your skill can let him learn new abilities in a single day, I will call it a resounding sess. But not only that, it''s an advanced skill. Most of the ss will work on that for an entire semester before they have it mastered. Now, I won''t say Thor is a master of the Earthquake skill, but I will say that he did manage to activate it the first day.


    I trust that I will be seeing him again in the near future?" Tank asked.


    "Of course. He needs to finish mastering the skill, or at least getting it to a proficient level, with the help of your experts here. I think today proved a hypothesis for us as well. The more skilled the instructor, the faster they will be able to learn a skill. Learning from the first years was a huge flop for Rae." Karl exined.


    The Berserkers all seemed to understand the concept.


    "Quality in, quality out." One of them recited, as if it were part of their core curriculum.


    "It''s a logic we use for developing our bodies, but I suppose that it works well enough for learning skills as well. You can only get results from a good regimen." One of the other students exined.


    "Then we will have to look for the very best to teach the new skills. With Thor already learning the essentials of Earthquake, I think that we might really be on to something." Rita agreed with a smile.


    She ran a hand through her short ck hair, a sure sign that she was thinking deeply about something, then she nodded to herself and smiled at Karl.


    "How about we take you through the advanced sses tomorrow morning to see what will work best for Rae and Hawk? If they find a skill that they like, they can learn it that way." She suggested.


    "That''s a brilliant idea. When they see the skills in action, it should give them a much better idea of what would suit them than having us pick for them. Thor had so much fun with Earthquake that I''m certain they''ll be enthusiastic about it tomorrow." Karl agreed.


    [Maybe.] Rae agreed, hoping it would be better than today.


    [Can''t I just mess with the mages again? I haven''t gotten to intercept water spells in days.] Hawk asked.


    [I will see if we can get you back to your uracy training. They''re just very excited to see how well my new power works to teach you all new skills.] Karl replied.


    Hawk huffed in annoyance and settled into his nest for the afternoon, while Raeughed at his boredom, and Thor settled into the pond in his space for a little nap.


    Surprisingly, Dana was not at dinner, nor did she show up at his room that night, despite the fact that the rooms on either side of her were going as crazy as usual with the training. Whatever training they had her doing must have been intense if it was still ongoing when he fell asleep, or perhaps they had just left the campus for the day to train in secret somewhere.


    There were always training spots away from the eyes of the other students when you had a dedicated tutor, but they had just gotten back from an outing, and he hadn''t expected the tutors to be so eager.


    So, when he saw her at breakfast the next morning, looking exhausted and half asleep, Karl was both relieved and amused to see her.


    "Long night?" He asked as he sat down with his breakfast.


    "You have no idea. I was training until after midnight, and then I was chased out of bed bright and early this morning to go for early morning mental focus training. It''s supposed to help my mana development, but after breakfast seems like a much more reasonable hour for it." She sighed.


    Jill and Rita walked in together and spotted Dana and Karl finishing their meals. The two students had wary looks on their faces, but Jill was smiling.


    "Rx, today won''t be so bad. I''m taking Dana to meditate, and Karl gets to take the pets to choose skills they want to learn. That shouldn''t be bad at all." Jill tried to assure them.


    Dana gave a ruefulugh. "That''s what you said yesterday, but that focus training was torture. Watching Hawk and the others pick out new skills doesn''t sound bad, though. All the berserkers are talking about how much fun Thor had yesterday." Dana agreed.


    "See, a nice easy training day for everyone." The little blonde mageughed, then motioned for them to follow as she ushered Rita out of the room.

 Chapter 143 Rae’s Taste In Attacks

    <h4>Chapter 143 Rae''s Taste In Attacks </h4>


    Karl followed Rita out of the cafeteria, where they met with Alice and Daniel, who were both prepared with a list of the skills that were currently being taught on the campus.


    "We aren''t sure what ones they will like, and I''m not certain they will know until they see them, but I thought that we might as well start with the advanced warriors. They''re the most likely choice, since none of the three are straight magic users.


    Hawk would be the closest to it, but he seems to have a vendetta against magical attacks, not a particr affinity for them. Though he did learn a wind barrier, didn''t he? Perhaps he has an affinity for more types of ranged magic." Alice noted.


    Daniel pointed toward one of therger training buildings. "We will start there. The berserkers are in technique and theory training this morning, so Thor can join them in the afternoon for skills training. But we have a wide variety of other skills that Rae or Hawk might like.


    Also, we have the drake scale potions ready for you. The drake that you gathered was an impressive one, nearly to Ascended Rank, and the potions turned out very well, with both quantity and qualitying out above average when they were finished.


    We owe the Alchemy professor a favour still, but I paid for the service with a dose of the potion, so she won''t be too hard on us. We can try it out over the lunch break and see how the beasts react to the concoction. It may have no effect on Rae or Hawk, but it should be great for Thor.


    With harder scales, and a bit of dragon essence derived from the drakes, he might even unlock another new skill of his own." The sandy haired warrior exined.


    Thor vaguely recognized that they were talking about him, but he was almostpletely focused on smashing. He could always smash with his horns, but now he had learned to properly smash with his tail, and not just swat with it.


    That was surely the way that things were meant to be. All sides of a Cerro could be weaponized with lightning, so it was only natural that the tail could be an even better weapon.


    They walked into the viewing area of the training centre, a central area which had windows on all sides to view the various levels of training grounds, and Rita gave Karl an expectant look.


    "Well, take a look around, or have Rae and Hawk do it, and let us know if there is anything here that piques their interest. There are quite a few skills being trained here right now, and it''s all students in their third and fourth years. The first and second years use the facility in the afternoon." She exined.


    [There. There is a good skill being used. The blue seven arenas.] Rae insisted.


    "Blue seven?" Karl asked out loud, and Rita brought it up on arger screen, as the window was on a higher level.


    "I believe that skill is called [Lacerate]. It causes massive hemorrhaging from any inflicted wound. Is that something that Hawk or Rae would like?" Rita replied.


    "Rae." Karl replied with a smirk that made the others roll their eyes.


    "Of course it''s Rae. I should have known. The skill deals a massive amount of damage as well, and against inorganic targets, it does as much damage as [Shred]. It''s not one that can be taught by a skill book, though. Only a few students have the aptitude for it, and they all start out with a lesser version of it as their first ss skill." She exined.


    Alice led the way up to the next floor, where they could watch the skill in action directly.


    "Will this be close enough, or do we need to talk to the warriors to see if they can spare some time to help Rae? There is no professor for this skill, so you would have to ask the students directly." Alice exined.


    [I need to practice it to know.] Rae informed Karl, as if it should be obvious.


    "She will need to practice. But I think that I have just the thing. I gathered a lot of moss on thest trip, and I have some drying in Hawk''s space. I will trade them some in exchange for their time if they''re interested." Karl suggested.


    The beasts'' attention was drawn to his remark. They could bribe the seniors with shiny gifts to teach them new things? Why hadn''t they just done that from the start?


    [It must be because he needed that skill. Now, we will have to watch for more good things in the future.] Hawk informed the other two.


    [For sure. It''s good that we stored a lot of stuff. But the berserkers are easy, they just like to smash.] Thor replied.


    Karl knocked at the door between the observation area and the blue training grounds, alerting the students that someone was entering, then made his way to the number seven training ring.


    "Good morning. My name is Karl, and I''ve got a bloodbath spider that is very interested in learning Lacerate from you." He introduced himself.


    The senior ss student smiled at the brazen young student.


    "And why would I spare time to do that?" He asked.


    Karl took out a small brick of dried moss, and the student''s smile grew much wider.


    "Now that''s the way to do it. None of the silly haggling or pleas for charity. You said you want to teach the skill to a spider?" The student replied as he took the bundle of moss from Karl and tucked it into a pocket of his coat, which was sitting at the edge of the ring.


    "Yes. Rae,e on out and say hello. I''m sorry, I forgot to ask your name, but this is Rae, and she thinks that she would be quitepatible with [Lacerate]." Karl exined as Rae stepped out into the ring.


    "Damn, man, now that''s a spider. Alright, I am not quite sure how well this will work, but I''ve taught a few of the younger guys already. Step back from the ring, and I will begin. Rae, you can stay in here, since there is a magic barrier. You can call me Jonah." He agreed.


    Karl stepped back and let Jonah work, while the other students in the area watched him showing off the initial mana flow to Rae, who he wasn''t sure could even sense or feel them.


    Karl kept the skill active with the two of them as the targets, and the flow of knowledge into Rae''s mind was immediately clear. Compared to the Nekomata, she was much morepatible with this skill, and after a half hour of simple demonstrations and exaggerated sword swings, she lunged forward with her forelegs coated in ck energy.


    The training target lit up with red light as her flurry of strikes hit it, and Jonah whistled in appreciation.


    [Lacerate activated. Awakened Rank. Total damage score 750.] The screen in the training area dered.


    One of the other warriors gave a pained cry. "Seven hundred and fifty? Dragon Gods, have you forsaken me? I have been outperformed by a spider."


    Jonahughed and shook his head. "Do you not know about the Bloodbath Spiders? She''s still not even fully grown, just a young girl. Give her another year, and she will be a Commander Rank beast, hitting a thousand points without using a skill."


    [I like this skill. I bet I could pop the beetle open with just one w now. I wouldn''t even have to decapitate it to get to the good parts.] Rae informed Karl.


    "Rae says you''re an excellent teacher, and she''s very fond of this new skill." Karl informed Jonah, who shook his head, and gave Rae a thumbs up.


    Sergeant Rita and Daniel came out to join Karl, both stunned by the performance.


    "If I didn''t know better, I would say that was a racial skill. That level of learning is incredible." Rita greeted him.


    "Perhaps because it''s a ss skill of Jonah''s? I cast the spell over the two of them so they couldmunicate more clearly, and Rae picked it up right away. She doesn''t feel like she''s mastered the skill, but she can make it activate now." Karl replied as the spider and the warrior went back to training.

 Chapter 144 Lacerate

    <h4>Chapter 144 Lacerate </h4>


    Rae and Jonah took turns working on their attacks, with Jonah stopping in between to give her pointers based on how she had activated it thest time. There was a lot involved in the advanced skill beyond just being able to make it work, and the actual bleeding effect could vary wildly based on how you did it.


    It was the fine details that were the killer with advanced skills, but Rae was a natural at this, and by the end of the morning, she was nearly giving Jonah a run for top damage. Much of that was up to her Offensive Optimizationbining with her new attack skill, but together, her damage was clearly into the Ascended Rank by the end of the ss.


    "Thank you, Jonah. I believe that she has the basics down now. I maye see you again if she wants more hints, but don''t worry, I''ve prepared plenty of little gifts." Karl informed the older boy with a wink.


    "If you gift like that all the time, there wouldn''t be a student here that wouldn''t dly help you. Have a good afternoon, and I will check in with Rae the next time that I see her around." Jonah agreed.


    Rae gave him a rather catlike head bump, then vanished back into her space to rest and consider ways to make the bleed effect of the new skill more effective. The training target didn''t really bleed, but she could at least get an idea of how it worked based on the self-healing gel. When the skill worked better, the gel took longer to repair itself.


    Karl was about to leave with the instructors when a boy''s voice stopped him.


    "What sort of ss did you get that has a massive spider as a partner? Is that like some arachnid specialty druid?" The boy asked.


    "No, my ss specializes in beasts directly. There are three of them in total, and they''re not summoned, like most of the Druid skills are. These are actual beasts I am raising." Karl exined.


    "Wait, so that is an actual Bloodbath Spider? Not just a skill replica, but a real one, and you just taught it [Lacerate]?" The boy stammered.


    More students stopped to stare at the little show, while Karlughed. "That''s exactly right. But she''s really a good girl, there''s no reason to worry about how skilled she is."


    The students looked a bit concerned about Karl''s mental health, but it was time for lunch, and that was much more important than an oddball ss marking that turned vicious magical beasts into pets.


    But the lunch break was not really a break for Karl and the trio. The Bureau of Elite Development had flexed their influence and gotten the drake scale potion prepared for the beasts to try, and Rita had scheduled that for their lunch break, so that Thor could still go to his afternoon Earthquake practice with the Berserkers.


    "We can do this in one of the spare ssrooms. The effects shouldn''t be massive changes, but more of a strengthening of Thor''s scales, and if the other two want to try, the effects will likely be even smaller." Rita exined.


    "Well, there is no good reason why we shouldn''t at least try. The potion was supposed to be safe, right? If there are no negative side effects, then there is no reason not to give it to everyone and see what sort of benefits they can glean out of it." Karl replied with a shrug.


    He had never heard of any bad results from a monster eating a beneficial resource, and they would instinctively know if it was something that wouldn''t agree with them. Karl fully expected that Hawk would likely turn it down, as he didn''t like the taste of Drake meat, though he liked the smell. But Rae and Thor would likely at least try it.


    But when Rita ced out the vials on the table in the training room, Karl was startled to see that all three hade out to see what the big deal was with this potion.


    "Alright, I think that Thor should go first, as this potion is most likely to enhance his scales." Karl suggested.


    Rita held up the vial, and Thor opened his mouth with his head tilted back. He had no intentions of tasting a potion made of Drakes, but he was willing to trust that it would help him. It smelled like magic, so it should be a good thing, even if it was an unfamiliar good thing.


    As soon as he swallowed the potion, Thor''s scaled began to glow a little more brightly under the fluorescent lights, and a sense of intimidation filled the room, as though there was arge predator present.


    Now, obviously Thor wasn''t much of a predator, but the Drakes were, and their magic was infusing his scales, which were now slightly metallic in their glossy shine.


    The power faded, and Thor rubbed up against Sergeant Rita, begging for her to touch his scales.


    "Well, they look shiny and smooth, but they''re slightly rough to the touch, like a dragon''s scales. They''re also less flexible than they were, more like metal than hardened leather. We should have taken a sample before and after so we couldpare them, but I would say that the process was an outstanding sess." Sergeant Rita dered as she petted the happy Cerro.


    Alice smiled and joined the short-haired Sergeant in petting Thor. "Well, now we should choose who goes next. Hawk or Rae?"


    Hawk stepped out of his space, eager to get this over with so that he could go back to mentally preparing for his afternoon of harassing the mages. He hadn''t done it in days, and Karl had promised him that he would get to.


    "Hawk it is. Alright, here you go, buddy." Aliceughed, as Hawk took the vial in his beak and tipped it back down his throat.


    The effect was as rapid as it was dramatic. The feathers on Hawk''s neck began to change to ming red as the potion poured down his throat, and then the rest of his feathers changed from mottled brown and cream to a brilliant crimson and gold.


    For a moment, Karl was certain that he could see mes dancing around the Windspeed Hawk, and then the effect began to fade, and his appearance changed back to what it had been before drinking the potion.


    However, the attempt was not a failure.


    With a triumphant shriek, Hawk tilted his head back, and fired a ball of me up at the ceiling.


    That naturally set off the fire sprinklers, and they were doused in water, drenching the teachers while Karl activated the lightning barrier and Thor rumbled in joy about getting rain on his scales again.


    Daniel rushed to the door and pulled the emergency stop lever to cut the spray of water, while Alice and Rita cursed and wiped the water from their faces.


    "It''s a good thing that none of us were wearing makeup today, or I would be really upset at the impromptu shower. But congrattions Hawk on gaining a new ability.


    I am not convinced that the process isplete, though. For a moment, it looked like he was going to fully change appearance and be somethingpletely new, and not just gain a new skill.


    Fire breath is impressive, but I think that we can do better." Rita noted as she struggled to say professional while resisting the urge to strangle the bird for using fire skills indoors.

 Chapter 145 Drake Scale Potion

    <h4>Chapter 145 Drake Scale Potion </h4>


    Karl watched as Hawk shook the water out of his feathers, and then let out another little puff of me, testing his new skill without setting off the rm again.


    "Do you think that he just needed more of the potion? Like multiple doses, the way that we had to double the dose when I was taking the first round of supplements? I don''t feel like any of that potion went to me, it''s all him, but I think it''s possible that whatever change it was trying to create needs more than just one dose." Karl suggested.


    Rita nodded. "That is possible. We could make another batch so that there is more, and then give him as much as he wants until the process isplete. As long as you have more drake scales, that is."


    Karl smiled. "I think I will have enough of them. But for now, we can let Rae try her dose and see what happens."


    Rae stepped out of the space to stand beside Hawk and inspect him for changes, then carefully took one of the vials between her mandibles and drank it down.


    [This is tasty, I kind of like it.] She noted as she swallowed the tonic.


    But other than that, there was no visible reaction, and she wasn''t showing any other signs of change.


    "Well, it appears that she likes the vour, but that''s about all that she has to say about it. Thor might get a bit more benefit from a second dose, and Hawk almost certainly will, but Rae doesn''t seem to be thatpatible." Karl noted.


    "That''s a shame. But she''s been doing well today even without a supplement. I didn''t expect her to pick up on a skill asplex as Lacerate within a single day. If she had also beenpatible with the potion, it might have started to push you close to the Ascended Rank already, and that would cause no end of jealousy among the other students." Rita replied with augh.


    Come to think of it, Karl was feeling a bit more fit these days. It was a small and subtle change, but the beasts were still growing, and it was improving his physique. Not as much as theirs was, but certainly more than the minimal amount of training he did would ount for.


    "Well, we can save the testing for the end of the semester exams. By then, I think that Thor should be mostly grown, and Rae almost certainly will be at her full adult size. Their growth rate is phenomenal, but their bodies will reach full size before they have reached full strength for their species.


    If anything, I believe that we might not be training hard enough for the elerated growth rate. Rae should be close to Commander Rank when she''s full-grown, right? She''s in the ascended Rank forbat power now, but I can''t say by how much. That''s still a huge gap from where her adultbat power would be expected to be, but she''s three quarters grown." Karl exined, worried about their progression.


    Rita and Alice both shook their heads.


    "The growth in poweres just after they have reached full growth. There is a transition from the juvenile growth phase to the adult strengthening phase. Once she stops increasing in size, you will start seeing more power gain." Alice exined.


    Rae was content with her power as it was. She had all the skills that she needed to tear apart anything she found, she just needed time to master them. The speed that she was growing was only making life difficult for her, as it was cutting down the time that she had to practice and master her skills before she reached the next milestone.


    Karl sensed her annoyance and gently patted her armoured foreleg.


    "I''m not trying to rush you, just making sure that I''m taking good care of you." He exined, to which Rae rolled her eyes at him.


    It was a strange gesture, with the multiple sets of jet ck eyes. It was difficult to tell when they shifted, as they were all one colour, but the shape seemed to adjust as she did it, and there was no doubt what the gesture meant, even without reading her mind.


    "Alright, let''s eat before we go to the next ss. Should we drop Thor off first, or can you keep up the learning skill from a distance, so Hawk can wait for the mages to show up to ss?" Rita asked.


    "I think that I can do it from a distance, but I learned this morning that it''s best for me to use it on both parties so that there is a link. Once I know what else Hawk is keen to learn, I will know which mage I should target.


    I''m guessing most likely one of the Fire Mages, as he just gained a new fireball ability. The better that he is able to control that, the more versatile the skill will be." Karl suggested.


    Hawk thought about that with a hint of amusement. The mages could split their fireballs and make them go at different speeds. The water mages would hate it when he showed off that trick. If he had Karl help him learn from the Fire Mages, then right by the end of ss he could show off his new skills and torture the water mages to death with rage.


    [You know, you really need to stop holding a grudge against the water attacks, just because they flow around Rend.] Karl reminded his feathered partner.


    [Never. I will never forgive the water spells for daring to defeat Rend.] Hawk replied resolutely.


    Karl''s smile caught the attention of the others, but he just shook his head and tapped his temple with one finger, signalling that it was a conversation in his mind.


    Rita shrugged, not particrly concerned about Karl''s inside jokes with the beasts.


    "Alright, we will drop off Thor first so that he can practice Earthquake, and then go over to get Hawk set up to improve his Fireball skills using one of the Fire Mages as an unwitting conspirator. Or a willing one, whichever works for you.


    Should we find another training spot for Rae? Or is she content to practice where she is?" Rita asked.


    Rae took a swipe in her spot, testing thecerate skill, then frowned and shook her head, unsatisfied with the way that it activated.


    [I am fine here. Unless they''ve got live targets for me. If they do, then I wille out to y.] She informed Karl as she tried the skill again.


    "She''s fine there for now, unless you''ve got live targets. From what I can tell, practical experience is the best teacher, and they can only learn so much in a controlled environment." Karl exined.


    "That''s true for everyone. No matter how good they think they are, the new students are always in for a shock when they head out into the real world. We will try to get you another mission soon, possibly one with other Awakened Rank students, instead of having you chaperone the other freshmen.


    That should give you the enemies that you need, as the missions are usually higher risk, and they will normally have one Ascended Rank student with them, which reduces the risk if youe across a stronger monster." Rita agreed.


    Karl smiled. They had already taken out one Ascended Rank beast, the Giant Beetle, which he had almost forgotten was still tied up in Rae''s web.


    "They will all be happy to hear that. Working together, we should be able to take on most threats that are within the mission parameters for Awakened Students."

 Chapter 146 Trolling Is An Honored Profession

    <h4>Chapter 146 Trolling Is An Honored Profession </h4>


    The berserkers were overjoyed to see Thor back again after lunch, and greeted him with a long round of head rubs and pats that had the Lightning Cerro in full happy puppy mode until the teacher came over to scold them all for not working.


    Daniel decided to stay and supervise Thor while the others went to see how the mages were doing, and Karl let Hawk out of his space to fly around for a bit before meeting with the mages in their corner of the training fields.


    They all knew the Hawk very well, and what it meant for their training, but the ones working on their shields were relieved to see that Thor had found a new spot to train and that he wasn''t nning to exhaust them with his enthusiasm today.


    Karl could have sent out Rae to tear apart their shields, but the students would never be able to keep up with the pure violence of her attacks for long. All that he would aplish was to terrify the students before their next mission away from the school.


    If they were afraid that they would run into something like Rae, that could tear through shields like butter, they would be much more hesitant to go, and good mages were essential to party safety on missions.


    Letting them train with the warriors was the more humane option.


    It only took Karl a moment to identify the Fire Mages among the group, and to activate Skill Master with them included in the targets.


    He had to hope that it was working, as Hawk wasn''t actually using any fire-based skills as he defended against the attacks, but his mind was rying satisfaction as he observed the way that the fire mages adjusted their spells, and how they could use the same skill as both arge fireball and multiple smaller ones.


    "Was he nning to practice his new skill at all?" Rita asked as they watched Hawk use nothing but Rend to deal with the attacks.


    "He is, but he''s taking a watch and learn approach until he''s satisfied with the amount of understanding he has about fire magic. I''m actually surprised that it was fire magic. He already knows Rend, Shred and Wind Shield, so I thought if anything he would go for more air magic attacks, and not fireballs." Karl replied.


    "That does seem odd. Perhaps it was rted to the Elemental affinity of the drakes that were used in the potion? If they were descended from a lineage of fire magic users, then it would make sense that the potions would push him toward fire magic.


    It might exin the change in feather colours as Hawk drank the potion as well. If the Fire Element was particrly strong, it might have tried to fully convert him from the wind to the fire Element.


    Most magical beasts have an affinity, and I''ve never heard of it changing, but then wild beasts don''t refine potions, so it might not happen in the wild except in very rare cases." Rita pondered.


    Hawk became more confident in his newprehension of fire abilities as the ss wore on, until finally, it was time for him to show off his skills to these mages.


    While his regr attacks went out in a predictable pattern, the water mages dyed their casting, and let loose their barrage of Ice Bullets toward the moving targets. Then, a massive fireball flew from Hawk''s mouth, and the air filled with steam as Hawkughed in joy.


    "Dammit, did he learn fire magic just to mess with me? What did we ever do to him? I swear that bird has a vendetta against water magic users." One of the mages ranted, while Rita and Alice tried, and failed, to resist the urge tough.


    Karl walked over and gave the boy apassionate pat on the shoulder.


    "I wish I could say that you are wrong, but you''re not. Water attacks simply wrap around Rend and keep going, and it drives Hawk insane. First it was the Wind Barrier to block them, and when that wasn''t enough, he took a growth opportunity and refined his progression into a way topletely counter water magic." Karl informed the downtrodden mage.


    "I knew it! I told everyone that he was picking on me, but nobody believed me. They said that I just had good aim, and that''s why Hawk always intercepted my attacks. But he really does have it out for me." The boyined.


    "Not you in particr. Water Magic. His vendetta is against the spell." Karl offered.


    The nearby magesughed. "That''s essentially the same thing, since he''s only good at one element."


    Hawk chirped happily, but Karl could pick up a bit of taunting in that noise, as if asking the mage why he could only use one Element when Hawk himself could use two, plus Rend and Shred.


    The ss Professor blew his whistle, marking the end of the training session, and Hawknded next to Karl, proud of himself for mastering his new fireball skill so well in one ss.


    But he had also learned the trick to changing it in form, and when the mage red at Hawk, he nonchntly tilted his head back and spit three small fireballs into the air that just hung there and hovered before dissipating.


    The other mages chuckled at the bird showing off, and the boy got more sympathetic responses from his ssmates.


    "Sorry about your luck, man. But that''s definitely one more round in favour of Hawk. Better luck tomorrow, but now that he''s learned how to vaporize icicles, you''re not going to have an easy time of it." One of the earth magesughed.


    "Doesn''t he just swat your attacks out of the sky with Rend?" The water mage countered.


    "This isn''t about me. I have epted that Hawk is far too good at this training." The Earth Mage dismissed the talk of his own failures with a smile.


    Rita whistled to catch everyone''s attention. "Alright, you''ve all had your fun. Hawk, say goodnight to your friends, it is time to pick up Thor before he harasses the Berserkers into insanity."


    "You left the Cerro with the Berserkers?" One of the girls asked.


    "He''s learning Earthquake. He caught on pretty quickly, and he''s figured out how to activate it by smashing the ground with his tail instead of needing a weapon." Karl exined, while the mages quietlyughed at the thought.


    Rita led him away, with Hawk taking to the sky to float around and examine the school grounds, and the mages packed up their bags to go back to the dorm for the evening.


    Rita was exactly right about the situation, and when they arrived back at the Berserker training ground, they were ying baseball. Or perhaps it was volleyball without a. Karl wasn''t quite certain what the rules were, as Thor and a group of barbarians were alternately tossing a ball to be swatted with blunt weapons and bouncing the ball back into the sky after it was hit.


    The professor supervising them seemed to have given up on understanding what they were doing, but the ball appeared to be one of the ten kilogram metal training balls from the Strength warriors area.


    Just the fact that they could swat that thing up into the air was impressive, even if they were using lower strength activations of their skills.


    "Thor, it''s time to go. Come back after the next point." Karl called out, and the Cerro made a happy bugle in return.


    The next berserker caught the ball and held it instead of continuing the game, and smiled at Karl and thedies.


    "Wee back. Just repeatedly using Earthquake was wearing on the mind, so we started a new training game. Thor is incredibly good at it, with that Lightning over his tail. His aim is impable." The berserker exined.


    "Well, as long as you''re all having fun. But it''s time for dinner."


    That was the magic word, and the berserkers cheered as they went to grab their bags and shirts, which had been discarded at the edge of the training grounds. Thor trotted happily back to Karl before vanishing into his space to soak in the pool, getting his new and improved scales sparkling clean again.


    The mass of Holy Stones at the bottom of the pool gave him a gentle aura, like freshundry and sunshine, and Thor wasn''t going to miss out on any chance to be clean and rxed. It was slowly bing a recognizable part of his presence, as the extended naps in the pond imbued every part of his body with the clean scent of Holy Magic.

 Chapter 147 Their Ways

    <h4>Chapter 147 Their Ways </h4>


    Karl was rxing in his room, pondering the changes of thest few days, and how the progression of the beasts hadn''t been quite what he had expected them to be. Somehow, with her love of the dark, he had thought that Rae would naturally pick up another stealth skill, but from experience, it was the most deadly of attacking skills that she was most in tune with, and the stealth aspect of her evolution was only a secondary facet that allowed her to get close enough to her targets to attack.


    Thor using his tail to create Earthquakes hadn''t been too far out of expectations, as it still activated with lightning energy. But Hawk learning fireballs just so that he could torture the water mages more effectively waspletely on-brand, even if Karl had overlooked it until it happened.


    The drake scale potion was the dark horse in this progression path. Hawk had reacted so strongly to it that it had to be something that was innately perfect for him. But either they hadn''t made quite what he needed, or he just needed arger dose than he had gotten.


    So, while Karl waited, he dug out the books that Rita had given him on resources, and started to sort through everything that contained fire energy or drake scales.


    The first list was incredibly long, as fire mages were a well-studied topic, but there were only a few concoctions made with drake scales. The one that they had prepared for the beasts was one. A second one was designed to enhance mana capacity, with a particr benefit to clerics and other healing sses, but there was nothing that had been created with the drake scales that was intended to amplify fire magic.


    They could try the second potion, to amplify his mana capacity, and make a second dose of the first potion, in case it was a quantity issue.


    But as he was flipping through the book looking for anything that might have been improperly categorized, Karl noticed a bird picture that looked just like Hawk had for those moments before his feathers faded.


    [Dragon Hawk] is a Commander Rank rtive of the Common Windspeed Hawk species. While they are believed to be unrted to any of the dragon species, they are known to have an aptitude for fire magic instead of the rend based w attacks of their Windspeed kin. That aptitude for fire magic,bined with an immense level of territorial pride, has given them the name Dragon Hawk.


    Karl read the blurb a handful of times as he memorized the picture. He was certain now that the textbook was wrong, there was some link between the Dragon Hawk and the actual dragons. Or at least between them and the drakes. He was definitely going to need more of the potion, in both variants, so he could see if Hawk could evolve though the use of magical resources.


    The actual Dragon Hawk was the size of a normal Windspeed Hawk, so he would be muchrger than the average, but if his potential grew to Commander Rank, then Hawk should see a rapid growth in power after the processpleted.


    It would be nice if he could contact Rita at night, but she was off-duty for the evening, and probably not as enthusiastic about being the one to arrange having potions made overnight as Karl was to ask her.


    All he could do was wait and make detailed notes, including how Hawk had looked during the process, and the thesis that he really might stay as a Dragon Hawk, with increased growth potential, if he were granted more of the potion.


    There were many more ingredients to the two concoctions, though the drake scales were the most expensive and rare among them. If he prepared some extras from the strongest of the drakes in Hawk''s space, it should be enough to cover for the credits he didn''t have to buy the items.


    The Academy was usually pretty good that way, as long as the resource was useful to multiple elites. From what Karl could tell, the drake scales were good for both warriors and mages, and even if you were more powerful, it would still have a noticeable effect.


    If it was proportionate to your current power, it might be better to wait, but Karl couldn''t find any notes on that topic in the textbook about resources.


    Dana came by a few hours after dinner, with extra dessert and a bowl of sweetened blood for Rae.


    The spider had already upgraded the hammock in behind the Gazebo when she was adapting the space for her growing body, and Dana sighed with relief as she saw the quiet spot.


    "I know it''s a bit of an inconvenience for you, always having me here, but I want you to know that I appreciate it." She informed Karl with a smile.


    He shook his head. "It''s no trouble at all. In fact, I''m happy to have you over. I think that I might have a way to make a useful potion for you as well. There is a variant of the drake scale potion that is for mana growth.


    The book says it''s more for healers and clerics, but it should still do you some good. I think that if I can get enough of it into Hawk, he might evolve into a Commander Rank variant of the Windspeed Hawk."


    Dana stopped what she was doing to stare at him after that announcement.


    "You''re saying that Hawk could evolve? Like be a whole new species?" She asked.


    "Well, an existing species. The Dragon Hawk is a subset of the Windspeed Hawk that is known for fire magic, and when Hawk drank the potion, he looked just like it for a moment before the effect faded. They also grow to Commander Rank, instead of capping out in low Awakened, which should help his growth rate continue as smoothly as it has been." Karl exined.


    Her smile slowly grew. "That would be outstanding. Not only for Hawk, but for the others as well. They would all have more growth potential, so they could keep working together instead of having someone stuck at their level.


    But if the potion is meant for healers, why do you think that it''s going to be good for me or Hawk?"


    Karl flipped pages until he got to the right one. He was extra aware of Dana pressed against his back as she came to read over his shoulder, but he managed to focus and point out the ingredients.


    "They''re all simr to the one to strengthen scales, except for these two nts, which are also used in the regr mana growth potions that we''ve both taken. So, it''s more of an expanded version of the same thing than an entirely different concoction, I think.


    The reason they give it to healers is that refined Drake parts contain traces of Dragon Magic. And Holy Magic is verypatible with Dragon Magic." He offered.


    "Alright, if you have enough scales. How many did you grab?" Dana asked.


    "A whole drake." Karl replied with a smirk.


    "Oh my Goddess. How did you grab an entire drake without anyone noticing? There has to be thousands of usable scales on a body that size. I think that everyone in the group would love to have a little cut of that action. We might have been on defence, but we were all there for the fight." Dana replied.


    "Good point. I will give the Sergeant the resources in the morning, and ask her to make enough for everyone. I will have her make some for your pair from the Bureau as well, or they will nag at us until we cave." He agreed.


    Karl woke up the next morning toughter and the sound of his name being called.


    "Karl,e over here and wake up Rae." Alice was calling from the balcony.


    The Bloodbath Spider was sound asleep, but the approaching mage had triggered her defence response, and she had blocked off the gazebo with silk, trapping her and Dana on the other side, where the tutor couldn''t wake them up.


    She had obviously tried to get in at least once before, as Karl could see the cut section, which had been patched with a messy weave of web, but she was still on the outside of the gazebo.


    "Rae really isn''t a morning person." Karl chuckled as he called the spider into her space, where she curled up in her nest and went back to sleep, allowing Alice ess to Dana, who had been awakened by themotion.


    "Just give me a minute to get ready, and I will cut my way out." Danaughed as she realized what was going on.


    "You will actually need help with that, unless you have a slicing type spell. It''s Awakened Rank durable silk. You''re not going to cut it without a magical tool." Aliceughed.

 Chapter 148 Bleed and Play

    <h4>Chapter 148 Bleed and y </h4>


    Once Dana was ready and gone, with much annoyed muttering from Alice, Karl finished getting ready for the morning, and briefed Sergeant Rita on his idea.


    "Here is the paperwork I generated yesterday, supporting the hypothesis, and I''ve got the scales ready whenever you are. If we make both potions in a double dose for Hawk, I think that we can evolve him into a Dragon Hawk, and improve his basic potential to the Commander Rank.


    With that, his growth should keep up with Rae and Thor, so we won''t have an imbnce in the team. The better that they can work together, the more easily we will be able to do the things we need to improve our strength."


    Karl was very proud of his prepared speech, and Sergeant Rita smiled back at him.


    "Well, I''ll buy it. But the most important part is that you''re willing to donate some of those extra scales for the rest of the team, as well as the Bureau agents. When the materialse from the Academy, they don''t have to ount for them in their expense reports, and that always makes them happy." Rita joked.


    "Just head off to ss and I will get all the potions made. The Alchemy teacher will want a cut off the top as well if you want them right away." Rita replied.


    Karl sighed and took out more drake scales, at least a dozen more than needed.


    "Here, take care of the middle men. The faster everyone can get the potions, the better. But being an Elite really is more about who you know than what you know, isn''t it?" He replied.


    Sergeant Rita patted him on the back. "Wee to the grown up world, kid. Everything in life is easier when you know the right people. The Alchemy teacher already has a good impression of you after thest batch, so they shouldn''tin about the volume this time, or push it off onto students who won''t do as good of a job.


    Just remember in the future, if you don''t want to go through the Academy''s credit exchange, it''s best to keep a bit extra or a little something for a tip. Most of the teachers are good sorts, but everyone is motivated by self-interest."


    Karl nodded. "And what sort of self-interest keeps you motivated?"


    "Promotions, of course. I might have reached my limits as an Ascended warrior, but that doesn''t mean that Sergeant will be the limits of my military career. If I do a good job this year, they will make me a warrant officer.


    Big pay raise, better living quarters both here at the Academy and on base, and a bit more respect." Rita informed him sincerely.


    "Got it. I won''t mess up your chances at promotion." Karl replied with a wink.


    "At this rate, they might send me to officer''s school and make me a proper butter bar lieutenant. You see, a lot of a student''s progress is attributed to the guidance of their tutors."


    Karl gave her a confused look at the unfamiliar saying.


    "Oh, the Lieutenant''s insignia is a golden rectangle, kind of looks like a stick of butter. Hence, butter bar." She exined, which made himugh.


    "I never would have thought of it that way. Alright, let''s get going and see how the kids are doing in their studies."


    Hawk ignored the fact that he had been called a kid, and flew off to join the morning mages again, after having trained with the afternoon mages yesterday. Thor was also about to bound out into the open, until he realized that they had a long walk to the berserker training area, and that was five more minutes he could soak in the pond.


    [You''re getting soft, just lying around in the pool all day.] Karl joked.


    [It''s an honest living. Look at it this way, I''m freshly washed and ready to go at any time.] Thor suggested.


    [Then go y with the berserkers. I am going to take Rae to find someone who is practising Lacerate.]


    This time, Thor did go running off across the school grounds, bugling to catch the attention of a few students from the berserker ss who were making their way to training. They waved at the charging Lightning Cerro, who happily plowed into them, but turned his head at thest second so he didn''t spear anyone.


    Theyughed and gave him belly rubs from the ground, then grabbed his horns to pull themselves back to their feet and continued on the way to training.


    Rita shook her head at their antics.


    "I swear, they''re all on the same mental level."


    Karl shrugged. "They''re enjoying life to its fullest. Well, Thor is, anyhow. I wonder if we''re going to be able to find anyone for Rae to properly train with, as Lacerate is such a rare skill."


    Unfortunately for them, when they reached the training area, the warrior that they had first worked with to teach Rae the skill wasn''t in, and there didn''t seem to be anyone else training the same skill, but there were plenty of open training dummies, which were good enough for Rae to get some more practical experience on.


    Not that she minded working alone. If there was no chance of learning advanced skills from the people around her, she was happy to work alone all morning, with Karl''s skill helping herprehend what she had already been taught.


    "Why don''t you do some training here as well? You need to keep up your own physique and your reflexes, in case you are attacked while the team is away fighting another target. We can''t let youpletely ck off, just because your training skill doesn''t require any movement on your part." Sergeant Rita suggested.


    "Alright. I know both Rend and Shred, so I will grab a training sword and get some work in. Who knows, maybe I can improve them as well as Rae and the others." Karl agreed.


    He could tell that Rae wasughing at him. There was no way that he was going to keep up with her skill progress, especially with his new ability helping her adapt. But he was wee to try. After all, they couldn''t have him dragging down the team''s performance.


    She might not have found a proper teacher for the day, but there was still some hope that she could learn new techniques to refine her skills. There was a Druid working on [Bleed] which was a supplementary skill that stacked on top of another attack.


    Lacerate didn''t need it, as it already caused a bleeding effect, but with Rae working near him, Karl had some hope that she might pick up a tip or two about how to improve her own attacks.


    It was difficult to tell if it was actually working, as Rae already had a good grasp on Lacerate, thanks to her previous teacher, but her technique was improving as the morning went by, and the dummy was showing a marked improvement in the bleeding side effect of the skill along with the base damage.


    Each flurry of attacks left a bit more bleeding damage than thest one, and Rae''s confidence in her attack skills was skyrocketing as the hours went by. So, by the time that she retreated into her space for lunch, Karl could say for certain that thecerate skill had been properly mastered.


    Karl was sweaty with the exertion of using Shred all morning, trying to move the skill damage up toward the borderline for Ascended, which would be the next real milestone for his growth, but he still had a long way to go.


    The beasts were much closer than he was, but even with the cking on his training, Karl could tell that his physique had still made significant progress.


    They didn''t have to look far to know that Hawk had enjoyed his morning. The mages had already started heading to the cafeteria before they left the training grounds, and they were all cursing at the bird for having learned to torture them with fireballs in addition to his Rending w attacks.


    Thor was equally easy to find, but that was because the Berserker training area was outdoors, and you could hear the bugling celebrations as Thorpeted against his ssmates to see who could create thergest sand plume with their Earthquake skill.


    It seemed silly, but focusing the shockwaves took a lot of skill and practice. Throwing up arge sand plume wasn''t as easy as it sounded, you had to precisely focus the shockwaves to get them to concentrate in one single spot.


    It was the proper way to target a single person with [Earthquake] to knock them to the ground, instead of making a whole area shake as a disruption tactic, and those who could do it were very proud of their skills.


    "Alright everyone, time for lunch. We will be back to training in the afternoon." Karl called, using the mental link to ensure that the beasts heard him.


    [Fine, we''re all hungry anyhow.] Thor agreed, but didn''t leave until he had a chance to say goodbye to all his ssmates individually.


    Hawk, on the other hand, simply circled the students once, then flew over to Karl and vanished into his space to decide what he wanted out of the piles of meat that he had amassed.


    The fact that nothing went bad in that space was a blessing. Hawk had the better part of a dozen different meat products in there, both raw and cooked, so that he could pick and choose what he wanted based on his mood.


    Some could be discarded as nutritious growth options soon, unless Karl wanted them for himself, like the roast chickens from the cafeteria, but they were all still meat.

 Chapter 149 Looking Good

    <h4>Chapter 149 Looking Good </h4>


    After lunch, the training was more of the same, but with different partners, as the students from the practical morning sses had theory and basic education in the afternoon. Some of the Elites didn''t focus too much on education beyond their skills, but for the ones who were going to be taking on professional jobs, proper advanced education was a vital part of their Academy experience.


    Karl hadn''t really thought about that, and while he was doing a lot of studying, it was all on nts, beasts and other relevant topics. There were no physics, advanced Literature, Social Studies or other core subjects in his education.


    That wasn''t entirely umon for the Golden Dragon Nation. If you were entering a trade or family industry, you generally would have done it at the same age, with only the brightest going on to finish school and go for university education.


    But at dinner, theints of the alchemists about the calctions needed to get the proportions right in their new elixir projects reminded Karl that he had it good with his training regimen. Though his body was tired, at least his brain didn''t hurt from trying to work out the change in rtive volumes due to differing evaporation rates at a specified temperature.


    Though the warriors often derided the mages as the nerds of the Elite Academy, the true nerds were in the Alchemy and magical item crafting courses.


    "Look at Karl there, he doesn''t need to use math at all. Just feed the Hawk, pat the Cerro." One of the Alchemists wasining.


    Karlughed. "Hey, I do need math. I use it to calcte where a ranged attack will hit a moving object."


    The magesughed bitterly at the reminder, as that particr bit of math had be the bane of their existence today, as Hawk tormented them with his ever improving skills. If that wasn''t conclusive evidence that math was evil, then they didn''t know what was.


    When Karl got back to his dorm room, he found a note on the door, informing him that he, along with the rest of the mission team, were being summoned the next morning for a meeting with the alchemy professor. It included an absence note for all sses the next day, and a reminder to show up promptly at nine in the morning.


    That was likely confusing and concerning for the rest of the team, but Karl was more startled that they had managed to get all the potions made in a single day, when there was so much more going on around the Academy.


    So, when Karl arrived at the designated meeting point the next morning, he was the only one who wasn''tpletely confused, as Dana was not yet there, probably finishing her morning meditation session.


    Sergeant Rita addressed the group, nked by Daniel and Alice. "Good morning everyone. I am certain that you can guess by your presentpany what the criteria for the morning summons was. We have one more student still on her way, and once Dana is here, we will be making the official announcement.


    Ah, there she is. Dana, please take a seat and we will get started. Karl managed to collect some drake scales while you were on your mission together, and while just how he obtained them is confidential and not to be spoken of, he did donate a number of them to have potions made for everyone.


    For the warriors, we have a Drake Scale potion of durability, which should increase your body''s constitution and resistance to damage. For the mages, we have a Drake Scale potion of insight, which will help you with your mana.


    These potions are very precious, and required a fairly steep bribe to get the alchemy professor to create personally, as the regr potion makers are not trained in such a rare concoction. They are not diluted in any way, and can be considered peak Commander Rank potion, despite only using high Awakened Rank ingredients."


    That was more than enough for all the students to understand jut how good of a resource this was going to be. They had all fought against the Drakes, but none of them had thought to im scales as loot.


    Thankfully for them, Karl had, and now they all got to reap the rewards of what they thought was his impartiality.


    The teams from the Bureau of Elite Development passed out the stoppered vials to all the students, who held them with a reverence somewhere between that reserved for infants and live hand grenades.


    Rita smiled as thest of them was handed to Rae, who was hiding in the corner of the room behind all the students.


    "Bottoms up everyone. I am told the taste is a bit awful, but you do not want to identally spit it back up." Rita informed them.


    Karl downed the potion in a single shot, noting that it tasted like burnt meat and blood. She hadn''t been lying about it being an awfulbination, but he could feel the power flowing into his body with the potion.


    But Rita wasn''t done with him, and while the others were recovering from their dosage, she slipped him a second vial, which smelled more like campfire and morning breath. Not a better option, but it marked the potion as the other variant.


    He downed that as well, and then watched as the others began to absorb the energy stored in their rewards.


    The first thing he noticed was that they all had their lucky dragon scale charms around their necks for the asion, and possibly all the time, just in case.


    The second thing he noticed was the way that the warriors were filling out. Being a bunch of thirteen and fourteen-year-


    old kids, depending on when their birthday was, they hadn''t arrived as particrly mature male specimens, but most of the warriors were now sporting short but full beards, while the lone female warrior in the group looked much more mature and curvaceous in an athletic way than she had a few days earlier.


    But the major changes weren''t restricted to the warriors. Though the mage group hadn''t filled out with muscles the way that the warriors had, they had changed. Their appearances seemed a bit more ageless. Less definable as early teens, and more of an eternally youthful impression. One in particr had gained slotted eyes like a drake, and Karl thought that there was a chance she either gained a new spell or heightened eyesight.


    Karl was more interested in how his partners had done, but Hawk had gotten distracted by all the people doing strange things, and he still hadn''t taken his, while Rae was hidden in the corner of the room making disgusted faces at the empty vial.


    Thor''s scales were gleaming, and had gained a bit more of a golden shimmer in the deep emerald green. If he touched them, Karl knew that they wouldn''t be as smooth as they looked. They would be more like Drake scales, with the surface of a fine grit sandpaper, but from a distance, they sparkled like gems.


    Then, Hawk remembered that he was supposed to be doing things other than people watching, and downed the increased dosage of his potion.


    The effect began the same as before, his feathers began to turn from mottled brown to a deep red and gold. But this time, his ws turned to a translucent Onyx, and his beak turned deep bronze, while his eyes shifted shades of brown to match.


    But his feathers weren''t changing back. They were getting darker, toward the dark auburn of partially dried blood, with light golden undertones that would blend in well with the long dry grass of the steppes in the south.


    His size remained unchanged, but Karl could feel the powering from him as the Windspeed Hawk changed, and settled into his new form.


    He would probably be called a Dragon Hawk now, but Karl got the feeling that wasn''t quite what he was. The colour of his feathers wasn''t so bright, while his beak and ws were the colour of an Ascended Rank Windspeed Hawk.


    "Looking good, Ladies and Gentlemen." Karl congratted his partners.


    Most of the people in the room thought that he meant everyone in general, which Rae found hrious. She was not happy about having to try that awful potion again, but the changes in the students were interesting enough that she didn''t voice her displeasure yet.

 Chapter 150 In The Mirror

    <h4>Chapter 150 In The Mirror </h4>


    The students looked around at the changes in each other. There was no doubt about it, most of them had left the Common Rank behind them, and they were now firmly into the Awakened Rank.


    The warriors had it easy, as they could tell by their bodies, but the amount of power that the mages were feeling wasn''t fading, and after Dana called up a barrier to see the changes in it, the others began to activate spells as well, allowing them to informally test the change in their powers.


    "We all owe the Alchemy Master one for this. Those potions were incredible. For some of us even more than others." One of the warriors announced, while staring at Karl.


    "I''m d you liked them", he agreed, feeling a bit self-conscious about the attention on himself.


    "Oh, he''s not staring because you provided the scales. You should look at yourself in the mirror." Ritaughed.


    Karl did not have a mirror handy, and there were none on the walls of the ssroom. Fortunately, nearly half of the people in the room had apact with them, in case their makeup needed a touch up during the day. Dana passed him one from her backpack, and Karl took a good look at himself.


    Strikingly emerald eyes stared back from his familiar face, and his hair had faded from its normally dull and dark crew cut to striking blonde locks. He needed a haircut again, as it was hanging down in light waves, but the look seemed to be popr with the girls from the team.


    Unlike the other warriors in the team, he had not grown any sort of beard. In fact, he didn''t even seem to have any stubble at all, and he hadn''t bothered to shave this morning. That was a bit odd, but he had always preferred a clean look, and if the change had eliminated his facial hair, he wouldn''t be particrly heartbroken.


    [Your eyes are the colour of my scales.] Thor noted.


    [And his hair is the colour of the gold in my feathers.] Hawk agreed.


    [You made me drink nasty tasting stuff again.] Raeined, finally unable to hold back her grievances.


    [Sorry, Rae. We did hope that it might still have some benefit to you, even if it tasted awful.]


    Hawk was perched on a desk while Rita examined the changes in his feathers, as well as making notes about the changes to his ws and beak, which were more in line with the known data on the Windspeed Hawk.


    There was going to be an intense discussion among the administrators about whether he was a new species, Karl was certain. But with the additional skills and now this massive change, there was no doubt that thebination of resources and Karl''s abilities had allowed Hawk topletely surpass his racial limits.


    Or perhaps they wouldn''t see it that way until he reached Commander Rank and really became the strongest Windspeed Hawk in history, but he should be well on his way there now.


    Alice rapped her knuckles on a desk to get everyone''s attention. "Alright, you can all go to ss and test out your new and improved skills. Remember, you cannot tell anyone about the origin of the drake scales, but you can tell them that a resource your team gathered was made into a potion for you all today."


    The students cheered, and many pulled Karl, Thor or one of the tutors into a celebratory hug before they ran off to ss, leaving just Karl and Dana, with four Bureau agents and Sergeant Rita.


    "I suspect that you two likely got the most benefit out of this potion. It''s obvious why Karl would have, especially in his appearance. But Dana, I can sense that you gained something special as well." Jill, her mage tutor,mented.


    Dana smiled and took out the holy weapon that she had gotten from the church. It was now glowing with energy, and not just inert.


    "The potion helped me, of course, but it also allowed me to fully attune to my casting focus. It''s intended to add a bit of Holy Magic to every spell that I cast, and as Holy Magic is from the World Dragon, at least in part, the drake scale potion appears to have made me morepatible with it.


    Now, I don''t need to focus to use it, it will naturally channel spells for me, and it is bonded with me in the same way that the relic weapons the others received in the trial instance were." She exined, then made the golden sceptre disappear, then reappear in her hands.


    Alice smiled. "Now that is impressive. Karl got lucky with his gift being a bracelet that he can wear all the time, but having to carry that around with you everywhere would have be inconvenient once you were outside the Academy.


    Speaking of which, you two will be headed out again very soon. We want to see how Karl''s team is doing, as there is a chance that they have reached the Ascended Rank in at least attack power.


    I know that Thor is a bit behind on offence, but his scales have gained a lot of durability, so we will have to test him for the level of his physique, if that is permissible."


    [She can admire my scales all day if she''d like.] Thor thought.


    [I think it means to try to destroy them, or hit you with an attack and see how durable you really are.] Karl reminded him.


    [Oh. Well, I suppose that could be allowed. I would like to know how tough I am, too. I feel pretty tough.] Thor replied hesitantly.


    Karl nodded to the team. "I think that we can arrange something. The other two are not durable sorts, but their attack power is pretty well recognized. But for Thor, it would be best to know what his limits are going to be before we get into actual danger."


    Sergeant Rita frowned, then nodded in agreement. It needed to be done, even if she would rather not have someone attack Thor.


    "Alright, we will take care of that this morning before heading to ss. I''m sure that Hawk is eager to test his new powers against the attacks of the mages." She suggested.


    Now she was speaking hisnguage. Hawk couldn''t think of many things that he would rather be doing.

 Chapter 151 Testing Thor

    <h4>Chapter 151 Testing Thor</h4>


    Their first stop was the warrior training grounds, where the Academy had a wide variety of training implements, including test weapons with impact sensors on them to more urately gauge the force put into attacks.


    That was part of how they tested the defences of the warrior sses, and that was how they would test Thor''s improvements today.


    Rita addressed Thor directly. "Alright, we will be using a training sword with a damage metre on it. I will be swinging it, and my strength is at the Ascended level. The first tests will be just against your scales, without skills, to test your basic durability."


    Thor nodded his understanding, then puffed up his chest to show his readiness.


    The strange sight brought a number of the warriors over, along with the professor, who had his clipboard at the ready, so he could record the numeric results of Thor''s tests.


    "I hope you don''t have performance anxiety." Alice joked as Rita prepared to begin the testing.


    Thor bugled happily, and the mageughed. Of course, he didn''t. The Lightning Cerro had whatever the opposite of performance anxiety was.


    Thor focused and Rita mmed the training sword into his side, making the warriors flinch in anticipation.


    But the weapon hit the scales with a grating screech, and sparks flew as the de was dragged across the rough surfaced scales.


    "Four Hundred and ten points of force." Rita informed the other teacher.


    That was near the middle of Awakened Rank attacking strength, and Rita prepared to attack again, as it was obvious that the first one did no harm to the heavily armoured Cerro.


    With a crack and whistle of disced air, the de whipped through the air again, sending up a glorious shower of sparks as blunted steel met rough scales.


    This time the attack rocked Thor to the side, and he almost stumbled before catching his bnce, but he didn''t give any sign of pain past a low grunt.


    "Six hundred and ny-eight points. I didn''t think you had it in you, Sergeant." The other professor noted as he read the disy from the training weapon.


    Six hundred was the cutoff for Ascended Rank physical power without a skill attached, but it would take twelve hundred to break a low ascended rank barrier in one shot.


    "Alright, I''m ready. Thor, bring your barrier up, and I will attack with [sh]." Rita informed him.


    The students looked much more nervous now. The training sword was dull, so unless it broke bones, it would only leave a bruise. But sh could cut through steel even it you attached the attack to a stick.


    Thor brought up his lightning, and Rita prepared her attack before the other professor stopped her.


    "Wait, I need to set up the measuring devices. That sword won''t measure the impact of your skill properly. Give me a second." The other teacherined.


    The sensor was an energy meter of some sort, an enchanted item that attached to the hilt of the sword and read the energy signature of the attack to guess the power based on the output that flowed over it. The actual damage could vary by the skill, but the sh skill was well known, and they had a proper data set for it at all basic power levels.


    "Alright, go when you''re ready." He announced once the tools were set up.


    The de arced down at the lightning covered Cerro, while the students watched in horror. The lightning seemed to wrap around the energy of the sh attack for an instant, before being pushed away, like a stone tossed into shallow water.


    The light of the de dimmed as the lightning barrier was dispersed over the area, and a terrible noise, like fingernails on a chalkboard, screeched in the air before a metallic snap marked the end of the attack.


    The dey in two pieces, and there was a shallow scratch on Thor''s scales, but it was already beginning to fade as the lightning pushed back over the breach.


    "Combined attack thirteen hundred and forty-one points. The Lightning barrier was dispersed by the attack, indicating that it is still in the high Awakened rank, but the total defence of the Lightning Cerro known as Thor is confirmed to be above the threshold for Ascended Rank." The warrior ss teacher informed them.


    Thor trumpeted in victory, singing a short tune with his voice that sounded almost exactly like the military brass band.


    The warrior instructor looked over the scratch on Thor''s side, which had hardly cut through a third of a scale and hadn''t touched the thicker section, or the harder core of the defensive ting.


    "Impressive. I am fairly certain that he could take that strike to his side even without his lightning barrier. If it was the harder armour of his protective ridge or his horns, it is doubtful that the attack would have much of an effect at all." He informed the gathered students.


    Most of the students sighed at the information that the Cerro was fully capable of beating them to a pulp. His barrier was also his attack skill, and if it was at the upper Awakened Rank, then it was stronger than any defensive skills that they had, while they would bepletely incapable of injuring him.


    "Are we going to test the others before they go to their training?" Daniel asked after giving Thor a friendly pat on the head ridge,


    "We might as well. Do you have the defensive barriers for the ranged attack skills with you?" Rita asked the warrior ss teacher.


    "Of course. They live in the storage unit right there. Do you want me to get them set up? I thought we had already determined Thor''s ability." He replied.


    "We''ve still got to test Rae and Hawk''s attack skills. We know they''re not the most durable of monsters, and neither knows aprehensive defensive ability, but their attack skills have been growing at a phenomenal rate." Rita exined.


    The students started to get excited. They got to see Hawk in action all the time, when he was messing with the mages on the other side of the training grounds, but very few had seen Rae at all, much less having seen her using her skills.


    The teacher tasked a group to bring out the official testing gear, and gave a sad look at the broken training sword.


    "Those are supposed to hold up to Ascended Rank attacks, I guess they do have an expiration date." He sighed.


    Rita shook her head. "I think it was the vibration from scraping over the scales that caused the failure, the sword was vibrating like a tuning fork in my hands when I made contact, and that is likely what shattered the de."


    The teacher made a note and smiled. "Now that is an interesting side effect. Thor, do you mind if I test something?"


    Thor made a gesture that everyone took as a shrug, and the teacher took out a long metal staff.


    He simply set it on Thor''s back once the Cerro took down the lightning barrier, and then rapidly pulled it toward himself. The same screech filled the air, but at a slightly different tone that sounded much more like an angle grinder on te steel.


    Sparks showered the area, and Karl watched as the staff vibrated in the teacher''s hand. Then he turned the formerly round object over, and gave an impressed whistle as he viewed the t underside.


    Then the took out a small bag and gathered the metal filings from Thor''s scales and went back to taking notes.


    "That is incredible. The scales are harder than the Chromoly alloy that we use for weapons, and the rough surface shreds them like a grinder. I am a Commander Rank warrior from the second year batch, and even I have rarely seen such an effective tool." He informed the group.


    That would make him about twenty-four, Karl noted. He looked older, but not by much, and Karl should have realized that he was one of the Divine Injection Elites.


    But somehow, his mind kept associating the teachers with the rare magical warriors and mages that came before the injections.


    "Alright, now that my curiosity is sated, let''s call out Rae and Hawk to see what they can do. Is a simple attack on our sensor te enough for them, or should we get out some fancier targets?" The teacher asked.


    Rita gave Karl a look that said to be happy with the official testing tes and not to get the urge to show off. But she was way behind, and both Hawk and Rae were already thinking of ways that they could upstage Thor and look more impressive for the crowd.

 Chapter 152 Rae’s Specialty

    <h4>Chapter 152 Rae''s Specialty </h4>


    Karl smiled at Sergeant Rita. "Well, Rae does specialize in bleeding attacks, so perhaps it''s better to have the dummy that shows off the bleed effect? But if there isn''t one nearby, we can use the regr ting."


    Rita sighed, and the warrior ss professor shook his head. "We don''t have one here. There are only a few in the indoor training area. So we will have to just test the actual attack power and then note the additional bleeding afterwards. What skill does she know that causes bleeding?"


    Karl smirked, and Daniel answered the question for him. "She learned to use Lacerate after seeing one of the senior year students using it in training. The bleeding damage will be significant, but I think that the damage to the training tes should be enough to show off her destructive nature."


    Then Alice perked up and raised her hand. "I have an idea. Do we still have one of those dummy training vehicles for the artillery mages? We can let her shred an armoured car. Just put different tes on each zone and see how long she takes to get through."


    Terrifying the students with a giant spider tearing apart an armoured car was what Rita was trying to avoid, but both the warrior ss professor and the students seemed even more enthusiastic about the idea than Alice was, and a pair were sent to pull the dummy vehicle over.


    "It is already set up with three grades of ting, for the uing exams. I won''t tell Rae which are which, but she should be able to tell once she starts." The warrior exined.


    The vehicle was just a shell with detachable tes, and didn''t quite look like a functional vehicle, but it was close enough for the purposes of training, and they had even put a test mannequin in the driver''s seat.


    The vehicle was blocked in ce with tire chocks, and the teacher gestured toward it. "If you can call Rae out, we will be able to test impact force from the sensors on the back of the tes, and cutting force from the damage done to the tes themselves."


    Hawk thought that sounded pretty good as well. He wouldn''t mind chopping up an armoured vehicle, so he would go after Rae and finish off the damaged target.


    [Don''t destroy it too badly. The chassis needs to be reused for the testing of others. We will have to let them rece the tes or find another target before you can y with it.] Karl warned him.


    [You''re no fun. Why does everyone else get to show off?] Hawkined.


    [You will get your turn, just probably not to turn the armoured car into scrap, since the warriors still need that one.] Karl tried to calm him.


    [I won''t forget. If I can''t eat the target, it should at least be fun.]


    Rae faded from her normal matte ck with red lower legs to the mottled green and brown of the armoured car, matching herself to the camouge pattern on the vehicle. The effect made the students smile, but when the teacher gave her the nod of readiness, and Raeunched herself at it, tearing the hood off immediately and discarding it to punch an armoured foreleg through the windshield and bite a chunk of roof ting off, the amusement turned to horror.


    Within seconds, most of the ting was destroyed, the doors had been torn off their hinges, and even the Ascended Rank ting was dented and bent far enough for her tear it off the vehicle.


    Rae hopped off the armoured car with the driver dummy in her mandibles as a sign of victory, and the students cheered.


    "That was insane. I used to have a cat that went crazy when the food was brought out. This was a bit like that, except Rae actually peeled the can open to get to the food inside." One of the warriors noted.


    One of the others shuddered. "That wasn''t a mental image that I needed. Did you know that spiders usually eat their prey alive?"


    Rae nodded happily, and a number of the other students backed away.


    "It''s their instinct. Fresh food is best, and you can''t get any more fresh than that." Karl exined.


    [And if you start while they''re alive, they will sing for you as you eat.] Rae added.


    [I''m not telling them that.]


    The warrior ss teacher gave a rueful look at the mangled vehicle. Some of those armour tes weighed over a hundred kilos, and they had been tossed around like bits of tin as Rae looked for the best way into the vehicle.


    "Maximumbined attack power is exactly fifteen hundred points. That is well into Ascended Rank attack power. I did notice that the attack force increased as the assault went on. Does she need time to build up her attack power?" The teacher asked after a moment to check the numbers.


    "Only the first time. One of her skills is adaptive, so after she has learned the most effective way to destroy a target, she won''t have to do it again. But this is the first time she has faced an armoured car." Karl exined.


    "So, we just taught her to tear apart an armoured car, and the next time she does, she will start where she finished this time?" The professor asked.


    In response, Rae shot out one armoured forelimb, and the whole vehicle rocked up on two wheels as she punched a hole in one of the remaining tes.


    "I will take that as a yes. Fourteen hundred and fifty-three points." The warriorughed.


    Then the professor turned to the crowd. "Can anyone suggest a more effective method of getting the driver out of the vehicle?"


    Thor flicked his head and stomped his feet, earning a pat from the teacher.


    "That is one way. If you flip it over and attack from the underside, you can get in more easily, as the floor pan is only one te." He agreed.


    "Or you could start with cutting the hinges and pulling the door off instead of destroying the armour." One of the students asked.


    "That''s another possibility."


    Hawk exited the space and took flight overhead, then sprayed a plume of me at the vehicle, letting it stop short of actually making contact, as Karl had told him not to destroy it.


    The teacher shook his head. "Well, I suppose that is right as well. If you set the car on fire, he wille out of his own free will."


    One of the warriors in this group had been with Karl on the away mission, and he took out the ming sword he had gotten as a reward.


    "That would do it, but first you need to prate the vehicle, unless you are going to attack the fuel tank through its armour ting." The teacher reminded him.


    One of the warriors walked over to the armoured car and pulled up the front. Even with half the tesying on the ground around the vehicle, he still couldn''t lift it.


    "Can even Thor flip this thing at a dead stop?" He asked.


    Thor put his upper pair of horns under the floor and lifted it until the wheels came off the ground, then stepped back.


    "Point taken. Warrior strength and monster strength are not the same thing."


    Alice waited for the boy to step back, and then castyered barriers over the armoured car.


    "Hawk, how about we see how long it takes you to get to the car? Some of the sensors are still set up to record your attack power, so you can show off for us." The petite mage suggested.


    Hawk crowed, and seemed to shimmer in the air as if surrounded by immense heat.


    Then [Shred] smashed through the first threeyers of barrier in a single volley, and another barrage was close behind it.


    The fourth and fifth barriers went down as Hawk dove and spit out a fireball that engulfed the area, taking out the sixth barrier with ease.


    The seventh was covered in mes from the attack, and when Hawk hit it with a twin barrage of Rend, the barrier broke and thest of the six rend shes hit the truck.


    "Top attack power recorded as Twelve hundred and ny. Ascended Rank energy, and from the damage to the barriers, I will say that it wasfortably over the Ascended Rankbined attack power." The warriors'' professor noted.


    "It was. The multiple Ascended Rank attacks at once are truly impressive in their total output." Alice agreed.


    Then Alice let out a stream of water that put out the burning grass, and Hawk cast her a suspicious look.


    "Oh, don''t re at me like that. I''m a Wind Mage, I just happen to know both basic water and fire spells." She informed the bird.


    Hawk grumbled as he continued to fly, then glided over to where the mages were practising to take out his annoyance on the water mages in that ss.


    "Inside joke?" The warrior Professor asked.


    "Hawk has a vendetta against water magic for flowing around Rend attacks." Karl exined to the warriors'' teacher.


    "He''s a unique one, for sure. But it looks like he has the tools to deal with them now.


    Alright, everyone, enough gawking. Get back to work, you''re already behind the friendly Cerro, and you''re not going to catch up without hard work." The Professor insisted, chasing his students back to their training stations.


    Karl gestured toward the berserker area. "Thor, you can go practice Earthquake as well. We will work on a n to build up your lightning soon, don''t worry about it and just keep working on your skills."


    One of the students frowned at them as Karl sent the other two pets away.


    "If you say that Rae will be testing our Guard skills, I am going to suffer a sudden illness that requires me to recover in my room for the day." He insisted.

 Chapter 153 Lottery Assignment

    <h4>Chapter 153 Lottery Assignment</h4>


    Karlughed at the horror of the warriors, thinking that they would have to face Rae inbat. These were all first year students, there wasn''t even a faint possibility that they would be able to deal with that sort of attack.


    Even if Offensive Optimization wasn''t a passive effect, they wouldn''t stand a chance against her strength, and Rae wasn''t one of the more physically overwhelming monsters.


    Rita shook her head. "No, we won''t do that to you. Rae is going to practice her bleed effect optimization, and then we have to prepare Karl for an away trip."


    Only one of the students here knew that Karl had just gotten back from a trip, and he was more than a little jealous. But as strong as the pets were now, he would probably be heading out with an Ascended Rank group to try to solidify his gains and get himself recognized as an Ascended Elite during the end of the Semester exams.


    The speed of his growth was far beyond what anyone would call reasonable, and even the speed of his pets'' growth was crazy. The Windspeed Hawk wasn''t full-grown for over a year, and the Lightning Cerro shouldn''t be full-grown until three years old, but Thor was most of the way there already.


    He actually had far less than Rae to improve until he reached his expected maximum power, now that his body had received such a significant gain from the drake scale potions, and he was well over half grown already. Rae was closer to her adult size, but fortunately for the armoured car, not so close to her maximum strength.


    Finding a resource that would allow her to increase her power would be a difficult task, but Karl was certain that at some point they would find something that she simply must have. It had been that way with the others.


    When they found the best resources for their growth, they knew it.


    So, he just had to keep looking, and they would find a way to help Rae break through her limits once she reached them.


    Rita led the group away from the warrior training, and Rae returned to her web to have a little nap and dream of tearing apart armoured vehicles.


    The two Bureau agents were a bit too rxed right now, and they couldn''t have known about the actual attack power of the pets, so Karl assumed that it was a front for the eagerness to tell him something.


    They were all excellent at hiding their emotions, but the fact that they were doing it when there was no obvious reason for them to be doing it was also a tell, in that it let Karl know that there was something that he was missing.


    Rita led them to a ssroom, where the remainder of the Bureau of Elite Development team was already waiting, along with Dana and two older soldiers that Karl didn''t know.


    Colonel Valerie addressed the group. "Good, thest of our people are here. I have been made aware that there was a need for some practical experience, so I have arranged another mission for you two.


    There are constant monster problems in the Golden Dragon Nation, that''s no secret to anyone. But now that you are both on the stronger side of Awakened as Elites, the defence against those monster attacks are part of your responsibilities.


    Normally, the students only get to apply for a lottery to deal with issues in this immediate region, but we have noticed arger issue further from the major poption centres. It is our suspicion that there is an overloaded Dungeon or an active portal somewhere in the region, and we haven''t found it yet.


    So, someone needs to deal with the overflow of monsters that are appearing every day, and the regr duty soldiers would greatly appreciate a short leave.


    With that in mind, we have volunteered you two, as well as abined team of professional exterminators and a team from the church, to fill in for them."


    Karl was speechless. There were monsters just appearing every single day? What sort of insane scenario was that? But when he thought about it for a while, the Elites had been constantly killing monsters for a decade, and the army had been killing them even longer than that, while their numbers never really went down.


    Most of the continent was wilderness, that was undeniable, but the monsters shouldn''t have been breeding fast enough to remain an issue.


    "So we will be working in arge team to clear the area? Or to search for the source?" Karl asked.


    Colonel Valerie shook her head.


    "No, you will be working in small groups to control the monster poption, while you hunt for the source. The primary goal is to be poption control. The military has been unsessfully searching the area for months, so our thought is that the source is underground or otherwise hidden from us.


    So, the priority is keeping the poption from growing enough that it will be a threat to the nearby towns." She exined.


    Karl looked at the two soldiers, who smiled back. "We are the helicopter pilots. We will be taking you to the rest of the team this afternoon. Now, I believe that someone said you have beasts on your team, how much space do they need, and do they need containment while flying?"


    Karl shook his head. "I am able to hold them in a separate space, and they are no threat while flying. If there are no other students going, then you only need seats for the two of us."


    Colonel Valerie cleared her throat. "There will be others going with you. Four senior teams are looking for resources in that general vicinity. They will be dropped first, and then you will be deposited with your teams and the flight will return to base awaiting the call to recover sessful mission teams."


    Dana took out a notepad and a pen. "At least there won''t be any wasted space. What do we know about the monsters in the area?"


    Karl hurried to do the same, pulling a pen and notepad from his wasted space. What do we know about the monsters in the area?"


    gear just as Colonel Valerie began her exnation.


    "There have been at least three Goblin Tribes spotted in the area. We have reports of roaming Ogres and Trolls, and an unconfirmed report that there might be an Ettin Mage in the vicinity.


    Strengths have varied, with most of the Goblins being on the low Common Grade range, but the Ogres and Trolls are all Awakened Rank. If there is an Ettin Mage, it will most likely be Ascended Rank.


    However, there is a possibility that there will be an entirely different set of monsters when you arrive. Two weeks ago, the area was nearly overrun with Minotaur and Tremor hide Worms."


    Karl knew what a Minotaur was, but the worms were a new one to him. He didn''t recall seeing them in any of his books.


    "Tremor Hide Worms are ten metres long, andrge enough to swallow a grown man whole. However, they are slow moving, and restricted to sandy areas. They can''t move through rock, and are especially obvious and ineffective in wooded areas." The Colonel exined.


    Then she continued with her mission priorities. "If the makeup of the monsters in the area doesn''t change, then we would ask that you bring back the heads of the Ettin Mage, if you should happen to find it.


    They are a hot topic of study these days, as so few Ogre type species can use magic well. They''re not particrly bright, and the government is curious about the brain makeup of the mages.


    The rest is up for grabs, and you can keep what you want.


    It should be noted that the monsters in this sort of self spawning region often have treasures with them that are far beyond what they should normally have. It has been known for them to have valuable potions, magical weapons, and even enchanted gems in their possession, so check everything that you kill."


    Karl felt Hawk and Raeughing in his mind. Killing was their specialty, and neither of them had hands to be searching through the belongings of filthy Ogres and Trolls. When they got there, they would be able to hunt to their hearts'' content, and leave Karl to dig in the filth for treasures.

 Chapter 154 Drop The Seniors First

    <h4>Chapter 154 Drop The Seniors First </h4>


    There wasn''t much more information forting about the mission. The details of such actions were normally held within the military and the upper ranks of government, which Colonel Valerie would count as, but her department was Elite Development, so she might have only just been briefed on this herself and didn''t want to have to look up all the little details to answer questions.


    "When do we leave?" Karl asked.


    "Right about now. Do you need anything from your rooms? We have the kit bags packed and ready to go, loaded to Ascended Mission standards, so there are some more medical potions and cooking supplies as well as the rations." Colonel Valerie replied.


    Dana gave her a curious look. "Why were there no cooking supplies in thest mission packs?"


    "How many of you actually knew how to cook? That''s why. If we relied on the first years to cook for themselves they would be nutritionally deficient before the mission was over, but you will have clerics with you on this mission, and they can create food. Plus, the other Elites are known to hunt for themselves asionally, or bring various vegan options, depending on their preference.


    That is why I asked if you need to go to your rooms to get anything." The Colonel exined with a smug smile on her face.


    She wasn''t wrong, though. Only one in the initial group actually knew how to cook. On the way back they had gained Sister Betty, who was much more knowledgeable, and even the two clerics they had rescued had some cooking skills.


    "Will there be a water mage with us? Rationed water is no fun." Karl asked.


    "There should be. I can''t guarantee that the two of you will be together for these missions, as they will be split into smaller teams, and two rookies would be a liability, but there are usually either mages or clerics capable of creating water with each team.


    Karl will presumably take the role of one of the warriors, while Dana will be their secondary mage. Most government issued missions call for groups that are a minimum of three people for Awakened Rank or lower incidents, five for Ascended Rank threats.


    That is the safety tolerance. I believe I mentioned once before, that it would look terrible to the public if they found out that we had lost a student, or a promising young Elite.


    Not that any of the Elites are particrly old, the program has only been running for ten years, but you get my point."


    The team members all chuckled at her reference. She was one of the early testers of the Divine Serum, so she was older than the mainstream Elites, but still not far into her thirties.


    "Alright, we will take the packs and head out as soon as we have checked them." Karl agreed.


    "They''re in the helicopter. Good luck, and we will see both of you soon."


    Karl and Dana followed the Pilots out, while the Bureau agents prepared for whatever they would be doing while the pair were away from the Academy for an undefined amount of time.


    If the goal was poption control, it might take them a week or a month, or a season. There was no clear end point, unless they were going to be relieved as soon as the regr teams returned from their vacation.


    That seemed unlikely to Karl. Back at the mines, there was always a bit of ovep after holidays, when they pushed to get more done than the standard quota to make up for the missed productivity. The same was likely true here, where the regr teams would join the substitutes for a day or two before the relief teams were sent back home.


    Karl called the beasts back into their spaces, interrupting their training, but for a good reason. Thor was a bit disappointed that he had to stop ying so soon, but he would get to see new ces, so it was a fair trade in his mind.


    Hawk had no problem returning. The mages hadn''te up with any new strategies since yesterday, anyhow.


    Each of the helicopters had twenty students already in them when they arrived, and the pilots pulled Karl and Dana toward separate rides to grab their gear. Karl waved goodbye to the mage as he wondered when they would next see each other, but the door closed as soon as he had his pack and had taken his seat.


    The pilots weren''t waiting any more, and headed straight out to their first destinations.


    The berserker beside Karl smiled and patted him on the shoulder. The face was familiar, and Karl realized that he knew him from Earthquake training.


    "What are you doing alone on a helicopter? Are you assigned to join one of the teams?" The muscr man asked.


    "I''m getting airdropped in as support for an existing team, or so I have been told. I got the lottery win for a relief operation, so a regr military team can get days off." Karl exined.


    "Oh, you lucky bastard. You got the call a month after reaching Awakened, and I didn''t get the call until the end ofst year. Military support missions are cushy. They throw all sorts of people at them, since they''re not professional soldiers.


    Half of the Elites on my mission were blogging and taking selfies as much as they were actually working. It was just one big social media publicity tour. Who knows, you might even get to meet one of your idols." The berserkerughed.


    The man on the other side of Karl nodded. "Mine wasn''t that casual, we were in the woods and actually working, but there were at least three times as many people as we needed. We ran across other teams like twice a day. But the team I was with were all idiots. A banker and two politicians with their assistants. They had ditched too many calls, so they got forcibly sent on an actual mission."


    Neither of those options sounded much like what Karl had heard from the Colonel, but there was a chance that they were right. She had said that they would be joining a team because the regr one was on days off, but she didn''t explicitly state the quality of the team that they would join.


    For Dana''s sake, she hoped they were a good team. He could rely on Hawk and the others, but she was somewhat squishy. Warm too, and soft.


    Karl caught his wandering thoughts and looked out the window before the berserker realized he had lost track of the conversation.


    The others were all talking about the various missions that they had been on, so nobody expected Karl to fill in much. As a first year, he wouldn''t have been out much, no matter how strong he had gotten.


    "The best advice I can give you is not to piss off the healer. They might seem all righteous and such, but when shit hits the fan, and they have to pick who they heal and who has to suffer and hope they survive until the next spelles in, you know it''s not the group''s jerk that gets priority." One of the warriorsughed.


    The mage next to himughed. "You learned that the hard way. You had a broken leg for all of a lunch break because the healer was too tired for one more spell until after they ate."


    The warrior nodded solemnly. "It was an important learning experience."


    "You''re a slow learner, though. Didn''t Sister Betty punch you in the face just two days ago?" One of the other warriors asked.


    "Hey, she''s not our healer, and I was very sincere in my intentions." The warrior defended himself.


    Karlughed. "You should be careful, she''s stronger than she looks. She rode to the Academy from the Seminary with my team after ourst mission."

 Chapter 155 Everyone Out

    <h4>Chapter 155 Everyone Out</h4>


    The helicopter tilted and dropped toward a mountain valley, which signalled half the students in the vehicle to get their gear ready to depart.


    Karl noticed that they were loaded in the back half of the helicopter, so their departure wouldn''t cause a drastic shift of the bnce, and the others spread out as they walked down the ramp, distributing the weight evenly again.


    "You get used to it. Spreading out is not only morefortable, but it makes for a smoother ride. If you''re with a new group, teach them to do it. But mostly the new groups take the train.


    We were supposed to take it as well, but the storm the other day damaged the tracks, and they''re not fixed yet." The berserker exined.


    "I saw that firsthand. We were stuck out in that storm, and we weren''t sure that we were going to make it back to the Academy at all. As it was, we made it back only one dayte." Karl agreed.


    The first team was out, and the crew closed the door as the helicopter lifted off.


    "Five minutes until the second team departs. Get your gear ready." The crew member riding in the back with them instructed.


    That was faster than anyone expected, but they already had their bags ready. All they had to do was make sure that nothing was loose or out of ce, and then strap them on.


    The helicopter dropped only a few valleys over, where a small camp was set up. The team got out, and another team of twenty got in. These were older, and dressed for an extended time in the woods, whereas Karl was wearing the Academy''s training uniform of cargo pants, tank top and jacket.


    It was almost a military look, but anyone in the nation would recognize it as a Divine Golden Academy uniform.


    "Seriously? Not only do we get a random group from all over the country, we get a kid fresh out of the Academy? Are you even Awakened Rank yet, kid?" One of the women asked.


    "Pushing for Ascended already. I''m there in attack power, but stillcking some durability." Karl replied, resisting the urge to take the bait and get angry at her provocation.


    The woman rolled her eyes, and snapped a punch at his face. Karl reacted instinctively, and raised the Lightning Barrier, which her hand hit with a crackle of energy.


    "Oh, I like this kid. Didn''t even flinch." The man beside the irritable womanughed.


    "Then are you going to take him on your team?" She asked.


    "Yeah, I will take him. If he has Ascended Rank attack power and a lightning shield, he''s not going to be a liability. But there''s something about the look in his eyes. They''re not natural, obviously, but they''ve got that cid look thatrge monsters give you, like they know you can''t do a damned thing to them."


    The woman just rolled her eyes, and the group started to split up into teams. They ended up with seven groups of three, and Karl moved to join the ones he had been lumped in with.


    "Karl, Awakened Rank Beast Master." He introduced himself.


    "Bob and Doug Mackenzie. I''m Robert, an Ascended Rank warrior, but you can call me Bob, and Doug is a green dragon cleric." The man who had spoken up for him announced.


    Despite sharing a family name, they didn''t look anything alike, but Karl wasn''t going to cause strife within with a good team by questioning their parentage. He had gotten a healer, but it would have been nice if they had a mage in the group.


    The Green Dragon was the Dragon God of nature, and their clerics'' role was simr to that of the druids and the World Dragon, to keep nature running smoothly, so it made sense that they had been sent to help control the influx of monsters that was upsetting the bnce. He should have solid healing skills, and he probably wouldn''t be biased against the beasts.


    The good luck Dragon Scale charm was working quite reliably, Karl decided.


    "So, what can you tell me about the Beast Master ss? I have never heard of it before, so I don''t know what you can do in a fight." The warrior, Bob, asked.


    "I have three beasts, actual beasts, not summoned creatures that can be reced. An evolved Windspeed Hawk, that has learned fire magic. A Lightning Cerro, and a Bloodbath Spider. The Lightning Barrier is a skill I learned from Thor, the Lightning Cerro. I can also use Rend, and we can hear each other''s thoughts to fight as a group." Karl exined.


    Doug smiled, and his face suddenly looked much younger than it had a moment ago under his mop of ck curls.


    "Now, we must be in luck. We got extra team members. It''s always better not to be outnumbered. Don''t worry, we will take good care of your partners. Are they all Awakened Rank or higher? Or is one of them still young." He asked.


    "They''re all still young, but they''re all at Awakened Rank in body or better. Hawk and Rae, the Bloodbath Spider, aren''t exactly tanks, but they are fast and agile. Are you familiar with the species?" Karl asked.


    Bob nodded. "Yeah. It''s going to be a bit freaky having them around, but Doug is good with things like that."


    The flight was silent for a few minutes, and then the crew alerted them that they were going to bending again. The other helicopter was visible in the distance, so they were all working the same area, which was a relief to Karl, who could see two different camps set up near the river that ran through the area.


    Bob raised his voice so he could be heard over the helicopter. "We will head for the hills. Our team should be well suited to the scouting of the more rugged areas."


    The crew member gave him a positive gesture. "Zone one goes to the Mackenzie brothers and Karl. Call your preferences or I will pick them."


    The teams quickly picked zones to scout for the next few days, and Karl checked the fit of his pack, so it didn''t get ufortable as they hiked.


    As they stepped off the helicopter, Karl saw that there were many more people waiting around the area, and a pair of girls with curly ck hair that matched Doug''s came over to pull the cleric into a hug.


    "Meet our other two team members. Meet Donni and Danni." Doug introduced the two smiling women.


    "Don''t tell me, Mackenzie." Karl replied.


    "Right in one. We all volunteered toe when they announced the mission. The whole area has been upgraded to possible Ascended Rank threat, as we have gotten a confirmation of at least one Ettin Mage in the area. Everyone will be getting two more members for their team out of the ones who got here first." One of the identical twin women agreed.


    Karl looked between them with curiosity. "What are the odds that four children from the same family would get picked by the Serum?"


    Bobughed. "Extremely low. I don''t know of more than a few other siblings that are Elites. Though, one of the test generation has a son who''s in the Academy now. But we should get going before the annoying ones want to hold an all-night strategy meeting where they think of reasons that they shouldn''t be the ones going out to do the actual work."

 Chapter 156 The Mackenzies

    <h4>Chapter 156 The Mackenzies </h4>


    Bob led them out of the encampment, past sharp-eyed guards, who were giving envious looks to their group with the twins. Most wouldn''t realize right away that they were all siblings, other than Karl, so having not just one but two good-looking women with them would look like an envious situation.


    "So, what are your specialties?" Karl asked as they moved out of sight of the camp.


    "We''re both mages. I''m better with Constructs, and Donni is better with arcane barriers." Danni exined.


    They got a kilometre into the woods and Doug gestured to Karl. "Call out your team. It''s better that we have a chance to meet them in advance, even if they''re resting until we''re in the threat area."


    Karl called the three out, and Bob froze in ce, staring at Rae.


    Donniughed. "Oh, this should be fun. Bob is terrified of spiders. Even little ones. Is she friendly?"


    Karl nodded. "Generally. She''s not always a people person. But Thor is friendly enough for two people, so it works out well."


    Raeughed at that as Thor made his way to the cleric looking for attention.


    Hawk pped up above them and sighed in relief at the chance to stretch his wings.


    [What am I even looking for?] He asked.


    [Groups of monsters. There should be goblins, big goblins, ogres, ogres with two heads that use magic, trolls, and maybe something else.] Karl exined, knowing that Hawk hadn''t paid any attention to the briefing.


    Karl sensed Hawk''s dismay at the announcement, but he knew that Hawk wasn''t afraid of Goblins, and probably wasn''t afraid of ogres either, considering how much fun he had harassing random bears, which were neither smaller nor weaker than the ogres were.


    [Goblins smell terrible. But at least they will be easy to find.] Hawk finally exined.


    That would exin his reluctance, but he was already off and scouting the area for threats.


    [Hey, this mission is stupidly simple. They''re right here. Just turn right a little and you will find them.] Hawk informed Karl a few secondster.


    "Hawk says there are Goblins just ahead to the right. I wasn''t expecting them to be this close, but he says they''re here." Karl exined quietly to the others.


    The mages looked startled, and turned in the indicated direction.


    "Seriously? We''re barely out of sight of the camp. What are Goblins doing this close to civilization? Our intelligence suggested that they first appear further into the mountains, and that is why we were going there to hunt for them."


    "I only know what Hawk tells me. Should we go?" Karl asked.


    Bob nodded. "I will take point with the casters in the middle. You take the rear, with the beasts protecting our nks. You can have them move further from us, so the Goblins don''t realize we''re all together."


    [I can smell them already. They''reing this way.] Rae informed Karl.


    [Split off and hide. Ambush when the time is right.]


    "Thor, move forward to fight beside Bob and protect the nk. The Goblins areing our way." Karl warned.


    The shouts of a goblin hunting squad became audible secondster, and Karl took out his sword. He stepped off to the side, preparing to defend any attacks that mighte from the left while Thor was on the right, but Doug shook his head, and Danni summoned four wood Golems to encircle the casters.


    The cleric cast a spell on them, and the wooden bodies turned more sturdy, strengthened by magic. The two of them had a system and worked well together. Then Donni cast a barrier over everyone, and they settled in for the Goblin charge.


    A flurry of Rend attacks came down from the sky as Hawk started his offensive, and then there was a shadow moving through the hunting squad like a whirlwind, throwing dismembered limbs in the air as the Goblins screamed and tried in vain to run.


    "What in the Goddess'' name was that?" One of the mages asked as Rae finished her work and retreated into the trees to wipe herself clean again.


    "That would be Hawk attacking from above, and Rae ambushing from the trees. They''re justmon rank monsters, so it wasn''t a big deal for them to clear them out, I guess." Karl replied.


    The whole clearing was covered in dismembered goblins, and Karl hesitated. He had been reminded that they might have umonly good items on them, but Hawk was right. Goblins smelled terrible, especially the insides of them.


    The others seemed to be thinking the same thing, as they all hesitated to get any closer.


    [Time to do your part. Don''t miss any good stuff.] Rae taunted him as Karl prepared to go loot the Goblins.


    [You could have at least left them intact, so I wouldn''t have to check so many pieces.] Karlined.


    [They''re too squishy, they just blew apart when I hit them. I didn''t want to use my mandibles, in case something got in my mouth. You already made me drink that potion, I''m not eating goblin.]


    Hawk chimed in to the conversation. [I see shiny things. Metal shiny and gem shiny. I don''t know if they''re good things.]


    Karl sighed and stepped forward, earning himself a curious look from the others. "Hawk and Rae say that there are shiny things, both metal and gems, on the bodies. We should see if it''s valuable or useful. The Bureau of Elite Development said that these are escaped from a spell, and they might have loot that they wouldn''t normally own."


    The others sighed, then spread out in a line, so they could clear out the bodies in one pass, with as little contact as possible.


    "I rmend that you grab a long stick. Poke the bodies to open bags and search them. It might not find everything, but it''s better than actually touching them." Doug, the green dragon cleric, suggested.


    Karl quickly grabbed a stick, and got to work checking the bodies.


    He wasn''t sure what was actually worth keeping, but his equipment had a fair bit of storage, and the first thing he found was a decent sized leather pouch that could hold anything that he gathered.


    Then there were a few gold rings on one Goblin, a quality steel dagger on another, a few scattered gemstones, and finally a golden ne.


    "Lay your loot out on the ground and I will purify it." Doug offered helpfully once they were all on the other side of the clearing, where Thor and Rae had joined them.


    Karl dumped everything out, and thenid the bag on the ground with the rest of the loot.


    "Well, that''s interesting. The majority of this is just shiny metal, and simple gems, but one of those rings is magical, and the bag is also enchanted." Doug noted as he finished cleaning.


    "Do you know what enchantment?" Karl asked.


    "I know that it''s not a curse, but that''s not my area of expertise. We will have to have it identified by the spell crafters when we return. They will know what it does." The cleric exined.


    Karl shrugged and dumped the loot back into the bag, which he hung by its straps from his belt. If they were going to keep gathering from Goblin bodies, he would keep it there, instead of stuffing it in his pack next to his food and spare clothes.


    The bag wasn''t particrlyrge, but it would hold a half dozen hauls like this, as long as he didn''t keep picking up more weapons. He wrapped the dagger in freshly purified cloth and stuffed it in the bag, as the decoration was pretty, and if he could find a scabbard for it, he would keep it with him.


    "Should we burn the bodies?" Karl asked the others.


    Bob shook his head. "The risk of a forest fire is too high. They will dpose quickly out here, if the other monsters don''t eat them."

 Chapter 157 Sharp Senses

    <h4>Chapter 157 Sharp Senses</h4>


    With the Goblins dead, and the loot cleansed, thanks to the efforts of their cleric, the group started moving toward their destination again, but in a muchrger formation. Rae stayed in the trees nearby, and Thor joined Bob at the front of the group, while the wood golems took up positions on the nks and Karl brought up the rear of the convoy.


    Nobody was saying anything, but it didn''t feel unfriendly, more like it just wasn''t necessary to say anything, since everyone understood their roles. If there was a threat, they would call orders, but while just walking, nobody was going to get lost or fall out of position unexpectedly, the way that a bunch of distractible students might.


    The only one that was truly on edge was Bob, who kept catching glimpses of Rae in the trees, and thinking that they were going to be attacked until he realized that it was just her again.


    "I think there is something up ahead. The ground here is more packed than small wildlife would ount for, and there are broken branches above head height." Bob quietly warned them an hour after they left the goblins behind.


    Rae made a mental note of that. For a Bloodbath Spider, prey usually came to them,. They didn''t go out hunting things, so they had no inherited memory of tracking skills.


    Hawk hunted by direct sensory input, and he had been guiding them down the trail, but he hadn''t seen anything concerning yet.


    So, it was Karl''s use of Hawk''s eyesight that finally gave them the clue they needed.


    "Everyone stop. Face right. I have enhanced eyesight, into the ranges that a Windspeed Hawk can see. That includes ultraviolet, and it makes urine and other bodily fluid traces glow in the light. There is a handprint in the ultraviolet spectrum on a tree in that direction, toorge to be one of us. It''s evenrger than Professor Tank''s hands, and that man is well over two metres tall." Karl whispered.


    [I will go look] Hawk replied.


    He couldn''t see the handprint from above, as it was hidden under the canopy of the trees, but Hawk did his best to search for anything in the area anyhow.


    [I think there is a cave up ahead. I can''t see it withoutnding, but something looks wrong.] He replied a few minutester.


    "Hawk says there might be a cave. It''s hidden from above, but he''s fairly certain it''s there." Karl exined.


    Bob nodded and led the team forward, following Karl''s guidance every time he saw a sign of therge creature. Then, Karl started to see the telltale signs of Goblins. Plenty of filth was visible to his enhanced eyesight, but it all stayed tight to the trees, where it wouldn''t be seen from above.


    Bob noticed the signs only seconds after Karl did.


    "I think they understand about the helicopters. They''re hiding from overhead surveince. But the Goblins must havee past here in arge group. They might be under orders from the Ogre we have been tracking as well.


    Goblins are cowards, and ogres arezy. So, if an ogrees across a Goblin tribe, it will often threaten them to make them work for it." He exined.


    The mages pulled closer together, ready for an attack, and Karl realized that he had no idea which one was which anymore. They had the same ck hair, in the same haircut, and they were wearing the same uniform, with the samest name on their badges.


    Someone had called Bob and Doug twins as well, but at least they were different sizes, and Doug''s hair was longer, while Bob''s was cut tight to his head.


    The smell of burning wood came to them from the distance, and Karl smiled.


    "We''ve found them. I smell campfire. So unless the forest is burning, there is someone up ahead." He whispered.


    Bob led them forward, with Thor doing his best to be silent beside the warrior, and they burst into a clearing with their weapons up.


    [You vanished.] Hawkined, then dove under the tree line to join them and protect Karl.


    But there was nothing to protect them from.


    In front of them stood arge cave entrance, giving off a slight plume of smoke from a cooking fire inside, and a full ten-person military team was sitting around on the rocks.


    "Dammit, we thought we found an Ogre camp." Bob sighed as he realized the situation.


    The warrior at the fire smiled at him. "You did, but about six hours toote. We got four ogres and fifteen Goblins out of the cave. There should be more goblins nearby, but we are waiting for them toe back."


    Karl looked up and noticed the slight shimmer of a spell that had been hiding them from Hawk''s vision, as well as the obvious signs on the trees of a violent battle having taken ce in the recent past.


    Bob smiled at the warrior. "I think that we found the rest of your goblins. The beasts with our team cleared out an entire hunting party just an hour or so ago. We followed the game track they were on, and it led us here."


    The team looked immensely relieved, and began to rx a little. There were still plenty of dangers in the woods, but if Karl''s team had killed off the rest of the Goblins who lived here, then at least nothing would be looking for their resting spot tonight.


    "Why don''t you all take a break here for a bit? It''s still early, but it gets dark fast in the hills, and there might be more monsters about." The warrior suggested.


    Bob shook his head. "We are headed for region one, and we should try to get closer to it tonight. There were a half dozen more fresh teams headed out today, so you mighte across another if they know how to track. Try not to ambush them before realizing they are humans."


    The warrior nodded, and Bob gestured for his team to keep moving.


    Once they were another kilometre down the road, Bob turned back to the group. "They are sitting in an empty ogre den. Something is going to notice that the ogre n is gone soon, and then they wille looking to take over the cave.


    We will swing by there again on our way back and see what has moved in." He exined.


    Hawk returned to his patrols high in the sky once he realized that his senses had been tricked by magic, while Bob led them through the woods to a small river.


    From his limited experience, Karl recalled that rivers should be a gathering point for monsters needing a drink, but the area was quiet, with only a few small tree animals.


    The rest had been scared off by the presence of Rae, who was still hiding in the trees, or by the noise that the group with Thor and the four tree golems was making. They weren''t going to win any stealth awards today, but nobody was seeing signs ofrge monsters, and they weren''t worried about the smaller native ones.


    "Once we find a good way across the river, we will move into the hills and find a campsite for the night." Bob exined.


    It was only about ten metres wide, but it looked fairly deep, and none of them were looking forward to getting soaked right before the sun went down in the mountains.


    [I will make a bridge for you.] Rae offered.

 Chapter 158 Rope Bridge

    <h4>Chapter 158 Rope Bridge </h4>


    "Rae will hook us up. Just give her a moment to work, and she will have a way across the river." Karl exined to the others.


    She was already getting to work, attaching her web to trees on opposite sides of the river, and creating a small, woven tform for them to cross. Then she added a handhold line up near shoulder height, and darted across it to add a bit more securement to the other side.


    Bob gave the silk rope bridge a look of trepidation, but he stepped up onto it, and easily bnced as he made his way across.


    The mages looked at the bridge and shook their heads.


    "There is no way we''re making it across that without dumping ourselves in the river." One of them, possibly Danni, informed Karl with a frown.


    "What if we send your packs first? Or should I have Rae make more bridge for you? It''s not going to fall in the water." Karl asked.


    Doug smirked as he relieved one of the mages of her pack and nimbly danced across the bridge, putting one foot in front of the other.


    "They''re just incredibly uncoordinated. Taking the packs from them is a good idea, but they still might not be able to walk a straight line." He taunted.


    [I could throw them.] Thor suggested.


    "Hopefully, it won''te down to having Thor toss you. How about you pass me your remaining pack and give it a try? The upper rope is sturdy, just keep a good hold on it and you won''t fall in the river." Karl offered.


    The remaining pack was handed to him, and the mage stepped up on the bridge, wobbling a little as she took her first few steps. But after that, she was getting the hang of it, and after a close call that left her hanging off the handrail for a moment, she made it to the other side.


    "How is Thor going to make it to the other side?" The remaining mage asked.


    "He will just duck into the separate space where he rests, and thene out again when I''m on the other side." Karlughed, while imagining the sight of Thor trying to cross a single rope bridge.


    The mage carefully crossed the river, then Karl walked across behind her, before turning back to the bridge.


    "I suppose we should take that down, unless we are going to need it to go back. Or at least disable it so it doesn''t let anything else cross the river." He suggested.


    "Yeah, we could cut it and let it fall. Most creatures wouldn''t be able to reuse it anyhow. How long will the silkst?" Bob asked.


    Karl shrugged. "As long as it needs to, I suppose. It normally doesn''t dissolve or anything."


    "Leave it. Someone else will need to get across the river soon, and they will likely be following the same trail that we are. We have to cross two more search areas before we get where we are going, and they will appreciate the ability to get across. Well, at least after they realize that it isn''t a trap by a giant spider to get them stuck in the middle of the river."


    Rae perked up at the suggestion. That was actually brilliant. Just a bit of sticky silk, and she could get them stuck right in the middle, where they would be out in the open and nearly helpless.


    But she resisted the urge to booby trap the bridge, and waited patiently for the group to continue. The sun was about to hit the mountains, and while it would be twilight for a few hours still, the direct light was about to end for the day.


    "As we have Rae here, why don''t we camp up in a tree tonight? It will be softer and safer than camping on the ground, and she is fast with the web. It isn''t too draining, is it?" Bob asked as the light began to fade, marking time to get their camp set up.


    Rae gave him what he took for an enthusiastic gesture, and Hawk informed her of a good tree nearby, withrge wide branches that could be used to make a tree fort.


    "She says it''s not, and she''s off to build us a camp in a spot that Hawk picked nearby. He says the tree has nice wide branches for a nest." Karl exined as the spider vanished.


    The mages smiled at Karl. "You know, it''s really handy having her around. Setting up camp is always the most annoying part of the day, and you usually end up having to sleep on rocks and tree roots, or out in the open where anything could see you.


    But being in the trees will limit the number of monsters that can get to us, and Rae should be able to make a decent canopy to keep the rain off and the bugs out."


    Rae was listening in from a distance and perked up at the mention of bugs.


    [Do you think there are bugs big enough to eat here? I can make a sticky tent.] She eagerly suggested.


    [I can''t say for sure, but we''re in the right area for them. There might even be another giant beetle out here, or some of the vampire flies, which are nearly as big as my forearm.] Karl informed her.


    Rae started to alter her idea from just a tform to an awning tent that would enclose the area, trapping any bugs that tried to go for the team, so she could eat themter.


    Karl led the team over to the chosen tree, and saw that Rae had made them adder to climb up the fifty metres to where she had chosen to put their encampment in arge redwood tree overlooking a clearing.


    The view was incredible, and the tree towered over most of the others in the area, which would let them scout for enemies easily when the sun came back up.


    "How far are we from our search area?" Karl asked as they looked up into the tree.


    "We should be right near the edge of it now. Let me double-


    check the map, but I believe that our area started just behind us." Bob replied.


    The mages smiled. "That means we can keep this as our base camp until we''ve finished with the area. It takes ages to do a full search, and there are fresh monsters appearing every day, so even if we clean them out one day, we will have to start over the next.


    But with a good base camp, we can just keep scouting and returning to the same spot, without letting the monsters build up."


    Karl nodded in understanding. "You hear that, Rae? This will be a regr spot, so feel free to make more webs in the area if you want to catch snacks."


    Bob sighed as he saw Rae start to spin more webs in the area, filling the tree tops and linking them together into onerge web.


    "Did you have to tell her that?" He asked.


    "Of course. She''s going to get hungry, and we need to get rid of the excess monsters, so the more that she catches in her web, the fewer that we have to hunt. I will ask her to leave some at ground level as well, since we''re not just after monsters that climb trees." Karl exined with a smile.

 Chapter 159 Tree Fort

    <h4>Chapter 159 Tree Fort</h4>


    Karl led the group up thedder and into therge tree fort that Rae had created for them,plete with a nest for Hawk that he was filling with leaves and small branches forfort.


    There seemed to be a number of magical resources in that pile, Karl could sense the energying from the pile, but he didn''t recognize any of the nts, so Hawk''sfort was worth more than an unknown leaf.


    Not every magical resource had a known usage. Some were just nts that held a bit of mana in them, and were either a bit more durable than usual, or longer lived.


    It had only taken a few minutes to make the web fort, which was smooth on the inside, but open like any other, while there was a sticky and much more tightly wovenyer underneath. That would keep the pests out, but it would also let the breeze in.


    That might be undesirable from a temperature standpoint, but for the sense of smell, it was vital.


    The awning overhead was proper silk cloth, keeping the rain off, and the sides were loosely woven, but Karl didn''t see any issues with the design, other than theck of a solid surface to cook on.


    They should be able toe up with something, though., Even if it was just a split log to set the cooking stove on.


    The mages were panting and cursing by the time that they made it up thedder, and Rae was doing her best not tough at theirck of physical fitness. The rest of the group had superhuman strength and endurance, but they had to climb all the way up with normal human strength.


    The group hade up one at a time, concerned about the strength of Rae''sdder, but her web was made to contain monsters of her level. If an Ascended monster could tear the web simply by hanging on it, the Bloodbath Spider would starve.


    "This is nice. I mean, really nice. When we go out withrger military groups, it''smon for them to have arge canvas tent, designed to hold the whole team, and it takes up a whole backpack. This reminds me of that, but it''s so well blended to the surroundings." Bob congratted Rae on her handiwork.


    She had put great effort into making the canopy blend in with the tree, and she had even pulled small branches and leaves into the weave so that they would shield the fort from outside detection until it was toote for the victims to avoid being captured.


    They would smell and hear the people in the tree, and get lured in, but they would never expect the whole area to be surrounded in spider web.


    Doug settled in with his back against the tree, and cast a spell that made a branch grow out past him, and then tten into what looked like a cutting board.


    "The advantages of having a nature priest with you. I''m very good at nt growth magic. Now, I will get started on dinner, and you all cany out your sleeping bags. We will work out the watch schedule after we eat." The cleric exined quietly.


    Everymunication out here was done in a hushed tone, so you didn''t alert your target to your presence, and for these experienced adventurers, it had nearly be second nature.


    Karlid out his bag next to Hawk''s nest and watched the others finish setting up for the evening on the soft, springy.


    "If you don''t mind my asking, what do you all do when you haven''t been called to a monster control battle?" He asked the group.


    Doug chuckled and gestured to his simple green cleric robes. "I think you can guess what I do for a living. But I am also on the environmental protection agency''s emergency response team, so they call me when there is a toxic spill or other environmental disaster to help with cleanup. Most of the time, I teach students at the Seminary Academy, or tour the parishes, to make sure that the church crops are doing well."


    Bob just shrugged. "This is what I do for a living. I am out here full-time, working onmission from the government."


    One of the twins gestured between the two of them. "We work for a securitypany in the capital. I''m actually highly skilled with security cameras and all sorts of rm systems, so we only use our magic one week a month when wee to join Bob in the woods.


    It''s a bit like a camping trip, a family tradition, but with dangerous monsters."


    "That''s quite the family resume. I still haven''t even started to think about what I''m going to do after graduation. It''s nice out here, and having grown up in the mines, I have a particr fondness for anywhere that is not a narrow underground tunnel. But other than that, I have no idea." Karl replied.


    Bobughed. "I doubt you have to worry about it. I checked your deployment orders before I got on the ne, and you''ve been sent here by the Bureau of Elite Development. They nevertch on to anyone that they don''t have a n for.


    If my guess is right, they think that you will keep progressing, and then end up in one of those fancy government jobs as grand high muckety muck."


    That made Dougugh so hard he almost dropped the potatoes he was cutting.


    "Well, that''s one way to phrase it. The Bureau tends to focus on people who will be either powerful or famous in the future. You don''t look like the sort that wants to be on television, so I think they will likely push for you to take on a job like Bob''s or to go into the Defence Department.


    If you make it past Commander and into the Royal and Monarch Ranks, it is almost guaranteed to be government. But any further than that and things get murky. They don''t have so many Overlords that they can just afford to have them wandering around doing what they please. That much power is what they call a strategic asset. The sort of person that can be used as a threat to make the aggressive beast ns and other nations back down."


    "Aggressive beast ns?" Karl asked.


    Doug shrugged. "You know, like the Drakes, the Phoenix ns, the Wild Dragons and the Gryphon Nests. The sort of beasts that have human or higher intelligence, and very little patience for stupidity."


    Hawk squawked withughter at that. It was a wonderful description of the most powerful of magical beasts.


    Bob smiled at his brother as he added his opinion. "It''s not like they''re at war with us, but every time someone does something that irritates them, we need to convince them not to go on a rampage to prevent it from happening again. Especially the drakes. They''re incredibly irritable, and then there are the Drake Riders, who are a bunch of nut bars on a good day."


    Karl chuckled. "So I''ve heard. Well, at least here we get to just look over our zone and find the prey, we don''t need to worry about all those little details. All of my beasts are right on the borderline between Awakened and Ascended, so with a bit more effort and a little push, we might manage to advance and get recognized as Ascended during the next round of exams."


    One of the mages sighed. "Lucky bugger. I didn''t pass the Ascended exam until myst year at the Academy, in the final semester, no less. You can''t be that old yet."


    Karl shook his head. "No, I''m still in my first year."

 Chapter 160 Doug’s Cooking

    <h4>Chapter 160 Doug''s Cooking </h4>


    Everyone turned to stare at him when Karl made that announcement.


    "Say that again? Did you just say that you''re in the first year? As in, you''re nning to make Ascended during the end of your first semester''s exams? When did they even test you to Awakened? It''s not midterms yet, is it?" Bob asked.


    "No, we''re still not at midterms. Actually, I think I will miss them because of the mission. But I was tested to Awakened three weeks after I got to the Academy, when Hawk started to really grow in potential. Rae and Thor joined us a few weekster, but they''re growing fast." Karl exined.


    "They''re growing exceptionally fast if they''re already this size and were infants when you got them. At least, I assume that they were newborns at the start of the school year?" Bob asked.


    "Eggs, actually. I got them all as eggs, and I''ve raised them from that." Karl agreed.


    "I think that I see now why the bureau is so excited to get their hands on you. You''re growing at an insane rate, and that alwayses with an extra dose of good luck.


    Now, some people will look down on the luck factor, but luck is very real." Bob replied.


    "Tell me about it. The Church even gave me a good luck charm when we stopped by there to pick up a cleric after myst resource gathering mission." Karl agreed.


    "You got a lucky charm from the church? What the Dragon is the point of that? Anyone lucky enough to get one of their dragon scale luck charms doesn''t need the bloody things anyhow." Dougughed.


    The whole groupughed as Doug pulled a lucky dragon scale from under his robes, and then the others all did the same.


    "Alright, maybe they''re not as rare as I might have thought they were." Karl corrected himself.


    Bobughed. "No, they really are. But like Brother Doug said, those with good enough luck to get one don''t need them. How did you think we all ended up together to form a super team? Pure blind luck. You really couldn''t ask for a better group at our power level.


    I''ve got much stronger than usual defensive abilities for a warrior, we have both a barrier and a golem mage, plus a nature priest and a beast master, whose team not only includes a tank and an ambush attacker, but a flying scout.


    Compared to the average five-person team, which might not even have apetent cleric, as they just send whoever is avable, our group is living itrge.


    We don''t even need to sleep on the ground, Rae made us this lovely treehouse, and Doug will have a hot meal ready in just a few minutes, since priests of the Green Dragon are capable of creating all sorts of food, and not just the simple rice and beans."


    Doug tapped his cook pot with a wooden spoon. "Speaking of which, there is food ready now. Just a simple veggie board, but that should hold you until I''ve got dinner cooked. Do Hawk and Rae need anything?"


    "I have meat stored for Hawk, and he doesn''t really like anything else. Or at least I''ve never seen him interested in eating vegetables. Rae likes all sorts of things, from blood to insects and small monsters. But if her guess is right, she will be able to gorge herself on whates to the webs tonight." Karl replied.


    "In that case, just give this to Thor if you can." Doug agreed, and handed Karl an armload of what looked like herbs.


    Karl passed it into the beast space for Thor, who sniffed at them carefully, then picked them up and mixed them into the mass of nts he had been eating.


    [These are tasty.] Thor mumbled as he tested the new concoction.


    "He says they are very good, thanks." Karl ryed.


    "Excellent. It''s a spell that I don''t get to use often because we''re usually travelling by helicopter or car. It is intended for a mount, but it should be good for Thor as well." The cleric exined.


    Thorughed at that, and Rae sent Karl the mental image of the cleric riding the Cerro and waving around his club. Karl couldn''t resistughing, and the group gave him strange looks.


    "Sorry, they send me mental images, and some of them are funny. Rae was thinking about you riding Thor with your club iling around to attack goblins." He informed them while trying not to keepughing.


    The mages snickered, and Bob made his best "gant Knight" expression.


    "Have at you, foul beasts. Brother Dous and his noble steed Thor are here to smite you down." He joked.


    Doug got a pensive look on his face. "You know, he''s nearly shoulder height. I bet I could actually ride on his back. But he might be slippery without a saddle."


    Karl shook his head. "Quite the opposite. His scales look shiny, but they''ve got the surface of a drake scale, and they would tear your clothing to bits when you shifted."


    The group looked a bit confused, likely because a Lightning Cerro normally had smooth scales, but they didn''t question how that had happened.


    Doug passed out tes of what looked like steak and potatoes with mixed veggies, and Karl gave his dinner an appreciative look.


    "That''s a mushroom, not a steak, but they taste pretty simr. Nature priest doesn''t actually eat meat most of the time." One of the twin mages informed Karl.


    "I won''t argue. Good food is good food. If we can avoid eating the ration packs, I can avoid the internal chaos that they cause." He replied.


    Bob chuckled. "Reducing toilet usage in the woods, you see. But you''ll need a gallon of prune juice and some heartburn medicine when you get back."


    "We will take the watch in order of age, so you''ve got the early morning shift, Karl. Can you cook at all?" Doug asked.


    Karl''s sad expression told them as much as his words. "Not much. I started to learn after thest trip, when I realized how useful of a skill it is, but I don''t know much."


    "That''s fine. I am the oldest, so I have first watch and I will wake up with the dawn if there are no other issues. Is Rae good for the evening? She''s still outside somewhere." Doug replied.


    Karl sent a thought out to find Rae, who was setting up webs near ground level to trap roaming monsters. She had already caught a few small monsters, but that wasn''t enough for a full meal, and she was looking forward to the nocturnal monsters bing active after she linked all her webs together.


    [I only sleep an hour or two a day. If I rest in the space tomorrow while you walk, it is fine.] She replied.


    "She says she''s good for the evening, and she will sleep in the morning while we look for monsters." Karl told Doug with a nce down to where she was working.


    Not many things would pull her away from setting up her web the way that she wanted it, but Karl was certain that the sheer volume of webs in the area would scare any of the smarter monsters away from their position.


    Or, it would when the sun came up and the monsters could see them again. Rae was bing exceptionally skilled in making her webs blend in with their surroundings, where her early work had all been in white silk.

 Chapter 161 Morning Watch

    <h4>Chapter 161 Morning Watch</h4>


    One of the twin mages woke Karl up a few hours before dawn to begin his watch, Gently shaking the beside his head to get him motivated.


    Karl smiled at her and whispered. "Did you learn that from Rae? She gets upset when people shake the whole instead of just a small bit near the head to wake people up."


    Danni smirked. "She woke me up that way. She''s down below somewhere again, but she will likelye back up when she has caught whatever appeared in her.


    We haven''t seen any action so far, but the new wave of monsters should be here by morning, so keep your eyes peeled.


    Nobody really knows when they will show up, and it doesn''t seem to be a set time, but we do know that there are new ones daily.


    I''m going to get a bit more sleep, wake me up for breakfast."


    Karl sat in silence and looked out over the hills and forests, letting time pass by as he scanned for signs of movement and life in the predawn darkness.


    With Hawk''s low light vision, and Rae''s thermal vision capabilities, the movement in the forests was easy enough to track, though the canopy of leaves blocked both in many areas.


    However, it was not enough that Karl didn''t notice when there were suddenly hundreds of new heat signatures in the area.


    They didn''te from one spot, like they wereing from a cave, they just appeared all over the forest, all at once. Some even appeared right next to Rae''s webs, and walked right into them before they realized they were in danger.


    Her sense of victory as the prey iled and shouted for someone toe save them filled Karl''s mind, but the noise also woke everyone else up.


    "The monsters just appeared everywhere. They''re noting from a cave or a set location, I saw them just appear all over the forest." Karl exined.


    "What do you mean? How many can you see?" Bob asked.


    "With the gifts of low light and thermal vision I gained from Hawk and Rae, I can clearly see for nearly two kilometres. There are hundreds of goblin sized creatures, a few dozenrger ones that I can see, and that''s just what isn''t hidden under the trees.


    I can''t see through solid objects, so I know I''m missing most of them, but Rae is going wild killing the ones that are in her webs down below. That would be the noise that woke you up." Karl exined.


    Doug sighed. "And that means that we are about to have a lot of unwantedpany, drawn here by the noise. Fortunately, it is still dark, and their eyesight isn''t any better than mine, so they''re not going to find us in the trees, but we need to make sure that Rae doesn''t get ambushed."


    Karl nodded. "It''s still dark, but it should start getting light soon, when we can go down and start cleaning up the ones trapped in the webs. Do you want me and Hawk to go start silencing them now? Three of us in the dark will be faster than just Rae, and we can all see what we''re doing."


    Doug and Bob both shook their heads. "No, either we all go or we all stay. Safety protocol says don''t send group members alone. Attack what you can without going so far from the group that we can''t see you."


    Karl thought for a second, then nodded. "Alright, I will head down a few branches using thedder, as I can''t attack through the fort without damaging it. But once I''m there, I can hit a lot of the nearby webs, and you''ll be able to see me.


    Hawk, you go help Rae. Make sure she gets rid of the loud ones first and doesn''t make them sing for her. We will hunt them all day long, there is no more need to bait in prey."


    [I got a good thing. There is a tasty scaly biped here with snappy jaws and a shiny poking stick.] Rae informed Karl.


    That made very little sense, but Karl congratted her on her find, and asked her to bring back the shiny poking stick when she had a chance.


    What he got in return was a thread of silk sprayed his way from where she was hunting, which he had to assume was attached to the prize.


    With a practised motion, the same as coiling up a power cable in the mines, Karl began to pull the item up, and found that she had recovered an obsidian headed spear, attached to a bamboo handle with excellent workmanship.


    It wasn''t magical, but to his eyes, the translucent spearhead sparkled, reflecting the minimal light from both sides.


    Then, she put the body in her space, and Karl finally understood what she was talking about. It was a lizardman of some sort, currently missing a head, butrger than anyone in their group, with a powerful looking tail and a few crude bone ornaments.


    Karl whistled to get the others'' attention. "There was a lizardman in the web. It might not be all Goblins in the group today."


    That got the group talking, making a n for their hunting and defence based on the knowledge they had of how lizardman behaved. They were amon monster in the swampy areas, on the high side of Common to the low Awakened Rank, but often gathering inrge groups that would challenge the smaller teams who went to hunt that level of threat.


    "Are there still Goblins and Ogres?" Bob asked quietly.


    Karl looked around, verifying the few monsters in the region that he could spot from his vantage point now that they had mostly moved under cover of the forest.


    "Yeah, I still see Goblin sized creatures, and humanoids too big to be lizardmen. I will point them out on the map for you when I get back up." Karl agreed.


    There were other beasts caught in Rae''s web, and he was using Rend to dispatch them quickly before they could make too much noise and bring a force that the five of them couldn''t deal with.


    Rend''s range was limited, and they were well up into the tree, but with Rae and Hawk moving lower through the forest, it only took a half hour before they had everything in the immediate vicinity dead, butchered and collected.


    They had gathered what they thought might be loot, but there were probably some things that didn''t catch their attention. Nothing magical, though. Beasts could sense the magic on the items, and they would have brought it back if they had found anything.


    The pair returned to the fort, and Karl climbed back up to join the group as soon as he smelled Doug start cooking breakfast.


    "The loot is at the bottom of the tree. We can collect itter. But first, I will show you where I saw the Ogres appear, and any other groups I remember. The Ogres are still our primary target, right?" Karl asked.


    "They are. We need to keep the poption of everything down, but the Ogres are the strongest beings that we have been informed of in the area." Bob agreed.


    "Alright. Then we should check here, here and here. Plus near the ridgeline there.


    Those areas all had multiplerge creatures, and some of them went behind the ridge. Then we hadrge groups of Goblin sized monsters here and here, with scattered monsters everywhere else." Karl exined, tapping the map as he went.


    Bob nodded. "Alright, that''s good, I wille up with an efficient route for us to cover today, and we will start hunting after we eat."


    The meal was simr to the one that Doug had made the night before, heavy on the potatoes, but this time Karl donated some of the Awakened Rank boar meat that Hawk had been ignoring.


    "Now we''re talking. Pork belly and potatoes is the real breakfast of champions." Bob chuckled.


    Doug rolled his eyes as he cast a spell that created some sort of white sauce in a pot on his camp stove, and began to rummage in his pack until he found a tube that cracked open to reveal rolls of dough.


    "Biscuit dough takes less room uncooked. The sauce is a form of coconut gravy, but with the pork grease, it should be pretty good." The cleric exined.


    It sounded a bit sketchy to Karl, but who was he to argue with the cook? There were chopped mushrooms in the mix with the potatoes, and he already knew they tasted like steak, so there was a good chance that the white sauce didn''t taste like raw coconut.

 Chapter 162 Clearance Sale

    <h4>Chapter 162 Clearance Sale </h4>


    The meal was, again, surprisingly good. Though the coconut pork vour of the gravy was certainly unexpected.


    Once they were finished, Bob led the group down thedder with their packs, in case something happened, and they couldn''t easily return to their fort tonight. It was always better to be safe, but with the amount of fighting that they were going to have to do very soon, Karl was questioning if they were even going to lose sight of the huge tree today.


    The mages seemed to be having the same thoughts, as they didn''t have the superhuman strength to make the packs a negligible burden, but nobody openly questioned the leader''s decisions. That was a recipe for disaster out here, and any questions could wait until they were finished, or at least on their lunch break.


    The pile at the bottom of the tree contained various metallic coins, shiny obsidian tools, and a few unknown ointments in leather pouches that Hawk and Rae had assumed must have some purpose.


    Rae had returned to her den in the beast space for the morning, while Hawk continued to scout. Thor was waiting in reserve, ready to fight at a moment''s notice, but not wanting to be loud and distracting before it was time to fight.


    Likewise, the Golems were not yet summoned, so the nks were unprotected. Well, as much as they could be when they had a mage who specialized in barriers in the middle of the group. That was her position, so that if they had to defend themselves, both ends of the convoy were equal distances from her, allowing for a circr barrier, which was the quickest and easiest to create.


    Bob gestured through the trees. "Our first target is the ridgeline. That marks the edge of our zone, but if we see monsters just beyond it, we will go to help whatever team is working over there.


    Then we will follow that along the edge of our area, and circle the perimeter, zigzagging through on the final leg to clear every likely hiding spot.


    We don''t need to be perfect, but the more we get, the easier tomorrow will be, and the day after that."


    Hawk was flying through the trees today instead of overhead, so he could see more of what was going on at ground level. They hadn''t seen many monsters in the branches, other than a few small insects and rodents, none of which were a threat to Hawk, but he still kept watch, as having trees overhead made him nervous.


    He would rather be much higher, but from that height, he would miss things, and be slow to assist when needed.


    [You can go up if you''d like, buddy. We have a scout here on the ground, and you can warn us about the big things.] Karl offered.


    [Once you get to the ridge, where the trees are thin.] Hawk agreed.


    After that point, he would at least be able to see the ground as he flew overhead.


    The rest of their zone was more sparsely wooded, with low pine trees that he could see between. It was just this one area where they had set up camp that had the worst visibility.


    But when Karl thought about that, he realized that their zone didn''t actually cover the most likely spots for the monsters to hide. It was rugged terrain, and a difficult spot to get to them, but most creatures would naturally go for the steeper cliffs, or therger trees, and not the region they were searching, where the ground was too rocky for dense forest.


    "How do these work zones get picked?" Karl whispered to Doug, who was in front of him in the line.


    "Grid squares on the map. We get a number when we are drawn or hired for the mission, and then the numbers are assigned to blocks on the map. We got a fairly easy one this time, no climbing gear required, and no huge bodies of water to traverse.


    But that also means that the monsters will naturally move through here. They don''t usually hide, they go looking for food, fights or whatever it is that motivates them." The cleric whispered back.


    That made sense. Karl had misunderstood the situation, the monsters weren''t hiding and trying to build their numbers, they were just doing as they pleased, and that meant in the case of the Goblins, they were looking for loot.


    They loved shiny things more than your average crow did, and they were happy to kill to get them.


    [Big Green things!] Hawk cheered as he spotted something in the distance.


    "Big green things, Hawk says, straight ahead." Karl warned the others.


    Bob prepared his Guard ability, and the four wood Golems were called out, as well as Thor, while Rae napped after working all night.


    The crashing noise of the creatures chasing an amused Hawk back in their direction was unmistakable, and Karl immediately wondered what the bird had done to annoy them. He could fly, surely they didn''t think that they were going to catch him if they had just spotted him.


    Then Hawk came into sight, and everyone saw the young Goblin in his ws. It was still alive and iling, and the crashing was getting louder.


    "Hobgoblins." Bob warned as the creatures came into sight, nked by another dozen Goblins.


    Hawk rotated upward, as if avoiding the humans, and threw the small goblin back at its tribe, but hit it with a Rend for good measure before it made it back to the ground.


    The Hobgoblins flew into a rage, smashing at the trees, the ground and anything in sight before spotting Bob and the other humans.


    "Groopata!" Thergest of them screamed as it charged at them, and the warrior shook his head.


    The Hobgoblin''s club hit Bob''s guard right as Karl hit the monster with a [Shred] attack that took its head off, and two lightning attacks stunned and burnt the smaller goblins.


    Thor charged past Bob, spearing a hobgoblin through the legs with his upper horns, then throwing him into the air for Hawk to tear apart.


    The Goblin tribe began to scatter as the Lightning Cerro charged into the middle of them, but they had no sense of organization, and the two mages were quickly picking them off with small attacks, while the Golems spread out to keep them from nking the group.


    Thor circled back to make another pass as the Hobgoblins, while the mages focused lightning on the small goblins, who couldn''t survive even the lightest of chain lightning attacks from the twins.


    Karl stepped to the side so he could hit one of the Hobgoblins with Shred as Bob blocked its attack again, letting the club hit his shield and saving his energy by not extending [Guard] to cover the whole area.


    That was the end of the tribe, and the group moved quickly to check the bodies, in case the noise had brought any other threats their way.


    "Whole lot of nothing. A few bits of gold jewellery and some gemstones. It will sell well when we get back, but not useful now." Doug noted as they finished.


    He cast some sort of spell on the group, and Karl began to feel refreshed, as if he had just had a good nap and a long shower.


    That wasn''t what he had expected from their cleric, but it was a very wee surprise.

 Chapter 163 Neighbours

    <h4>Chapter 163 Neighbours </h4>


    Bob led the group forward again, toward the ridgeline, where they could hear the sound of trees being broken, and asional shouting. There was no doubt that their target was there, and that they would be able to find it without much work.


    He had already nned theirbat strategy to have Rae held in reserve for evening watches, so the current formation was the golems surrounding the casters, with Karl in the rear and Thor at his right nk.


    The Lightning Cerro made an impressive shield on his own, and having him on the warrior''s sword side kept him from getting charged while he was fighting with his back turned.


    For a young beast, Thor had proven to be remarkably well adapted tobat strategy, and he seemed to instinctively know what to do.


    That was actually mostly Karl and Thor giving him insights into the situation and letting him make his own decisions, but the remainder was just his pure love for smashing things.


    Hobgoblins, smashing poles and barriers had a lot inmon.


    "Everyone ready, there is a fight ahead, and we don''t know who the other parties are." Bob warned the rest of the group as they approached the ridge.


    The deep bellows should be an ogre, or possibly two of them, but the others weren''t making any sounds that would give away their species.


    If they were lucky, the Ogre would havee across an aggressive predator and both would be half dead when the group arrived to finish them off. But that was a lot of luck to ask for.


    He led them over the ridge, and Karl sensed Thor''s joy as Hawk circled back to the immediate fight instead of scouting in the distance to make sure they didn''t miss anything.


    There were more people here. New people, including ones in white. The ones in white knew just how to rub his head ridges, Thor informed Karl smugly, as if he was a neglectful master.


    "The Cerro is with us." Bob shouted as he levelled his shield in front of himself and charged at the back of the group.


    Three ogres were leading a party of lizardmen against another of the five-man teams, and the numeric advantage had put the humans on the defensive.


    Thor put his head down and bowled over the lizardmen before spearing an ogre with his front horn in a ce where no man would ever want to be speared. The ogre screamed in pain, but he was lifted onto his toes by the Cerro, and couldn''t turn to effectively hit him.


    Karl and Hawk both threw a barrage of [Rend] attacks at the giant humanoid, who was wearing crude leather pants and what looked like a ttened cook pot as chest armour.


    It was no match for the attacks, and blood began to flow freely from the wounds before Thor flipped his head to the side and dropped the ogre on the ground.


    He was under attack from both sides, and he lifted his tail to smash.


    "Earthquake iing." Karl warned, just in time for Bob to jump into the air before the skill activated and destabilized the lizardmen warriors.


    "Nice skill." One of the twinsughed as she threw a pair of fireballs into the lizards, burning scales off and clearing the area around Thor.


    The other team of Elites was regrouping, while engaged in battle with the other two ogres. The sudden reversal had taken the monsters by surprise, and the lizardmen weren''t sure which group to deal with first, as their leader had been taken out entirely incidentally by one of the fireballs.


    Karl turned to the left as he sensed something hostileing his way.


    Activating Refreshing Lightning to surround himself caused an obsidian dagger to nce off his throat as another group of monsters rushed out of the trees, screaming in Goblin.


    The small green monsters were going to be a real nuisance, but Hawk was already moving downward on a strafing run, preparing to bathe them in fire, and the two wood Golems on that side were moving to intercept.


    Karl sent a wave of [Rend] flying at the Goblins with his sword, and the front-line hit the ground, ducking underneath to save their lives, but leaving the second rank unaware of the imminent danger.


    The attack sliced them clean in half, and the ones behind them as well, but there were still moreing out of the trees and into Hawk''s stream of fire.


    He pped hard and moved back up to fifty metres in the air to get out of easy ranged attack range, but that put him in position to see more iing enemies.


    [Twenty more scaly people behind the Goblins.] He warned.


    [Check the other side as well. I think we walked into a trap.] Karl cautioned.


    "More lizardmen areing behind the Goblins, like they''re herding them to us." Karl warned as the cowardly little beasts halted and tried to run away from the wall of mes.


    The second group of humans was moving toward them, running past where Thor was fending off thest Ogre with his tail, using Earthquake directly on the creature''s chest to send it flying. Their warriors were wounded, and they only had one mage and one cleric with them, but the cleric was a student from the Seminary Academy.


    He looked utterly terrified to be out here, but he had to be at least Awakened Rank to have been sent on this mission, and once he saw Doug, he began to gather his wits and remember his training.


    The two of them were enough to heal the minor wounds that the warriors had, but the mage was looking exhausted from keeping up defensive spells.


    The Goblins and Lizardmen fell back, regrouping just like the humans were, while their reinforcements arrived.


    For a moment, it looked like the Ogre that Thor hit with [Earthquake] was going to get up, but as soon as it moved, it began coughing up blood and copsed again, unwilling to try moving until its natural healing had more time to work.


    Bob assessed the situation. "I count twenty lizardmen in total, some wounded. Under thirty goblins left, all terrified, and no more ogres. Mages, keep up the pressure with the fire spells, but don''t burn too much mana.


    Thor,e to me and defend against frontal attacks. Karl and Hawk can deal with the attack side."


    Hawk was good with that. The lizardmen couldn''t throw those spears high enough to hit him.


    Rae woke up while they were catching their breath, and looked out at the battlefield.


    [You guys went wild while I was asleep. Which spot is mine?] She asked.


    [You can take the left nk of the lizardmen. Hawk will attack from the right, and I will back you up. But most of our attacks will be going toward the middle, where their numbers are denser.]


    Rae appeared behind a tree on Karl''s left and adapted her short fur to match the tree bark.


    "Rae is on the left." Karl warned the others.


    The mages ryed the meaning to the others in a whisper that the monsters wouldn''t hear, and both sides prepared to attack.


    [They''re going to charge.] Thor warned, just as the Lizardmen shouted something and the Goblins did exactly that.


    They were met with a barrage of spells from the mages, while Karl and Thor aimed for the taller Lizardmen. They were the ones giving the orders, and the best fighters of the group.


    Then Rae attacked, piercing two with her forelegs while biting the head off another, and the new arrivals screamed in terror. The warriors visibly steeled their resolve for a hard fight, not quite grasping that Rae was on their side, but Karl''s attacks were precisely where they needed to be, keeping the other lizardmen from being able to get close enough to properly attack Rae while she fought three on one.


    One was already dead, but he had been reced with another, and the two who had taken her forelimb spikes through the chest were fading fast as Lacerate prevented them from stopping the bleeding.


    A limb shed out, leaving a long but shallow wound on the fresh target, and it began to gush blood, leaving the creature suddenly weakened to the point of dropping its spear.


    Karl finished the three with Rend, and Hawk worked on the other side with Shred and fireballs.


    The monsters were effectively surrounded, but they were determined, and the remaining lizardmen charged through the burning grass into the line of warriors and Thor, who threw one high in the sky before thinking about his target.


    "INCOMING!" Doug warned as a flying lizardman crashed into the group of casters.


    It wheezed as it tried to get to its feet, but Doug was faster, clubbing it on the head and knocking it out, so the mages could finish it off with magic arrows.

 Chapter 164 Odd Alliances

    <h4>Chapter 164 Odd Alliances </h4>


    The fight wound down as thest of the Lizardmen was killed by the concerted efforts of the warriors, and the second team copsed onto the ground in relief.


    "You have no idea how thankful we are you showed up when you did. The attack seemed to go on forever, they just kepting." The team leader thanked Bob with a tired smile.


    "No problem. It''s right at the edge of our territory for the search, and we heard the fight. There are more, unless you killed some ogres before we arrived. Our scout spotted at least ten ogres this morning around our zone, and there are only three here." He replied.


    This battle still left them with plenty of questions, like if Hawk''s description of big green things were all Lizardmen, or a mix of them and Hobgoblins. The fact that the lizardmen had pressured the Goblins into working for them wasn''t too surprising, but allying with the ogres was.


    The two were both powerful in their own right, and they were notorious for not sharing well.


    Seeing them in the same spot was unusual, but if they had all arrivedst night, then they hadn''t had time to stake their territories yet, and there would be some level of power struggle between the species as they worked to establish themselves.


    Doug brought over a water skin for the others, and motioned for them to stay seated.


    "Catch your breath, maybe get a bite to eat before you move out again. We''ve got to keep going and search our zone, but we will wait here until you''ve recovered a bit." The cleric assured them.


    "We will call in the incident. If things got that bad for us, then the other groups need to be warned as well. With two groups working together it was easy enough, but solo, they could be in trouble, and I heard that we''re not the only ones who have a student with us." The other team leader informed them.


    Doug nodded and gestured toward Karl. "We have one with us as well. The Beast Master, whose Cerro thinks that lizardmen arewn darts."


    Karl chuckled and Thor looked embarrassed. The warriors weren''t too worried about it, and they patted him on the side in assurance that they weren''t upset.


    But when Rae returned to stand behind Karl, the others were visibly concerned.


    "This is Rae. She''s the ambush attacker of the team. Effective, isn''t it?" Karl asked.


    "Beyond effective. One scratch and that lizardman warrior nearly bled out. Is that [Lacerate]?" The mage from the new group wondered.


    "Indeed it is. I hadn''t thought that it would be so effective, but I have underestimated her skills many times in the past." Karl agreed.


    Bob nodded. "We all do. The bloodbath spiders are a force to be reckoned with, and Rae is talented well beyond the average. She even made us a safe fortst night so that nothing could sneak up on us."


    The student cleric looked like he might cry at that bit of news. "Safe ces to sleep? That''s unfair. We were attacked five timesst night."


    If you counted every monster that was caught in thes, Karl''s team had likely seen more attacksst night, but none of them got close enough to bother them until thest one in the morning.


    "The appearance was a few hours before dawn this time, so if you clear the area around your camp well, then you should have it fairly easy for the first part of the night." Bob suggested, running a hand through his short ck hair in concern as he thought of ways to make a secure camp.


    "Thanks. I think that we will move tonight. There is a nice cave in our area, and that only has one entrance, which should be easy enough to block off. From experience, the monsters usually don''t appear right on top of anything else that''s living."


    The second group leader ate a protein bar in a few mouthfuls and got his team back on their feet.


    "Good luck out there. We have handhelds, set to channel six if you need to contact us on the shortwave radio." He reminded Bob, who nodded and took a small radio out of his pocket to change the channel.


    "We will monitor channel six as well. Stay safe."


    The two groups went their separate ways, and Hawk began to scout the route ahead, looking for monsters that might be near their route, but not quite on it. Now that Rae was awake, she joined him, rushing off into the trees to see what she could find, but only after using the leather vest of a lizardman to clean the blood off her legs.


    Karl''s group left all the possible loot to the other group, partially because it was in their area, but mostly because they would need something to pick up their spirits after having a close call in the wilderness.


    Once they were well away from the other group, Doug stepped back to walk beside Karl.


    "I hope you''re not all rattled by the situation back there. Things like that sometimes happen, and it doesn''t always have the best oue. You know how it is, we might be Elites, but when ites to taking care of monster threats, we''re still the low men on the scrotum pole." The Cleric exined.


    Karl gave him a curious look at the unfamiliar phrase, and the magesughed.


    "What he means is we don''t have the power or the seniority, so we get screwed. If it were a more valuable group out here, they would have sent artillery and conventional troops with us. You know, keep us safe.


    But we''re not famous or particrly wealthy, and power makes the world go round." One of the twins exined.


    Bob cleared his throat. "Come on now, no need to scare the newbie. Besides, give him another year, and he will likely be up with the Commanders, drinking fine whisky and choosing the teams to go with."


    Doug shrugged. "It''s just part of life. The strong rule the weak. But we''re all civilized, so it''s not as obvious as it is with the animals. If you want to find out how benevolent the world really is, try to directly say no to one of their requests."


    Karl smiled and patted the priest on the shoulder. "I seem to recall ying a simr game with the foreman at the mines. He would promise something in exchange for added productivity, usually a time and a quarter pay bonus for the day, and we would do just enough to get it done.


    But Dragons help you if you failed because they would dock you for every imagined infraction that month."


    The Cleric smirked back. "The Green Dragons always like it when people understand how things work. Perhaps you''re more in tune with nature because of your ss? Or perhaps your ss is because you understand how things work a bit better than the average? I have a theory that the markings are actually perfectly suited to everyone who gets them, and that some people just can''t ept that aspect of themselves."


    "That''s an interesting way of looking at it. But you might be right. I think the hard part is telling the ones who aren''t all that good at their ss that they likely wouldn''t be better at another.


    You''re all Ascended Rank, I believe, so you''re not at the very bottom, but there are seniors at the Academy who have barely broken into Awakened Rank. They wouldn''t take it well."


    The mages smiled at him. "That''s why we''re hoping to push for Commander after this mission. If we can get a decent resource or two, maybe something that helps with growth, we should be able to make it past the test.


    There aren''t nearly as many Commanders as there are Ascended Elites, and they get a lot more respect. They also get the better resources. There is a whole collection of Commander Rank resources that are nearly impossible to get for anyone else."


    Karl nodded in understanding. "Well then, I hope that wee across something beneficial. It''s always good to have friends in high ces."


    Their joking was interrupted by Rae returning silently and spinning a web across the trees in the direction that she arrived from.


    [There are more Ogresing. They will be here in a few seconds.] She warned.


    [They saw you?] Karl asked.


    [No, Hawk threw a tree monkey at them.]

 Chapter 165 Hawk Being Hawk

    <h4>Chapter 165 Hawk Being Hawk </h4>


    "There are ogres iing. Everyone in position to defend from the direction of the web." Karl warned the group.


    "Already? I wasn''t expecting to find another group of monsters for hours. They have a habit of wandering out of your path as you search for them." Doug muttered.


    Thor gave a softugh, well aware of what was going on, and the Cleric immediately became suspicious.


    "They lured them to us, didn''t they? It won''t be Thor, he would have just made noise. So is it Rae or Hawk that got bored and wanted to fight more?" The cleric wondered.


    Karl gave him a startled look, which made the othersugh.


    "You will find that he''s pretty good with all things nature, including both nts and animals." Bob informed him.


    The stomping sound of ogres was apanied by the shrieking of monkeys, and the sound of Hawk''s screech as he taunted the giant monsters.


    "What in the world is the bird doing? Did I just see him throw a tree monkey at an ogre?" Danni asked, pointing at Hawk as he flew overhead.


    They were in a sparsely treed area, where Hawk could easily attack from overhead, and the group could defend themselves without anything getting in the way, but with enough growth around for the wood Golems to easily grab weapons.


    "Most likely. It''s one of his favourite tricks to taunt monsters. He actually learned it from the tree monkeys, but he uses them as projectiles, instead of throwing nuts and sticks at people." Karl exined as the ogres stormed into sight and Hawk settled into the branches of a tree behind them.


    The enraged monsters almost looked grateful for a moment, like they were thinking that the Hawk had lured them here to kill the humans, but then it turned to hatred for the humans, and they pulled out their weapons to attack.


    None of the des looked all that special, but there was a ring on one of their fingers that Rae and Hawk both recognized as magic.


    With only three targets, the flurry of spells that came from the human team was overwhelming, and the ogres stumbled to a stop even before Thor hit them with an earthquake and knocked them to the ground to be finished off.


    "That was easier than expected." Bob sighed as he realized that the monsters weren''t even going to make it to him this time.


    "I think they''re on the weaker side of Awakened. Is that normal? I thought that the ogres were supposed to be nearly Ascended." Karl asked.


    Everyone turned to Doug for an answer, and he just shrugged. "It varies. There are strong and weak ones, but I don''t know enough about them to tell them apart. But what is that magical ring? That might be a useful item for someone."


    Danni walked over and used her dagger to cut the finger containing the ring off the Ogre, then slid the ring free and wiped it clean on arge leaf.


    "There is some sort of inscription on it. Give me a moment and I think that I can trante it. It should be written in the ancient Arcanenguage." She exined.


    It took her a few minutes to decipher the faded inscription, but when she did, she had to resist the urge tough.


    "It is a magical item that is supposed to increase wisdom. Either it is broken, or he was in the running for the world''s dumbest person to chase Hawk into a trap." She joked.


    Bob shrugged. "It increases wisdom, not intelligence. He figured out that Hawk wanted him to follow easily enough. He just wasn''t smart enough to realize that we were too strong for him to handle."


    The mage slid the ring over her wrist like a bangle, and frowned as she didn''t feel any discernible difference.


    "Well, it might add up. Maybe it is a long-term thing that will help with your mana growth." Doug suggested.


    Once the bodies were cleaned of anything valuable, Doug cast a spell that caused them to sink into the ground, letting the forest absorb them as nutrients instead of leaving the obvious and rotting corpses out to attract more monsters and stink up the area.


    "This is going to be a long mission, isn''t it?" Karl sighed as Hawk updated him on the nearby monsters.


    There were more than a few, and at least three groups of Goblins, one of which Hawk was taking care of now.


    Doug gave him a soft smile. "They always are. But once we have cleared the area, tomorrow shouldn''t be as heavy, and then it will just be maintenance. Some days we will barely get anything in an entire zone, and some days will be like this, where we will get dozens of them."


    Bob led them toward a group of Goblins, while Rae joined Hawk in searching out the final group that he had identified. The Common Rank creatures were no threat to the two of them, and they could move through the forest much faster than the humans.


    It was just the more powerful monsters that everyone was worried about, but Karl knew firsthand that if the Goblins weren''t dealt with, they would be an existential threat to the regr townsfolk.


    A single pair of fireball spells took out the small Goblin camp, and Bob paused a moment to mark the location on his map. They were almost to the far side of their zone already, and it was time to start turning back so they would get to their fort before dark.


    Hawk and Rae were still scouring the area, but something was off. The area was far too quiet. Where there had been a variety of monsters in the area at the start of the day, not even the small ones were around this area.


    Everyone could feel that something was off, but none of them could locate the source of the wrongness, and no matter how many times the two beasts circled the area, they didn''t find anything that would indicate what could be causing the Everyone could feel that something was off, but none of them could locate the source of the wrongness, and no matter how problem.


    Bob frowned in annoyance. "I will mark this area on the map for tomorrow. It might be a lingering problem, or something about the area''sposition that is scaring all the monsters away. We should keep moving, though. We need to finish our route before it gets dark."


    But the greatest travesty of the day was only now happening, and it was only when they reached the immediate vicinity of their fort that it became obvious.


    [Some thieving bastard stole my snacks!] Rae shouted in Karl''s mind as she searched her webs.


    She could smell another monster, and it hadn''t freed the creatures that had been trapped, it had taken advantage of her absence to kill them and take them for itself.


    "Keep your eyes open. Something looted Rae''s webs, and it might still be in the area." Karl warned the group.


    "That''s brave. It had to realize what or who those webs belonged to, and that they weren''t long abandoned. If it was desperate enough to loot them today, it''s likely starving." Doug noted.


    "Or it''s stupid and arrogant." Bob added.


    Doug smiled. "That''s always a possibility. But if ites back to check again while Rae is here, it''s in for a bad night. How much did it steal?"


    Karl waited for Rae to answer as she inventoried her loot and threw the bodies into the beast space.


    [Four webs, at least fifteen small monsters, all Common Grade, none of them Goblins.] She replied, outraged.


    "She says at least fifteen small Common Grade monsters." Karl ryed.


    For a moment, he thought that the mages were going to say something about those not being valuable creatures, but then they seemed to realize that Rae didn''t care about the danger level. She was nning to eat them, and someone had stolen her dinner right off her proverbial te.


    "So, it''s likely not a powerful creature, and it can navigate the webs well enough to not get entangled itself. We will have to watch for another spider tonight." Doug decided.


    "And make sure that our fort is secure before we enter. It might have tried to move in, or leave traps for us. Some forms of monstrous spiders have poisonous webs to weaken their prey." Bob added.


    Rae scurried up the tree and scented the area.


    [It didn''te up here. But I know the scent now, and I will find it if ites back to steal from me again.]


    "She says it''s clear, we can head up."

 Chapter 166 Late Start

    <h4>Chapter 166 Late Start </h4>


    Before they headed up to the fort, an irate Rae had finished checking her catch and returned to her space to have a nap before evening descended, and she went on guard to make sure that nobody else was going to steal from her.


    She had been active all day, so Karl didn''t begrudge her the rest. Thor was returning to his space as well, since he couldn''t climb to the fort, and Hawk had already settled into the nest he made in the fortst night.


    That might be the reason that nothing came up. It would have smelled like Hawk and humans to them, and that would be enough to repel most forms ofmon monsters.


    Even in her sleep, Karl could sense Rae''s annoyance. The thief was most likely just somemon grade monster who saw an opportunity and took it, but she took it very personally. In her space, there were no threats, and things stayed where she put them, so when someone looted her webs in the real world, she was not mentally prepared.


    Doug prepared dinner again, and Karl rxed against the wall of the fort as they all waited for the food to be ready.


    "Aren''t you afraid of falling?" One of the mages asked, and Karl opened his eyes to look their way.


    "Honestly, not really. It''s a strange thing, but I don''t have any sort of fear of heights. With the durability that I have, I likely wouldn''t suffer too badly if I did fall, but here with the wall at my back, it doesn''t concern me in the least." He replied with a shrug.


    "It''s got to be a ss thing. Even for the warriors, the fear of heights and sense of vertigo is inherited. Bob wouldn''t be seriously injured either, unless hended on his head, but even he stays closer to the middle of the." She exined.


    Hawk thought that the whole conversation was funny. Karl couldn''t fly, but a little fall wouldn''t hurt him.


    [Maybe you should grow wings.] Hawk suggested.


    [And how do you suggest that I do that?] Karl replied.


    [Attach them to your uniform. I saw a video of soldiers with a big round over their heads and they could float. Wings can''t be that much harder.] Hawk replied with absolute certainty.


    [That''s a parachute. It does let them float fairly well, but actually flying is harder for humans. We''re heavy.]


    Hawk lost interest when Karl announced that he wouldn''t be able to fly, but the idea was an intriguing one. If he had a hang glider or a squirrel suit like the extreme sports people on TV, he might actually be able to nearly fly, and attack monsters from the sky.


    Hawk would love it.


    They settled in for their usual watches after dinner, and at some point during the night, Rae woke up to patrol her webs because she was awake and in a much better mood when Karl was gently shaken awake for his watch.


    [Did you find something good on your web?] Karl asked as he sensed her change of mood.


    [I found a very good thing. The stupid thief is a Box Tree Spider family.] Rae replied.


    Karl wasn''t sure why that was a particrly good answer, so he thought about what he knew of the species. They were scavengers that blended in perfectly with tree bark and could tten their bodies to avoid detection.


    That was fairly benign.


    They were also a Common Grade spider, and barely considered a magical creature, as their only supernatural ability was their ability to disguise themselves so perfectly.


    Fortunately, Rae felt like exining.


    [I talked to them, and they''re very sorry for stealing from me. But we have an agreement. I will leave webs here for them to use, and exchange, they will keep anything from climbing up our tree while we are away. Then when we have to go for a long time, they can take over our den until we return.]


    That would likely end poorly for the box tree spiders when another group came here and saw the fort, but for some time, they would be able to live in peace, and the stronger webs that Rae made would trap prey much more effectively than the ones they could make themselves.


    They weren''t actually web building spiders, they were burrowing and hiding spiders, and they would either ambush the weak or scavenge other monsters'' kills.


    [I will warn the others when they wake up.] Karl informed her.


    It was a quiet morning, and by the time that the sun came up, there still hadn''t been arge-scale appearance of monsters. Karl was still dutifully watching, but there was nothing. Their area was only five kilometres in either direction, and he could see it all from here, but the spawn hadn''t happened at the same time.


    Slowly, the others woke up, and everyone turned to Karl for the morning update.


    "Nothing major to report. Rae has a working agreement with a group of Box Tree Spiders to look after the tree and the webs while we''re away, but the spawn hasn''t happened yet. I don''t see much of anything out there.


    There were a few small signatures we didn''t get to yesterday, but I haven''t seen any influx of monsters yet." He exined.


    "That''s fine. It''s not a precise thing. They will show up at some point today. We just need to keep watch on our area and keep the numbers down. If that means we leaveter in the morning, we will take advantage of that to get a bit more rest.


    Can you send Hawk out to scout the edge of the surrounding regions as well? Just in case everything spawned outside our area. If he sees anything, we can radio it to the other teams, so they''re not caught by surprise." Bob suggested.


    "I think so. From a thousand metres in the air, Hawk can see quite a distance, and he should be able to tell if there are anyrge monster groups moving through the surrounding zones.


    Five kilometres isn''t all that far for his eyesight, though he might not be able to track mice from that far away."


    That made Hawkugh a little. Indeed, five kilometres was too far to find mice from. But it was close enough, he would have no problem finding goblins and wolves. Ogres couldn''t hide from him even from twenty kilometres away unless they could hide under the canopy of the trees, and on one side, that wasn''t even an option.


    Hawk headed up to get a proper view of what was going on in the area, while Karl heard helicopters in the distance. The others didn''t seem to notice, but it was more than one, and they wereing from multiple directions.


    "Hey, how often does an area like this get supplies and reinforcements? Do they cycle through a portion of the people every few days?" He asked.


    "No, why? Normally, there wouldn''t be any more activity in the area until we leave." Doug replied.


    "There are multiple helicopters headed in this direction. Some from there, and more from here and here." Karl exined, gesturing toward the noises.


    "Can Hawk see them well enough to tell us what they look like?" Doug replied.


    "He can''t see them at all. I can hear them, though. If the seniors from the Academy had either a really good or bad time, they might ount for one or two of them, but they''reing from multiple directions." Karl informed the others.


    "That is strange. Perhaps there was a dy with some of the teams. Can Karl see anyone else in the area? Humans that is." Bob asked.


    [Three groups of humans are active in the distance. The ones we met yesterday, one between us and the camp, and one more on the far side of those, further down the river. I can see their campfire from here.]


    Karl ryed that and Bob nodded before answering. "There should be another group beside us, but there isn''t. It might be groups showing up a day behind.


    They might have just reused the same helicopters, so not everyone got picked up on the same day. To keep this level of control on the area needs a lot of people, and there are only so many Elites.


    Once they feel that it is under control, they will move us further apart withrger areas to cover."

 Chapter 167 Helpful Hawk

    <h4>Chapter 167 Helpful Hawk</h4>


    The surrounding teams were essentially hunting blind, as they had no reliable way to find the monsters within their zones, and they wouldn''t trust Hawk directly, but Bob had the answer for that.


    He ryed the scouted directions that Hawk had given them in rtion to the other groups, and they adjusted their search patterns to find the monsters that had eluded them.


    None of the zones had nearly as many monsters as yesterday, and with Hawk scouting, they could keep a constant eye on their zone for the moment when the spawn appeared.


    Doug smiled as Bob ryed another set of directions, moving a team just a little to the left to let them stumble upon a hidden enve of Lizardmen. The beasts were just as shocked as the humans, as they had thought that their hiding spot was imperceptible.


    Perhaps from ground level it was, but it was easily spotted from the sky.


    Hawk was loving his new role. He got to send people to go fight with whatever he wanted them to, and then watch the oue while he looked for more targets for him. It felt like he had be a King. The Royal Hawk, deciding the fate of the soldiers on the ground.


    But maybe that meant he was a General. Could he apply for Commander Rank because he was a good Commander? It certainly sounded logical to him.


    Karl just did his best to keep the bird on task, and not let him forget to keep scanning their own zone along with the upied surrounding areas.


    There was one side of their own zone that had no guards right now, but it also had very few monsters. If there wasn''t anyone going to that location, then Bob fully intended to have his group cover it tomorrow, but for now, it was an insignificant threat.


    The zone was on the far side of them from the nearest popted areas, so if they were going to threaten the towns, they would have to pass by the area that the group was protecting. But the few monsters there weren''t showing any signs of motion, they were just settling in to live daily lives, hunt for food and build camps.


    Then, just after lunch, the sound of helicopters returned. Three of therge transports were iing toward their position, flying slowly over the forest, as if scouting the area for threats.


    [Team Mackenzie, this is extraction four,e in. Please report your position.] The radio requested.


    That made no sense at all, and Karl quickly called Hawk and Rae back to their spaces before the iing helicopters could mistake them for threats.


    [This is Bob Mackenzie, we are at 18.3002¡ã N, 64.8252¡ã W. Currently engaged in ranged scouting from an elevated position.] Bob replied.


    [Prepare for extraction. We are relocating you to a priority zone.] The pilot replied.


    [Understood. There is a suitable clearing next to thergest Ironwood tree in the area. We will meet you there.]


    Bob looked at the group and shrugged. "Yesterday, this was the priority area. They know how heavy the attack was and that we almost lost a team, but today they''re relocating us. I don''t know what''s going on, but I get the feeling that it''s time to pay back a bit of our debts."


    Karl frowned. "Pay back our debts?"


    Doug smiled at him. "Inside joke. The politicians and billionaires all act like we owe them for funding the Academy, so every time they send us on a mission to nowhere, we refer to it as repaying our debts."


    The twin mages nodded. "Non-optional missions, they''re officially called. Most Elites get sent on one every two or three years. This will be our fourth, but we''ve just got that sort of luck."


    "Aren''t we already on an emergency call out?" Karl asked, trying to make sense of this dispatching system.


    "We are, and it makes no sense that we''re being moved. That''s not standard procedure, so either we were specifically requested, or something so extreme happened that this location no longer counts as an emergency.


    It could be that today''s spawn appeared in a different location, possibly closer to a town, or that the danger level of certain areas is much higher than yesterday, and they need more hands.


    They should tell us when we''re on the chopper, but they won''t say it over the radio, in case they panic the other teams, or leak information to foreign spies." Doug exined as he packed up his kit to head down thedder.


    In seconds, they were ready and headed down thedder, just as the helicopter came into sight. It was nearly impossible to miss their location, in the tallest tree for half a kilometre, next to a clearing, and the pilot brought it down for a smoothnding with the rear cargo door already open.


    If they had needed a sign that this was a rush operation, that was it, and the moment they were all on the ramp, it began to close, and the pilot brought them back up into the sky.


    It was a good thing that the beasts could all return to Karl''s space from a distance, as trying to round them up would have taken more time than this pilot was willing to wait, but the pilot wasn''t the real concern here.


    The Overlord Ranked General standing in front of them was.


    "Wee aboard, Elites. I am certain that you have questions that can wait until after I have finished briefing you." He began.


    "We have reviewed yourbat logs, and have determined that your group was misssified. Our records show that despite still having a member at the official Awakened Rank, and no Commander Rank leader, your group has disyedbat prowess that is in line with abined low Commander Rank scenario.


    Such a threat has evolved in the region, and you are being tasked to take it over, with other teams being sent to fill your zone, as well as the empty zones near you.


    Here is what we know so far.


    We have confirmation of the priority target Ettin Mage, but it is not at the Ascended Rank as first believed, it is a Commander Rank monster.


    The regr military units have been positioned to contain it, which has left holes in the defence, which still contain a number of Commander Rank threats, including Ogres and Hill Giants.


    Your team has both a Beast Master and a Golem Mage, who our data suggests should be capable of handling Ascended Rank threats unaided. So, with that in mind, we upgraded your team''s status.


    Is any of this unclear?"


    Karl shook his head in dismay, while the others answered verbally.


    "No, General."


    "Excellent. You will be under the leadership of the Bureau of Public Safety once you reach your target, we are only the transport and bearers of good news today. Now, expect heavybat from the moment that you arrive, the spawn today was heavier than usual, and the teams were already relocated." The General announced.


    The whole thing sounded like a bad joke to Karl, but there was still a chance that this could work out for them. High-grade food was vital to the rapid growth of the beasts, and Commander Rank meat wasn''t easy to get. A few giants and ogres would keep Rae and Hawk stocked for months, and they would just need to find something suitable for Thor.


    If everything went as anticipated, Karl believed that they could make it fully into the Ascended Rank before the mission was over, and then he would be considered on par with the rest of the team, not a charity case or a burden the next time that there was a mission.


    As they approached the area, Karl realized that the General hadn''t been joking about being under heavy attack from the moment that theynded. His sharp eyes could see that there was a group of Giants tracking the helicopter, running through the woods after them as the pilot announced thirty seconds to thending zone.


    "We''ve got Giants iing from the south. Bob, do you want Thor with you?" Karl asked as the door began to open.


    "Do it. Don''t send Hawk outside until the Helicopter leaves, though. Let the monsters chase just one flying target." The warrior agreed, determination shing in his grey eyes.


    The General looked shocked when Karl called Thor out onto the tform beside their lead warrior, and even more shocked when Rae came out to stand beside him at the back of the column.


    "GO GO GO!" Bob announced, jumping from the helicopter five metres from the ground.

 Chapter 168 Bestial Strength

    <h4>Chapter 168 Bestial Strength </h4>


    Karl grabbed the mages, one under each arm, while Doug jumped on Thor''s back as they leapt from the vehicle, right into a grassy clearing, where they could see the Giants approaching.


    Doug hopped off Thor''s back, and the Cerro spun around to smash an Earthquake with his tail, causing the giants to stumble, while the mages called out the Golems and erected barriers over the group, Thor and Rae included.


    Rae darted into the trees, moving to nk the attackers, while Karl threw a flurry of Rend attacks at the slowed Giants, and Bob created a circle of light around them that caused the Giants'' skin to bubble as if burned when they entered.


    He took the brunt of the first attack with his shield, nearly knocked to his knees, while Thor was slid backward as he parried with his upper horns.


    But then Rae was on the giant attacking Bob, clinging to his back and tearing out his throat with [Lacerate] before fleeing from any retaliation by the other monsters.


    The giant dropped his club to hold his throat, trying to keep the blood inside until he could heal, but that left his stomach open to Bob''s counterattack, which tore apart his lower belly.


    The Wood Golems moved up to join the fight, and Karl watched as the helicopter faded out of sight.


    That should be far enough that anything wanting to chase it was already gone, so he called on Hawk, and used [Shred] to deflect and slow the attacks of the giants.


    It was more effective than trying to cut through their thick hide, as his personal attack power was a bitcking, but with Hawk on the scene, that was about to change.


    Fireballs flew from the enraged bird into the small group of Hill Giants, blinding them and burning their faces, so they were defenceless as [Shred] and Rae''s [Lacerate] came for their necks and knees.


    Cutting the tendons in the leg joints caused the Giants to crumble down to a manageable height, and would prevent them from fleeing, while the exposed throats were a perennial favourite target of Hawk''s.


    There was more crashing in the treesing from behind them, and Karl turned to see a two-headed Ogreing their way.


    "Shit, I think that we found the Ettin Mage." He called.


    Doug looked back for an instant and frowned. "Take care of it. That''s not the one they warned us about, it''s not even full-grown yet."


    It was four metres tall, what did the cleric mean it wasn''t full-grown?


    But Karl turned to face it, using Rend to deflect its first attack over his head, and then the attacks from the second hand cut deeply into its side.


    Doug was right, this was an Awakened Rank beast. The skill had left it bleeding and gasping for breath through a copsed lung, until Rae made her way over and imed the heads as a trophy.


    [Coloneldy wanted heads.] She reminded Karl with a smug sense of victory in her mind.


    [Good job. Now, help Thor before someone breaks his scales.]


    That was unlikely to happen, the Giants hadn''t broken the barrier over him yet, but the twins were looking tired from the mana they were using to keep the barriers and Golems active as the Giants smashed them apart.


    Bob had taken another down, and Doug had cast a spell over Thor that made him glow with golden light. The warrior''s next attack shattered the knee of a Giant, and then the ball of Thor''s tail ttened the creature''s face as it tumbled to the ground.


    That left only two of the creatures, which were surrounded by the Golems, and desperately trying to keep Hawk and Rae away with wide sweeps of their clubs.


    It was a losing battle, and with a solid kick from a golem, the two Giants collided, and their timing was thrown off enough to allow the beasts to finish them off.


    Hawknded in a nearby tree, and Rae skittered over to Thor to drape herself over his back for support as she caught her breath.


    "Well, that sucked about as much as I had expected. Seven Ascended Hill Giants and one Awakened Ettin Mage, was it? I see that you''ve already collected the heads, but we can loot the others once we have had a chance to get our bearings." Bob announced.


    Karl was about to sit down, but a shiny rock in the hand of the Ettin mage caught his attention.


    He pulled the massive fingers apart and found a wand with arge ruby on top clutched securely in its palm. It looked to be very well-made, but he couldn''t read any of the lettering on it.


    "Ladies, I have found a wand. Take a look and see if it''s any good for you." He offered as he finally managed to remove it from the death grip of the Ettin.


    There was a pouch full of coins and rocks at its waist, but nothing else of use. Still, it was a wand, and that was better than anything else they''d found so far.


    Danni passed it to Donni, who was better with barriers, and she carefully examined the inscriptions.


    "Now this is a find. It''s a wand of Fireball. It has limited uses, but it is rechargeable. Think of it like prepaid magic." She exined.


    Rae pulled the Ettin''s body into her space and strung it up in a web forter, while the rest of the group began to disperse and check the bodies of the Giants.


    "We''re in the loot now, boys." Dougughed a few secondster.


    He had pulled a bag from a Giant''s waist, revealing arge amount of gold in the form of crude coins, as well as a magical dagger, that would be a proper sword in the hands of a human. Meanwhile, Bob had removed two magical rings from the Giants, and a pair of gauntlets that no human could wear.


    The mages were the only ones who could properly identify the items, as they were the only ones who could read thenguage of the inscriptions, but anyone could sense that they were magical items.


    Thor was uninterested in the majority of the loot, but there was a spiked helmet on one of the Hill Giant''s heads that he was staring at with longing.


    "Is the helmet magical?" Karl asked.


    "It is, but it''s huge. Unless we need a new cook pot, it would be a real pain to try to bring it with us." Doug replied.


    [I want it.] Thor insisted.


    Karl walked over, and intending to humour his Cerro, he removed the helmet from the Giant''s head.


    Thor thumped his tail down into the helmet and gave a soft bugle of joy as the impact seemed to mould it around the ball of his tail. A half dozen more hits, turning his tail as he did, and now his spiked tail had spiked metal armour around it.


    "Well, that''s one way to do it." Bobughed.


    "If it makes him happy, armour is armour." Doug agreed.


    [Metal smashing tool.] Thor dered.


    Karl continued to search the bodies, piling up the gold and gems that they were carrying. It would be split between the group members when they finished the mission, and ten kilos of gold was noughing matter. You could buy a very nice house in the city, or three in a town like Karl grew up in with that much gold, and that didn''t even count the gems.


    If they were going to keep sending him on missions with rewards this good, Karl wasn''t going toin at all about being asked to fight.


    With the rest of the loot sorted, Karl picked up the metal gauntlets that one of the Giants had been wearing. He was admiring the craftsmanship when Doug came over and pointed to the inscription on the cuff.


    "Gauntlets of Bestial Strength. That''s why that first attacker hit Bob so hard it nearly folded him." He exined.


    Karl stuck his hand inside, wondering what it took to activate the ability.


    Then, with a sh of golden light, the gauntlet shrunk, and the second one appeared on Karl''s other hand, perfectly sized to his body.


    "What was that? How did you do that?" Doug gasped.


    Karl could only give him a confused look, and marvel at the power that he could feel flowing from him to his pets through the gauntlets. His own strength felt massively improved, but the effect wasn''t just on him, it was increasing the strength of his partners as well.


    "Well, I guess I''m keeping these. You can take it out of my share." Karlughed in delight as the feeling of overwhelming power flowed through him.

 Chapter 169 Ogre Cave

    <h4>Chapter 169 Ogre Cave</h4>


    The loot was quickly split between bags, with Karl and Bob carrying the gold, while the others picked an item to either wear or put in their bag. The Wand of Fireball was hung from a belt, while the oversized rings were dangling from nes, which the others assured Karl was close enough to activate their abilities.


    They weren''t major magical items, and they were all to increase strength, which was the only thing that the Giants truly valued. But whenpared to the base strength of a petite mage, it was a considerable increase.


    The extra strength would make it easier to move through the woods, especially with their gear on their backs, and it would leave them less exhausted at the end of the day.


    [I think I found the hiding spot of the Ogres. There is a cave over here, carved into a hillside.] Hawk informed Karl after a few minutes of searching.


    "Well, we''ve got our next target. There is a cave in the hills that Hawk thinks has Ogres. Are we all ready for this?" Karl asked.


    The group collectively sighed and prepared to move out. They were going to have to put in work to clear a zone in half a day, as it wouldn''t be safe to rest overnight if they didn''t. Normally, it wouldn''t be an issue, but there was the underlying knowledge that they coulde across a Commander Rank beast in this area, it was explicitly stated when they were assigned here.


    None of them had much experience with that, and never before in a group that didn''t have a Commander Rank leader.


    Bob followed the direction that Karl pointed, and then spotted Hawk circling over the cave. That was enough to guide them to their target, with Rae and Thor sticking close to the group, in case there was something that Hawk missed or failed to mention.


    As they approached, the stench of unwashed bodies assailed their nostrils, and the sound of arguing in an unknownnguage slowly became audible.


    "Golems first. Attack them and draw them back out." Bob whispered as the cave came into sight. There were definitely either Giants or Ogres in there, the only question was how many and how strong were they.


    Rae settled into the grass next to Karl, who was hiding behind a tree like the rest of the team as the Golems approached the cave.


    The stomping noise of therge Wood Golems was unmistakable, and Karl heard the roars of rage that something dared to approach the cave that the monsters had imed as their own.


    A massive club came flying out of the cave entrance with such force that it knocked a Golem to the ground and continued on to shatter a tree to Karl''s left.


    "Shit. I think we found our Commander Rank Giant." Bob whispered.


    [Rae, circle behind the cave entrance, so you can attack the back of whateveres out. Getting hit with one of those clubs won''t end well, so wait for thest of them toe out, and make sure you can retreat up the cliff if they turn on you.] Karl instructed.


    The Golem was rapidly repairing itself as Danni poured mana into it, and Donni hadyered them with a fresh barrier, while Doug cast that enhancement spell again, making the golems look moreplete and armoured.


    Six giants rushed out of the cave, bent over at the waist to fit through the entrance, and the Golems attacked, striking them with vine whips while Hawk attacked from overhead, raining [Shred] attacks down on them.


    Thest one out was half grown, only a littlerger than a Lizardman, or twice the size of Bob. That was Rae''s sign to attack, and with a deft pull of her web, she roped the monster by the throat and pulled it up into the air, out of the reach of its kin.


    It couldn''t even make a noise as it was abducted, but the Giants were too busy to notice anyhow, as that was the moment that Bob chose to charge.


    "Forward!" He shouted, charging with Thor at his side.


    The mages and Doug didn''t leave the trees, but Karl moved up into the open, where he could get a clear line of attack on the Giants while they were engaged with the oversized Wood Golems.


    Multiple Rend attacks kept the Giants annoyed and distracted, so they couldn''t focus on the iing forms of Bob and Thor. The muscr scaled body of Thor mmed into the one on Karl''s right, and a twist of his head took the Giant''s legs out from underneath him, dropping the massive monster on its back, where it was pummelled by a Golem, while two more tried to push the attackers back so it could regain its footing.


    But that left them vulnerable to Hawk, and the wounds were rapidly adding up, weakening them.


    The first of the Golems was smashed out of existence a few secondster, and thergest of the Giants turned on Bob, smashing at him with its club.


    He rolled to the side, narrowly avoiding the strike, but keeping his [Guard] barrier intact.


    [Rae, when you see an opening, help Bob. Hawk, help Thor.] Karl instructed.


    Thor was fighting two Giants, while two Golems worked to kill the prone Giant, and thest Golem was barely holding on in a two on one fight against the Giants.


    Karl focused on that fight, putting all his power into [Shred] which shimmered with power as [Offensive Optimization] altered the spell to better cut through the target.


    The strike caught one of the Giants across the face, blinding it in one eye and leaving a gaping sh from its ear to the middle of its chest, but the creature didn''t seem to even register the pain, and the wound was slowly closing already.


    That wasn''t good. If he couldn''t do enough damage, it would just heal and keep fighting until the mages were exhausted and the Golems dropped.


    A shrill shriek filled the air as Rae came hurtling past Karl''s face, involuntarily headed for the cliff.


    She twisted at thest instant, but Karl could see that she was injured, and limping on the left side.


    A nce left showed that the Commander Rank Giant was in much worse shape, and she had nearly torn his heart from his chest when shended on his back, but the Giant had managed to grab her and throw her before Bob could stop him.


    Green healing light glowed around her body as Doug took action, and a barrier shimmered back to life around her body, bringing the Bloodbath Spider back into the fight. Sheunched herself off the rock face back at the Giant, who turned to swat her away, only narrowly missing when she used her web to pull herself to the ground.


    The move turned his back on Bob, and the Warrior glowed with golden light for an instant as he drove his de into the creature''s chest from behind, using the gap in the creature''s armour that Rae had torn.


    The de sunk in up to the hilt, and silently, the creature toppled over forward,nding on the grass with a thump that seemed to freeze time for an instant as the others realized their leader was dead.


    With him gone, they had lost their strongest chance at winning, and now there were two more attackers free to rescue the beleaguered Golem, while Thor fended off the attacks of two others.


    Both his Lightning Barrier and Donni''s magical barriers were being broken and renewed every few seconds, but the Giants were bruised everywhere and limping, while bleeding from multiple puncture wounds.


    The prone Giant was finished, and the fight was over in the next few seconds, as the survivors of the Giant n were surrounded and torn apart by Golems and [Lacerate] attacks.


    "Head count." Bob called.


    "No injuries in the back lines." Doug called back.


    "Minor wounds on my side." Karl replied.


    With a smile and a sigh, the warrior sunk to the ground, still enveloped in healing light.


    Doug made his way forward, looking much older than he had a few minutes ago, a weariness that could only havee from mana exhaustion.


    "The mages are barely mobile. We need to find a safe spot to hide for the night." The cleric informed his brother.


    "Get them loaded onto Thor if we have to. Staying here is too dangerous. We will go a kilometre or so, and then find a spot. Can Hawk scout for us?" Bob asked.


    Hawk was already started, so Karl nodded, and began to check the Giants for loot.


    There was absolutely nothing on them but their weapons and crude armour, which was now utterly destroyed.


    There might be something in the cave for them to take, but Karl got the feeling that these Giants didn''t have much to take in the first ce.


    "I will check the cave and meet you here in a minute. Thor, help thedies onto your back. They need the help to get to camp." Karl informed the others.


    Doug gave him a weary thumbs up as he copsed back to back with Bob, not even having the energy to go back to where the mages were sitting.


    They hade much closer to death than anyone was willing to admit, and even one more minute ofbat would have left the castersatose, while the front line was left on its own with no healing and little ranged support.

 Chapter 170 New Fort

    <h4>Chapter 170 New Fort </h4>


    Karl checked the cave, and gathered the few coins that the Giants had gathered. There were numerous trophies in the cave, along with rancid meat and an incredible number of bones, but nothing of real value.


    He shook his head as he returned to the group and noticed that Rae had moved the Commander Rank Giant into her web as a trophy, and then helped the mages up onto Thor''s back.


    "How are you still mobile? You burned as much mana as I did, and I''m half dead here." Doug asked as Karl helped him to his feet.


    "Refreshing Lightning. It''s Thor''s specialty. It recovers stamina and mana, with a slow healing effect. While I burned a lot of mana, I also recovered most of what I used. I don''t have a skill that uses significantly more than the lightning barrier recovers, so it takes a while before I''m burnt out.


    Thor is the same way, he can go half the day at full output if he doesn''t get hurt too badly."


    Thor was still limping, and some of his scales had cracks, but he was in better shape than the mages, who looked grateful for the lift.


    Karl slung their packs across Thor''s upper pair of horns, and Bob helped Doug get mobile again.


    The casters had taken the worst of the exhaustion, while Bob had taken a heavy beating. Rae was still in rough shape, and she retreated into her space to rest and recover, while Hawk scouted for a good spot to hide for the night.


    They were just starting to leave when onerge ogre with a stupid smile on his face walked into the camp, holding a dead Iron Tusk Boar by its hind legs.


    It looked very proud of itself, and it was calling out for the Giants, until it finally registered what was going on.


    Karl stepped forward, sword in hand, and lopped its head off from ten metres away with a single [Shred] attack.


    "I''ve had quite enough fighting for one day, but I''m keeping that boar." He muttered as he tossed the carcass into the space for Hawk, or for the group to cookter.


    [I''ve got a spot. Not quite a kilometre, but up in a good tree. As long as Rae is up for it.] Hawk suggested.


    [Not too far up a tree. I will have to carry the mages up thedder.] Karl reminded him.


    [Got it. It''s still a good spot.]


    It was slow-going for the first few minutes, but Doug was slowly recovering, thanks to his own magic refreshing him, and Bob didn''t have to support him anymore.


    Hawk had picked them another Redwood tree, but this time they weren''t going to the top, just up far enough that the Giants wouldn''t be able to get to them.


    It would still be quite the climb, but Rae was feeling a bit better after a half hour of rest, and she was ready to make another fort.


    "Just keep it simple. We''re going to have to move on again in the morning, and I don''t know if we will be back. Just enough to let us sleep in peace." Karl reminded her.


    Today''s version was much smaller than the opulent fort she had made thest time, but it was big enough for them all toy down, and it was well hidden far enough up the tree that the Giants wouldn''t be able to hit them unless they threw their clubs.


    Doug had a n to prevent that as well. He used his magic to create a set of herbs that he scattered over the floor of the fort, and on the ground around the tree.


    "That will mask our scent for the night. If Karl and Bob carry the mages up, we can get dinner in us and sleep. Same watch schedule as usual." Doug exined.


    The magesined, but didn''t actually stop the two from picking them up on one hip and carrying them up thedder. It was a bit tricky to climb with just one hand and carrying an extra burden, but they were fairly light, and as soon as Karl was in the fort, Thor returned to his space for the night.


    Bob gave the group a weak smile. "I guess we can confirm that this group has Commander Rank battle power now. I have sent in the battle results and location to the battlefield Command, but they haven''t responded yet.


    There were too many battles today for them to process them all right away, but we should have some good rewardsing to us when we get home. Now we just hope that the next time wee across a cave full of Giants, it''s not that messy."


    "Amen to that. We had the Dragon''s own luck to make it out of that without losing any gear." Doug agreed.


    Karl''s regretful sigh reminded the others that he wasn''t as experienced as they were in the wilderness.


    "In case of emergency, we have a potion that will give us a burst of energy. Not mana, just physical energy. The idea is that you drop all the weight you can and run if you have to use it. Flee and live to fight another day. But that normally means losing all your gear."


    Karl nodded his head. "Well, it''s better than being dead anyhow. I will have to put more effort into verifying what sort of threat we are facing. This one was in a cave, and it''s not like Hawk can fly in and check it out, but I probably should have had him at least try to do a head count or something."


    Doug patted him on the back. "Don''t feel bad about it,d. We knew it was going to be a hard fight, and we came out on top. There shouldn''t be too many more fights like that during the mission, and with the practice and experience oftenes breakthroughs.


    I don''t know what it is about practical experience, but it grows an Elite''s powers faster than anything else. That''s part of the reason that we keep volunteering toe help Bob all the time.


    Did you know that back in the Academy, he wasn''t considered anything special? He graduated as an Awakened warrior, and only made Ascended the year after.


    Now, he''s almost to Commander Rank, as we all are.


    Just keeping at the training instead of letting our skills atrophy has done more for us than years in the Academy did. It''s a lot further from Ascended to Commander than it is from Awakened to Ascended, after all."


    The Cleric knew just how to set a mind at ease, and Karl nodded in agreement, which turned into a tired head bob that he barely caught before he nodded off.


    Dinner was still on the way, and going to bed hungry would just make him sluggish if there was a fight in the middle of the night.


    The meal was one of silently eaten ration packs, as creating food would take excess energy, and Doug was already exhausted.


    "Hawk will keep watch with you. Hawk, wake up Rae before you sleep. I know everyone is wiped, so it will be better to have good night vision avable all night." Karl whispered to the cleric before he nodded off.


    "I will make sure we''ve got a good breakfast ready in the morning." Doug agreed before Karl''s eyes closed, and he embraced sleep.

 Chapter 171 Hill Giant Camp

    <h4>Chapter 171 Hill Giant Camp</h4>


    Karl was awoken well before his shift by the sound of monsters moving?through the forest. The sound of breaking branches brought him out of a sound sleep, or perhaps it was Rae rying the information about the noise.


    In his half asleep state, Karl couldn''t tell the difference, but the mage on duty hadn''t noticed it yet.


    "There is something big moving in the woods." Karl whispered to her as he scanned the forest for the exact location of what was causing the noise.


    Their position today wasn''t as high, so he didn''t have the advantage of being able to see over the treeline and look down at the monsters nearby, but he could still clearly hear the movement and it was getting closer.


    "Wake the others if you think it''s going to attack us. I will be happy to let it pass by if we can so that we''re not fighting in the dark." She whispered back.


    That was a good point. Picking a fight when nobody could see what they were doing was a terrible idea, and from the look of the sky, this might be third shift, not fourth. The moon was still high in the sky, but there was no hint of light on the horizon that would suggest dawn was getting close.


    Rae was up in the tree with them, and after a few seconds, she tapped Karl on the shoulder, bringing his attention to movement in the distance that could only be spotted as a bit of warm thermal imaging through the trees.


    A small group of Hill Giants were moving around, snapping trees and then retreating.


    "I have found them. Hill Giants making a camp. The noise was them breaking off small trees for their fire." Karl whispered.


    "In that case, we will likely be able to see them soon. They rarely hide their campfire, as it brings prey to them." She replied grimly.


    Most monsters were afraid of fire, but then Karl realized what she meant. Fire attracted humans. Their campfire would bring groups of Elites and soldiers to them, for the Giants to kill and eat.


    They weren''t getting any closer, but they weren''t the only thing moving in the woods, and after a few minutes, Karl noticed that Goblins were also drawn to the fire, possibly thinking that it was a camp of humans.


    "There are Goblins on the move, toward the Giants. Nothing ising our way at the moment." Karl updated the mage on duty.


    "I''ve just started my watch, do you want to switch? Wake my sister next, and I will take your watch." She offered.


    "Alright. Sleep well, I don''t think that we will have problems, but it''s easier for Rae to exin to me than to anyone else." Karl agreed.


    [Can I kill the ones that smell good?] Rae asked hopefully after watching another group of Goblins headed for the Giants'' fire.


    [If they''re weak enough that you can take them out without being spotted or causing a ruckus. We don''t want to draw the monsters away from their party.] Karl replied.


    That was good enough for her, and Rae watched carefully for monsters that weren''t Goblins or other green things. The Lizardmen weren''t bad, and they struggled nicely in her web, but none of the green things made her top prey list.


    The Commander Rank Hill Giant definitely did, and she was looking forward to getting another of them in the morning. They wouldn''t be difficult to find, as the fire was now clearly visible from their resting spot, and the sound of monsters arguing, or whatever they were doing, was loud enough that when Karl woke the next shift, she could hear them.


    "How long has that been going on?" She asked.


    "Nearly two hours now. Rae woke me up when the Hill Giants got close, and I switched shifts with your sister. Wake her up forst shift of the morning.


    The light should attract all the monsters in the area, but I''m not certain what we will be able to do about it now that there are so many.


    I have seen two groups of Goblins headed for the Giants, plus at least one group with Hobgoblins, and Rae intercepted a small group of Awakened Rank Ogres.


    But we can''t see anythinging from the other sides, only what is close enough to be within sight or hearing range of our location." Karl exined.


    "Alright, get a few more hours of sleep, and we will work on a n as soon as it starts getting light out. Prepare for a short night in case we have to run."


    Karl tucked himself back into bed, and only briefly noticed when Rae returned to her space to sleep, letting Hawk take over so that they were all well rested when the sun came up and things inevitably got dangerous.


    Not that she was worried that their location would be spotted, Doug had done a good job of blocking their scent, but because someone was going to have to deal with that group, and unless all the monsters had left the nearby woods to join them, there probably wasn''t going to be another group to help.


    They had all been relocated here because of the dangers of the area, so there were no extra groups around.


    He was shaken awake by Hawk just as the others began to get active for the morning, preparing the breakfast ration packs, so the smell of cooking didn''t attract monsters.


    [There are Ogres all over the forest, but nothing close to us. I took a flight earlier and the Giants camp is big, but weak. Plenty of Goblins, only a few other things with the Giants.


    No big boss Giant this time that I can see, and I didn''t see a cave for them to hide in.]


    Hawk was being extra vignt today, after having missed the power level of yesterday''s fight. It had been an excellent learning experience for him, and you could never be too prepared for a battle. You could be too scared, or too cautious, but never too prepared.


    Bob motioned for Karl toe closer as they whispered their ns.


    "We had Hawk try and exin the situation, and it sounds like the Giants are the only major threat there. Does he think that we can take them in a fight without getting injured? Or should we start further out and clear away the other monsters in the forest first?" Their lead warrior asked.


    Karl considered Hawk''s description for a moment. "There is no Commander Rank leader, and the Giants don''t outnumber us. But there are countless Goblins, plus some Hobgoblins and a few Ogres that decided to join them. From his description, the ogres sound like weaker ones that needed protection.


    There are a lot of other Ogres in the area as well, but not at the camp." Karl exined.


    The rest of the group silently waited for Bob''s decision. They all knew their capabilities, and he had the most practical experience, so when it came to the final decision, they usually deferred to him.


    "Alright, we will go for the camp and blitz it. Wipe out as many of the smaller monsters as we can right at the start, and then focus on the Giants and anything at Ascended Rank." Bob announced after a few seconds of staring at the map.


    "Eat up, and then we move out." Doug agreed, before filling his mouth with oatmeal.

 Chapter 172 Clear The Woods

    <h4>Chapter 172 Clear The Woods </h4>


    The group silently climbed down the tree and followed the noise of the monster camp toward the location the Giants had picked as their base.


    The ogres were still avoiding the area, as Hawk confirmed, once he started his overhead surveince.


    "Fifty or more Goblins, ten Ogres, twenty Hobgoblins, and Four Giants. None of them are asrge as the leader of thest group, but they all look the same ording to Hawk, so I''m going to say that they are indeed more Hill Giants." Karl confirmed.


    Bob motioned for them all to follow, and both mages took out wands from their coats. One was the wand of Fireball that they had recovered from the Ettin Mage, and the other looked simr, so they were probably both simr in function.


    The more mana that they could save at the start of the fight, the better. They were going to have a tough time with that many Hobgoblins and Ogres, and only Thor, Bob and the Golems could effectively deal with the Giants.


    Bob paused only a few dozen metres from the tree line around the Giants'' encampment as he made his final preparations.


    "Call the Golems as soon as we arrive. Then area damage to remove the smaller threats, while I hold off the Giants with Thor. The wood Golems have a vine attack that can hit multiple targets, so use it on the Hobgoblins.


    Karl, I am counting on you, Hawk and Rae to deal with the Ogres.


    Once those are down, join us at the Giants, and we will finish the fight as quickly as possible, then retreat away from the camp to rest before clearing the rest of the area." He whispered.


    That didn''t sound too bad to Karl. With Rae and Hawk, they shouldn''t have too many problems eliminating the Ogres, who were rtively slow moving. If he dodged well enough, he might not even have to engage them in closebat at all.


    Everyone but Thor agreed that was ideal. The more enemies that you could eliminate from a distance, the better. Even Rae felt that way, and she didn''t have a true ranged attack. Instead, she preferred to let the enemy tire itself out on her web before she finished it off.


    Karl moved to the right, closer to where the Ogres were gathered, and Bob moved left with Thor to approach the Giants from the back.


    The monsters would hear their approach soon, as Thor wasn''t great at stealth, being a nearly two metre tall scaled dinosaur. But the sound of monsters moving in the forest wasn''t a sound that the Giants were unfamiliar with, and instead of taking it as a threat, they just kept tracking him, waiting for the Cerro to get close enough for them to attack.


    One Lightning Cerro on its own was an easy meal for thisrge group, and that was all that they could hear so far.


    The Giants roared in victory as they decided that Thor was close enough to attack, and Karl heard them run off into the trees. They hadn''t waited for Bob tounch the attack, but the other monsters weren''t joining them, as the Giants would take it as a threat to their authority if the others stole a kill.


    That was when he attacked.


    [Rae, grab the Ogres with your web to slow them down. Hawk, full attack.] He announced mentally as he darted forward to throw Rend attacks into the unprotected bellies and legs of the Ogres.


    Their hide was thick, and tougher than most hardened leather, thanks to their status as Awakened monsters.


    None of them were fully grown, as Hawk had informed them, and they were all on the low side of Awakened in power, which was letting his attacks cut deep furrows into their hide, enraging the Ogres, and making them charge toward the trees where he was hiding.


    That was precisely what they wanted. Ten to one seemed like good odds to the Ogres, and even after a few of them stumbled and hit the ground, they still saw an overwhelming advantage for their side.


    But Hawk was attacking from above, and the fallen Ogres had been killed without ever knowing they were under attack from multiple directions.


    Then, the front row reached the trees, and Rae sprung into action, pulling them to the ground with a web she had left lying on the ground as a trap.


    The moment she pulled it tight, the remaining ogres became entangled, and the Bloodbath Spider charged into them, tearing bodies apart from behind as Karl attacked from the front.


    He was still retreating, leaving space between him and the web so he could attack without being in their retaliation range, but within seconds, that wouldn''t matter.


    They weren''t bright, and they were bing even more entangled as they fought with each other to get free.


    Rae spun more web around them as Hawk bombarded them from above, and then moved off to assist Thor, who was having a tough time with the Giants.


    Just because they couldn''t smash through his barrier in a single strike didn''t mean they couldn''t at all, and the mighty Cerro was on the defensive, sweeping with his horns, and using Earthquake to keep the Giants off bnce.


    Being on four feet gave him the advantage in stability, and even when he stepped into his own effect, he was still able to stab and charge at the giants, herding them away from the main clearing, and away from Bob, so the warrior could finish his second fight without interference.


    With thebined efforts of Karl and Rae, the Ogres were all in states of incapacitated already, and Rae was finishing them quickly to add to her snack pile before anyone could tell her they wanted something off the bodies.


    They had been stripped of their loot and clothing when she tossed them in the space, and she didn''t see any reason that the others would want the body parts, so they were hers. She had imed them, and she wasn''t giving them up.


    Karl quickly checked the pile of items from the Ogres, and stuffed the bits of gold and silver into the side pocket of his bag, then moved to join the fight against the goblins.


    The Hobgoblins were already down, eliminated by the golems, and most of the Goblins were gone as well, taken out by arge area fire spell.


    Doug gestured for Karl to keep going, as the remaining Goblins were being held off by the golems array of roots and vines. They didn''t need the help, as the goblins were much weaker than they were, just too numerous to be immediately eliminated.


    That gave Karl an idea, though. Hawk knew a fireball that could expand over a small area. If he kept training at it, he could likely expand it enough to cover most of a clearing. Even if it weakened the spell significantly, it would allow him to eliminate threats like a goblin tribe in a single shot.


    Nobody in the group had arge-scale spell like that, but Karl was certain that it should be possible, since the bird had already used it as both a stream of me and as a ball.


    With a gesture from Karl, Rae circled wide around the edge of the clearing while he charged through, attacking the few Goblins that turned his way as he headed for the Giants.


    They could see himing, and one broke free of Thor''s distraction to charge at the iing warrior, only to realize toote that it was a trap.


    Hawk set a Wind Barrier in front of him, stopping the giant in his tracks, and the Bloodbath Spider was all over his back, tearing him apart in a position that he couldn''t reach.


    His scream of frustration distracted the other Giants, and one immediately fell to Bob''s de, while the other was knocked to the ground by Thor, then had its rib cage crushed by an Earthquake enhanced tail strike.


    Karl finished the Giant and turned back to the casters, just in time to see thest of the Goblins fall.


    That fight wasn''t nearly as bad as they had feared, though Thor had retreated to his pond to rest and recuperate before the next battle. He would heal quickly even out here with his lightning, but it was better topletely rest until he was called on again.


    Rae felt the same way, but mostly because she wanted to arrange her treasures in her web.


    That left Hawk circling overhead, and an upbeat group of Elites, ready to move on to hunting for the rest of the monsters in their zone.

 Chapter 173 Pulled The Adds

    <h4>Chapter 173 Pulled The Adds</h4>


    The radio was set to just above a whisper, so that Bob could hear if there were any nearby groups in trouble, and keep track of monster movements.


    There weren''t enough Elites around to clear everything before it wandered into someone else''s zone, and most of the teams were doing what they had done, and working to eliminate the most dangerous group first.


    If that one headed for the nearby viges, they would catch hell from their superiors, and the rewards for eliminating the more powerful groups were the reason most of them were here in the first ce.


    From what Karl could hear on the radio, most of the ones who had been forced toe out were the lower ranking Elites, the Awakened warrior sses, and they weren''t anywhere near where his group had been relocated.


    He did wonder if someone was going toe across their tree fort and the spiders that had been left overseeing it. It would be unfortunate for the spiders, as they would probably be ughtered, when they weren''t actually a threat to anyone, but most groups wouldn''t be brave enough to go into the fort.


    Themon sentiment regarding spider monsters was "Kill it with fire" so Karl really didn''t think that anyone would risk going into the fort to see if the creator was still there.


    [Ogres ahead, two of them. Big ones.] Hawk informed Karl as he pondered the chances of the fort''s survival.


    "Two ahead." Karl ryed, then checked on Thor, who was rolling in the pond, using the stones to massage sore muscles.


    [Thor, you can rest for a bit. Rae,e give me a hand.] He instructed.


    Then he activated [Skill Master] with all three beasts as the target, hoping that at least one of them would learn a new skill either from the group or the monsters they were fighting today. A new skill or two would give them more options in a fight, especially when they were facing armoured targets, or new forms of monsters they hadn''t had much practice against.


    Rae joined them, and Karl sent her up to take Thor''s spot, so that Bob understood what was happening without him having to exin the situation.


    The mages prepared their spells once they saw Hawk circling, and the moment the Ogre pair came into sight, they unleashed on them, scorching them with fire before Rae and Bob moved up to finish them off.


    One singlebo attack was enough to take them out, and the Ogres died with an utterly shocked look on their faces that said they hadn''t expected to lose this fight at all, much less so quickly.


    It was short and brutal, but another pair of Ascended Rank kills for their logs. Normally, everyone would make their own records of the fights they had been in, but Karl didn''t know that, and the group trusted Doug to make all the records for them.


    Nobody would question the honesty of the cleric assigned to the group, as they didn''t get the same sort of financial rewards that the others did. The church frowned on its members trying to get wealthy for any reason, so the rewards they gave were non-mary.


    He would still be rewarded, though. With so many killsing their way, he would be rewarded very well. Especially if he managed to make Commander Rank.


    They were all supposed to be close to the break point, but for the church, Commander Rank would make him a High Priest of his Goddess, the Green Dragon, who represented the natural bnce and growth.


    [Moreing from all four directions. They heard your fight.] Hawk warned.


    "We''ve got iing from all four directions. Hawk will update as they get closer." Karl informed the others.


    The golems were brought back, and a magical barrier ring was erected around the group, two metres tall. It wouldn''t stop the Ogres from getting over, but it also wouldn''t stop them from getting hit while they were trying.


    Bob only had [sh] as a ranged attack, the rest of his skills were melee, but the others all had plenty of range to attack past the barrier, while the four golems plus Thor and Bob would hold the front rank against the attackers.


    [I think they have associated me with the attacks. There are some in the distance pointing at me and shouting.] Hawk updated.


    [Fly off to see if they chase you to another location, then you can lure them back here after the fight.] Karl suggested.


    "Hawk needs to relocate. The monsters are catching onto the fact that he''s hovering over fights. They might think he''s a scavenger, luring them to food he can''t kill himself. I sent him off to scout." Karl informed the others.


    "That''s fine. As long as he can keep updating us on the situation, he''s doing well enough as a scout." Doug agreed.


    It would be good to have his extra attacking power here, but notpletely necessary, now that they had the time to prepare defences against the Ogres.


    The first arrived only secondster, and died as soon as it reached the barrier.


    The same was true for the next six, but after that, they started to get more cautious, and gather in a group before charging.


    [Ogres are still going your way, but the other stuff is following me to a furious Warbear family.] Hawk updated.


    "His ploy didn''t work on the ogres. But everything else is following him into a trap." Karlughed.


    There was no time for questions as they hurled skills at the Ogres, who were struggling to get past the barrier with the wood Golems whipping at their faces and arms.


    There was another pause in the battle, and Karl ordered Thor to grab all the corpses and throw them into Hawk and Rae''s spaces. They could deal with themter, but they were starting to pile up against the barrier, and it was getting to be too easy for the new arrivals to jump over.


    A short pause allowed everyone to rest for a moment, and Doug passed around some sort of crispy squares, something between a peanut brittle and a brownie. Karl felt his energy for the new arrivals to jump over.


    A short pause allowed everyone to rest for a moment, and level begin to rise a bit faster as he finished eating, then washed it down with water from his canteen.


    [No more Ogresing. But I''m on my way back with what is left of the others.] Hawk updated.


    "Hawk is iing with the remainder of the other monsters chasing him. I guess not all of them fell for the trap." Karl informed Doug, who was giving a sad look at his favourite sword hand glove, which had ripped during the battle.


    Bob pocketed the glove forter repair and picked up his sword.


    Hawk flew overhead, and right past them, leading an enraged crowd of monsters that were periodically throwing rocks and spears at the low-flying bird.


    Whatever he had done, they were beyond enraged with him.


    It was just the lizardmen left, which Karl assumed was because they were the smartest of the monsters that had been following him, but their rage made them slow to react, and they were nearly eliminated by the mages and the golems before Karl could even get a second Shred off.


    Once they were gone, Hawk returned and vanished into his space to take a quick break and get a snack before continuing to scout.


    [Are the rest of the monsters in the immediate area gone?] Karl asked, just to be certain.


    [All gone. Fed them to an angry Warbear. Don''t go into the river bottom past the cliffs outside our zone. She is mad.]


    "Hawk says he lured the others outside our zone to a Warbear den. They''re gone now, but the Warbear is not impressed with us, or life in general, so stay away from the cliffs and the river bottom." Karl ryed.


    Bob grabbed the radio to warn the team in the area. The Warbear was a native monster, and not the primary goal of the mission. In fact, they killed any other monster in their territory, so they would do the team''s job for them if anything strayed too close.


    Even the bravest of teams didn''t like to tangle with them, as the bears were even more durable than most armoured monsters, and they were notorious for holding a grudge.

 Chapter 174 Strategic Slacking

    <h4>Chapter 174 Strategic cking </h4>


    The mages let the barrier down so that the magic wouldn''t attract any more monsters, and Bob signalled for the group to get moving. He was leading them back toward the fort they had built the previous night, even though they hadn''t finished the full sweep of the area yet.


    They had probably killed everything in the area, but Hawk would double-check while they walked back, after he had rested enough and nothing was looking for him.


    As with the other zone, their assigned area was notrge, and the threat level would vary, so it was best to get your rest when you could.


    "We will return to the fort for lunch, and let Hawk scout while we rest. Then he can return to his hiding spot to rest so we don''t end up causing the monsters to stampede again. It feels like we cleared this area fairly well, but you can never be too certain, and the monsters are always moving." Bob exined as he got the group moving.


    Hawk happily made another round around the area, being sure to keep well away from the home of the Warbear, in case it tracked him back and decided to knock the tree down to get to him while he was sleeping.


    Karl sensed the bird''s thoughts and shook his head in dismay. If the Warbear could so easily take out everything that was thrown at it, then it meant that the matriarch of the n was probably a Commander Rank beast, much tougher than the Hill Giant they had fought thanks to its nearly imprable hide.


    That was not something that you were supposed to upset. At least not if you didn''t have the brute strength to convince it to back down.


    The fort was empty when they returned, and everyone settled in to rest weary muscles on the soft silkting.


    Hawk returned only a few minutester with confirmation that there was nothing worth mentioning in their zone, so they were safe to rx for an hour or two.


    The smell of cooking wouldn''t draw anything in from this distance, so they didn''t have to eat more of the ration packs.


    "Should we set up another spot up at the top of the tree so that we can see more of what is going on around us? Even having Hawk in a nest at the top of the tree will give us much more visibility when somethinges near us." Karl suggested.


    "That''s not a bad idea. The tree isrge enough to move and get a better line of sight, but being lower here also helps us see what is at ground level, instead of having it blocked by leaves." Bob replied.


    Doug nodded in agreement. "You can see a lot more than we can, so it''s better for the watches if we''re low enough that everyone can see the ground. With a bit of luck, we won''t have to leave here again today. We can just wait for the monsters to appear again and then go deal with them.


    We will ask you to send Hawk out every few hours to make sure we''re not missing anything, but the others only expect so much out of us. You can''t be inbat all day every day, it wears everyone out too fast."


    The mages stretched out on the webbing and smiled up at the sky.


    "We''ve already been upgraded once on this mission. If we start making it look too easy, who knows what they will ask us to do next. I have a good feeling about this mission, I might make it to Commander Rank with just a bit more work.


    There is a change in my Golems, they''re stronger than they were, and more agile with the vine whips. If you could have seen how they eliminated the Goblins, I think you''d agree that they''re very close to reaching the standard.


    All it takes is one signature spell for proof, but the rest of my attack magic is improving as well. It''s impossible to tell against such weak targets as the Goblins, but hitting the Hobgoblins, they were dying without any sort of resistance as well, and that is a sure sign that you''re two ranks above them." Danni exined quietly with her eyes shut, rxing while she could.


    Karl felt Raeugh in his mind, and saw Bob waiting for him to ry the thought out loud. They all had to think he was a bit odd, but it was somewhat like having earphones in, where only you were hearing one side of the conversation.


    "Rae questions the standard of things just dying when you hit them. She seems to think it''s not that impressive." Karl joked.


    The mages chuckled. "Well, for Rae, it''s just normal. The rest of us actually have to work to make things die. I''ve noticed that your attacks are well above what would be expected of an Awakened Rank warrior as well.


    Is that a result of your ss? Or is it just because Rend is so good against the targets we are fighting?"


    Karl shrugged. "It''s a bit of both. Rend is good against fleshy targets. But I also get a boost to my effectiveness from Rae. Then there is Shred, which is an absolutely brutal attack to begin with. It uses a lot of energy, but near the peak of Awakened Rank, Shred will deal more damage than the peak Ascended Rank sh ability.


    Rend is already an improvement as an ability, but Shred is superior to Rend at the same power output. Then when Rae''s ability optimizes it..."


    He let the sentence trail off, and the others nodded in understanding.


    "Then we get what we have here, with a group of fighters that outperform their ranking." Bob finished.


    Doug finished making lunch, and they waited for another hour before sending Hawk out again. There was still nothing to report, so he settled back into his space to recover energy more quickly, and Karl kept watch in his ce.


    That pattern repeated all afternoon. Hawk went for a flight every two hours, found that there was nothing worth getting out of bed to hunt, then cleared a few Goblins and other minor nuisances and went back to his nest.


    It was the sort of day that every mission team wanted to have. A good fight in the morning with no injuries, then a warm shady spot to rest for the remainder of the day.


    But ten kilometres away, it was a very different story. Not every team that had been transferred could live up to the expectations of the deployment team, and many of them were being pushed back toward the nearest town as they retreated from the influx of Hill Giants and Ogres.


    The radio had been at a whisper all day, and they had heard the movements, but no distress calls, and certainly no emergencies close enough that they would be able to respond to them.


    The teams immediately around their own were all in good shape today, and while they were all exhausted from the battles, they were holding steady.


    As night settled over the forest, they began their usual rotation, with Rae out to help the others keep watch, and Hawk sleeping in his space until thest watch, when the sky would be light enough that his vision was no longer limited.

 Chapter 175 Dana’s Trip

    <h4>Chapter 175 Dana''s Trip</h4>


    While Karl was restingfortably in the fort that Rae had made for them, Dana was having a much different mission experience.


    Her team had been deployed to the far side of the battlefield, nearly fifty kilometres from where Karl had originally been stationed, but they hadn''t managed to stay there for long.


    Her team was not a group of devoted veteran mercenaries like Karl had gotten, she had been assigned to a team of ckers with a Commander Rank Priest in charge of them.


    They treated the mission more like a prison sentence,ined constantly about every task they were assigned, and during the first battle were nearly outsmarted by a group of Goblins.


    If it wasn''t for the fact that she had two Golems, they likely would have been overrun when the Goblins circled the clearing, as their warrior was next to ipetent, and was more interested in selling her on his new multi level marketing startup than actually protecting the group.


    The others were supposed to be rogue sses, fast and deadly, but in reality, they were all slightly chubby IT guys who worked at the samepany.


    In short, the entire mission was a nightmare, but they had to keep moving because their group was so loud that it continually drew monsters to them.


    "Can''t you just cast that holy light circle around us and keep it up for the night while we sleep?" The warrior whined as the sun went down at the end of their third day on the mission.


    The Priest nodded. "I can stay up all night and keep the circle active. However, the light will draw monsters to us constantly, like a beacon. So, as soon as I fall asleep, you will have a few dozen Ogres and a thousand or more Goblins to deal with, but without a healer.


    If you can handle that, I don''t have a problem being your nightlight."


    Dana hid her smile at the way that he managed to say that without a hint of sarcasm in his voice, though it was clearly implied.


    "What''s the point of this anyhow? We''re just out here getting attacked by monsters, instead of making money. Do they have any idea of the amount of market capitalization that my group has missed out on because I wasn''t there to help pitch new members this week?" The warriorined.


    Dana red at the man, and the Priest leaned over to whisper in her ear.


    "Friendly fire is generally frowned upon, but if you have to, I understand." He whispered.


    She smiled back at him. It was obvious why he had been sent with this group. Not just for his strength, but because he was unendingly patient with ckers and idiots.


    "I wonder what Karl is up to." Dana muttered as she started her watch that night, hoping that he didn''t have to deal with a group like this.


    Rae would probably kill someone and pretend that they ran away.


    It was decided that she would take the first watch, and the priest would take the second. Each of their watches was three hours, so there were only three a night, but nobody slept well when anyone but Dana or the Priest was on watch.


    They were rapidly bing exhausted, but everywhere they were forced to move to, they ran into more Ogres and Goblins. It was like they never ended, and just kept reappearing. Unlike the Mackenzie siblings, her group didn''t know that they were really reappearing daily.


    They had been tasked to clear the area, and that was what the Priest was guiding them to do, but he had decided that it would hurt morale too much to inform them that the job would never actually end.


    The priest looked asleep, but he turned her way as she muttered to herself.


    "He''s with the Mackenzie brothers. I heard on the radio yesterday that they were reassigned to an Ascended area, which was suffering from attacks by groups led by Commander Rank Giants. They''re likely fine, the Mackenzie brothers are solid, and Brother Doug, their cleric, is a good friend of mine." He replied.


    Dana turned to face him. "Commander Rank Giants? Isn''t that a bit overkill, even if the group he''s with are Ascended?"


    Her cleric shrugged. "From what I hear, only the top performing Ascended were sent, so whoever is with him and the brothers might include a Commander, or maybe two powerful damage dealers. Your friend might not be having any more fun than we are, but at least his group is reliable."


    A crack of branches in the woods caught their attention, and then the stench of Ogre reached their noses.


    "Everyone up, we''re under attack." The Priest whispered as he shook the others awake.


    "We just went to bed, can''t we do thister? I swear, if I have to sleep in armour for one more day, it''s going to chafe right through my skin." The warriorined.


    Dana''s two golems intercepted the Ogre, and she hit the monster in the face with a magic missile, blinding it while the Golems hacked it down using the holy des that the priest had created for them with a spell.


    "See, they''ve got it. Just let me sleep." The warrior muttered as he curled up in his nkets.


    They hadn''t been assigned a zone, they were just told to kill as many monsters as possible, so the next morning the cleric had them move out, slowly working his way back to the base camp, where he was hoping to be able to trade a few of the useless ones for a decent teammate or two.


    They were hiking through the woods, following a goblin trail toward the regional camp, when Dana spotted a considerable area of trees covered in spider web. The strands blended into the surroundings, but the scent of blood and the academy body lotion that Rae preferred for Dana to wear caught her attention.


    There should be another student around here, and there had been a battle, she was certain of it.


    "I smell Academy lotions and blood." She informed the others.


    The priest sniffed at the air for a second, but only looked concerned.


    "Everyone spread out. There might be a group in trouble nearby. Don''t get out of sight of each other, but there might be an injured member hiding in the trees." He ordered.


    Dana realized that she forgot to mention the web when one of the rogues began to shout in panic, and she could hear him iling.


    "It''s a spider web, you idiot. Just cut yourself free and stand back up." One of his buddies called.


    "You try it. My de isn''t cutting through it." Heined.


    "Then use a skill. It''s likely from a spider monster."


    Dana sent the golem to cut him free with the magical de, and noticed a collection of items sitting at the bottom of a huge redwood tree.


    Then she looked up and saw that there was a ropedder sitting in the branches, and some sort of fort above them.


    "There is a fort here. Look up in the tree. It has adder, so it was made for humans, but it''s made of spider silk." The priest informed the others as he noticed it.


    "A druid?" One of the rogues asked hopefully.


    "Possibly. It doesn''t seem that they''re here anymore, but we can check if they left anything behind." The cleric offered.


    "Other than box tree spiders?" Dana asked, with a gesture up the tree.


    "Votes for getting the fuck out of the creepy spider forest?" The warrior asked.


    The rogues'' hands all went up at once, and Dana shook her head as the clericughed.


    "Well, at least we know that someone was in the area. That should exin why there are so few monsters here today. Let''s keep moving, and we can inform the other groups of what we found, and warn them about the spider webs when we get to the base camp to resupply." The cleric decided.


    That level of web control reminded Dana of Rae, and she wondered if this was where Karl had been stationed when he first arrived. If they had built a fort, they weren''t being forced to run from anything in the area. Of course, if she hadpetent members, they wouldn''t have had to keep moving so much either, but her and the cleric could only hold things together for so long on their own before they were too exhausted to continue.


    Maybe they could just ditch these idiots in camp and join another team. That would be nice.

 Chapter 176 Routine

    <h4>Chapter 176 Routine </h4>


    One week after they had been transferred to the Ascended Rank area, Karl and the others had gotten into a solid routine. Breakfast in the fort, hunt anything that they had spotted on night watch, return for lunch, then either rest or make another loop in the afternoon if there were still signs of more monsters.


    They were also beginning to amass a rather considerable amount of money, thanks to the Giants'' habit of carrying gold and silver in their pouches.


    It was a mystery who was making coins for them, or who they had stolen them from, but the raw materials were still valuable, and they could make a fortune trading it in when they returned.


    But that wasn''t the only thing that they had gained. Everyone was feeling much more confident andfortable with their powers, and thest few days the Giants had seemed to fall without much of a fight.


    It was difficult to tell if they were getting stronger or if thest few batches were weaker than usual, but they had a good feeling about taking the strength tests after they finished the mission.


    [I sense magic in the area. Strong magic.] Hawk announced that morning, just as everyone was getting ready for breakfast.


    "Hawk says there is magic nearby. He didn''t say magical beast, just magic." Karl whispered as Doug dished out the breakfast.


    They let Hawk lead them away from the fort, headed for the strong sense of magic, and only stopping for a moment to deal with a small group of Lizardmen.


    Hawk swooped down andnded next to a small pile of rocks. They were piled on top of each other to look vaguely like a person, and the hunters and trappers used the design as a trail marker. If you followed the direction of the marker, you would find the next waypoint andndmark on a trail.


    [It''s under here.] He instructed, then poked at arger rock nearby.


    Shattering the stone wouldn''t be a problem for him, but he was concerned that if he broke it, he might break the magical thing. Some of them were fragile, and Hawk understood that the group was trying to get as many good things as they could while they were here.


    Just like thest time that they were out, but with fewer magical nts and more monsters.


    Thor flipped the stone with his horns, and arge pile of glittering gems was revealed, just sitting under the rock, as if they belonged there.


    They weren''t cut stones, just raw gemstones, but that was clearly where the magic wasing from, and now that the rock was moved, everyone could feel it.


    They had patrolled past here yesterday, only a few metres from this spot. If Karl looked hard toward the bottom of the hill, he could likely still see the blood stains from the battle a few days earlier as well.


    These gems had to have just appeared here, unless something had buried them here and left no signs of disturbed ground.


    Doug went through them, cleaning them off in a pouch full of water he had created, and then stacking them on the ground in an order that only made sense to himself.


    "They''re imbued gems. You don''t usually use them in this form, they''re normally carved and set into magical jewellery and items. These all have different properties, but I have sorted them by their basic elements, or aspects.


    Do we want to sort them now, or after?" Doug asked.


    "We can do it after. We''ve still got a zone to clear for the day." Bob gently reminded them before they could get distracted by the shiny objects.


    Doug sorted the stones into small pouches and tucked them in his robes. That must mean they were exceptionally valuable, if he wasn''t willing to leave them in his backpack with the rest of his gear.


    His pack was getting lighter, as they slowly worked through the rations and other supplies they had brought, so it wouldn''t be a burden to add a few stones. It was only Karl and Bob who had truly heavy packs now, as they were packing all the gold and silver that the group had recovered.


    If the gear wasn''t made of monster leather, it might have ripped under the abuse of heavy loads and violent movements, but they were holding up well so far.


    Hawk hadn''t even had time to take flight again when they heard movement in the woods nearby. Something else had been attracted by the stones, or by their presence, and it wasrge.


    Thor turned to face the threat, and the golems shifted to take positions around the mages. There weren''t many creatures iing, it sounded like only a pair ofrge ones. That was confirmed when they crashed through the trees, but the fact that it was only two was nofort today.


    Unlike the Hill Giants they had been fighting, these two were heavily armoured, like human knights of old, and carrying mauls with heads on them that wererger than Karl.


    There was no doubt that these two were both Commander Rank, and not on the low side of it either.


    Hawk took flight, knowing that he couldn''t take a hit from something like that, and Rae skittered up into a tree, waiting for the right moment to strike.


    With them covered in metal armour, she didn''t know quite where she should hit. She knew from experience that armour could be more durable than it looked, and this looked thick.


    The Giants roared as they saw the humans, and Bob looked grim as he squared up against them. Thor wasn''t going to take many hits from those mauls even with a barrier from Donni active, and the Golems weren''t going to fare much better.


    The only chance they had was to finish them quickly, but with the armour on, that wasn''t going to be easy.


    But other than their Commander Rank status, these two also smelled like magic, and Karl got the feeling that if they could defeat these two, there was something good in it for him.


    The Giants made a sudden lunge forward, and Thor smashed the ground with [Earthquake] while Karl and Bob both sent attacks at their weapons, trying to slow the attacks, or deflect them off target.


    The Giants stumbled and Rae saw her chance. She flew out of the tree, and both forelegs plus her mandibles pierced one of the Giants'' necks right below his helmet line.


    The attack wasn''t enough to break the bone, and with a spurt of silk, she pulled herself back into the trees. But the damage was done, and the giant was bleeding heavily from the back of his neck, courtesy of a triple [Lacerate] attack.


    The Giant fell to the ground as his body spasmed in pain, which allowed the Golems to wrap him in vines, slowing his recovery while Bob and the mages unleashed their best attacks on him.


    Karl focused on attacking the arms and weapons of the other Giant, weakening his attacks against Thor. The Cerro had dodged the first attack, but the Giant had regained its footing, and the second real attack wouldn''t be as easy to avoid.


    It didn''t seem to care about its partner as it found its opportunity and swung at Thor, who rolled over once with the impact, butnded on his feet with his Lightning Barrier intact. The firstyer of shielding had shattered, but between the two it had been enough that he wasn''t injured by the strike, just thrown to the side.


    Donni was already rebuilding the shield as Thor charged inside the next strike and Hawk attacked the Giant''s face. It simply ducked its head and the attacks hit its helmet, but the distraction was enough that Thor finished his charge and mmed into one thick leg.


    The knee buckled, and the second Giant nearly fell, only catching itself with its maul. That kept it off the ground, but it left the Giant out of position when Karl attacked again, aiming for the gaps in the armour.


    The Golems had pulled the helmet off the other Giant, and Rae moved in for the kill, aiming at the soft flesh of the neck.


    That seemed to be the trigger for the upright Giant to realize that something was wrong with this scenario, and instead of fighting back, it pushed itself to its feet and fled, running in the direction it had arrived from.


    Within seconds, the other Giant died a brutal death, and by the time that Karl had finished checking Thor and Rae for injuries, Bob was already starting to strip it of its armour to see where the feeling of magic wasing from.

 Chapter 177 Phoenix Lotus

    <h4>Chapter 177 Phoenix Lotus</h4>


    Bob carefully dug through the bags that the Giant was carrying, until he came out with arge red flower. It was as big as a sunflower,rger than his head, and it radiated a sense of warmth and magic.


    Doug looked at the flower with interest. "That is a Phoenix Lotus, a fire Elemental resource. But it doesn''t grow anywhere on this continent, so they must have arrived with it. Drinking a steeped infusion of it is supposed to be outstanding for Fire Mages and Berserkers with Fire Elemental attacks.


    While our two aren''t Fire Mages, they do have some talents with fire."


    Doug paused as Hawknded next to the flower and began to stare at it with a bit of drool leaking from his beak.


    "And it looks like Hawk might like some of it as well.


    How about I prepare it, and then we will try it over dinner? Even if the tea isn''t enough for Hawk, he can always eat the remaining flower after I finish brewing. The process extracts most of the mana from it, but there will still be nutrients left in the petals, which are not edible by humans and therefore not included in the tea." He exined.


    [You heard the man, you can have it after dinner.] Karl informed the bird, which was contemting snatching the flower and flying away with it.


    Bob passed the flower to Doug, who tucked it away in his backpack, and finished checking the Giant''s gear.


    They had all taken to trying on any magical equipment, just in case it adapted itself to the wearer, but most of what the monsters had worn was already damaged beyond repair by the time that they died, and the team didn''t include an armourer, so they just buried it with the bodies.


    "There is one more piece under the body. We''ve got a magical sword this time, but that''s going to be a two-handed de for someone." The warrior exined, then passed the weapon to the mages for examination.


    Donni struggled to lift the de, and ended up leaning it against a tree to read the inscriptions. Normally, a human would never use a weapon like this, as it was too unwieldy and weighed five times what a normal two-handed de would. But if it was powerfully magic, they could get a reward for bringing it back.


    "ording to this, it is a de of Ease. Using it makes your skills easier to activate." She exined, after reading the runes twice and verifying them against her notebook.


    Doug chuckled as he heard the description. "That''s perfectly suited for your needs, in a format that you could never possibly use."


    The cleric was right. She specialized in barriers, and if they took even a few percent less mana to maintain, it would directly improve herbat effectiveness by a noticeable amount, and increase the survivability of the whole group.


    The problem was that it weighed close to twenty-five kilos to her less than fifty. Even just carrying it all day would be a burden.


    Bob picked the de up and gave it a twirl. "It''s not bad with my strength. It''s not really my style, since I''m on the front lines blocking, but it might be alright with some practice."


    He twirled the de and struck the ground, activating a skill that sent a shockwave travelling away from him, leaving a deep furrow in the dirt.


    "I would say that the reduction is close to thirty percent." He offered.


    The mages looked in longing at the de. Thirty percent was huge.


    "You might have to drop in at the Academy and ask the Berserkers for somebat lessons." Karlughed as Bob gave the de an approving look.


    "I already trained on the two-handed de quite a lot, actually. It''s just not suitable in this group, as we don''t have anyone else to take point except Thor."


    The Lightning Cerro snorted and stomped on the ground, then tossed his head to the side as if throwing enemies. He was quite certain that his armour was up to the task of dealing with enemies as the tank.


    Having more damage at the front, and the ability to use skills with higher output without taking the stamina penalty for using skills near your limit, would be much more valuable than a second blocker.


    "Alright. Thor can take point, just keep the barrier up on him, since he can''t speak to call for relief." Bob reluctantly agreed when he saw how serious the scaled beast was.


    Doug looked at Thor for a moment. "Don''t you think he''s getting bigger? I swear he was shorter than I was when we arrived, and now his back is higher than my head."


    "I think you''re right. He''s almost fully grown now. That''s much faster than I had expected, but the exercise has been good for him." Karl agreed.


    Rae had also grown, though not as noticeably. She was at her full size now, roughly the size of a supact car when standing, though with a smaller body and long legs forming the rest of her silhouette. Hawk was just the same as he had been, but he was already adult sized and not expected to grow anyrger.


    "I think that we might have progressed further than we expected. With everyone growing, it''s difficult to tell, but if we could fight against something that we know was on the borderline of Awakened and Ascended, we could get a better reference."


    They hadn''t seen anything like that in days. Everything was somewhere in the Ascended Rank, with sporadic Commander Rank leaders, which they were definitely getting better at killing.


    "Alright, let''s scout the rest of the zone and see what else we have for the day. I have a good feeling about this one. I''m thinking that we should be back in time for lunch." Doug cheered as Thor took his ce at the front of the group.


    Hawk led them toward a group of Ogres as the radio announced that there was a reinforcement mission arrivingter that day, and for teams to keep their radios on, so they could lead the relief groups in.


    Only a few would be getting reced today, starting with those who had been in the field longest, but it was a good sign that they wouldn''t be out here too much longer. Likely not more than another week and they would be on their way back home with bags full of loot and a number of new magical items.


    Bob hefted the sword over his shoulder and prepared to charge as Thor found the Ogres, but the five-metre tall beasts seemed utterly uninterested in fighting once they saw that there were five people plus the Cerro.


    Unfortunately for them, Bob did want to fight, and Rae wasn''t about to let them run away.


    The enormous sword whistled through the air as Bob activated [sh] on a downward strike.


    The arc of light raced away from him, slicing the Ogre in half in a single strike.


    Thor charged and flipped the other in the air, where Hawk and Karl hit it from opposite sides with [Shred], killing it before it reached the ground.


    "I think it can be safely said that we have Commander Rankbat power now. If Ascended Rank Ogres are falling in a single strike, not many would argue with our capabilities." Doug chuckled as he surveyed the aftermath of the brief battle.


    [There is nothing else nearby. Everything ran away.] Hawk informed Karl a few secondster, after checking for their next target.


    "Hawk says there is nothing left to fight. We scared it all away. We might as well head back for an early lunch and see if anythinges back." Karl exined.


    "Nice, early day it is." Doug chuckled, pointing his staff back toward the fort.


    Once they were back and Doug had started on cooking lunch, Karl settled in to meditate. The three spaces were doing much better now, and they were providing him with a lot more energy than they had a week ago. But they felt like they might be limiting the beasts inside.


    The three were growing so fast, and he was cking so much on his meditation that the spaces weren''t keeping up.


    So, that was how Karl spent the rest of his morning, doing his best to improve the living conditions for his partners, and increase the energy density in the spaces, now that they were capped out in size.


    A few hours wasn''t going to do much, but if he spent a few afternoons and nights at it, he might make some progress.


    The mages only meditated for a few hours an afternoon, and that had been Karl''s schedule as well, but it was bing obvious that it wasn''t enough.

 Chapter 178 Scared Them Off

    <h4>Chapter 178 Scared Them Off </h4>


    Doug looked at the group that afternoon when Hawk confirmed that there was still nothing to fight. He had eliminated a small group of Goblins with a fireball while scouting, but their zone was otherwise barren.


    "Do you think that we actually scared the monsters away? Most monsters will avoid the territory of a more powerful monster, so it''s possible that either Hawk or Rae have scared them off. No offence intended to Thor, but the Lightning Cerro isn''t known for being dangerous enough to chase others out of their territory." The cleric asked, while sweeping his dark curls back from his face.


    "It is possible. We have patrolled this same area for so long that there should be a scent trail around the perimeter. If they sense that we''re that much more powerful than they are, they will naturally avoid the area." Danni agreed.


    Bob smirked. "To think, we were sent here to deal with the monsters, and now they''re too afraid toe to the zone that we''re assigned to. Is that a total victory or some sort of failure? Our orders are to hold this zone, so we can''t just leave."


    The mages shrugged.


    "It''s a win for us. If the scent of Rae around the perimeter was enough to scare off almost all the monsters, then we did our job. The zone is secure. But how is that tea doing, Doug? Is it almost steeped yet?"


    Doug nodded. "I added one of the fire elemental stones to the mix and let it infuse. The mixture should be quite potent with that quality of flower, but it needs to be boiled down a bit more still. ording to my alchemy book, it needs to be as thick as milk before it''spletely extracted."


    Hawk had noticed that the tea only involved the core of the flower, and that Doug had only reserved three petals from the flower. He had put one each into three vials, but that left almost the whole flower for Hawk, and he was getting impatient to try it.


    As the tea rendered down into a proper potion, it began to glow with a soft orange light, and the stone that Doug had set in the kettle began to lose its lustre.


    "There we go. All done. Now let me portion this. I''ve got five cups and three vials, since some of us aren''t good with cups." The Cleric exined.


    He passed everything out, and Karl passed the vial to Thor in his resting space. The Cerro just grabbed it in his beak and tipped his head back, swallowing it in one shot. Rae did the same, but seemed intrigued by either the taste or the effect.


    Karl took the shot of potion, and it felt like fire was running through his veins as the effect spread through his body. He could feel it strengthening his body, but he couldn''t quite grasp the power that it had.


    Doug had said it was a Fire Element resource, and he didn''t have any Fire skills. But the excess was being siphoned off by Hawk, who was happy to take anything he had to spare, as well as the remainder of the flower, whose petals he had started to chew on like bubblegum.


    Everyone settled back to let the potion digest, and Karl returned to meditation while Rae volunteered to watch the area, in case something tasty came to her webs.


    An hourter, Hawk decided that he had absorbed as much as he could for the day, and he stored the remainder of the flower in his space so that it would be safe until he finished scouting again.


    He had a good feeling about the power of his fireball attack now, and he had every intention of finding something to test it on.


    Unfortunately for him, they really had scared off everything, and there wasn''t a single monster to be found in their zone. But that didn''t stop a determined Hawk, and with only one more kilometre of flight, he found a group of Lizardmen skirting around their zone.


    A single fireball from the sky exploded in their group, killing three and maiming the others. Then Hawk saw the group that was working the area and flew away, leaving the rest to them now that his curiosity was sated.


    [Is that your Hawk, Mackenzie group? We just saw a Dragon Hawk ambush a group of Lizardmen and fly away like it was nothing.] The group asked over the radio.


    [Yeah, that''s ours. There''s nothing left in our zone, so we let him scout a bit further out to see if they were just avoiding us or if the whole area was clear.] Doug replied.


    The other groups didn''t have to key up the microphone for everyone listening to know that they were cursing at the Mackenzie group. Their entire area had been cleared? What sort of nonsense was that? Most groups could barely walk a circuit of their zone in a day, and he was iming they had killed everything by lunch?


    [The Fireball works much better now. Almost as good as Rend, but over a muchrger area.] Hawk informed Karl.


    That likely meant that Fireball was far superior to Rend at this point, but Hawk would not easily admit that. If he could single shot ambush Awakened Lizardmen, it was good enough for Karl. That would allow them to take care of anything they were likely toe across on an Academy mission.


    The group waited as Hawk scouted around their borders, asionally attacking and killing monsters that were trying to avoid them, but mostly just marking them for the other groups that were in the area. Seeing Hawk circling and either sending fireballs or just screeching at them was enough to bring the groups over now that they were familiar with him.


    Their team was the envy of the region by the end of the day, and everyone was wondering what sort of superstars Command had sent that could report multiple Ascended Rank monster kills every hour all morning, until they cleared their area.


    There were Commander Rank monsters in their reports nearly every day, but it was the efficiency of the group that caught everyone''s attention after that radio conversation.


    Karl meditated through the afternoon and the evening, as did the mages, who were still working to absorb the gains that they had made from the potion. Doug had prayed to his goddess for a while, but Bob didn''t seem to believe in meditation, so he was the only one paying attention to the radio when the next round of recement messages came through.


    [Mackenzie group, hold position for recement. Your time slot is noon tomorrow.] The Command group informed them.


    [Understood Command. We will do our best to have the morning clear finished before they arrive.] Bob replied.


    That meant one more night watch, and they would be headed back home for a break before their next mission, or their return to work, in the case of the mages and Doug.


    Karl wondered what it would be like to be back in the Academy with the first years on the second floor after this mission. He had been ahead of them before, but he hardly felt connected to them anymore. The older students seemed much more rtable, and Karl totally understood why they were less interested in what was going on at the school than their next chance to go out and grow their powers.


    The advantages of training in the wilderness were just too good. There was little doubt that he would make it to the Ascended Rank the next time that they were tested, and he already knew that he could square off against most of the lower strength Commander Rank beasts with the help of his partners.


    Doug sighed and leaned back against the tree trunk. "It looks like we did too well. But if we get to go home early, that''s never bad news. We will have to go over what we have collected on this mission so that everything is split properly.


    The gold is easy enough to split on its own, but we''ve collected a number of magical items as well, and that will be much harder to value and split."


    Karl shrugged. "What do you usually do when it''s just family?" He asked.


    "We just split the money and everything else goes to who needs it." Doug replied.


    "That works for me. We''ve already split everything else by need, so it doesn''t really have to get mentioned again. Just split up the precious metals and gems we collected when we get back, and it''s good by me.


    I''ve got these nice gloves, Hawk is happy with his flower, Thor got armour for his tail. Rae might have gotten the short end of things, but at least she got some good snacks." Karl suggested.


    Raeughed as she looked at all the Commander Rank beasts caught in her web. That would be enough to allow a regr Bloodbath Spider to grow from a hatchling to its full strength, as long as it didn''t go bad.


    That wasn''t a concern in the space, so she was certain that she had all the basic resources she needed, and now it was just a matter of increasing the speed, which meant either rare things, or making Karl meditate more.


    Of the two options, it was obvious which was the more attainable.


    [You know, if you just stay here in the fort we could go fight while you meditate all morning...] Rae suggested.


    [We''re not in that big of a hurry. It''s better to have everyone together, in case of a surprise attack.] Karl replied, while wondering if she had forgotten that he could hear her plotting in his mind.

 Chapter 179 Retrieved

    <h4>Chapter 179 Retrieved</h4>


    The next morning, they made a quick tour of the area, following Hawk''s directions to the monsters that had just appeared. Fortunately, the fights were easy, as their healer was mostly distracted, listening to the radio report the helicopters headed out to relieve the mission teams that had been called in to support the army.


    It sounded like the influx of monsters had faded all over the region, and they would be able to keep things under control without too much trouble.


    There had been some casualties among the Elites who were pulled out from their day jobs, and Command was nning to have all the departing Elites gather at the base camps for a funeral photo shoot, though Doug made it no secret that most of those bodies would not be in any shape for viewing, even if they were returned to camp.


    Karl had seen a few of these on the television in the past. They were heralded as heroes, but it was never any of the famous Elites, it was always someone like a young government pencil pusher who had valiantly run intobat when monsters threatened and then tragically lost his life.


    Of course, that was likely to be less than half the story, and he might not have been running intobat willingly, but it was good enough to settle the people and remind them that the Elites were doing valuable things to keep them safe.


    [Mackenzie group, your helicopter is iing. Please mark your position for the transfer of duties.] The pilot instructed precisely at noon.


    [We will mark the location with a blue smoke spell. We have information for the iing team during the handover, expect a three to five-minute dy.] Bob replied.


    Doug set the smoke spell near the edge of a clearing next to the fort, and the crew transfer came in for a smoothnding.


    "Elites, good to see you all safe and sound, despite having a student with you. You said you have information, what did we need to know?" The Captain of the iing military team asked as he disembarked.


    "First, in that tree is a fort made of Bloodbath Spider Silk. It is safe, and made by our team. You are wee to use it as your ongoing base of operations. The whole area is secure, and monsters have been avoiding the perimeter thanks to the scent of the beasts on our team.


    That will change when the scent trail fades after a few days, so be prepared.


    Also, we have been burying the monster corpses with any damaged magical items they were wearing. If we couldn''t use or salvage it, it got buried. So, if your team has a member who can sense magic, you will get plenty of false positives that are buried underneath you, hidden by nt growth." Doug exined.


    "Anything powerful?" One of the soldiers asked.


    "There are a few Commander Rank Ogres and a mid-Commander Rank Giant with damaged magical armour that were buried. So, it won''t just be weak signals." The cleric exined.


    The team leader whistled in appreciation. "You really lived up to expectations, didn''t you? They asked us to verify your ims, but if you buried most of the bodies instead of burning them, it should be easy enough."


    Rae giggled in Karl''s mind. She had taken a lot of them for her own personal use.


    "Karl, our Beast Master, has imed some of them as pet food as well." Doug added.


    Karl checked on everyone, to make sure they were safely in their spaces and not tempted to wander around, and Bob led them onto the helicopter as the scout for the military team confirmed that the fort was safe.


    There were ten of them, not five, which would make it a bit cramped, but there was enough room for them toy out their bedrolls, and that would be good enough. Nobody actually liked sleeping on the ground, and the spider web was a soft, as good as a mattress.


    The cargo master closed up the door once he was sure they were all in with their gear, and they took off toward the base camp for the area.


    "You all look a lot more rested than the other teams we''ve been bringing in. I take it you''re all veteran mercenaries?" The helicopter''s cargo master asked.


    Bob shook his head. "I''m the only one who is full-time. Doug is a Green Dragon Cleric with other duties, and the two mages work in digital security."


    The man nodded, then looked at Karl, whose name was left out.


    "Oh, I don''t have a proper job yet, I''m still in the Academy." He exined.


    The soldier did a double take, then shook his head.


    "You all have the look of veteran adventurers, I never would have guessed that you had a student and two volunteers with you. But that makes it even more impressive. The big boss has asked to meet with you all when you get back, probably something to do with publicity for the mission, or checking your rewards before you head home." The soldier replied.


    Doug chuckled. "I''m betting on them wanting to check our gear before we go back. With that many Commander Rank kills confirmed, they will want to make sure that we''re not nning to sell contraband to the masses."


    "Do you have any contraband?" The Soldier asked with a sly wink.


    Doug made a show of reaching into his pocket, and pulled out what looked like a cigarette, but definitely wasn''t ording to Karl''s sensitive nose.


    "I am a Green Dragon Priest. I AM contraband. That one is on the church, consider it a sanctioned sedative." Doug replied.


    Karl blinked slowly. Of all the things that he had considered about the possibilities of having a nature cleric around, including food for Thor, medicines and the healing potential, he had somehow never once considered the fact that most illicit drugs were herbal in nature as well.


    The drug Doug provided wasn''t technically illegal in the Golden Dragon Nation, just frowned upon by employers because it killed productivity. But still, it seemed to Karl that he had a lot to learn about interacting with others and smoothing over social interactions.


    If he had thought about keeping a pocked full of little bribes and gifts for the transport crews and others that they interacted with, he could rapidly build a reputation as a good guy who was easy to work with.


    And everyone knew that a good reputation would get you far in life.


    The transport helicopternded at the edge of camp and Karl''s group quickly disembarked after the crew handed the staff of the base a sheet of paper confirming their identities and status.


    "Wee back, Elites. Please follow me." A stiff - backed young female staff member announced before leading them through the winding walkways of the camp toward the actual town that sat at the centre.


    "The boss will speak to you momentarily, he''s just finishing a meeting with some government brass." She exined, with a gesture to a row of chairs.


    Karl took his pack off and took a seat, cing therge bag in front of him, the same as everyone else waiting in the hallway had done.


    The distinctive metallic nk of coins sounded as he ced the bag on the floor, despite his best attempts to wrap them and keep them silent. The others briefly looked up, but that sound was nothing new to them. They all had some loot, and some also had chain mail armour, which made the same sound when dropped.


    Secondster, Colonel Valerie walked out of the office with a terrifying expression on her face that faded to the neutral gaze that Karl knew was her version of a smile when she saw him.


    "Colonel, it is good to see you again. The mission went far better than expected, and I will have a full report ready for you at the Academy." Karl informed her with a smile.


    "Understood, I will have your monitoring team collect it, as I will be upied here for some time." She replied.


    The Elites in the hall stared as she walked away. Some in awe that such a highly ranked minister was here in a remote base camp, and others in appreciation of the way that her hips swayed as she walked.

 Chapter 180 Grease The Wheels

    <h4>Chapter 180 Grease The Wheels </h4>


    A voice came through the office door, breaking the silence.


    "Mackenzie Team,e in." The man''s voice demanded.


    Inside the office was a portly older man,pletely bald with his head shining under the fluorescent lights, and sweat stains on his shirt. It was obvious that he was not one of the Elites, even without considering his age, just by the condescending look that he was giving the group.


    "I hear that you have done wonderful things for the productivity rankings of the Public Safety department. Excellent work. However, we must check your equipment for contraband, to ensure that there are no prohibited or sacrilegious items going back to the public." He smugly announced.


    Doug turned to Karl as if to say, "I told you so", but Karl knew as well as everyone else that what the man was after was a bribe. He didn''t give a damn about contraband, and his position in Public Safety didn''t even allow him to handle it, he would have to call in the army to dispose of it for him if any was found.


    But if a few gold coins were dered suspicious, who would be any wiser?


    The others waited for the man to make his pitch, but Karl decided to move first, and picked up Doug''s backpack, which had nothing in it except what it hade with. He set it on the desk and smiled at the bureaucrat.


    "Of course that won''t be a problem. Colonel Valerie of the Bureau of Elite Development already has our inventory, but you are free to verify the contents of the bags." Karl replied with a genuine smile.


    The man''s face fell like Karl had kicked him, and his whole attitude changed.


    "You met with the Colonel?" He stammered.


    "Of course. She is my direct supervisor, and has a pair of agents assigned to my development at the Academy. We spend quite a bit of time together." Karl informed him.


    "Then I think that we are finished here. I will get a copy of the contents from the Bureau, and they can take responsibility for any contraband that might have made its way off the battlefield with your team."


    He waved to dismiss the team from his office, and they silently made their way back into the hall, where their escort was still waiting.


    "That was a short meeting. I am d that you could sort things out so quickly." The young woman greeted them while standing in the middle of the hallway, as if prepared to prevent them from leaving.


    "Yes, it is always a pleasant experience dealing with Public Safety. Now, will we be staying here in thepound, or are we set to fly out right away?" Doug asked.


    "You will have to stay here for a moment, Brother Doug." A voice called from behind them.


    Karl turned to see a rather familiar looking inquisitor behind them. If he was right, this was the big shirtless one from the Seminary Academy, who had been present for his interrogation after the discovery of the Trial Instance Holy Relic.


    The man seemed to recognize him as well, but he didn''t say anything as he led them away from the office, leaving the now smirking staff member behind them.


    The inquisitor led them into a soundproofed room and locked the door, then turned to Doug with an expectant look.


    "Don''t me me for this one. The new guy name-dropped the Bureau, and the Public Safety guy nearly shit his pants. I take it that he hit the rm?" The Cleric asked with augh.


    The Inquisitor sighed and rolled his eyes. "I got an emergency notification that your team had intimidated their way into bringing contraband back from your mission, and I was already standing next to you in the hallway. So, I need to check all your bags, while Brother Doug exins how things work to our newest Ascended Elite."


    Doug chuckled as he put his bag on the floor, as did everyone else, before the Green Dragon Cleric turned to Karl,ughing softly.


    "There is an unofficial policy that if a mission is run by an agency that isn''t part of the Elites, they tax the gains a maximum of five percent. It''s a get-rich-quick scheme for the politically connected, but it''s not officially sanctioned.


    However, unlike whoever you have used that intimidation tactic on before, these ones have connections that can make your day very difficult if you don''t y along.


    Now, you know, and I know, that we don''t have anything. But if I didn''t know the Inquisitor, how do you think our afternoon would have gone after he was informed that we definitely had contraband?" Doug asked.


    Karl nodded. "I see. I was thinking of him like the shift foreman at the mine that used to want bribes to clock you out on time. The guy in the office was such a greasy weasel that he just didn''t give the impression of politically powerful."


    The big Inquisitor nearly choked as he did his best not tough, then shook his head.


    "Yeah, this one is definitely one of us. Young Karl has a lot left to learn, but he''s off to a good start. You should ask him about how he managed to cutesy his way out of an interrogation by having Thore out and beg for head pats until nobody could take the session seriously.


    Wait, there''s not much about that he''s allowed to tell. I will tell Brother Doug privately after. But it''s a funny story." The big man exined.


    Danni chuckled at the mention of Thor. "He''s a big suck. You should see him now, he''s gotten huge in thest week with all the fighting that we''ve been doing against Awakened and Commander Rank beasts. I always told you that it was the best way to gain power, and it looks like it works for the Lightning Cerro as well."


    The Inquisitor gave Karl a curious look, so he called Thor out, taking up half the room.


    "Goddess, but he''s gotten big. That''s a full-grown Lightning Cerro, for certain, and perhaps bigger than average. Thor might be ready to challenge for the position of Pack Leader if he was still in the wild." The Inquisitor gasped, then gently rubbed the bone ridge that ran across the back of Thor''s head, protecting his neck from attack.


    The Inquisitor absently rubbed Thor''s head with one hand as he finished sorting through the packs.


    The Inquisitor turned to Doug, "You should send Karl back to the Seminary Academy when you leave. We can exchange his share of the gold into the Church Bank ount that all Elites get set up automatically, and I''m sure that there are a few Ascended Clerics that would be eager to meet him before the next mission he goes on.


    We introduced him to mostly Awakened Rank studentsst time, but he''s already outgrown that. Plus, you all likely need to be tested again, and that''s done at the Church."


    Doug nodded and looked at Karl to see if he had an issue with it.


    "I will have to get permission from someone to go on another adventure, I''m certain, but I don''t have a problem with that." Karl agreed easily.


    Brother Doug was a great healer, and his advanced cooking skills were a real lifesaver on this mission, but Karl couldn''t count on having him avable all the time, as he was graduated, with a real job and responsibilities.


    But if he could find a nature priestess, or another Green Dragon Cleric among the students, he would be in luck. It might not be written in any textbook, but finding the best cook was an important part of developing the perfect mission team.


    Even the beasts agreed. Especially Thor, who now had arge pile of the special mount feed that Doug had been making for him daily.


    That was much better than the regr roughage that he could get anywhere in the wild, or from the Academy Cafeteria, and the spell that Doug used made so much of it that even Thor''s mighty appetite didn''t keep up with the supply.


    He didn''t tell the Cleric that, though. Instead, he hid the extra in his space so that he had more forter, when he didn''t have a Doug around to keep making it for him.

 Chapter 181 Back To Church

    <h4>Chapter 181 Back To Church</h4>


    As he thought about what the protocol might be for changing locations now that his official mission was over, Karl realized that Colonel Valerie was still here somewhere, and he had her number in his phone.


    He scrolled the handful of numbers in the phone''s directory and sent her a simple text message.


    [I have a request from the church to go to the Seminary Academy. Do I need to do any paperwork to let the school know where I am?]


    His phone dinged a few secondster with her reply.


    [I will take care of it. Have them arrange for your transit back to the Academy when you are finished, or update the mission log if they''re sending you out again.]


    That was simpler than he had expected it to be, but then a second message came in.


    [Sergeant Rita will join you for your time at the Seminary Academy.]


    "Are you good to go now?" Doug asked as Karl read the second message from Colonel Valerie.


    "It looks like it. They''re sending my personal tutor from the Academy to join me during my time there, so I think they''re expecting me to be gone for a while." Karl agreed.


    "They''re sending a Tutor? Not a Professor?" Doug asked.


    "Yeah, I usually train under the guidance of Sergeant Rita, or a pair from the Bureau of Elite Development. All three are around somewhere most days, though the other duo sometimes have work to do." Karl exined.


    Doug nodded and smiled. "It looks like we got to you toote, they''ve already found you a cute girlfriend who just needs to make the first move."


    The twinsughed and Karl chuckled. "If it''s about Sergeant Rita, she''s gotpetition from the first years."


    "Oh? Do tell." Bob asked.


    Karl realized that they didn''t know who he was talking about. "I forgot for a moment that she wasn''t on the same helicopter on the way in. There is another fast-growing student, a Mage named Dana. She''s already Awakened Rank, and has been on all the same missions I have, only we got separated onto different teams this time."


    Bob smiled. "Well, at least you had the good sense to go for someone close to your growth rate instead of befriending the charity case. That always ends up messy when you get too far apart in power and end up on separate details with very different social status.


    Or worse, they stop giving them details and thepany you work for just hires them to be your shadow or bed warmer. More than one of the lowest performing Elites was hired as an ''assistant'' for a much more powerful friend after they graduated."


    Karl recalled that Bob had graduated at Awakened and had only made Ascended afterwards, so in his case the experience was likely reversed, where his crush surpassed him, and he was the one left behind by social pressures. He didn''t seem like the type to take a demeaning or low paying job just to be close to someone.


    It was a difficult thought for Karl. Would he end up forced apart from his friends because of his progress? He had once heard the mine foreman say that it was lonely at the top, regarding being an Elite or apany boss, but Karl had always just assumed he thought like that because he was a douchebag and nobody liked him.


    Doug led them out of the building, and Karl saw a very familiar head of curly hair in the distance, pushing a cart of supplies around. He would know those curly locks anywhere, even if she wasn''t wearing an Academy Uniform with the familiar ck Awakened Rank badge on the coat.


    "Speak of the devil, that is Dana, the mage I went on the mission with. I''m not sure what she''s doing in camp here, but we can go say hello if we have a minute." Karl exined, while waving in her direction.


    Dana spotted them and ran over with her cart to greet Karl with a big hug, which brought some stifledughter from the mages and a whispered "aren''t they adorable?" from Doug, that he probably wasn''t meant to hear.


    "Dana, it''s good to see you again. When did you get to the base camp?" Karl asked.


    "Five days after we were dropped off. My group waspletely useless, and our guardian cleric brought us back to the nearest base, who transferred us here, and put the other three on work detail for avoiding their duties. The cleric''s report was far from a glowing rmendation of their skills and work ethic, but he put in enough of a good word for me that I didn''t get any sort of punishment. They just reassigned me to look for another team.


    I''ve been doing day trips with some groups to get the experience, but I haven''t found a full-time group yet. It doesn''t help that they upgraded the threat level here to Ascended, so there aren''t many groups in the area I can even join, since most of them have Commander Rank leaders." Sheined.


    Karl nodded in understanding. "They transferred us here because of that upgrade. The rest of the team here are all Ascended. This is Bob, the lead warrior, Brother Doug, of the Green Dragon, and the twin mages Danni and Donni."


    Dana did her best to hide her envy at Karl, having gotten a good group right from the start. She had been bouncing between groups for a week without any real hope of getting on full-time. The groups were already at full strength, they were just taking on an extra for the day so that she could get the experience.


    "Where are you off to now? Back into the field after you resupply?" She asked, with a gesture to her cart.


    "Nope, off to the Seminary Academy for a bit. They wanted to talk to us about a thing." Karl exined vaguely.


    "Alright. Good luck, I''ve got to deliver these supplies, and then I''m off in the morning with another fresh team. They''ve just arrived back, but they''re military, so maybe it will be better." She replied, then waved at everyone and made her way toward a group of trucks.


    Doug chuckled as she left. If she thought that things were going to get better with a military group, she was in for a surprise. But at least it would be somewhat stable, and they probably wouldn''t ship her back to town after a single day, like these short mission sorts.


    Once Dana was gone and social time was over, Doug led them to a convoy of white buses with church logos on the side, which were just discharging their passengers.


    The young clerics were giving Karl a curious look, and he realized that he actually had met most of these people before. They were students of the Seminary Academy, being shipped out to supplement the groups here.


    He leaned over to whisper to Doug. "Should we really be headed back when things are so bad that they''re sending bus loads of students out to the front lines?"


    Doug smiled and patted him on the back. "It''s not like that. They will be assigned as the second or third healer for a ten person military unit to gain work experience. This is amon thing for both Academies once the students are in their second years."


    The group stopped to wait for the buses to be ready to start loading again, and the students took that as permission toe say hello.


    Sort of.


    "Brother Karl! Is Thor here?" One of the girls called from three buses away.


    That brought dozens of eager looks their way, and Karl called out the happy Cerro to say hello to everyone.


    "He''s getting big. Good afternoon Thor." The girl giggled as she ran over to rub his horns.


    Thor was quickly swarmed, and the Mages gave Karl a questioning look.


    He just shrugged. "Thor is a people person. He makes friends everywhere that we go."


    He was making even more friends here, behaving like an attention starved puppy around impressionable young clerics.


    "At this rate, we''re going to have to give them a refresher in the interacting with wild animals course when they get home." Doug chuckled.


    "Thor is thoroughly domesticated. But I wouldn''t rmend doing that with a wild Lightning Cerro. Though who knows, maybe they would like it, and it''s just that nobody has tried." Karl agreed.


    "Oh, someone has tried. That''s why we teach the course." Doug countered with a smirk that said he was familiar with the story behind why the course existed.

 Chapter 182 Bus Trip

    <h4>Chapter 182 Bus Trip </h4>


    It took an hour before the buses were cleaned, restocked and refuelled for the trip back to the Seminary Academy, which was set to take over ten hours.


    Compared to flight, it was incredibly slow, but in terms of cost-effectiveness, Karl assumed that it was much better. He didn''t know much about what it cost to run a helicopter, but it seemed like it would be a lot.


    Karl and the team were the only ones on the bus who weren''t part of the church, and the returning clerics seemed curious about why they were along on the mission, but two Inquisitors hade to sit in front of them, and nobody was brave enough to speak around them, in case the team was in some sort of trouble.


    Both of the Inquisitors looked totally wiped, probably from dealing with ckers for thest couple of weeks, and Karl nudged Doug, then handed him a bit of the moss for tea.


    "How about you make everyone a nice, refreshing cup of tea? I think that they''ve earned it." He suggested.


    Doug looked startled when he saw the moss. "Where did you get this? It looks freshly picked."


    Karl shook his head. "It''s from a previous mission. But I have ways to store resources that don''t let them spoil. I know it''s usually dried better, but it should be alright. We made a pot the first day we got it, and it was fine."


    Doug nodded and got out his teapot, with a heating element.


    A few minutester, a warm and earthy aroma filled the bus, and Doug poured a thermos full of tea, which he passed forward up the bus.


    Each person it passed poured a small cup, and when the thermos made it back to Doug, it still had a little in the bottom.


    He topped off his cup and started to brew another pot with the same moss.


    "It''s good for at least two batches, though the first is the most beneficial. I know that not many of our clerics are physical sorts, but it can still be useful to them." He exined as the second pot steeped.


    One of the Inquisitors turned back to talk to them. "That''s pretty good. Most of the time the moss is stale from storage, and the vour is off. It makes better tea when it is freshly dried, but this isn''t too bad."


    "Thanks. I think I will put some cinnamon and nutmeg in the next batch, to liven up the vour a bit." Doug replied, as he added the spices to the pot.


    "I heard that we get to do a bunch of Commander Rank tests this week. Who thinks they have it? Surely, not Karl. Though I wouldn''t be surprised if he went for Ascended already." The Inquisitor asked.


    Doug gestured around. "I think that all the rest of us are close enough to give the test a go. The Bureau is sending an attendant for Karl, so I''m not certain if we will get to test him at all, or if they''ll make him wait to do it in private."


    The Inquisitorughed softly.


    It made no difference to him. The Inquisition had immediate ess to all the records either way. It was just a matter of who else knew how fast the most talented student of the year was advancing.


    The Academy might want to hold off until the end of the Semester or until next Semester''s midterm for the official test, to make it look like the rate was slower than it really was. The Elite Rankings were public information once they were published, so eventually everyone would know, but changing the date of the official recording could give those watching a false impression of how things were going.


    All the Elite Agencies had at least a few agents who were waiting on official tests, but had advanced months or even a year earlier.


    But for most Elites, it was a point of pride to show off their advancements, especially to Commander Rank. For the clerics, it was an especiallyrge jump, as the Commander Rank marked the High Priests and Priestesses.


    If Doug could make that, he would get much better assignments at work, and would probably get a few assistants assigned to him to do the annoying parts.


    For the others, it was mostly semantics, as they already had the power, but it would help them get promotions and better paying jobs. Not that they particrly needed the money, but you could never go wrong with a little better quality of life.


    The bus rolled through the wilderness, and Karl noticed a group of Ogres in the distance.


    "Are there groups in this zone?" He asked.


    The inquisitor shook his head. "No, this zone is already cleared, and there hasn''t been anything spawning here."


    "There are Ogres over there. They don''t look fully grown, so likely low Ascended or high Awakened." Karl informed him, with a gesture toward the tiny figures in the distance.


    The Inquisitor took out binocrs to see if he could tell what Karl was talking about. Sure enough, there were Ogres, and they were headed away from the patrolled zones.


    The Inquisitor sent a quick text message and sighed. "Thanks. They will take care of it. If you see any other monsters in the area, please let us know. Sometimes there are a few that slip through the cracks during an operation like this, and they don''t always get picked up again until they''re near civilization."


    The buses were moving too fast on the oiled gravel road to send Hawk out to scout, but he could sit on the roof and keep watch, and ry anything he saw to Karl. The wind in his feathers made Hawk happy, and even though he didn''t see much of note, he at least got to be outside while the other two slept.


    The convoy trundled down the roads all day, and as it started to get dark, Hawk returned to his space to sleep. Rae considered taking up his spot on the roof, but she was fairly sure that the other drivers would panic if she just appeared on top of the bus unexpectedly.


    It was after midnight when they made it to the Seminary Academy, and Karl knew that it was going to be a rough night, but Doug led them to the same wing that he had been staying inst time. It wasn''t the same room, but at least he would know his way around.


    "I will see you all at breakfast. I hope you got enough sleep on the bus because it''s going to be an early morning." The cleric joked.


    Bob nodded. "We know the routine. I will see you in the morning."


    The routine of the Seminary Academy didn''t change for anyone, no matter howte they got back to the Academy, and when the sun came up, there was a knock at Karl''s door, waking him up for breakfast, and he could hear the Mackenzie siblings getting ready across the hall.


    They were much more enthusiastic than usual, as they were looking forward to taking the Commander Rank test. That was enough to get them motivated even at the break of dawn. The only other one that Karl knew who was that enthusiastic in the morning was Thor, and that was because he knew that there were countless people here to visit.

 Chapter 183 Candidates

    <h4>Chapter 183 Candidates</h4>


    The showers in the Seminary Academy never seemed to run out of hot water, a fact that Karl was immensely thankful for as he scrubbed away the grime of an extended field mission with the coarse pumice soap that they provided.


    The gentle and inoffensive smell made him feel properly clean again, and reminded Thor of the waters in his pond, whose bottom was lined with Holy Stones. It was a good feeling, and they even had fresh clothes ready for him, as Karl hadn''t had time to doundry.


    It was what they referred to as a visitor''s robe, a simple white robe without any of the markings of the church, and a rope tie around the waist. The hassock reminded Karl a bit of wandering around in his housecoat, which was a bit strange, but it wasfortable.


    The rest of the team came out wearing the same outfit, except for Doug, who obviously had his own room and clothing here.


    The Green Dragon Cleric smiled at their in white hassocks and gestured toward the dining hall. "Let''s take our seats and see where we ended up. Most of the time they will put the visitors together if they''re in a group, but they might split us up today, since three of you are here for the Commander Rank tests, and the Commanders will want to meet with their potential peers."


    Doug''s guess was right, and all of them, except the twins, were seated at separate tables, with Doug getting a spot of honour, right up at the front with the High Priests. Karl found his table in the back corner, seated between Alice and Sergeant Rita, with the rest of the table filled with Priestesses.


    "What are you smiling about today?" Rita asked as Karl took his seat.


    "It''s the same setup as the first meal I had here. Just myself in the corner at a table full of lovely youngdies." He replied with a wink.


    That made Aliceugh and most of the Priestesses blush.


    "He''s been taking lessons in charm from Thor, I''m certain of it." The Bureau agentughed as Rita gave Karl a concerned look.


    The room fell silent as the Matron walked in, and the students began to deliver the trays.


    Everything in their room was delivered smoothly, but Karl heard the crash as someone tripped in the other room, and the apologies as they ran off to get cleaning supplies and another tray.


    Rita and Alice seemed confused as to what they were waiting for, though they understood the rules. The Priestesses just seemed to ept it as part of life here. If she wanted to wait, she waited.


    Karl heard thest tray being delivered, and looked up to the front, to see the Academy''s Matron smiling back at him. It was obvious that she knew he could hear themotion in the other room as well, but she didn''t say anything, and just silently began her meal once thest tray was delivered.


    The priestess across from Karl smirked as he moved to pick up his fork just as the Matron took her first bite.


    "You really do know what the timing is. I heard from some of the younger students that you told them how to pass the homework assignment, but I didn''t believe it." She whispered.


    Karl smiled back and whispered. "They were telling the truth. Ask them about itter, and I''m sure they can exin how the system works."


    Then he gave a meaningful look toward the front of the room, to remind them that she could hear every conversation in the dining hall.


    "Is it true that you managed to kill a Commander Rank Hill Giant?" One of the others asked quietly.


    "With my group, yes. We got more than one, and quite a few Ascended Rank Giants and Ogres as well. It was a very productive trip." Karl agreed.


    "Wow, then the others on your team really might all make Commander Rank this time?" She replied.


    Karl nodded. "I am not the best at telling rtive power, but inbat, I can say that they should all meet the standard."


    They finished breakfast, and Karl followed Rita and the clerics from his table out of the room and into a ssroom.


    "We have a few things to go over. The Bureau wants you to stay out and gather experience, but your previous team looks like they''re going to be promoted, so they will be getting a new member, as you''re still officially Awakened.


    So, we have chosen a selection of potential team members to go with you back into the field. Did you have any particr requirements? Or can we get started with the introductions." Rita asked.


    "I think that if you vetted them, then they''ve likely got all the qualifications that we need. I will admit that being with a Green Dragon Priest who can make all sorts of food did spoil us a little bit, but that''s hardly a requirement for a mission." Karl joked.


    The Clericsughed at that. It was definitely a game changer when you had a nature god''s priest or priestess with you on an extended mission.


    "Alright, that is an option. There are tradeoffs, as Nature Priests aren''t as good at healing as some of the others, and they don''t have the group buff abilities of the war clerics. Some, like the wisdom and education gods, rarely go on missions, so there aren''t any in the room with us, but you should be able to find someone you can work with." Rita exined.


    "What is the rest of the group? What sort of other Elites do we have with us? Normally, it''s one cleric to a group, so theposition matters a lot. Bob, the warrior from the group I was in, specialized in front-line tanking, holding the enemies back while the mages cast their spells.


    If we don''t have that, we will have to adjust expectations.


    If it''s going to be random, then the most versatile of options would be best." Karl suggested, not wanting to single anyone out or cause any hard feelings within the group.


    They were all likely great options for a mission team, and he wouldn''t want to mess up any future encounters.


    "Then we will start with introductions from left to right. We have Jenny, a healing specialist from the God of Life. Tessa, a War Cleric of the Red Dragon. Kira, a battle cleric from the Church Guard, Andrea, a Holy Cleric specialized in group enhancement spells, and finally Lotus, a Priestess of the God of Nature."


    The responses of each cleric were different, but somehow in line with their deity. Jenny gave a polite nod, Tessa went with a smirk that said she was looking forward to seeingbat again, Kira nodded in recognition with her hand on the mace at her side, while Andrea gave Rita and Alice curious looks, as if wondering if they were also group members.


    Lotus was the outlier, and the tiny cleric poked Karl in the side with a pleading look.


    "Can we see Thor again?" She asked.


    Ritaughed, but motioned for Karl not to do anything.


    "Thor has gottenrger, there isn''t enough room for him in here. We can let you two visitter." She reprimanded the cleric, who stuck her tongue out at the warrior in return.

 Chapter 184 New Group

    <h4>Chapter 184 New Group </h4>


    Karl turned to Rita. "You still didn''t answer the question about whom the other group members are."


    Rita shrugged. "That''s because we don''t know. What they''re asking of us right now is to pair you with a cleric and a mage, and we''ve got our mage right here. Alice will be your group leader for the rest of this assignment, but who the other two members are hasn''t been decided.


    For all I know, they might send me with you if they decide that you''re going to officially test for Ascended Rank right away."


    Hawkughed in Karl''s mind. He had said on the very first day at the Academy that it wouldn''t be long until they surpassed the evil woman who worked him without snacks, and now it wasing true.


    Alice smirked as Karl realized that she would be his team leader for the mission, as she was a Commander Rank Mage, and he was picking from Ascended Rank clerics.


    "Alright, I am at least vaguely familiar with Alice''s abilities. She is good with barriers, but specializes more in attack. We''re already well-rounded in attack and defence, with a versatile mage as the leader. Thor also specializes in defence, while Rae is full offence, and Hawk is our scout.


    His presence made it possible to clear an entire zone by lunch because we didn''t have to hunt for the monsters'' hiding spots." Karl exined to the clerics.


    "So, mostly you need someone to keep you alive and fed, while making sure that the monsters die in a prompt and efficient manner?" Tessa, the War God''s Cleric, asked.


    Alice nodded. "That is a pretty good way of putting it. We can obviously feed ourselves, and there are ration packs, but nobody says no to a bit more variety in their diet."


    The Clerics all nodded, and then they looked at each other.


    Lotus smirked at Karl. "There really isn''t a bad option here, so if you''re hoping that someone will eliminate themselves, you''re out of luck."


    That was precisely what he had been hoping, but it seemed obvious now that it wasn''t going to happen.


    "Well then, I guess we just need to work on a solid core for the group, no matter who we get for thest pair. Since that''s the case, who here is good with both healing and group buffs? We have barriers taken care of thanks to Alice, butbat enhancements are important." Karl asked.


    All five of them raised their hands, and Karl gave Rita a questioning look.


    "They all have specialties, but I picked five that had the best qualifications." She replied.


    "So, this will not be easy. Alright, I am going to have to find some other criteria, or I will have Alice draw names to see who goes." Karl sighed.


    Lotus cheered. "Drawing names is the best way." She agreed.


    Jenny rolled her eyes. "That''s only because you have insanely good luck when ites to trivial things. I''m not sure that it will extend to getting a party member, but if we were drawing straws for first shower, Lotus would win every single time."


    Luck might not be a quantifiable factor, but it was an incredibly valuable one.


    While they were considering their next move, one of the High Priests came in and silently handed a note to Rita. Karl didn''t think much of it, as they were at the Seminary Academy, but the look on her face said that it was something important.


    "The extra group members have been decided. I will be apanying you, and they request that we pick two clerics to make up the five-person group." Rita informed them, reading from the note she had been given.


    Alice looked a bit startled to hear that, and moved the selection forward. "Either they''re short on Elites, or we''re going to be doing something unexpectedly annoying. I guess that means we''re definitely going to need someone good withbat buffs, and ones who don''t mind fighting.


    Are there any of you who don''t get along well?"


    They all shook their heads. There were no deep-seated rivalries between them.


    "In that case, I will pick the ones who like to fight the most." She finished.


    "That would be Tessa and Lotus." Jennyughed.


    "Not Kira?" Alice questioned, as Kira was a cleric of the Church Guard.


    Tessa shook her head. "She might not look like it, but the tiny one is scrappy. My theory is that she''s part honey badger, and as she got more attuned to her Goddess, it made her want to pick fights with everyone."


    Lotus definitely didn''t look the part of a fighter. She was even shorter than Dana, despite being graduated from the Academy. On the other hand, Tessa looked more like a warrior dressed in a nun''s habit than an actual Priestess. Even from here, Karl could see the muscles on her arms, and the scattering of red scales. Plus, she nearly stood eye to eye with his 180cm height, making her exceptionally tall for a Priestess.


    "Now, the real question. Can one of you use advanced food creation?" Karl joked, giving the clerics a wink so they would know he wasn''t serious.


    Tessaughed. "Funny story that. We both can."


    Alice extended her hand to Jenny, who was closest. "Thank you all for giving us your time, and know that you are still on the short list for any future missions that we take. We have to head out again as soon as the testing ispleted, so we won''t keep you from your daily tasks any longer.


    Tessa and Lotus, if you would like to go pack your mission bags, we will meet you at the testing cathedral in an hour."


    The rejected candidates waved as they left, while Tessa and Lotus gave each other a high five as they went to pack their bags.


    "Well, this could be an interesting mission. Who would have thought that we would be assigned two clerics?" Karl muttered as they left the room.


    Alice nodded. "It''s unexpected for certain, but the Colonel believes that you''re up to the task."


    That said a lot about how they ended up with such a strange group, and in such a hurry. Karl assumed the normal state of things would be for him and his chosen cleric to go back to one of the base camps and get assigned someone from the reinforcements to go with.


    "So, are we really going to do the test for Ascended before we go?" Karl asked, instead of voicing his thoughts about what was happening with the Colonel''s favouritism.


    "We are. I am a Commander Rank Mage, so normally my group would be all Ascended or higher. If we''re going to keep the military and the government dispatchers happy, you have to make it to Ascended as soon as possible.


    We can write off a few weeks or a month as training, but after that, they will start wondering what is so special that you are out fighting when others are stuck in ss." She replied.


    "So, I will be out for some time?" Karl asked carefully.


    "Look at Thor and Rae. That sort of growth would never happen in the Academy. So, as long as it keeps up, we will keep finding you opportunities to keep them growing.


    I must say some of it is personal curiosity on the part of Rita and myself, to see how fast you really can grow, but most of it is the practicality of it. The Colonel thinks you might be the next powerhouse, and that means doing all we can to make ite true." Alice agreed.


    "But don''t worry, we will get you back to your little Mage Girl before you know it." Ritaughed.

 Chapter 185 Test Location

    <h4>Chapter 185 Test Location</h4>


    Sergeant Rita cleared her throat to get Karl''s attention. "The test will be administered by a group of High Clerics, using abination of Divine Magic and technology, to determine if yourbat power and maximum energy output meet the standards of an Ascended Elite. Your ss is a bit of an anomaly, so I am not certain whether they will count your beast''s maximum as your own, but it is almost certain that they won''t allow you tobine the outputs to get a more impressive number.


    The look on your face says you never even considered it, but it hase up in the past with druids and Rangers who had summons. They count the summon as a separate effect, and while they do allow you to have it active if you gain a buff from it, their attack power is not added to your own.


    For that reason, the total effectivebat ability of mages who can use Golems or Elementals, as well as sses with various types of summons can be much higher than a single warrior."


    She stepped toward the door, and Karl turned to follow, eager to get through the test and find out what the n was to find another way for the beasts to advance.


    He had an idea of his own. A simple one, but effective so far. The Lizardmen and Ogres tended to carry magical gems on them, which could be used in potions to enhance warriors. Those should be effective on the beasts as well, and he even had someing from his share of the loot from this mission.


    Most of it was in coins, but they had a ratherrge pile of magical gems in Doug''s bag as well.


    "Will we have time to drop in on the Commander Rank tests? The team I was with before are all testing for advancement today, and I think they would appreciate the extra bit of moral support." Karl asked.


    "Possibly. Not all of them, as they''re running at the same time as your test, but thest few we should be able to go see unless they are faster than expected or close the temple." Alice agreed.


    She led them to a small temple off to the side of thepound, past the stables, where a small group of older clerics had gathered.


    An ancient looking man with golden eyes that were slotted like a goat''s turned to look at Karl with a curious expression.


    "This must be Elite Karl. You have a lot of the World Dragon''s Luck about you. Are you confident in your ability to pass the Ascended Rank trial?" He asked, speaking slowly, as if each word was an effort.


    "Yes, High Priest. I am confident that I can pass the trial." Karl replied politely.


    A younger priest stepped forward. "Then we will use the Divine Trial to test whether you are Ascended or not. When youe back out, your mark will be glowing golden if you passed, ck if you failed."


    Alice and Rita both looked shocked at his words, but Karl wasn''t sure why. The cleric had just said it was a trial to confirm his status. Obviously, the Church would have their own way, and not the power meter thing that the Golden Divine Academy used along with the teachers'' judgment.


    "The Divine Trial has been activated?" Alice asked.


    "Is it such a shock? It is active for twenty-four hours when it is used, and we have a High Priest testingter today." The old man slowly answered.


    "Forgive my impertinence, High Priest. I was just shocked that it was active. I didn''t know that you were elevating a High Priest today." Alice replied.


    That must mean that they were confident that Doug would pass the trials and be an official Commander Rank Green Dragon Cleric, which would grant him the role of High Priest by default.


    There was still some internal ranking among the High Priests, but Karl had no idea how it worked, and he didn''t really care, as it was unlikely to ever affect his daily life. The protocol for dealing with them was all the same for those outside the church, and he already remembered the rules of courtesy.


    Danni and Donni came over while they were talking, with Bob not far behind them, having an animated conversation with one of the guards.


    From the hand gestures, it seemed that they were deeply engrossed in the finer points of swordy, so Karl just waved to them and waited for instructions.


    The Seminary Academy Matron herself stepped out of the building in front of them with a gentle smile on her face.


    "We will be doing the trials today in order of age, as the Gods have demanded. Therefore, the first to enter will be the Beast Master, Karl. Followed by Donni, then Danni, Brother Doug, and finally Robert. You can enter anytime that you want after the previous applicant has entered, the trial will separate you, and none will be able to see what happens inside except the trial taker.


    The results are impossible to fake, even for me, so do your best. The Gods can be unforgiving with their standards in a way that a standard test is not." She dered.


    Karl believed that. The Trial Instance he was in had very different standards for those taking the tests than anything that Karl was familiar with. So, if the clerics set a certain standard for your test, he knew that the trial wouldn''t allow you to fake your way through or cheat in any way.


    She gestured toward the door, not allowing him any time to doubt his resolve, and Karl stepped through therge bronze doors into the chapel building.


    Inside it was very unobtrusive, with a simple stone interior, wooden benches, and a collection of magical items along the walls.


    It felt like the room was judging him, and Karl realized that the door behind him no longer existed. He must be inside the trial, but he wasn''t certain what he should be doing.


    There was an altar at the front of the room, and it had some sort of devices sitting on it. That must be the first test it wanted him to take.


    Karl walked up, and saw that it even had written instructions, though the script was archaic, and he couldn''t read it. But whoever had made this had prepared for that, and there were pictorial instructions as well.


    Karl walked up, and saw that it even had written instructions, though the script was archaic, and he couldn''t read it. But ce both hands on the device, and make it glow.


    Karl put his hands on the round te, and wondered if he should do something, but then it felt like the energy was being drained from his body, and he quickly brought up Refreshing Lightning. It was still drawing heavily from him, as if he was using some extreme skill, but the Lightning eased the burden a little.


    Then the standard increased, and Karl''s knees nearly buckled. But he held on until the draw increased again, and then abruptly stopped when Karl couldn''t provide the power that it demanded.


    He wasn''t sure if that was a good thing or not, but the altar vanished, and Karl found himself in an empty field. A golden Golem appeared in front of him, and a voice whispered in his mind.


    [Hit it as hard as you can.]


    Again, simple. Karl checked to make certain his bracelet that increased skill damage, the reward he received thest time that he was here at the Seminary Academy, was firmly attached to his wrist, and then coated his sword with both [Shred] and Refreshing Lightning, before lunging forward andnding five rapid strikes on the Golem, letting [Offensive Adaptation] do its thing.


    Each time he hit it, a bit more of the Golem turned from gold to red, until after the fourth strike it stopped advancing. Again, Karl had no idea of how the measuring system worked, but the scene changed again, and he was sitting at a desk with a written test in front of him.


    He didn''t expect a writtenponent. He couldn''t even read thenguage of the Holy Relics.


    But the test turned out to be just one question, and it was in the Golden Dragon Nation''smonnguage.


    [Which Deity do you owe your allegiance to?]


    That was a tough question. There was a whole pantheon. He wasn''t a cleric with an affiliation, so although the World Dragon was considered the primary God of the Golden Dragon Nation, he wasn''t certain how to answer.


    Wouldn''t ayman like him picking just one be an uninformed answer and an insult to all the other Gods that he didn''t pick?


    The page went nk for a moment, and then new words appeared.


    [Answer epted.]

 Chapter 186 Ascended Test

    186 Ascended Test


    Karl stared at the words on the sheet. He didn''t recalling up with an actual answer, but he supposed that was an answer on its own.


    This test was the most confusing trial he had been through so far, and he had no idea how he was even doing. He didn''t even know what the standard was that he was aiming for.


    Then the desk vanished, and he found himself at another temple with steps up the side, identical to the one in thest Trial Instance. Except this time, every side but one was shrouded in dark mist.


    Karl walked over to the stairs, and found himself looking at the sign in annoyance. It was again in anguage that he couldn''t read. But the picture had a person stepping up the stairs and an arrow. That would be clear enough for anyone to understand what it wanted.


    So, he stepped onto the stairs, and a soft sound like a tambourine''s cymbals jingled. He stepped again, and it was a bit louder and longer. There was no appreciable resistance as he walked, so he just kept going, listening to the song that the cymbals were ying until they were joined by a drum beat.


    At first, it only beat with every stair, but it was slowly gaining a beat as he moved up the stairs.


    Then a flute joined the music, and a heavy weight seemed to descend on his shoulders, making every step a challenge. The Refreshing Lightning barrier seemed to help, and the mana flowing through his body helped keep him focused as he realized that he knew this song. It wasn''t some Divine Hymn, or some ancient bad, it was a rhythmic working song that the miners sang, that Karl knew by the name "Give the working man a chance". It was about hard work getting you nowhere, and that the only way to true power was to take it by force.


    The song was officially banned in the mines, but not because it was a revolutionary theme song. The lyrics he knew advocated murdering the boss and taking over his job when you knew you could do a better job.


    Karl sang along as he trudged up the steps, and that strange sense of amusement that he had felt on the steps after the trial appeared again. One of the Gods must know this song.


    Or his version of the lyrics were so very wrong that they wereughing at him missing the point.


    Six stepster, a familiar ache, like the end of a full shift swinging a pickaxe, had settled into his bones and muscles, but still Karl pushed forward, until he found that he couldn''t take another step. As it had been on the fate steps, it was simply impossible to move forward. No matter where you put your foot, you somehow ended up on the same step.


    This was a trial, so there should be some way forward, he assumed. Karl poured extra energy into the Refreshing Lightning Barrier, and slid his foot up the step.


    That got it onto the next stair, but when he put weight on it, he found it back on the same step as his other foot.


    So, he added more power with Shred and Rend both activated. Now he was on the step, and the other foot came up behind it. After a half second that felt like hours, both feet were on the next step, and a flow of power was entering his body, refreshing his aching muscles, then he was flying through the air, away from the temple. It was ironically familiar after his attempt to jump straight up on the stairs in thest trial instance, but hended on his feet with a solid impact that left a ten-metre-long furrow and made the Refreshing Lightning barrier flicker.


    The scene faded, and he found himself in the first room again, but this time he was facing the open bronze door, where he could see the Academy Matron and Alice waiting for him. The others were out of his line of sight, but the Matron was smiling at him.


    "There is no need to discuss the trials you faced. They are different for everyone, and it won''t help them to know what you faced. Congrattions, Ascended Elite Karl, you have passed the test." She announced.


    The w marks on his arm were glowing bright gold, and Karl let out a sigh of relief.


    "That was a short test. Most of them take over an hour, but you''re out again in under thirty minutes." Rita noted as Karl stepped out of the temple.


    "Half an hour? It didn''t feel quite that short. Though thatst trial messes with your sense of time, so I suppose that could be right." Karl replied. n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om


    Rita waved off his efforts to exin.


    "You can keep the content of your trial a secret. They often contain some sort of spiritual or personal revtion that will help you in the future." She exined.


    A revtion that would help him in the future? Unless there were less violent lyrics for that song which had been ying, the trial probably hadn''t given him any sort of deep moral lesson.


    Karl found himself whistling the song that had been ying in the trial, and one of the High Priests gave him a strange look.


    "Do you know that hymn?"


    Karl gave him an equally confused look. "Hymn? As far as I know, it''s a worker''s song, with a rhythm to swing a pickaxe to. It was ying in the trial, and it got stuck in my head."


    The old man nodded. "I heard it once about fifty years ago, in my own trial for High Priest. I couldn''t find anything about it, though. Even when I spent half a year looking through hymn books, old musical sheets andposition records."


    Karlughed. "This one won''t be in any written record. If you have some time, go ask the miners to sing it for you. But don''t ask in front of the foreman or the boss because the song is banned."


    The old man smirked. "Why should I wait? You know it, and we''ve got a few minutes before the others finish. I assume that you''re intending to wait to see how Brother Doug and your friends do."


    Karl nodded. "Sure, just give me a moment, I need some sort of instrument to keep rhythm if I''m going to sing."


    Rita smiled and took out a pair of spoons. "I know the song as well. I will keep time, you sing. I bet that the miners'' version of the lyrics are more fun than the ones I know."


    The old cleric looked intrigued, and he had already pulled out a notepad and pencil to write down the lyrics, and possibly write the musical sheets for the song.


    She took up the rhythm with the cking of the spoons in ce of the tambourine, and Karl started to sing the lyrics, while the clerics all looked vaguely scandalized, except the Red Dragon High Priestess, who began to sing along after a few verses.


    She knew the same lyrics that Karl did, and the old cleric looked annoyed that he had looked for so long, and the answer was right in front of him, but so different from what he had expected that he wasn''t asking the right questions.


    When they got to the end of the song, with the line "Throw him down the shaft and give the working man a chance", the Red Dragon clericughed, and the other High Priests and Priestesses pped in appreciation.


    Rita shook her head and wrote out an alternate version for the cleric. "These are the words that I know. I grew up right by the border, so it might be regionally different, but the rhythm is the same. It''s not a song you will hear much in public, just when the lowest ss are working hard and not particrly happy with their employer." "Amazing. Thank you all for your assistance. Now, I must n a journey to find the original version that all of these derived from." He insisted, then wandered away to do exactly that.


    The group patiently waited for the others toe out, mostly with a quiet professionalism, but every few minutes the Red Dragon High Priestess would begin to whistle a song, and someone wouldugh, annoying the other clerics who were trying to focus on something while they waited.


    The first to appear was Doug, whose in green robe was nowyered with ck and gold underneath, and his ss marking was glowing bright gold.


    "Wee back, High Priest Dous Cormac Mackenzie." The Matron greeted him.


    Doug winced. "Really? You had to full name me?" The old woman smiled. "Of course. You''re a dignified High Priest now, everyone gets to full name you. How else will they remain reverent of your power when you''re happier ying in the garden and getting the guards high on their days off?"


    Doug whistled and looked away, pretending to be innocent, but not fooling anyone.


    "Well, it is good to be a High Priest anyhow. I believe my Goddess is happy with my work." Doug replied with a reverent tone when he spoke of the Dragon God of Nature.


    The other clerics chuckled at his pronouncement, long since used to the carefree ways of the nature Priests. Little things like rules and regtions never bothered them much, unless they interfered with the natural order of things.


    They couldn''t even be counted on to prevent violence among the students because, in their words, "sometimes people deserve a punch in the face". But on the other hand, you could count on them to deal with the matter fairly after it happened.

 Chapter 187 Commanders Mackenzie

    187 Commanders Mackenzie


    The next out was Bob, whose warrior mark was glowing a faint gold, barely illuminating the mark.


    "It seems that it was a close thing, but you too have passed the trials. Congrattions on your sess, Commander Robert Mackenzie." The Matron greeted him.


    "Thank you Matron. It got very touch and go there for a bit, but I am d that I managed to satisfy the Gods that I was worthy of the Rank." He replied.


    Then he turned to Karl, and gestured to where he had left his backpack.


    "I have the loot split. If you don''t mind, the mages were quite interested in the crystals for crafting, but they have offered a ring of Giant Strength and a magic sword in exchange. The values are equal, ording to the church auditor." Bob informed him.


    Karl nodded. "That works well enough for me. If they know someone who can make good use of them, then they are wee to the gems. Has the cash been deposited into the ount? I don''t know how to check my card bnce away from the Academy."


    Bob nodded. "You can check it at the supply counter here at the Seminary Academy, or at any money machine in the towns. But yes, the money should be deposited already. It''s a rather substantial amount, so try not to act shocked when you see it."


    Alice gave Karl a curious look, and he shrugged. "We brought back two backpacks half loaded with coins from the Giants and Ogres. Even split five ways, it should be a fairly substantial amount, as Bob called it."


    Bob handed over the ring and the sword, which Karl recognized as the dagger that they had gotten from one of the Giants, which Bob had been using himself as an improvement on the other sword he owned.


    Karl slipped the ring on his finger, and strapped the de to his pack until he could get a scabbard made for it. It wouldn''t fit into the one for the sword he already owned, and he didn''t have another way to carry it, like the metal loop that Bob used as a sword hanger.


    The supply room should have something for him, though. They had all sorts of gear made by the church, and it was usually reasonably priced, from what he had heard. Even many of the items at the Golden Divine Academy were made here.


    The influx of power from the Ring of Giant Strength was impressive, and Karl wondered if he could do like Thor and flip an armoured car from a standstill. His own strength was improving, but with the odd tests of the trial instance, he couldn''t say how well itpared to warriors at the same entry to Ascended Rank level.


    The twins came out at the same time, as perfectly as if they had nned it, and both showing off the golden wand marks on their hands.


    "Congrattions Commanders, you have both done a wonderful job today. We will be updating your registration in just a few minutes, would you like some family alone time before you are pulled away by those eager to celebrate your advancement?" The Matron asked.


    "A few minutes at least would be appreciated." Doug replied with a smile, right before he pulled his sisters into a group hug.


    Karl nodded to Bob, who gave him a happy soldier''s salute, then went to join the others.


    "Alright, I think we''re finished. Do you two need anything, or should I just go grab thest items I need before we head out?" Karl asked.


    "Grab what you need and meet us back at the front gates in fifteen minutes. That''s when the clerics will be arriving." Alice agreed.


    Karl ran off to the supply counter and handed his card to the clerk, who did a double take as he noticed it wasn''t a Seminary Academy card, but hadn''t noticed that Karl wasn''t one of them while he was wearing the generic hassock.


    "Can I get a scabbard to fit this de and two sets of ck training mission fatigues if you have them?" He asked.


    The man punched in the request without a word, then tapped Karl''s card against the reader and nodded. "We''ve got them. Just allow me a minute to grab a few scabbards and see what fits best. That looks like it was taken from a monster, so it''s probably not a standard size."


    True to his word, he returned in just over a minute, with an armload of clothes and scabbards, then proceeded to test the fit of the sword until he found one that he was satisfied with.


    "Is it hanging on that belt?" He asked dubiously, looking at the rope tie of Karl''s hassock.


    "No, I have a sword belt, Academy standard issue, but everything was in theundry this morning." Karl exined. He hoped it would all be clean and ready, butst time he was here, he hadn''t returned to his room for quite a while. But the supply chief was prepared for that, and he pulled out a in ck leather sword belt, intended to be wrapped twice around the waist, to adjust the hanging height of your de.


    "No charge. It can rece the standard belts thate with the fatigue sets. Do you need new boots?" He asked.


    Karl shook his head. The in ck ones he had on were already broken in andfortable, and after a short cleaning, they were good as new.


    "Thanks, I''ve got to run up and get packed, we''re supposed to leave in fifteen minutes." Karl informed the supply chief, who smiled and waved for him to get running.


    When Karl got back to his room, his school mission uniforms were all freshlyundered and waiting for him, along with a set of fresh Bronze badges. That had to be from either Alice or Rita, as they were Golden Divine Academy badges, not something that you would expect to see at the Seminary Academy, but Karl appreciated the gesture.


    If they were here now, then they had been dropped off before his trial wasplete, anticipating him seeding.


    With well practised motions, Karl tucked everything back in his pack the way that he liked the bnce best, and then headed back downstairs to inquire about the fact that all the consumables from hisst mission were already depleted, and he didn''t have an opportunity to restock them.


    The clerics were just getting down to the courtyard when he arrived, and there were stacks of supplies being loaded into the white bus convoy, in preparation to head back out again.


    "This time it will just be us and the convoy guards with the supplies. The other missions onlyst for a week before they return to the Academy, so they bus team will wait for them there after we deliver the supplies." Sergeant Rita exined.


    "Alright. I will need to restock as well, I returned here with nothing but loot in my pack." Karl replied with augh.


    Lotus giggled and wiggled her fingers in the universal children''s symbol for casting a magic spell.


    "Don''t worry about it. We''ve got all those sorts of supplies taken care of. Tessa can also use her magic to repair metal, so if you''ve got damaged gear, we can take care of that as well once we''re in the field." The tiny cleric exined. n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om


    "It sounds like we''re ready for almost anything then. Alright, I will let Thor out for a few minutes because he might not forgive me if he doesn''t get to y with the clerics for a bit, and then we can go."


    Those were magic words for Lotus, and Karl wasn''t sure who was more excited to meet the other for the first time, her or Thor. There was a lot of happy squealing and rough affection from both sides, to the point that the other clerics were hesitant to join in until the two had calmed down a little bit.


    Tessa smiled at Karl. "See what I mean? She''s a bit too in tune with her animalistic side. But she''s a good cleric, and you can always count on her to have your back."


    Karl smiled at the War Priestess. "That''s the only part that really matters, isn''t it? If you can''t count on them to have your back, it doesn''t matter what else they can do or how their personality is."

 Chapter 188 Join A Patrol

    188 Join A Patrol


    Once the buses were loaded, they picked one and loaded themselves in the front, among the limited space that wasn''t taken up with stacked supplies.


    The bus seats didn''t fold, but they had done the best that they could to load them with supplies, and the bus was packed from the third row back. That didn''t leave much space for the five member team and their gear, but fortunately none of them was huge and burly. At least not to the point that they didn''t fit in one of the narrow bus seats.


    Karl took the seat closest to the door, while Hawk took a seat on the roof rack, which was also loaded with boxes of supplies for their journey. There were no off-road or particrly bad stretches between them and the base camp, so they had loaded as much as humanly possible into the vehicles for the trip. n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om


    That hid Hawk from sight from behind, and while it limited his view a little, he could see enough that he wasn''t afraid of missing any threats to the convoy. The only real danger that they would face would be road conditions, as by the time that Hawk ryed them, it would probably be toote to do anything about them.


    The morning was passing smoothly, with the miles flowing by outside the bus without incident, until Hawk spotted the same situation as on the way back to the Seminary Academy. There was a small group of monsters who had escaped from the containment area, and they were headed toward the road.


    [They might make it to the road before the bus group gets there.] Hawk warned Karl.


    "Iing monsters ahead. They''ve left the containment area, and they''re headed for the road ahead of us." Karl warned the driver.


    The driver ryed the message, and the convoy began to slow as the lead driver spotted the same monsters that Hawk had seen thirty seconds earlier. They were right on the road now, ording to Hawk, but they were no real threat, as they were all Awakened Rank.


    [Take care of them quickly, and then someone will drag them out of the road so we can keep going.] Karl instructed.


    That was a pleasure for Hawk. He flew up off his perch and forward to the front of the convoy to get in range, then hit them with a barrage of fireballs. The mes seemed to melt into their bodies, remaining coherent like chunks of magma, and the Ogres dropped dead, falling all along the road and in the ditches.


    [Your fireballs are bing quite impressive.] Karl congratted him.


    [Fire is wonderful. I should have had fire from the start.] Hawk agreed.


    That was a new attitude from Hawk. Karl was actually surprised that he didn''t use Rend, but with Fireball being as good as it was now, clearly an Ascended Rank advanced attack ability, it made sense for him to switch.


    "That Hawk has some serious attack power." The drivermented as he listened to the lead guard group going out to clean up the dead Ogres and scavenge any loot that they could get. Hawk didn''t sense anything worth keeping, but they might have some money on them, which the church would use to pay for the supplies and bus fuel.


    They had the road cleared in under a minute, and the convoy was back in motion, with Hawk now sitting on the top of the lead bus, so he could get that extra few hundred metres worth of warning if there was anything headed toward the road.


    Burning holes in Ogres was surprisingly satisfying, and with Karl meditating all the timetely, his space was starting to gain enough power that he could feel a bit of leeway to keep growing his skills.


    Keeping up with the demands of the three growing beasts was more than Karl could easily manage, but now that Hawk had found some advancement room, he was making the best of it to improve his fire abilities.


    Karl could tell that Rae was working on something as well, but he couldn''t tell quite what it was that she was trying toprehend. He still had [Skill Master] active to help their learning, but without anyone to watch, their growth would be limited. She was dedicated to it though, and she seemed to have a good grasp on what she was doing, there was just onest step left that she wasn''t understanding in order to make the spell work. Once they were inbat again, she might grasp it, as long as it was something that the group here was using as well.


    With thebat enhancement of a War Goddess Cleric, the pets might even manage to learn some newbat enhancement spells and abilities. Sure, it was Divine Dragon Magic, but there was still a chance. The ss marking were Divine Magic from the World Dragon, after all.


    There were a few more monsters near the road just before they got to the base camp, and Hawk was getting excited about getting to burn them again, but the team on patrol in the field got to them first, and had the road cleared before they arrived. It was their job, but Hawk was still disappointed that he didn''t get to show off his new skill.


    The convoy rolled into the camp, stopping at the edge of the parking lot so that the work teams had more room to unload, since the interiors, roof racks and belly boxes were all loaded with cargo.


    The guards exited the cabs, to give the work teams room to do their jobs, and Alice led the group toward the base camp office.


    "I hear you made the Public Safety officer cryst time that you were here, so try to be nice to him this time. We will inform his office that we have arrived, and then we will be sent out with a weaker group as their escort. The military does things through the weight of numbers, not with raw individual power, so don''t expect an all-star team like you hadst time." Alice warned Karl as they walked away from the bus.


    "I''ve already got an all-star team with me, I don''t know what you mean. But I understand that we will be tasked to a regr military unit to help with the sorts of things they struggle with." Karl agreed.


    That did somewhat exin why they had two healers. If they were apanying arger group, they would need more healing, and if the soldiers were fighting above their level, they would face not only more frequent, but more serious injuries than usual.


    The staff member was the same one that had escorted Karl and his team in thest time he was here, but today she was all business, taking Alice''s notes and pulling the assignment for their team from the printed stack of missions.


    "You will be assigned to the 4pm group. Theirmander will have more details for you." She informed Alice as they finished the process.


    "Understood. Have a good afternoon, and we will see you in a week or two."


    They left the office and headed for the staging area, where the soldiers were gathered. The military insignia on Sergeant Rita''s uniform got them through without any unnecessary questions, and in only a few minutes, Karl found himself looking at thergest armoured vehicle that he had ever seen.


    He hadn''t realized how big an artillery tform was until he first saw one up close, but Thor seemed to take the presence of the vehicle as a personal challenge. He was supposed to be the group''s front line, not some metal truck with too many wheels.


    [Rx, buddy. It''s probably noting with us into the wilderness, and it''s certainly not agile enough to be on the front lines of a battle. It stays at the back, far away from the fight, to shoot at it.] Karl assured him.


    Thor was still suspicious of therge vehicle, but decided to let the grudge rest, as long as it didn''t try to steal his job.


    Alice led them to a Captain, who had a group of soldiers with him ready to leave the base, and shook his hand.


    "Good to see you again, Captain. I''ve got a proper group for you today." Alice informed him.


    "Oh, and how is that?" The soldier replied with a smile for the slightly younger mage.


    "We''ve got myself and the Sergeant, plus two clerics and a Beast Master, with three Ascended monsters bonded." She replied.


    "And who is the small child?" The Captain asked, with a gesture toward Lotus, who gave him a rude gesture in return.


    "That would be the Nature Priestess Lotus. She''s not a child, just very short."

 Chapter 189 Forward Operations

    189 Forward Operations


    At half past three in the afternoon, the group started to load up into the helicopter to head into the woods. It was the only good way in, and there was already one team waiting in there for them. Karl smiled as he saw the terrified faces of the group that was waiting for them. They were all students, both from his own Academy and the Seminary Academy, and they all looked like they were new to the Awakened Rank.


    Alice leaned over to whisper in Karl''s ear. "The military group has been telling them horror stories, so when they found out that they were being tasked to set up a forward observation base in the woods, where they would treat the wounded and keep the supply lines, they feared the worst. Ogre invasions, constant battles where they would have to fight ten on one against a single monster to stand a chance, you get the idea.


    But we will be based out of the camp that they''re supplying, which is why we didn''t need to pack as heavily this time.


    There is another group there now, holding the position so that it isn''t overrun, and there should be base building supplies already on site. That''s not our concern though, our team will be going outside to clear the more powerful monsters from the area, the same as always. But we can go back to camp at night if once the worst of the infestation is under control."


    Karl smiled. "Well, that will be a change. I got very used to sleeping in thefort of Rae''s webs at night. They''re kind of springy, and hold the body without any of the pressure points of a cot or a cheap mattress."


    Sergeant Rita smirked. "You weren''t exactly roughing itst time, were you? Everyone else came back exhausted from fitful sleep leaning against tree roots, and your lot wereining that the smell of gourmet cooking attracted even more Ogres than usual."


    Karl smirked back. "Who said that was aint? We made out like bandits off those Ogres. There was one day when we got four Commander Rank kills before lunch."


    The students paled a little at that mention. They would rather not see any Commander Rank monsters, much less four in one day. What sort of mission had Karl been on that had been so dangerous.


    Sergeant Rita hadn''t noticed that they had an audience, though. "You know, we''re going to be flying directly over yourst deployment location, and it''s not that far from our new location, so you might be in luck if the surge picks up again. But this time you have a whole military group with you, so you''ll have to share the glory."


    The Captain of the group they were apanyingughed. "And the loot. Please keep that part in mind as well. You will have to share the loot. I don''t think I''ve ever seen a student decked out in that much magical gear before, and from what I can see, it''s all monster dropped. Did your team spoil you, or was there that much?"


    Karl shrugged. "We split evenly. The gloves I got as my share, the bracelet was a gift from the church, while the ring and sword were traded for my share of the magical gems we got. The mages wanted them for crafting."


    The Captain shook his head. "Well, at least we''ve got a well geared frontline fighter out of the deal."


    Karl resisted the urge to tell him that he was not on the front lines voluntarily, but because their group didn''t have another warrior capable of tanking damage from the monsters.


    Avoidance Tanking had to be a thing because Karl had no intentions of just getting hit, but if he was going to be at the front and drawing the monsters'' attention, it was difficult to argue that he wasn''t the tank of the group.


    Thest of the team took their seats, and the doors were closed, leaving Karl in ufortable silence while the other students sized him up and tried to figure out who he was. None of them remembered having a ssmate like him, but he was wearing a bronze academy badge, so he had to be an Ascended Elite.


    It was the students from the Seminary Academy that finally exined to them who he was, as they had seen him during his first visit.


    "So, that''s the first year wonder kid? How did he even make it to Ascended already? We''re not even done the fall term yet, and he''s already ahead of half the school." One of the studentsined.


    "Half the school? How many students are even going to graduate at Commander? Like six out of five hundred? I would say he''s already ahead of most of the school, and he''s probably going to get some fancy title by the time that he reaches second year." Another one scoffed.


    "Nah, it''s most likely just a unique ss that gets an early bump. Like the Druids that summon a powerful supporter and jump up a rank in a few weeks, then t line." One of the others replied in a snarky tone, unwilling to ept that Karl really might be the next monster among the Elites.


    Karl pretended that he couldn''t hear them, as they were making an effort to whisper, and didn''t know that he could hear everyone in the helicopter, including the air traffic controller speaking through the pilot''s headset, guiding them to their destination.


    Karl looked out the window, and his eyes picked out the fort that Rae had made in the lower branches of the Redwood tree at their second stop.


    "You were right, we''re over thest zone I was assigned to. See, there''s the redwood where I set up camp, and the clearing by the river where we killed that Commander Rank Giant. Oh, it looks like someone else is there now, fighting." Karl informed Rita, raising his voice a little to be heard over the noise.


    Rita looked down and shook her head. "From this height, I can barely make out that there are people moving down there, much less what they are doing."


    The helicopter passed over the area, and then another ten minutes passed before Karl saw a military group in the distance. That had to be where they were going, unless there were multiple new base camps being set up. There were piles of supplies, surrounded by a group of people in military uniforms, and a few Elites in in clothes.


    The helicopter waited for a few minutes, circling the base as they prepared for the arrival of the rest of their troops, and then itnded in a clearing just outside the perimeter. N?v(el)B\\jnn


    "Everyone out. There is no more space inside the base for helicopters, so we are being rerouted to the clearing. I rmend that you get a proper helipad sorted out before your next supply shipment needs to be delivered, but that''s up to you." The Cargo Master aboard the helicopter informed them.


    The military teams filed out first, leaving Karl and his group as thest ones aboard. They shook hands with the crew as they departed, and quietly followed the teams into the base, with a gesture from Sergeant Rita for them to remain inconspicuous. Why, Karl didn''t know, but it seemed to be important to her that the people here not realize who they were right away. She led the group in behind the soldiers, then turned to inspect their equipment and storage.


    "We''re the ranking Elites here, and I want to get a look at their practices before they realize there''s someone looking and shuffle us away. If they''re not taking care of it, a good chunk of the supplies will get wasted." Rita whispered.


    But as they walked through, Rita''s mood was improving. Everything was organized, nothing was left in the mud, it was all elevated on pallets or logs, and the general state was just crowded, but not disorganized.


    "Alright, I''ve seen what I need to. Let''s go make our introductions and catch up with our mission team." She announced.


    That caught the attention of the group''s Captain, who was chatting with the basemander, while the other man discretely ordered his people to start working on expanding the base.


    "Ah, Commander Alice, Sergeant Rita, I thought we lost you for a moment there. We will be headed out immediately, using the directions that the base has given us on therger threats in the area." The Captain announced.


    "Understood Captain. Our gear is stowed, and we''re ready to move when you are." Alice agreed.

 Chapter 190 Why Am I Up Front?

    Chapter 190 Why Am I Up Front?


    With a single whistle, the Captain had his unit focused and ready to move.


    Karl wasn''t a premiere expert on the strength of other Elites, but if he had to guess, the only one close to Hawk would be the Captain, and the rest were all at the Awakened level. So, his team would be the heavy hitters for the squad while they were out on patrol, while they took care of therge numbers, like the Goblin Tribe that hisst group had used Golems to eliminate.


    Karl fell in at the front of the convoy, and the Captain gave him a curious look.


    "I''m the front-line warrior, so I''m with you. Once we''re away from the camp, I will send my Dragon Hawk out to scout, and it helps if I''m next to you to ry any findings he makes. From up there, he can see an entire patrol zone clearly and ry the best route to clear it." Karl exined.


    "So, you''re both a scout and a melee warrior?" The Captain asked. "Not exactly a melee warrior, but I have a Lightning Barrier for defence, so I''m better suited to the front line than our other warrior, who has guard." Karl exined.


    The Captain nodded. "Your Hawk shouldn''t find too much. The scouting reports for the area say that there aren''t any threats above the low Ascended Rank, with a low overall density. That''s why they only sent one stronger team to the area this time. If we actually need the strength of a Commander Rank mage, something has gone horribly wrong."


    That was a giant red g if Karl had ever seen one, and he gave the beasts an advance warning that they were likely to see realbat sooner than expected.


    As they walked, Karl let Hawk out, which caught the attention of the soldiers, who were quickly reminded that he was a friendly unit by the rest of Karl''s team. Their skittishness was making Karl nervous about sending out the others, especially Rae, who wasn''t as friendly looking as Thor.


    "Have they been briefed on the beasts that I have with me? Because Rae is a bloodbath spider, and I really don''t want her getting injured by friendly fire." Karl asked the Captain quietly.


    The Captain nodded. "I have, but I can''t guarantee how well they listened. It will be best if you bring Rae out before the fight starts, so they can get used to the spider before things get hectic."


    [Hawk, how''s it looking up there?] Karl asked.


    [One more kilometre, then you can choose a Hobgoblin patrol, or some Ogres.] Hawk replied.


    "We''ve got a patrol of hobgoblins and a few Ogres a kilometre ahead. I think it''s best if I get Rae ready now, so they''re used to seeing her." Karl replied to the Captain''sment.


    The Captain raised his voice. "Team, listen up. Elite Karl will be calling out his Bloodbath Spider. It is a valuable asset on our side. Treat it as one of your team members."


    Karl called her out on the far side of himself, so he was between her and the team, and Rae hissed as a half dozen of the soldiers turned weapons on her. Fortunately, nobody attacked, because an Awakened Rank soldier with no magical barriers on them would not take a hit from Rae and survive.


    They calmed down after a few seconds and a stern look from the Captain, who had just finished warning them not to do anything dumb.


    "Alright, Rae will be travelling with us, possibly in the trees away from the group, but nearby. She will join the fight when wee across our first group of enemies." Karl informed them.


    Rae stayed in sight, just in case they forgot what she looked like, and Karl decided to add Thor to the mix.


    "The Lightning Cerro is our additional tank. If you don''t want to be charged by Ogres, make friends with Thor." Karl informed the group as he summoned the scaled beast.


    That one didn''t rm them as much, and somehow Thor''s expressionless face still managed to look happy to see them.


    Thor''s presence helped set the team at ease, and when Karl saw Hawk circling ahead of them, the soldiers were ready for a battle.


    "Captain, the Hobgoblins are through those trees. The Ogres aren''t far beyond that." Karl ryed from Hawk''s information.


    [Tell them that the Ogres are Ascended Rank.] Hawk reminded him.


    "Ascended rank Ogres. Four of them in total." Karl amended.


    That was a tough fight for the military unit on their own, but shouldn''t be a challenge for Karl and his team.


    The Captain nodded. "You five split off and take care of the Ogres."


    Then he called back to the team. "We will deal with the Hobgoblins. Ramirez and Jones to the front, bring your shields. The Mercenary Elites will be splitting off to deal with Ascended Rank Ogres."


    His voice was hushed, but it carried well through the unit, and the others split off quickly to join Karl, following Hawk''s directions around the Hobgoblins to get to their fight. n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om


    "Our first fight as a team, are you mentally ready?" Alice whispered as the Ogres came in sight.


    They were looking around, trying to find the sound of the footsteps, as they had heard Thoring, but he had stopped out of sight, and the Ogres hadn''t properly located him yet.


    "I''m ready. It will be a big change standing up at the front with Thor, but we''ve got this. Trust in the Lightning barriers, and we will be fine." Karl agreed.


    Of course, Alice cast a barrier over them as well, but her specialty was wind magic, so it wasn''t quite up to the standard that Donni''s had been, despite the barrier mage having just made it to Commander Rank.


    The barrier was still enough to give Thor all the confidence he needed, and the Cerro waited eagerly for Karl to start the charge intobat.


    With a nod to his partner, Karl silently raced through the trees while Thor crashed through the bushes thest dozen metres to the Ogres, distracting them while Karl sliced the throat of the closest Ogre with [Shred] before it could respond.


    Its hand went to its throat to block the bleeding while it healed, leaving it only one hand to fight, but there were three other Ogres, and only two fighters in the front. Thor had practice with this, and easily rounded up two of them, holding them in ce while the mages attacked and Rita moved to the side to attack.


    Alice summoned a Golem to help Karl at the front, making it three on four with one already wounded, and Karl dodged an iing strike, then moved to prevent the Ogres from getting past him to the mage and clerics.


    A flood of warm magic surged through Karl''s body as Tessa cast a buff on him, and his steps became smoother, both faster and less encumbered by the gear he was carrying. He was about to go for the knees of the wounded Golem when the strangest sight met Karl''s eyes. Two odd-looking spiders charged the field, looking like tree golems, but shaped like Rae. The spider in question was right behind them, and all three piled on the wounded Ogre, tearing it apart as it screamed in terror.


    [When did you learn that?] Karl asked.


    [It''s pretty awesome, right? I figured it out when the Alice Mage summoned hers. The other Golem mage casts it all funny.]


    The spider golems might not have all of Rae''s skills, but what theycked in power, they made up for in pure enthusiasm.


    Even when the Ogre crushed two legs off one of them, it didn''t slow down, and Lotus had the lost limbs repaired before the Golem could even find the time to care that it was damaged. That left Thor and Karl with one Ogre each, and Alice''s Golem with another. Being Commander Rank, her golem was much stronger than its opponent, but the Ogre seemed more concerned with keeping the trio of spiders away from its back, and it was taking constant hits as it moved.


    The extra speed let Karl meet every attack of the Ogre with a skill of his own, matching attack speed instead of brute strength. Rend was enough to stop the majority of attacks, or deflect them wide enough that they weren''t a threat, and Karl was getting the hang of fighting in close quarters.


    When the Ogre''s club was deflected over his head, Karl went for the stomach, cutting the Ogre open with [Rend], and then blocked the next strike with his de.


    Surprisingly, with the effects of the Bestial Strength Gauntlets and the Ring of Giant Strength, he didn''t feel like he was at a disadvantage in the physical confrontation, and the Ogre wasn''t going tost long with the rate that it was bleeding out.


    The first one wounded was the first to fall, followed closely by the one that Alice had focused with her golem, and then Karl''s, which was outmanoeuvred and outmatched by the cleric enhanced Beast Master.

 Chapter 191 Spider Golems

    Chapter 191 Spider Golems


    The battle came to an abrupt end, and Hawknded among the bodies after making a quick spin by the army group to make sure they didn''t get lost on the way to the Hobgoblins. n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om


    Sergeant Rita turned to Karl. "You know, a little heads up when your pets gain new abilities would be nice."


    Karl nodded. "I told them the same thing. But that''s the first time that Rae has managed to make that spell activate. She''s been working on it for days, but couldn''t get it right until she saw Alice cast her Golem spell. I''ve had [Skill Master] active for ages now, trying to help her learn a new skill.


    I didn''t expect that it would be Golems, but skittering tree golem spiders are pretty handy. Lotus had no problems healing them, and their damage isn''t bad."


    Lotus smiled up at Karl. "And, they''re only a little terrifying, so they''re a nice way to limatize your allies to her presence. They''re built like spiders, but they aren''t really spiders, so I think that the soldiers shouldn''t be as afraid of them."


    Rita chuckled. "You believe that the tree monster version of spiders will be any less terrifying to the soldiers? While they might not have the reputation of the Bloodbath Spider, anything arachnid shaped terrifies a significant portion of the poption. They should be used to it by now, though. They''ve already met Rae, so epting spider shaped Golems won''t be a stretch for them. If anything, they will think that it is a personal idiosyncrasy of Karl''s, since golems always take the same shape after they are summoned for the first time."


    They quickly checked the bodies for anything useful and caught their breath, checking the straps on their bags and preparing to walk back to the main group.


    Tessa gestured back toward the soldiers. "We should likely regroup with them right away. I can feel them still fighting, so something probably went wrong."


    The rest of the group turned and started moving, not wasting any time when the others might be in danger, and the Red Dragon cleric moved up to run beside Karl.


    "I will stay with Thor during the next fight. Some of my buffs are very short ranged, and with his massive strength, he will get the most of it." She exined.


    "Just don''t get squished. I kind of like your style." Karl replied with a wink.


    Karl reached the clearing where the Hobgoblins were fighting first, and found that the danger of the fight had been greatly underestimated, while the actual fight was exactly as Thor had described it.


    The soldiers were fighting a group of Awakened Rank Hobgoblins, but among them was an Ascended Rank Goblin Shaman, who looked like a normal Goblin Leader until it started casting healing magic.


    The Hobgoblins had encircled it, and while their numbers had been cut in half, the healing was keeping them in the fight much longer than expected.


    "Thor, you know the way." Tessa encouraged, and the Lightning Cerro put its head down, charging past Karl and into the melee.


    Tessa was right behind him, so Karl followed her through the fight, batting away des that tried to intercept them, and letting the Spider Golems take his back, which let Rae push through with him.


    "Where are you going?" Karl heard Alice yell, but it was toote, they were already at the centre of the fight, and the Goblin Shaman was flying.


    Literally flying, as Hawk had caught him after Thor threw him in the air, and was pulling the Shaman up in the sky with him.


    A sharp turn sent it hurling toward the ground at hundreds of kilometres an hour, while the Hobgoblins roared in rage at the surprise invaders.


    Karl shed out, using [Shred] to cut down a wave of Goblins who were pushing back their way, and the Shaman reached the ground, directly onto Thor''s front horn, which pierced through the creature''s back for a moment before the Cerro flicked his head and used the body as a shield against a Hobgoblin de.


    Karl found himself shoulder to shoulder with the spider Golems, while Rae joined Thor and Tessa behind him, with the cleric moved toward the centre of their circle.


    She had a chain il, which had a surprising reach, and she was using it to keep the Hobgoblins from getting at Thor''s back.


    Not that his back was any weaker than his armoured head, but it was harder for him to defend.


    Sergeant Rita cut her way into the centre of the fight, and took the side of Thor opposite Rae, which gave them enough numbers to start pushing out, and driving the remaining Hobgoblins into the encirclement by the military unit.


    Attacked from both sides, they didn''t stand a chance, and the fight was over before Alice''s slower moving Golem could even make it to the fight.


    "Thank you foring back so promptly. Did you hear our calls, or did your scout warn you?" The Captain asked.


    Tessa shook her head. "I felt the fight still going on after we finished with the Ogres, so we came back."


    The Captain shook his head in dismay. The mercenary team might be more powerful, but they were really showing his unit up today. They even managed toe up with a better tactic in the few seconds after they arrived than he had managed to aplish for the rest of the fight.


    Of course, he didn''t have a Lightning Cerro that could just smash through Hobgoblins like they were bowling pins, but he should have been able toe up with something to deal with that healer.


    The Captain whistled to address the group. "Check the bodies, we''re moving out. This won''t be the only group that wee across today, and there are other groups in this region doing the same. You don''t want to be the low producers for the day."


    Sergeant Rita chuckled as she joined Karl, who was cleaning off Thor before he returned to his space. He didn''t want to get the mess in his pond, and that meant someone needed to wipe him clean of Goblin blood before he returned to his space at the end of the day. It would be easier now than after it dried, and there hadn''t been any word of a river or pond nearby to wash in.


    [I found more people. We should go see them.] Hawk suggested.


    [I think that the other groups have their own things to do.] Karl reminded him.


    [But Rae''s human is here, and there is a whole group of Ogres to kill near them.]


    Karl had to think about that for a moment. Rae''s human? Wasn''t he Rae''s human? "There is another group in that direction, about a kilometre and a half. There are more Ogres near them, and Hawk thinks they might need the help." Karl informed the Captain.


    "If he says they need help, I trust him. This fight was going to be a tough one on our own, so if that one is worse, then reinforcements might save lives." The Captain agreed.


    The soldiers weren''t happy about being pushed to start moving again instead of taking a break after a fight, but they were moving, and Karl took the point with the Captain, while Rae darted off into the trees, but left her Golems to walk alongside the column where everyone could see them.

 Chapter 192 Found Her

    Chapter 192 Found Her


    ??The other group of soldiers didn''t even notice they wereing until Karl was almost in the clearing with them. He had seen them through the trees over a minute earlier, but their scouting abilities were severelycking, and the group looked exhausted.


    [Rae, keep back, I don''t want strangers attacking you. Hawk, you too. Or go scout out the other Ogres.] Karl warned.


    [I will go scout the Ogres. These humans are weak too.] Hawk agreed.


    Rae wanted to stay, but she knew it was best to stay out of sight, so she moved behind the column to make sure that nothing came up behind them.


    Karl spotted a familiar curly head of hair, in an Academy mission uniform, and began tough.


    [You mean Dana? Dana is Rae''s human now?] Karl asked.


    [She sleeps in Rae''s bed, not yours. She''s obviously Rae''s human.]


    Karl got the feeling that there was some level of nder in there, but he decided to let it slide as he raised his hand and stepped out into in view of the other unit.


    There were numerous Hobgoblins dead around them, and Karl saw why they were resting. With roughly even numbers, Awakened soldiers versus Awakened Rank Hobgoblins was a hard fight. They were tough, as well as muchrger and stronger than the humans.


    The group only had one Ascended Rank member, and he was wounded, with his arm in a sling.


    Lotus spread a healing spell around the clearing, reviving the weary soldiers, and bringing a few smiles to the exhausted team.


    Dana ran over and gave Karl a hug when she noticed he was at the front of the group, and Rita gave her a startled look, not expecting to have found her here.


    "Are you stationed out of this forward operations base now? I heard that they were sending in reinforcements, but I didn''t want to go back to the Academy yet, I''ve been making good progress on my magic out here." Dana asked Karl when she pulled back to look at him.


    "Yeah, we are supposed to be operating out of here once the location is upgraded, but we''re on an escort mission with Alice to help the military units in the area deal with therger threats.


    We found some more Ogres near you, so we came over to give your group a hand."


    Karl''s response caught the attention of the other group''s team leader. "Did you say there are more Ogres nearby? We''ve been in nearly constantbat since this morning, and theds are beat."


    The Captain of the team with Karl nodded in understanding. "We can take care of it. The Hawk should be out there somewhere scouting, right? How is the strength of the group looking?"


    Karl checked in with Hawk, who was circling back after having made a loop around the area to make certain there were no other imminent threats.


    [It''s just the Ogres nearby. Then we can go a little further along and find some Giants, or lots and lots of Goblins.]


    That didn''t sound promising. If there was a huge goblin infestation, it would be one of the priority targets for the region, before they became an even worse problem.


    [Will the two units together be able to take out the Goblins?] Karl asked.


    [I don''t see why not. They have mages, and lots of swords. How many Goblins is each soldier worth? There shouldn''t be more than fifteen for every soldier if the groups are together.] Hawk replied.


    [Wait, fifteen Goblins for each soldier, if both groups are together? We definitely need to deal with that. We can''t let three hundred Goblins just wander loose in the woods. If theye across a regr group, they would wipe it out.] Karl reminded the bird.


    Hawk wasn''t particrly concerned with that. He could take out three hundred Goblins alone if you gave him enough time, so he didn''t see them as a real threat, no matter how easily they could eliminate the human patrols.


    Karl walked over to his group''s Captain with Alice and Dana following him, then motioned for the other team leader to join them.


    "Gentlemen, we have an issue. There is a Goblin tribe nearby, roughly three hundred strong. Individually, they are fragile, but with that sort of numbers, we will have to work together to eliminate them safely." He exined.


    Alice nodded. Their job was to assist the military units, not rece them, so they would fight alongside the units, and not volunteer to do it all themselves.


    She was d that Karl was learning that lesson early, instead of volunteering to do insane, nearly suicidal missions for the off chance that it would let him push through a bottleneck and reach new heights.


    There was some merit to the other way, and when you were really stuck, some would still try it, but this wasn''t the time or ce to be ying the hero. They had two entire military units, and while Karl was probably a stronger military force than bothbined, they could still deal with huge numbers of Goblins.


    Karl exined the situation as Hawk had described it, and the two teams started to make ns to ambush the Goblins before they could start to move again. They weren''t the only enemies still in the area, and if they managed to link up with something stronger and smarter, they would be much more dangerous.


    "Just this morning, we came across an infant Chimera. If the Goblins get the help of something like that, we will be in real trouble." The other team''s leader exined.


    "A chimera?" Karl asked.


    Dana shuddered at the memory and nodded, then took out a poison nd from her storage.


    "Scorpion tail, dragon head and wings on a Lion''s body. Absolutely terrifying, and both venomous and capable of breathing a toxic cloud. We were prepared, but we still almost didn''t win, and it was just an infant, hardlyrger than a house cat." She agreed.


    That was a bit of a shame. A chimera might make a good partner for Thor. They were both big and durable. Plus, if they were something like Lions, they might be yful enough to keep the Lightning Cerro entertained.


    "Alright, we will split into three teams. The two military units separate, and then the Mercenaries. Dana, you''re with them. The mercenary group will lead the strike, while the military units take the nks and encircle the Goblin camp to prevent them from fleeing.


    We will signal the attack when we''re in position, so hold back for a moment when you get close." Karl''s team Captain announced.


    Alice nodded, and called the rest of the team over.


    "We''ve gained an Awakened Mage. We will attack the close side when the signal is given. Thor, Karl and the spider Golems are on the front line. Because of the numbers, ranged will not be holding back. I will keep my Golem back to protect against encirclement." Alice announced.


    "I can summon a pair of Golems as well. Stone Golems. Do you want them at the front or the back?" Dana asked.


    Alice considered that for a second. "Send them to the front. Most of the fighting will be there, and we''ve got Tessa with us if something gets past my Golem. She might be a cleric, but most warriors wouldn''t be able to take her in a fight."


    Tessa looked a bit crestfallen that she couldn''t be up with Thor, but as Alice started to describe the n, she realized they would only be a few steps back. That was close enough to activate her close range skills, and she would be able to step forward and touch him for the direct contact ones.


    Lotus was preparing spells,yering them on her staff in preparation for the battle. Karl wasn''t sure what she was nning, but it almost felt like they were precast, and waiting for a target. That might be her way of spreading out the stamina draw of extended mana use, but her techniques were her own.


    "Alright, everyone move out." The Captain called.


    The military units went first, and then the mercenary group started to move forward. Everyone was using Hawk as a reference point, as he was circling the area over the Goblin tribe. They would only see him every minute or two, but it was enough to let them know where they should be headed.


    The only thing the soldiers regretted was not giving Karl a subvocal microphone so that he could ry Hawk''s observations in real time.

 Chapter 193 Green But Not Lizards

    Chapter 193 Green But Not Lizards


    ??Fifty metres from the Goblin Tribe, they paused to wait for the military units'' orders.


    [There are more monstersing, you guys are really slow.] Hawk chastised them.


    [What''sing?] Karl asked, wondering if it needed to be ryed.


    [Orcs maybe? Really big green things that aren''t lizards. About twenty of them. They areing from the far side of the camp from you, so you can fight themst.]


    Karl whispered the update into the handheld radio that Alice was carrying, and got back a click from the Captain in return, letting him know that he understood but couldn''t speak right now.


    Then came the single tone to start the attack, and Karl led the charge into the camp with Thor beside him.


    [Remember, not too far in. Everyone is following us this time.] Karl reminded him.


    He turned the t of his sword on the closest guard, and swatted him like a cricket ball, sending the goblin flying halfway across the camp beforending in a crumpled heap.


    Alice gave him a look as if to say "seriously" as the camp turned to face them, and the Goblins began to form up and charge their way.


    The spider golems raced past everyone, tearing apart Goblins at a frantic pace, and every bit as messy as Rae when she attacked them the first time. Now she was more careful, in case she got Goblin blood in her mouth, butpared to the two Golems, Thor''s crushing attacks and Karl''s hurled bodies were only a minor distraction.


    That was when the military units struck, cutting into the side of the camp with a wave of spells before they charged forward.


    It was textbook perfect. Not a single one of the Goblins was watching the nks when the attack started, and they fell by the dozens.


    Karl swept through the Goblins with Rend, using lower power and wide swings of his sword to send out arcs of energy that sliced through waves of them, while Hawk rained down huge fiery explosions from the air. He had gotten the dispersed version of Fireball to work, and the effect was terrifying in a Goblin camp.


    Then, the Spider Golems expanded to five metres tall, and Rae began tough hysterically.


    The Goblins were terrified, but the Golems had no intentions of slowing down. Lotus looked inordinately proud of herself for the [Giant Growth] spell, which only worked on nt type lifeforms.


    The Goblins couldn''t even flee, they were being ughtered wholesale, and the erged golems could spear multiple Goblins per second while running on six of their eight legs.


    But the Orcs were here, and they weren''t about to miss out on a good fight.


    It was the screams from the military units that attracted Karl''s attention to the disaster about to unfold. Six Orcs, green skinned humanoids, two and a half metres tall, with elongated lower tusks and ck dreadlocks, had charged into the military lines, and their des were shattering the [Guard] abilities of the warriors like ss.


    [Spider Golems, go help the soldiers until I can get there.] Karl ordered.


    They were the only ones that could move across the camp that quickly, but the whole group was moving forward at a steady walk.


    The spider golems reached the Orcs in only a few seconds, and the military unit retreated to let them fight, but the Orcs also split up, three to a Golem. They had tactics, and while one kept the Golem busy, two hacked each of them apart faster than Lotus could repair them.


    Rae was shocked. Her golems were more durable than she was, so if she had gone with them, wouldn''t she have been hacked apart as well?


    She summoned another pair as the Orcs turned back to the military unit, but they would be toote to get there before the unit was in trouble again.


    Alice threw a barrier over the first rank of warriors in the military unit, but it was only of limited use as the Orcs knew [sh] and half of the attacks bypassed them to hit the ranks behind them.


    In order to allow them to fight, she had to cast it on their physical shields, and the Orcs were smart or experienced enough to know how to work around that.


    Karl didn''t need to be ordered to change his direction and order Thor to charge at the Orcs.


    Tessa was right behind them, and the others were doing their best to keep up. With his increased strength, Karl could cover an easy five metres per running step, leaping over the Goblin defenders who were knocked to the ground by the force of his stride if they got too close.


    The Orcs recognized the threat as soon as the trio approached with the Spider Golems, now back at normal size, surrounding them, and thergest of them did just as Karl had to begin the fight, and swatted at the closest warrior with the t of his de, sending the man flying out of the way to clear the battlefield between the Champion and Karl.


    His short sword was going to be woefully inadequate for this, but Karl was going to have to make the best of it, and he leapt straight for the Orc Champion, using Shred and Rend together on his de as he thrust it forward.


    The Orc chuckled as he saw the much shorter humaning at him, but when their des met, his two-handed sword was thrown wide by Karl''s strength, and the Orc Champion took a deep wound across his chest as he turned out of the way.


    Drawing on his unarmedbat training, Karl kicked the Orc''s feet out from under him as soon as hended, and followed up with a full-strength sh.


    The two des met with an explosion of skills, and the Orc found himself disarmed at the end of the sh, missing a hand.


    But his other fist came up and crashed into Karl''s Refreshing Lightning barrier, sending him staggering back.


    Beside him, Tessa was sitting on Thor''s back, using her il mace to keep two Orcs at bay, and constantly refreshing the enhancement spells on her and Thor.


    She enhanced Karl again as he charged back at the fallen champion, who had grabbed a fallen shield in one oversized hand as he got to his feet.


    Karl drove his de forward again, straight through the shield, and into the Champion''s chest, knocking him back to the ground with the force of their collision.


    He narrowly avoided having his head taken by the de of another Orc as he rolled over, but it was toote for the Orc champion. Karl''s de had driven straight through its heart, with a shield impaled on the de.


    Karl reached around for another weapon and found the oversized two-handed de from the Orc Champion. It was heavy, but at the moment, that didn''t matter at all.


    Karl surrounded it with the Lightning Barrier and parried the next attack that came his way.


    The Orc in front of him was moving much slower than expected, restricted by Alice''s wind magic, and Shred took its head without difficulty, leaving Karl briefly disengaged from the group.


    The Golems were dealing with two, and Thor had another upied with Tessa, but the others had already fallen.


    A volley of condensed fireballs from above hit the Orc facing Thor, adding more burns to his already damaged body, and the Cerro''s horns speared its chest right before Tessa''s chain mace crushed the creature''s head.


    That weapon, glowing with golden holy light, couldn''t be underestimated.


    Karl gave the Orc Champion''s de a twirl, getting used to the size and weight, and moved up to engage the other Orcs. He didn''t need to be at the front, the Golems had that, but he did need a good angle to attack from, and Alice''s golem was as tall as the Orcs were, impossible to attack around.


    The mages were having the same problem. In a crowded fight, it was challenging to get a direct line to anything that you wanted to attack, especially when you were trying to maintain a safe distance.


    As much as he didn''t want to, Karl found himself only a few metres from the Orcs when he threw his next Rend attack at them with a downward swing of his newly acquired de.


    The attack hit, and the formerly dull de began to glow with a faint red light. It felt more natural in Karl''s hand, as if he had used this weapon for years. The other Orc was surrounded, with no easy space for Karl to get an attack in, so he turned to the Goblin tribe and sent a wave of Rend across the camp, a metre above the ground.


    The de glowed brighter as the Goblins fell in a wave of destruction, and then Karl shivered as a wave of power flowed through him. He couldn''t say for certain, but the de felt like it was stealing the life force of the Goblins and transferring a bit of it to him, which then flowed to his beasts.

 Chapter 194 Headcount

    Chapter 194 Headcount


    ??The battle was over, with the Goblin tribe and the invading Orcs all dead, but not without a grave cost. Even the healing magic of the four clerics present couldn''t save five of the members of the other group, which had been attacked by the Orcs.


    They had been killed in a single strike, with no time to heal them or save their lives.


    "Headcount." The Captain of Karl''s group asked wearily.


    "One down, seriously injured and recuperating." Their cleric replied.


    "Five dead, including the Major, two injured." The other cleric replied.


    The Captain sighed and shook his head. That Orc attack had been too much. From the moment that they had killed two Ascended Golems in a matter of seconds, he knew that there would be casualties, but losing a Major, the other Ascended warrior here, had been unexpected.


    The second group couldn''t continue alone without him. It was simply too dangerous out here to allow them to go on without an Ascended Rank leader, especially with their diminished numbers.


    While the soldiers mourned the loss of their own, and the clerics didst rites, while finishing the healing of the wounded, Karl searched the bodies. The two-handed de had bonded with him, and when he thought of dismissing it, it vanished, but remained avable as a presence in his mind, simr to the beasts, but just present, and not in a space.


    There were magical des on all the Orc warriors, which made him wonder where they hade from. Even for an elite group, that was too well armed. They had faced Commander Rank Ogres before, and they hadn''t been anywhere near this level of equipped.


    But the des were almost all they had. There were no coins on the bodies, and their decorations were all made of bones and teeth. Even their armour was hardened monster leather, though it was tattered now, and unsalvageable.


    Alice came over to inspect the bodies, while the clerics came to inspect the weapons Karl had gathered, after stopping to pat and congratte Thor, who was celebrating the fact that he had been a Cerro Knight for the battle.


    "These des are all magical. Most of them are justmon grade enhanced des, but this one is a de of Skill. It will reduce skill cost use." Tessa exined.


    Karl smiled. It was the second time that he had observed that effect, and the other de was in the hands of Bob Mackenzie.


    "Did you need it, Elite?" The Captain asked Karl when he noticed the smile.


    Karl shook his head. "I bonded with the two-handed de I took off the Champion."


    Tessa made a grabby gesture, and Karl took it out to hand to her. She turned it over in her hands, reading the inscriptions, and bing increasingly confused.


    "I have no idea what that is supposed to do. It says the effect is called the Champion''s Reaping, but there isn''t a description, and the other runes don''t make much sense. They''re in Orcish, not themon magicalnguage, but I am at least a little familiar with them." She exined.


    "That''s alright, I know what it does. It''s a form of life drain." Karl exined.


    Tessa nodded, then handed the de back. "Life Drain is good. Is it the healing or the strengthening sort?"


    "Strengthening, I think. I wasn''t injured to start with, but it didn''t feel like healing." Karl replied.


    "That might be even better for you, at least for now. You have a whole team with you, and the Refreshing Lightning, which slowly heals you on its own. So, having a stackingbat damage effect will make you more effective in a battle.


    We will have to examine these bodies more closely, as I have reason to think that they might be close to peak Ascended Orcs, but ifmand decides that they were low Commander Rank, there will be extra awards for everyone, including the families of the fallen." Tessa announced.


    "I can store them as well, so we can drop them at the base camp for someone else to decide." Karl suggested.


    Alice shook her head. "Unless one of the beasts wants them, there is no need. They will ept Tessa''s judgment on the matter. The oue of the battle should be enough for them to understand just how dangerous this situation was, especially when they struck in the middle of another battle."


    The four clerics all examined the bodies, with increasingly grave expressions.


    "We would say that there were two Commander Rank Orcs, and four high Ascended ones. This needs to be reported to the base camp. It is way outside the threat assessment for the area." The cleric that hade with their army unit announced.


    The Captain nodded and began to send the message back to Command.


    He nodded along with whatever their response was, and then his face turned severe.


    "They say that there are no other signs of monsters outside the danger rating, so we are to merge units and continue with our mission." He informed the group.


    That wasn''t quite what the second group had been hoping to hear. They had just lost half their team, close friends andrades. Continuing the mission was thest thing they wanted to do today.


    The first thing that needed to be done was to dig proper graves for the soldiers, and redistribute their supplies. Fortunately, they had a few skilled mages, who could dig proper graves with magic, while Thor used his horns to throw the Goblins into a number of huge piles in the middle of the camp.


    He just used his upper horns like a shovel, as the Goblins had died in waves. He pushed them together into piles, gathered close enough that they would burn and leave the area cleansed.


    The unit gathered for thest rites, standing in orderly lines with the civilians off to the side. The priests attached to the units gave a Eulogy before the bodies were lowered, and the soldiers shovelled the grave full again.


    Once everything was finished, they lit fire to the piles of Goblins, and the second team tossed the fully looted bodies of the Orcs on top of the piles.


    Hawk went back on patrol once the fires were burning, to see what would be drawn to their position by the fire. Many monsters woulde either for the smell or the smoke, and they didn''t want to end up surrounded.


    [East is clear. If you go that way, you can get away from the thingsing, and then fight with a small group of Ogres, weak ones.] Hawk suggested.


    [Close enough for me.]


    Karl ryed the messages, and the Captain got everyone moving, moving away from the battlefield with the promise of easier fights toe. It wasn''t much, but anything had to be better than this battle had been, they assumed.


    After fifteen minutes, they came across the Ogres, three juvenile Awakened Rank males, which the enraged and grieving soldiers tore into with everything they had to give. It seemed to work, and once the battle was over they were more focused, and it was time to head back to the base camp for the night.


    Forward Command hadn''t prohibited them from returning, and the unit needed the normalcy for the night, so the Captain turned the back for the camp, intending to be there before dark.

 Chapter 195 Return To Base

    Chapter 195 Return To Base


    ??Hawk kept scouting as they returned to base, and Karl realized that while they got closer to the base, the monsters became more sparse and weaker. Groups of five and ten Goblins at the Common Grade, a single lizardman, and threats at that level were all that the short range scouts of the base would have found.


    But the further he flew away from the base, the stronger and more numerous the monsters became.


    So, the problem wasn''t that they had found unexpected monsters, it was that the limited scouting that the base had done hadn''t given them a proper expectation of the monsters which were in the region.


    The Captain had determined this as well, and as they approached the base, everyone could see his resolve to have a "discussion" with the basemander and the head of intelligence.


    They had flown multiple helicopters over the region, they should have some sort of idea what was there, but it seemed that nobody was even looking out the windows.


    They were met at the edge of camp by a supply sergeant with a clipboard in his hands. "Captain. Are you in for the night? Our barracks are entirely full at the moment, triple racked. Would it be too much to ask you to set up on the edge of the base? We have more barracks tents, but no ce left to put them."


    Karl looked inside one of the barracks tents, at the rough, stretched canvas cots, and sighed.


    "Alice, permission to set up a scouting position in the trees?" He requested.


    The supply Sergeant thought that was a wonderful idea because he knew they were short on decent scouts, while Alice wasn''t quite as sold on the idea of sleeping in a spiderweb in a tree.


    But after a look at the surplus, bargain brand cots, she had a change of mind.


    "Captain, my team will set up further out in an elevated position for the evening. We will rejoin you after breakfast for patrols tomorrow." She announced.


    "Understood. Unit, grab the barracks supplies and get to work. I want them set up and the stove burning to get everything dried and heated by the time that I get back from my meeting." The Captain announced.


    The soldiers nearby made a gesture of condolences for the basemander, and anyone else who might happen to be in the room. None of the soldiers from the base knew what had happened on his mission, but it was obvious that he was not happy about it.


    Alice turned to Karl with a serious look as the others got to work. "We''re trusting you on this one. Don''t let us down."


    Hawk already had the tree picked out, and Rae got right to work building a new fort. Again, it was as far up the tallest tree in the area as she could get it, and blended into the leaves, with some branches pulled down as cover.


    She had only gone a hundred metres from the edge of camp to set up, but Karl doubted that anyone in the base had even noticed. They were watching the ground, and only the immediate area around the camp, which was a terrible defensive choice for a remote location, on par with the Goblins level of simple thinking.


    Karl could tell he wasn''t the only one wondering who was in charge here, and how they had gotten the assignment. Forward bases were always run by the army, but not every officer was suited to life anywhere but behind a desk.


    It was possible that someone in one of those roles had been sent out here "for experience" leading up to a promotion, and they were just making a mess of things.


    It only took Rae a few minutes to finish as the group watched from down below, and Alice finally noticed that their group consisted of six people now, not five. She gave Dana a curious look, which was returned with Dana''s best pleading face.


    "Volunteers and Mercenaries have to set up their own tent, we''re not attached to the military units. You''re not going to make me sleep in the dirt when there''s plenty of room up here, are you?" She begged.


    Alice smirked at Karl and nodded her eptance. "Fine, you''re with us until further notice. I''m sure that Rae made enough space for you. I know that you two are good friends."


    That made Danaugh, recalling all the times that Jill, her personal tutor, had been webbed by Rae to prevent her from waking them up.


    Rae sent down a ropedder, and the whole group sighed, realizing just how far up the tree their fort was built.


    "How about this. Hold on to thedder, and I will have Rae pull it up into the fort, so you don''t have to climb? It will be faster and easier for everyone." Karl suggested.


    That seemed like a sketchy idea as well, being pulled a dozen stories into the air on a ropedder made of silk, but it was better than climbing thedder.


    [Youe up first.] Rae insisted.


    Karl smirked as he realized she had no intentions of pulling everyone, just him, and he would have to raise the rest. But it was no problem, he could run up thedder in thirty seconds or less.


    "I will go first and help everyone up. I''ve got the strength." Karl exined after he finished talking to Rae.


    Karl ran up thedder, and the others began to climb. They started with the smallest, so the first on thedder was Lotus, then Dana, then Sergeant Rita, at which point Karl hauled thedder up into the fort, just in case it didn''t hold up to five people''s weight.


    Rae was slightly insulted at that, but attributed it to Karl''sck of faith in his enhanced strength to actually lift them all.


    Once they were up, Karl sent thedder back down, and began to haul up Alice and Tessa, while Lotus happily explored the small fort.


    "This ce is incredible, but why build it with that branch extending through the room?" She asked.


    "Oh, that would likely be because Doug, the Green Dragon Cleric that we had with us during ourst deployment, liked to turn a branch into a table to work and cook on. So, Rae left you a branch to work with." Karl exined.


    "That is brilliant. I wish I had thought of that ages ago, shaping branches is so easy." Lotusughed, and then ran over to give Rae a hug.


    The spider was somewhat mystified by the sudden affection, but she wasn''t going toin. If Thor''s presence had taught them anything, it was that there were benefits to everyone liking you.


    Karl finished bringing thest two up, and Alice looked around the fort.


    "It''s waterproof, with a double outer shell to keep the wind down, a cooking table, plenty of springy for sleeping, and loose woven windows all around, so we can scout from this position. I must say, this is a wonderful base, Rae." Alice congratted her.


    The spider gave her a head bump, then vanished back into her space to rest in her own den for the afternoon. It was almost sundown, and she wanted to get some real sleep before she took her turn on watch after full dark.


    Hawk had a nest built at the very top of the tree, where he could see everything that was going on around them, and keep watch for any stronger monsters that got brave and came near the camp.


    "Alright, here is your watch schedule. We will watch in pairs, since there are six of us. I will take early watch with Dana, the second watch will be Rita and Lotus, the third watch will be Karl and Tessa."


    That made sense. It did the best to give them a warrior and a caster on each watch, so that the skills they had were diversified if there was an attack.


    Karl nodded in agreement. "Hawk will keep watch until full dark, then Rae will take over, as she doesn''t need any light to see. Hawk will return to duty when we head out in the morning, while Rae will sleep again once my watch starts, or once the sun starts toe up, depending on how she feels."


    Alice smiled at that. In her estimation, Rae was the cat to Thor''s dog, much more whimsy driven and casually violent. If she didn''t feel like doing things, you would have to force her, and then she would likely ck. She didn''t know for certain, as Karl never seemed to push them to do things they didn''t want to, but Alice had her suspicions that Rae had a rebellious streak that would run wild with Malicious Compliance.

 Chapter 196 Theyre Not Even Looking

    Chapter 196 They''re Not Even Looking


    ??That evening, they were treated to thebined efforts of Tessa and Lotus in the kitchen. As they could both use advanced food creation spells, they both worked together to make dinner on the table Lotus had formed, and the results were spectacr.


    Doug was a good cook, but these two were artists.


    Then, everyone settled in for the night, exhausted from the day.


    Karl woke up to the feeling of Rita poking him on the forehead to get him up for his shift, and he realized that he wasn''t alone under the nket. Dana was curled up against him, sound asleep, with her own sleeping bag abandoned half on top of his. She must have rolled over at night, and Karl could see from the smirk on the Sergeant''s facethat Rita was going to hold this one against him in the future.


    Once he was awake, she made a motion to silence him, and then quickly slid under his nket as Karl got out, recing him in Dana''s arms, while the mage mumbled happily and held on to the Sergeant.


    Karl joined Tessa on watch, and saw that the cleric''s eyes were golden, just like Hawk''s. Not glowing with holy magic, but obviously enhanced with some sort of spell so that she could see better in the dark.


    "How is your night sight?" She whispered as Lotus crawled into bed beside Rita and Dana.


    "I can see in low light like Hawk, and I can see in zero light using echolocation and thermal imaging like Rae. In the forest like this, with so much ambient noise and movement, I can see pretty well, especially if the target is warm-blooded." Karl exined.


    Tessa nodded. "I knew I was in luck with you on watch. Lotus can also see in the dark in her own way. She uses the trees to sense movement around them. It''s not as precise, but it gives a good idea of how big the creature is.


    I think that Alice and Dana relied mostly on sound, since Alice is a wind mage."


    That made Karl wonder if Hawk might pick up some new sensory magic in the future. [Skill Master] was still constantly active, so he was being enhanced to pick up new skills, but unlike Rae, who had learned to make Golems, he hadn''t shown them anything new.


    That didn''t always mean he didn''t know it. Just that he hadn''t shown or mentioned it if he was using it.


    There was no movement near the camp for the first few hours, but near the end of their shift, Karl noticed somethingrge moving in the distance, as if scouting the perimeter of the camp.


    "Do you see that? Threerge figures, Ogre sized, scouting the camp. They''re circling around outside the patrol range so that the guards don''t detect them. But the Ogres are close enough that they would be able to smell the humans when the wind is right." Karl whispered to Tessa, while he pointed out the Ogres in the distance.


    "Oh, those sneaky bastards. I see them now. Should we go take care of them?" Tessa replied.


    "They''re headed this way. I think we should just wait, but warn the camp that they''re being scouted, in case there are more groups that we can''t see from our position."


    Tessa smiled and patted Karl on the shoulder. "Good call, very by the book. You''ve got decent instincts for a first year student."


    Karl sighed as he realized that the more experienced cleric was testing him to see what his responses would be, but Karl was getting quite used to how things worked in the wilderness, after having been out here for a few weeks with a group that didn''t make their nning some obscure leadership task.


    After another half hour, they spotted a second group of Ogres doing the same thing, and again Tessa messaged the base to let them know the current location of both groups.


    They hadn''t pushed the scouts out, which seemed odd to Karl. But if they couldn''t see in the dark, they might just be waiting until it was safer to fight.


    Tessa started cooking just before dawn, when she knew that the others would need to be up in half an hour.


    The smell woke them up as intended, and Karl could see that the rest of the unit was just starting to get upwardly mobile, but the kitchens in the camp were already hard at work, getting prepared for the day, with the first batch of breakfast ready.


    [All team members, be ready to move in one hour.] The Captain of the unit they were attached to announced as Tessa started serving breakfast.


    She hade up with the same mushroom steaks that Doug had been so fond of, but cut into thin slices like bacon and wrapped around peppers that were stuffed with something like cheese. It wouldn''t be actual cheese, given that it was all nt based, but it was good.


    She had alsoe up with an apple jerky for snackster, and a fruit and nuts trail mix, which most ate on its own, but Lotus poured into a bowl and then added coffee to, like most would add milk to breakfast cereal.


    Not that she needed the caffeine. The nature cleric was already too energetic in the morning.


    Lotus smiled at Karl as they finished eating. "We should send Karl down first while we get cleaned up for the day''s patrol. One man can only be so lucky, or it will unbnce the world."


    Karlughed. "Well, that''s one way to say get out of the fort while we shower. Toss me a water bag, so I can wash up while I''m down there, will you?"


    Alice snapped her fingers to get their attention. "We can just set up a dividing curtain. We''ve got plenty of those, and we''re going to want Karl up here to lower us down, or everyone will have to climb thatdder."


    Two ground tarps were quickly erected in the fort, sectioning off a portion of the far side, where Lotus hung one of the gravity fed ck shower bags she had used her magic to fill with water. You just had to open the spigot, and they would sprinkle water like a shower. They were simple, but effective, and if you left them out in the sun all day, the water would be properly hot in the evening.


    It was warm enough thanks to her magic, and Karl took his time shaking the dirt and dust off his worn outfit before setting it aside and preparing to get cleaned up. He didn''t recall how many other shower bags there were in the packs, but thedies would certainly need some time to get clean and dressed before he came back out.


    He was about half washed when he heard the curtain move and felt a body against his back. A small finger pressed to his lips to keep him silent, and then two gentle hands began to scrub his back. Once he was clean and rinsed, he was turned around to face the curtain instead of looking out of the window, and he could hear Dana quickly putting her clothes back on before exiting the other side of the section.


    It had to be her. Nobody else in the group was that size, and she was the only one that used that particr Academy shampoo.


    When he came out, everyone was ready and waiting, and it seemed that there was an agreement not to say anything about the shower. So, Karl pulled thedder up into the fort until they were only a few metres from the end and looked at the group.


    "Who is going down first? Hawk is already on patrol, and the area is clear."

 Chapter 197 Morning Formation

    Chapter 197 Morning Formation


    ??Once everyone was down, Karl slid down thedder like a rope, and checked his pack to make certain that it was properly secured.


    "We have twenty minutes to get back to the camp, no rush. They will be gathering for formation in thirty minutes." Alice informed them, and started heading back.


    Karl took his position at the front, using his enhanced eyesight to watch for any threats, but this close to camp, there was nothing to see. Not even the local wildlife dared to venture too close, in case they became a supplementary food product.


    The team seemed to be in much better spirits today, but Karl noticed that the Captain now had red badges on his uniform instead of gold. There were still two silver bars for his rank insignia, so he didn''t get busted down from Captain, but it looked like he was on official punishment for however the meeting went the night before.


    "There is a meeting with the base Commander before we head out. The whole base, except scouts, are to be in attendance." The Captain greeted them as Karl''s group reached the barracks that the others had builtst night.


    Alice nodded. "Understood. We have Hawk scouting, so we will know what to expect before we head out today. Give him an hour, and he will cover everywhere that we can reach on foot."


    The Captain nodded, and led their team to the meeting point, where the other units on station seemed to smirk a little as they cleared the way for him to take the ce of honour at the front right of the formation.


    It had been deliberately left open for them, a not so subtle nod to the fact that the other units agreed that he had been right, but the real shock was when the Base Commander and his adjutant came out.


    The Base Commander was wearing Captain''s bars, the same as their unit leader, but his cor was loose, and his jacket unbuttoned. His face was bruised and swollen, and from the looks of his shirt, his ribs were wrapped, which would exin the open coat. The adjutant wasn''t in any better shape, and Karl could see that his hands were bandaged, and he was limping.


    They had healers on base. Lots of them. So if he was still in that bad of shape, the Captain either beat him near to death, or the healers refused to work on him, which would be a massive case of insubordination.


    "Attention." The Sergeant at the front of the formation called, bringing everyone to order as the Commander took the stage.


    The wounded man cleared his throat and put on a stern face, as if everyone couldn''t see that he still had one eye mostly swollen shut.


    "It has been brought to my attention that our limited patrol radius has led to some inadequacies in the way that the threat level of the region has been assessed." He began.


    That was the understatement of the day.


    "As such, we will be reordering our patrols, beginning today. The new routes and zones are up on the board. I will expect a full report on every zone on my desk by zero four hundred tomorrow morning. That is all."


    He stepped down off the crude stage, flinching at the pressure on his ribs, and the Sergeant dismissed everyone, sending them off to find their new patrol routes.


    Just as they were yesterday, Karl''s group was assigned to "Threat Mitigation" also known as the roaming groups. They would go wherever there were reports of more dangerous monsters, and deal with them before they became a threat to the base.


    Yesterday, there weren''t any recorded, so they just wandered. But today, Hawk had a rather interesting list ready for them.


    He had found all sorts of monsters. Big groups, little groups, powerful loners, small groups with a powerful leader. A bit of everything, as should have been expected of a region where only the sector closest to the base had even been patrolled.


    They exited the base so that their reports didn''t scare the Awakened and Common Rank troops that had been stationed here, and then the Captain turned to Karl for the scouting details.


    "If we start at the south, we have two groups of Ascended Ogres, both small groups. Then we have a Goblin Camp, this time with no otherrge monsters nearby. After that, continuing west around the zone, we have a group of Lizardmen with an Ascended leader, then a group of four Awakened Rank Giants. I will update you if that positioning changes." Karl informed him.


    "You heard the man. Let''s go clean up this mess before the Inquisitors get here and start to waste our time." The Captain announced.


    For matters between Elites of the same Rank, the church usually stepped in if they couldn''t settle it peacefully. If the Inquisition wasing, either the Base Commander had filed aint about being beaten senseless, or the Captain had filed aint for negligence and ipetence leading to the death of Elites.


    Possibly both.


    The first group of Ogres was one that was on patrol during the night, and Karl was happy to get rid of them so that they couldn''t report back to whatever had sent them to scout the area.


    They were still continuing their route, circling the base, when the group caught up to them, and the Ogres brought out their secret weapon. They had managed to obtain a military issue riot shield somewhere, probably from a group that was forced to flee, and therger of the two charged straight at Karl.


    Karl left his regr de sheathed, and took out the bonded two-handed sword, to better deal with therger target.


    He charged it with [Shred], and used his enhanced strength to swing at the shield of the charging Ogre.


    As should have been expected of an Awakened Grade Riot shield, it was sliced smoothly in half by the enormous de, taking the Ogre''s lower arm with it.


    Then Karl put his shoulder down to duck under the Ogre''s club, and charged forward to do his best impression of a shoulder toss on a creature twice his height.


    Then he called Thor out, and the Cerro appeared behind the other Ogre, who was startled into stopping and attacking the iing ball of Thor''s tail, which brutally transmitted an [Earthquake] through the Ogre''s body.


    The sound of cracking bones was clearly audible to everyone, but before the Ogre could do anything to defend itself, the first wave of attacks from the Mages was there, and the Ogre was dead.


    The Captain cleared his throat. "Good work everyone. Collect the heads, we will need proof of our kills for the next few days."


    That just about settled the debate about what was going on with the Base Commander. If they really did return with a bunch of Ascended Rank and higher trophies, he would be on the hook for not doing his job. The Captain would still likely get charges for beating him, but they were both the same Military Rank, so it wouldn''t be as serious as if he had hit a superior officer.


    "Keep moving. If they''ve got anything valuable on them, hold on to it, and we will sort it all at the end of the day. I want a productivity record today. We will show them who doesn''t know what a Commander Rank monster looks like." The Captain insisted.

 Chapter 198 Productivity

    Chapter 198 Productivity


    ??As the day wore down, the group found themselves at the far side of the region, much too far to work their way back to base before dark. That was almost certainly a deliberate effort on the part of the Captain, but nobody in the unit really minded.


    They had taken six Ascended and a Commander Rank trophy today, and if Hawk''s scouting was right, there was a chance to get two more Commander Rank monsters in the morning.


    Without Karl''s team, that would never happen for them, but it would be a potent reminder of the dangers of an ipetent leader when they brought them back to camp.


    For the first time on this mission, Karl actually helped set up tents that night, onerge canvas tent that was erected by tying the peak of the roof to two different trees. It had been stored in Tessa''s bag, and she hadn''t brought any poles, as she could just grow them herself, or use spears from the warriors and a length of rope, but the process was still much smoother than Karl expected.


    Tie the peak, tie the corners out, and then spike the bottom of the walls to the ground.


    Fortunately, everyone else had a lot of practice with this process.


    Then, once it was up, Karl realized that this sleeping arrangement was much more crowded than he was used to. They had found a nice level and soft spot to set up, but they would all be packed in shoulder to shoulder inside the tent.


    That sounded great for the first few minutes, until Karl realized that he was between Lotus, who insisted on being at the door, and Dana, who was possibly the world''s most restless sleeper. Tonight, they were on the ground, and the sleeping bags were zipped up and notid out like nkets, so she wasn''t going far, but she was more active at night than she was while awake.


    [Want me to just wrap her up? She sleeps so much better when she''s in a hammock.] Rae suggested, spending the night in her space, since nobody on their team had guard duty.


    [I''m sure she will be fine.] Karlughed as Dana tossed onest time, then finally fell still.


    Morning came far too early the next day, and Karl activated [Refreshing Lightning] to take the stiffness out of his muscles from the ufortable sleeping position.


    "That''s just cheating. I''m not sure why, but I feel like someone beat me up in my sleep." Dana muttered as she packed her sleeping bag back into her gear.


    Lotusughed at herint. "Do we need to assign someone to keep you still while you sleep? You were tossing and turning for like an hourst night before you settled down."


    Dana shook her head. "It''s just been a strange couple of days. I should be fine tonight."


    The team gathered to eat and make their n to check the spots that Hawk was off to scout this morning. If nothing much had changed, they should be able to get at least one or two more Ascended or higher Rank beasts in the zone before lunch. After that, it would be up to whoever called in the reports to send them to more dangerous fights.


    They set out as soon as everything was packed up, and Hawk led them to their prime target of the morning, a Commander Rank Giant, with six Awakened Rank Ogres. With Alice along, they shouldn''t have too many problems with the Giant, and the regr military unit could take on six Awakened Ogres, now that they had reinforcements from the depleted unit. So, spirits were high as they moved toward the target.


    [There are poachers! Kill Stealers! Evildoers!] Hawk warned.


    [Calm down, what do they look like? Can they even kill steal a Commander Rank Giant from us?] Karl replied.


    [The smashy ones in white. They''re stealing our Giant.] Hawkined.


    "I think there is a church security team already on site. Hawk just warned me that someone is trying to steal our kill." Karl warned the Captain.


    The older Elite''s face went grim, and he motioned for the team to increase their speed.


    If the church had believed the Base Commander, that team wouldn''t be strong enough to deal with the Giant, and if they had, it was better that he was right there when it died, just in case the Base Commander had called in a favour.


    Thor happily crashed through the undergrowth as he chased Karl and the Captain through the woods, so when they arrived at the battle in progress, The Church Guard split to face them as if they were a threat.


    "The beasts are with me." Karl called as he chased Thor into the crowd of Ogres apanying the Giant.


    The Lightning Cerro sent one flying into the air, where it was intercepted by Rae''s Golems, which seemed to appear out of nowhere.


    The spider had chosen to sit this battle out and remain in her nest, but the Golems were dispatched to fight in her ce. It was just Awakened Ogres, if they got into it with the Commander, she would get out of bed.


    As annoyed as he was with her cking, Karl had to admit that she had a point. This fight was hardly worth getting out of bed for, and if the Church Guard wasn''t in the way, Thor would have charged right through it to the real fight.


    The Golems and the Mages were working together to eliminate the Ogres, and Karl found himself just leisurely walking through the battlefield up to the High Priest, who had turned to greet him.


    "Are you the team leader of this expedition?" The old man asked.


    "No, High Priest. I am Ascended Elite Karl, the frontline warrior for the group. We have Commander Alice and a military Captain with us as the team leaders."


    The man nodded, and gestured toward the Giant. "Care to lend a hand?"


    Karl smiled and focused a [Shred] attack to tear apart the armoured ting on the Giant''s back.


    Then the Spider Golems moved in with their piercing forelegs and began to repeatedly stab through the hole, while Karl attacked the backs of the Giant''s knees.


    The massive warrior couldn''t turn around, the Church Guard had him upied from the front, so the attack on the legs wentpletely unnoticed until it was toote, and the beast was falling.


    With a running leap and a massive overhead chop, Karl removed the head from the severely injured Giant''s shoulders, sending it rolling across the ground to stop at the High Priest''s feet.


    Another wonderful "Just as nned" moment that Karl wished he could take credit for.


    In the distance, Alice pped as she walked across the battlefield.


    Unlike Karl, who had superhuman strength, enhanced by not one but two Ascended Rank magical items, she was forced to walk under her own power, which meant Karl and Thor had left her and the back of the column clear out of sight when they charged into battle.


    She hadn''t even known that there were Church Guards here until she had seen them, she was too far away to hear his warning to the Captain.


    Alice and the Captain joined Karl at the fallen Giant, where the Church Guard were giving Karl somewhat reverent looks.


    "Showoff." The Captain muttered when he walked up, which made the High Priestugh.


    "He''s an enthusiastic one, for certain. I don''t reckon that I''ve ever seen Spiders as Golems before, though. Odd choice." The old man replied.


    "Strange to see them summoned by a warrior as well." One of the Church Guards added.


    That made the old man pause and do a double take at Karl. The Guard had a valid point there. Warriors didn''t summon golems.


    "I''m a Beast Master, not a Warrior. The Golems are summoned by one of my Companions." Karl exined.


    Thor took that opportunity toe over and get Alice to scratch his head in that good spot just between his eyes. It was his favourite trick to calm tensions, and it had the added benefit of having his head rubbed.


    A win-win situation, really.


    "Well, we can say for certain that there are Commander Rank threats in the area, and that they were not ounted for in the scouting reports. How long has your team been in the area?" The High Priest asked.


    The Commander frowned. "We just got in yesterday. It was a bit of a disaster, there is an official report filed already."


    The old man nodded. "Oh, you''re that team. Well, this saves us some time. Our Guards will be with you for the remainder of the day. See if you can''t find more high-level threats, and they will help eliminate them."

 Chapter 199 The Value Of A Scout

    Chapter 199 The Value Of A Scout


    ??[Hawk, you know what to do. Find us some high danger threats within the zone. As many in high Ascended and Commander as possible.] Karl instructed.


    [Four hundred metres north. If you start moving now, you will meet with a lone Commander Rank Troll, thing. Maybe it''s not a troll? Sure is ugly.]


    "The scout says that we''ve got arge Troll four hundred metres north. If we move fast, we can intercept it before it gets to a regr patrol group." Karl informed the gathered leadership group.


    "I didn''t hear anything on the radio." The High Priest replied, with a gesture to his earbud.


    "Mentalmunication between me and my Dragon Hawk. The Troll is moving fast, so I need to go if we''re going to intercept it." Karl replied.


    Tessa threw herself onto Thor''s back and grabbed the short spikes on his ridge.


    "Off we go."


    And Thor took off in the direction of the threat, with Karl chasing him, and a small group of the Church Guard in hot pursuit. They had to see this battle, to ensure that nobody was lying or bringing in bodies from other zones. It seemed unlikely that this team would, when they had the power that they did, but anything was possible.


    Karl overtook Thor as the beast had to slow down to avoid running into trees or throwing Tessa off, and was the first toe across what Hawk had called a Troll.


    That might be what it was, but Karl had never seen anything quite thatrge and ugly before. It was six metres tall, covered in moss and where there was skin visible, it was pustulent and rotted. It almost looked like it was undead, but Karl could see the wounded areas knitting themselves together even as they rotted and fell apart in other areas.


    That was definitely not something that he wanted to fight in closebat.


    [Hawk, light this thing up. I think a little fire will improve the situation.] Karl instructed.


    The barrage of fireballs seemed to sink into the creature and vanish, but they left smoking craters in the skin, which was slowly closing the gaps as Karl watched.


    [We need more attack power.] Karl informed the others.


    Rae was as reluctant to touch that thing as Karl was, but to her credit, she dide out to fight, and brought the Golems with her.


    They shredded the corpulent flesh from the Troll, leaving rancid piles on the ground, and the creature began to gurgle some sort of war cry.


    "Keep at it, the more flesh we rend off, the slower it is regenerating." Karl cheered the others on as he used [Shred] to hack arge portion of arm fat off, trying to determine where the actual muscles were.


    Hawk lit the ground on fire, burning the disgusting piles of flesh, just as the Church Guard arrived on the scene.


    "Dragons, what in the world is that smell?" One of them asked, as he activated a glowing golden circle, which did as much to burn away the severed flesh as Hawk''s fire.


    It also caused the outeryer of the Troll to begin smoking, and the nt life to burn away, showing the disgusting body underneath.


    Like Karl, everyone was throwing ranged attacks at the beast, while Rae and her Golems did their best to tear away bits of flesh with their forelimbs.


    "Call back your spider and have her stand in the purifying light. That Troll is infected with the swamp blight, and it kills almost anything in minutes. Trolls just regenerate too fast for it to kill them, so it''s been wandering around blind." The leader of the reinforcements insisted.


    Rae didn''t need to be told twice. Before he even stopped speaking, she was next to the Guard in his cleansing light, but not close enough that she might bump into him and transfer the filth.


    The Golems had no need to slow down. They weren''t living things, and the beast was incapable of hitting them as they tore its back apart.


    "Is it just me, or is this thing actually happy to die?" Karl asked as the Church Guard focused their attacks to take out the creature''s chest.


    The Guard shook his head. "It''s trying to get us to cut enough of the corruption away that it can cure itself. Trolls of that sort don''t die so easily. If you don''t burn the bodies, they''lle back from just a hand eventually."


    So, the disease was more susceptible to destruction than the troll itself was, and once they had burned all the infected body parts away, it might theoretically be back to full strength.


    [Hawk, keep using fire. The troll can''t regenerate fire damage as well.] Karl instructed.


    As they fought, more of the fast-moving warriors were joining the battle, encircling the troll and hacking away at it, while making sure the ground stayed burning, so that the severed flesh didn''t try to regenerate into more blighted trolls.


    Slowly, painfully slowly, the creature was brought down, hacked into tiny bits, and then the bits were burned to ash to ensure that it didn''t regenerate.


    "Well, that was unexpectedly disgusting. Even after burning and purifying it, the area still smells horrific." Karl noted.


    "It will take a bit more cleansing before any of us can leave the area. Especially for the Cerro and the spider, who actually came into contact with it." Tessa exined.


    She was still riding Thor, and hadn''t gotten down when he had charged into battle, she had decided that it was better to give himbat instructions instead, to avoid having him dig his horns into the beast and end up infected himself.


    He had fought the whole battle with his tail, and with Tessa enhancing him while she rode on his back, but mostly they remained at the edge of the battlefield, where Earthquake could reach the target, but they wouldn''t suffer any ssh damage.


    The battle was long finished before the rest of the team made it to them, and the Guard Commander gave his report to the High Priest, who cast an additional cleansing on the area, as the creature was Commander Rank, and might have survived the mes of lower ranked Elites somehow.


    "This is worse than I feared. The blight is a terrible thing, but more importantly, we don''t know where it started, or how many other creatures it might have spread the disease to." The High Priest sighed.


    The Captain of Karl''s team nodded gravely. "That sounds like a real conundrum for the Church. This is the first signs I''ve seen of the blight here as well, but it''s only our third day. Would you like to split a team off to search for the source while we deal with the other ranking monsters that the Dragon Hawk has reported?


    There are still more threats that the Awakened Rank teams here are not prepared to deal with, and plenty more that the Common Grade teams with Awakened leadership won''t be able to deal with at all."


    The High Priest shook his head. "I will call in a scout team to these coordinates, and they will track the blighted troll back to its source. They have the skills to do it. But we are assigned to you and your team until the other matter is settled."

 Chapter 200 Guided Hunting Tour

    Chapter 200 Guided Hunting Tour


    ??For the remainder of the day, Hawk led them on a merry chase around the mission area, chasing groups of Ascended Monsters, and the asional Commander Rank monster. As fast as the teams could kill them, Hawk would lead them off to another location.


    It was getting so out of hand that they had to reassign Thor to pull the litter full of heads from the defeated high rank beasts, their solid evidence of the Base Commander''s ipetence.


    Karl had offered to put them in Thor''s space, but the High Priest wouldn''t hear of it. The trophies going into a separate space introduced the possibility of tampering, and that was not up to church evidence standards.


    [I think that''s all of them. But the humans look tired, we should go to the camp now.] Hawk suggested.


    Karl sensed that the desire was not so much because of any empathy for the ones in the group without superhuman strength, but because he could see his nest above the fort from where he was patrolling, and he wanted to go to bed.


    As the day had progressed, Thor had moved from Cerro Knight, to beast of burden, to noble pack steed, and now had not only the litter full of heads pulled behind him, but Lotus on his back, as well as both her and Tessa''s packs slung over his back.


    The extra weight was no burden to the mighty Cerro, but it was funny seeing him all loaded up like a pack mule in the mines, when in reality he could rampage through three quarters of this military unit without any real resistance.


    [Lotus doesn''t count as cargo, she knows all the best spots to scratch my scales.] Thor countered Karl''s line of thought.


    The small nature cleric was essentially giving him a free massage as they walked, and earning herself envious looks from the average soldiers, who had been at a jog for most of the day trying to keep up with the number of attackers Hawk was finding.


    The sight of the camp was a wee relief to the unit, and as the outer patrols came into sight, Karl could hear the mages and rogues giving sighs of relief. The warriors had better stamina, but they had still been worked hard today, even if they werete to half of the fights because Hawk had been speed running them through the battles so they could eliminate all the major threats in one day while the Church Guard was with them.


    "Unit, prepare to stand down and set camp for the evening. There will be formal questioning tomorrow, along with possible formal punishment announcements. You will be notified of the schedule as you are required." The High Priest announced as they reached the patrols around the camp itself.


    Alice looked toward the fort, and the Guard Commander followed her nce.


    "Does your team have a camp built nearby?" The sandy haired Guard asked.


    "Up in the tallest tree over there. It''s some distance from the ground, but perfect for long-distance scouting. We will be avable by radio if you require our presence. As I understand it, this is a military matter being adjudicated by the Church for impartiality, so we might not be involved, as we are dispatched Elites, and not a military unit." Alice replied.


    The Guard Commander gave her a soft smile. "I doubt that you will get that lucky. As your team is the reason that most of the soldiers in the group are still alive, they are going to want you as material witnesses, and then they will want your team members to corroborate some of the information because when military brass hears a report that says a War Cleric was riding a Lightning Cerro intobat, there will be questions.


    The hearings will be live cast back to the Department of Defence."


    Tessaughed. "I am going to enjoy repeating that part of the day. The other Red Dragon Priests are going to be so jealous.


    Would you like to follow us to the fort so that you can find it again in the morning when they call for us? Or is it fine if we just find our own way back once we are summoned?"


    The Guard gestured for her to lead the way, but he fell in beside Alice, subtly flirting with the mage as they walked.


    He looked up into the tree as Karl quickly scaled thedder, only now realizing that there was a whole fort built up there, hidden in in sight.


    "That is quite the scout base. How did you even assemble that all the way out here? That looks like some sort of fishing? Did you pack all that out here?" He asked, confused.


    "It''s all spider silk, spun by Rae, the Bloodbath Spider you met today. The outeryer is sticky, but the insides are not, and they make a proper fort for us to rest in at night, with a waterproof roof and full visibility all the way around for evening scouting, since we have members with night vision." Alice exined.


    The Guard looked impressed. "Well, we can''t use you of cking on your scouting duties. You''re not even technically on duty at night, but you''re still keeping tabs on the situation. We have your radio logs, and they will go in the report."


    He gave Alice a smart salute, and then turned to return to his unit while everyone climbed onto thedder.


    "We know that you can haul us all up at once, you knocked an Ogre off his feet with a sword strike, and thedder isn''t going to break." Sergeant Rita called up to Karl as they got in ce, preventing him from splitting the group in two parts as he hadst time.


    "You know, we could have Thor throw you up here, and I could catch you as well." He suggested.


    Lotusughed, but nobody else seemed to think that idea was amusing.


    Lotus and Tessa got started on dinner, while the others started to clean their gear, and check everything for damage. They had been in a lot ofbattely, and gear wore out at the most unexpected moments if you didn''t keep up on it.


    Karl found that was true of his belt, which was starting to wear through where his one-handed de was hung from it.


    That seemed like it was too early, but he set it aside for Lotus to patch up with her magic, and began inspecting his des. Both of them appeared to be in perfect working order, with no damage to them, despite the crude construction of the less used single-handed de.


    Hisbat outfit was still in good shape, though it could use a good wash. If he had been thinking, he would have washed it with the shower water before he changed and let Alice dry it with wind magic.


    The only issue was that you didn''t actually want freshlyundered clothes on patrol. Not only did you stand out, but the scent ofundry soap was so out of ce that every monster for miles would pick out your presence and be ready for your approach long before you knew they were even present.


    Not long after they started cooking, the scout patrols were adjusted so that they passed outside the tree, instead of stopping thirty metres before it. There might not have been an official announcement yet, but it was obvious that things were already being changed in how the base was operated.

 Chapter 201 More Disciplined Troops

    Chapter 201 More Disciplined Troops


    ??When Karl''s morning shift came, he found that the patrols were still circling past therge tree, and that they were more numerous than the patrols the first night that they had been here had been.


    They also had a Church Guard with some of the patrols, and Karl could see the sour looks on the soldiers'' faces at the fact. The Guards were higher ranking than their team leaders, so they had taken over and had eliminated any chance of cking on the night shift.


    [Rae, did we see anything good tonight?] Karl asked, as Hawk wasn''t awake yet.


    [Nothing much. There were a few wandering Goblins, but the scouts got them.]


    Tessa started cooking an hour into their shift, earlier than she usually would, and then set up the partition for the shower.


    "The church hearings always start entirely too early in the morning, so we should be cleaned up and fed before they show up to tell us to head into camp to give our version of events." She exined quietly, not wanting to forcibly wake the others early.


    There was no shower bag today, just a bowl of water with a washcloth and a bar of unscented soap. It would do the job, but the hot water was alwaysforting on the muscles.


    Once he was ready, they switched positions, and Karl stirred the morning''s stew.


    It didn''t take long for the scent to wake everyone else up, and Rae switched shifts with Hawk.


    She had a theory that she wanted to test. Offensive Adaptation was a versatile skill, and it even enhanced Karl''s Rend and Shred attacks, so it should start enhancing her Golems soon, she assumed.


    That meant extra Stabby tree spiders, but also the chance that she could teach them other skills.


    She didn''t actually know any other skills to teach them. But in her mind, that was a Karl problem. Once she knew that they could learn the basics, she would convince him to teach the Golems more skills. That vine whip that the big tree golems knew would be nice.


    It wasn''t part of the basic Golem spell, it was an additional spell that Donni knew, but cast on the Golems.


    The whole point of having a human around was to make them make you stronger, Rae was certain, and that meant she would have to convince him to find more good skills for her.


    Hawk agreed with Rae on thatst point. They needed to find new skills, or good things. They were all reaching maximum growth, and even with his new fire skills, Hawk was convinced that he could do better.


    What they really needed was a shiny thing. Karl got shiny things, and now he had the strength to fist fight an Ogre. Some of that had even spilled over to the team, and Hawk''s wings were stronger than ever when Karl was wearing the Bestial Strength gloves.


    Having [Skill Master] active all the time without a defined target was helping, but they weren''t seeing new skills. Everyone they met all knew the same basic set of Academy Skills. They needed to find cooler monsters and people that knew other stuff.


    [We can go look for cooler monsters after we finish with the ones here. There might still be some shiny gems or other things on them, and you haven''t fully mastered teaching Offensive Adaptation to the Golems yet.


    Don''t worry, once we get a chance I will find a way to teach everyone more skills, or even try to find a way to help them Evolve, like Hawk did when he got that potion.] Karl assured her.


    [Oh, that would be good too. Maybe I could be invisible, or like super durable.] Rae agreed.


    Thorughed silently at the thought of an armoured Rae. But the thought of new skills was fun. He just hadn''t found any that he liked yet.


    He didn''t even know what sort of skill he would like. Better Lightning wasn''t really a new skill, was it? That was all he really wanted. But Rae said that ideas to make you stronger were what humans were for, so Thor decided that he could just wait for Karl toe up with something.


    Their discussion of the best ways to get stronger, and how they should just sneak away to go look for really good things, was interrupted by the food being served, and then by the Church Guarding to call all of them to make their official report on the conditions in the field.


    As far as Karl could tell, it was exactly what he had been facing since he arrived at his second deployment, but ording to whoever did the deployments, it was not supposed to be that way.


    They took a minute to wash all the dishes and pack their gear to head out after the hearing, then followed the Church Guard back into the camp, where arge church tent had been set up in the middle of what would normally be the assembly ground.


    "The High Priest will see you right away. He wants to get the outside reports filed before he starts with the involved parties." The Guard announced.


    Karl looked around and noticed that there were more Command tents here than he remembered. There should have been one for the basemander, and perhaps one for the transient units, but most of those were camped outside the base as it was being renovated and upgraded.


    But there were at least four of them marked with senior officer''s emblems, plus the one for the High Priest.


    They must have arrived yesterday while the group was out on patrol, but Karl hadn''t noticed them.


    That meant that this was likely going to be more annoying for their Captain than just a simple church inquiry into a dispute between Ascended Rank officers, who were both Captains in the army.


    "Karl,e with us first. You are the unit''s scout, so you have the most details of the situation." The Guard insisted.


    [Hawk, I hope your memory is good because I haven''t been taking any notes.] Karl informed his partner.


    [Talk to Thor, he remembers everything in order.]


    Karl was definitely using his notepad, starting today. He should have borrowed Tessa''s notes beforeing inside.


    But now he was in the tent, facing a group of four Colonels and a High Priest, who were sat behind a table with an emblem that said JAG, the acronym for the Judge Advocate General''s department, the military''s legal authority. It was toote to turn back.


    "Ascended Elite Karl, ss designation is Beast Master, a new designation for a previously unseen mark. It says here that you are serving the role of attached scout for the military unit, is that correct?" The aging Colonel on Karl''s far left asked as Karl walked up to the speaker''s booth.


    "That is correct."


    "And can you give us an overview of the situation in this region, in your professional opinion as an Elite?" The man asked.


    "I would say that the Common Rank monsters are somewhat less frequent, though we havee acrossrge packs of Goblins. More frequent are the Awakened Rank Ogres and Hobgoblins, with about a third of our encounters consisting solely of the Ascended Rank varieties.


    That is what my team is along with the patrol for, the stronger groups, but we have alsoe across a total of twelve Commander Rank monsters in thest two days. The heads collected yesterday were brought back to the camp as evidence, at the request of the Church.


    The situation appears to be under control, as the number of stronger monsters is not increasing on a daily basis, but neither is it noticeably decreasing in the limited time since I arrived from a deployment between here and the Regional Command location."


    The Colonel nodded. "Are you privy to the official threat assessment for the region?"


    Karl shook his head. "No, sir. But I am privy to the official scouting reports, though they are somewhat limited in their scope, as they do not extend to the edges of the zone."


    The officers flipped pages, while the High Priest made notes, and then the man second from the right pointed at a page and asked Karl a question.


    "It says here in the official report that there are no threats above low Awakened Rank found by the forward observation post''s scouts. Would you say that this is urate?"


    Karl frowned. "In a way. That scouting report only covers a one-


    kilometre distance from the camp. In that distance, the monster density is indeed made up of only Common Rank and low Awakened Rank Goblins and Hobgoblins. But once you move past the distance that is within the hourly patrol route, the smarter monsters be moremon."


    They all made more notes, and then the High Priest asked his question.


    "From your elevated positionst night, what did your team identify as potential threats to be dealt with today?"


    "There are two groups of Ascended Ogres camped respectively five and seven kilometres from the camp. There are four groups of roving Hobgoblins of unknown strength, with numbers in the single digits and low teens, and one pair of Giants, possibly a mated pair. Oh, plus a Warbear den, but that isn''t on the list to eliminate, as they naturally control monster poptions." Karl replied.


    A clerk brought him a map of the zone and Karl filled in everything that they had located and hadn''t had time to eliminate, plus what they had foundst night during the daily spawn. With the help of Thor, who really did remember where all of them were seenst, Karl managed to put over twenty spots on the map before turning it back over to the clerk.


    "Thank you, Elite. Your information has been recorded." The High Priest announced, dismissing Karl, and sending the clerks to bring in another witness.

 Chapter 202 Tribunal

    Chapter 202 Tribunal


    ??By the time that the tribunal was finished with everyone they wanted to call for witnesses, it was nearly lunch, so they postponed the final two interviews with the Base Commander and the Captain for after the meal.


    That cut out almost all chance of getting a proper patrolpleted on that day, and that meant double the numbers of dangerous monsters the day after, as Karl''s team wouldn''t be out there to deal with them.


    But more importantly, with nobody challenging them, there was a chance that therger monsters would team up and starting after the base.


    But very few in the camp were actually concerned about the implications of stopping their clearance duties for a day. They all wanted to know how this drama was going to y out, and if there was going to be a new Base Commander at the end of the day.


    If there was, then they would expect a whole new set of orders to being, and they couldn''t rely on routine to get them through tomorrow. Even if the Base Commander was just censured by the High Priest, the tribunal officers would be breathing down his neck for the foreseeable future, and that meant even more chaos than a new Commander.


    They had all realized yesterday when the pile of monster heads was brought into the base that something was horribly wrong outside their patrol ranges, but most of them didn''t know the details.


    They did, however, know about the altercation between the Captain and the Base Commander.


    Lunch at the military chow hall was a dismal meal, with everything from cans and no clerics assigned to kitchen duties to bring fresh food to the mix. Karl wasn''t certain, but the ever present rice and beans might actually be better than what they were serving here.


    Lotus must have felt the same way because Karl saw her sneaking spices into everything that she ate, including the tea. For such a tiny creature, the cleric ate a surprising amount, but she was still finished before the meal was over and waiting for the circus to begin.


    The final decisions would be made within the next hour, and they would find out if they were going to have to patrol in the afternoon, or reorganize their team after it lost its Captain. There was a very slim chance that they would be sent out without their officer, but Karl''s group might well be reassigned to another unit while the one they were with was put on base duty until they could receive a new officer.


    The Golden Dragon Nation''s Army was quite flexible with officer ranks, as they were mostly based on aplishments, so you could end up with situations like this, where a Captain led a toon of men, instead of a Lieutenant, but without an officer, nobody would be going anywhere.


    Someone had soundproofed the tent, so everyone waiting outside could only guess at what happened after the Base Commander and the Captain were called inside, but it was an entire hour before they came back out.


    The Captain, whose uniform insignia had already been changed to red to signify his punishment status, was now wearing the silver bar of a Second Lieutenant, along with the red stripes of an officer under punishment, while the Base Commander was no longer wearing any military rank at all. His coat and hat had been removed, and he was apanying the JAG officers to the helicopter they had arrived in the day before.


    The former Captain, now Lieutenant, waited beside the High Priest while he prepared to make an official announcement, waiting for the crowd to quiet before he spoke.


    "Attention. Our decision has been made. The base will receive a new Commander within the next seven days. Until that time, I will remain here, and the Church Guard will take over administration of this forward post.


    For the crime of instigating violence against a fellow officer, a demotion from Captain to Second Lieutenant has been issued, and this matter is now considered to be resolved. May the Dragons favour all your lives."


    That was a much shorter speech than had been expected, but they still only had about five hours before it would be dark again, and there would be a spawn sometime tonight that would increase the monster numbers once more.


    The Lieutenant motioned for his team to gather, then for Karl''s group to join him. They were going to escape the base before the flood of questions began, and get some work done before they could be used of cking by those who were friends with the Base Commander.


    There was no official word on what had happened to him, but leaving without his uniform, there was a good chance that he had either been stripped of hismission, or he was going to jail. Neither one would make the freshly demoted Lieutenant particrly popr with those who had supported the Base Commander''s actions.


    They were out of the base before anyone else had really grasped their intentions, and Karl sent Hawk up to verify the location of the biggest threats.


    "I don''t see any Commanders today, but we have a number of Ascended threats, as well as some nasty groups of Hobgoblins. We will have to work fast to get things done, but we should be able to clear at least the west side toward theke before nightfall." Karl ryed once Hawk was far enough up to give a proper report.


    "A nice dip in theke tomorrow morning wouldn''t upset anyone. Lead the way, Scout Karl." The Lieutenantughed.


    That would be perfect for them. Gone overnight, still doing their jobs, and a nice warm swim beforeing back to the base.


    Hawk led them though a gauntlet of small but intense fights for the remainder of the afternoon, working his way toward theke, while the group pointedly ignored the constant chatter on the radio as the patrol teams struggled to adapt to the orders that the High Priest was giving.


    They should have known that he would have no mercy on them. He was an old man, and he had been leading battles against the monsters for decades before the Serum injections created the Elites.


    Back when all they had was a cleric like Tessa to enchant their weapons and armour, during battles when they would send otherwise perfectly human soldiers up against the supernatural, he was already a High Priest, doing the will of the Gods and ensuring that the Golden Dragon Nation prospered.


    Theirints that they couldn''t defeat these monsters fell on deaf ears. The could and they would. They just needed someone to show them how, and the Church Guard was happy to be the ones to show them.


    They were all from military deities, mostly the main branch of the Church, and they knew the skills to enhance weapons the same as the clerics always had.


    Tessa could do the same, but other than the basic blessings of increased strength and movement speed, she mostly just enhanced Thor, as he was the only one who would be fighting up close and personal. She could do Rae as well, but the effects were limited, and the duration was short, so she had to return to the group to get it refreshed, and that was just too annoying for the spider, who preferred to hide until it was time to fight.


    [Theke is right ahead, no big groups of monsters, and no monster fish in the waters. Tell them the best spot to set up camp is thirty metres from the shore and a hundred metres north of the path that leads you to theke. There is a good spot there that isn''t wet.] Hawk updated just before the sun went down.


    "Good news. We found our camping spot. Hawk says it''s dry, t and free of monsters." Karl informed the group, who all smiled wearily.


    They had pushed hard today to get the kills in, and tomorrow they knew they were in for a lot of walking.


    Karl tested the waters of theke when he first arrived, and found that the water was fresh, and cool, though not ufortably cold, as well as reasonably clear, which would be great for swimming in the morning.


    The clearing was a bit cramped, but he wanted to set up along the tree line anyhow so that he could have Rae construct hammocks instead of sleeping on the ground again. Their one big tent wasn''t terrible, but given the option, not being on the ground would be better.

 Chapter 203 Caught Lacking

    Chapter 203 Caught Lacking


    ??The next morning, Tessa and Lotus, along with the military team''s healer, made a big breakfast for everyone, while the rest of the unit took a swim in theke.


    Undershirts and military issued boxer briefs were the fashion of the day, getting the essentials clean while they frolicked in the water. The mages had promised to use air magic to dry everyone when they got out, so for now, it was just time to rx.


    Once the cooking was done, the healers traded spots with them, and ate while floating in the water. At first, the unit thought that they''d gotten the better end of that deal, until they realized that it took longer to break camp than it did to cook breakfast.


    Karl ended up having to use his sword to disassemble their portion of the camp, as Rae had made triple bunk hammocks for them to sleep in, but the web was too strong for a normal knife to cut through. If he pushed that hard, he would cut through the tree instead.


    "You look lost in thought." Sergeant Rita noted as Karl rolled the hammocks around sticks and strapped them to his pack.


    "Lots to think about today. Everyone is about full-grown, and it''s time to find a new skill or a way for them to break through. The mental spaces for them are close toplete, and that will push Rae well into the Ascended Rank without too much trouble, but after that, I might t line unless I pick up another pet, or help these Three Stooges skip the slow part of their growth." Karl exined.


    Rita nodded. "Yeah, I foresaw that same issue before we came out here, but I didn''t expect them to make it quite this far before bing stuck. What you really need are the des right now.


    All these assists on Commander Rank kills really add up, and with the umted points, we can go to the Government University''s gic researchb. They are always working on something, and they might have a clue as to how to help the beasts grow.


    Other than that, it''s pure luck, or in-depth research on your own to try to find something that will work for them. We found a way for Hawk, and that brought him up a full Rank, so there is a chance that we can find something for the others as well.


    Perhaps a Lightning-based resource for Thor would help his power grow?


    As for Rae, I''m not certain now that she''s showing signs of bing a mage type support fighter. I would have thought that warrior resources to increase her attack power and durability would be best, but the first additional skill she learned was Tree Golems.


    That doesn''t match with anything that I know about the species, so there is a chance that we don''t really understand them at all."


    Rae rolled her eyes in her resting spot. Of course, she was misunderstood. Who couldprehend the ways of darkness, or the pure beauty that was a Bloodbath Spider? The humans simplycked a sufficient sense of majesty to truly appreciate her nature.


    Karl let her rant about her own majesty for a while as he packed up the camp gear, and then the unit prepared to head out to the first targets that Hawk had spotted that morning.


    [We should go see the other unit first. They will want to fight the Ogres with us.] Hawk suggested.


    Karl ryed the information to the Lieutenant, and he got the unit moving. The other group had camped in a hollow between two hills, not realizing that there were Ogres living in caves in both hills.


    Neither of the entrances pointed toward the hollow, but it wouldn''t take the Ogres long to realize that there was someone right next to their den.


    [I don''t think that they''re going to fight the Ogres with us unless we hurry.] Hawk updated just after the group started moving.


    [And why is that?] Karl asked.


    [The Ogres are awake now. That patrol is totally going to get eaten if we''re not there in like five minutes.]


    "We''ve got about five minutes before the Ogres find and eat the patrol." Karl updated.


    That got everyone up to a run, with Tessa and Alice on Thor''s back, while Lotus was riding Rae through the trees, using a short length of silk as a harness.


    The military unit was staying together, and Sergeant Rita had joined Dana in keeping pace with them, but just having the other Elites in ce for a fight would be enough.


    The patrol needed at least one of the Ascended Rank Elites with them, and that was Sergeant Rita, while Dana missed her chance to get on Thor before the Cerro took off through the trees.


    The young mage shook her head in dismay as she jogged along next to the military patrol, and Rita patted her on the shoulder in constion.


    "You''ve got to move fast if you want a lift. We were both too far away this time, but there''s always next time." She offered.


    Dana smiled and shook her head. "If you can''t move fast enough to catch up, I have no chance. Even Alice only got on because they nearly ran over her."


    The Lieutenant chuckled at the two bickering Elites. From Karl''s description, they had over a kilometre left to go, and the unit shouldn''t take too much more than five minutes to get there, but if the Ogres were about to attack a unit that was still half asleep and cking on the guard duties, they were likely to still be toote.


    Karl and the others got to the site just in time, as Hawk began to bombard the Ogres with fireballs to wake up the camp and cause enough noise that they would know that they were in trouble.


    The problem was that this was a group of Ascended Ogres, and there was only one Ascended member in their team. With half the group asleep or drowsy, they weren''t putting on much of a showing of proper defensive formation.


    Their group could, logically, defeat these Ogres. But it would require teamwork and strategy.


    That was not the n that Karl and the others hade up with, as a Lightning Cerro charged through the edge of the camp, and Alice leapt from his back into Karl''s arms for a gentlending.


    Rae had called out the Spider Golems, and the situation in the ambushed camp was utter chaos, unable to understand why they were caught in the middle of a fight between beasts Ogres and mercenary Elites.


    In their minds, they were just in the wrong ce at the wrong time. But they had been here all night, and with the Ogres so close, they were slowly realizing that good timing just saved their day.


    Alice''s voice echoed through the area as her Golem stomped into battle. "Good morning, Ladies and Gentlemen. As you can see, your camp was approached to within thirty metres without a single rm being sounded this morning. In fact, you didn''t even notice a rampaging Lightning Cerro charging through the forest in your direction.


    This is not eptable practice for night watch. If you will kindly bring me your Team Leader, I would like to have a word with them while my team finishes with the Ogre threat."

 Chapter 204 Rae and Lotus

    Chapter 204 Rae and Lotus


    ??The team leader wiped sleep from his eyes as he tried to get his armour straightened when Alice started yelling. This group was a mess, and they were very nearly literally a mess, if Alice and the others hadn''t shown up to block the Ogres.


    But there were more Ogresing now that the first group was down, drawn by the sound ofbat, and the smell of blood.


    The rest of the unit was almost on site already, and the appearance of another military unit had this camp shaping up much more quickly than one irate Commander Rank Elite. Everyone had heard the new orders over thest day, even Karl''s group, though they had kept the radios turned low so the news of other troop movements andbat orders didn''t distract them.


    Everyone who had left the base since yesterday had a Church Guard with them, so this team had been in the field for at least two days, which was unusual, as the camp was much morefortable, and the patrol zone was limited.


    The Captain leading this patrol actually looked relieved when he saw that the officer for the iing group was a Lieutenant who was under censure, with the red stripes, but after a few seconds, he realized just who that Lieutenant was, and all the casual demeanour that he had been trying to put on vanished.


    "Lieutenant, thank you for the timely interception of the Ogre threat. My men owe your team a debt." He began.


    "You can save it. My team is still finishing the second group of Ogres that yours didn''t seeing this morning. I''m not going to yell at you, but I will warn you that there is a Church Guard either waiting for you to return to camp, or already on his way out to meet you.


    It would be wise to have all your protocols in order before they arrive because the High Priest is an old school battle priest, and his team doesn''t believe in coddling Elites." The Lieutenant replied.


    "Surely, they won''t usurp leadership from the military officers?" The Captain asked, looking to Alice for confirmation, as she was the strongest one present.


    Alice shook her head. "They already have. The Church has been asked by the Judge Advocate General''s office to get this zone back in top form, and the High Priest they chose intends to do exactly that."


    The Captain looked devastated at the news. Under the old system, before the Elites, soldiers were honoured as potential Martyrs because the life expectancy was terrible, and over half wouldn''t make it back from a five-year term of service. But now, Elites like him had gottenfortable doing the bare minimum and reaping glory and promotions along the way.


    Karl finished the second group of Ogres, and Tessa pulled a glowing magical gem out from under one of the bodies.


    "I found something interesting. Give me a moment to trante, it''s in that Ogre or Orc gobbledygook nonsense." She exined.


    Karl hadn''t even realized there was something written on the crystal in her hand, but when she cast a light spell through it, the gem created a set of red letters against the green of Thor''s scales, and the cleric slowly began to decipher the writing.


    "It is a gem of wisdom. It helps mages refresh their mana more quickly, but it''s worthless to the Ogres. They must have kept it because it''s shiny." Tessa exined.


    That actually made sense for the Ogres, but the gem should be good for clerics as well.


    "You might as well hold on to that. At some point, we''re going to need all the buffs and healing that you can give us.


    But speaking of buffs and healing, where are Rae and Lotus? I know I saw them both fighting earlier, but they''re gone again." Karl remarked casually, in case she was just standing in his blind spot.


    "Who knows. They likely wandered off to find something fun in the forest. I swear that girl is half feral." Tessa sighed.


    Karl checked on Rae in his mind, and found that she was about fifty metres from the group in a tree, where she and Lotus had found a particrly interesting flower that the cleric didn''t find in any of her training materials.


    As a nature cleric, she knew a lot about botany. More than most doctorate students in the subject. It was a gift from her goddess. But she still couldn''t identify this flower, and it was bothering her. So she had brought Rae to go examine it and make notes while the others did ''people things'', as Rae described them.


    While the group leaders had a tense discussion, and Lotus spent her time engrossed in the details of a flower that Rae had every intention of snatching to put in her spaceter, the cker team''s worst fears came true.


    The Church Guard assigned to them arrived with another group of soldiers on patrol. Not only that, but they had brought along a Church Guard supervisor for the soldiers apanying Karl''s group as well, which proved to be an amusing sight, as he already knew them all from the walk in.


    "Elite Karl, where did you put the nature cleric? The others said that she ran away with your spider." The Guardsman asked curiously as he approached.


    His smile said it wasn''t an usation, and he was an Ascended Rank Cleric as well, so there was a good chance that he knew her personally.


    "Lotus is checking out flowers they found in the woods. There''s something rare about it. They wille back eventually, or I will call them if there is a fight. They''re always up for a fight." Karl replied with a smile.


    "As long as you know where they are, and that there is someone covering for them, in case a monster tries to sneak up on them. It''s policy not to let the nature clerics roam unattended." He replied.


    Tessa snickered at the way he phrased it. The guidelines rmended that you did not have any group member alone and out of sight of the group, but the Nature Clerics had a bad habit of wandering away.


    [Rae, the Church Guard says to keep the Spider Golems with you and Lotus, in case anything tries to sneak up on you.] Karl informed the wayward spider.


    [Got it.]


    The two Golems vanished as Rae summoned another pair, and the other groups of soldiers looked to see who had dismissed them. The number of unique Golems was still equal to the number of mages who might be using the spell, so none of them could understand where thest pair hade from.


    [Hawk, what is our situation? Where are the nearest groups, and what is their strength? We''ve got plenty of patrols in this area, so we should get them organized.] Karl requested.


    Hawk gave them a quick rundown, which Karl ryed to the unit leaders, and then Hawk added one more that he wanted for himself. There was a group of mole men that Hawk thought might taste like giant mice.


    They weren''t strong, but they were a priority target in Hawk''s mind, and they were along the route that led to one of the Commander Rank Giants.

 Chapter 205 Mental Space Limitations

    Chapter 205 Mental Space Limitations


    ??Once Rae and Lotus returned from their flower hunting trip, with the flower safely stowed in Rae''s space along with the branch it was growing on, Alice got the group moving in the direction that Hawk had rmended for them to follow past the mole monsters.


    Hawk had already sumbed to temptation and caught one for a taste test, which he found pleasantly mousy, with a hint of feral monster. That meant bringing Karl to him so he could stow the bodies in his space before he continued his scouting flights.


    Alice didn''t say anything when she saw the rapidly vanishing bodies of the moles, but the Church Guard with them did give Karl a strange look, wondering what he was doing, and if this was some sort of food stocking ritual that he did for his beasts every day.


    They didn''t actually eat that much, and other than Thor, who was pleading for a fresh update of Ascended Rank feed every day, even though he had so much it was actually growing in his space now, they were in no need of refreshed supplies.


    Their spaces were nearly reaching their power and size limits, and soon Karl would be able to begin working on a fourth space, in preparation for adding a new friend.


    Thor''s space looked like an idyllic pasture, filled with the best feeds, a few trees and smashing posts, while Hawk''s was neatly organized piles of meat, cut and stripped to unrecognizable chunks based on vour and energy content.


    Rae''s on the other hand, had a very horror graveyard vibe going for it, as she had strung all of her reserves up in her webs, and in the dim light, it almost looked like they were still alive.


    [If you''re going to add something, I want a cool friend.] Raemented when she sensed Karl checking on the state of the spaces.


    [Oh? What sort of cool friend?] Karl asked.


    [Maybe like a Shadow Demon, or a Leaper.] She suggested, referring to two species of ethereal humanoid monsters who preferred to hunt in the dark and had incredible magical power. In the wild, they were natural allies of the Bloodbath Spiders, whose webs would catch and detain prey for all of them.


    The other two would herd hapless monsters and humans into the webs, which the targets would be unable to break free from, and then take the choice bits and leave the rest for the Bloodbath Spiders as a form of payment for their assistance.


    As Karl recalled, they were both born at the Royal Rank, and would grow up to be Overlord level threats that kept the majority of humanity out of the tunnels in the mountains.


    [I will have to see what we can manage. I don''t think that anything above our rank is going to end well, though.] Karlughed.


    Hawk led them to the pair of Commander Rank Giants that he had found, with the Church Guard following closely beside Karl as he moved through the trees.


    "How can you be so certain that we''re going the right way?" The Guard asked as Karl made a turn to follow a riverbank.


    "Because Hawk is still overhead, and he will tell me if we''re going the wrong way, or if something is blocking us. The Giants should be just around this bend in the river." Karl exined, as he slowed to make certain everyone was ready for the fight.


    "Don''t you think something is off about this forest? The woods here shouldn''t be so lush, they should be more barren with the poor soil, and then there was that magical flower that Lotus found earlier. I think that we''reing into an area with higher than usual mana density.


    That means a chance at some unique rewards, but also stronger monsters." The guard whispered as the others joined them.


    Dana''s eyes lit up in recognition. "Like the woods around the Holy Relic. They were loaded with good stuff, but this time we haven''t been looking for it. We were just looking for monsters."


    Alice smiled. "Alright, if there are Commander Rank monsters, there is a chance of Commander Rank resources. We can''t turn that down, and it''s permitted in our group charter to search for them.


    I don''t know about the army unit, but for certain the six of us are allowed to search."


    The Lieutenant sighed. "Anything that we gather is to be turned over to military supplies for processing, and a reward will be issued as a portion of its value."


    That line was straight out of the operator''s handbook, and Sergeant Rita nodded in agreement.


    [I will look for magical nts for Rae and the tiny human to collect.] Hawk agreed.


    Thest time they went for magical nts worked out very well for him. If they could find another good thing, he might really be a Commander Rank Hawk.


    He was so excited about searching for magical resources that he almost forgot to join the fight when everyone moved to surround the Giants.


    "Everyone move up to surround them, but leave a way out. We don''t need them smashing through the ranks if they try to run." The Lieutenant quietly ordered his troops.


    They were going to try to help, but they all knew that at two Ranks higher, the Giants could easily kill them with a single hit. If they got into the line of fire, it was over for them, and their attacks would do little more than distract the enormous humanoids.


    When Karl reached the spot where the Giants were waiting, he saw that there was a good reason they hadn''t moved, even though they had to have heard the soldiers approaching. There was an intensely magical cluster of grass between them, and the Giants had taken defensive positions around it.


    "Do we know what that is?" Karl whispered to Lotus as she moved forward in preparation for the charge.


    "No idea. I haven''t seen it before, either. That''s really strange, two unknown nts in one day." She replied quietly.


    Alice nodded in agreement. "Then make certain that we do not destroy it during the battle. It must not be ready yet, or they would have picked it."


    The Giants held their position as Karl and Thor stepped out into the open, with Alice, Rita and the Church Guard behind them. The Lieutenant had gone to the left, while Rae went to the right, so they could attack from the sides, while the rest of the unit got in position.


    The Giants made a motion to shoo Karl and the others away, which Karl returned by pointing at the nt, as if they would let the Giants leave if they gave up the treasure.


    The one closest to him roared in anger at Karl''s arrogance, daring to demand the precious resource from literally between his feet.


    The Giant charged at the arrogant young human, and Karl produced therge vampiric sword from its ready state. If he was going to get gains for his team, this was the perfect opportunity for it. There were nt resources right there, and the de would suck some of the life force from the Giants when they died, giving them all an extra bump of growth.


    Karl stepped forward, using [Rend] to reduce the power of the Giant''s attack so he could block, while Alice''s Golem charged at the other Giant before it could get in position to assist.


    The Giant facing Karl lifted its de to hack down at Karl just as Thor charged into the battle, crashing into the side of its knee, while Karl attacked its forearms with [Rend], toppling the creature over backward.


    That was Rae''s cue to get in on the action, and the Spider Golems were on the Giant instantly, attacking the arms so it couldn''t pick up its weapon, while Hawk dropped Fireballs into the middle of its exposed stomach.


    Rae herself was hanging back from the battle and waiting for an opening to attack the other Giant.


    The rest of the force were all focusing on it now, as Thor and the Golems blocked their line of sight to the fallen monster. But then Rae had a brilliant idea. They didn''t have to wait for the end of the battle to get the loot. She just had to dart over to the nt and use her forelegs to scoop it out of the ground and into her space forter.


    Nobody even noticed when the nts disappeared, the closest to knowing what happened was the standing Giant, who only noticed Rae''s approach after the nts were gone, when she went for the vulnerable spot between the shoulders, where the Giants weren''t flexible enough to reach her.


    That onlysted a few seconds, until the Giant managed to take a swing with its sword, sweeping over its back, and the Bloodbath Spider was forced to retreat while the Golem and the two Ascended warriors attacked from the front.

 Chapter 206 Good Stuff

    Chapter 206 Good Stuff


    ??Once the resources were safely stowed away, there was no more need to hold back on thebat, and Karl pushed as much energy as he could into the oversized de, allowing it to slice deeply into the wounded Giant.


    It wasn''t going to be that easy to take it out, and despite the heavy bleeding and awkward angle from a prone position, the Giant still managed to punch Thor so hard that both barriers on the Cerro shattered, and he was sent staggering back.


    The giant began to get up as its wounds healed at an incredibly elerated rate, already knitting back together.


    It reached for the nts, but found them gone, and began frantically searching for them or whoever might have them.


    The magical signature of the nts would normally give away their hiding spot, and make it obvious who was trying to loot the battlefield in advance, but with them safely in Rae''s space, it was as if they had never existed. She had even taken the roots with them, just in case that was the valuable part.


    The distraction turned out to be its downfall, as Karl''s de slid through a partially healed wound and deep into the creature''s torso, aimed upward for the vital organs. With a gurgling gasp, the giant turned and swung a backhanded strike at Karl, who dropped to the ground and rolled out of the path of the enormous de.


    That effort twisted the de still lodged through the Giant''s back, and it copsed to the ground, already dead.


    The second Giant fell secondster, and while the warriors caught their breath, the clerics collected evidence and updated their notes.


    Once he saw the Clerics'' routine, Karl also made a note of the day''s kills, recalling how he had been questioned about them by thewyers.


    Hawk flew back up to scouting height and looked for other resources and monsters. Mostly resources, and he was finding a lot of them.


    Karl took notes as Hawk updated the map with resource points, including their likely strength, and the monsters that had been drawn to them. In Hawk''s mind, that was likely the important part. He might not know what the nts did, but if they attracted monsters that were simr to him, Thor or Rae, then they were likely going to be useful.


    Most monsters worked on instinct and confirmation bias. If others like you thought it was true, it probably was. Sometimes it was gic memory, sometimes just a guess, but everyone would fight over the resources all the same.


    Karl dismissed his de, which was trapped under the Giant''s body, and the Church Guard came over with a leather pouch from the hip of the other Giant.


    "It''s a healing salve of some sort. It looks like it works fairly well, going by the magic in it." He exined.


    "The Giants were regenerating abnormally rapidly as well. I''ve never seen a [Shred] wound heal that fast before. Normally, the jagged edges make it nearly impossible for monsters to deal with, but these ones were even able to stop the blood flow from Lacerate without applying the ointment." Karl agreed.


    The Church Guard took a portion of the ointment into a trio of jars, and then passed the leather bag to the cleric attached to the military unit.


    "You can turn that in at the end of the mission if you like, but you might need it." The experienced Guard cautioned him.


    The extra jars were passed to the other clerics, who would be doing the group''s healing duties, and Thor began to eye the nts in Rae''s space with renewed interest.


    If they could make him regenerate that fast, wouldn''t he be nearly immortal? He was already tougher than some silly Giant, who had barely cracked his scales, and they were mostly healed on their own.


    Of course, Thor was overlooking the fact that the Giant did that with a single solid hit through twoyers of barriers, and if he had been hit any more, he would have taken serious injuries. That sort of thing didn''t matter to the Cerro. There was strength in numbers, and if he got hit, someone else could go forward until he healed. It only took a few minutes.


    Tessa gave Thor a pat on the side, and healed thest of his damaged scales, along with the slight bruising underneath, which left him in an even better mood while the Red Dragon Cleric went to check on the second Giant''s body.


    "There are some good things here, and more of the same ointment that we found on the other Giant. We''ve got an assortment of dried magical herbs in the bag, and there are magical bracers, which will have to be altered, but are potent enough to survive a reforging." She exined.


    That was the sort of thing that Karl''s group had always left behind before. They were huge and heavy, difficult to carry and not immediately useful. But sometimes, they would make themselves functional for the right person.


    "Do we know what they do? High Priest Doug taught me a trick, and sometimes you can get them to activate and adjust themselves to you." Karl suggested.


    The Church Guard did a double take. "Did you say High Priest Doug, as in Doug Mackenzie?"


    Karl nodded. "He took and passed the test to the Commander Rank at the same time that I made it to Ascended Rank."


    The Guard shook his head. "We will never hear the end of it. Doug Mackenzie made it to Commander Rank before I did."


    Karl smiled. "The Clergy is a lot like a small town, isn''t it? Everyone knows each other."


    The Guard shrugged. "It is at the higher levels, but there are hundreds of thousands of staff,y priests who aren''t blessed with magic, and devoted nuns cloistered around the nation whose names most of us will never even hear, much less learn.


    But at the same rank and close to the same age, it''s hard not to know each other even if we''re in different branches, and on different details."


    Tessaughed. "Plus, everyone knows Doug. He''s the only Nature Cleric I know that''s less reliable outside ofbat than Lotus. Speaking of which, where did she go this time? Can you send Rae to go find her and bring her back?"


    [Rae? Can you take your Golems and make sure we don''t lose our tiny cleric? Give me updates if she finds good things.] Karl instructed.


    [Already on it. She found tasty mushrooms. They eat blood from dead monsters.] Rae replied.


    They were only a few metres into the trees, and if they weren''t crouched down looking for mushrooms, everyone would be able to see them. Once he knew where they were, Karl found them with thermal imaging.


    "She''s right over there. They haven''t gone far this time." Karl exined.


    Lotus'' voice carried through the clearing. "Hey! Everyone,e this way. There is a whole bunch of good stuff in the woods."


    The Soldiers spread out, only vaguely aware of what they were looking for, but everyone could at least pick out some of the major magical nts, and things that didn''t look like they belonged in a normal forest.


    "Sister Lotus, I think I found something." One of the soldiers called, holding up a bright red mushroom with ck spots that looked oddly like skulls.


    Karl looked at Tessa. "That''s poison, isn''t it?"


    She smirked and nodded. "Yup. But it''s a paralytic, not a lethal toxin. He''s going to copse in... Oh, there he goes."


    Lotus pranced over and tucked the mushroom in a specimen jar that she threw to Rae before she cast a cleansing spell on the warrior and helped him to his feet.


    "What is the first rule of unknown magical nts?" She asked him.


    "Sister, you see..." he began.


    "What is the first rule of unknown magical nts?" She repeated, with her hands on her hips, looking fierce, despite her diminutive size.


    "Look with your eyes, not your hands." The young man replied sheepishly.


    "Exactly. Look with your eyes, not your hands. That means, no grabbing the death''s head mushrooms. Now, are there more of those? They''re quite useful for a number of potions." Lotus asked.


    "Sister, there is some sort of glowing grass over here, and a nt with leaves that look like Golden Dragon Scales." One of the others reported.


    That drew the Church Guard over to assist, and the unit went into full gathering mode, hunting in the area for more magical resources, the original target nt long forgotten.

 Chapter 207 Suspiciously Good Loot

    Chapter 207 Suspiciously Good Loot


    ??There were a suspicious number of magical nts in the area, that much was clear to everyone, but they were doing their best to collect what they could, not leaving much to regrow, unlike an area that could be safely farmedter.


    The magical nts would attract more powerful monsters, and that was thest thing that the region needed when it was already short on Elites who were over the Awakened Rank. Most of the patrols only had one or two Ascended members, and Alice was the only Commander Rank Elite in the area before the Church Guard showed up.


    Karl wasn''t certain of the strength that they brought with them, but there were at least a few Commander Ranked Guard Captains in the mix, if he had checked the uniforms right.


    "We should start searching the area for freshly appeared Relics and hidden ces of power, given the amount of change that the area has undergone. There are far too many resources here for it to be nothing but a mana surge." Alice informed the Church Guard, who was technically in charge of the soldiers now.


    He nodded in agreement, and began to issue orders to his troops to spread out and start keeping notes on the frequency of the nts, as well as the potency, if they could determine it.


    The numbers would go up as they got closer to the centre of the disturbance, and the disturbance would be responsible for most of the increase in the number of powerful monsters, perhaps even for the whole extendedbat region.


    They never did find the source of the daily monster appearances, so it was possible that it simply hadn''t made itself known yet, and their group might be the first to stumble across it.


    Fortunately, it wasn''t spawning anything above Commander Rank anywhere yet, since there were so few Royal and Monarch Rank elites to send out, and the handful of avable Overlords had better things to do than stomp out a monster infestation two or more ranks beneath them.


    The unit spread out in a wide line, while Hawk scouted overhead, leading them in a wide arc that would cover everywhere that he was finding magical nts, with the hope of finding whatever hidden good thing might help him advance again.


    But he made certain that Rae and Lotus, who were scouting ahead, found the very best things before the army line got there, extracting them to be split between the mercenary Elitester. There was no good reason to let militarymand waste the best stuff on Elites who never saw the field outside mandatory missions.


    Lotus was in heaven, surrounded by high grade magical nts all afternoon as the group moved in a winding spiral, trying to find the centre of the disturbance.


    She was staying away from the group, but almost all the loot was going into Rae''s space for storage, and Karl could see that it was really starting to pile up, and that there was quite the variety in there.


    They had even found more of the moss that was used to make tea, and harvested another whole log to go with the one that was in Thor''s space right now.


    [You need toe here. There is a thing.] Rae insisted.


    [I''m almost at the other end of the formation, give me a minute.] Karl replied, then turned to Tessa, who was beside him.


    "I''ll be right back, Rae needs me for a thing." He exined, then used all of his superhuman strength tounch himself through the trees at a run, headed for the spot where Rae and Lotus were waiting.


    "What is the emergency?" Karl asked as he caught a tree not far from where Lotus was crouched on the ground, using the solid trunk to slow his momentum and drop gently to the ground.


    Lotus looked up with a smile and pointed at a golden disc, formerly buried under the ground, and now exposed thanks to her efforts.


    "What is it?" Karl whispered, confused, but feeling a familiar feeling of power.


    "We''re standing in the ruins of a city. That, right there, is a System Stone." Lotus whispered.


    "You have to be shitting me."


    The System Stones were the Holy Relic whose magic was used to develop the Divine Serum. They were the source of the entire Nation''s hopes and power.


    As far as anyone knew, there weren''t any more of them, the original Relic should have been unique and lost to history. But this one, other than the fact that it was covered in dirt, looked like it had been made only days before.


    "Are there more?" Karl added.


    Lotus shrugged. "There should be. I saw the diagram of the original formation as it was when it was first discovered. If we don''t move anything, and it is intact, the shape indicates that there should be another one right... here."


    She began to dig again, and another golden stone appeared from the ground, an arch brick, curved on the inner and outer edges, with tapered sides indicating that it was part of a circr formation.


    So Karl moved to where he thought that the centre should be, based on where the other stones had been found.


    The moment that he reached the point, golden light erupted from the ground in a hundred points all around him, and dirt was thrown away from the formation.


    Words appeared in front of Karl''s eyes as the formation activated.


    [Would you like to select randomly?]


    Randomly select what? If there was an option to randomize, there should be an option to select deliberately.


    "No" he thought, wondering if that would be enough for the magic.


    [Gender, Species and ss remain unchanged. Generating ss Reward.]


    That was too close, far too close. He had to warn Lotus.


    "Don''t select the random option. Whatever you do, do not select the random option." Karl warned her.


    Lotus pouted, but she didn''t change, and Karl''s attention was pulled away by the magic of the System Stones.


    [ss Skills Unlocked]


    [Skill Book] Allows the Beast Master to record skills and teach them to others.


    [Identification] Allows the Beast Master to discern the effects that magical materials will have on his partners.


    [Mental Fortitude] You know you need it.


    Karl blinked slowly. Were the System Stones throwing shade at him? Thatst ability''s description was almost certainly an open insult. But what Karl hated the most was that it wasn''t wrong, he did need mental fortitude because he needed to improve the spaces enough to allow the beasts to advance to Commander Rank.


    Karl returned to the present as the magic faded, and found Lotus pouting in front of him.


    "What if I could have been a dragon, or a Gryphon, or like an Angel or something?" Sheined.


    "What if you turned into a fat male half orc?" Karl countered.


    Lotus considered that for a second. "With a big dick or a little one? I always kind of wanted to know what it was like to have a penis."


    Karl flicked the little Nature Priest on the forehead. "It might have even changed your ss from Nature Priest to something entirely different. For all you know, you could have had to start all over from nothing."


    The lights had drawn the rest of the unit to them, starting with the rest of their team, as the Lieutenant and the Church Guard were keeping the soldiers on task until they reached their destination.


    Everyone stared at the System Stones, now clearly visible on a stone tform in the forest, untouched by time and intact.


    "Are they functional?" Alice asked.


    Lotus nodded. "Yes. They activated for both of us. But not for Rae. Karl says, don''t pick the random option, but if you''re lucky, it might turn you into a dragon."


    "And if I''m unlucky?" Alice replied.


    "Who knows. Should we ask someone to try?"


    Lotus seemed far too eager to see what happened when you randomized, but Alice was with Karl in her thinking. Magic this powerful could causepletely unexpected results if you allowed it to run amok.


    Lotus dragged Dana, the only one in the party she could physically drag, to the centre of the tform, and the stone glowed again, while Dana stared at something only she could see.


    Then she slowly began to smile.


    "I learned a new ss Skill. Destruction. It increases the damage of all my spells."

 Chapter 208 System Stones

    Chapter 208 System Stones


    ??Tessa picked the mage up to give her a spinning hug, then conveniently ced her down away from the centre of the formation and took her ce. The golden light red and secondster the Red Dragon Priestess erupted with fire, which coalesced into battle armour, with a shield and spiked il.


    The weapon looked vicious, with five small spiked balls on chains, all engulfed in mes, but the armour was gorgeous. It was a skintight bodysuit made of red leather and dragon scales, showing off every toned muscle of the Dragon Priestess as she flexed, even though it covered her entire body, even encasing her head behind a dragon mask.


    Alice was the next one in, and after she stepped away, she activated a bit of magic and a tornado began to whip through the area for a moment before being dismissed.


    "I think that it is giving us all ss Skills. Perhaps our sses aren''t fully active? Or maybe we were intended to return to the System Stones on a regr schedule to learn new skills as we got more powerful. Has anyone stood on the central stone twice?" Alice asked.


    Lotus nodded. "I did. I left after I chose, and then walked back to yell at Karl once I realized I could have been a dragon."


    "Possibly, with an unknown but tiny chance, been a dragon." Karl corrected.


    Sergeant Rita stepped onto the tform with more hesitancy, and Karl saw Lotus crossing her fingers, hoping that she might pick the random choice. It didn''t look like she did, as only a few secondster, the light had red, and she stepped away still looking like herself.


    "It gave me Warrior''s Tenacity, an increase to my constitution." Rita exined as she checked the group to see who hadn''t gone yet.


    She was thest of the six, so the next ones up would be the Lieutenant and the Church Guard.


    They all gathered around the tform in reverent silence, awed by the aura of Holy Magic that the area was giving off.


    "Alright, Guard. You''re up next. Pick Random." Lotus encouraged.


    "It will randomize your species, gender and ss." Karl warned him.


    "You''re no fun, you know that? He''s already ugly, how could it be worse?" The nature priestessined.


    The Guardughed and ruffled her hair as he made his way to the top of the tform.


    He glowed with golden light for a moment, and then smiled as he stepped off the tform.


    "It gave me the Sacred Zone spell. It slows hostile targets that enter the area, and weakens them. It''s an excellentrge battle defensive spell, suitable for buffing an entire battle." He exined.


    Then he seemed distracted and nodded his head.


    Golden light enveloped all the soldiers at once, presumably as a result of the magic recognizing them as his subordinates who he could activate the System Stones for.


    For most of them, it was a short and blissful blessing, which granted them a new skill, but one soldier apparently hadn''t been paying attention to Karl''s warning, and where a young woman in a military uniform once stood, now stood a female Worgen in battle armour, abination of leather and steel that left the midriff and lower legs exposed.


    A very furry midriff and lower legs with an extra joint, which flexed opposite the existing knee.


    "I''m... a Worgen? A Worgen Rogue?" She stammered as she realized what she had done by choosing to randomize.


    Lotus ran over to examine her.


    "Interesting. She didn''t have to start over, she''s still Awakened Rank. What skills did you get?" The tiny cleric demanded.


    "Uhm, I gained backstab,cerate, impale, w, pounce, dash and silent steps." She replied.


    The warriors next to her looked impressed. That was a more powerful suite of skills than she had before, a much more powerful one if she had the physical strength and speed of a Worgen.


    They weren''t technically monsters, as they were considered a civilized sentient species, but they weren''t native to the Golden Dragon Nation, so if you saw one, they were normally only passing through between the beast men nations, and wanted nothing to do with social interactions.


    asionally, they might stop somewhere that seemed friendly for a meal, but mostly they just skirted along the edge of the Nation and kept moving.


    With a fully furred body, and a wolf''s head, they couldn''t pretend to be human like many beastkin could, even if they somehow managed to hide the extra leg joint. So, persecution among humans was a real concern, even though they weren''t at war or from officially hostile nations.


    But now, she had identally changed her species, and that was going to cause at least a few questions and concerns among the military leadership.


    Rae approved. The new version of the warrior was much more Stabby than the old one. She even had proper ws, and not just one but two swords.


    Her words were slightly garbled by her new muzzle, and she almost bit her tongue once, but she was rapidly adapting to her new form, and looking around at the other soldiers, then at her outfit, which was a harsh contrast to the unit.


    The uniform she had been wearing had vanished, but she had others in her bag, and she was still roughly the same size, though she was a bit longer in the leg now, and her boots wouldn''t fit even if she still had them.


    The Church Guard cleared his throat. "Did anyone else undergo arge change in status? Change of Rank, ss, or appearance?"


    One more hand went up, and the unit realized that there was a child in their midst, even shorter than Lotus.


    "Crap. Did it revert you to childhood?" He asked.


    "Um, I think so, sir? I also randomized, and now I''m tiny. I''m still a warrior ss, but my sword change appearance, and my skills changed a little.


    I gained bow mastery, target lock, enhanced vision, night vision and forest sense." The child replied.


    Tessa looked at them for a few seconds and then went to pat him on the head.


    "I have good news and bad news. It didn''t change your age, you''re still roughly twenty. But you''re an Elf. A twenty-year-old elf is still literally a child, and they won''t hit puberty for like five more years, after which they will be full-grown in two to three years.


    Your new skills are all Elven Racial Skills, so you''re now an Elven Warrior, not a Ranger or any specialty ss, unless the System Stones told you otherwise."


    He shook his head. "No, it specifically said that my ss was warrior."


    Tessa nodded. "Then on to the good news. Elves live for about five hundred years, so you have a really long time to get used to being short."


    The othersughed at his pain, but Elves were incredible warriors, or so they had heard. They were supposed to be super humanly agile, with incredible aim. Which meant that they needed to get their newly adjusted warrior a bow.


    Alice grimaced at the Church Guard. "Do you think that we can bury this and pretend that we didn''t know about it until after the paperwork is done?"


    The Guard smirked back. "I have a better n. I''m going to me Karl and Lotus."

 Chapter 209 Scapegoat

    Chapter 209 Scapegoat


    ??Lotus gave Karl a pitiful look, as if he should take the entire fall for this discovery.


    Not that it was going to be a negative mark on their record, very much the opposite, actually. But the discovery of a Holy Relic of any calibre came with an intensive interrogation, dozens of reports to be filed, hours of descriptions, and much more.


    Karl had been spared much of thatst time thanks to Colonel Valerie''s interference, but this time it was System Stones.


    Actual, functional, System Stones.


    If they broughtpatible candidates directly here, they could test them without the dangers of the serum. At least in theory. For all Karl knew, it only worked if you already had the System activated to some degree.


    Alice sighed and took out her phone, then smirked and handed it to Karl.


    "If we''re going to do this, we will do it all the way." She decided.


    Karl smiled and shook his head, declining the phone, then took out his own emergency phone and dialed the fateful numbers.


    #777


    On the first ring, the same receptionist asst time answered.


    "Speak."


    "Ascended Elite Karl. 95988."


    "Please wait."


    Then an older woman came on the phone. "Elite, what is your report?"


    "I have found a functional andplete set of System Stones on patrol. I can confirm they are active." He replied, then waited for the woman to gather her wits enough to answer.


    "Seven minutes. DO NOT MOVE."


    Then the line went dead, but Karl could see that there was a blinking light on it, and a status update that said [Tracking].


    He tucked the phone in the pocket of his jacket and coaxed Thor toy down, so he could use him as a backrest.


    "You might as well getfortable, everyone. We have seven minutes until reinforcements arrive." Karl exined.


    "Are we not on guard against monsters?" The now Worgen Rogue team member asked.


    "We are, but Hawk is up in the sky for that, and he says nothing dares toe close to this ce." Karl exined.


    While he waited, Karl began to focus on the items that were stored in the spaces. There should be a new ability to identify what was useful, and Lotus had dumped a huge number of resources into Rae''s space.


    The Death''s Head Mushroom was listed as a Common Grade resource, toxic, useful for enhancing paralysis skills used by the Warlock ss.


    It didn''t say how, but that was still more information than Karl had to start with.


    After a few herbs and flowers that all had basic enhancing abilities, Karl came to the strange mushroom that Rae said drank monster blood.


    [Usable by partner: Rae] Combine with Blood Lotus, Shadow Grass and Commander Rank or higher vital fluids to create a sympathetic reaction.


    That was somewhat less detailed than he had hoped, but after a short search, he found both the Blood Lotus and the Shadow Grass. Both were Awakened Grade ingredients, and both were in Thor''s food piles.


    Karl put the three nts together, and mentally created a bowl to mix the blood in with them.


    Then he paused. He didn''t actually know any alchemy, and there might be more to this than creating a stew.


    Rae didn''t think so, and once she saw what Karl had assembled, she dipped into her space and quickly munched her way through the mixed group of ingredients.


    [What, there''s more, if it doesn''t work. Eating is the best way to mix magical nts.] She informed him as a powerful surge of energy began to brew in her stomach.


    For a moment, the magical energy just kept building, far exceeding anything that the individual ingredients should have provided, and then that energy began to seep through Rae''s body, strengthening her, and enhancing her carapace.


    She was still a Bloodbath Spider, but an incredibly impressive one, and Offensive Adaptation felt like it was learning a new trick. Karl could feel the skill changing in his mind, where he shared it with her, but he couldn''t quite tell what it was trying to learn from thebination of toxic nts and Giant blood.


    The sound of approaching helicopters, three of them ording to Hawk, distracted Karl from contemting what sort of changes the nts had allowed Offensive Adaptation to master, and he began to mentally prepare himself for what came next.


    The helicopters didn''tnd, they just hovered and the Inquisition team slid down ropes to get to them, before carefully lowering down what looked like a throne in a box.


    Karl had no idea what that might be about, it was a bit ridiculous to be setting up a throne out here in the woods, even if it was the site of a set of System Stones. But as it lowered, Karl realized that it wasn''t just a throne, there was a whole set of furniture there for interviews and press releases, including the gold on blue backdrop that the official Government News Alerts were broadcast in front of.


    That likely meant that not all these people on the ground were Inquisitors, though most of them were young enough to be among the first batch of Elites, and the rest were wearing the robes of high-ranking members of the Clergy.


    Tessa was looking grim as she noticed who all was here, and Karl finally stood up from his resting spot against Thor, before instructing the three beasts to return to their spaces to rest until the boring part was over.


    The disappearing Lightning Cerro caught the attention of the clergy, and alerted them to which one was Karl without having to search for the phone that they were still tracking.


    "Ascended Elite Karl. We havee in response to your call. Where are the System Stones?" An inquisitor in a fancy pointed hat asked.


    "You''re standing in between them. In fact, if the man with the knife strapped to his left leg moves another metre backward, he will activate them." Karl replied.


    The man took a rapid step to the left and turned, really looking at the ground for the first time and seeing the central circle of the System Stones, with the World Dragon logo on it, and the surrounding rune inscribed blocks.


    "Is this how you found it?" The Inquisitor asked.


    "No, sir. When we arrived, it was overgrown. Once I stepped on the central location and activated it, the System Stones cleared the overgrowth from themselves." Karl exined.


    The team moved to the side of the stones and started to set up their gear, along with the official broadcast screen, and Karl wondered who might be actually giving the speech. The Inquisition wouldn''t give a public announcement, but he didn''t recognize anyone in the group as a public figure.


    Then, once the stage was set up, magic flooded the area, and a portal opened, disgorging a middle-aged mage whose very presence made Karl''s instincts recoil at the threat that this person posed.


    Overlord Drake was dangerous, but somehow, this man felt even more deadly than that. If it was possible, he might have advanced a step beyond the Overlord Rank, but there should only be one person in the Golden Dragon Nation that was more powerful than the Overlords.


    That would be the Great Leader himself.


    Technically, it could be the World Dragon''s Archbishop, the head of the Golden Dragon Church, but that would be like seeing a mythical creature walk out in front of you and revealing that it was mortal. The World Dragon Archbishop was supposed to be more dragon than human, and though this person radiated power like a mythical creature, he looked quite human.


    He settled himself into the throne that had been dropped on location for him, and more people began toe through the portal. First, there were scientists and clergy, then a handful of famous reporters, and the Government''s Press Secretary.


    Then the man in the throne turned his gaze toward Karl, and his eyes turned bright gold, with slotted ck pupils that seemed to see right through a person.


    As impossible as it had seemed two seconds earlier, it really was the Archbishop. The head of the church was here in person to secure the System Stones.


    [We should have left and called in the location from a distance.] Rae suggested helpfully.


    [It''s a bitte for that, but making a run for it does seem like a better idea every minute.] Karl agreed.


    The Inquisitor in the best hat gestured toward Karl and the soldiers.


    "You all need to gather in front of the backdrop. Stand as still as you can and don''t say anything." He instructed.


    Everyone did as they were told, and after a minute or so of waiting patiently without moving, they were ushered off to the side.


    "Excellent, that is all they need you for here, the footage of your interviews will be filmed at ater date. Now,e with us, we have questions for you all and the helicopters are waiting." The Inquisitor instructed.

 Chapter 210 The Capital City Cathedral

    Chapter 210 The Capital City Cathedral


    ??The whole group was whisked away from the dignitaries now that they had the footage of them in the background that they would need to dub into the official press releases, and everyone began to rx as they got further away from the site of the System stones.


    "It was some distance until we could get clearance tond. They will be setting up magical barriers all over the area, and establishing a no-fly zone. Tell me, who is the regional Commander here? They will likely be getting amendation." The Chief Inquisitor asked Karl directly.


    "This area is under the supervision of a High Priest on orders of the Judge Advocate General''s office, after the Base Commander was found negligent in his duties. My apologies, but I do not recall his name at the moment." Karl replied.


    The Inquisitor nodded. "That is fine, I will look it up once we are at the Cathedral. You are in for a treat, have you ever been to the Capital before?"


    Karl chuckled and shook his head. "I was born in Lithium Mine City. I''ve only ever been there, the Academies, or on missions."


    Dana looked like she was in the same situation, awestruck by the chance to go to the Capital, though they likely wouldn''t see much of it other than the inside of the Cathedral while they answered endless questions about the situation that led to them finding the ruins.


    Fortunately, there wasn''t going to be a lot to tell, and he had some notes to help him along. So perhaps their trip to the Capital wouldn''t be so bad.


    Some of the soldiers didn''t look too convinced, though. Their level of nervousness was only increasing as they approached the pristine white spires of the city, with its millions of people working, living and visiting the shops all through the city.


    It looked like something out of a fairy tale, a magical bastion that had stood since time immemorial, but the Capital''s spires were actually quite new. They had been started after the Serum was first made public, a revitalization of the Golden Dragon Nation''s image after the progress of the experimental Elites was made public.


    Before that, the Capital city was a grim ce, with barracks along all the walls and a rough mercenary culture that bled through to everyone from the sheer number of fighters that it took to defend such arge poption centre.


    But for their reborn Rogue, this was a much better ce to be than some rural deployment. It was much moremon to see other species here than anywhere else in the Golden Dragon Nation. Worgen might be looked down upon in the almost entirely human nation, but here in the Capital, a mercenary was a mercenary. They would recognize her for her strength even before finding out she was an Elite.


    "Down below you is the Cathedral of the World Dragon. That is the site of the nation''s most Holy Relics, and the seat of the Archbishop. Normally, we would sell you on the opportunity to catch a glimpse of him when you''re here, but we all know where he is right now, and you''ve already gotten closer to him than anyone outside the church has in decades.


    Once wend, your group will be split, with the military unit headed to the Church Guard barracks, including Sergeant Rita, who is being called to an official meeting with the senior administrators, separately from this matter.


    Those not under military contract will be guests of the church, and we have prepared rooms for you." The Head Inquisitor informed them as the helicopter prepared tond.


    Karl looked down below him and saw not just the majesty of the Cathedral, but the dichotomy of a city that had advanced faster than its people could adapt.


    Modern cars and ox carts full of goods both traversed cobblestone streets, many walked on the sidewalks, while those with superhuman strength used an elevated walkway and jumped across streets they wanted to cross.


    The central areas of the city had traffic lights, but the areas further out had no such niceties, and traffic navigated intersections at its own whimsy.


    Karl didn''t see many people who were visibly nonhuman, but there was an Elf in the window of a tower full of what looked like mages training, and a group of beastkin walking into one of the taverns near the gates.


    Then, in the most rundown section of town, he spotted many more people who didn''t quite pass as human. Their features were just a bit off, not quite right, or sometimes just openly other, like the beastkin.


    One of the inquisitors patted Karl on the shoulder when he noticed the direction of his gaze. "Many species of monsters can breed with humanity, to varying degrees of sess. If they''re civilized, we wee the offspring of such unions into the city, but the lineagees with a stigma that''s far worse than being a foreigner like an Elf or a Beastkin."


    Karl nodded. "I''ve never seen anything like it before. Do you know what the schedule is when we get to the Cathedral?"


    "Nothing too serious today. First up, you all get to do written reports, then an interview after you unwind. You''re still a young one, so you might not have noticed yet that after a bit in the field, Elites get a hard edge to them, and it scares the average citizen. We can''t have you all wandering around the Cathedral ready to fight at a moment''s notice. You would terrify the nuns and the visitors." The Inquisitor chuckled.


    Karl looked around a little and noticed that he had a point. There wasn''t anything different about their actual appearance, they had been eating well, so they didn''t have that slightly emaciated image of war survivors from the films about the integration wars, but everyone had a twitch to them, and a sharp gaze, on alert for threats at all times.


    It was essential in the wilderness, and Karl thought that it probably was in the city as well, but you had to hide it better when you were around so many people. Nobody owned anything worth taking in the mines, but here in the Capital, Karl had heard horror stories of all sorts of crimes that would be unthinkable at home.


    The helicopternded on arge concrete circle in the courtyard of the Cathedral, and the Inquisitors led everyone out.


    They passed by the doors where the visitors to the Cathedral came to pay their respects or pray, and Karl couldn''t help but notice the way that people were looking at him. Not so much the mages, but any of the higher rank warriors as well.


    Their superhuman strength gave them a particrly effortless walking stride that he had first noticed with Overlord Drake. Combined with their mission packs on their backs and the weapons on their hips, they must be quite the sight, taking in the Cathedral with trained eyes and joking with each other.


    It was a bit different to be observing the strangeness of the Elites from the inside. Karl hadn''t really noticed the changes as they happened, but now that he had people who weren''t Elites topare himself to again, he could feel the differences that came from the power and confidence that had ovee all of them. Even the mages had a confidence in their attitudes that the average person did not.


    The head of the Church Guard clicked his heel on the cobblestones to get everyone''s attention, a subtle gesture, but a distinct noise.


    "Soldiers, you''re with me. The rest of the Elites are with the Lead Inquisitor."


    Karl found himself leading the group toward the inside of the Cathedral after Sergeant Rita left with the others, subconsciously taking his position on point as they travelled through the bright stone of the building.


    The Cathedral was beautiful, and had a sense of ancient power to it, born of centuries of constant Holy Magic use in the same spot. He had to restrain his hand as Inquisitors stepped out of the shadows, joining the column as they walked down the halls and deeper into the building.


    [That''s a pretty good trick. They didn''t even use a real skill, they just control their breathing and movement as they stand in an alcove out of sight, so you don''t notice them until they move.] Rae noted.


    There were two for each group member now, plus the Lead Inquisitor, and Karl sighed at the familiar situation. It seemed that the questioning part was going toe first, then the unwinding and adapting back to civilization.

 Chapter 211 What You Had In Mind

    Chapter 211 What You Had In Mind


    ??Two of the Inquisitors led Karl to a luxurious sitting room withfortable looking leather chairs, and an older cleric woman in deep blue robes waiting for them.


    "Greetings, Karl. I am Lilith, a High Priestess of the Blue Dragon, the Dragon God of knowledge. Do you mind if we use a bit of magic during our discussion today? It helps reveal details that you might have forgotten." The gentle looking woman greeted him, with her eyes glinting in the soft light of themps.


    They were dragon''s eyes, not human, but Karl took the seat beside her with a casual grace. The answer to that question didn''t matter, the oue had already been decided, and if he was right, the spell was already in effect.


    "Of course. I only just started taking notes, so there might be many things I have forgotten." Karl agreed.


    Before he could say anything else, the world seemed to fade, and his mind was racing through everything that had happened to him since he had received the Serum Injection.


    The only stutter in the smooth progression was when they got to the Trial Instances, both in the woods and the one for the Ascended Rank, where he could feel something take notice of them, and the spell seemed to falter for a moment before continuing.


    The spell raced through his memories, right up to the present moment, and then abruptly ended as the two timelines converged, leaving Karl dizzy and disoriented.


    "What an intriguing time you have had in the few months since you awakened. Thest reports were correct, you do have the World Dragon''s own luck, always finding yourself in the right ce at the right time." The old woman announced as Karl tried to get his bearings.


    Karl chuckled. "I suspect that the World Dragon didn''t find himself seated in rooms full of Holy Inquisitors quite so frequently as I have."


    The High Priestessughed at his assessment and shook her head. "Oh, Dear. You have misunderstood. I am not part of the Inquisition, I am the head of the Historians here within the Church. But now that I have recorded your personal history for our archives, there are a few things that I would like to request, as I don''t have a clear understanding from your memories.


    When you stepped onto the System Stones, it granted you more of your ss Skills. One of them is Identification, but limited to what helps your beasts. One is Mental Fortitude, of which you didn''t seem to becking to begin with. But the third is known as [Skill Book], and if my guess is right, it is every bit as good as what the Inscriptionists can use."


    The two Inquisitors were immediately on guard, not against Karl, but double-checking the room to make certain that nothing else was here or eavesdropping on them. One would almost think that the High Priestess had announced that they were under attack from the way that they responded, but her demeanour never changed, still intently focused on Karl.


    "Sure. I don''t actually know how it works, I have never tried it. Give me a moment and I will let you know what I need for the process."


    Karl spent a moment deciding what skill would be best to try with first. Probably not Rend or Shred, as those were alreadymon enough skill books. The Historian would be looking for new knowledge to add to her collection, or more correctly, the Church''s collection, and if he wanted to get on her good side, that meant showing her something good right from the start.


    [Refreshing Lightning] seemed like a good start.


    When Karl focused on it, a list of items appeared in his mind.


    "I will need a Lightning Element gem, powdered and immersed in Commander Rank blood to use as ink, and then fifteen pages of paper, ash from an Awakened Rank or higher beast vaporized by lightning and a pen made of stone, with a golden tip." Karl recited.


    "What sort of requirements are those?" The Inquisitor behind Karl asked, confused.


    "They''re what the skill needs to create the book I wanted to make her. Do we have those things? Or can we get them?" Karl informed him.


    If they couldn''t get them, his day would be immeasurably easier. Having to write a fifteen-page book did not sound like fun, and his handwriting was atrocious.


    However, the man nodded, and sent a text message. They only had to wait a minute before a scribe came tapping at the door with an armload of goods. There was far more than Karl had requested, as if they had expected him to fail multiple times before he got it right, as would be quite normal for a beginner scribe.


    It was possible that was true, but Karl got the feeling that the challenge was not in making the book, but in using it. [Refreshing Lightning] wasn''t a human skill, but the innate skill of the Lightning Cerro.


    "Thank you." Karl greeted them as the child set his burden down on the table, then bowed and ran back out of the room.


    The Blue Dragon High Priestess just stared at Karl, waiting for the magic to begin. Literally.


    The moment that he arranged the ingredients and filled the pen, then dusted the paper with the ash as the spell instructed and shifted his pen to the writing position and activated the skill, everything seemed to happen at once.


    The ink flowed from the pen to the sheets without him moving his hand, the pages arranged themselves, and then a green scaled binding that looked exactly like Thor''s back, but with much smaller scales, formed over it and a buckledtch shut the book tight.


    On the cover was a simple description. Refreshing Lightning.


    "Well, it looks like it worked." The Dragon Priestess noted, then gestured for the Inquisitor to pick it up.


    "Can you make another?" She asked.


    Karl focused, and there didn''t seem to be a cooldown, and there were still some supplies left.


    "I should have the supplies for at least one more, and I don''t see a cooldown on the skill." He agreed.


    The High Priestess gestured for the Inquisitor to use the book, and he struggled with the sp, unable to open it at all.


    Then he shrugged and passed it to the other Inquisitor. He also couldn''t work the buckle, so they called in a mage. She didn''t have any more luck than the others, the book was firmly locked, unusable by any of them.


    "Well, I guess it''s one of those picky skills." The High Priestess sighed as she took the book back and gently rubbed the scales in appreciation.


    Thetch popped open, and the book vanished, making Karlugh.


    Of course, the skill book made from Thor''s skill wouldn''t open unless you petted it gently. Or perhaps it opened because she was a Blue Dragon Priestess, and she would have some affinity for scales and lightning.


    But there was no denying that she knew the skill when a barrier of lightning formed around her body a few secondster.


    "It''s a cleric ss skill?" The Inquisitor asked, clearly confused.


    "Or it just wanted you to pet it gently before it would open." Karl suggested, making the Inquisitors smile.


    "If you would kindly make us another, we will test that theory." The Historian agreed.


    Again Karl activated the skill, creating a second book, but giving himself a blinding headache that made the dimmp feel like spears of holy light digging into his brain.


    "Here, drink this. That feeling is mana exhaustion. Give it a moment and the feeling will pass after you finish the potion. It looks like one is the limit, though the second one did sessfully form." The High Priestess noted.


    The Mage picked up the book, eager to see what that barrier was like for herself. But nothing happened, though she seemed enthralled with petting the scales.


    The same was true for the warriors that they called in next, so the High Priestess reluctantly called in another cleric.


    A young Cleric with a snobbish look on his face walked in and turned to the High Priestess.


    "This had better be good, I am on my day off." The Clericined.


    "Don''t take that tone with me, young man. Try to use this book. Just do what feels right." She instructed.


    The new cleric gently picked up the book, and then took a cloth from his pocket to clean the fingerprints off before sniffing at it and then tapping thetch, causing it to fall open. He flipped the cover open and read the first pages.


    "What an intriguing tome. A Lightning Barrier skill. Is this new for the archives?" He asked with real excitement in his tone.


    "So it''s not all clerics. Yes, that is a skill tome of Refreshing Lightning. I had thought that it was a cleric ss skill that the Beast Master had gained from his pet, but it appears that it is not."

 Chapter 212 Affinities

    Chapter 212 Affinities


    ??Thor wasughing in Karl''s mind that they thought just any human cleric would bepatible with his skill. Blue Dragons had lightning breath, of course their High Priestess would bepatible with Refreshing Lightning. Nature Priests might as well, since they were more attuned to animals than humans. But the average, run-of-the-mill cleric, guard or any other ss? Highly unlikely.


    Maybe a Druid might be able to use it, but Thor didn''t know any Druids, he had only heard of them and seen a few.


    "You seem to know something that the rest of us don''t." The High Priestess informed Karl with a serious look.


    "Blue Dragons have lightning breath." Karl replied simply.


    The High Priestess facepalmed, and then sighed. "Of course they do. So, it''s not a matter of just the ss category, you have to have an affinity for Lightning. Alright, I will have to make copiester, and then teach them to some other Blue Dragon Clerics.


    We don''t usually go out and get in fights, but not all knowledge is conveniently indoors and in books. Plus, when you''re teaching the more rambunctious students, the skill mighte in useful."


    Karl wondered what sort of sses she had been teaching that might require defensive magic on the part of the teachers. Certainly, no ss that he had been in, but maybe they were instructing new clerics who hadn''t mastered their abilities yet.


    The younger cleric that they had called in flipped to the first page of the book again. "Why is this book credited to Thor the Lightning Cerro?"


    Thor cheered in Karl''s mind, making him smile at the room full of clergy.


    "That''s the beast that I learned the skill from. Naturally, the book would credit him and not me. It''s his skill."


    "Are there any other skills that you might be able to teach?" The High Priestess asked.


    The passive physical enhancements weren''t anything he could focus on, nor was Offensive Optimization, which left just two.


    "At the moment, just Shred and Rend." Karl replied.


    But then he realized that there was one other skill. The beast space skill. He focused on it for a moment and on the skill, before receiving a message.


    [Skill Locked. Insufficient Skill Level.]


    But as he examined the spaces, Karl realized that they were almost at their maximum, and the efficiency of forcing more energy into them was slowing. They were ready for a qualitative change, but he wasn''t quite certain what needed to happen.


    First, it was to create an environment, then to make it more realistic. Something needed to change to allow more growth, but Karl wasn''t certain what he had missed.


    If that was the ability he had gotten from the System Stones, he would have been overjoyed. Skill Books just seemed like a recipe for having other people make him work. Even if only a few people could use them, it would still be a good chunk of his time at one a day.


    At least the ones who could use them were Blue Dragon Priests, who seemed to have Inscription among their repertoire of skills.


    "What do you think of the Church?" The High Priestess asked, sending Karl''s thoughts for a hard left.


    He hesitated toe up with an answer as thoughts shed through his mind. The Church was helpful, sure. But what came to mind first was the assortment of cute cleric girls. Even Tessa was sweet in her own way as she encouraged and buffed Thor as they rode into battle.


    The High Priestess gave a very undignified giggle.


    "Well, I wasn''t expecting that answer. Cute cleric girls with a fondness for monsters and the knowledge of how to scratch a Cerro''s head just right is definitely not at the top of most people''s minds when they are asked about the Church." Sheughed, reminding Karl that she could read his thoughts.


    Even the Inquisitors were smiling in Karl''s peripheral vision, while the young cleric that had been called in to see if he could work the skill book looked scandalized.


    The Blue Dragon Priestess turned her attention to her subordinate with a gentle smile. "Don''t get so offended, Nathan. It''s not like you had a chance with those two anyhow. Tessa would hurt you, and Lotus would really hurt you."


    Nathan made a gesture of protection at the mention of Lotus'' name, and the pair of Inquisitors straightened their faces so he didn''t see the mockery in their smiles. What the boy had done to earn himself Lotus'' enmity must have been bad if everyone knew about it. She wasn''t even from the Capital.


    "You may leave now. Send in Brother Choi as well. He should be outside by now." The High Priestess instructed, sparing him from any further embarrassment.


    Then she turned to Karl with a smile that said that she was definitely breaking some sort of rule he didn''t understand. "You see, everyone wants to get their hands on the best talents, and you, young Elite, are the best talents. So, we have arranged a little extra help for you, in hopes that you will be more amenable to working with our forces in the future."


    The Inquisitors pretended that they didn''t hear the High Priestess saying the inside part out loud as Nathan darted out the door like he waste to the toilet, and a secondter, a muscr Church Guard in polished steel armour stepped inside.


    "What did you do to the boy this time? He''s never going to heal from the trauma if everyone keeps making fun of him." He announced.


    "Brother Karl came in with Sisters Tessa and Lotus." The Inquisitor whispered, too low for most to hear, but clear to Karl''s ears.


    Choiughed and shook his head.


    "Poor bugger. Just when he thought that he escaped."


    Karl gave him an intrigued look, and the Guard known as Brother Choi smiled. "Nathan grew up with Tessa, and he had an extreme crush on Lotus at the Seminary Academy. He even went as far as proposing marriage and begging her to join him in renouncing their vows so they could get married and run away with each other.


    Of course, nobody told Lotus that he was in love with her, and she beat him nearly to death for ying pranks on her. He''s suffered from Gynophobia ever since."


    Karl could see that. Lotus was tiny, and in his experience, anyone who was too far from average in any aspect tended to be sensitive to mockery after a lifetime of overexposure. Plus, she was far too close to being on Rae''s wavelength for anyone''s safety.


    Then Brother Choi turned to the High Priestess, who nodded at Karl.


    "This one needs mental ability training. Something about the nature of mental spaces or the void or something. You''re a Monk, you should know some things about that." She exined.


    Brother Choi looked over Karl''s toned physique, still lithe and muscr without being too bulky for martial arts, with approval and nodded.


    "I suppose I could teach him a thing or two about a Monk''s mental discipline. How might it help him, though? Impulse control issues or pure curiosity?"


    Karl shook his head. "I have three beasts bonded to me for my primary ss Skill. They live in a mental space that helps feed their growth, but I''m reaching a teau in the development of the space. I don''t know how to change and improve it next, and if I can''t, it will limit their growth."


    Brother Choi smiled. "So it is a matter simr to the Void of the Monk sses. Alright, we can work on that. Just let me set up the training dates after you finish with whatever you''re doing, and we will be all good."


    The High Priestess shook her head. "No, you will start now and continue until he breaks through. It has been ordained by our superiors. They wish to see the youngest Commander in history."


    Karl raised his hand. "I would like to point out that I just made it to Ascended Rank."


    The Priestess shrugged. "Not my concern. They want what they want, and Brother Choi is going to help you with your mental state.


    Oh, that gives me an idea. He can apany your group when you leave."


    The Inquisitor cleared his throat. "High Priestess, there are already two clerics in that group. A third would be against regtion unless we added more members of other specializations."


    The old woman tapped her fingers on the arm of her chair, and Karl realized that she had just embarked on a self-appointed mission. She wanted to know the answer to how long it would take him to make Commander, and she just needed to find a way to make it happen.


    Most likely, her Goddess demanded it. It was new knowledge that nobody else had recorded before.


    "I will have the group enhanced before they are sent out again. What else did we need them here for?" She asked.


    "They discovered the new set of System Stones. They are here for publicity and for safekeeping until we are certain that these System Stones really do belong to the World Dragon." The Inquisitor reminded her.


    "Who else would they belong to?" Karl asked.


    "There was another System recorded in the Dragon Gods'' Holy Books, from a time before the World Dragon was born, run by a Chaos God who cared for nothing as much as his personal amusement. Because these System Stones suddenly appeared in the monster zone, there is a suspicion that they might havee from the same ce as the monsters, so they might not belong to this world." The Inquisitor informed him.


    Karl honestly hadn''t expected to get an answer to that question, and now that he had, he was beginning to wish that he hadn''t asked.

 Chapter 213 Focus Training

    Chapter 213 Focus Training


    ??Brother Choi led Karl out of the questioning room and out toward the central courtyard of the Cathedralplex.


    "The rooms for guests face the central courtyard, where all the tourists visit. It''s be our way of keeping everyone in easy sight, and keeping them from getting lost. As an Ascended Elite, you will be on the fourth floor, with a courtyard view, instead of an interior room with no windows on the lower floors that we use for the general poption.


    The rest of your team will be here with you, and as you notice, there are no others in this section except for the Church Guards. If you want to go somewhere, it will be with an escort.


    Your movement within the Church isn''t limited, at least not beyond what the other secr Elites are limited to, but they don''t want anyone running off or getting lost if they should need them for an interview or want questions answered."


    Karl chuckled at the cleric''s honesty, and sighed as he saw the simple stone room that he had been assigned. It was just like the ones at the seminary school, and though the bedding was high quality, it was the same simple one bed and a desk setup with the showers and toilets down the hall.


    But at least his group would all be together, so it shouldn''t be too bad, and they could get some quality rest while they were here.


    Karl dropped his bag at the foot of the bed, as he didn''t want to put a dirty backpack onto the furniture, then realized he didn''t have anything proper to change into.


    "I really need to start keeping one uniform for formal asions." He sighed as Brother Choi waited for him by the door.


    "I''m sure you look fine in the visitor''s hassock. Everyone wears them here anyhow, we don''t let the tourists into anything but the public areas without changing. This is the Capital Grand Cathedral, after all."


    Karl realized that there was a robe and fresh slippers waiting for him on the back of the door, along with a clean towel.


    "I will give you time to get washed and ready, then we can work on your advancement technique. I might not seem like the best option, but I probably am.


    The Monk ss is trained at the Golden Divine Academy, but most of us end up at the Church after, for the meditation and mental conditioning that is needed to build our focus. Once you understand a bit better, it will make perfect sense." Brother Choi exined.


    Karl grabbed the fresh clothes and headed for the showers.


    "So, what God do you follow, as a Monk of the Church and not a Cleric ss whose Goddess is decided for them." He asked as he turned the water on.


    "The human god of battle and wisdom. Also known as the Human God of Magic. Did you know that in the ancient mystguage, both of you have the same name?"


    Karl nodded, though the Monk couldn''t see it. "My mother always said that my name meant wisdom and power. I learned in school that I was named after one of the Ancient Human Gods. It''s fairlymon where Ie from."


    Brother Choi chuckled. "It is everywhere. If you weren''t Ascended Elite Karl, you would have quickly gotten a nickname or second name, just like all the boys named John, Dave, Chen, and Moe. In a small town, you might be the only Karl in your generation, but in the big city you need another name. Same in the church, we''re one big family of sorts, and we can''t all share a name, it would be a mess."


    Karlughed as he finished washing up and got into the hassock and slippers.


    "I don''t know. An army of Dave could be fun." He joked.


    Karl came out into the changing room and found that Brother Choi had removed his armour forfort, tucking it into a basket with his name on it. He wasn''t going to shower this early, just getting his armour off after his shift, and when they left the showers, he brought the basket to drop off at his room.


    "Let''s go to the meditation area. That should be the best spot, as they have enchantments to help you focus and build mental strength. What was the most difficult challenge you''ve been having?" The Monk asked.


    "I don''t know where to progress toward. Do you have a separate mental space?" Karl asked.


    "Of course, it''s essential for a Monk. But ours is probably a bit different from yours, as I don''t have anything living there.


    What we start with is a simple candle, then we build a starry sky, followed by ake of power. Eventually, that besplete, and we have to move on."


    Karl nodded eagerly at that part. That was where he was stuck.


    "The next step is both a tricky one, and the most delicate of processes for a Monk. Once your ''sea of soul'', as we call it, isplete, it needs guidance. You need to imbue the essence of a true path into the space to guide your future growth.


    Without that guidance, any more power you put into apleted space will be lost. It is the true essence of what and who you are.


    Now, for your spaces, they are individual to the beasts, right? It might be that you need to fully understand your partners, and what they are trying to be in order to grow their space."


    Brother Choi''s description made perfect sense to Karl, but both Hawk and Rae wereughing at him.


    [He''s more vague and dramatic than Rae.] Hawkughed.


    [Understand the true essence of the Spider. To be the spider, you must think like the spider.] Rae mocked in a fake sage voice.


    Karl tried not to let the amusement show on his face.


    [Still, I think that he has a point. What is the difference between an Ascended and a Commander Rank beast? That might be what we need to change, some intangible bit of the energy flow or makeup of the space.] Karl replied seriously.


    All three beasts began to think of what it might be that they needed to improve their space. They instinctively knew the difference between Ascended and Commander, but they didn''t know how to make that part of their space, or even how to exin it properly to Karl.


    Which was, of course, why they were all stuck. One of them had to understand how to change the space from an Ascended Space to a Commander Rank or higher space, and then exin to the others.


    "You know what this spot needs? Nice warm sunshine." Thor noted as he soaked in his pond full of Holy Stones.


    That gave Karl an idea. If it worked, it would be brilliant. If it didn''t, then Thor would get his warm sunlight anyhow.


    What they needed was a change in the essence of the power. The same way that the Monks started with a candle to create a core of higher grade power that would seep into their space. But instead of a candle, Karl thought that a sun, or in Rae''s case, a moon, would be perfect for that focus.


    "Alright, we can start here. Find afortable spot and clear your mind. I''m sure you know at least the basics already." Brother Choi announced as they reached a small soundproof room.


    Karl settled onto a cushion, and began to focus as he imagined the sun in Thor''s space, with everything that came with it. The energy, the warmth, the light.


    Brother Choi''s voice floated into his consciousness as Karl focused.


    "Yes, that''s the way, now condense the energy. Don''t let it leak and spread, keep it contained to one brilliant point of light. That is the secret to growing the me."


    Karl wasn''t making a me but a sun. The idea should be the same in practice, though. He just had to keep the energy stored in the ball of light until the quality made a breakthrough and exceeded the natural state of the space. Then he should be able to use that to spread energy to the rest of the space and the beasts in it.


    Only time would tell if it was the right way, but it felt like it was working, and Thor could feel the warm sun on his scales, which was all that he was after to begin with.


    Karl lost track of time as he meditated, but it didn''t seem like anyone was going to bother them until the dinner meal, and the room was perfectly silent, other than the sound of their breathing, with a rxing scent in the air from an incense cone burning somewhere.

 Chapter 214 Hidden Treasures

    Chapter 214 Hidden Treasures


    ??After a few seconds, Karl found that it was easier to have the new feature form in all three spaces evenly, as an imbnce in them was going to cause him to have to alternate.


    That proved to Karl that this was definitely something different than he had done before, as the other additions to the spaces he had been able to add freely to each of them independently, they were just decorations.


    It was only after the basics of the new power cores in the spaces were in bnce and properly formed that the energy increases started to spread between them, keeping the three focal points in bnce naturally.


    Hopefully, doing things this way wouldn''t preclude him from forming another space, as Karl got the feeling that he should be able to add another one when he reached Commander Rank. The natural progression seemed to be one per Rank, but he had rushed things when he bonded both Thor and Rae at the same time, so he was going to have to advance through Ascended just trying to recover from the damage he did to his progression.


    If there was another Beast Master in the future, he would be certain to warn them not to try that, and to take things in the proper order, but until then, he was going to have to use himself and his partners as guinea pigs to see what worked and what didn''t.


    Hawk was quite certain that wasn''t a good thing. Guinea pigs were a species of mouse, as far as he was concerned, and you never wanted to be the mouse. But if it was going to make him a Commander, then he would submit to some experiments.


    Thor thought that trying new things was pretty good. The sun was warm on his scales, and it was veryfortable toy in his pond full of shiny rocks.


    Those shiny rocks were having a rather profound effect on his pond now that Karl was adding the new sun to the area as well. They glowed in the light, making the pond shimmer, and Karl could feel the energy emanating from them to be soaked up by the lounging Cerro.


    At this rate, they weren''t even wrong to call him Brother Karl because he was going to end up with a Holy Beast in his menagerie.


    Now, exactly which God or Goddess would find the Cerro to be sacred was a question, but going by the responses he had gotten so far, it could be any of them. Even the War Priestesses thought that he made a mighty steed.


    Thor preened in pride at the idea of being as valuable as a mount, while Rae giggled at the memory of Lotus riding her through the trees.


    While Karl might not be much of a mountedbatant, and preferred to use his own two legs, that didn''t deter the Priestesses from finding faster methods of transport than simply running ces.


    The only one in the group who was faster than Karl was Hawk, or possibly Rae on open ground, which she preferred to avoid if at all possible.


    As he worked, Karl took an inventory of all the random items that the beasts had been collecting. Mostly it was just body parts in two of the spaces, and nts in Thor''s, but as Karl searched, he found a number of gems and trinkets in both Hawk and Rae''s spaces, left on bodies or carelessly tossed on the ground.


    That was odd, as he couldn''t forcefully put such things in the space, and Karl had assumed that they couldn''t enter at all. But once he looked at them more closely, it was easy to tell that they all had something inmon.


    [me Ruby: Usable by Hawk]bines with zombie ash and phoenix down to trigger a constitution improvement.


    Well, they definitely didn''t have any down feathers from a Phoenix, so that one would have to wait.


    Damaged: [Ring of Giant Strength: Usable by Thor] should be crushed to powder andbined with red veined Alum Fern and ground Drake Scales for an improvement in physical power.


    That one might actually be usible. The inspection of the damaged ring, which was cracked open by an attack, highlighted the other two ingredients in Karl''s vision, and he mentally pulled them over as he worked on the energy focus in the three spaces.


    Grinding the items in the mental space only took a little effort, and left him with a pile of powder that Karl sprinkled over some of Thor''s favourite feed, which he moved next to the pond, so the Cerro didn''t have to stop soaking to test the improvement.


    Free food was free food, and he didn''t even have to get up to eat them, but Thor was slightly disappointed when there was no instant and massive change in his body afterpleting the snack.


    He could feel extra power in his body, but he was also soaking in the pond full of Holy Stones, so that was fairly normal. It was also the only way that his growth could keep up with Hawk, who had evolved, and Rae, who would make Commander on her own if given enough time.


    [Don''t worry about it too much. I''m sure we will see the results the next time we''re inbat.] Karl assured the Cerro as he continued his work to improve the spaces.


    He had totally lost track of time, so it was a shock when a gentle rustling noise alerted him to movement in the room.


    "It''s dinner, and there will be plenty of curious people waiting to meet you. The Beast Master who made Ascended in the first semester at school is a hot topic, even here in the Capital. Normally, both you and Dana would be the centre of attention for your growth rate, but with your most recent advancement, it looks like you will be stealing the spotlight from her for the moment." Brother Choi whispered.


    Karl chuckled. "I''m sure she doesn''t mind too much. You should have seen her face when she found out that the school wanted her to be an Idol. The next Archmage, singing and dancing by night, Elite Mage by day. They even had a career path nned for her by the end of the day after she made Awakened."


    The Monk smiled back. "You say that like it''s in the past tense, but you should know that those dramatic old crones won''t give up that easily. What is the phrase? Living life vicariously through others? They can''t be pop idols themselves, so they will stop at nothing to be known as the force behind the next great Idol."


    That description seemed to fit the middle-ageddies of the dance and vocal training sses exceptionally well. They weren''t Elites, nor were they famous actresses, singers or songwriters. They were the behind-the-scenes staff who had tried but never really made it to a professional level before being forced to support those who surpassed them, and it had made them bitter and jaded.


    At least in the magic andbat specialties, the people training you had real skills, not just a talent for teaching others to use their skills.


    Though even that was questionable. The sses who had an aptitude for singing, like the Bards, would get magical enhancements to their voices, rhythm and even their looks, so the value of the teachers in that department really was suspect.


    Karl''s mind was still on Dana''s unfortunate life n when he saw hering out of the showers in the same hassock he was wearing, with her deep chocte curls still wet and bouncing all around her face.


    He couldn''t me the teachers for wanting to make her an Idol. Not when she was standing right in front of him, looking like a wingless angel.


    "Sister Lotus, Sister Tessa, it''s good to see you again. I met with an old friend of yours not long ago." Choi greeted the two clerics as they came out behind Dana.


    "So I heard. Nathan ran past us like someone had lit him on fire, and apparently made quite the spectacle of himself. Someone really should convince him to go to the therapist more frequently. He''s never going to get better if just the memory of being turned down by Lotus is enough to make him like that, even after all this time." Tessa agreed.


    While she had a point, everyone else was more interested in what Tessa had done to him over the years that her name also elicited a trauma response.

 Chapter 215 The World Dragons Luck

    Chapter 215 The World Dragon''s Luck


    ??The whole group, minus Sergeant Rita, was seated at the same table, with Brother Choi and two Church Guards, who Karl hadn''t seen before.


    "I take it that you two are the evening shift? My apologies for the trouble." Karl greeted them.


    The guards smiled and nodded, but didn''t say anything as they waited for the meal to begin.


    The process here was a bit different from the Seminary Academy, as everyone here was already graduated and working, so they only waited for the staff to bring the meal, and then someone rang a bell and everyone began to eat.


    Karl realized quickly that the Guards on duty were not supposed to speak, as they simply gestured to be passed items from the table, instead of asking. If they had been able to speak to anyone, it would have made sense to just ask Brother Choi for what was closest to him, but it all worked smoothly enough, as the other Clerics knew the routine already.


    There was no ritual packing of the rice balls at the end of the meal. Instead, the few leftovers that came from the tables would be kept for snacks, and whatever wasn''t served to the tables would be distributed to the needy citizens of the Capital.


    They were led back up to their rooms after dinner, and Karl prepared to spend the night in meditation and focusing to build up the energy focus in the three spaces.


    It was a bit embarrassing to admit that he had entirely skipped the first step that the Monks would have taken, and that it had caused him to hit a dead end in his growth, but he would have it sorted out soon enough, and from there, hopefully the beasts would be able to reach their full potential.


    There wasn''t much to do in the Cathedral in the evening. Only the major areas had lights, and the rest of the building kept their schedule from sunup to sundown. The Cathedral was primarily a working church, so the daily visitors were the vast majority of the workload, and it was only on a full or new moon that anyone woulde to worship at night.


    That made the sleeping quarters nearly as silent as the meditation room when Karl settled in for the evening, and allowed him to focus on building the energy cores right until the first rays of sunlight hit his face in the morning.


    He couldn''t say that he was well rested, but the act of meditation did refresh the mind to some degree. Fortunately, he had [Refreshing Lightning] to soothe everything else away and leave him ready to face the day after a long shower.


    Dana stepped up on one side of him, and Karl tucked an arm around her shoulders. Lotus did the same thing on the other side, and giggled as Karl did the same, while she was silently mouthing the word "Spider" over and over until Karl relented and called out Rae to y with her friend.


    The two of them took off out a window, leaving the guards staring at them in shock, but they didn''t go far. They were just in the trees outside, still clearly visible from the hallway, ying in the branches.


    Brother Choi walked over to see what themotion was about.


    "Nature Priests, you never really get used to them. Where did she find a Bloodbath Spider?" He wondered.


    "Rae is one of mine. They became good friends while we were hunting." Karl exined.


    The Monk nodded. "That makes sense. Beast Master and Nature Priest are even more of a natural choice than Druid and Nature Priest. Those two are too simr, their little differences always seem to cause friction."


    Karl shifted to hold Dana''s hand as they made their way to breakfast, and Rae returned to her space after returning Lotus to the hallway a few secondster. He suspected that they had been yelled at by the guards, but Lotus didn''t seem like the sort that took it too personally if she got in a little trouble for reinterpreting rules.


    They were met at the table by two High Priests today, an older man and a younger, who took the seats of the relieved looking Church Guards, who went to eat with theirrades.


    "Good morning, Elites. After the meal, myself and Brother John have a few questions for you all together, and I do hope that you can answer some of them. We will exin everything once we are in a less public venue, but there have been some questions about the recent discovery that you made.


    It appears to be authentic, but that has only increased the number of questions that the High Clergy have about the situation." The old man exined.


    The food was served and the High Priests remained silent while everyone ate, then led the group out of the dining hall and into arger meeting room, with a round table in the centre, and a number of clerks already waiting along the wall to take notes on what was said.


    The brown haired High Priest known as Brother John spoke as they were seated. "Now, if everyone is ready, our questions are probably not what you might be expecting. We have read your reports, and they are quiteprehensive, so we''re not going to go over the basics again.


    Instead, what we would like to know is how such a strangely effective group keeps forming around each of you. Now that you have been put together, yourbat effectiveness is far beyond your rankings, but even through your histories, there is a trend of such events.


    We believe that this might have to do with the favour of the World Dragon, which could in turn rte to the reason that it was your group that found the System Stones intact.


    We have verified from previous scouting missions that they should not have been there in the past, or if they were, they were inactive. But when your group arrived, they activated in response to your mere presence, with no ritual prayers or spells required."


    Everyone in the group looked at each other, unsure what to say. Dana looked a bit skeptical after her misadventures on thisst trip, and the misfits that she had been put with before she began to frence trips with the military.


    Lotus shrugged. She just assumed that was how things were supposed to be. Her patron was the Goddess of Nature, and when you had her favour, the world was right all around you.


    Karl had assumed it was political interference by Colonel Valerie for the most part, and possibly by the Academy. But these High Priests had ess to the official files, so they should have known if it were someone in politics pulling all the strings.


    The older High Priest was looking at Karl, who had been central to multiple recent incidences, including an overwhelming number of above Rank monster kills that were padding his ounts and hisbat records at an astonishing rate.


    Karl took a second to form his thoughts before speaking. "Well, I suppose that I can start at the beginning, since you already have all the ssified details. The first mission was entirely luck. It was just a standard first year outing, in an area that had been scouted to have mediocre but newly appeared resources. We went on the trip and found a Trial Instance in a cave that was scouted to have magical stones that the mages in the group all wanted.


    The next major series of incidents would have started on the flight to thebat region we werest in. I met with the Mackenzie brothers on the helicopter, we cracked a few jokes, and they invited me to join them without even knowing my ss or specialty.


    Their sisters picked them because they saw the names on the iing members chart when the threat was upgraded due to the presence of the Ettin Mage.


    Then it was Central Command that had us moved to the higher threat area, despite being under levelled, and after that, most of the decisions were made by the Bureau of Elite Development helping me out to find group members and sending me back to the battle lines to gain experience, as that''s how my beasts grow the most efficiently."


    They listened intently to Karl''s description of events, which seemed like perfectly reasonable situations, given his circumstances. But the results didn''t match the situations he was in.


    "Alright, Sister Lotus, how is it that every time you go out, something strange happens? Last time you found a rare earth mineral vein that has turned into arge-scale mining project, and this time, you were spotted riding a Bloodbath Spider intobat, when their species is supposed to be extinct." The High Priest asked.


    "I me Karl for thest part. The spider''s name is Rae, and she''s his partner." Lotus announced with a cheeky smirk.

 Chapter 216 Luck Prevails

    Chapter 216 Luck Prevails


    ??The High Priest stared evenly at the tiny Nature Cleric. "So are you denying that you were riding a Bloodbath Spider through the woods, or that you were operating as a team inbat?"


    Lotus shook her head. "I do not. I just wanted to rify that the situation did not involve a wild Bloodbath Spider, She belongs to Karl, and she''s bonded to him with his ss skills.


    Also, I should probably mention, before one of the guards mentions itter, we did take a little outing to y in the trees earlier."


    The High Priest John sighed and rolled his eyes. Priestesses like Lotus were the reason that half the clergy had grey hair and was balding from pulling it out in frustration, he was absolutely certain of it. However, that was just the way of the Nature God, and even if they tried to stop her, they would be going against the will of the Gods, and it probably wouldn''t work.


    At least not in the long term.


    "Yes, I already heard. It caused quite themotion among the civilians to see a monster in the Cathedral Forest." He replied, then let the other High Priest continue the meeting.


    "While we can dismiss the experiences of Sister Lotus as a case of curiosity meeting the Nature Goddess'' favour, that doesn''t actually exin much about your group''s most recent outing. For example, the total Commander Rank kills for thebat zone that your group just left, do you know what percentage of them were yours?" He asked.


    Everyone shook their heads.


    "One hundred percent. There were four other sightings, but in all cases, the groups were forced to flee. Every Commander Rank kill in the area is credited to yourselves and your attached military unit."


    Alice nodded in understanding. There was no way that wouldn''t look suspicious on the official records. The logs of the disciplinary matter would be filed separately, so they might not have put together the fact that there was only one group in the area that was capable of efficiently dealing with Commander Rank monsters, with the numbers that they were seeing in front of them.


    "Did you know that there were fourteen other groups assigned to patrol duty that had three or more Ascended Rank fighters in them, none of which managed to score a single Commander Rank kill until after the Church Guard took overmand of the operation?" He asked.


    That implied that there had been at least one since then, and that couldn''t have been an easy feat, even with the help of a Church Guard. The patrol groups there were definitely not the mostbat minded of units, they were mostly only there due to minimumbat duration rules within the army.


    They were desk jockeys by day.


    The Lieutenant would probably get a perverse sense of pleasure out of the current situation, where theziest of his counterparts were being forced to do their jobs by an upromising High Priest, and actually seeding at the tasks that they had been too scared to do on their own.


    Alice shook her head. "I wasn''t aware that any of the groups had multiple Ascended Rank fighters in them. We were informed that we were the only group capable of taking on Commander Rank challenges, though there weren''t supposed to be any there, ording to the scout reports."


    High Priest John waved that off, and a sh of golden light from his eyes showed that his internal emotions weren''t as settled as his facial features. When Priests got emotional, their magic tended to re up. "That matter has been taken care of. But it''s the string of coincidences that have brought us to this point that are the real highlight here. I have a spell that checks for Divine Magic, essentially for luck. What we n to do is check your group, and see what sort of bonds that magic might have formed, and if sending you all together in the future is likely to have simrly positive results."


    Karl nodded, then remembered that Thor had a literal pond full of Holy Stones just sitting there, leaking Holy Magic into his space. That was bound to throw off the readings at least a little bit.


    But it was toote to say anything, and the room had already begun to glow with golden holy light, creating strings of magic that reminded Karl of Rae''s webs.


    The connections between Lotus and Tessa were forming rapidly, which made sense to Karl, as they had been friends for a long time. But the number that wereing from him to the others dwarfed anything except the friendship between the two clerics, and they were still growing in number and intensity as the spell progressed.


    Dana smiled as the links continued to grow between the two of them, with some encircling their bodies without actually touching them, and some starting and ending at their bodies in a straight line.


    There was certainly some meaning to how each of the links formed, especially since there were multiple designs, but everyone had some. Even Alice, who wasn''t as often with Karl in the past, had quite a few of the links.


    Karl checked his spaces, and noticed that some of the stronger links went straight from Alice to Thor and Rae, while only a few weaker ones went from Alice to Hawk. The links between Tessa and Thor, and Rae and Lotus were also both numerous and strong, indicating their friendship and frequent interaction.


    Hawk''s with Karl were the most plentiful of any of his partners, as they had been together the longest, but Hawk''s to everyone else except Rae and Thor were limited, as he preferred to observe from a distance, and certainly wasn''t going to let people manhandle him like Thor enjoyed.


    "That is astonishing. Look at the density." One of the clerks along the wall gasped, breaking everyone from their observation of the links.


    The elderly High Priest nodded and spoke in a raspy, even tone. "I would only expect a number of fate links this high among an old married couple, not among a group of young adventurers who have just met. Other than Lotus and Tessa, who we already knew were fated to be lifelong friends, the rest of you can''t have met more than a year ago, and yet already the bonds are so strong.


    But more importantly, we have a central focus for these events. Almost all the fated bond links involve Karl in some way. There are a number which involve the whole group, others that involve only part of the group, but almost always Karl and someone else.


    Perhaps we should bring in someone skilled in Divination?"


    The other High Priest shook his head. "I doubt that is necessary. They won''t be able to see past the interference of the Divine to see what is going to happen, at least not the important parts, and these youngsters won''t want their futures spoiled for them with foreknowledge."


    It took a moment to realize the true horror of having your future told to you by an Oracle. Once you had been told, how could you trust that any choice you made was your own? Would you deliberately sabotage the good things that might happen to you while attempting to change the choices that might lead to the undesirable options that you had been informed of?


    Worse, would you lose all sense of direction once you felt that your fate had been settled, just going through the motions of life?


    "Alright, I think that we have seen what we need to. There are more people involved in this tangle of fate, I could feel the tendrils reaching outside the range of the spell. I suspect that the Sergeant who arrived with you is one of them, though she will be upied for some time, and there will surely be other Elites entangled in a fateful event thisrge, but we have enough now to know that it is best to keep you all together, the closer, the better."


    The High Priest paused and then continued. "Do not take the direction to stay close as permission to sleep with a Bloodbath Spider in the Cathedral Park, either, Sister Lotus. I know how you think."


    Lotus smirked, while everyone else in the room tried to stifle theirughter. Even without implied permission, she had probably already been considering it. In fact, if Karl left Rae out tonight, the two of them would definitely go on a misadventure together, there was no doubt about it.

 Chapter 217 Spend Some Reward Money

    Chapter 217 Spend Some Reward Money


    ??High Priest John looked at Karl and Dana. "This is the second Holy Relic that the two of you have been involved in discovering in the past few months. I know the circumstances behind that, but I must say that the coincidence level after putting all of that and yourbat records together is extraordinary.


    With Dana still being at the Awakened Rank, though attached to a unit with a Commander Rank leader, on paper it truly does seem oundish that you have been involved in so many noteworthy incidents."


    Then the older High Priest took over from him with a stern look on his aged face. "What were your ns after leaving the field? Surely, you have put some thought into your progression from this point forward."


    Karl nodded. "I had nned to use the credits that I had earned to ask the University to help me create some resources that would help the three contracted beasts evolve and grow. I have some idea how to do it, thanks to my ss, but they are the specialists, and they likely know much more than I do, and have ess to resources I haven''t even heard of."


    The High Priest nodded. "That sounds reasonable. What about you, Miss Dana?"


    Dana brushed her curly locks back out of her face again and sighed. "Unless I can find another form of the single use mana enhancement potions, I''m in a cycle of growth and enhancement. There are too many mages for too few resources, it''s a drawback of having such amon ss."


    John smiled gently in understanding. "Well, you do have noted ess to Ascended and Commander Rank resources thanks to your kill record, so you can bypass the mostmon and highly sought after resources to go straight for the rare and potent options.


    Talented Mages can grow rather rapidly when given the rightbination of resources, it''s a wonderful thing to see them shoot right up once they''re positioned for sess."


    He wasn''t even trying to hide the fact that they had resources that would make Mages jump up a Rank or more, that were reserved for the truly promising Elites who would be thrust into the spotlight, or onto the front lines of the battle against the monsters.


    They likely also came with a cost. Nothing that powerful was ever without side effects, in Karl''s opinion, but it had to be worth it if they were still saving it for the very best.


    The older High Priest looked thoughtful for a moment. "You know, a field trip to the University might do us all some good. They have the resources that every member of this group needs, and I haven''t been outside the Cathedral in some time."


    "Are there side effects to the potent resources for mages? You implied that it''s not a big deal to get them to skip ranks, or advance rapidly to high power, so there has to be a drawback, or they would be passing it out like candy with a government subsidy." Karl asked the High Priests, too curious not to speak.


    John shrugged. "ording to the Mage Council, less than one in a hundred who get the Mage ss will ever make it past Commander on their own. The concoctions they''ve prepared will rapidly move a mage past that natural bottleneck, but it sacrifices any natural talent that they had left.


    So, they will move from Commander to Royal, Monarch or even, in one case, Overlord Rank, and then that''s it. That''s where they stay, with their potential exhausted, no matter how hard they work."


    Karl nodded as he thought about the idol known as the Archmage. She had been extremely promising in school, and graduated as a Commander, then gained a "mysterious opportunity" and moved to Royal within a few months.


    There was a chance she was still growing, and it was natural, but it did sound like there was a chance she had hit her limits and tried this method to limit break and see how far she could get.


    Dana was intrigued by the notion.


    "So, there is a bottleneck at the peak of Commander Rank?" She asked.


    The High Priest nodded. "It exists for all magic users. Even Priests. We ovee it with Faith, the Mages have to do something different. The warriors don''t suffer from it as much, but they eventually hit the extent of their ability to advance at different points, depending on their skills and training.


    Eventually, their bodies just decide that they are in peak form and stop upgrading."


    Karl turned to Alice. "So, you will have to find a way to break the bottleneck as well."


    Aliceughed and shook her head. "I am from the early years of the Elite program, and I was inductedte. I''m already 28 and still on the low side of Commander. If I make it to the peak, I will already be a middle-aged woman, and at that point, I''m unlikely to be able to advance anyhow, even if I wanted to keep trying and staying in abat role.


    As the High Priest said, one in a hundred, at best, can do it on their own."


    Dana nodded. "So, it''s a trade-off. If you can''t make it past the advancement on your own, it might be worth it, but if you can''t get close enough to peak Commander, you won''t be able to acquire the resources to jump past it anyhow."


    The elder High Priest nodded. "And it''s potential-based, or you could say life force based, so the younger you are when you take it, the better it works."


    That was a real conundrum, Karl thought. How young was too young to give up on the dream of ever making it past Commander Rank naturally, and how old was too old to take the opportunity if you had it?


    It would never be easy, especially for an Elite, to admit that they had peaked, and they would never do any better, but if they held out too long, then it wouldn''t matter even if they changed their minds.


    The old priest continued, gently smoothing his robes out of unconscious habit. "A lot of it has to do with foundation. Too long establishing your foundation and you miss your peak growth ages. But if you use too many resources to increase your growth rate, then you will end up with an unstable foundation for your magic, and it won''t be able to support you at higher ranks.


    That''s especially true for warriors. A lot of them will go for things like Dragon''s blood and Stoneskin Elixirs, which will help their growth, but it damages their body at the same time, and they can''t fully recover.


    That''s what happened to Overlord Drake. He found a powerful resource that brought him from Royal Rank straight past Monarch to Overlord, but the internal damage it caused has greatly slowed his growth. Now, he''s still one of the stronger Overlords, and he might not have ever be one without it, but at the same time, it''s a shame.


    That''s why the University is working so hard on new products so that they can reduce the side effects of the resources which we can grow ourselves or artificially reproduce."


    [You hear that? Too many resources and you will hurt your foundation.] Karl informed his team.


    [I think that only counts for humans. You''re like below Common Grade to begin with, even Goblins can kick the average human''s ass. We''re proper beasts, just give us the good stuff.] Hawk countered.


    Rae nodded in agreement inside her space. [He has a point. You''re trying to go from arguing with Earth Mice over living space to Royal Rank, I''m just trying to go from Commander as an adult to Royal right now. That''s one step, like a human going to the Awakened Rank. I''ve got some leeway.]


    "What do the beasts say?" Alice asked as she noticed that Karl was distracted within his own mind.


    "They say that it''s not a big deal to them, since humans are so much weaker than they are to begin with. They would all make Ascended or Commander on their own, though Hawk had to evolve to make that true, so they''re looking forward to whatever the University can make for them."


    The High Priests smiled. "That''s the spirit. We can call this meeting close enough to done, now that we have the answers that we came here for. You should all be kept together as much as possible, and being together will increase your chances ofing across rare opportunities, thanks to fate.


    Now, if we can just get you all a bit more advanced, those opportunities can be ones that will make a difference on a muchrger scale."

 Chapter 218 University Educated

    Chapter 218 University Educated


    ??The High Priests didn''t waste time once they had made up their mind, and they quickly escorted everyone out of the Cathedral and across the street, into what turned out to be one of the University''s researchbs.


    Karl hadn''t realized that the two were located adjacent to each other, as they both had vast green spaces around their main buildings, which made it look like the Cathedral was located in a city park.


    There were armed security at the doors to the universityb, preventing anyone without a pass from entering, but the High Priests didn''t seem bothered by the fact, and they simply waited for the supervisors toe down and let the group in after announcing their intentions to the guards.


    The arrival of this group seemed to have caused an extreme level of excitement within the Universitybs, and Karl could hear and see people running around frantically, preparing various projects, or gathering notes and waiting by the doors of their workspaces in preparation to receive visitors.


    That seemed like a good sign, like they might really get ess to good things, the way that Hawk was hoping.


    But they also had something to offer. If they offered up one of the spears of the Commander Rank grass, from the fight with the Commander Rank Giants, these researchers might be able to make something that would benefit all the beasts.


    His Identification skill said that the grass would help Thor, but Karl didn''t recognize any of the other ingredients, and he couldn''t well tell these scientists that he knew what would work but not how or why.


    Well, he could, but Karl wasn''t at all certain that they would take him seriously or believe that it was a ss Skill. The nts also didn''t always have the same names in the listing that they did inmon use, so they might not even understand what he was talking about and assume he was making it up to sound impressive.


    "Wee, Elites, to the Capital University''s advancement research division. Here we have all the Golden Dragon Nation''s finest minds, working on ways tobat the threats facing our nation through the rapid evolution and advancement of the Elites." The director greeted them as he opened the door, clipboard in one hand, and a whole suite of pens and tools in the pocket of his white coat.


    "Now, I see that we have two mages and a Beast Master here today, as well as our fellows from the Church. Can you tell me, are the beasts actual beasts, or are they summoned each time they are needed?" The director asked, unclear about the nature of Karl''s abilities.


    "They''re actual beasts, currently living in a separate space." Karl exined.


    "So, they require resources to help them grow? We have a division for that. They have been working on ways to tame Moor Tigers as guard animals."


    Karl gave the man a confused look. A Moor Tiger was roughly the size of a bus. Compared to a full-grown Lightning Cerro, it was three times the size, and it was a Royal Rank beast when fully grown. What could you even offer it that might make it loyal to humans?


    "That is further down the building, so perhaps we could start with the mages, and see what we can offer them? One of the two mages looks like she is still a student, so she should currently be in her prime growth state." The Director suggested.


    "How long does the prime growth statest?" Dana asked, unclear as to the definition.


    "It''s generally considered to be two to three years after the Serum Injection, which is why the Academy runs for four years in total. By then, they already know how most of the Elites are going to shape up. There are some exceptions who grow faster after they leave, but that is a rarity." He exined.


    Dana smiled. If itsted two to three years, she had plenty of time left to try to catch up to Karl. He was already pulling ahead of her, and if he continued to outpace her like that, the government would consider her too far beneath his rank to keep going on missions with him.


    "Now, did you have any resources that you might have brought with you? I know many working Elites do, as it offsets the cost of treatments from the University Labs." The Director asked, with a gesture toward a cart with dozens of sealed and sterilized empty sample jars on it.


    Everyone turned to Karl, who nodded. "I have a few things here. I have this fungus, which reads as an Ascended Rank nt by energy, though I haven''t personally identified it, we have these herbs and flowers, I''ve got some broken magical essories, and I''ve got this odd Commander Rank nt, which, I think, might be good for my Lightning Cerro, as it greatly increases the regeneration rate of monsters who use it."


    Those were all out of his share of items, but if the others needed what the items made, he would just trade, since their portions were all still in his space as well, and the only one likely to even know the majority of the loot existed was Lotus, who had given much of it to Rae for safekeeping.


    The Director stared at the rapidly filling jars as Karl and his assistants loaded everything away, and shook his head in dismay.


    "I take it you''re not going to ask me for something small and simple today. The value of those items is incredible, and I was half expecting you to pull a ''spare holy stone'' from out of nowhere to put on the pile. Just to put the value off the charts." The Director joked.


    "I''ve got one if you need one. A spare Holy Stone, that is." Karlmented evenly.


    The directorughed at the joke, but Karl borrowed a small and weak one from Thor''s pond and ced it in an empty jar.


    "Dammit, I was joking, don''t just go putting Holy Stones in my sample jars." The Professorined.


    "Fine, I will put it back in storage. Thor likes the smell of them." Karl shrugged, but the Director immediately moved to protect the stone.


    "I see how it is. I''m sure theb can make good use of it." Karl chuckled, while the High Priests softlyughed at the researcher.


    The Church made Holy Stones, so they weren''t as rare for High-Ranking Clerics, but still, the value of them to themon person, as the researchers of the University Labs were, was immense.


    If they could keep it for themselves, there was a chance that they would naturally awaken Holy Magic, like the clerics did without the Serum.


    "Alright, it is safe to say that enough rare resources have been provided to offset the cost of any of the moremon treatments, and heavily subsidize the others. Those Blood Lotus blossoms alone are worth more than most of the Ascended and Commander Rank treatments. Where did you even find them? No, don''t answer that, I don''t want to have to fill out the paperwork involved in knowing the answer. I will just dly ept the rare flowers as payment."


    Though they were called a Blood Lotus, they didn''t show as being of particr benefit to Rae, ording to Karl''s identification skill. It just said that they were useful for life drain type abilities. Which, technically, Lacerate was not. It didn''t steal the life, just let it bleed on the ground.


    Alice and Dana both gave Karl happy hugs as the Director basically gave them a free pass to choose the resources that they wanted today, but the research assistants were even more excited.


    "Mister Karl, is it true that you will be looking for resources to help your pets advance? You see, we are from the defensive beasts division, and the research from your advancement has already been quite valuable to us." One of them asked.


    "Oh, you got the notes from the treatments that the Bureau oversaw?" Karl asked, and the researchers nodded happily.


    "We got notes from the Bureau about your time in the field as well. The possibilities are incredible. If only we could bond them the way that you do." The researcher sighed.


    Karl shrugged. "Give it time and I might learn the method to teach that to others as well. It would be quite the trick, having regr citizens be Beast Masters if they couldn''t be Elites."

 Chapter 219 Armored Golems

    Chapter 219 Armored Golems


    ??The research assistants looked dreamy at the notion of being able to bond a monster to call upon in their time of need, like a guardian spirit that would make them the equivalent to an Elite, blessed by the Gods through the Divine Injection.


    But it was time for them to focus, as the newest items for the mages were on disy in the first area, and there were two mages interested in testing their work.


    The researchers got recognition within the department when the Elites chose their new products over an existing and proven form or device, so this was showtime for the researchb.


    "Alright, as we have you recorded as a wind and a Golem Mage, respectively, we will bring forward the projects that are most likely to be of interest to you. We have a number of formtions that should be of great benefit to you both, so let''s get started.


    First up, we have the Summoning Stone, as it has been dubbed by its developer, the Grand Mage Sandra."


    An old woman in ab coat waved happily as her invention was sent forward by her assistants, who would be the ones to introduce it to the Elites.


    "We havepleted initial testing on the stone with extremely promising results. When ingested, the magic sessfully bonds with the user with a one hundred percent sess rate, increasing their mana strength, and has a thirty-four percent chance of causing the activation of a secondary skill informally known as Indestructible Constructs. There have been no noted side effects.


    We have not yet tested on a live subject, but the data from the research mimic should be urate, and the resources used are all Awakened Grade or lower, with an Ascended Rank oue." One assistant announced, while the other held up pages with graphs and data charts on them that should show the results of their tests.


    "What is a test mimic?" Dana asked.


    "Oh, it''s a wonderful thing. The Grand Mage learned a spell that creates a clone body, urate to the real one in every way except that itcks a consciousness. Many of the research teams use them for testing, as the mimic will respond to potions and show signs of gaining skills, as well as the duration of potions.


    It cannot tell us what the skill is, obviously, but we can extrapte the data from our predictions, and the Grand Mage''s observations of her mimic."


    So, the product hadn''t actually gone through human testing yet, but they were somewhat confident that it would work. That would exin why the Director was so eager to get volunteers, and why he said that it wouldn''t be a hassle to purchase nearly anything they were making.


    They were here to get stronger, but they were also the guinea pigs testing new resourcebinations.


    Dana nodded. "That sounds perfect for my skill direction. I have learned from my group members that having Golems to block for you while you cast your offensive magics is by far the superior way to fight. Even better if you can enhance the Golems with offensive magic."


    Alice nodded in agreement. She used both barriers and a spell known as [Tearing Wind] on her Golem whenever it was inbat. Hawk hadn''t gotten the hang of it, which was a bit surprising, but the change to Dragon Hawk seemed to have changed his elemental affinity from wind to fire.


    The assistant brought the container with the stone over, and everyone gathered with their notepads to record the event.


    "There is a security camera overseeing the area, please feel free to proceed when you are ready." The Director informed her with a happy smile.


    The first item they had brought up, and already they had a volunteer to try it. That was a much better than average eptance rate, though the sample size was limited.


    Dana cautiously took the stone shaped pill out of the jar, and set it on her tongue, then swallowed.


    The effects weren''t immediate, but after a few seconds, there was a slow buildup of power, and then Dana began to smile.


    "The official name for the skill is Durable Constructs, ording to the system, so you were close." She informed the researchers.


    "Can you summon your Golem and exin any changes it has undergone? We should have had you summon them before, so we could get proper before and after data." The assistant realized.


    The Grand Mage chuckled at their oversight. She would get many more opportunities to test now that the product had proven effective without immediate side effects, so she wasn''t concerned, but they were students at the University, and missing steps in the process affected their grades.


    Dana called out her golems, and everyone nodded in satisfaction at the changes. The Golems were formerly ssically nude and muscr marble statues, but now they were wearing bronze armour, which included a form of segmented armour skirt that somewhat hid their assets from view.


    "They look like they did before, except that they were nearly nude. Now they''re wearing armour. It looks functional, so I would say that the Golems have definitely gained an advantage from the new passive skill." Dana exined.


    The Director sent the team back and called up another set of presenters. It looked like he was willing to let them try anything that they were willing to, and he was just calling everyone whose work was relevant today.


    The next one up was a wind element resource that sounded good to Karl, but Alice shook her head, declining it.


    They returned, not dissuaded by the rejection, and another pair stepped forward.


    [Oh, get me the good thing. I want it.] Hawk demanded.


    "This might not be quite what you''re looking for, but we have developed what we call the burning soul pill, abination of fire resources that increases elemental affinity with fire. It has been tested by four Elites before, one of which managed to acquire a new fire spell, and none of whom had any noted side effects during or after the process." The presenter began.


    Karl called Hawk out to stand on his outstretched arm, and the scientists turned to look at him.


    "Hawk wants to try it." Karl exined.


    The scientist looked startled, but they nodded in eptance, and everyone got out their notepads.


    "Should we..." One of the assistants began.


    "No testing fire skills indoors." The Director reminded them, making both Hawk and Karlugh.


    "We have been told the same thing in the past. We''re notughing at you." Karl assured the research assistants.


    The assistant noticed the look in the bird''s eyes and quickly opened the jar before Hawk could smash it, allowing him ess to the pill.


    As it hadst time he advanced, mes rose from his body as he absorbed the fire resources, and his feathers turned a bit more bright red before settling down.


    [Shared Skill gained] ming Body


    [ming Body] surrounds the body in damaging mes.


    "Hawk gained a new fire skill. ming Body, he can now surround himself in mes. It seems to have helped the damage done by his fire spells as well, but I can''t verify that yet." Karl exined.


    Hawk surrounded himself in mes, and then shot a short burst of fire from his wings, an extended attack that created something akin to a fire de, but he didn''t let it detach and go flying around a room full of humans and precious shiny objects.


    Hawk had great respect for the good things that the humans made.


    Lotus moved up to stare at Hawk, who had returned to his normal form, and then gently stroked his feathers, making sure not to ruffle them.


    "The feathers retain their softness and flexibility, but their temperature is elevated. The size of Hawk seems unchanged, but the colour is more vibrant. Theck of additional scale development suggests that he isn''t evolving toward a dragon temte, but theck of intense heat suggests that it isn''t toward an Elemental or Phoenix direction either." She narrated as she gently massaged Hawk.


    "Thank you, Priestess. I was unsure how we were going to gather data on a bestial subject, but it appears that you are a natural." The Director noted.


    [She really is. I want to thank whoever taught her to massage and preen a wing.] Hawk agreed.


    "Alright, let us see what else we might manage to find here. Are there other elements that might be useful to your group?" The Director asked.


    "Well, there is a Lightning Cerro, with the obvious abilities, and a Bloodbath Spider who has learned to summon a form of Tree Golems." Karl offered.


    "Tree Golems? That''s the nature magic department next door. We could try the regr Golem pill for her, but we don''t have any more ready." One of the assistants from the first group replied.


    "That''s alright, we can try the new things from the nature magic sorts. Who knows, it might actually be useful for beasts in a way that it isn''t for most human magic users." Karl suggested.

 Chapter 220 Protection

    Chapter 220 Protection


    ??The other groups conferred for a moment to see if they had something that might be relevant to a lightning magic user, but there wasn''t anything in the works at the moment. There were some already made, but they were the research division, they were already finished with those ones and didn''t keep them around.


    But while they were waiting around for a decision to be made on what was happening next, Karl noticed that something was happening with Rae. She had taken a concoction yesterday, and it had started a process that looked like it waspleting.


    She wasn''tpletely changed, but the power level in her body was rapidly increasing, and the red of her legs was moving toward a crimson at the tips of her legs, while it darkened toward ck again on her upper legs and body. The fur on her torso seemed to multiply, until her actual carapace was barely visible, and a shadowy miasma seemed to hang over her body.


    [Looking good, girlie.] Karl congratted her.


    [This is good, we should make more of thatter. I think I''m almost at my final adult form now, and I''m just waiting on something. Maybe for you to finish that power moon in my space.] She agreed, cing the me for her not reaching Commander Rank today firmly on Karl.


    [I will make you another batchter, don''t forget to remind me.] Karl informed her as another group of researchers came into the room with a bunch of carts.


    There were more products on them. Some were pills, some were liquids, some were baskets full of meat or feed.


    That had to make them the nature department, and they were all going insane about something.


    Their leader, an elderly man with a walker, raced forward, or at least attempted to, given his condition, and then protectively cradled the regenerative grass nt that Karl had donated.


    "When was this picked? How long has it been out of soil? Is it still viable?" He asked in a deep baritone that didn''t match his frail body.


    "It was picked earlier this week. But it has been in stasis, so you can consider the psed time to be roughly fifteen minutes. The roots are intact, so it should be absolutely viable. We even left native soil around them to ensure that it didn''t suffer from an extreme transnt shock." Alice exined carefully before Karl could think of where to start.


    An assistant went running out of the room and returned secondster with arge pot half full of some sort of blue gel, into which the nt was carefully lowered before the old man breathed a sigh of relief.


    "Do you have any idea how valuable that nt is to be just leaving it out like that with its roots exposed? Idiots, all of you. It''s good that I managed to save it, the regenerating properties are most potent while the nt is still alive." He ranted.


    Alice chuckled, and took a small empty vial from one of the carts. She filled it with the regenerative paste that they had gotten from the Giants and handed it to the old man.


    "That is how the Commander Rank Giants were using it. Now, are you ready to calm down, or should I get you somewhere to sit and catch your breath?" She asked.


    The man flipped a panel on his walker, whichtched in ce to form a tform, and then he took a seat on it, alternating between ring at Alice and lovingly staring at the paste.


    "Go ahead and use some. You''ve got a whole nt to rece it from." She encouraged him.


    The old man mixed some of the salve into a cup of tea that his students presented him, and then rubbed a bit of the salve on his throat. Karl was curious about what the tea would taste like, as the nt smelled somewhat like Aloe, but it seemed to help whatever was wrong with the old man.


    The assistants all got increasingly excited as the man''s health visibly improved over the next few minutes, and then he got up out of the walker and stood smiling at the Elites and the other researchers.


    "Well, this has been an unexpectedly profitable day. Now, what did you need my help with? Anything that my department can provide is yours for the asking."


    The other Elites smirked at Karl, who called out Thor and Rae to join Hawk.


    "I am looking for a way to get these three to Commander Rank. They''re bonded to me by my ss, and their growth directly affects my growth." Karl exined.


    The old man stared at them and nodded solemnly.


    "So, we''ve got a mutated Dragon Hawk, a Lightning Cerro, who radiates holy power, and an adult Bloodbath Spider who hasn''t reached her advancement yet? We can work with that as long as they''re not hostile." He agreed.


    "They''re not, but I don''t rmend ruffling Hawk''s feathers, or touching Rae, she can be particr. Thor, the Lightning Cerro, on the other hand, is very affectionate." Karl exined.


    "What additional skills have they learned so far?" The professor asked, gaining vitality by the second as the balm worked its way through his body.


    "Hawk knows Fireballs, Wind Shield, Rend, Shred, and ming Body. Thor knows Refreshing Lightning and Earthquake. Rae knows Offensive Optimization and Wood Golem." Karl exined.


    "What is offensive optimization?" One of the assistants asked.


    "It''s the Bloodbath Spider''s innate passive skill. It''s how they can tear through everything so effectively if you give them a few minutes to practice."


    The assistant looked clueless, but the old professor looked grim.


    "You might not know, as they are supposed to be extinct, but a full-grown Bloodbath Spider is a Commander Rank beast that can tear through the hull of an armoured transport in a matter of seconds. When ites tobat power, they are among the finest in their Rank, and if they were given any defensive abilities, or ranged attacks, they would almost certainly be ranked as a Royal Rank threat." He exined.


    The students looked shocked as they looked at Rae, who was standing a bit more proudly at the kind reference to the powers of her species. However, in the eyes of the others, that only made her look more intimidating until Lotus came up to rest against her side and whisper something to the spider.


    Not even Karl''s sensitive hearing could pick it out, but Rae''s amusement was clear in his mind.


    The group from the Nature Department discussed the matter very seriously, then came forward with tworge vials of glowing liquid, and an intricately carved glowing rock.


    The High Priests looked at the glowing rock in shock.


    "You can''t be serious." The High Priest scoffed.


    "I am quite serious. I believe that it will work." The old man replied with great dignity.


    Karl had no idea what the object was, but one of the assistants brought it forward for Thor.


    "Uhm, he just needs to eat this, and then it should take effect right away. I mean, assuming that it works."


    It looked like the High Priest wasn''t the only one who wasn''t sold on the fact that this resource was right for Thor, but nobody tried to stop them as Thor opened his mouth, and she ced the carved stone on his tongue.


    Thor chewed and swallowed with a happy grunt.


    [Kind of fizzy, pleasantly bubbly. Warm too.] He exined.


    Then a flood of golden light came from him and created a circle on the floor.


    [Oh, I learned a thing! Circle of Protection.]


    "Thor says it is a Circle of Protection." Karl informed the room, while the clergy all stared at him in shock.


    "He learned holy magic? How does that even work?" Tessa asked as she stepped into the circle.


    The High Priests both followed her, and their looks turned from doubt to curiosity.


    "It really is a Circle of Protection. It reduces damage taken in its area of effect, and restores stamina." The senior of the two High Priests exined.


    "Thor the Tank." Tessa agreed as she patted his scales.


    "How much of an effect will the spell have?" Karl asked, unfamiliar with the magic.


    He had seen the golden circle that damaged enemies, and the one that slowed and weakened them, but not the one that reduced damage.


    "Against other Ascended and low Commander Rank enemies, it should reduce his damage taken by about half. That will also be effective for anyone standing near him, so against arge target like a Giant or an Ogre, it will protect the whole melee group." The High Priest exined.


    "That''s impressive. With this in ce, very few enemies will be able to get past the Golems at all." Alice noted.


    "That''s a good point. With half as much damage done to the Golems, and the recent upgrade that Dana got to her Golems, we should be able to hold quite well against stronger threats." Karl agreed.

 Chapter 221 Mental Focus

    Chapter 221 Mental Focus


    ??Now that Thor had finished his enhancement, that left the tworge vials on the cart, waiting for someone to remember about them in all the shock and confusion of a Lightning Cerro using [Circle of Protection].


    Thor was basking in all the attention that he was getting from the clerics, who were making intensive notes on his abilities,pletely forgetting that everyone was here for a reason that wasn''t studying Thor.


    "Right, now getting back on track. This particr concoction should be perfect for Commander Alice. It''s designed specifically for wind element mages and should strengthen your abilities and future growth rate.


    I know for Commanders that is usually the most important part, as the growth can be painfully slow." The ancient professor announced, looking much more healthy than when he had hobbled into the room.


    Alice looked more than a little skeptical about drinking a potion that held more than the average coffee mug, especially since they were intended to be ingested in one go, and not sipped over an extended period of time.


    But it was a Commander Rank potion, and designed specifically for wind mages, which she was. There was probably no better resource for her, and if they were going to part with it without arguments, she would be an idiot to turn it down.


    So, she found herself swallowing the entire vial full of the herbal concoction, while energy built all around her and her power level steadily grew.


    The beasts could feel it, the strengthening of the magical power that Alice could wield, and through them, Karl had a fairly urate guess of her current growth state, but for the others in the room, it was just a lot of bleeding energy, and then they would have to test afterwards to know how well it worked.


    "My maximum mana control rate is definitely better than it was before, and I can feel the wind magic more clearly." Alice did her best to exin the changes that had happened with the potion.


    "We will run a suite of testster when we have more time. I need to study the salve that you provided once I return to mybs, and then there are all the other results as well. But there is still one more vial here. What was that one again?" The old professor asked his assistants.


    "That is an attunement potion, double dose for humans, so it can be split between the two clerics in the group." The assistant reminded him.


    "Oh, that''s right. High Priest, we made this one for your people. The ingredients are a bit rare and therefore difficult to obtain, but with the Church''s resources, it shouldn''t be a problem to obtain enough to provide this to all of your promising members."


    The Professor passed over the ingredients list and a packet of details to the High Priests, who looked at some of the ingredients in concern. Sure, they had ess to vast amounts of resources, but they also had a massive number of clergy.


    Plus, this was a Commander Rank potion, and the side effects on a Common Grade or Awakened priest could be catastrophic. At best, they could administer it after reaching Ascended to see if the promising priests could make it to Commander Rank and be high priests.


    The potion was split in half, and handed to both Tessa and Lotus, who gave it very different looks. Tessa was holding it away from herself to avoid the smell, while Lotus was intrigued and taking careful sniffs, trying to determine what was in it without looking at the ingredients list.


    "Well, bottoms up." Tessa reluctantly agreed.


    She tilted the smaller vial back and downed the potion in one long slug, followed by Lotus. Both Priestesses grimaced at the vour, but their bodies were gathering energy into themselves, and giving off a sense of Divine Power.


    It was a shame that Sergeant Rita missed out on this opportunity, but everyone else had made out very well today, and their advancements had given the beasts a chance to learn new skills in the future.


    Rae was eagerly looking forward to deciphering how to make her Golems wear clothing, colour adaptive camoting to be specific, so they could hide as well as Rae herself did. But even Thor was looking forward tobat so he could try to learn the cleric tricks now that he knew he could make a Circle of Protection.


    The High Priests were about to lead everyone back out, Karl could sense it in their demeanour, but the researchers weren''t done.


    "There is one more left. Now, the field of Warrior enhancements is pretty well studied, but we do have a few things left that might help the Beast Master himself. This next one could be considered a somewhat exotic potion, and we weren''t certain that we would ever find a suitable test subject, but today might be the day.


    Assistant, could you go fetch item FLA112C3?"


    The assistant looked confused, but went and gathered the object from a storage room down the hall, still steaming with the intense cold of the ice magic that was used to preserve potions and pills that might be unstable when left at room temperature.


    Inside was what appeared to be a gummy bear. It was even gummy bear shaped.


    Karl gave the priest a questioning look, but he just shrugged.


    "I ran out of other moulds, as this was a side project, so I used what I could find in the foods''b."


    Karl made a mental note to avoid gummy bears from the university. He would never trust their equipment after it had been used for experimental potions. But then, they were making experimental food products out of magical nts and monster meat already, so perhaps it was no worse than any other piece of equipment.


    The Professor passed the gummy to a clean Petri dish with a pair of sterilized tongs, and carefully warmed it with fire magic using a handheld device.


    "There it is, right back to perfect temperature. You will want to eat that quickly, I didn''t do a good job of stabilizing it as a gummy, and the vour could be unfortunate."


    Karl nodded, and tipped the gummy directly off the dish and down his throat, the same way that Hawk usually ate anything he didn''t have to tear apart.


    The energy of the gummy hit him like a sledgehammer to the head, and power flowed from it through his body,pletely bypassing him to fill the spaces.


    It was probably a good thing that the beasts were outside at the moment as Karl focused on concentrating the energy into the sun and moon equivalents he had been using in ce of the candlelight that the monks centred their space around.


    There was a lingering power in the spaces, Karl could feel it, but he couldn''t quite grasp what he was supposed to be learning from the pill, or what sort of skill it should be.


    Then, as the energy settled and his spaces began to change in nature, bing more alive, as if they were a real ce, and not just a bubble of mental energy. That was what they had been missing, Karl realized, the bottleneck that was holding the beasts back from their advancements.


    It would still be some time before any of them were actually Commanders, but they should be able to make it there now.


    But the energy wasn''t done. It was leaking from the spaces to his own consciousness, and to the void he focused on to meditate.


    A soft golden light filled the space for a moment, then coalesced into what looked like a Holy Stone, or a golden dragon scale. It wasn''t doing anything, but when Karl focused on it, he could feel the improvement in his meditation speed.


    Everyone was staring at him, waiting for a verdict.


    "It enhanced the spaces for my beasts, and I think that it improved my meditation as well, there is a golden stone in the void where I meditate now, and it gives off an impressive amount of energy." Karl exined.


    "There is something in your void? That is quite interesting, and very close to our expectations for Psychic type mentalist sses if they were given the treatment. The concoction is made with the neural nodes of a mind yer, Drake blood, and an assortment of herbs. It is safe to say that it is unlikely to see another of them made in the near future, but I do have a few others from the same batch.


    Now that I know they will really work as intended, we might be able to use them to help the uracy of the Oracles and the Seers. For some reason, they don''t trust my creations." The Professor ranted.


    They could see the future. There was likely an excellent reason they didn''t trust his creations.

 Chapter 222 Lore

    Chapter 222 Lore


    ??The High Priests thanked the researchers, and then one of them handed out slips to the teams whose concoctions had been chosen for testing today, some sort ofpensation chit, Karl assumed.


    "We really must be going. I have been receiving messages from the Inquisition that we are needed again, and then there is a meeting with some of the other High Priestster this morning." The older of the two High Priests with them sighed.


    Karl sighed. It was going to be a long day if all that was scheduled for before lunch. He did wonder what the Inquisition wanted that they were calling them back so quickly. There couldn''t have been that much discovered in the past few hours that the Church would be in a panic, so there must be some question about the answers that they got yesterday.


    The Inquisitors were waiting when the group got back on the Church grounds, and Karl found himself separated from the others and brought down the stairs towards a proper questioning room, instead of the library, where he had met with the Blue Dragon priestess who could read minds.


    If they hadn''t gotten enough information out of him by reading his mind, he wasn''t certain what they thought that they were going to get today, but they looked quite determined, and they werepletely silent as they led him into the depths of the Cathedral.


    Finally, they stopped in front of a nk wall, and the Inquisitor to Karl''s left pressed his hand to the stone, then tapped three times.


    The illusion vanished, and Karl saw that there was a scanner of some sort there, and that the Inquisitor had tapped on a wooden door, not the stone wall.


    "This is as far as we go. We will be waiting here for you to return." The Inquisitor informed Karl, then pushed him through and shut the door.


    There were only two people inside, one woman in ornate ck robes, and one man in red. Both were dragonkin, with mostly scaled bodies, as well as wings and tails, and both were immensely powerful, Near the peak of the Overlord Rank by Karl''s estimation.


    The ck robed woman began to speak directly into Karl''s mind. [Greetings, Brother Karl. We have been watching you for some time now, and I must say that we are impressed with your abilities.]


    Karl bowed politely and spoke in response. "Thank you. The Gods have favoured me."


    That made the two of them chuckle.


    The red robed man replied out loud with a smile on his face. "You have no idea how right you are. I am the Avatar of the Red Dragon, the highest authority for the War Goddess on this world, and beside me is the Avatar of the ck Dragon, the Dragon God of Death. Our deities have taken an interest in you, and asked that we see you in person."


    "I have gained the attention of the War and Death Gods? Excuse my shock, but I am only an Ascended Rank Elite." Karl replied, too shocked toe up with a better response.


    The woman in ck spoke out loud, a haunting sound that seemed to echo from another world and sent chills down Karl''s spine.


    "It is not your penchant for war and death that caught their attention, though you do have a particr affinity for it that would have made you an exceptional Priest."


    She stopped and took down her hood, revealing a delicate and beautiful, but childish face with jet ck horns and shockingly silver hair that shimmered in the light.


    She smirked at Karl''s shock, and when she spoke again, her voice was a musical and kind tone that made Karl instantly want to like her.


    "Death''s blessing is eternal. Her High Priestesses do not age, and her High Priests do not die. But what has caught the attention of the Divine Dragons is your affinity for the System.


    Focus on the power of the System in your mind and speak the word Status."


    Karl wasn''t sure what she meant, but the new focus in his mind seemed to be the logical point to start, as it was a focal point for power, and that power came from the Divine Injection created from the System Stones.


    [Status]


    A long string of text appeared in his vision.


    [System Active]


    [Name] Karl


    [ss] Beast Master


    [Partners]


    Hawk - Ascended Rank Dragon Hawk


    Rae - Ascended Rank Bloodbath Spider


    Thor - Ascended Rank Lightning Cerro


    [Avable Skill Points] 34


    "So, what do you see?" The Avatar of the ck Dragon asked eagerly in her musical voice.


    "I see a set of text. My name, my ss as Beast Master, and the names of my beasts. Then at the bottom it says that I have thirty-four skill points, whatever those are." Karl exined.


    The two Avatars smiled at each other.


    "You see, the Divine Injection doesn''t fully awaken the System in anyone. It only gets you a small fraction of the way there. It looks like you might actually have a fully functional version now that you have stepped on the System Stones.


    The other clerics have tried bringing promising candidates to test the ones you found, but for those without a System, they won''t activate at all. They won''t even activate for Priests who gained their powers through faith, even though some of them were at the Awakened Rank.


    So, naturally, we want to know if you really do have the full power of the ancient System.


    Focus again and think the word Skills, or Skill List." She insisted.


    [Skills]


    [Skill List]


    [Learn Skills]


    ...


    Karl sighed as none of them worked, and then a faint message appeared in his vision.


    [Skill list unavable. Randomly assign Skill Points?]


    Karl smiled. "It says that the list is unavable and asks if I want to randomly assign my points."


    The two Avatars sighed and shook their heads before the Red Dragon Avatar answered in his deep voice.


    "You can if you wish, but it appears that your System is notpletely activated, so I rmend holding off until you can find another Holy Relic. If you don''t know what the Skills are, it might not tell you what you have gained, so you will never know what powers you have that you''re not using." He exined.


    Karl nodded. Having more spells and attacks would be wonderful. He didn''t know how many points each of them would cost, but he could likely get at least a few more with what he had.


    Karl considered the situation for a moment. "Is there anyone with apleted System that I could ask for advice?"


    Theughter of the two filled the room, a booming chuckle oveid with a delicate giggle, like ringing bells.


    "There hasn''t been a fully active System in this world for hundreds of thousands of years. Take a seat, and we will have a little history lesson that might help this all make sense." The ck Dragon Avatar replied.


    "Not even you two?" Karl asked as he took a seat.


    They were the most favoured of their gods, if anyone had a chance, it was them.


    "We are neither subject to the System, nor are we born in this world. We only stopped in to see what themotion was all about, after our Gods asked us to observe from the shadows. When we are finished our work here, we will leave and watch until our deities ask us to take on another task.


    But that is only incidental to the situation at hand. Our Deities were wondering if your people could really earn the forgiveness of the World Dragon and reactivate the System, or if you would have to carve an entirely new path for yourselves.


    It all started with a rebellion, as most changes do.


    At the time, the System had been active for longer than the world had kept recorded histories. You know how it is, time wears all away, and after a number of wars, changes of leadership and such, the original documents were lost and only legend remained.


    That was when a group of Demigods thought that they could be the next System Administrator. They led a revolution against the World Dragon, intending to usurp the world from his control.


    They shattered the World Dragon Scale that had been ced in this world to maintain his will, but they had gravely misunderstood the power of the World Dragon.


    The bacsh alone was enough to obliterate their very essence, but the damage was done.


    The world was cut off from its primary source of Divine Power, and without the World Dragon Scale, there could be no more System Activations by the will of the World Dragon.


    For the next few thousand years, the surviving System users kept the System Stones powered, and new generations gained power as they should.


    But, as everyone should have predicted, the movement to overthrow the World Dragon wasn''t truly gone, and a surviving Demigod, a Titan named Omega, shattered the System Stones.


    But just when he thought that he could take over this world in the name of the Giant races, tragedy befell him as well. A nature dragon demigod was passing by and saw him at his weakest, in the midst of the Divine Tribtion to ascend to Godhood, so she ate him.


    It is unknown whether that was enough to push the dragon demigod to true godhood, but it hasn''t been seen since, so there is a good chance that it ascended."


    Karl''sughter stopped her story for a moment.


    "Sorry, please continue. I just thought about the Nature Dragon Clerics that I know, and I can totally see them doing it if they had a chance."


    The ck Dragon avatar smiled.


    "After that, things went downhill fast. There was a world full of System users, but no new generations could gain the system, and without the system, the existing powers in the world rapidly fell into chaos, separating into factions to protect themselves.


    There is a lot more, hundreds of thousands of years worth of history, but the start is the important part. Now that you have the System halfway activated, all that is left is to see if it is possible for you to gain the rest of its hidden powers, or if the World Dragon expects you to forge your own path."

 Chapter 223 With The Avatars

    Chapter 223 With The Avatars


    ??Karl sat in stunned silence as the ck Dragon Goddess'' Avatar finished her story. He was still a bit shocked to be in the presence of the representatives of the Gods of War and Death, and then to be told that the hubris of the world''s most powerful had been the downfall of the entire world, he couldn''t process it all that quickly.


    "So, once upon a time, everyone were Elites, even those of the other species, and it all ended because someone thought that they could take on the World Dragon?" Karl requested, desperately trying to make sense of the situation.


    The Red robed man nodded grimly. "Foolish notion that. Nobody ever wins those challenges. But you are correct that every species on this world once had the full powers of the System on their side. Even the beastkin, though some of them insist they were actually cursed by the World Dragon to be used by others as good luck charms."


    Karl chuckled at the notion. How would a beastkin be a good luck charm? Were they like a Holy Stone, and granted a luck buff if you held them? He supposed that wasn''t impossible if the Gods were getting directly involved in the lives of the people.


    "What if I can''t activate the Ancient System, and I just am what I am, a Beast Master, with the ability to grow and learn skills like every other Elite?" Karl asked.


    The Red Dragon Avatar shrugged. "Then I wish you the best of luck bing the most powerful Elite in the world. I have no idea if it''s possible, but the path of the Divine Beasts is a good one. In the ancient legends, there was a hero with the Beast Lord ss, though they summoned their beasts instead of bonding living ones.


    I have never heard of a ss like yours, but I would pay particr attention to the children of the Green Dragon. They are the God of Beasts who don''t have their own Deities, so they will eventually take interest in you as well."


    "They?" Karl asked.


    The man frowned. "It''s a tricky question. Nobody really knows if the Green Dragon is a female who uses Divine Power to fertilize her eggs, or a male who uses Divine Power to create the eggs he fertilizes. What we do know is that there is no other involved in the process of creating Green Dragon Demigods, and if they know, they''re not telling."


    All this talk of Gods and ancient treachery was giving Karl a headache. Even if he knew some of the answers now, there was nothing that he could do about it except possibly tell someone who would write it down so it wasn''t forgotten again.


    The ck robed woman opened a portal on the wall behind them, and nodded toward the Red Dragon Avatar.


    "It seems that our time is up, and we must run to another duty. Thank you for your time, and you may return to your day." The Avatar of the War God announced as he rose to his feet.


    That was it, they just walked through the portal, which closed behind them, and then the door behind Karl opened, allowing the Inquisitors entry.


    "Brother Karl, wee back. Did you have a productive interview." The Inquisitor asked.


    Karl opened his mouth to answer, but found that he couldn''t speak at all about anything that had happened in the room. He could remember it, but no matter how he tried to phrase it, he was unable to tell them. The best he could give him was a generic confirmation.


    "Productive would be a good word for it, yes." He agreed.


    The faces of the two Avatars were already blurring in his mind, leaving behind a general impression to recognize them by, but not enough to urately describe them, even if he could speak about the topic.


    "That room is for foreign dignitaries of the Church. Anything that happens in there is usually confidential, so we won''t ask you for details.


    There is one thing that you should know, though. Six minutes ago, just before you entered the room, the System Stones that your team discovered disappeared. They were in the middle of a test, and then every single one of the monsters in the region, as well as the System Stones, and an entire mountain, vanished."


    "An entire mountain? Now that''s a missed opportunity." Karl gasped, shocked that nobody had noticed an entire mountain just appearing in the area. How bad were the maps they were working from? Or did nobody actually read them?


    The Inquisitor sighed, realizing that Karl hadn''t known anything about it, and hadn''t been informed of it beforehand. The Inquisitor was hoping that even if he couldn''t speak about the topic, there would at least be something in his response that would indicate that whoever he was meeting might have provided him with information about it in advance.


    They walked back up to the main floor, and Karl realized that the others were taken somewhere else.


    "What were the rest of us called back for? The High Priest said we were all summoned, and that was before the big event would have happened." Karl asked as they walked.


    "Ah, right. There was no time to fill you in on all the details. Your group was called back for a formal recognition of your contributions. I''m not certain what will be of that now that the thing happened, but we are taking you to the others." The Inquisitor exined.


    That was right, they had said that they had a meeting, and then a publicity thing. But if the System Stones had vanished, then there would be no grand announcement to the public, unless the Archbishop had managed to salvage their power somehow.


    Karl was led into a room where the rest of his team, along with dozens of High Priests, some from every god that Karl had ever heard of, going by the differences in their robes, had gathered.


    They were all waiting for something, and the Inquisitors left Karl to do as he pleased, while they went to join the other Inquisitors who had gathered by the door.


    Everyone was waiting for news, and Karl saw Tessa and Lotus''s concern as he joined them at their table up front.


    "Have you heard?" The tiny nature priestess asked.


    Karl nodded, and the table fell silent again while they waited.


    A few minutester, The Archbishop himself entered the room, and Karl immediately noticed that his uniqueyered robes with the Gold on the outside were the direct equivalent of the robes that the Red and ck Dragon Avatars wore. That would make him the Archbishop of the Golden Dragon Church, but the Avatar of the World Dragon, or perhaps the Golden Dragons, which were technically a different species entirely and specialized in organization and leadership.


    He looked weary as he took his seat at the front of the room, on a throne facing the assembled priests. Only Karl''s group included anyone who wasn''t from the Church, which couldn''t be coincidental. The people in the room were most likely those who had seen the System Stones for themselves, as they would need to know what had happened, and what the official statement would be on the matter.


    "Greetings everyone. As you may know, there was an upheaval today. The newly discovered set of System Stones, along with the underground templeplex of the Seventh Dynasty, vanished along with the remains of a monster influx.


    There was no warning, and from what we can tell, nothing else was affected. None of the groups who were in the area remember anything out of the ordinary. Only those in this room even recall that there was a templeplex under the mountain.


    Only those in this room recall that our team arrived in the zone to study the System Stones. Even the Inquisitors that we assigned to assist the Church Guard elsewhere in the region have forgotten the circumstances behind their deployment.


    Why that is, we do not yet know.


    What we can say is that while the System Stones were active, dozens of clerics and others gained a new system skill from the anomaly.


    Now that they have vanished, we will be treating this incident as a one time trial instance, with no way to recreate it. The contents of the trial are to remain confidential, but the gains will be in your official records, along with the achievements that were made during the influx period.


    That will be all for today''s meeting. All other press conferences, meetings and discussion groups are cancelled for the day while the schedule is reworked."


    Then the weary looking Archbishop got up out of his chair and left the room.

 Chapter 224 You Cant Hide

    Chapter 224 You Can''t Hide


    ??The rapid change left everyone a bit confused as to what they should be doing for the day, as their whole schedule had just been cancelled. The members who were on the media team were close to panic, though.


    They were supposed to start broadcasting in under an hour, and they no longer had a story to report.


    Just nothing.


    But within seconds, theytched onto the best opportunity that they had left. The events in the field weren''t ssified, only the ones to do with the System Stones. Everyone else would remember the timeline mostly as it was, only where it involved the System Stones were the memories of those involved blurred.


    "You can be the story. You Elites, who managed to get one hundred percent of the Commander Rank kills in an entire zone for a week. Yes, that''s perfect for tonight''s news. Please don''t leave, we have to film thirty minutes of footage that needs to go on air in an hour." One of the clergy assigned to news releases pleaded.


    "We already have the footage of you in front of the official background, so we can do informal interviews here, and then fill the time with reporter exnations. It will be perfect, we even have stock footage of Giants, Ogres and other monsters to work with." Another of the reporters agreed.


    The Elites all sighed, while Tessa rolled her eyes as Lotus vanished beneath the table.


    "She knows that we know where she went, right?" One of the reporters asked.


    "Yes, but she''s hoping that you will forget about her before she has to be on the news." Tessa agreed.


    "Karl, hide me in Rae''s space, they''ll never look there." Lotus pleaded.


    "You can''t put living things in there. Well, maybe I could, but it might bind you to me like Rae is." Karlughed.


    Lotus paused like she was actually weighing the option, then came back out from under the table.


    "Fine, but a short interview, for the Nature Goddess, and no trying to make me famous." She reluctantly agreed.


    The room was quickly rearranged so that they could do multiple interviews at the same time, each facing the walls, which conveniently were created from multiple panels with identical patterns, so it would look like they were filming them one after another in the same studio.


    Karl was led to the actual podium stage instead of one of the identical spots, and he sighed.


    "You know, Commander Alice is the leader of the team." He reminded them.


    The Priestess with him nodded happily.


    "But you have a Lightning Cerro." She replied.


    Karl chuckled, understanding where they were going with this.


    "Alright, let''s get this rolling."


    The reporter gestured to the cameramen, who gave them a thumbs up as Karl adjusted his position to face the camera that was over the reporter''s left shoulder.


    The interview would be taken from two angles, so the person speaking could speak toward the camera without an unnatural turn away from the interviewer. That would also give them plenty of room to call out Thor, who Karl and the reporter were hoping would be the star of the evening news.


    "Good evening, everyone. This is Sister ra, with you again, to provide a special report regarding the topic of the week among the activebat Elites. For those of you who missed the beginning of the broadcast, there was a group of Elites on a defensive mission this past week who managed to score one hundred percent of the Commander Rank kills for an entire zone.


    That''s right, they single-handedly managed to contain the Commander Rank threats in theirbat zone, and we have them here at the Capital Cathedral Studio for a quick interview before they return to their regrly scheduled duties.


    With me right now is Karl, an Ascended Rank Elite student of the Divine Golden Academy. Can you tell us where you came from, and possibly say hello to those who are important to you?" She asked.


    "Of course. Ie from Lithium Mine Vige, and I would be remiss if I didn''t at least say hello to my loving parents, Jake and E. Plus, a special shout out to the miners of the third shift. I wish I could say I miss working with you, but I really don''t miss the bottom of the mines." Karl replied with a genuineugh.


    The reporter smiled, and Karl knew that when this aired, the mines would be celebrating like crazy to have made the news.


    The third shift was six in the evening to midnight, the usual shift for students, though they were sent back up at the halfway mark, so they only worked six until nine, and they would be ready for school in the morning.


    "A miner turned Beast Master. I''m certain your hometown is very proud to call you one of their own, especially as an Ascended Rank Elite, already on the front lines while you''re still in school.


    Tell us, what is it like, working in the wilderness?" She asked.


    [Make up a pretty lie.] The cameraman was silently shouting at Karl as he realized that Karl had never done one of these interviews before.


    "Well, I must say that the experience is greatly improved when you have a Nature Priest with you. With the blessing of their goddess to create all sorts of nts, including spices, dinner bes much more pleasant, both for myself and for my bondedpanions." Karl replied, leading the reporter in the right direction, for which he could see the thankfulness in her eyes, though her expression remained professional.


    "I have heard wonderful things about your bonded beasts, from which your ss gets its name. Might we meet one of them today?" She asked, following the cues.


    "Of course. Thor, would youe out andy down next to me?" Karl spoke out loud.


    If he didn''ty down, the Lightning Cerro would be mostly out of the camera''s frame, and that would just annoy the staff.


    Thor settled in with his head right next to ra''s chair, but facing the front, where the reporter could lean forward to pet his head, and he would be in the shots of both of them, but not in the way of the upper body of either.


    He instinctively knew where he needed to be, and the reporter smiled as she stroked his head between his eyes, exactly as Lotus had instructed her to do while everyone was waiting here to see what was going on.


    While Karl was gone for a secondary interview, that was what they had done. Sat and waited and shared gossip.


    "He is a lovely one, isn''t he. For our viewers at home, Thor is an adult male Lightning Cerro, and we don''t rmend that you approach them in the wild, but this one is quite tame and sociable." She exined as Thor made a happy rumble.


    Karl smiled and nodded in agreement. "Not only is he possibly the most social member of the group, he''s also an incredible front-line fighter. His Lightning Barrier can defend him against the strongest of Ascended Rank attacks, and he works well with others to strategize and control the movement of the monsters we are clearing from the wilderness before they can threaten the nearby towns."


    Thor nodded happily, and then moved his head to bump up against her legs when the reporter sat back upright and stopped patting him.


    The gesture made the camera operators and a number of the others in the backgroundugh. Thor was precisely the spokesperson that they needed on camera today, it was impossible not to love him.


    "Can you tell us a little about a memorable battle? I know the others in the group have been asked the same thing, but I won''t mind if it''s the same one as one of them has mentioned." The reporter asked with genuine interest in her soft blue eyes.


    Karl smiled at the camera. "Well, I have one in mind, and I''m not sure if it''s the same one as the others have mentioned. We were on patrol and had just finished a fight with a group of Ogres when Hawk, our scout, informed us of a group of Hobgoblins who were giving the military unit we were attached to some trouble.


    We rushed back to the scene, and found that the Hobgoblins had a shaman with them, healing the filthy monsters as the Elites of the army fought a valiant battle toward the centre of the Hobgoblin formation, where the cowardly little shaman was hiding.


    Now, Thor here is a good bitrger than your average Hobgoblin, and he just plowed right through them, and tossed that Goblin Shaman twenty metres in the air, where our ranged attacks could take it out."


    Karl apanied the exnation with hand gestures, and at the right moment, Thor gave a flip of his head, showing the cameras how to toss a Goblin.


    The camera operators were both giving Karl enthusiastic gestures, while the reporter smiled and nodded along.


    "It sounds like quite the scene. How did the battle end?" She asked more seriously.


    "Only minor injuries among the military unit that our clerics healed before the battle was even over. A resounding victory."

 Chapter 225 Official Request

    Chapter 225 Official Request


    ??Within minutes, all the interviews were finished, and the reporters started doing their own bits, recording speeches over stock footage, and giving a highly censored version of events that wouldn''t scare the general public while still honouring the fallen soldiers and Elites of the many battlefields around the nation.


    That was a fairly standard part of any ongoing events broadcast, as there were always battles to be fought, but it did use a solid portion of the time that they needed to fill, and whenbined with the interviews, it wouldn''t seem as dull and routine as it did when they were just speaking alone in studio.


    Karl retreated to the back of the room where he found the Blue Dragon High Priestess he had met earlier, the head of historians, whose name he had quickly forgotten, waiting for him.


    Fortunately, Lotus was there to save him. "Greetings, High Priestess Lilith. Did you have a request for us? I made some great notes on nts I don''t remember seeing in the study guides." The Nature Priestess greeted the historian.


    Her eyes were lit up with excitement about the list of new nts, and between a Nature Priestess and a Blue Dragon High Priestess, who was obsessed with new knowledge, there was a very real chance that they were about to be best friends for the day.


    The High Priestess looked just as excited as Lotus and for a second, Karl thought that the two were going to get lost in a conversation about nts, but the older woman turned her attention to Karl.


    "Actually, I have a request for you all. An official one. We would like to ask that your group, with their exceptional affinity for stumbling across valuable new things, takes on a mission to the boundary mountains. There is said to be a strange phenomenon there, and the other groups we have sent in lost days of time, with no memories of them, but a feeling that they failed some sort of trial.


    With the luck that your group has shown, we have some hope that you will be able to bring back some information.


    That''s official, straight from the Church Council. Of course, if the Elites choose to turn it down, we won''t be sending you and Tessa alone, but we have some hopes that everyone present will agree." Lilith exined.


    Karl was about to answer when he sensed a familiar presence over his shoulder, and a sense of menace that wasn''t directed at him, but past him.


    Colonel Valerie stepped up beside Karl with a fake smile, wearing a visitors'' hassock, as all guests to the Cathedral Church would. She waited for the High Priestess to notice her and put together her unexpected appearance here with who she was and what it likely implied.


    Lilith smiled at her. "Ah, Colonel. What a surprise to see you here, I had thought that you would still be with your tour group."


    Valerie''s resting angry face didn''t even budge at thement. "Naturally, I came to check on my Elites. It seems someone is quite intent on borrowing them from the Bureau, and I would hate to lose track of their whereabouts."


    Her tone said that she was not nning to spare the High Priestess any of her wrath, which could turn into an epic battle of wills between the representatives of the Church and the Government. So both Karl and Lotus took a half step back from what was shaping up to be an epic cat fight, but the two leaders preferred to fight with mental jabs and not fists.


    "That would be a shame, would it not? The Bureau for Elite Development, unable to even track the Elites that they''re supposed to be developing. A tragedy of bureaucracy, really." Lilith agreed with a solemn nod.


    "Indeed. It seems that Holy Quests are bing increasinglymon these days when ites to new students. The will of the gods is a strange thing." Colonel Valerie snapped back.


    That got a rise out of the High Priestess, that was quickly stamped down. It wasn''t directly doubting the will of the gods, but it wasing perilously close to insulting her deity as well as her personal motivations.


    Fortunately, they weren''t the only people in the room, and after a few seconds some of the Inquisitors came over to see what all the ring was about, just in time to catch thest round of barbs between the two.


    Colonel Valerie continued. "I believe that it is time that the students returned to their education. It would be a shame to keep them away from their training for too much of the Semester."


    High Priestess Lilith smiled back, and Karl was certain that her greying hair turned a bit more of a Royal Blue colour as she spoke next.


    "It is the will of the Goddess of Knowledge that the group takes this trial. It must proceed." She dered in a voice that seemed to echo, as ifing from a massive being, not a rather unremarkable priestess.


    Then she continued in a more normal tone. "But you will be happy to know that one of your own agents has been called upon to join the mission. She must be there, the fates demand it."


    Two clerics wearing the uniforms of the tour guides burst into the room, looking for their wayward tour group member, and Colonel Valerie sighed.


    "I will have a tracker put on them if this continues to be an issue.


    Karl, Dana, I will catch up with you when you return. Sister Tessa, Sister Lotus, it was good to see you both again, and I will be waiting for your reports after this Holy Quest from the church has finished."


    Then she followed the angry tour operators out of the room, and Karl noticed just how quiet it had gotten as everyone stopped to watch the drama.


    Lilith turned to the room and made a dismissive gesture. "Show''s over, everyone. You have your duties, I suggest that you get to them."


    That made all the news staff scurry back to their work, while the Inquisitors pretended that listening in on juicy gossip was beneath them and the other clerics in the room scattered, leaving to find something to do elsewhere, where they wouldn''t get in trouble with the High Priestess.


    Karl considered doing the same, but she was here for him and the group, so trying to run would just make her chase him down again.


    "Should we start packing right away, then?" Karl asked, as he still needed to restock and finish cleaning and repairing all his gear.


    "You have the remainder of the day, as the flight will leave in the morning with another round of clergy transfers. The details will be provided to you privatelyter, but the Inquisitors have agreed to help you upgrade your gear for the current situation." She agreed, straightening her deep blue robes.


    That actually sounded pretty good. With all the trouble they''d seentely, his various uniforms weren''t cutting it anymore, and it was probably time to switch to armour. It would be expensive, and there was a good chance that he would outgrow it, despite the growth spurt that he had already been through. However, if that happened while the armour was still in good shape, he could always resell it to the supply staff.


    Of course, having Lotus and Tessa with them, who could repair armour, was a huge benefit. It would make their gearst much longer than it could otherwise be expected to, and between them, they could take care of both leather and metal armours.


    Karl nodded his head at the High Priestess before catching the attention of one of the Church Guards who had been shadowing them since they arrived.


    "Thank you, High Priestess Lilith, I will take my leave to upgrade my equipment now, and I will be ready to leave right after breakfast tomorrow." Karl agreed.


    Lotus raised her hand. "Oh, I wille with you. You look like you have no fashion sense."


    Karl stared down at the unrepentant little Nature Priestess, who saw nothing at all wrong with what she had said.


    Lotus gave him a single raised eyebrow look of challenge. "What? Don''t tell me you''re suddenly fashionable. I bet that if I let you go unattended, you''d do something like trying to outfit match with Thor. Go, go. Let''s go to the armoury and find something that won''t make you look like a dork."

 Chapter 226 Armour

    Chapter 226 Armour


    ??Karl let Lotus drag him to the armoury room, following the two Church Guards who were navigating them through the corridors of the Cathedral, avoiding the public areas which were packed with tourists during the middle of the day.


    With so many different Gods, there was a reason for numerous travellers toe to the cathedral every week of the year, but this week was the anniversary of one of therger subjugation wars, which had freed an eastern region from the control of a Giant n.


    So, every year, people from that region used their holidays toe here to the Capital and celebrate the anniversary with parties and a trip to the Cathedral in honour of the Priests and Priestesses who hade to their rescue, leading armies of Church followers.


    The armoury was hidden at the back of the Cathedralplex, in a newer building next to the loading docks. If he hadn''t known that they were still within the grounds, thanks to the number of ancient stone buildings around them, Karl would have thought that this was part of themercial district.


    From the outside, this loading area was hidden by trees and a long driveway, but it was modern enough that they could move all the goods they needed in and out efficiently, and without interfering with the experience of the visitors to the Holy Buildings.


    "What can I do for you?" The clerk asked as Lotus waved happily at him.


    "Karl here needs new battle armour. We get to go fun ces." Lotus replied, excited about the day''s uing events.


    "Ascended Rank, and as he doesn''t have armour yet, I will say that he''s not the team leader, so it will be Ascended minimum with a heavy dose of Commander Rank targets. We can do that.


    As long as he has the merits and ess, that is." The clerk agreed.


    Karl handed over his card, and the clerk scanned it through the reader.


    "That should do it. Do you need weapons as well, or is what you have good enough?" He asked.


    "I''ve got an Ascended Rank bonded sword, and the ability to coat it in Ascended Rank attack skills. It should be alright, as far as my abilities go." Karl replied.


    The clerk nodded. "Can you take it out and show me? It''s better if I know what we''re working with, just in case you might need a backup."


    Karl took out the de, and then used the new shared skill [ming Body] that Hawk had shared to coat his lower arms and the de in mes.


    "Ooh, when did you learn that? Nice trick." Lotus cheered.


    "When Hawk learned it. It should work out fairly well, and I can use it with the Refreshing Lightning barrier to keep up my defences." Karl agreed.


    The clerk made a short note and then tapped a button to update his listings based on what Karl had mentioned for his skills.


    "Well, we don''t have much that''spatible with both Lightning and Fire, but we do have either or. If you''re using Lightning as a defensive shield, I would rmend this suit. Are there any pieces of gear that you need to keep on?" He asked.


    "My gauntlets. I''ve got a set of Bestial Strength gauntlets that should be kept on when I''m heading intobat. Then there''s a ring I keep on as well, but that shouldn''t interfere with the armour." Karl exined.


    "A ring with what properties? So I know what to build around." The Clerk asked as he refined the search.


    Karl did his best not tough as he realized how lopsided his buffs were.


    "It''s a ring of Giant Strength."


    The Clerk blinked twice, slowly, and then entered it into hisputer.


    "You didn''t look like the ''smash everything to paste'' type of warrior, but I guess appearances are deceiving."


    Lotus giggled. "Oh, he''s not a warrior, he''s a Beast Master. We just happened to have fought plenty of Giants recently, and they value strength above all else."


    "I see."


    It was obvious that he didn''t quite get what a non-warrior ss would want with all that strength, but he also wasn''t well versed in actualbat, just in the theoretical aspects that went into bncing gear to distribute to the other Elites.


    Being strong also meant being fast, in a way. It didn''t help your reflexes, but Karl''s were already excellent, thanks to his ss, so he could react smoothly while moving at much higher speeds than his body was normally capable of.


    "Alright, I have a match. It has strong defence, a natural affinity for Lightning attacks, which should strengthen your barrier, and no gloves required, so you can wear your gauntlets." The clerk announced, before turning the screen to face Karl.


    It was a superhero. The entire outfit was designed to make the wearer look like a children''s cartoon superhero,plete with a masked helmet that Karl was certain had to be some sort of copyright vition.


    "Heart Ranger, GO!" Lotusughed as she saw the outfit.


    That was precisely what Karl had been thinking, and the Church Guard with them nodded in agreement.


    "I take it you would like me to look for something else?" The Clerk asked sheepishly.


    Normally, if the armour was the best that you could get, but it was ridiculous looking, or it was mismatched and piecemeal as many Elites would wear when they didn''t want to spend the money on a crafted set, they would wear it under abat uniform instead of over.


    Lotus didn''t like thebat uniforms, though, and Karl was trying to get away from destroying them as well.


    The clerk went through the options that he thought would be suitable, and at least wouldn''t interfere with the skills that Karl was using, and came up with three options, which he brought up on the screen behind him.


    "Those are your better-looking options. Not cartoonish, or superhero. These ones were designed more for the working mercenaries than the up-anding stars who are likely to be recorded and put on the news, but if that''s what you prefer, we''ve got them." The clerk exined.


    "That''s very much what I prefer. I spend a lot of time scouting and on point in the wilderness. I would rather not look like a Super Ranger." Karlughed.


    One of the men in the backughed as he heard the conversation. "Tell the kid it''s not that bad. We all go into the woods with bright white robes on."


    That made both Karl and Lotusugh. The Church Guard did indeed go to battle in bright white robes, and their defensive magic even ensured that they stayed pure white for as long as possible.


    Who had decided that was a great tactical decision, Karl had no idea, but it had been a tradition for so long that even suggesting changing it now would be unthinkable to most of the church members.


    Lotus pointed up at the screen. "There, that one second from the left. What are its properties? I wouldn''t be embarrassed to be seen next to that." She asked.


    "It''s lightning neutral, fire element friendly, and has an Ascended Grade durability. The materials are a mix of monster leather and enchanted metals, with no additional enhancements to benefit the user.


    That means it is one of the budget options at the Ascended Rank. However, it is a quality magical product, and will hold up well to long-term use with the leather pants and the ability to be bonded, should the user be sufficientlypatible."


    Lotus smiled. "Oh, bonded is good. What about the one on the far right?"


    "Roughly the same, neutral to Lightning magic, but more attuned to fire. It also makes fire magic a bit less mana intensive to use. It can also be bonded by the right user, but it is all leather, no metal."


    "Can you bring them both out? If Karl can bond with one of the two, that would be the preferred option, just for the sake of dailybat use." Lotus suggested.


    The clerk nodded, and tapped the screen, eliminating the others.


    A few minutester, a muscr warrior came out from the back room with two boxes of gear, and a smile on his face. "Priestess, Elite. I couldn''t help but overhear your conversation. I think that too many people overlook the benefits of not looking like an idiot when you''re on patrol, especially when you''re young.


    Sure, you might think it''s cool, but the team members who have been out in the field longer probably don''t appreciate the walking g in their midst. No, I can say for certain, nobody appreciates that.


    I might not be one of the Elites, but I served over a decade on the front lines with the army before retiring. I doubt that having superpowers instead of a battle cleric will have changed the basics."

 Chapter 227 Supplied

    Chapter 227 Supplied


    ??The clerk gestured to the two boxes. "You just have to put on one piece of the equipment, and if you arepatible, it will bond with you. Now, keep in mind that once it does, you''ve bought it, no returns exchanges or refunds."


    Karl turned to Lotus. "I suspect that how I look matters much more to you than it does to me, so you pick which one we try first. If it works, that''s the look I will have for the foreseeable future."


    The tiny cleric sighed, then put on a serious face and turned her hair from ck to a mottled brown that reminded Karl of tree bark.


    "Oh, the Nature Priestess has her game face on. What''s it going to be, Sister?" The clerk asked.


    "All leather first. My instincts say all leather first." Lotus replied, before her hair changed back to blonde.


    Karl wondered how long he had missed the fact that she had been changing her hair colour with her mood, so he almost didn''t notice when he picked up the helmet and set it over his head that the rest of the equipment vanished, and his hassock now had a full suit of armour underneath it.


    "Well, take it off, take it off. The hassock." Lotus demanded, upset that she had been denied the sight of her chosen armour option.


    Karlughed as he untied the belt and pulled the hassock over his head, revealing the in t ck armour underneath, with a long sleeved green tunic shirt underneath that Karl didn''t remember being in the pile of gear.


    It felt a bit strange being restricted by armour, after always being in just cloth, especially the way that the leather pants, with their stiff additional ting on the thighs and lower legs, moved against him.


    Lotus circled Karl three times before she made her decision that it was good enough for her.


    "I like it. The green tunic was a nice touch, thanks guys." She congratted the workers in the supply room.


    "There was no tunic in the pile, we just assumed he was already wearing it." The clerk replied, confused.


    "I was only wearing the hassock." Karl replied with a shrug.


    The clerk shook his head. "You''ve been around the nature priests too long. Normally, visitors wear ayer underneath and don''t just free ball it."


    Karlughed. "Well, I had no clean clothes, and this was what was in the room, so this is what I''m wearing."


    The Clerk shrugged off his concerns, and decided that it was all part of the System''s magic that added the shirt toplete the armour set. Not that there were gaps that needed covering, but it looked more natural with the tunic betweenyers.


    "Well, it looks like I''m good on armour now. I suppose that I should see what they were nning to do to change my supplies. The Academy backpack has been pretty good to me, but it sounds like the High Priestess was nning to make some changes." Karl added as he admired his new armour in the mirror on one wall.


    Now he had not just a weapon, but a full suit of armour that could be stored in a separate space, and if he was right, the armour, like the weapon, shoulde out clean again when he put it on. The weapon didn''t take any blood or viscera back to the space with it, so the armour should be the same.


    "Put the hassock back on before you leave the room, it''s regtion." The clerk reminded him when Karl turned to go show off his new gear to the others.


    "Right, almost forgot about that."


    He removed the helmet and set it aside, then awkwardly slid the loose fitting robe back over himself and tied the waist. Then, as a test, he dismissed just the helmet back to the separate space, and sighed with relief when he found that he could go without it and not have to put away the entire set of armour.


    All that was left that wasn''t bonded were the gauntlets, and those were easy enough to transport wherever he went, as they were made of leather with steel ting on the top. Once they had resized to fit him, they could easily enough be tucked in a side pocket of his bag, or a pouch at his waist. He would say tucked in his belt, but it would never do to identally lose one while he was running.


    "It''s a definite improvement over the sillybat suits that make everyone look like a mall security wannabe." Lotus informed him as they left the supply room.


    "That''s one way to look at them. We didn''t have a mall in the town I grew up in, so I have only seen them on television." Karlughed.


    Lotus giggled. "You don''t even know what you''re missing out on then. You know, you''re most likely what one would call rich by now. When you get some time off, you could go out shopping in the Capital, take in the sights, learn to live a little."


    Karl raised an eyebrow at the way she directed it straight at him. "Just me? You''re not going toe along and show me what I''m missing at the shopping mall?"


    The Nature Priestess just shook her head. "I would personally rather y with Rae in the forest. But I have it on excellent authority that the mall was a highlight of the childhood of those who lived near one."


    The pair joked as the Church Guard led them back to the main building, where Brother Choi was waiting for Karl to return, ready to continue their meditation practice, at the instruction of the High Priestess.


    "Don''t worry, it''s all for your own benefit. If you''re going to run away tomorrow before we can finish the process, it would be best if you at least had one more afternoon of practice, so I can provide guidance on any aspects you haven''t mastered." The Monk greeted them.


    Lotus waved to Brother Choi as she kept walking. "I will make sure that your gear gets properly updated for the mission. Go and learn your focus thing, so Rae can make it to Commander Rank and take me through the trees even faster."


    "I''m d you have your priorities in order. I will see you at dinner." Karl called back as she headed into the building, followed by one of the two Church Guards.


    The orders to follow the group around so they were avable anytime they were needed were never changed, and at this point probably wouldn''t be, as they were leaving in the morning, so everyone had an escort, and there was no chance that the inquisitive mind of a Nature Priest might lead Lotus astray in the nation''srgest Cathedral.


    They returned to the same meditation room as thest time, but this time, Brother Choi had more knowledge to impart.


    "Since you''re going to be gone when you get to the important part, I will try to exin it now. You will finish the me, and then you will feel stuck again. But you''re actually not. Once the me is finished, you need to draw the aura of the me out through the whole space, and then when it feels like it is bncing out again, rebuild the me to a new, higher standard.


    It will only go so far beyond the surrounding area before it feelsplete and won''t advance, so you need to keepyering more and more power through the space from the focus. If you don''t bring it from the focus, it won''t stay or increase the potency of the space.


    It''s hard to say how many times you will have to do it, but eventually, you will make it to Commander Rank.


    While you were busy, I did a bit of research using the reports that the Bureau has made on you, and I think that you don''t actually need to push yourself all the way to the Commander Rank with your mental space. Once you get far enough, the beasts will naturally advance, and they should pull you up with them.


    That''s something that I can''t do, but in your early reports, it was clear that the advancement of Hawk was driving you forward, so the same should remain true as you advance further."


    Karl considered that for a while. "Can I spread the aura of the focus before it''s at its maximum?"


    Brother Choi nodded. "You can, but it''s not as efficient because there isn''t enough energy there to make a nice even advancementyer. Like the rings of a tree, you need it to be even all the way around for it to be perfect."


    That made sense, so Karl gave him an affirmative thumbs up and began to meditate to finish building up the three focal points. Now that he had a guaranteed way forward, it was much easier to focus on the task at hand and not worry about what he should be doing.

 Chapter 228 Spellblades

    Chapter 228 Spelldes


    ??The next morning came entirely too early as Karl felt that he was finally making real progress on his spaces, but the promise of a unique challenge for the group, with the promise of even better rewards was enough to eliminate most of the concerns that his time might be better spent in the meditation room.


    His backpack had been upgraded while he was away, including a small note from Lotus about the state of his supplies.


    [Karl, I reced all your camping gear, other than what Rae made, which I transferred from a stick to a proper lightweight pole. There is a folded cloth tent, your hammock, rope, lightweight kitchenware, extra boots and socks, and then the essential grooming kit.


    Since you''re with us, I only included the small fuel stove with one can, but normally, you would carry a spare. The cup that goes with the stove contains a coffee perk, and some fresh ground beans if you find yourself in need of better coffee in the mornings.


    There is a week''s worth of ration packs in there, as is protocol, and an extra canteen full of good water.


    I also added some extra clothes, since you never have anything clean when you get back to civilization. Yourundry is tightly rolled and packed in the central pouch. Please refer to the diagram.]


    Her handwriting was beautiful, so what had happened to her picture drawing abilities? Even the shape of the backpack was barely recognizable, much less the stuff she drew inside. Fortunately, thebels were perfectly clear, and Karl understood withoutpletely unpacking the bag.


    Instead, he just opened the sections and pockets to double-check, before curiosity overcame him, and he pulled out the grooming kit to see what Lotus had thought were the essentials for a man''s grooming.


    There was a straight razor, shaving soap and a brush, which looked higher quality than his old one. Then there was ab, scissors, nail clippers, a sewing kit with both fine and leather supplies, instant set glue, leather soap, mink oil for conditioning the leather, and then condoms. So many condoms.


    Now, Karl wasn''t a particrly prudish young man, and he did keep one in his old supply bag, just in case. But there were nearly thirty of them here. Was Lotus trying to tell him something? Or was this an oddity of what she considered essential supplies?


    Fortunately, he didn''t have to wait long, as the Cleric in question came to check on him just as he was putting everything away.


    "Lotus, why is half my grooming kit bag filled with condoms?" Karl asked as the smirking woman walked in.


    "You see, the standard operating procedure is fourteen days of supplies, except water, which would be too heavy to carry for most of us.


    So, fourteen days, and two a day, makes twenty-eight. There are precisely twenty-eight condoms in your bag, and if that number changes, we will have some questions for you, young man." Lotus replied in her best motherly voice before devolving into giggles.


    "Well, it''s not like they''re heavy, but I admire your optimism. I didn''t tear the pack apart, but it looks like everything is there. Is it time to leave?" Karl replied.


    "Yeah, we head down in ten minutes, that''s what I came over to tell you, just in case you were meditating. They hate waiting for people, especially Elites, who should know better."


    "The pilots hate waiting on anything. But I''m all packed up now, should we get going?" Karl replied.


    "The others should be waiting."


    The word ''waiting'' turned out to be an understatement. One helicopter was shut down for maintenance, and there were fifty clergy members standing around outside with their gear, as the other pilots wouldn''t leave him to fly without his formation if they didn''t have to.


    There weren''t many monsters who could take one out when it was loaded with clerics and Elites, but if they were taken by surprise, even Hawk could be a deadly threat to the transport vehicle.


    The mechanisms wereplex and fairly delicate, so a single fireball to the rotors would take a helicopter out of the sky. For that reason, the bus was a more popr option, but for wilderness deployments, it simply wasn''t an option, as it couldn''t get you close enough to the deployment zone, and the Golden Dragon Nation was arge one.


    As he scanned the group, Karl noticed that there was another team that stood out even more than his did. While half of his team was in armour instead of the robes of the clergy, the final team was in a different style of robes with a light chest te, and swords on their hips in a delicate style that Karl was certain would shatter the first time they took a hard parry.


    Obviously, they weren''t for fighting head on, but more of a martial arts style ofbat, but they didn''t look like Monks, unless this was some odd fashion of the Capital that he didn''t know.


    "Spelldes." Tessa offered a one word exnation.


    Oh, Karl had heard of those. They were mages who trained in the ways of the warrior. Not elites, but trained mages. They weren''t known to be as quick growing as the Elite Mages, but they had a long history, hundreds of thousands of years, and they were the primary fighting force of many of the magical nations.


    He wondered if they were going to get to see them in action wherever they were going, or if they were on some other mission.


    That answer was solved easily enough when an aging Mage came to join them and quietly informed his group that he had arranged other transportation, and that they were headed to the airport.


    But before they could leave, the crew announced that the helicopters were ready to go, and they could start loading now.


    That caused a moment of indecision, but the mage waved the Spellswords toward the military helicopters, and made a phone call to cancel the arrangements for the other flight.


    That was how Karl found himself seated next to a young woman in ck robes, who had arge scar on the side of her face and a serious chip on her shoulder.


    "Is this the grade of warrior they''re sending intobat these days? Aren''t you a bit weak to one of the Elite Brutes?" She asked.


    The other Elites were about to respond, but when they saw that Karl wasn''t bothered, they held back, wondering what he would do.


    For Karl, who had grown up the smallest, being called weak was no real insult anymore, he was too used to it to take offence, but one thing that Rae had noticed right away was that this Spellsword was still at the Awakened Rank.


    "You know, given that there is a whole Rank between us, I thought that you could be more polite. Something along the lines of [Have you been ill, Senior Brother? You look far too slender and handsome for a warrior.] That would be much more suitable, don''t you think?"


    From the look on the woman''s face, you would think that Karl had pped her. "Why in the seven Realms would I call you Senior Brother?"


    "You''re still an Awakened Rank Spellsword, while it won''t be long before I move from Ascended to Commander Rank. Certainly, that deserves some consideration?"


    Her teammates were smirking, but holding back from getting involved. Whether to prevent a fight from breaking out, or because they were looking down on the Elites, Karl didn''t know. But when it came to a battle of wits, he wasn''tpletely unarmed.


    "As if I would call some young child Senior Brother." She grumbled as she realized that Karl really did have the power advantage.


    He didn''t know how their faction''s internal rankings worked, but the Elites went mostly by power. The more you had, the more respect you got. Most warrior groups should be the same, and Rae was quite certain that the oldest two in their group were Commanders, while the others were all Awakened.


    "Teams one and seven, you are up first. You will be hot dropping into abat zone, so be prepared for action." The cargo master announced, cutting off their argument.


    Alice nodded in eptance, as they were Team One, and it appeared that Team Seven was the Spellswords. It was just his luck, they really were going to the same deployment, and they were already off to a not so brilliant start.


    Maybe there was a chance they weren''t working together, but just near each other.

 Chapter 229 Prince Corbin

    <h4>Chapter 229 Prince Corbin</h4>


    Everyone unloaded as the helicopter touched down, and a bearded blonde Royal Rank mage came forward to greet them.


    "Good, you all made it, and you''ve had a chance to meet each other." He paused tough at his own joke and the obvious tension between the two groups.


    "I am Prince Corbin, and as you might already know, these four are Larry, Darrel, Darryl and Darrin, and finally, our ray of sunshine is Rosalind." The Royal Rank Mage introduced himself and the Spellswords, with a teasing glint in his eye that dared the girl to speak out.


    The fact she hated the name wasn''t a secret, everyone could see it, but it was just as obvious that she had done something to annoy the Royal Rank mage and make him use her full name.


    Corbin was dressed as an Elite, so Prince would most likely be a power-rted title, as Commander and Overlord were. Larry and Darrel were the Commander Ranked leaders, while the other Darryl and Darrin were the Awakened pair, making for arger power gap than most groups, but if they had Prince Corbin with them, it was probably some Spellde n rted mission, as they were all from the same group.


    "Now, I''m not going to ask you all to work together, that would be pushing my luck too far, but I will request that the two groups not attack each other if you see each other in the wilderness. My people have an assignment to hunt beasts above their rank, and the rest of you are here for whatever mission the Church had, so your goals shouldn''t ovep by too much." Corbin finished, before nodding in satisfaction in a way that reminded Karl of his father when something went right.


    Alice reached out and shook his hand. "Prince Corbin, good to see you again. For those who I haven''t met yet, I am Commander Alice, then we have Sister Tessa and Sister Lotus, Dana and Brother Karl."


    "Brother Karl?" Corbin asked, looking at Karl''s leather armour with the green tunic. That wasn''t Church Guard uniform, and he didn''t feel like a Priest.


    "The Church summons him so often you''d think he was a Priest. He''s actually a Beast Master ss Elite, so if you see oddly tame monsters around, they might be his. I wouldn''t pick a fight with them, they''re stronger than they look."


    Rosalind scoffed, but Corbin looked excited.


    "Perhaps we could have a little sparring match, as we have two clerics here to deal with any mishaps? It would help build recognition between the two groups." He suggested.


    "Sure, the youngdy and Karl seem to have apanionable rivalry going on. Perhaps he could duel her without his beasts active, and they could get a taste for each other''s skills?" Alice offered.


    Rosalind pulled her short ck hair back away from her face and smirked. "You don''t think that I can handle one Elite with his gimmick pets?"


    Alice gave her a vicious smile. "Why don''t you try him first and then see if you think you''re up to a four on one fight, a Rank above yourself?"


    Everyone backed away, all confident in their contestant''s chances of winning, despite knowing very little about the opponent.


    "I would like to make one condition if I win. Never call me Rosalind again." The girl demanded of her Royal Rank mentor.


    "I will consider calling you Muffin again if you win one on one against him. If you can take him and his pets, I will call you Rose." Corbin countered.


    That seemed to be as good as she was going to get, and Rose drew her de, ring at Karl, who took the two-handed de out of stasis.


    "As I thought, a big slow brute." Sheughed, thenunched herself forward using a skill that nearly caught Karl off guard.


    But he was both fast and strong, and his eyesight had picked up the faint re of magic around her as the skill activated.


    He brought up [Refreshing Lightning] along with [ming Body], which he focused on his hands and sword as he leapt to the side of the clearing, and then used a tree tounch himself back at the recovering Spellsword, who had skidded to a stop after missing her target.


    She darted out of the way as the massive sword whistled through the spot she had been standing a split second earlier, leaving a trail of mes in its wake.


    Her taunting look turned serious as Karl spun the de and reversed its direction without shifting his feet, a manoeuvre that anyone with normal human strength would never manage with a weapon thatrge.


    With the Spellsword off bnce, he chased her back across the clearing with a flurry of attacks as she studied his fighting style.


    She activated skill after skill, unable to use her more powerful spells now that they were so closely engaged, but with the melee range activation and her power disadvantage, none of the spells that she managed to activate could ovee the trail of fire left by [ming Body] to actually hit Karl.


    She was by far the superior swordsman, but with a wall of mes in front of him, a reach advantage of over a metre and supernatural strength, it was not easy for her to get close enough to show it.


    Rose couldn''t parry his strikes, they would knock the de from her hands, but when Karl missed with a strike, she ducked underneath his de''s ming path and went for his open body.


    Only, Karl simply took one hand off the de and swatted her sword away, letting [Refreshing Lightning] take the damage as he charged into her with his shoulder, knocking the smaller fighter from her feet.


    Once she was in the air, didn''t let her hit the ground and get away. The unarmedbat ss had taught him better. Instead, he dismissed his sword and grabbed her by the robes to reverse her momentum and hurl her across the clearing.


    Rose made a startled squeak as she found herself truly airborne, headed for the treetops at an rming velocity.


    Corbin caught her in a of water magic and set the Spellsword back on the ground.


    "That was dirty fighting." Roseined.


    "He''s as strong as an Ascended Giant. It''s a good thing that I caught you, or you''d be stuck in the treetops right now. I know you can wind step to get down, but it is slower than his normal movement speed, thanks to that monstrous strength.


    That''s why beating a solo monster a rank above you is the challenge I have set. They''re not as smart as a human, or as agile." Corbin chastised her.


    "I understand, instructor. I have lost." She sighed.


    "See, that''s my Muffin. You learn so fast."


    Karl wasn''t certain that was actually an improvement, but the way the others smiled made it seem like a term of endearment. Perhaps they were rted? That might exin the teasing, but they didn''t look alike.


    "I know his tricks now. I will win for certain next time." She agreed.


    "And that will have to wait until after the mission. I don''t want any of you challenging each other in the wilderness. Now, I have the maps for all four groups, and then we can all get going."


    The two Commanders moved to stand next to Darryl and Darrin, and Prince Corbin moved to stand next to Rose while he handed Alice the updated map of the area, with monster sightings and harvested resources.


    Alice looked over the map and nodded. It hadn''t changed too much since yesterday when theirs was updated.


    "Good luck, and if you need anything, look for us. We have two healers, and both can magically repair gear, so if you damage a de or your armour inbat, we can get you going again." Alice reminded them.


    The Spellswords all raced off into the woods to get started on their mission, while Alice gestured toward the mountain northeast of them.


    "That is our first target. There have been strange sightings around the base of the mountain, and it might mean that whatever we''re looking for has been hidden there." She instructed the group.


    Karl moved to the point position, and called out Hawk to begin reconnaissance.


    [This ce is busy. There are monsters everywhere. Furry ones, big furry ones, scaly ones, big scaly ones.] Hawk notarized his estimation of their threat level.


    There was only one problem, he had no idea what any of these creatures were called. He had never seen them before, and he hadn''t seen them in the lesson books that Karl had gone through back at the Academy when they were studying monsters to help his growth rate.


    "Well, there are officially monsters everywhere. If I knew what they were, I would tell you, but there are big scaly onesing this way." Karl informed the group.


    "Alright, let''s move toward them. We don''t want to lead monsters to the assembly point." Alice ordered.

 Chapter 230 Big Scaly Things

    Chapter 230 Big Scaly Things


    ??Thor roared in rage as Karl called him out to prepare for the fight. He couldn''t see the enemy yet, but he could smell them, and every Cerro knew the smell of their natural predators.


    "The scaly things are some sort of bipedal lizard." Karl ryed as he tried to interpret Thor''s enraged thoughts.


    His mind just called them enemies, and the Cerro packs didn''t have a name for them either, but there was no doubt that they were carnivorous and pack hunters. What he hadn''t expected was the size.


    The first of them came crashing through the trees, standing three metres tall, but nearly seven metres long as it stood on two powerful legs with its tail extending behind it, and Karl could hear more of theming.


    Thor bugled a challenge at them, and the reptilian beasts turned to charge at their natural prey, forgetting about the small humans in favour of a real meal.


    This Lightning Cerro was no pushover like his average pack kin, and Thor whipped his armour-ted tail ball at the first one to charge, sending it careening into a tree, where Karl was able to get a good swing at it.


    His body surged with power as the two clerics both buffed him, and his de shone with holy light under the fire as it cleaved down into the creature''s neck, leaving the Awakened Rank beast''s muscles severed, and the head tilted at an odd angle as it crashed to the ground and bled out on the mossy ground.


    That curbed the enthusiasm of the other two monsters that had been iing, but they had bigger problems than Karl and his sword.


    The Clerics had also buffed Rae and her spider Golems, which had just jumped out of the trees and onto the back of one, while Alice''s Golem cut off the escape route for another.


    Dana''s Golems were already surrounding the beast, and with the additional damage that they had gained when she learned [Destruction], which added damage to all her spells, the two stone Golems, who were now armed and armoured, were having no problems hacking through the thick hide.


    It was a huge improvement from before they had found the System Stones, and even if the two mages hadn''t been casting anything else, the two Awakened Rank Golems would have easily defeated the beast.


    The new weapons and armour were a real upgrade for the Golem, and the stacked improvements were quickly putting Dana near the top of the Awakened Rank forbat power.


    [The smaller furry things areing your way. Maybe dogs?] Hawk suggested.


    Thest of the reptiles hadn''t even finished twitching yet, and there were already more attackers, but if they were wolves, it wouldn''t be so bad. Wolves he could handle. But, of course, that wasn''t the case. Hawk knew what Wolves were, and these were not it.


    They had a simr muzzle structure, but they were the size of a bear, and they had wings. Actual, leathery wings. But those were less concerning than the size of the ws on their feet as Karl parried an iing attack.


    The ws sparked like steel as they met the fire magic on his de, but they didn''t appear to be damaged.


    Karl stepped back to put himself into Thor''s [Circle of Protection], while remaining between the monsters and the rest of the group.


    That retreat seemed to be a signal to the beasts, and they teamed up to grab one of the bodies and drag it away. The group decided to just let them go for the moment, until they could figure out what they had just been attacked by.


    "Is anyone familiar with those?" Alice asked hopefully, looking at Lotus.


    "I know countless monsters, but not that. I almost thought it was an overgrown hellhound, but there was no fire or brimstone smell." Lotus replied.


    "Their ws didn''t shatter against an Ascended Rank skill, so they''re at least that tough." Karl added.


    "Ask Hawk what else is in the area, and for a more detailed description. Something is really wrong here, and I hope that the other groups will be alright, since they went out in pairs, and the beasts here seem to operate in packs." Alice replied.


    That was a good point. The Awakened Spelldes would be a liability in a fight like that, and there was only one Commander with the boys. The Royal Rank Mage was a different story, he had enough power that nothing here would be a real concern to him, but if they saw the others, they should at least give them some warning.


    [There are no more of the big lizards, they ran away when they saw the furry things. Those are taking the food they stole back toward a cave in the hills to your east.


    There are smaller lizard men, and other furry things that stand upright.]


    Hawk finished with a detailed list of where they all were, which Karl ryed to Alice, who plotted their course for the day.


    "We don''t want to be fighting all day and night, but we do need to clear many of the monsters in this area if we are going to do any searching for hidden resources. So, I have set a course that will lead us to the first suspected anomaly point, which we will set up camp near and explore in the morning.


    It is unlikely that we will have a peaceful night tonight, so I will ask Rae to return to her space and get some rest well before dark. She will be needed to keep every watch with us after it is too dark for Hawk to see well, but she will also need to help set up a safe fort for us tonight."


    Karl nodded in agreement. "Sleeping on the ground seems like a bad idea for tonight with those predators wandering the area. Do we know what the bipedal furry things might be? Some sort of monkey or ape that might chase us into the trees?"


    Lotus frowned. "I don''t think so. It''s going to be close to freezing overnight and even worse further into the hills. I think that they will more likely be a species of Yeti than apes."


    Everyone else waited for Lotus to borate, as they weren''t familiar with the species. The level of intelligence and the type of magic that were innate to the species could make a significant difference to their ns.


    "They''re about as smart as ape type monsters, which is to say more intelligent than most. They also have opposable thumbs, so they can use handheld weapons. They have a thick hide under dense fur that makes for durable armour, and they are virtually immune to water and wind type attacks.


    Fire is their great bane, and they will usually run if there is fire involved, as they cannot survive long in the heat.


    Full-grown they are Ascended Rank, usually on the low side, but they travel in packs of up to ten, plus any juveniles that haven''t moved on to form their own group yet."


    Alice nodded. "So, we''re looking at up to a dozen intelligent Ascended Rank monsters at a time? What does Hawk have to say on their numbers?"


    Karl conferred with Hawk for a moment. "He counts five in this group, and two are smaller, juveniles at the Awakened Rank, but no females."


    Lotus frowned. "That means they''ll be extra aggressive. They''re not particrly protective of their females, but they get extremely violent when they don''t have any in the pack."


    Alice turned to Karl. "It looks like you''ll be at the front again, as fire magic is their weakness. Lead the way, and we will take them out before moving on."

 Chapter 231 Yeti Clans

    <h4>Chapter 231 Yeti ns</h4>


    Karl followed Hawk''s directions to the pack of what turned out to be Yeti, which were essentially furry Orcs in Karl''s mind. They were the same size, and though they didn''t use weapons and preferred their ws and Ice Magic, they were on the same near human intelligence level.


    The group of them stared down Karl as he approached alone out of the trees, then growled when he brought up [Refreshing Lightning] and [ming Body]. The Fire magic enraged them, and the pure gall of this human to think that he could take on an entire Yeti n on his own showed them that he did not respect them nearly enough.


    But Karl wasn''t alone, he was just the distraction, and the others had surrounded the group while he postured and wasted time.


    [We''re in ce.] Rae informed him, and Karlunched into action.


    His de swatted away a flurry of ice bolts as the mages summoned their Golems, then Rend blocked the ws of thergest Yeti.


    The beast was fast, blindingly fast with the swirl of snow and fog that surrounded it, making it hard for Karl to properly target as they traded strikes.


    He saw an opening, and went in for the kill, driving his de straight into the chest of the oversized beast. But the de found no purchase, and the ice covered fur simply turned it aside with a cloud of steam as the shing Elements fought for dominance.


    The two of them were evenly matched in power, and the yeti''s ws caused Karl''s lightning barrier to flicker as it took advantage of his overextension.


    The two of them moved back to regroup,pletely focused on their own battle, while the other, weaker members of the Yeti n were handled by the others.


    The Yeti''s ws were surrounded by Ice Magic the same way that Karl did with Rend when he was fighting with ws, but against an opponent so muchrger, it was better to use the two-handed de. It could still throw attacks just fine, and he had the skill to use them without an actual weapon now.


    But the Yeti was born to the power of Ice. It was no slouch inbat, and for a few minutes, neither of them could get through the other''s defences.


    The advantage changed as they fought, and Offensive Adaptation began to give Karl the edge, allowing him to reduce the power he was using in the fight, while the Yeti was getting tired. But the final decision was made by Rae, who finished her opponents and drove both sharp forelimbs through the back of the Yeti, impaling it through the heart and lungs, killing it before it even realized it had been ambushed.


    [You were taking too long.] Sheined.


    All the other Yeti were dead, and the group had moved up to make certain they were within range of [Circle of Protection] in case something was attracted to the noise.


    [Hawk, what do we have out there?] Karl asked.


    [More big walking furry things. Once you get past the next hill, the mountains are all covered in snow, and they''re scattered everywhere. I think they live in the caves.]


    "Hawk says there are many more Yetis around, and that they''re living in caves in the mountains." Karl exined to the group.


    "That means this might be the spot. There shouldn''t be Yeti here. There shouldn''t even be snow here. But there is. I think that we will need to find a safe spot in the mountains and check for entrances to the caves tomorrow morning." Alice instructed.


    They still had a lot of daylight left, which would give Hawk time to search for a safe spot for the evening.


    [The ck clothes people are fighting Yeti ahead on your left, then there are more Yetising from every direction except yours toward them.] Hawk informed him in a helpful tone.


    "Hawk says that a fight between the Spellswords and the local beasts has attracted every Yeti for a few kilometres." Karl sighed.


    "We should go help. If there are that many, it could spell trouble for them. They''re here to challenge a beast above their level, not do a mass clearance of the monsters. That''s closer to our mission, though our primary purpose is to look for opportunities." Alice agreed.


    The way to the battle was clear, as everything was already headed their way, and Karl could hear the frantic battle, and feel the crackling of magic up ahead as the Spellswords fought.


    "I will lead the way in, so they don''t attack Thor and the others." He called back to the group.


    Tessa climbed on Thor, and Rae grabbed Lotus, while Dana and Alice caught rides from Dana''s Golems. It was the most energy- efficient way to travel for them, and it would get them to the battle much more quickly than walking.


    When Karl arrived, he found that themotion was focused around Larry and Darryl. They were simrly built, dark haired young men, though the Commander, Larry, was a solid decade older, and Darryl was still a student close to Karl''s age. The pair were engaged in a desperate battle against five Ascended Rank Yeti, simr to the one that Karl had been fighting earlier.


    The battle was not going well for them, and they were reduced to fighting back to back, despite Larry having a Rank advantage on the beasts.


    "The Cerro and spider are mine. We''re here to help." Karl called as he charged into the battle, activating the mes on his sword to distract the Yeti ns.


    Again, there didn''t appear to be any females in the group, and what Lotus had said about the male monsters getting aggressive when there were no females around seemed to be true.


    The monsters charged Karl, but with the experience he had from the first fight, he knew the easy way to get one over on them.


    With the [ming Body] effect on his de set to somewhat weak, Karl charged straight in. The weak attack would give the monster a false sense of superiority, and then at thest second, Karlunched [Shred] to break the ice barrier on the monster, before bringing the mes to full output and driving the de deep into its chest.


    He kicked the beast away from him, sending it flying with his de in its chest, knocking two more of the Yeti over.


    That took a lot of the pressure from the beleaguered Spellswords, who looked concerned that he had just kicked his de across the battlefield.


    Karl dismissed the de and brought it back to his hands, refreshing the mes over it as he used Rend to block the next three attacks from the other beasts.


    Thor was there now, and Rae''s Golems, which meant that Lotus and the spider were somewhere nearby.


    "Damn, it''s good to see you. Can you get the clerics to treat Darryl? He''s half paralyzed from the ice attacks, and he''s too slow to fight properly." Larry asked.


    Thor charged over with Tessa, knocking thest of the Yetis away from the magic warriors, and giving her a chance to dismount while he fought.


    Tessa assessed the young mage. "I will take care of him, you help Thor. He''s got a Circle of Protection active, and it should include you. But his attack power is lower than his defence."


    The group moved to the middle of the clearing, while Karl and the Spider Golems forced the enemies back to give the mages time to recover and prepare for a drawn out battle.


    Alice turned to the other Commander, and Larry frowned.


    "I take it that you have bad news for me?" He asked before she could speak.


    "All sorts of it. Your battle here attracted every monster for kilometres. Or perhaps something else in the area did, but they''re alling here. Don''t burn through your mana too quickly, you''ll need it soon." She warned.


    "Is there any good news?" Larry asked, smiling in a way that said he knew they were in trouble.


    "We''ve got five Golems to fight for us, a Circle of Protection, two clerics, and a Lightning Cerro, who regenerates stamina. That''s the best that I can offer. Some of these beasts are a match for an Elite on the same level." Alice replied.


    "Some of them are a match for an Elite above their level. I had trouble with a high Ascended Rank winged wolf earlier."


    As if summoned, Lotus dropped down from the trees on a string of spider silk.


    "Do you know what those things are? I didn''t recognize them." She asked.


    Larry shook his head. "No, I''ve never seen anything like them. But it''s as good a name as any."

 Chapter 232 Swarmed

    <h4>Chapter 232 Swarmed </h4>


    There were more sounds ofbating their way, as if someone were fighting a running retreat, so Karl had Thor bugle out a greeting that should bring the humans their way.


    If it were the other Spellswords, they should know that he had beasts with him, and if it were other Elites, they mighte to what sounded like a Cerro pack for safety. The animals were herbivores, but they would fight back viciously if other monsters attacked them.


    A secondter, Prince Corbin was next to them, with a blood covered de in one hand and an unconscious Rose in the other.


    Tessa immediately began a Healing Prayer spell, and golden light surrounded the injured girl.


    "What happened?" Karl asked.


    "The damned tunnels happened. The entrances were covered in ice until we passed, and then the Yeti ns came flooding out to fight. I killed hundreds of them until I started to run out of mana, and they broke the barrier over Rose." He exined.


    If they broke the barriers of a Royal Rank mage, that meant that they likely had multiple Commanders with them, and that was bad news for everyone.


    "How many are still following you?" Alice asked, forming a battle n that didn''t involve being here in the trees when the Yeti attacked.


    "Not more than ten, but I ran into more that were already headed this way." He sighed.


    [About thirty now, counting the ones from the other sides.] Hawk updated.


    "Our scout says thirty in total,ing from three sides. The way we came from is still clear." Karl ryed.


    Corbin looked suspicious. "Why are they all over us like fat kids on a cupcake, and there is no horde of angry monstersing your way?"


    Karl shrugged. "They are now that we''re standing next to you. It might be a smell thing, either your magic or something about all of you."


    Rae sniffed the air, but didn''t detect anything. She could sense their magic, but that wasn''t a long ranged ability.


    The monsters spread out to circle them, roaring and grunting in a primitivenguage that was effective enough to arrange the battle.


    "Any words of wisdom?" Lotus whispered to Karl as the monsters came into view.


    "Yeah, I don''t think they can climb trees, so if things go sideways, get Rae to pull you up out of sight." Karl whispered back.


    The tiny Nature Priestess smiled and patted him on the back, and Karl shifted position, so that the Golems, plus him and Thor, made up the outer rank of defenders.


    Prince Corbin needed a moment to catch his breath and recover his mana, while Rose was still recovering under the effects of Tessa''s magic, and the other Spellswords were not tank type fighters, so they would join after the first charge was blocked.


    "We could use some more room to fight." Prince Corbin sighed as he assessed the dense trees in front of them.


    Thor gave a whistling snort in response, and when the first of the Yeti began to move forward, he smashed the ground with his tail, dropping a dozen trees with [Earthquake].


    "Well, that''s one way to do it. Alright, once the fight starts, I will clear a few more trees from our path, so we don''t have to dodge them as we fight."


    Rae was not a fan of that n, she was intending to use the trees as a chance to ambush from above, but even if she had to go a few extra metres, it shouldn''t hurt her tactics too much.


    The attackers paused as they saw the destructive potential of the Lightning Cerro, and the formation of humans arrayed against them. The Yeti ns might not often fight inrge groups, but that didn''t mean they were incapable of it, and after a few seconds, they began to shift positions, intending to swarm the two Awakened Rank Golems, which were the softest target on the outer loop.


    That was a monumental mistake, as right behind them was Prince Corbin, and no sooner had the Yeti attack reached the Golems then they were sliced clean in half by a de of wind.


    The ones behind them couldn''t understand what went wrong. The wind des were nearly invisible, and with the swirling snow and fog, they had never even seen theming. To the others, it looked like the two Awakened Rank Golems had taken out the first to attack.


    So, they all charged at once, intent on oveing the humans by pure force if a targeted strike wasn''t going to work.


    Thor''s Circle of Protection red, surrounding the defensive formation. That was all the courage Karl needed as he sent the strongest [Shred] that he could into the iing wave of Yeti warriors.


    [Hey, these other ones have weapons.] Hawk warned them just as Karl''s [Shred] took out a trio of furred monsters.


    "Hawk says that the next onesing have weapons." Karl warned as he sent a [Rend] attack straight forward with an overhand slice.


    "Yeti don''t use weapons." Corbin called back as he defended the point behind Dana''s Golems.


    "Do you think someone forgot to tell them that?" Karl asked, using a Rend attack to highlight the fact that there were ones with weapons already in sight.


    "Shit. That''s not right at all." Alice cursed as she saw what Hawk was informing Karl of.


    "How is our count?" Tessa called as she refreshed the buffs on everyone''s weapons and stamina.


    [Not more than twelve, all extra strong with weapons.]


    "I don''t think that the count will matter for long. Darrel and Darrin just paged for emergency rescue. They''re too far from here for us to get to, but there are other Elites nearby, and they''re all having issues." Corbin informed them.


    He had an earbud in, so he could hear all the radio updates, and things were suddenly chaotic for everyone who was withinmunications range.


    Karl stared down a pair of oversized yetis, who were wielding short swords in both hands, with eyes glowing like blue gemstones as they channelled magic.


    Karl stepped forward to give himself room to fight, but mentally made a note of Thor''s Circle of Protection. If he was going to go two on one against Commander Rank monsters, he was going to need all the help he could get.


    He wasn''t the only one that was about to be in trouble, all the armed monsters were Commander Rank beasts, and their ice magic was resonating with that of the ones near them, creating a swirling vortex of ice around the battlefield.


    [Hawk, find us a way out of here. A nice cave, somewhere that we can''t be surrounded by these things.] Karl instructed as the bird circled overhead, still scouting until he was given orders to attack.


    [Got it. I will look for something.]


    The creature in front of Karl turned up its mouth into a sneer, and the two attacked in unison, sending a wave of ice Karl''s way.


    A flick of his wrist sent a wave of me toward them, intercepting the icicles, but most of them still made it through, mming into his [Refreshing Lightning] barrier and draining his energy. That was the insidious part of the ice attacks, they tried to slow you until you were frozen, and they could eat you at their leisure.


    Tessa''s magic warmed him from the inside, and Lotus had cast a spell over the area that was counteracting the ice magic with nts, but it wasn''t enough, as each of the beasts were individually stronger than she was, and their magic resonated.


    Another volley was partially blocked as Karl switched to using [Rend] which had already optimized itself against the Yeti magic, and cut deep gouges into the closer of his two targets, but in return, Karl took a direct hit that punched through his lightning Barrier, leaving a bleeding wound in his side that quickly closed under the effects of Lotus'' magic.


    "We need to get out of here." Alice called as she took out one of the monsters fighting her Golem.


    Larry was with Thor still, and Corbin was with Dana''s Golems, which she was using all her focus to keep active as they took continual hits from the ice magic.


    "Hawk is on it. He will have something soon." Karl called back as Rae crept down the trees tounch a surprise attack on the Yeti''s back before vanishing again.


    They weren''t healing quickly, and within ten seconds, the blood was beginning to pool at its feet from the wound. That was a good sign, and Karl expanded [ming Body] to cover all of himself over the Lightning barrier.


    It would break first and wouldn''t be avable to attack for a bit afterwards, but the fire did a much better job of negating the damage from the ice attacks, and Karl couldn''t afford too many more hits like thest one.


    If it wasn''t for the flying spells, and the two Spellswords darting in and out to slice and chop at the beasts, it would almost look like a stalemate on the battlefield, but when Rae got a flurry of attacks into the back of the second beast that Karl was fighting, and her golems went on a Kamikaze mission to support Larry on Thor''s side of the encirclement, Karl knew that it was almost time for them to go.


    [When there is a chance, run to Thor''s side. Five hundred metres that way is a cave with nothing inside.] Hawk exined.


    "Everyone, get ready to move. Punch through on Thor''s side and keep moving five hundred metres to a cave."


    "Got it. I will shift sides for a hard push, you take the rear guard. Everyone else, run as fast as you can, but stay together." Prince Corbin instructed.

 Chapter 233 Escape Encirclement

    <h4>Chapter 233 Escape Encirclement</h4>


    Prince Corbin attacked through the breach on Thor''s side of the circle faster than most of the Elites'' eyes could follow, cutting down a swathe of yetis and burning through his mana to get everyone clear of the encirclement.


    Tessa pulled Alice and Dana up on Thor''s back, while Rae grabbed Lotus with a strand of silk and pulled her into the trees, escaping the encirclement before the furry monsters could even realize that the Nature Priestess was unharmed.


    The Golems held their positions around Thor, while the Spellswords used their magic to increase their movement speed and keep in the protective circle around the Lightning Cerro.


    Karl chased after them, using fire to keep the monsters at bay as everyone ran, ignoring their injuries and exhaustion to keep up with the Royal Rank mage and the rampaging Cerro.


    The Golems were the first to fall, forced to stop to hold off the wave of attackers. Then Darryl took an ice bolt to the knee that dropped him to the ground, leaving him far behind the main group.


    Karl picked up the wounded Spellsword as the man downed a healing potion, then hurled him back ahead and into the main group.


    At the back of the pack, they were taking too many attacks for the exhausted mage to keep his armour up, but Karl''s Lightning was still holding strong as he hurled attacks at the monsters approaching the sides of the group.


    The monsters were as fast as Thor, and they weren''t giving up the chase, but the constant barrage of attacks was keeping them from closing in again, as three hundred metres passed, then four hundred, and the cave came into sight.


    Lotus and Rae were already waiting for them, along with the Spider Golems, which Rae could only summon next to her after they had fallen in battle.


    Once they were closer, the mages created new Golems to defend the cave mouth, and everyone dismounted from Thor as he stopped to guard the entrance.


    But the Yeti ns were no longer following them. Once they got within fifty metres of the caves, the beasts broke off the chase, milling about, but unwilling to get too close to the caverns.


    That was probably not a good thing, Karl decided. But for the moment, it was keeping them from being attacked, and Rae had disappeared inside to scout, but didn''t find anything at all other than stone walls and some dripping water from the melting snow above.


    Once everyone was inside, they dismissed the golems, and Karl called Thor back into his space.


    The Yeti ns still weren''t approaching, so it wasn''t the defensive force that was keeping them away, but something about the area around the cave.


    [Hawk, do you see anything threatening above? Something that might actually be a danger to a Commander Rank Yeti?] Karl asked.


    [Nothing. Other than them, there is nothing here. Not even mice.]


    That didn''t sound promising, but they would have to work with it.


    Rae returned empty-handed, but with insight about the caves.


    [They extend another fifteen metres, then they stop at a stone wall with water flowing down it. The water runs out somewhere at the bottom, but I''m too big to fit in there. We should be safe in here.] She exined.


    "Rae says the caves are empty, but there is a water drain at the back wall, so they''re notpletely sealed. We should be able to hide and rest here, then continue in the morning." Karl whispered to Alice, so he didn''t alert anything outside.


    Corbin cast a spell over the entrance, creating a false stone wall, and Karl called Hawk back to his space.


    [The three of you, get some sleep. If we''re attacked, we will likely need all of you in your best shape again.] He instructed.


    The trio settled in to rest, and Karl turned his attention to the conversation between the Commanders and Prince Corbin.


    "There shouldn''t have been Commanders here at all, much less dozens of them with weapons. The anomaly was strong enough when we saw snow start to fall in these mountains, when it has never done that before, but to have sudden appearances of an entire force of Commander Rank Yeti? That''s far too unnatural." Prince Corbin was muttering.


    "For once, I actually envy Darrel and Darrin, they managed to get a ride out of here." Larry replied quietly.


    Corbin shook his head. "No they didn''t. The helicopter was attacked and was forced to turn back. They joined up with the other Elite units in the zone to gather and retreat on foot. The radiomunications say that they''re still alive, but they''ve been attacked multiple times as well.


    The strength of the attackers is falling as they head out of the hills, so we have to be close to the core of the problem, but I have no idea how we''re going to even investigate it.


    Darryl and Rose are in no shape to be going anywhere, and likely won''t be until some time tomorrow afternoon, and as we learned today, it''s not even safe for me to travel alone here.


    I might be at the Royal Rank, but ten or twenty on one, Commander Rank magic users are still going to overwhelm me."


    As he watched, Karl noticed that the healing of the group wasn''tplete. Both Corbin and Larry were still showing distinct zones of cold, where the damaging ice magic was lingering in their body, weakening them internally.


    The strongest fighters had been on the front lines, so they had taken the most damage, and while Lotus and Tessa were excellent healers, they weren''t strong enough to immediately The strongest fighters had been on the front lines, so they had taken the most damage, and while Lotus and Tessa were counteract the magic of the Yeti Ice. So he made his way over to the whispering group.


    "Pardon my intrusion, but I think it might be best if none of us moved too soon. I have thermal vision, and I can literally see the lingering ice magic damage to your bodies. The magic will resonate with the next attack you suffer, freezing you more quickly. Once that starts to happen, we''re screwed." Karl whispered.


    Larry cursed, then softlyughed. "You''re one to speak. I can still see the ice on your armour."


    Karl looked down, and realized that he had ten times as much lingering damage as they had, despite the [Refreshing Lightning] that he still had active working to nullify it.


    The spell itself had cold spots where it was fighting off the lingering spell effects, and Karl frowned at the pernicious nature of the attacks.


    It had been hours, and the magic hadn''t even made it through his defences, but it was still lingering, and if he took down the lightning, it would seed.


    Instead, he coated himself in [ming Body], lighting up the cave like a beacon, and rapidly warming the area as well.


    That nullified the lingering magic on his body in only a few seconds, leaving a nice even warmth in the cavern.


    "Problem solved."


    Karl checked on the beasts in their spaces, and found that both Hawk and Rae were predictably fine. They weren''t frontline fighters, but Rae looked distracted. She was trying to learn something again, so Karl left her to it. She was the smartest of the three, and if it was possible for her to learn a new skill, she would have it soon.


    Thor still had cold spots all over his body, but he had increased the temperature of the springs in his space, and the Holy Stones were dissipating the lingering magic at a visible pace.


    The others in the group looked alright, though Rose was exhausted from the after effects of all the healing magic that had been used on her, and Darrel was hiding bruises all over his body that Karl could see as slightly flushed areas, where the warmer blood was close to the surface.


    Lotus still had an area healing spell active, so a few minutes ago, everyone would have been much worse, and Tessa looked like she was already half asleep after the effort of keeping everyone buffed and the healing work she had done during the battle.


    While it was their most important ability, saving someone of their own rank from a near death state, or closing multiple critical wounds, was an energy-intensive activity. Doing it every ten seconds for four different people must have stretched her abilities to the limit.


    As Thor rxed in his pond, he activated [Circle of Protection] which helped restore stamina, as well as reducing damage. That was what everyone needed the most right now, and it was no trouble for him to keep it active while he napped.

 Chapter 234 Spaces Maximized

    <h4>Chapter 234 Spaces Maximized </h4>


    "Who is in shape for first watch?" Corbin whispered to the other Commanders as the Circle of Protection settled over them.


    "I am. My skills refresh stamina, so I will keep first watch while my beasts rest. I can also see in absolute darkness, so there is no need to keep a light on for me." Karl replied.


    Larry chuckled. "But it is for the rest of us. This ce will be unnervingly ck without one. Can you keep that me spell of yours active, or is it draining even when it''s not taking damage?"


    Karl smiled and took out his bonded sword, then walked to the wall beside the entrance and stuck it into the stone, with the mes surrounding it. He reduced them to a faint glow and returned to the conversation.


    "That should be a good enough night light for everyone, as well as a decent space heater. It doesn''t take any effort to keep active, as it was intended to be a passive skill. Only when using it to attack or taking damage does it take effort."


    The de was positively humming with energy today, after all the fighting that it had gotten to do. Karl hadn''t noticed with his injuries, but the amount of life that it had stolen was really rather excessive. It was only a small portion of the energy from each kill, but Karl had downed a significant number of monsters alone, including multiple Commanders toward the end of the battle.


    The energy hadn''t been fully assimted by his body yet, but it soon would be, and he was focusing it all into the three focal points in the beast spaces.


    It didn''t take all of his focus, so as everyone ate their dinner, for which the Spelldes were happy to have a Nature Priest, and then settled into bed, Karl continued the energy transfer.


    Once everyone was asleep, or on their way to it, he put most of his attention into it, leaving just enough to keep watching the tunnel entrance and the back wall, in case something came from that direction.


    The back wall of the cave was only very dimly lit, even to his night sight, but the trickle of water was steady, and as Rae had said, it had to be going somewhere, as it wasn''t filling the cave.


    Karl let them sleep a bit longer, as they had started the rotation of night watches early due to exhaustion, and waited four hours before he woke Tessa for the second watch.


    "The light will stay on while I meditate. I need to absorb the leeched energy from the battle." He whispered as she straightened her robes and brushed her hair.


    "Is there anything to report?" She asked.


    "Nothing at all. It is eerily silent out there, and I don''t hear anything moving near the cave mouth. The wind has died down a bit, so the noise of the trees is quieter, and I can hear some small animals, but nothing else."


    Karl settled into a deep trance whileying in his sleeping bag, and was only vaguely aware that at some point Tessa had traded spots with Alice for the third watch.


    Alice had just traded spots with Prince Corbin when Karl felt something changing in his spaces.


    He had been stuffing them with excess energy that his body couldn''t absorb quickly enough all night, and it was then, with a feeling that spread through his body like the ringing of a bell, just a subtle vibration that made every bit of his body sing with energy, they stopped changing, and a fourth space began to form.


    It already had a small focus in it, though it was otherwise barren and norger than a bedroom, instead of the acres of space that the others now epassed.


    The change immediately woke the beasts up to see what was going on in their homes, and they all noticed the new addition.


    "So, our homes have reached the standard. Now, we just need to make it to Commander Rank, and we will be the powerful ones on the team." Hawk preened, already imagining the majesty of his feathers when he reached Commander Rank.


    "Yes, all shall bow down before us when we are Commanders." Rae agreed.


    She mentally added [Maybe not that Overlord Drake guy], but she was otherwise confident that the humans would no longer be her match.


    Karl sensed Corbin''s attention on him, and opened his eyes to acknowledge the Royal Rank mage, who had carefully arranged himself, and even trimmed his beard a little to look more youthful and less dishevelled than he had at the start of the evening.


    All signs of lingering Ice Magic were gone, Karl noted with pleasure, meaning that their strongest fighter was back in top shape.


    "Did you make an advancement, or gain an epiphany of some sort? I sensed the surge of power." Prince Corbin asked.


    "My beast spaces made a breakthrough. They shouldn''t be holding the beasts back anymore, and in due time, the team will be able to make it to Commander Rank." He exined quietly.


    The mage looked impressed. "You know, it''s a shame that someone with your potential wasn''t scouted as a mage. With that level of mental fortitude, you should have a rather easy time learning new spells."


    Karl smiled at the thought. "The beasts have an even easier time. I have a skill that helps them learn by watching or being instructed by others. If it''s apatible skill, then within a day or two of watching they can usually get the basics of it down.


    We haven''t had enough time to just stop and study new skills, but we also haven''te across manypatible skills so far, and that has limited the expansion of their talents."


    That made Prince Corbin a bit suspicious. "So you''re saying that your beasts are watching us and trying to steal our skills?"


    Karl tried tough quietly so he didn''t wake anyone else up. "Doubtful. None of them have thumbs, so sword skills aren''t exactly their forte, and none of them are actual mages. Hawk has an affinity for the Fire Element, but I didn''t see any of you using it during the fight, but he''s the only one who uses actual magic other than Rae''s ability to summon Golems."


    Corbin smiled at the memory of the wooden golems charging out of the trees to tear apart the Yeti Warriors. "Those are quite impressive, by the way. If they could use defensive magic or ranged attacks, they would be incredible."


    Karl nodded. "Give us time, and we will find a spell that either I can cast on them, or that Rae can use herself to protect them. When they make it to Commander Rank, they might pick up a new skill, though. ording to the studies I''ve done, many beasts do."


    Corbin nodded. "It''smon for them to get a skill at Commander, and almost mandatory that they learn something other than their Racial Ability to advance to Royal Rank.


    Royal Rank beasts can all use some sort of advanced magic, though for some it is hidden either as insane defence or some sort of physical change.


    Like the Yeti that we faced today. There is something called a King of Snow, which is an evolved version of that species. They can control ice and snow in all its many forms, but they can also use powerful wind magic, usually including either Tearing Winds or Tornado."


    Karl understood the concept, and his pets should all be well on the way to that standard. They had all learned skills that weren''t part of their Racial abilities, and they just had to make it to that power level, unless there was some barrier to them as well, the way there was for humans.


    But the immediate concern was getting them to the Commander Rank standard.


    They were growing fast with the input of the Vampiric Sword, but Karl was certain that there was more he could be doing, other than hunting randomly for monsters to kill and random items to feed them.


    Prince Corbin smiled at him. "Rx, you''re thinking too hard. Sometimes what you need is not to push forward, but to build your base good and strong. Once you have a better foundation, you will find that it is easier to build the levels thate above it.


    Think of your potential like a pyramid. It needs to be broadest at the base to grow properly. You can make it look like an obelisk, but they''re unstable, and a good hit can knock them over. That''s not what you need for steady growth.


    Everyone else will be up soon, so if you want a bit more meditation time, get it now before they start cooking."

 Chapter 235 Check The Cave

    <h4>Chapter 235 Check The Cave</h4>


    Karl focused on his meditation while thest shift of the night ended, and the newly formed fourth space began to rapidly expand in his mind, absorbing everything that it could get, along with the lingering remnants of energy that Karl''s de had provided during the previous day''s fight.


    With the other three spaces waiting for their upants to advance, and this fourth space being so small, the change was immediately obvious, and the enhancement of the focus was expanding the area much more efficiently than simply pouring energy into the space had.


    The Monks knew what they were doing for certain, and this was so far superior to trial and error that Karl felt silly for not having thought to ask them in the first ce.


    The others began to wake, and Karl could smell food cooking, so he shifted most of his focus to the outside world, and let the new space form naturally.


    [What sort of new friend are we getting?] Thor asked as he took his cue from everyone else and began to eat breakfast.


    [I have no idea. What sort of friend would you like?] Karl asked.


    [More Lightning Cerro.] Thor replied confidently.


    He really should have seen that oneing. Thor was a pack animal, so of course he would want to be with more of his kind if given the option.


    Hawk chimed in with his opinion. [All that we''re going to find here are snowy things. Oh, the fluffy snow cats are alright, I think. They never finish their food.]


    Rae wasn''t picky. [Just pick someone cool.]


    [Alright, so we''re looking for someone cool, maybe a snow cat, and potentially a friend for Thor. But we should cover for holes in our skills. We don''t have anyone who enhances the group, except for defence, we don''t have a healer, and we only have one long ranged attacker.]


    [Ooh, ooh, I can be the healer. Healer sounds like a fun job.] Thor volunteered.


    [Well, alright, as soon as you learn healing magic, I will let you try out a run as the team''s healer, and I will tank with the Golems.] Karl replied, indulging the Cerro''s idea.


    [That shouldn''t be hard. I have felt lots of healing already.] Thor replied, optimistically.


    If he really could manage it, the new cleric students at the Seminary Academy would never live down the shame. Outssed in their own ss by a Lightning Cerro.


    Karl was contemting what would be best for the next addition to their team when breakfast was served, and it was time to start the serious part of their nning for the day.


    Everyone could use a bit longer to recover after yesterday, at least ate morning start, and the cave had been safe so far. That led to the natural idea to make it their base for the next few days of exploration.


    After the fiasco yesterday, they needed to know what was going on here, and if it was going to be an expanding threat to the surrounding areas.


    If the ice continued to spread, it would be everyone''s problem soon, and they had a responsibility to at least try to find out what the situation was so that appropriate forces could be sent to deal with it.


    Lotus gestured to the back wall of the cave as she was finishing breakfast. "Can you go grab some water and boil it for coffee? The runoff should be pure after being filtered by the sandstone around the cave."


    Karl walked to the back of the cave and extended therger canteen toward the water flowing down the back wall. However, the moment that his fingers touched it, the wall vanished, revealing an extensive tunnelwork extending from the room on the other side.


    [I thought you checked the area.] Karl asked Rae as the spell vanished.


    [You look with your eyes, not your limbs. Did you want me to check the water temperature when I could already see it was cold?] Rae retorted.


    [Sorry, you''re right. But now we need to be on guard from this side as well.]


    "Um, minor issue." Karl called to the group, who turned to face the back wall that no longer existed.


    "Fuck." Prince Corbin breathed.


    "Couldn''t have said it better myself." Alice added as she prepared defensive magic.


    A stale odour wasing from the caverns, and in the distance they could feel a pulse of magic, as if there was some grand spell active in the heart of the mountain.


    "We will explore it after breakfast. The barrier over the entrance should keep anything from following us, and Corbin will feel if it is attacked, so at least one side is secure." Alice sighed as she looked at the meal that was just waiting for water to make coffee.


    Lotus made the water with magic, already heated, and got the meal served. Nobody wanted to go anywhere this morning, but now that they were looking at a huge tunnelplex and not just one small cave to hide in, they had to be proactive and ensure that they weren''t about to get ambushed.


    Alice looked at the group they had assembled.


    "Are you lot going to head back out and try your luck to finish your goals?" She asked.


    Larry and Corbin shook their heads.


    "If you don''t mind, we would prefer to stay with your group, strength in numbers. Yesterday''s fiasco nearly cost our n its most talented proteges, and we really can''t afford to have another ambush when it''s not safe for the helicopters toe extract us." Corbin replied.


    [See, he knows. Strength in numbers.] Thor agreed.


    This day''s trip might be rough on him and Hawk, neither of whom would have an easy time in the caves, so they would have to spend most of their time in the beast spaces. But Alice''s Golem would have issues as well, unless she knew how to shorten it. They had been fighting all taller enemies outdoors since he met her, so there really hadn''t been a reason for her to do it before.


    Dana''s golems were only a little taller than the tallest members of their group, but even their normal height would be a tight fit once they got further into the caves if Karl''s guess was right.


    He had a lot of experience underground, and he was likely the only one who would be trulyfortable there, especially if the ceilings were high enough that he could stand properly upright and not have to use the miner''s duck walk.


    Once the meal was finished and everything was cleaned and packed away, Karl led Rae in front of the group, as she was still a bit shorter than he was in her normal standing position, though much wider and longer. They could both see perfectly well no matter the light conditions, so they were the obvious choice to scout the area, and they could move ahead of the group to check the multiple tunnels that joined the room on the other side of the now vanished barrier.


    Something felt wrong the moment that he stepped through, and when Karl turned to check on the group behind him, he saw the stone wall that had vanished on their side.


    His hand passed through it, so he wasn''t trapped in here, but he would have to remember where it was, or they would end up lost in the tunnels.


    Rae had the answer to that. She used her forelimb to carve her name into the stone by the door, so they would know if they saw it again.


    "You check the left side first, and I will start from the right. Don''t get out of sight of each other, but look as far down the tunnel as you can." Karl instructed.


    The first one on the right made a steep downward slope, then a hard left, so he couldn''t see far until he moved down the ramp a way, then saw that it was a continued spiral downward.


    So, he returned to the main room and checked the next. It extended for a hundred metres before making a ny-degree left turn, obviously constructed and not natural. At the far end of that hallway was a closed door, but he could see the flickering of mes on the other side, so something was likely alive in there, and probably not Yeti.


    Rae found a dead end, with a nice pit trap that she avoided due to her body design walking along the edges of the floor, and then another downward spiral that she didn''t fully explore before returning to Karl.


    "Well, we know what is in the area now. Let''s ask the others what we''re doing."

 Chapter 236 Enchanted Caverns

    Chapter 236 Enchanted Caverns


    ??The rest of the group came to join him in the main room, and were briefly startled when the doorway appeared to be gone. Like Karl had, Alice stepped back through and found that she had no resistance, it was just an illusion, and touching the other side had broken it.


    The real question was whether the one who made it was trying to keep something out, or to keep something in. It hid the only way out of the tunnelplex, so it could be either.


    "Should we see what set a fire in the room on this level, or should we see what''s below us first?" Alice asked Corbin and Larry, conferring between the three strongest fighters to see what they felt was safest.


    "Go with what we know could be a threat first. The room with fire." Corbin suggested.


    Nobody else had an objection to that, and they wouldn''t want to leave it unchecked when they went down, in case the tunnels were a dead end and whatever was in there either blocked them or did something like vent poisonous gas down them.


    Karl moved to lead the way, but Corbin stopped him.


    "If we''re going into an unknown room, I should go first. I might be a Spellde, but I''m also a Royal Rank Mage, and my barriers are much stronger than yours are." He whispered.


    So, Karl and Rae moved to the second and third position, ready to nk Corbin once the door was open, and the others followed them down the narrow corridor to the decrepit wooden door.


    The coarse yellow sandstone had been crudely hacked at to create the doorway, and the fitment was terrible, suggesting that whoever made it was no skilled craftsman, but when Karl peeked through the gaps, he didn''t see anyone inside, only a few ming braziers near the walls.


    He shrugged at Corbin, indicating that he couldn''t see anything, and the Prince kicked the door open, rushing inside with Karl right behind him.


    Only to find that the room was empty.


    Five metres on each side, with two braziers lit, and one door on the far side.


    The others followed them inside as Karl scanned the room for hidden traps, and the moment that Larry entered and everyone was inside, the door mmed shut and a set of runes appeared on the wall.


    "Shit, we triggered a magical trap. How did I not notice that?" Corbin muttered, trying desperately to decipher the writing.


    [Trial begins in ten seconds.] He read out loud.


    Then, in front of Karl''s watchful gaze, half the group disappeared.


    He was left with Rae, Tessa and Lotus. Everyone else had vanished.


    "Ascended." Lotus informed them, pointing at the wall.


    "It says Ascended. The trap split us up by Rank."


    That should mean that Dana was with Darryl and Rose, while Alice was with Larry, but Corbin might be trapped alone in a trial.


    The room wasn''tfortablyrge enough for Thor or Hawk to be called out, even Rae was enough to make it a bit cramped in here, so the Awakened Group, with Dana''s two Golems, would be simrly crowded.


    Then, the room surged with magic, and a whole battlefield appeared around them, an open, snow-covered field, with the bodies of in soldiers and Yeti Warriors scattered all around them. Onest group was approaching, and Karl hesitantly called out Thor and Hawk, unsure how the magic worked.


    Hawk soared into the sky, confirming that inside this trial, there was actual room to fight.


    [Tribesmen, embrace the curse of the beast. Drive these interlopers from ournds and return the eternal snow.] The leader of the group, a massive warrior with a scar that ran from the left side of his chest to his right hip, was shouting.


    That was new. The Yeti couldn''t speak.


    Once his encouragement was over, the warriors surged with power, and Thor activated [Circle of Protection] as he prepared to meet their charge.


    Tessa climbed onto his back, while Lotus moved to stand behind Karl and Rae summoned her Golems.


    They still had the numbers advantage, but these warriors were all on the low side of Ascended, other than their leader.


    Lotus spoke softly to the group. "Attack in 3,2,1."


    Vines shot up from the ground, tripping the warriors when they were ten metres away, close enough for Shred to make it to them in a split second, right before the spider Golems were on them and Hawk''s fireballs began to bombard the leader of the group.


    It wasn''t enough to kill them, but the beasts were heavily wounded by the time that they fought their way free of the entanglement, and then Thor''s charge reached the left side of their lines, impaling two and holding them in ce for Tessa''s chain mace to crush their skulls.


    Thor kept moving, circling back for another charge as the ice magic began to swirl around the warriors, forming the early stages of a blizzard.


    Karl drew his sword and charged, hacking deep into the chest of one target, then parrying the de of another as the blizzard faded before it was even formed.


    These yetis were terriblebatants, theycked fighting instinct and experience. In half a minute, it was all over, and the beasts rejoined Karl and the clerics.


    Nobody said anything, not wanting to jinx their chances of getting out of here, but it looked like their odds weren''t that good to begin with.


    There was more writing, this time appearing on the snow in front of them.


    [Stage Complete] Lotus read.


    "Now what do we do?" Karl asked, as Tessa rubbed Thor''s scales, getting him psyched up for another fight.


    The words vanished, and new words reced them.


    [Rewards earned. Beginning Stage Two.]


    Karl wasn''t certain what he got as a reward, but he did know that there were now two of those groups, with five low Ascended and one high Ascended fighter between them.


    If the other groups were facing these odds at their own power levels, this might be a nasty fight, and Karl hoped that they were going to get everyone back in one piece.


    "Thor and Rae, take left, I will take right with Hawk." Karl instructed.


    Their opponents were weak to fire, and they hesitated as they saw Karl''s body burst into mes, coating the lightning and melting the surrounding snow.


    Then the barrage of fireballs came down from the sky, and they charged, knowing that in order to focus on their ranged attacks, they were going to have to deal with Karl first.


    In the back, the leader was attacking Hawk, but between one spell caster and a very agile bird, none of the attacks were even getting close to hitting.


    Tessa was chanting some sort of enhancement spell as they fought, and Lotus had trapped the leader''s feet with vines on Karl''s side, preventing him from avoiding the barrage of fireballs that Hawk sent his way.


    Karl hacked into the bodies of the warriors, using his overwhelming strength to overpower the beasts which were at the bottom of Ascended, while he was near the top.


    It could hardly even be called a fair fight when he had so many magical items on his side, and two clerics granting him buffs and restraining the enemies.


    The fight was quickly ended, and the group gathered to make a n as for how to deal with the third trial.


    Tessa considered the likely oue of a third stage. Three groups, the same as the first. "That''s going to be a lot of iing enemies, and three of us isn''t enough to cover every side, unless we have Rae and the Spider Golems split up, which leaves me and Thor short on damage dealers."


    [Bah, send more of them, I''ll give them an extra dose of Find Out.] Hawk muttered in Karl''s mind, getting annoyed by the constant ice attacks.


    Ice was just the evil cousin of the water family, and he was about done with their nonsense.


    [This would be more fun if the lights were off.] Rae agreed as she waited for the next development to take ce. Even if there were more, it wouldn''t be difficult to sneak up on them if it wasn''t the middle of the day.


    Though, it was rather pleasant mixing all these whites and greys of armoured bodies and snow with the blood-red when she adapted her coloration to match the battlefield. As far as settings went, this was about the most pleasant one she had seen that wasn''t filled with trees.

 Chapter 237 Round Two... Fight

    Chapter 237 Round Two... Fight


    ??The words changed again and Lotus frowned.


    "It says Rewards granted, basic testing passed." She exined.


    "That sounds a lot like we should be let out, doesn''t it?" Karl asked.


    "It does, and I''m wondering why we''re still here." Lotus agreed.


    Then the symbols changed again.


    [Beginning Advanced testing.]


    "Advanced." Was all that Lotus said, as Karl and Tessa sighed.


    [Oh, they want some of this, do they? Yeah, I''ll give them some, stupid cold water magic people.] Hawk cheered.


    Raeughed at his enthusiasm. Of course, he was ready for the fight, he was way up there above it, where he had plenty of time to dodge the attacks.


    Again a n of Yeti Warriors appeared in front of them, but this time it was only one n, but nine warriors and a leader. By Karl''s estimation, they were all low Commander Rank, including the leader, though he might qualify as mid-Commander.


    "Oh, this is going to suck." Tessa sighed as she realized what they were up against.


    It was basically a poorly version of the same force that chased them into the cave yesterday, but only ten of them instead of three dozen or more.


    "Alright, we can do this. Stay close, so we''re all in the Circle of Protection, with Lotus in the middle as our primary healer. Tessa, I''m not sure if you still want to be on Thor, since these ones are a bit taller, but that''s your call. Everyone else, you know what to do." Karl insisted.


    The warriors began to spread out to surround the group, and Karlunched himself forward the moment they reached the edge of Thor''s Circle of Protection. His sudden strike shattered the crude de of his opponent, and thebination of Shred and ming Body let the de cut deep into the Commander Rank hide of the beast, leaving it gushing blood from the wound in its chest.


    The beast copsed backward, holding its chest and trying to plug the wound, while Karl turned on another.


    Thor charged forward to assist, bringing the rest of the group running after him, while Rae''s Golems went after the one behind the Yeti that Karl was fighting.


    They traded one round of attacks with it, then went for their true targets. One leapt on the furry monster, blocking its sight, while the other went for the back of Karl''s opponent, tearing it open with [Lacerate].


    These monsters regenerated slowly, and they would likely bleed to death if the group could hold out long enough. They just needed to inflict the necessary wounds first.


    The spiders broke off to defend Rae, who was now under attack from the monsters who hade around the back of the fight, and Karl noticed that one had doubled back to cast Ice Magic on the chest of the downed fighter, freezing the wound and stopping the blood flow.


    That might work to stop the damage from Lacerate, but that particr target had its organs punctured and burned. Sealing the leak wouldn''t help for long.


    Still, with the damage patched, the beast carefully got up and retreated from the battle.


    He didn''t get far.


    Once he was away from the others, still too injured to defend himself, Hawk was raining fireballs at him from above, while taunting the monsters with his agility.


    Unfortunately, his arrogance cost him dearly, and Hawk took a direct st with an icicle that sent him directly into his beast space, frozen stiff. He was still alive, but he had taken heavy damage, and Karl worked to increase the temperature of the space and thaw him as quickly as possible.


    "What happened to Hawk?" Lotus called.


    "Icicle st." Karl called back, without enough time to exin.


    He was facing three of the Yeti Warriors now, each more powerful than he was, at least on the basic skills level. He still had the advantage in brute strength, and Karl was using that to keep them from being able to dictate the pace of the fight.


    Karl couldn''t go far, or he would leave Lotus open, but he could move a few metres in a sh, out of the range of their attacks, and then back in to hack at any openings they left.


    A lucky strike took the leg off one of the Yetis at the knee, and though it was quickly frozen over by hispanions, the warrior was out of the fight and dragging himself away.


    Two on one, Karl stood a much better chance, and he spared a nce to see how the others were doing.


    Lotus still looked reasonably fresh, she wasn''t sweating or panting with exertion, and she had the whole area epassed in a green glowing healing circle. Tessa was still riding Thor, as it was the best way to get at the vitals of therger opponents, but they hadn''t managed to take any down yet that he could see.


    The real winner in this fight was Rae with her Golems.


    Not only had she crippled one near Karl, and blinded another, she had killed two of them outright since the battle began.


    There was a copious amount of ck blood on the ground that could only havee from her, but the Bloodbath Spider was still fighting with all her might and relying on Lotus to keep her healed.


    Unexpectedly, blue light shed over everyone, including Rae''s Golems, as Thor''s [Refreshing Lightning] spread from himself to the whole group.


    [I did it! I am the healer now!] The Lightning Cerro screamed mentally while bugling in victory.


    While it wasn''t technically a healing spell, it did increase your regeneration speed, so Karl was going to give him this victory.


    With the extra barrier, Rae no longer had to hold back as much, she could take some extra risks tond blows on the attackers, and one of her Spider Golems came to assist Karl, going for the back of his opponents after quickly using [Lacerate] across the throat of the blinded Yeti who had retreated a dozen metres from the battle.


    Karl searched for the leader of the group, but couldn''t see where he had gone, they all looked the same when you were fighting them, but Thor was having problems with his opponent, the only one he had left after everyone else had gone to support the fight against Rae.


    With a shout, the opponent on Karl''s left cast a spell, and an ice spikeunched up from the ground, mming into Lotus and throwing her into the air, which caused her healing circle to fall as the Priestess was knocked unconscious.


    Thor got the barrier back up before she hit the ground, but she would need time to recover, and Karl quickly realized that everyone had been relying on her to keep casting refreshing spells, and they were quickly running out of Stamina due to the Ice Magic trying to freeze them.


    Karl could feel his body getting sluggish as another of the Yeti Warriors fell to the Spider Golems, leaving him and a Golem against only one opponent. But Tessa had been knocked from Thor''s back, and was now fighting on foot while casting buffs that would hopefully counteract the freezing effect and heal Lotus enough to bring her back to consciousness.


    Karl tackled his opponent, leaving its neck open to the Spider Golem as its de shattered bothyers of his shield and cut into his armour. That was the end of another Yeti, and he turned to face thest few monsters just in time to see Thor gouged down his side, shattering his remaining Lightning, and sending him frozen into his Beast Space.


    "Rae, guard the clerics. It will just be me and the Golems on offence." Karl instructed.


    He was still fast enough, faster than any average human, but no longer faster than their opponents. It shouldn''t matter, though, the Golems were freshly summoned and not suffering from any ill effects, and both remaining targets were wounded.


    Lotus was conscious again, but barely, while Tessa had retreated to stand over her so the area that she needed to cover with her magic was reduced.


    Karl led the two Golems forward as the Yeti Leader roared, and suddenly, they were all standing in an empty battlefield.


    [Task sessfully failed. Partial Reward Granted.] appeared in the snow in front of them.


    "It says that we ... failed sessfully?" Lotusmented, not quite sure that she had tranted the ancientnguage properly.


    "Well, nobody is dead. At least, I don''t think they are." Karl replied as he checked on Thor and Hawk.


    Both were in bad shape, but the magic of the Beast Space had called them home on the verge of death, and they were slowly recovering. The ice was gone with the end of the trial, and the healing waters of his pond were rapidly bringing some life back to Thor as the hundreds of small wounds that had either cut through or slipped under his scales were closed.


    His personal lightning was active again, so he should be fine, but Hawk was looking pretty listless, and Karl couldn''t call him out of the space for Lotus to heal.


    "Hawk needs time to recover before I can ask him toe out again, but he is better than when he went in. Thor has his lightning barrier active again, so he will be fine soon enough." Karl exined.


    Rae was exhausted, but still functional, when Karl both felt and heard something snap inside her body, before the rear half of her outer carapace fell away, moulted like some insects do, and reced with an identical looking body from underneath.


    Rae worked to pull the oldyer off her legs and upper body, then shook the goop from her fur as Tessa cast a healing spell on her to help the new carapace recover and harden.


    [And that''s how a Bloodbath Spider reaches Commander Rank.] She announced.

 Chapter 238 Rae The Invincible

    <h4>Chapter 238 Rae The Invincible </h4>


    "Did she just shed her carapace to take on her adult form?" Lotus asked weakly, excited to see Rae''s transformation, but too weak to get up and inspect her properly.


    "She did. Rae,e closer, you know Lotus wants a better look." Karlughed.


    The Bloodbath Spider dismissed the Golems, and then called them back, revealing drastically changed bodies.


    For an Elite, the progression was a smooth one. The beginning of the Commander Rank was only a fraction above the top of the Ascended Rank, but for beasts like Rae, it was an entirely different phase in their life cycle.


    Her power as an Ascended Rank Juvenile was far below what she could wield as an adult, and the spiders reflected that. They had gone from being made of woven branches to being covered in small leaves, which were quickly shifting from their natural green to white and grey with red spots, to better match the battlefield.


    Just like Rae, they could adapt themselves to their surroundings now, and the aura that they gave off was much more intimidating.


    There was no low Commander Rank for Rae, she had evolved past that, and now that the fight was over, Lotus had plenty of time to get a good look at her.


    Or, Karl hoped she did, anyhow.


    They had failed thest trial. Sessfully failed, whatever that meant. But it had promised them rewards, so they could be waiting on that to happen.


    The first Trial Instance he was in gave them a chest when they returned to the starting position, but this one wasn''t returning them at all.


    "I wonder if everyone has to be present to return? Like if we have to call Thor and Hawk back out?" Lotus wondered.


    That could be possible. They hadn''t been out when they arrived at the trial, but they were when the first announcement that they got rewards was made.


    "It will still be a while before Hawk is conscious and able toe out, so we might as well rest a bit." Karl decided.


    Lotus created a patch of wide leaves for them to sit on, out of the snow, and Karl meditated to help everyone recover, while he also checked on Rae''s space to ensure that it was suitable for her advanced state.


    It seemed more alive now, with natural wind, and a sense of vibrancy that wasn''t there before. Focusing on the Dragon Scale in his mind, and letting that filtered energy flow to the spaces seemed to be the most efficient method, but even after warming Hawk''s space it still took him fifteen minutes before he was up and moving again.


    [That was a close one, buddy.] Karl whispered, as Hawk began to stretch his no longer frozen wings.


    [I thought I was done for, that the evil cold water had won. How long was I frozen?] Hawk asked.


    [About twenty minutes in total.]


    [Oh, that''s too long for you to fight without me. How did you survive without fireballs?]


    [ming Body and a lot of luck with the Golems. But you missed the big news. Rae advanced to Commander first.]


    [NOOOO! It should have been me, I was here first. I will never forgive them.] Hawk cried, while Thor made consoling noises.


    It was a painful moment during an already painful event for Hawk, but putting off telling him would only make him depressedter when they might need him to fight again. Getting it all out of the way at once gave him time to recover and gather his wits beforeing back out into the real world.


    [We think that everyone needs toe out to get their rewards before we can leave this ce, so once you are recovered, everyone can gather. Until then, just rest a little longer.] Karl suggested.


    [Give me like five more minutes until the cold leaves my wings. Then I wille out, and the healers can heal me. If I go too early, I get the feeling that the Ice Magic will take effect again.] Hawk exined.


    He did still look freezing all over to Karl''s mental sight, even in the tropical warmth of his space, which he would normally find stifling.


    The first five minutes of meditation weren''t enough, but they did go a long way toward improving the four spaces, adjusting them ording to the changes that were made when Rae advanced.


    Now that he had seen it once, it was easy to adjust the other spaces to be more like the proper Commander Rank space. Hopefully, that would pull the others toward their breakthrough at a faster pace, and help them along their way to the next bottleneck between Commander and Royal Rank.


    Karl was actually looking forward to seeing Prince Corbin at his full power, and not exhausted and defending weaker party members. He was certain that the Royal Rank Spellsword would be a real marvel to behold in all outbat.


    The little that he had a chance to show his skills on the push to the cave was already impressive, clearing a smooth path for the group, but Karl was certain that was only a fraction of his power, as he had already been injured and near exhaustion.


    The more that he could observe that power, the better his partners would understand it, and the easier it should be for them to understand the changes they needed to push through to the next rank.


    They should already meet the minimum requirements, but for humans the Commander Rank was a major bottleneck, so it might be for them as well.


    Rae didn''t think so, as Commander Rank was her natural state, and Thor would naturally make it to Ascended Rank. Hawk was a bit of a mystery, as he was evolved from his base state, but it shouldn''t be too much harder for him.


    The first five extra minutes weren''t enough, so Karl gave Hawk ten more before checking in on him again, and found the bird gingerly flying around his space, shaking off the aches in his muscles.


    [Are you ready to go see the healers?] Karl asked.


    [Let''s go. Just tell them to warm the ce, I''m still too tired for mes.]


    The trio came out to meet the others, and the scenery around them faded away, recing the battlefield with a in ck void, with a stone tform that held them all with room to spare.


    This time the words didn''t appear in ancient script on the ground, but in Karl''s vision, in the increasing familiar font of the System interface.


    [Ascended Round One and Two Trials] Complete


    [Commander Round One Trial] Sessfully Failed


    [Calcting rewards]


    [Reward Calcted] 6 Skill Points


    [Skill Menu Activating]


    Karl gasped as a beautiful picture appeared in front of his eyes, then turned suspicious when he realized that all but the bottom row was greyed out and unusable. But there were lines between all the skills, so perhaps he just needed to learn some of them?


    So, he looked at the bottom row. There were only three options. [Offensive Specialist], [Defensive Specialist] and between those two [Bnced Combatant].


    Each of them cost ten skill points, so if the next round cost the same, or worse, twice as much, he wouldn''t be adding too many skills, but the descriptions were interesting, to say the least.


    [Offensive Specialist] Gains ess to the offensive beast skills, which can be freely transferred to bonded partners by touch.


    [Defensive Specialist] Gains ess to the defensive beast skills, which can be freely transferred to bonded partners by touch.


    [Bnced Combatant] Pays a premium price to gain ess to any beast skills, which may be utilized with the [Command] ability or transferred freely to bonded partners by touch.


    Thatst one sounded the best to him. If he could just pick and choose abilities and write them in skill books, he would be a living legend by the time he was an Overlord. But he didn''t know what the Command ability was.


    It wasn''t listed under his ss skills, which were now visible, and he couldn''t read any of the other skill descriptions until he picked a path.


    Hawk and Rae were cheering on full offence, while Thor thought it might be better if they all had more defence, so they didn''t get smashed again.


    [I will go for Bnced Combatant, so we can all get something we like, even if it costs extra.] He informed the team.


    [Bnced Combatant] chosen.


    [Command] skill gained.


    [Command] allows the Beast Master to use their known skills on bonded partners which are not within the standard range.

 Chapter 239 Skillz

    <h4>Chapter 239 Skillz</h4>


    Choosing [Bnced Combatant] opened up an entire row of pictures representing new skills. Three from Attack, three from Defence, and one more that was the progression skill for the Bnced path.


    That was the one that he checked first.


    [10 Points] [Beast Space Upgrade] upgrades the mental spaces to match the needs of the beasts residing within.


    Karl simply stared in annoyance at the description for a few long minutes. Was that why he got no guidance on how to advance his Beast Spaces? Because it was a skill that he could just learn?


    No, there was no skill like that attached to the other two trees, they would still have to improve their own, but they would get many more beast skills in exchange. Quite a few more, as he quickly realized.


    On the Defence side, he had the option for [Barrier] [Bestial Regeneration] and [Refresh]. All of those were skills to be used by the Beast Master on his team, and all of them were currently being provided, in some basic sense, by Thor''s [Group Refreshing Lightning], so Karl turned to the offensive side.


    2 Points [10 Points for Bnce] [Haste] improves the speed of the target beast by 10 percent per Rank (30 percent at Ascended)


    2 Points [10 Points for Bnce] [Terrorize] improves the damage done by the target beast by 10 percent per Rank (30 percent for Ascended)


    2 Points [10 Points for Bnce] [Brutality] increases the size and strength of the target beast by 10 percent per Rank (30 percent for Ascended)


    That points cost differential waspletely, insanely unfair. The next rank also looked like it contained all sorts of actual attack abilities that he could grant his pets for a period of time, all of which coulde in useful in the future, and Karl was tempted to pick [Terrorize] just to get to see the descriptions.


    But the first that Karl wanted to spend some of his thirty remaining points on was [Beast Space Upgrade].


    The three spaces quickly adjusted, changing the setting inside to be more borate and detailed than what Karl had created on his own, though the actual energy level didn''t change much. It felt like it didn''t actually improve the power level of the space, except for Rae''s which adjusted up to better match her power.


    So, he would still need to meditate to improve them, he just wouldn''t have to worry about the bottlenecks anymore.


    That was spectacr, but not as earth-shattering and overpowered as it had seemed at first.


    Choosing that skill caused two new skills to appear as avable above it in his skill tree.


    50 Points [Evolution] Cause any bonded pet to evolve into a form one Rank Higher than when the skill is used. Usable once per beast, some materials may be required.


    That one was out for now, he didn''t have the points.


    10 Points [Skill Master Rank 2] Usable only by those with the Skill Master Learned Ability. Allows learned skills to improve to one rank above the bonded partner''s current Rank with practice.


    Now that was the sort of ability that he couldn''t turn down.


    [Skill Master] Upgraded to Rank 2


    [Skill Master Rank 3 Avable] 100 Points. Allows all skills to evolve to a rted skill one tier higher than their current tier with practice.


    If sh was Tier 1, while Rend and Shred were both considered Tier 2 abilities, as was Lacerate, improving any of those to Tier 3 would be devastating on the battlefield. Even [Refreshing Lightning], if it was improved by an entire Skill Tier, would be something fearsome. If it were improved by two Tiers, Thor might actually be unkible at the same Rank.


    But not only that, the way that the skill was worded made it sound like the potential was limitless. One Rank higher than the current Rank with practice. So, if they just kept training their skills, they might move up even further.


    That left him with ten points, and a desire to know how to obtain more. Once he focused on the need for knowledge, he noticed a small circle with a question mark in it. Just what he needed, answers tomon questions.


    [Skill Points are awarded for quests, achievements and aplishments. Each Rank improvement increases the maximum points range of the avable awards.]


    That made sense. The higher the risk, the higher the reward, and the more powerful you were, the stronger the skills you would need, so therger the number of points that would be required.


    That left him with ten points, and a conundrum. He could do as Rae was pleading, and use them for [Terrorize], or he could do as Thor was suggesting and use them for [Bestial Regeneration] Which would grant the target a rapid healing ability.


    Both were good to have, but ultimately, they were still mostly working in a group, and they had basic recovery abilities. The most important part was being able to effectively deal with threats above their Rank. If they could eliminate them even a little faster, a lot of damage could be prevented from ever being taken.


    So, the decision was a fairly clear victory. 10 points were spent on [Terrorize], which Karl found was an active skill, but with no specified time limit, so it could just be left active. He would find out the actual conditions when it deactivated for the first time, but even if he just had to activate it when he called them out, that would still be fine.


    Of course, there could be some timer built in that it didn''t warn him about, but Rae was so happy to have a skill called [Terrorize] that it would be worth it even if he had to reuse it every few minutes.


    [Of course, you should reactivate it all the time. What could be better than Terrorize?] Rae asked, listening in on his thoughts.


    Purchasing Terrorize opened three options from the next row of abilities, and a note.


    [Tier 3 skills activate on Beast Master and all deployed Beasts]


    10 Points [20 Points for Bnce] [Shatter] physical strikes cause vibrations through the opponent''s body that damage organs and may break bones.


    10 Points [20 Points for Bnce] [Sharpness] shing, Stabbing and Disintegration type abilities increase in damage by 10 percent per Rank. (30 percent at Ascended)


    10 Points [20 Points for Bnce] [Crushing Blows] Blunt impact skills increase in damage by 10 percent per Rank. (Effective on damage caused by Shatter). (30 percent at Ascended)


    Karl finished his changes and found that everyone was waiting for him, and they were still in the same spot.


    "Alright, I''m done with the changes. I got some new skills." Karl exined.


    "That''s just unfair, giving out skills like candy to you." Tessa sighed.


    She had the battle armour spell that she had learned not long ago still active, and if Karl was right, it looked much more draconic, and that golden glow around her was also a new skill, but there was an unspoken "don''t ask, don''t tell" policy in ce, and everyone liked to keep something in reserve for emergencies.


    If they underestimated what you could do, they wouldn''t be as likely to put you in a situation that you couldn''t survive.


    Karl stood and stretched tired muscles, while Lotus flopped out on top of Rae for a nap and waved a hand at Tessa.


    "Alright,e up with an idea for how to get out of here. I will be here."


    Tessa smiled at her. "Alright, we''re finished." She called out to nobody in particr.


    The snowy battlefield vanished, and they found themselves back in the room where they started.


    Dana and the two Awakened Spellswords were already there, heavily wounded, and doing their best to stop the flow of blood with minor healing potions and bandages.


    Lotus activated her area healing spell, closing their wounds in seconds.


    The little cleric didn''t even look up from her spot on Rae''s back as she spoke. "I take it things didn''t go as well as you had hoped?"


    Dana gave a bitterugh. "The first and second waves went from bad to terrible, but we almost died the moment the third one appeared. We used the Golems as shields and ran until it kicked us out."


    Karl nodded. "That''s simr to what happened to us, only we could fight the third wave, but it still kicked us out at the end of it. That freezing effect was rough."


    The Spellswords looked at him strangely. "Freezing effect? We were in the middle of the desert."


    "Oh, we were on a frozen battlefield, covered in snow and bodies." Karl exined.


    Prince Corbin was the next one back, and Tessa jumped into action, adjusting his position and checking his body while using her more powerful healing magic and whistling for Lotus to do the same.


    Between the two of them, they barely managed to save the heavily injured Royal Rank mage, but fortunately, his severed left arm hade back out with him, and Tessa held it in ce during the healing, so it reattached without issue.


    The Prince was out cold, but breathing steadily when thest two came back, exhausted but uninjured.


    "Well, good news, if you run when things get bad, it will let you out." Alice joked with Larry, then realized that everyone else was already here, and mostly covered in blood.


    "Goddess, what happened to you all?" She asked.


    "No, we want to know what happened to you all that wasn''t a disaster." Prince Corbin countered, without opening his eyes from where he wasying in the double healing circles.


    Larry frowned. "There was another space that said Commander Rank trial, and then an endless wave of Ogresing our way. We fought them while retreating, and then we were returned here."

 Chapter 240 Do We Move On?

    <h4>Chapter 240 Do We Move On? </h4>


    From their description, it didn''t sound like they had gotten any sort of reward. Karl suspected that the Awakened Rank group had gotten something, as they had at least finished the first two waves, though they nearly died on the third. That was nearly as good as his team had managed, and they got new skills.


    It was impossible to tell how Prince Corbin had done, as he was in no shape for questions, but the rewards that Karl''s group had gotten seemed pretty impressive.


    "What do we do now? We finished the challenge in the room, but do we dare to keep going?" Karl asked.


    Prince Corbinughed. "Finished? Oh no, that wasn''t what finished looks like, at least not from my side. I suspect that was intended to be a group battle."


    "Well, technically we lost as well, but it''s over now and we''re out. Three people was barely enough to get through, but I think that five at the same Rank would have been better." Karl agreed.


    "Even with the beasts?" Dana asked, leaning against Rae, who still hadn''t retreated to her space.


    "At first, it was alright, but as the numbers increased, and then the power, it was rough, even with them. Maybe it keeps going until you lose?" Karl suggested.


    Alice gave him a curious look. "Well, let''s hope that we don''t have to find out. There is a second door to this room, and if we''re going to explore the caverns, we will have to move along once we''re all healed and rested. If not, we will have to report it and give up any chance at the hidden loot, so they can send in matched teams to face this sort of trap."


    The Awakened group and Prince Corbin both sighed, suggesting that they had indeed gotten something out of their time.


    Corbin got to his feet, signalling for the others to get up now that they were healed.


    "Alright, we should get a move on. We need to search more than one room of the cavernplex per day if we''re ever going to get through it. Leave all the doors open after we pass through, and I will mark the walls so that we don''t get lost on the way back.


    When it getster in the day, we will return to the area near the cave mouth for safety." He exined.


    How safe that would be was questionable, as they had been chased in here by monsters to begin with, but after the challenge that they found in the first room they entered, there was no guarantee that they wouldn''t have a harder time trying to navigate theplex than they had outside.


    Corbin opened the next door, and Karl took up the back of the column with Rae. She was Commander Rank now, and while Thor and Hawk had both retreated to their spaces, Thor had kept the [Refreshing Lightning] active around her, which he had now spread to the rest of the group.


    The mages had created a light to float above the group, giving them enough light to see by, and Corbin was moving one along in front of them, which Karl still thought was a terrible idea for the man on point, but only a dozen metres down the hallway, they found doors on both sides again, though without any light behind them.


    The Royal Rank Spellde motioned left, and Karl noticed that there was arge chunk of his blonde beard missing where his face had been freshly healed. The Cleric magic looked like it had prevented scarring, but it didn''t regrow the hair that had been removed by whatever had hit his face.


    He breached the door with a gust of wind magic, and stormed inside, while Karl waited at the back of the pack to see what happened.


    "Clear." He called out, just loud enough for the group to hear him.


    Alice breached the one on the right, also finding it empty. It was better than finding out that every room in this ce was a trap, but everyone had been hoping for some sort of treasures to be left behind in these caverns.


    [There''s something ahead. I can see the temperature change in the next room, it doesn''t match this hall.] Rae warned, catching on to clues that Karl would have missed.


    He whispered his warning just loud enough for the group to hear. "The next room is a different temperature. It might be warmed by something inside."


    That put everyone on guard, and they doused the lights to the bare minimum, which revealed the fact that there was glowing nt life in the next room, providing faint illumination, but enough for everyone to see by.


    It was dim to most of the group, except Karl and the Clerics, who had their own ways to enhance their eyesight. But it was enough to see by, and Corbin cast a spell to silence their footsteps.


    He stopped just short of the entrance to the room, and whispered back to the group.


    "I count thirty red goblins. I''ve never seen anything like them, but they''re strong."


    If the Royal Rank mage said that they were strong, then Karl would take his word for it. He obviously didn''t mean that they were just stronger than regr Goblins, which wasn''t a hard standard to meet.


    "Keep the Awakened in the middle of the group, I will lead the way in." Corbin instructed, and the group shifted their positions to protect the more vulnerable members. That had to mean that these were on the strong side of Ascended at the least, or the Awakened members wouldn''t have had to retreat to protected positions.


    The ceiling was low in the room, low enough that the Golems were going to have to be shortened, and Karl couldn''t use Thor to fight. His horns would get caught on the roof, and he would barely be able to move.


    Rae''s body shifted colours to have a bit of shimmering soft blue in it, looking like she was covered in the luminescent nt, and she summoned out her Golems.


    They took on the same pattern, and the [Refreshing Lightning] spread over them as a soft blue glow, preparing them for battle.


    "Now." Prince Corbin ordered, and Karl surged forward with the group, moving to the right to cover the nk while the Golems went left.


    As he passed her, Karl could see the furious look on Rose''s face, mad that she had to stand back from the battle against what looked like regr goblins in a new colour.


    But when the first of Dana''s Golem des hit one, and it only left a deep cut and didn''t eviscerate the creature, it made much more sense.


    Thirty wasn''t many regr Goblins. Thirty Ascended Rank mutant Goblins were an actual concern for the group.


    Not so much for Rae and her Golems, who had already begun a reign of terror, as she got to test out herbat skills as a Commander Rank beast and the new [Terrorize] Skill that Karl had activated for her.


    Interestingly, when he cast it on her, the spell spread to her Golems as well. The spell must consider them to be part of the same whole, and forty percent extra damage for the three Commander Rank beasts, who were nearly invisible in the room, as they looked so much like their surroundings, was more than enough.


    To distract the Goblins from the presence of Rae and her minions, Karl activated [ming Body], filling the room with faint red light that caught the attention of all the Goblins at the same time.


    That proved immediately fatal for five of the beasts as his teammates took advantage of thepse, and then Karl was throwing [Shred] into the deceptively small and weak-looking beasts. Two of them actually managed to parry it, while one took a deep cut across its face that left it blind in one eye.


    Larry moved to Karl''s side of the fight, as Prince Corbin was holding the centre, but there wasn''t much immediate threat. The beasts had been stopped by Karl''s attack, and the three spiders wereing at their backs already.


    The Commander Rank Spellde pushed forward, throwing Lightning from his de into the Goblins, so Karl charged with him, squeezing the Goblins into a pincer between them and the Spider Golems.


    That let them move to encircle the survivors, and within minutes the Red Goblins were dead.


    "Good work, everyone. Let''s see what they had on them."

 Chapter 241 On Repeat

    <h4>Chapter 241 On Repeat</h4>


    The Red Goblins were surprisingly well-equipped, for Goblins. Each of them had an enchanted crystal dagger, and Rae noticed quickly that the magic on them was the same as the glowing moss in the room.


    "I think we need to gather some of this moss. It has the same aura as the enchantment on their weapons." Karl informed the others.


    Lotus nodded, already inspecting the moss to see what was special about it.


    "You''re right. There is something special, and it''s not a moss I know, either. This ce is strange, there are so many things that I don''t know, when I should know almost all nts and animals." Sheined.


    Her voice held a pouting tone, but her face was hidden by her hood as she kneeled on the moss to inspect it more closely.


    Then she began to gather it, carefully pulling it up by the roots and holding it up in the air.


    Karlughed and took it from her to ce in Thor''s space, where it would be safely stored until it was needed.


    While it was there, Karl decided to take a good look at it using his Identification skill.


    [Underworld Moss] Usable by: Karl, Rae, Hawk


    [Combines with Underworld Crystals, Commander Rank or higher vital fluids, Core of Frost] Potion grants a chance at the [Paralytic Strike] skill.


    That sounded pretty good if he could gather the rest of the ingredients. The crystals might be nearby, and the Core of Frost sounded like something they could find outside, so there was a good chance.


    Karl looked around the cave and realized that the crystals were closer than he had thought. They were what the daggers were made from, and there were dozens of them along the walls, embedded in the moss.


    Rae took that as her cue to go gather a few dozen of them, just in case the potion didn''t work the first time. Then she realized that they were also good for weapons, and stuffed even more of them into her area.


    The glow was actually quite pretty, sparkling like a field of stars, so she added even more, until all the ones she could conveniently reach were picked and half her space''s floor was filled with ayer of crystals and moss.


    [If I hang the bodies upside down, it will look like the night sky is above them once again.] Rae dered proudly as she began to n how to rearrange her trophies.


    [I''m d you like them.]


    "Is Rae nning to clear the entire room?" Lotus asked as the Bloodbath Spider finished her work.


    "She''s got all that she wanted. She is making an art instation in her space, and it needed something to sparkle like the night sky." Karl exined.


    The Spelldes looked a bit confused, but Dana reached over to brush moss off Rae''s back, where it had fallen while she was gathering crystals.


    "I''m certain that it is lovely. You''ll have to show us sometime." The mage joked.


    Rae considered that for a while. She couldn''t bring Dana in, but she could put some in the gazebo roof when they got home, and that would be good too. Hopefully, someone was taking care of their nts while they were away. There were plenty of pretty ones that should have fruits and flowers soon.


    The group got ready to move, and Corbin motioned for Karl and Rae to head to the front. They could see best, and again there was only one exit to the room, headed back not far from the direction they had entered. Rae went in front, not as concerned about threats now that she had Lightning around her.


    The Spider Golems took up the rear of the pack, and they walked down the hallway, careful not to make any excessive noise that would echo in the tunnels.


    Karl could still hear them moving, so any beast with sensitive ears would as well, but it was better not to advertise their presence.


    Another room lit with braziers was ahead, and Karl became suspicious. Something was up with this ce, and he wasn''t certain what it was.


    [It''s the same.] Rae noted as she inspected the room.


    [It is.] Karl agreed.


    Everything was the same. Size, shape, brazier cement.


    "There''s another room." He whispered to the others.


    "Situation?" Alice asked.


    "It''s identical to thest brazier lit room."


    Alice called Corbin up, and the two discussed the n for a moment.


    "We want to try something new. Would you be willing to enter with Lotus and Tessa, then close the door behind you?"


    "Go with the group that''s the strongest at their level and see if it triggers the same sort of trap?" Karl asked.


    Alice nodded gravely, and Karl turned to the clerics.


    Lotus shrugged. "I think it''s for the best. If it works, we get loot. If it doesn''t, we just open the far door and have you stand in the doorway while everyone else passes through. Last time it didn''t do anything until we were all fully inside."


    "I would appreciate it if you could leave one of the healers here." Rose muttered, as she realized what the n was.


    Corbin sighed. "She has a point. If we''re attacked while they''re gone, it would be best if we had a healer with us."


    The two clerics turned to face each other, and then began ying rock paper scissors. The first to win was Tessa, who smirked at Lotus.


    "I will go with Karl, Lotus will stay with the rest of the group in case you''re attacked. We will call for you if nothing happens."


    Karl called Rae into her space, in case there was some issue with her being Commander Rank to his Ascended. The previous trial instances had recognized the beasts as individuals, so these traps might as well.


    Karl led the way, with Tessa right behind him. She closed the door once they were through, and they waited for most of a minute before she sighed and opened the door again, only to find that there was nobody there.


    "I guess that means it worked. Now, where is the writing, let''s see what is going on." She announced.


    The letters appeared only a few secondster.


    [Wee to the mixed group challenge.] Tessa read, thenughed.


    "This one, we could have all entered together, and fought together, but now they''re going to either be short the two of us, or they''ll be waiting for us to return."


    Karl suspected that the stress might have cracked the War Priestess, but she actually looked overjoyed.


    "It''s a mixed group event, you can enter together." Karl tried calling out to the group, in case they could still hear him, though he couldn''t see them.


    Then he found himself standing on the front lines of a massive defensive battle, with Tessa right beside him. There were thousands of soldiers around them in the formation, humans, beastkin, and even ogres.


    Charging toward them was a tide of elves, trolls, faeries, dryads and creatures Karl had no name for.


    "Mixed Group Battle." He muttered.


    "It seems so." Tessa agreed.


    The surrounding soldiers gave them strange looks, and someone shouted as they moved forward to set a shield wall.


    "Crap, they don''t speak ournguage."


    Tessa just shrugged. "War is war, we don''t need words. Bring out the beasts, so the others have time to get used to them, and prepare to fight."


    Karl called everyone, and the soldiers smiled. It looked like beasts in battle wasn''t that umon to them, and even when Rae called her Golems, the soldiers didn''t panic.


    The leader of this force called something, and the rank behind the shield bearers hefted spears, setting them on top of the shields as a brace against the impact of the iing trolls that made up the front rank of the Fae force.


    The front lines were about to crash together when suddenly Karl realized they had reinforcements. The rest of the group had entered, standing behind him and Tessa.


    The sound of snapping wooden spears filled the air an instant before the sound of trolls hitting shields, and a battle cry that sent the humans'' allied forces forward.


    Rae sent her Golems, while Hawk took to the sky, but Thor stayed back, waiting for the first of the Trolls to breach the line, so he could plug the hole.


    "What is going on? We heard you call for us toe in." Prince Corbin called out.


    "Humans and allies against Fae group battle." Tessa yelled back, trying to be heard over the din of the battle, as Karl began to hurl attacks at the taller Fae.


    "I guess we''re doing this then." Prince Corbin sighed.

 Chapter 242 Three Hour Completion

    <h4>Chapter 242 Three Hour Completion </h4>


    Three hourster, Karl sat with his back against Thor in the ruins of the battlefield. The humans had won a Pyrrhic victory at best, and with the losses that they had suffered, if there had been any Fae left alive, it might have been counted as a loss.


    The town that the humans and their allies were defending had been half razed, and most of the civilians were presumed dead, less than one in fifty of the original thousand or so warriors were still alive, and all of them were currently catching their breath.


    The battlefield smouldered where Hawk had bombarded it with fireballs to prevent the trolls from regenerating, leaving acrid smoke hanging over the ins, which were nowrgely devoid of life.


    After meditating for thest ten minutes to recover some strength, slowly spreading the energy from the focuses in the beast spaces to improve their quality before rebuilding the focus to improve everyone''s strength, Karl opened his eyes and decided it was time to get back on his feet.


    Karl looked out at the massive number of bodies, and slowly got to his feet, ready to go check them for loot and valuables. With that many, there had to be some good stuff there somewhere.


    However, as soon as he got up to go check the nearby bodies, those familiar magical words appeared on the ground.


    "Trial sessfullypleted. Time two hours forty-seven minutes." Tessa read.


    Then they all waited to see what the next message would be. Would it send them to another round? It hadn''t said failed, it did tell them that they were sessful, despite the heavy casualties and the damage to the town behind them.


    [Rewards Granted]


    Everyone waited to see what they would get, but there was no sign of prize boxes, no additional notification, and then they were back in the in room with the braziers again. That was when the prizes appeared. One small box in front of each of them.


    There were three silver boxes, three gold boxes, two tinum boxes, and one that looked like it was made of pure ruby.


    Prince Corbin looked at the boxes. "Well, I think that we can guess how they''re supposed to be distributed. Now, you just need to pick one from your group."


    The three Awakened Rank members all looked wistfully at the boxes with other colours on them. Dana certainly had experience with these reward boxes, and the better your rank, the better the box''s contents.


    However, there wasn''t another mage in the Ascended group to plead with, and Alice was unlikely to give up her loot for an Awakened Rank box after spending three hours keeping up barriers and eventually being held upright by archers who ran out of arrows so that even when she was too exhausted to stand, she could stay within the protective circle around Thor and regain her stamina.


    Dana and the two Awakened Spelldes went first, then traded boxes until they got one that they could open.


    Both Spelldes got new swords in a simr style to the ones they were using, while Dana got an ornate wooden wand with golden patterns down it.


    "Not bad, the wand is rechargeable and casts magic missile up to twenty times." Dana informed the group.


    That wasn''t too bad at all. It would save her a bunch of mana during fights that she could consume when they weren''t in danger.


    She already knew Magic Missile, so her proficiency with the spell would extend to the wand, allowing her to split the magic missile into multiple missiles, though the damage would drop. That would give her an advantage against weaker targets, and help with the rapid clearing abilities of the team.


    Lotus handed out the next round of boxes, and surprisingly, none of the three needed to be exchanged.


    Karl opened his reward box and found a beautiful crystal bow inside. Strangely, it had no string, but when he held it, he instantly understood the concept. If you made the motion to pull the nonexistent string, intending to fire it, the bow would create an arrow and fire. There was no mana cost, and no listed capacity of charges, it was just a magical bow.


    However, he could attach skills to those magical arrows, and send them to a much more distant target. The range on Shred and Rend wasn''t bad, but that was for the average battle. Anything beyond twenty metres, and they began to lose power. But attached to an arrow, they could fly two hundred metres, and they would still be fine.


    "It looks like it''s weapons day." Lotusughed, waving a carved wooden staff around.


    "It doesn''t have to be a weapon." Tessa disagreed, holding up a red and gold metal shield that matched her robes.


    "Smashing tools are still weapons." Lotus shrugged.


    Larryughed and passed a box to Alice, while Corbin moved to the ruby chest.


    All three took out weapons, a gold wand with clear crystal iy for Alice, and swords for both of the others.


    "It looks like the reward system is judging us for our low damage output." Karl noted.


    "It definitely is." Dana sighed.


    She had [Destruction], plus two heavily upgraded golems and multiple attack spells, and it had still given her a weapon. Though, it was one to save mana, so perhaps that was the issue with herbat skills that it was concerned with.


    Prince Corbin looked at his watch and frowned. "That took longer than I expected. We should head back to the entrance, where we know it''s safe to rest. We will call it an early day because none of us will be up for another one of those trials today."


    There were no objections to that. They had three solid hours ofbat in that second room, and another long fight would simply be too much for them.


    It was only when they reached the first room that they realized going back might be as much trouble as going forward. The door leaving the first room, that they had very deliberately left propped open, was closed again, and they were looking at the same scene that had triggered thest two trials.


    "Alright, we will set up camp for the night in thest trial room in case the Goblins in therger cave aren''t the only ones around. They have a way of finding a way through the smallest cracks, and who knows what''s hidden under that moss. If the way back is sealed, we''re as safe here as anywhere, but we will keep watch, in case the trials reset and not just the doors to the rooms."


    "What is the watch schedule?" Karl asked as he prepared to head back into the second trial room.


    Prince Corbin gestured to Karl. "We will use a two-person watch, so one can defend while the other wakes the group. One Commander with someone else. Karl, you and I will take first, who wants second?"


    Alice nodded. "I will take second with Rose."


    "And that puts me and Darryl third." Larry agreed.


    "Everyone else has the night to rest, and we will cycle partners tomorrow if it''s reasonable. Nobody wants the healers to be overtired."


    Karl couldn''t argue with that logic. When things were bad, it paid to have the clerics on your side fresh and ready to work. So, he set down his pack and took out his sleeping bag, wanting to have it ready to crawl into when he finished his watch.


    Dana set up next to him while the clerics prepared dinner.


    The Spellswords were about to take out ration packs when they noticed that there was a rather surprising amount of food avable.


    "Where did all thate from? Do you carry a whole kitchen?" Rose asked.


    "No need for that. We can both used advanced food creation blessings. This is all magic, it didn''t exist two minutes ago. Just getfortable and it will be cooked in fifteen minutes." Tessa exined.


    They were making some sort of stew with the ingredients they had conjured, so Karl offered up arge chunk of meat from one of the Awakened Rank reptiles they had fought that morning. Hawk had imed the body, but it would take him forever to get through it all.


    "Here, cut this thinly, and it should cook quickly enough." He offered.


    Prince Corbin looked dubious about the mystery meat from nowhere, but he didn''t say anything, and decided to just trust the clerics not to poison them all. Even if they did, they were the ones with the cleansing spells, so it was in their best interests to be safe with the food.


    But they seemed to trust Karl''s food supply, and as soon as he passed it over, Lotus began to cut paper thin slices that would cook in seconds in the stew pot.

 Chapter 243 Corbin’s Wisdom

    <h4>Chapter 243 Corbin''s Wisdom</h4>


    After the meal was finished and the supplies were packed away, Karl sat down next to Prince Corbin, but facing the opposite door, so they could start their watch, which Karl honestly didn''t expect to be anything but dull.


    They were inside what appeared to be an enchanted tunnel system, and the only other room down the hall was sealed. If anything happened, it would be this one resetting, and if it happened on his watch, it would be a real pain, as they were still exhausted and mentally drained.


    At first, neither of them said anything, they just silently watched their doors while everyone fell asleep. They had all zipped their backpacks into the sleeping bags with them, in case the trial activated, so they didn''t end up leaving anything they might need on the outside.


    This one had been a three-hour-long nightmare, and they had nearly depleted their water and snacks before the clerics had restocked everyone at dinner.


    Once the others were asleep, Corbin turned his attention to Karl.


    "You know, you''re getting incredibly close to the Commander Rank, and I''m certain after thatst instance that your spider is already there. Are you sure that you want to report that to the Church? They''re the masters of guilt-tripping people into doing their bidding." The Prince whispered, knowing that Karl''s hearing was extremely sensitive.


    "Do you actually think that they won''t know? There are two clerics with us that are moving through the Ascended Rank at breakneck pace, andst I heard the High Priests were considering having an Oracle look in on us." Karl whispered back.


    "Good point. Just saying, there are other factions to consider other than the Church."


    Karl smiled. "Like the Bureau of Elite Development? Who do you think Alice works for?"


    Corbin sighed and shook his head. "You grew too fast, and you likely haven''t even learned the polite and effective ways to say no to them yet. Commander is a big change, and if you don''t stand up and demand the respect that goes with the rank when you get it, you''ll find yourself in the suck, on terrible borderline suicide missions until one of them really is a suicide mission."


    Karl nodded. "I''m bad at saying no to people when I get the puppy eyes from them. I will have to work on it, I guess. I just didn''t expect everything toe at me so fast, you know? I''m still in my freshman year, it''s only been a few months since the Divine Injection."


    Corbin did a double take. "You''re a freshman? I thought you were a baby-faced Junior, a Third Year student."


    Karl shook his head. "No, both me and Dana started school at the same time."


    The Royal Rank mage looked between the two and nodded. "Her I could see being the prodigy of the first year. She''s at that mid tote Awakened Rank point thates with a load of resources at the start of the freshman year.


    I will talk to herter as well, make sure she doesn''t fall for the big push that burns potential for speed. She''s got it in her to go far if she just keeps grinding at it.


    You two are good friends, so you might be able to look out for her after you advance again."


    Karl nodded. "I will do what I can."


    The two fell intofortable silence, and when Corbin''s watch blinked a few hourster, he went to wake up the next team.


    Karl was awoken some time in the early morning by a gust of warm air on his face that had him instantly opening his eyes and preparing for battle. But it was just a gust of hot air from the morning meal being prepared, and he rxed again, then summoned his armour to instantly get dressed.


    The morning meal was oatmeal and diced fruit, which was absently devoured while everyone discussed the n for the day.


    "It seems likely that every major room wee across is going to have a challenge in it, so if one of them takes an inordinate amount of time, we will call it a day, no matter where we are.


    We got through three rooms yesterday, and ideally, we would be able to do that again today, but I''m not willing to have anyone overextend themselves and end up dead." Corbin announced.


    His team, himself included, had taken multiple beatings yesterday, so his cautions made sense, even if it meant that they would be exploring the area at a crawl.


    "Aren''t we going to try the first fight over again and get out of here?" Darryl asked, somewhat sullenly.


    "With the rewards we got from thatst battle? I don''t think so. We will search this ce, fight as much as we must, and perhaps you can go home Ascended. This isn''t the sort of resource thates along often, with multiple challenges all giving rewards.


    It''s somewhat like gaining ess to a dozen challenges at the same time, we just have to fight our way through.


    There is also a major source of magical energy somewhere in this mountain, and after what we have seen, I have reason to think that it might be one of the lost Divine Dungeons, the original repeatable challenges that the World Dragon set up for the first people to train."


    Tessa and Lotus looked shocked, while the younger members just looked confused, other than Karl, who knew the history already.


    "Aren''t those a myth?" Rose asked.


    Corbin shrugged. "Maybe, but I can say for certain that they exist. It''s just not clear where they came from."


    A trial dungeon more intense than what they had found? Thatst fight yesterday had been intense enough. Or perhaps it just gave better rewards. That would be nice.


    Karl led the group out of the room this time, and everyone was a bit more rxed with Thor covering them all in Refreshing Lightning. Not only for the defensive benefits, but for the fact that it kept their stamina refreshed and their minds rxed.


    The hallway wound down through the mountain for some time, with no sign of other rooms, until Karl heard an echo below them.


    "There is a cavern beneath us. We''re nearly underneath where we started. Somewhere between the first and second trial rooms. If we keep following this tunnel down, we should end up in the cavern soon." He quietly informed the others.


    "Alright. Are you certain about the positioning?" Alice asked.


    "I grew up in the mines. I have an excellent sense of direction underground. With the curve in the tunnel and the slope, I say two hundred more metres." Karl replied.


    The echo and the sound of something banging became audible to everyone over the next hundred metres, then the faint blue bioluminescence lit up the mouth of the tunnel as it reached the cave.


    Karl dropped to the ground and crawled to thest corner, with Rae hovering above him. The tunnel opened fifteen metres up the wall of a massive cavern,plete with its own biome full of fungi, grasses, and some sort of bipedal creature.


    Karl focused on them, and did his best to get perfect details.


    They looked like elves, but with ashy ck skin, white hair, and glowing violet eyes. They had a whole city down there, made of the ck stones of the cavern, and on the far side from where the tunnel ended, there was a massive glowing portal twenty metres tall.


    Karl went back and ryed the information to the others, who were even more concerned than he was. They sounded like elves, and the species was known to be temperamental at the best of times, but if they were some sort of mutated monster version of the Elves, like the Red Goblins were to regr Goblins, they could be in real trouble.


    Their group certainly wouldn''t be able to take on a whole vige, and they didn''t want to leave that portal behind.


    "So, what do we do? Is there a chance we can sneak through the less popted areas?" Karl asked.


    "They''re Elves, they will know right away if someone touches their nts. I doubt it will be possible to sneak past them." Lotus sighed.


    "Then what do we do?" Alice sighed, looking toward the end of the tunnel. If that really was a dungeon portal, she wanted to go in.

 Chapter 244 Find A Way

    Chapter 244 Find A Way


    ??Karl considered the options for a moment. "I think that we might have missed a side tunnel. Do you remember how the other one was hidden? There might have been another like it. The city down there has dozens of tunnels leading out into the mountain, so what are the odds that the one that leads outside doesn''t have a single branch?"


    Alice smiled as she considered the options. "Well, it''s worth checking before we try sneaking to another tunnel and hoping that it heads in the direction that we want."


    The closest tunnel was only fifty metres away, but at ground level, and it had fairly regr traffic through it. That clearly wasn''t an optimal choice.


    But there was one about seventy metres to their left, and that one was halfway up the wall and also looked abandoned. It was also slightly lower, so he could have Rae make them a zip line and everyone could slide over.


    Prince Corbin looked back down the tunnel. "Let''s check all the walls back to thest room. If that doesn''t show us any missed branches, we will try for another tunnel. I know Darryl and Muffin don''t really understand how valuable that portal is, but we absolutely need to find our way to it."


    Rose bristled at being called Muffin, but she fell into her position in the middle of the pack as Karl led them back up the tunnel, using his swords to check both walls for anything that wasn''t as solid as it looked.


    But after only a dozen paces, he paused.


    "The tunnel isn''t the same. We''re headed down again." He informed the others.


    It took them a moment to realize what was wrong with that statement. They had been on a steep decline all the way to the chamber, so they should be climbing back up the ramp now, but ording to Karl, they weren''t.


    Corbin cast some sort of elementary spell, and a handful of marbles appeared in his hand. He scattered them on the floor, some in front, some behind the group, and they all rolled away.


    "Both sides are downhill. We''re definitely in an illusion, or the tunnel was changed." He agreed.


    Karl closed his eyes and whistled softly, letting Rae''s echolocation tell him what was around them.


    "This way. Behind us is still the chamber, but the real upward tunnel is on our left. In front of us is solid rock. Everyone hold hands and follow me for a few steps." He instructed.


    That sounded a bit foolish to the others, but they followed the instruction, and when Karl got four steps through what had looked and felt like solid rock, they were in a new tunnel.


    He took a few more steps, then pulled everyone to them, and called Rae to her space, then brought her back out again. She couldn''t close her eyes, so she was unable to get past the illusion on her own, even though she could clearly tell that what she was seeing was not right.


    Once they were all in the new tunnel, Karl took out a strip of cloth from his bag, intended to be a bandana or dust mask, but it would do as a blindfold.


    He needed a bit of eyesight to use Thermal Vision, and the folded over cloth made a hazy, but notpletely imprable view, though he couldn''t see anything in the dark with normal vision.


    "Alright, illusion resistant eyewear engaged. I will lead us forward, just warn me if there is anything strange going on with my actions so that we don''t get separated." He informed the group.


    There was a short pause, and Karl turned back to the group, only to find them staring straight ahead. There wasn''t anything there by his vision, though.


    [Rae, what are they looking at?] He asked.


    [No clue. They all look pretty freaked out, though. Maybe swat at the air with your sword or something.] She suggested.


    Karl did, and everyone started moving again, looking around as if expecting to be ambushed.


    "I''m pretty sure we''re still in the illusion. I didn''t see what you do, and when I waved my sword around, you all came back to me." Karl exined.


    "If it even got Corbin in its trap, perhaps we should find another alternate way." Larry suggested.


    "It does seem as if they put in significant effort to trap this tunnel, doesn''t it?" Karl agreed.


    [And there are elves in the tunnel behind us, I can hear them.] Rae added.


    "Going back is no longer an option, there is someone in the tunnel we came from. Stay close, and ignore anything that you see. Close your eyes and hold on to someone''s clothes if you have to, just keep following me." Karl ordered.


    He led the group down through a set of winding corridors until he sensed a door on the left, then he pulled everyone inside and closed the door behind them.


    They were in another of the brazier rooms, and everyone was giving him strange looks.


    "Sorry, the Elves were catching up to us, and this was the first door I found." He whispered, motioning for silence.


    But they continued to wait, and nothing happened. There was no magical writing, and the sound of running footsteps and swearing in the corridors faded after a few minutes. Then it returned, as the patrol retraced their steps, but they didn''t stop outside the door, and just kept moving back toward the tunnel mouth that Karl''s group had stopped near.


    "What do we do now? There''s no second exit from this room, and there''s a whole city of them out there." Dana asked.


    Prince Corbin sighed, then smiled. "I have either the dumbest or most brilliant idea ever. When the guards passed by the second time, I managed to record them for my disguise spell. I can disguise everyone as the patrol, and we can just walk through to our goal."


    Alice chuckled. "Definitely one of the dumbest. How are we supposed to get back out once they notice we''ve gone through the portal? You know they will have it under security, and the disguise spell doesn''tst long, so we won''t be able to spend time scouting, even if we spoke theirnguage."


    "How about we use the disguise spell to look for a way out? At the least, they wouldn''t attack on sight if they mistook us for guards." Larry offered.


    Corbin raised his hand, and suddenly, everyone looked like the dark skinned Elven guards. They were all the same height, with the same hairstyles as they had before, but it was at least enough to get them through a cursory examination.


    "Alright, let''s go see if we can find a way to the portal." The Royal Ranked mage instructed.


    Karl sent Rae back to her space to help with the disguise, and opened the door, only to find that they were no longer in a hallway, but arge courtyard in the middle of a fantastic city.


    His first instinct was to close his eyes, and let echolocation tell him the truth, but when he did, it still seemed to be real.


    He turned back to the group. "What do you think the chances are that we stepped into a trial and didn''t notice? We didn''t get a notification in here, but what if that was because I was leading us blind through the illusions when we entered?"


    Prince Corbin stepped up beside him and looked out at the city, which was made up of twisted ck spires, with a bright blue sky overhead, and alien looking nts growing everywhere.


    "Well, we aren''t in the underground city, that''s for certain. Let me check with a locating spell." He whispered, in case something nearby could hear them.


    He cast the spell and shook his head. "We''re definitely inside a trial. Either that or we''re more than a thousand kilometres from where we were yesterday. I can''t locate any of our other nsmen, and there is nothinging in over the radio."


    Alice took a device out of her pack and nodded. "We''re not in contact with any government signals. I would say that we''re almost certainly inside a Trial of some sort. What does the outside of the building we''re in look like?"


    Karl stuck his head out, and found that the door was ck oak on the outside, and they were in one of the many ck spires.


    "The same as the ones you can see across the road. We''re on the main floor of a spire." Karl exined.


    Alice nodded. "Which means if we leave, this entry point will probably vanish, and we will have toplete whatever sort of trial we''re in before we can exit. This sort of situation matches with the reports that we got from other Elites, but they reported losing huge amounts of time while they were in strange trials, or simply didn''t remember anything."


    "Great. So is there any way to see what sort of mission we''re on?" Larry asked.


    There was one sure way to tell.


    [Quest status]

 Chapter 245 Enter The Dungeon

    Chapter 245 Enter The Dungeon


    ??[Quest Status]


    [1 ongoing quest] Find and enter the dungeon portal.


    [Conditions] Survival


    Karl looked at the simple listing from the System and frowned. Find and enter the portal without dying. Yeah, that was basically what they were trying to do anyhow. There wasn''t much of a reason to issue them a quest for it.


    Unless they had been in one all along, and misunderstood, thinking that they had exited. If they had entered a trial when they left thest room, or worse, hadn''t left the first one that they had entered at all, and were simply moving around areas of it, their entire experience could be an illusion.


    Karl looked outside, using every form of vision that he could, but found that the only people around were a scattering of the dark-skinned Elves.


    [I can still sense the portal, even if the city changed.] Rae informed him from her space.


    "Rae says the portal is still nearby. Should we get a move on and see if we can make it there? I don''t know what happened to the city, but I believe we''re in a Trial, and it''s still the goal." Karl whispered.


    There were some shared looks of concern, but after a moment, both Alice and Corbin motioned for him to lead the way out of the room and through the city toward where he thought that the portal should be.


    Their disguises weren''t perfect, but they blended in well with the locals, who had a very eclectic fashion sense, with the only rule seeming to be that it must be ck clothing with white hair.


    They didn''t speak as they moved through the city streets, headed for the centre of town, where everyone could soon see the glow of the immense portal. There were more people moving their way by the minute, as if there were some type of big event going on, and Lotus was getting excited.


    "I speak Elvish, and while their ent is archaic and harsh, I can hear them saying that the portal is open. That must mean they''re going to let people through." She whispered.


    Aliceughed softly. "If we can just walk through the portal, I am throwing a party when we get back. How well do you think you can emte the ent?"


    "Well enough to get us in. Trust me." Lotus replied as she came to walk beside Karl at the front of the group.


    They just followed the flow of people to the portal, hoping that the disguise spell held and wasn''t seen through. Everyone in town was going the same way, toward the man in the ck and white patterned robe that was shouting something in ancient Elvish.


    "He says they''re an outreach program, and they are looking for volunteers who are willing to risk their lives to prove that they have what it takes to be the champion of the Dungeon. I don''t know what that means, but I''m going with it."


    Before anyone could speak, Lotus threw her hands in the air and waved at the man in the ck and white robes. He smiled and pointed at her, while the Elves all looked stunned that someone was volunteering without asking for any more details.


    Lotus made a gesture that they were all together in a group, and the man motioned them up onto the tform where the Dungeon Portal was.


    [Only nine you? The options are five or ten.] The man asked Lotus in Elven.


    [This will be good enough for the ten-person challenge. Have faith.] She replied.


    The man in the odd cleric robes, ck on the left, white on the right, smiled and patted her on the head, then gestured to the portal for them to enter.


    [The first volunteers for the new Dungeon are now entering. May the blessings of the Ancients be upon them.] The man announced as they walked inside, and Lotus almost stopped to ask him questions, but didn''t want to give herself away with her foreign ent.


    Lotus and Karl led the group through, and they stepped into a strange swamp with crystalline trees, and groups of snake monsters with vaguely humanoid torsos.


    "Naga." Lotus announced in awe.


    "Are they powerful?" Karl asked.


    "They can be. They''re semi-intelligent, brutal, and they use magic."


    Hawk looked out over the surroundings from his space and gave a squawk of pure hatred in Karl''s mind.


    [Evil, they''re pure evil. Nothing but swamps and water magic. This ce should not be allowed to exist.]


    After his close call with the Yeti ns, Hawk''s hatred for water magic seemed to have gotten more intense, but as Karl looked out over the swamps, he saw potential.


    There were leaders at the Commander, and high Commander Ranks, countless Awakened Drones and Ascended warriors, as well as lesser subspecies that Karl believed weremon grade and may or may not pose a threat.


    Lotus was the only one of them that knew much about the species, and she hadn''t mentioned the others, so Karl assumed that they were most likelymon grade creatures, though he could see them using simple water magic, so they weren''tpletely harmless.


    The scaled, almost human - shaped upper bodies of the Naga were throwing Karl''s sense of scale off. Most of them only had two arms, but some had four, and they all had fully reptilian heads, like a Cobra''s, with the widened hood. Only, theirs didn''t only re as a threat, it was held wide all the time, either on purpose or by evolution.


    They came in a huge variety of sizes, from torsos the size of a child to asrge as that of an Ogre. The Naga also wore some clothing, and jewellery, while carrying weapons as needed, which convinced everyone in the group that they were indeed an advanced species.


    Karl didn''t want to send Hawk up and draw the entire area toward them, but from the entrance, they could see quite a bit of the vige.


    Karl focused on the Quest Status again, now that they were inside, and found that it had updated.


    [Clear the Naga Dungeon and eliminate the Naga King.]


    That would definitely have to be done in order. But there was something strange about this ce, other than the fact that it was full of Naga, or that it shouldn''t exist in the location where they found it, or the weather in the Swamp.


    Dana was the first to put it together.


    "They can clearly see us standing here. Why haven''t they attacked?" She asked.


    Corbin smiled at her. "It''s a unique feature of the Dungeons. I''ve been in a few before, and as long as none of your group leave the starting tform, nothing will attack. Once we move forward, they will engage as usual, and we will have to remain out of sight of patrols and other groups, while preventing them from calling for assistance."


    [See, this ce is evil.] Hawk reminded Karl.


    [Actually, I have a great idea. Why don''t you stay on the shoulder of one of the mages, which will keep you away from the fighting, and then you can throw fireballs at all the water magic users without attracting too many?] Karl suggested.


    [Oh, that''s good. I will stay with the Dana Mage. If I stand on her head, I will be the same height as everyone else.]


    [Maybe just on her shoulder. Your ws are sharp, and she''s not wearing a helmet.]


    Hawk agreed topromise, and went to stand on her backpack to look over her head.


    Karl called Rae and Thor out, and the group prepared to move forward, to where the first group of Naga were waiting for them.


    As Corbin had said, the moment that they stepped off the tform, the Naga took action, shifting into an attack formation and preparing to engage the group.


    The creatures didn''t seem to know what they should do with the presence of a Lightning Cerro. If snake faces could look confused, that was the vibe that Karl was getting from them as Thor charged, then horror as they realized that he didn''t have to spear them with his horns to cause damage.


    The Naga twisted in between therge upper horns on Thor''s head, but the Cerro just violently shook his head back and forth, whipping the unfortunate warrior from side to side and leaving it unconscious on the ground.


    The others tried to restrain Thor to rescue their teammate, but they were only Awakened Rank fighters, and a pair of fireballs from Hawk took them out before they could even get close.


    Corbin nodded in satisfaction. "Everyone stay close, and try not to make any noise. We will grab the groups one at a time. There are no nobatants in a dungeon trial, they''re all here to fight, and the normal standard is to eliminate them all and see what sort of rewards you get.


    It can be quite extensive, but these instances are rare."

 Chapter 246 Loot Now?

    Chapter 246 Loot Now?


    ??Karl touched the first body, intending to roll the creature over to check if it had anything decent. But as soon as he touched it, the body vanished, and a small stack of coins was left on the ground.


    "What the hell was that?" He whispered.


    "Oh, it''s one ofthose dungeons. This will be spectacr. Touch every monster that we kill, and try not to kill any of them out of reach. It will give us loot as we go, and we can split it how we want. The reward could be money, items, clothing, nearly anything, I''ve even heard of them turning into food. So don''t miss any, the item is usually based on the power of the monster." Corbin informed them.


    Dana whistled softly as she followed the Prince''s instructions, and held up a blue coral ring.


    Hawk grumbled in discontent, and Karl was almost certain that it was a water elemental buff.


    "Does anyone know how to identify these?" Dana asked.


    Tessa held out her hand, and a golden glow surrounded the ring for a moment before the cleric looked startled.


    "It''s a Common Grade ring of pure water. Like the spell that we use to make water with meals, but anyone wearing it can use it if they have the mana." She exined, then handed it back to Dana.


    It wasn''t like the cleric needed it.


    Dana took off her glove and slid it on her finger, then reced the glove as the Spellswords gave her envious looks.


    "It''s just the first fight, and amon grade item. Just wait, we''re bound to get all sorts of good things out of here with the variety of sses in our group." Prince Corbin promised.


    He threw a spell at a nearby group of Naga, killing one instantly, and making the others run toward them. It was brilliant, and almost as if some of the intelligence of the monsters had been removed to make them respond in a predictably aggressive manner, even when they should have been smart enough to just run when someone was instantly decapitated.


    The Spelldes and Karl were on the group the next second, cutting them down, then tapping the corpses to see what happened.


    More coins, and a pair of ck leather gloves that certainly weren''t anything the Naga had been wearing were the results, leaving everyone impressed by the level of magic that it must have taken to create something like this.


    "I believe that these Dungeons are a creation of the World Dragon, a form of Divine Magic. The risks might be immense, as the enemy groups will contain opponents that can challenge Corbin because he''s with us, but the rewards should be simrly great, as the World Dragon took care of the people." Tessa informed the group in a serious tone that reminded them she was a Cleric first, and knew all the essentials of Church Doctrine.


    "Step back into the long grass." Lotus warned quietly, sending everyone scurrying for cover.


    Fortunately, there were no bodies left to give them away because there was a patrol ofrger, four-armed Nagaing, and by Karl''s guess there were four Commanders and either a high Commander or Prince Ranked leader.


    Corbin gestured that he would take the leader with Alice''s Golem as his guard, which left Karl and Thor to hold off the others while the ambush worked its magic.


    Of course, Larry and Alice were going to have to help with the leader, but with Rae and her Golems on the team, they weren''tpletely outmatched by the other four guards.


    The Naga were scaly, but not hard scaly like Thor, they were supple and flexible, meaning hard to hit as they avoided Karl''s strikes.


    These guards also had a water barrier around them that had enraged Hawk, who was furiously hurling fireballs at them as his ming Body surrounded both him and Dana.


    Karl didn''t think that Hawk had even realized he could do that, he was too focused on eliminating the water magic from existence, working through his trauma one charred corpse at a time.


    At this point, even Rae felt bad for the angry bird, and did her best to let him get thest hit on a failing shield, before having her Golems ambush from behind to take out the targets.


    The Golems were also subtly different than he remembered, Karl noticed. They had tes of ck metal armour on their torsos, and encasing their already dangerous forelimbs like des. That had to be Dana''s Golem Armour type ability. [Durable Constructs] he believed it was called.


    Combined with the Lightning, it was incredibly effective, and the Naga were being decimated by the two Golems. The agile warriors that Karl had such a hard time hitting were no match for the eight legged Golems, and Karl wondered if he should invest in [Haste] when he had enough skill points.


    For Commander Rank Rae, that would be forty percent more speed, and that should nearly eliminate the chance that the Naga would be able to dodge them.


    It might not be the optimal choice, but it probably wouldn''t be the wrong choice either. He would get more points as he adventured, and now that he had a taste of it, Karl fully intended to keep going.


    Bob Mackenzie had the right idea. It was better to be free out here than under someone''s supervision. But unlike Bob, Karl was happy to have a reliable group with him.


    Karl kept the warriors upied while the Spider Golems went for their backs, and the two Awakened Rank Spellswords hesitated. They couldn''t take one of those hits like Karl could.


    Though Karl was parrying the majority of the flurry of attacks while the beasts took care of business, and Dana''s Golems did their best every time they were resummoned after taking enough damage to have theirbat ability reduced, the two boys didn''t dare approach and risk a misstep that would mean instant death.


    Tessa couldn''t even hold out against the Naga patrol, and had been forced to retreat from Thor''s back. The Spelldes had a Commander Rank barrier over them, courtesy of Alice, but that wouldn''tst long against opponents with des in all four hands and magic on their side.


    The mages did throw some spells, but Awakened Rank magic against Commander Rank beasts didn''t do much.


    The leader of the patrol fell just before thest of the patrol team, and Karl took a moment to tap the Commander Rank corpses.


    "Oh, there are more leather gloves. Tessa, what are those good for?" He asked, tossing them to the Cleric.


    "Awakened Rank gloves of watery death. Enhanced water magic damage." She replied, then carefully patted Hawk''s ming head as he red at the item.


    "They''re just gloves, they don''t make their own water magic. Rx." She consoled him.


    Hawk was feeling better after killing a bunch of water magic users, but Tessa was pretty good at preening his head, so he kept up the act just a little longer.


    Karl suspected that he was learning bad habits from the others.


    "This is pretty good stuff." Dana noted as they prepared to move forward.


    Corbin shook his head. "That''s the Dungeon equivalent of trash. It''s two full Ranks below the monsters that dropped them.


    When these were originally made, the System Users who fought in them would have had full sets of gear at their own Rank, and they would be looking for rare items, and specific benefits.


    Times were different then, and everyone was so much more powerful."


    After clearing three more groups without gaining anything but a water orb, which was a basic magical crafting resource, and some coins, the path led them to arge open area where a massive four - armed Naga was standing.


    It was wearing strings of bones and shells, and it carried a staff with a glowing blue crystal in one hand, with trinkets in the others.


    Some sort of Shaman, Karl decided.


    It was also at the Commander Rank, and the lower ranked members of the team sighed. They would be basically sidelined again, and the best rewards would predictably go to the strongest among them.


    "Alright, we know how to fight together. Dana, keep your golems back to protect the others, just in case." Prince Corbin announced as he activated a spell that let him leap into battle with a single stride.


    Karl and the beasts were a step behind him. Hawk had moved to stand on Thor''s back so he was closer to the action, and so he didn''t draw attention to Dana.


    Rae was blended into the lichen covered crystalline nts around the tform, and circling behind the Shaman when the first strikended, and the enormous Naga leader activated a spell that called out a dozen ethereal Naga spirits.


    Karl swiped at one, and it dissipated when it was cleaved in half.


    "Dana, you guys are on the spirits, they''re Awakened Rank." He called as he sent a [Shred] toward the shaman.

 Chapter 247 Shaman Champion

    Chapter 247 Shaman Champion


    ??The Naga Shaman was hopelessly outmatched, Karl thought as he moved to surround the creature, letting Corbin take the front, while he and Thor took opposite sides. It was six Commander Rank attackers, including the Golems, and one Royal Rank mage against a single Commander Rank Shaman, but the creature didn''t seem as concerned as Karl thought it should.


    Instead, it surrounded itself with a vortex of water, forcing Karl and the beasts back, then created water tornados that moved erratically around the tform.


    Hawk saw that the attacks were only about six metres tall, so he took off from Thor''s back and began to bombard the Shaman inside, while the others hurled spells at its protective barrier while dodging the swirling water attacks.


    The entire battle was chaos, with everyone running around, attacking the spirits when they got in the way, as the three Awakened Rank members couldn''t control them all, and doing their best tond a hit on the Shaman.


    The spell would fluctuate with every attack from Corbin, but it wasn''t falling, and Karl was unable to tell how effective Hawk''s fireball attacks were.


    Darryl failed to notice an attack and was hurled most of the way across the tform before catching himself on one of Thor''s horns to prevent being thrown down the cliff on the far side.


    He wasn''t seriously injured, but he was now surrounded by a water barrier that was slowing his actions, and threatened to leave him in the path of more vortexes.


    Then one of Karl''s strikes managed to cut a notch in the protective spell, leaving the Naga momentarily visible. The next attacks by Corbin and Alice did the same, and they were back in the fight as the barrier fell.


    The Spider Golems were on the back of the Shaman the second the barrier fell, and Karl noticed that there was still a faint water barrier over the Naga, which had been whittled away by Hawk''s dedicated efforts.


    Having to go through those two barriers, one after another, would have sucked, and Hawk had saved them a lot of headache, with the Shaman now hurling offensive spells at them, both water and Ice Magic types.


    It was definitely Commander Rank in maximum power, but it didn''t seem to run out of mana, and it just wouldn''t die.


    Over the course of the next minute, the Shaman was hit dozens of times while its barrier was down, and while it was bleeding heavily, it was still fighting. They were doing damage, that was clear, and it wasn''t healing unnaturally quickly, but it just wouldn''t die.


    It was beginning to slow down, and the spells wereing more infrequently, but Karl got the feeling that this was not the end, but the buildup to arger attack. So, when the creature''s mana surged, his first instinct was to order everyone back.


    "Big attacking." He called, unsure what it would look like.


    The mana buildup turned into a surge of water, first spiking out, then rotating around the room in curved waves.


    Karl began to move, avoiding the waves, which were pulling away from the Naga Shaman as they travelled.


    He could see everyone going in, but Hawk and Rae were both thinking the same thing.


    [Trap]


    "Get clear of the waves, then back away. It''s a trap." Karl called as the Naga sent out a shotgun st of ice pellets around itself.


    Karl tanked it with me Body, while Alice and the other Commanders absorbed it with their shields. The Awakened Rank fighters hit the ground to get under the attack, while Rae used her golems as a shield and Thor turned his head down so it didn''t hit his eyes.


    Then the Spider Golems were on the Shaman''s back again, and Karl drove his de deep into the creature''s belly as Corbin leapt over him to go for the creature''s throat.


    The Naga Shaman fell into a slumped pile of coiled body, with its arms toward Corbin in onest desperate attempt to grab and strangle him.


    "Well, that went as well as expected. Are there any injuries?" Karl asked as he realized the monster was truly dead, and wasn''t reacting to the Golems continuing to stab it.


    Rae eventually called them off, and Corbin tapped the body, making it vanish, and a small pile of items appear on the floor.


    Tessa stepped up to cast her identification magic, but there was one item that caught Karl''s attention.


    [Core of Ice]


    It was a small crystal, unassuming among the dozens of other small gems, but it was one of the items Rae needed to make a concoction with the moss and crystals she had gotten earlier in the Goblin Cave.


    There were multiple piles of cloth, a staff with a blue orb that looked like the one that the Shaman had been using, and an assortment of coins and gems.


    Alice picked up the staff and frowned at it.


    "That''s odd, I can''t use it. I can use water magic, though." She muttered.


    Then she handed it to Dana, who also frowned and shook her head. She passed it to Lotus, whose eyes lit up with excitement.


    "Oh, this is pretty good. I like this stick." She announced.


    Once she realized that everyone was waiting for a description, she continued.


    "It lets me use the shaman''s signature water vortex spell, the wandering tornado things."


    The other items were all Ascended rank cloth armour, but the fashion wasn''t bad, and the enchantments on them were strong, so they were split between Dana and Rose, who were the only ones who suited the fashion. It seemed that either because it was a female shaman, or the Naga didn''t have legs, the armour was created with a long skirt.


    When they put the armour, which was a significant status improvement over what they were wearing, which was mostlymon and Awakened grade cloth, which was all that the mage ss could wear, Karl couldn''t help but do a double take.


    The Naga style was somewhat modest and elegant, with full red sleeves, but covered in gold and jewels for decoration, and the robes gave them both a regal look that made them seem more like fashionable debutantes and less like students on a mission.


    Rose''s was shorter, and slit up one side for mobility with matching cloth pants, while Dana''s hung well past her knees, but was folded in the front of the skirt like a Kimono, so it would expand as her legs moved.


    "Wait, there''s more." Corbinughed as he held up onest piece of cloth.


    Danaughed as she saw it, but Karl didn''t realize right away what it was. An ancient style cloth chest binding, the precursor to the modern sports bra, and it was enchanted.


    Corbin was holding it out to Rose, so it must be good for her stats, but Tessa was snickering.


    The Spellsword put it on, hanging the cloth over her neck to let the item equip if it was able, and her chest went as t as a board.


    "The chest binding of smooth movement. Now, isn''t that better than having to wear an ufortable binding and having your chest in the way of your swing?" Corbin teased.


    "Darryl has bigger breasts than I do in this thing, do you have any idea what that will do to my fragile pride?


    If it didn''t add melee range attack damage, I would trade with you. You''re getting a bit spare in your old age, you could use it as much as I can." Rose retorted.


    Karl walked over and picked up the Ice Core for Rae, and quickly assembled the ingredients needed into a bowl, being careful not to mess up her art exhibit on the floor when he stole the moss and crystals.


    It could be used by her, Hawk and Karl, with the chance to grant them a new skill of [Paralytic Strikes], which Karl was eager to find out about.


    As the three ingredients settled into the bowl, they quickly turned to a paste, dissolving the moss and the crystals on contact. So, Karl split it into three portions. Each was arge vial, so it should be enough, he hoped.


    "We will take a break here and regain some stamina and mana. I suggest eating some trail mix and getting a drink while we have time." Alice announced once everything from thest fight had been distributed.


    They were going to need the rest after that strangely durable shaman.

 Chapter 248 Stunned

    Chapter 248 Stunned


    ??Once everyone sat down to rest, the three beasts returned to their spaces, where they would recover the fastest, and Karl began to meditate, recovering his energy and mental focus, though his stamina had been recovered by the refreshing lightning.


    Hawk and Rae both immediately downed their potions, before Hawk began to splutter and curse in Karl''s mind as the cold liquid reached his stomach.


    [You fed me Ice Element] heined.


    [It has a chance to teach you Paralyzing Strikes.] Karl exined, hoping to mollify the angry bird.


    The mixture did seem to have some effect on him, and Hawk''s ws became a bit more crystalline and his body a bit more powerful, but it seemed he didn''t gain any skills from it.


    Rae didn''tin about the potion, it had theforting feeling of natural darkness, but she also didn''t gain the skill.


    Karl considered giving her thest dose, but it did say that it was good for him as well, and there was a chance they could get more of the Ice Cores now that they knew what it looked like. They might even get another in this dungeon, as it was an Ascended Rank ingredient.


    So, he downed the potion, and felt the cold flow through his veins, and then merge with the [Refreshing Lightning] that he had gained from Thor.


    [New Skill Gained: Stun]


    That wasn''t what the Identification skill said, but he would take it. A stunning strike was something that the groupcked, and as he was the one who knew it, he could use [Skill Book] to record it and earn himself some brownie pointster, when he had gotten himself in trouble and needed a way out.


    It would also change hisbat tactics. [Stun] was a melee range skill, which wasn''t a big deal, but if he led with it, then switched targets, the Spider Golems could ambush the helpless target. He didn''t know how long it wouldst, or how well creatures would resist it, but even a few seconds under their not so gentle ministrations was enough for the Spider Golems to take out most targets.


    After a few minutes'' rest, Alice and Corbin prepared to move out again. They would be leading the group, to attract the groups of Naga with their longer ranged attacks, but Alice had an extra instruction this time.


    "Let Thor rest for a bit. We''re going to need to sneak through a few areas, and it''s not going to be easy for him. It''s swamnd, and while a Lightning Cerro has no problem moving through that, it''s far from a silent process." She exined.


    "Alright, he can take an extended rest. I will leave Rae in there as well, but she will call her Golems out when we need them. If we''re going for stealth, the smaller the group, the better." Karl agreed.


    After that, all the Golems were dismissed until the next fight, and the group began to make their way through the dense foliage of the swamp, following a Naga patrol route, but staying out of sight among the taller nts that grew between the crystalline trees.


    The next group was standing in a clearing beside the road, and Karl checked in with Rae to be sure that she knew what the n was.


    She was safely hid in her space, away from the swamp water, but Hawk came out to use Dana as a mobile fire tform. She would be well away from the actualbat, and her backpack put him at just the right height to see over her head.


    Corbin nodded, and the fighters spread out to ambush the enemies, one Commander Rank spell caster and four Awakened warriors.


    On his signal, Karl charged intobat, leaping silently out of the water and hitting the spell caster with [Stun] before it could even react.


    There was no visible effect, but it wasn''t moving at all, even as Alice''s wind des and Corbin''s enchanted sword sliced it apart.


    The Spider Golems went straight for the warriors when Rae summoned them out, and the entire group was eliminated without a sound.


    That was how the next hour worth of fights went. A quick ambush from the swamp, and then loot the bodies and retreat out of sight before the patrols noticed and raised an rm.


    Then they found themselves at a crossroads. There were two patrols, bothing their way, and another tform with another oversized Naga.


    "We will split. The patrol on the right is all Awakened with an Ascended Leader, so Darryl, Rose and Dana, you''re on that with Thor. The other is a Commander with Ascended members, so the rest of us will focus on that until Thor returns.


    Once those are done, we will deal with the oversized Naga. I don''t see any other Naga in the area, so this might be the end of the Dungeon. Some of the dungeons are massive, others are small like this." Corbin exined.


    Karl nodded. "Make the call, and I will charge one group with the Spider Golems while Thor goes for the others."


    "Wait just a little, we want them all to be within range of the clerics. It will be two fights, but I don''t want to split the grouppletely." He replied.


    Prince Corbin was a careful strategist, and Karl could tell that his caution was beginning to annoy Alice at some points, but she agreed on this one. Sending the lower ranks too far away could put them in danger if there was some ambush that they had missed.


    Corbin counted down from five on his fingers, and Karl called Thor out in front of the second group as heunched his attack.


    The Commander in the patrol didn''t seem too surprised to see himing, but when the Spider Golems suddenly appeared at his shoulders as Rae left her space, it was certainly caught unaware, and reeled back, coiling its long body underneath itself for bnce.


    Not far enough, as Karl didn''t care if his first strike was to a vital area. [Stun] hit the lower body of the Commander, and it went lethargic for a moment, just long enough for the Spider Golems and Rae to swarm it.


    The Commander had four arms, but the upper two were quickly immobilized as the Golems stabbed at them and used their multiple limbs to pull them back at an awkward angle.


    Rae was more practical, and went for the long tail, slicing it as many times as she could with [Lacerate] to make the creature bleed profusely.


    It was still trying to parry Karl''s de with its lower arms, and Karl mentally calcted that [Stun] was only of limited effect on creatures above his rank, slowing them, but notpletely immobilizing them unless he got a solid hit.


    He had expected the other patrol members to being for him by now, but they were upied with Alice''s Golem and Prince Corbin''s de.


    Karl briefly wondered where Hawk was in all this, and then recalled that he was perched on Dana''s backpack and not given explicit orders, so he was probably still there. That should be more than enough damage to deal with the second patrol.


    Karl didn''t push for more attacks, he only kept the Commander busy as Rae and her Golems tore it to shreds, letting it copse into Karl''s arms and vanish into a pile of gems and a chain mail armour piece.


    The Awakened Team had no problems with their group, and they were only seconds behind on the kills. That probably meant that Hawk was cking, as there was only one Ascended member with the patrol, but there were no injuries, so all was well that ended well.


    Everyone turned to where the oversized Naga was standing on the tform. There were tents around the perimeter, which suggested it might not be alone, but their fight hadn''t attracted any of them, and only the one was out in the open.


    "Do we have a n? Those tents are making me nervous." Tessa noted as they checked the loot.


    She had just identified the armour from the Commander, and she was looking at the chain mail coat in appreciation.


    "It reduces casting cost by fifteen percent while wielding a shield, it''s perfect." She noted.


    "Very nice. I don''t think that any of us will begrudge you." Karl replied.


    "Even when it''s a Commander Rank armour piece?" Tessa asked, looking around the group.


    Prince Corbin chuckled. "You''re the only one of us that even owns a shield."


    She had gotten it yesterday, but he had a point. None of the others had a shield or any intention to use one.


    "Alright, up armoured Cleric it is."


    Karl smiled at her enthusiasm. "That''s probably for the best if you''re going to keep riding Thor intobat."

 Chapter 249 Naga Dungeon Complete

    Chapter 249 Naga Dungeon Complete


    ??Prince Corbin moved forward to scout the area around the final oversized Naga in the dungeon. This was likely to be the hardest fight of all, and it was almost certainly designed for ten fighters of equal power, but none of them really knew what quality of fighters the ck and white robed man at the dungeon entrance meant.


    The fact that they didn''t recognize those robes or the God that they belonged to concerned Tessa, as they looked like a cleric''s robes, but in the middle of a city full of potential enemies, they weren''t going to start asking questions.


    Corbin returned to the group and made a quick diagram in the dirt. "There is a Naga of some sort, oversized like thest one, and at a simr power level. The tents around the Naga boss are empty, but I suspect that won''t be the case once we attack. Either there will be Naga summoned into them, or portals will open to bring in assistants.


    The outfits make the oversized Naga look like a Royal, and this one seems to have male anatomy, a more muscr upper body, wide pecs instead of rounded breast analogues. So, I would call it a Naga King.


    I don''t know what it will do once we''re inbat, but there are weapons all over the tform."


    Karl nodded along as he took in the information. "So, it sounds like it''s a meleebat type of opponent. Avoidance will be key in taking it down. With four arms, it will be able to fight like multiple opponents, and the tail is likely to be dangerous as well.


    That shouldn''t be anything that we can''t deal with if it''s near the same level as thest one. But the issue will be when more Naga show up. We should try turning it around so that the mages and less armouredbatants can stand near the stairs, away from the tents."


    Alice drew a mark on the diagram. "If we''re here, it should be good, provided that the Naga King can be turned around. We just need to worry about the reinforcementsing down the road instead of from the tents.


    But will the two of you be alright at the far side?"


    "Three of us. I will take Thor with me and Corbin. That should be enough to keep it facing us, I hope. If the reinforcementse from behind you, withdraw your Golems to hold them off." Karl suggested.


    Corbin smiled. "Good nning skills. I hope that your skills match up to your confidence."


    Karl chuckled as he looked at his skill points. He had enough for another upgrade, so if things got really bad, he would grant himself another skill to make up for what he wascking.


    Alice looked toward the sky. "We should send Hawk up to scout the area and make certain that we didn''t miss anything. Now that we''re almost out of enemies, it should be safe enough."


    Karl motioned for him toply, and Hawk took off, circling the swamps searching for opponents.


    [Nothing, just that big one.] He confirmed.


    [Stay up high, and you can join the fight after we get him turned.] Karl replied.


    "Hawk says we''re good."


    Karl and Corbin rushed past the King, like they were going to attack its back, and Karl summoned Thor from his space once they were in ce, getting the fight started with the King facing away from the ramp.


    The others joined from the steps, with Rae''s Golems moving forward to engage from the sides, far enough forward that the King wouldn''t have to turn around to look at them.


    That made it look like a five on one from its point of view until the mages and lower ranked Spellswords began their ranged bombardment.


    The wounds stacked up at an insane rate as Corbin focused all his energy on parrying all four swords and keeping the King fromnding a single strike.


    It was bing a lopsided battle, and Hawk''s fireballs were searing away scales all over the creature''s body.


    As they had expected, the King eventually cast a barrier over itself and let out a battle cry that made dozens of Naga appear on the path toward the tform and from the tents.


    The Spider Golems turned to face the ones from the nearest tents, while Karl dealt with the few that were behind them.


    The mages would be engaged for a while, but between Rae and the Spider Golems, the Naga Warriors who were summoned weren''t a major threat. It was the steady stream of enemiesing up the ramps that was the real issue.


    At the moment, Corbin was stuck on defence, so the only onesnding any hits on the boss was Rae, while Thor and Karl dealt with the additional fighters.


    Lacerate was doing its job, and the floor was covered in Naga blood, but the boss wasn''t showing many signs of weakening as it threw down its small swords and grabbed tworger ones from the ground, holding each in two hands from the same side of its body.


    Even Corbin couldn''t properly parry those with the brute strength of the muchrger Naga King, and Karl was forced to roll out of the way of a downward sh.


    The moment that thest of the warriors from the tents fell, the tents were blown back by a wave of water magic as a spectral version of the shaman boss joined the fight.


    [Take this, evil water snakes!] Hawk called happily as he dive-


    bombed the tform.


    It took Karl a second to realize what he meant. There were what appeared to be Naga eggs in one of the tent sites, and Hawk was going for them.


    [No!] Karl called out an instant toote, as Hawk tossed his prized snack into the mental space.


    Itnded in the fourth beast space, which immediately filled with the strange swamps and long grasses of the Dungeon, while the egg sunk into the mud and waters.


    [MY SNACK!] Hawk wailed as he realized what had happened.


    [Get your brain back in the fight. We''re not done yet.] Karl reminded him. He would remove the eggter, and the space should reset.


    Or at least he hoped that would work. He managed to take Thor and Rae''s eggs back out after putting them in the space.


    But now the ghostly Shaman was building up to their wave attack as the spectral form entwined itself in a defensive formation with the King.


    Karlunched himself forward, narrowly avoiding an iing strike from the King, and hit the Shaman with a [Stun] attack.


    The building attack stopped, and the mages unleashed a wave of attacks on it, apanied by Hawk''s frustrated fireballs.


    With its major attack interrupted, the spectre needed time to recover, and this form was far weaker than its original body had been. It was already beginning to be incorporeal under the weight of attacks that the Spider Golems were sending its way.


    The King mmed the ground with its des, sending an Earthquake in all directions as the spectre was eliminated by the concerted efforts of the group.


    Karl jumped, and Thor counterattacked with his own Earthquake to keep himself stable, but the others were thrown to the ground as the King was surrounded by a red barrier.


    It was going berserk, and its attacks were increasing in speed, shattering the barriers over Corbin, who was on one knee. Karl attacked from the other side to draw its attention while the Spellde recovered, but even his magically enhanced strength andrge de were no match for the enraged boss, and he was tossed to the ground on the third strike.


    He threw himself to the side to dodge and continued his defence, keeping the King facing away from the mages, who were slower to recover, and who had taken a fair bit of damage from the Earthquake.


    The bleeding was taking its toll on the boss, and the red barrier was fading, along with the King''s attack power, by the time that it turned back to Corbin.


    Karl had bought enough time for the Spellde to find an opening, and he drove his de deep into the creature''s chest, where a human''s heart would be.


    Blood flew everywhere, coating Corbin and the tform around him as the boss copsed, and then the corpse vanished, leaving behind arge golden chest.


    [Dungeon Complete] a haunting voice spoke through the area, leaving everyone relieved and panting for breath as they stared at the chest.


    "Who do we choose to open it?" Tessa asked as she cast a [Refresh] spell on the group.


    "I say we let Prince Corbin. If it''s going to go by who opens it, he''s the best choice. He''s the highest ranked, plus he''s both a melee fighter and a mage." Karl suggested.


    Corbin shook his head. "They''re based on luck. Who here has the most luck, or favour of the World Dragon?"


    The others pointed at Karl. There was no doubt that it was him, the spell that the High Priests had cast had proven it.


    "The High Priests had him tested." Lotus exined to the confused Spellswords.

 Chapter 250 Bonuses

    <h4>Chapter 250 Bonuses</h4>


    Karl reached out and touched the chest, which swung open.


    [Rewards are being granted.] The same voice announced.


    [Most Damage Dealt: Rae. Bonus Award Granted.]


    [Most Healing Done: Lotus. Bonus Award Granted.]


    [Under Level Completion: Dana, Darryl, Rose, Remi. Bonus Granted.]


    Everyone looked around at each other.


    "Whose real name is Remi?" Lotus finally asked, confused.


    Nobody seemed to know, but in Karl''s mind, the egg that Hawk had thrown into the fourth space began to tremble and crack.


    "You''ve got to be kidding me." Karl muttered as the mottled blue egg began to hatch.


    [Send it out. Stupid water snake.] Hawk demanded.


    [It''s toote, the bonding isplete, and they''ve gotten an award from the Dungeon.] Karl informed him.


    Now, he just had to find out exactly what sort of Naga creature he had gained as his fourthpanion.


    "Remi is a hatchling in my fourth mental space. Hawk threw an egg from the boss tform in, intending to eat it." Karl exined.


    Lotus burst intoughter, which only grew in intensity until she was holding her middle and rolling on the ground, tears of mirth running down her face.


    "Hawk picked a Naga as your fourth partner? Oh, that is priceless." She gasped.


    Hawk hurled a fireball at theughing cleric, but the [Refreshing Lightning] barrier around her stopped it without damage.


    "Sorry Hawk. But that really is too funny." Lotus finally managed to apologize.


    They were so distracted by the addition of a team member and Lotus'' response that everyone nearly missed when the Spider Golems began firing spears of wood into the grass.


    [I got a new skill. Spear. Look, I can do it with my silk as well.] Rae informed them, then sent out a burst of silk shaped like an arrow that impaled a tree just away from the tform.


    "Well, Rae got a new skill as a bonus. What did Lotus get?" Alice asked.


    The nature cleric did her best to stopughing before Hawk came down to attack her in person.


    She cast a spell, and her body was surrounded in water, brushing away all the dirt and wounds from the battle.


    "I got a new healing spell. Revitalizing waters." She exined.


    Then everyone turned their attention to the other three that the voice had named as getting bonuses. They were still in shock, and hadn''t examined themselves, but to the others it was obvious that they were all freshly Ascended Rank mages, or Spellswords.


    A gentle, slightly terrified voice entered Karl''s mind.


    [Evil bird can''t get to me here, can he?] Remi whispered.


    [No, he can''t get to you. That''s your space.] Karl assured her.


    Remi, as the Dungeon had called her, was a small blue snake with shimmering crystalline scales, a ck swirling pattern on her back, and golden belly scales. Her head was hooded like a cobra, simr to the Naga, but she was definitely all snake.


    [Yes, safe!] She eximed, then cast a minor spell that created four tiny water tentacles, which she swung wide in the same motion that a baseball umpire used, and Karl wondered where she had learned that.


    A baby Spirit Snake, as Remi appeared to be, wasn''t a humanoid creature, they were a magical water snake that existed in the Golden Dragon Nation. Karl was only vaguely familiar with them from his research, but they were a strong Commander Rank threat, and could grow to ten metres long.


    But what Lotus knew was that they were considered one of the Spiritual Beasts, as they were known to develop advanced magic of various sorts, and when they matured after they reached adulthood, they would naturally evolve into one of three directions.


    They would either be Naga Warriors, Naga Workers, or Guardian Spirit Snakes. The third sort never gained the humanoid features or extra intelligence, and instead focused on growing its reptilian body.


    Karl focused on the new addition, doing his best to see what he could tell about the team''s newest addition


    [Pet added: Remi]


    [Shaman Princess]


    [Rank] Ascended


    He hadn''t been expecting that. She was tiny, but apparently, she was born as an Ascended Rank Shaman. The inspection didn''t tell him what skills she had, but they would logically be water rted, as she was somehow rted to the Naga.


    A tiny blue Spirit Snake with ck patterns on her back, a pale golden underside and a wedge shaped head.


    Corbin reached into the golden treasure chest and got a confused look on his face.


    [Member Reward Granted to Corbin.] The voice of the dungeon announced.


    "I guess we can''t pick what we want from the box? Well, we could likely trade afterwards, I suppose." Hemented as he looked at the golden bracers in his hands.


    They were intricately carved with images of Naga on them, and looked like they should have some sort of worthwhile magic imbued into them. The most powerful stuff was always the coolest looking, in Karl''s experience.


    Thor stuck his snout in the box, trying to see what was there, and came back with a ne on.


    "Thor gets bling too? That''s wild." Lotusughed as the voice announced that Thor had received his reward.


    Hawk took his cue from the Lightning Cerro, and came back out of the chest with arge red gem in his mouth. A gem which he promptly ate, causing himself to re with magic.


    [Come on Commander. You can do it.] He cheered himself on as power surged in his body.


    Just when Karl thought he was going to fail, [ming Body] surged with power, and Hawk''s eyes flickered to a bright glowing blue that shimmered like a me.


    "That''s a Commander Rank advancement for Hawk." Karl stated the obvious as the others cheered him on.


    One after another, the others reached in to grab their rewards and came back out with gear. Rae got a shadowy gem that she also ate, though it didn''t propel her through an entire Rank.


    Karl wasst up, and Remi appeared on his hand as he reached into the chest.


    [Member Reward Granted to Karl.]


    [Member Reward Granted to Remi.]


    Hawk screeched in annoyance. [She didn''t even do anything. She wasn''t even born when the fight ended!]


    Karl sighed. [Look, you two are going to have to get along. I also know that you ate the other eggs from that nest already, so don''t pretend like you lost something precious.]


    He sensed Remi''s smug attitude. Hawk had eliminated thepetition for her. Now, she just had to eliminate the Hawk, and she won. Won what, Karl wasn''t certain, but he mentally chastised the baby monster.


    [That means you too. Get along with the others.] Karl made it an order and felt the two beasts'' wills bending under his order as they reluctantly came up with ways to do the bare minimum toply.


    Remi now had a spear in two of her four water tentacles, while Karl was looking at a simple golden coin.


    [Skill Token] Grants one random Skill.


    "What is that? It feels like Holy Magic." Tessa asked.


    "It grants a skill when used." Karl exined.


    "Wow, so like a skill book. What skill?" She replied, eager to see what new power Karl would gain.


    "It, uh, doesn''t say? It says it grants a random skill."


    Corbin whistled in appreciation. "That''s quite the find. It could either be the most valuable item you''ll ever hold, or the most disappointing bonus you''ll ever get.


    I''ve seen something like that before, and when it says random, it means random. Completely random."


    "In that case, should I hold off?" Karl asked.


    "I don''t think it matters when you use it." Corbin shrugged.


    The only problem was that Karl didn''t know how to use the coin. He only knew what it did, the magic of the coin told him that much.


    "Flip it." Tessa suggested.


    If it was random, a coin flip made sense, Karl supposed.


    He looked at the coin, which had the World Dragon logo on both sides, so there were no heads or tails. He just flipped it, and caught it, then flipped it onto the back of his hand, the way you always did for a coin toss.


    [Skill Gained: Silent Movement] The dungeon voice announced.


    "Not a bad ability for a scout." Alice congratted him.


    "Agreed." Tessa informed him with a satisfied nod.


    Prince Corbin looked around at the group, who had long since reverted to their natural human forms.


    "I should cast the spell on us all once we get to the entrance, then we will have to find a way out of that city, and the trial that it was in. We did well here, but there will still be challenges ahead of us." He reminded the others.


    Karl put all the beasts away in preparation to head out, and Corbin prepared their disguises.


    "Lotus, you''re up at the front again. If they have questions, you''re the only one likely to understand." Corbin instructed.


    With a nod from the Spellde, the group made their way through the dungeon, retracing their steps. They stopped at the entry tform to check their gear and make certain they hadn''t dropped anything, before stepping through the portal in a group, and directly out onto a snow-covered hillside.


    They were out of the mountains, near the edge of the abnormally cold anomaly zone, nearly fifty kilometres from where they had started.


    For a moment everyone''s expressions went nk, while [Refreshing Lightning] surged, as if they were under attack, and then they recovered.


    Alice looked around them. "How did we get here?"


    Karl shrugged. "When we left the Dungeon, this is where it brought us."


    For a second, the others looked confused, and then realization came to their faces as [Refreshing Lightning] fought off whatever status effect was ced on them, and their memories returned.


    [Nice save, Thor.] Karl congratted his partner.


    [I told you I was the healer now.] Thor dered, which made Remi giggle.


    Prince Corbin snapped his fingers. "I get it now. That''s what happened to the others. They entered an instance, and when they finally escaped it, their memory was wiped. But we were all under the same protective spell when we left the dungeon, and we managed to remember."


    Larry patted him on the back. "Good work, boss, we couldn''t have done without you being mauled by a Naga King for ten straight minutes. But we''ve got more to celebrate. There is a new Commander in the group."


    Corbin turned to Karl. "So there is."

 Chapter 251 Commander Karl

    <h4>Chapter 251 Commander Karl</h4>


    As they stood in the snow near the foothills of the mountains, Karl checked his body for obvious changes, and immediately noticed the differences. His power had made a notable jump, likely when Hawk advanced, at least twenty percent from where he was before, and the feeling of his power was slightly different, the same way that Hawk and Rae had changed when they advanced.


    "How can you tell that without a test?" Rose asked skeptically. She still viewed Karl with a level of distrust, but it didn''t seem personal. She treated all men the same way, just not as obviously as with Karl.


    "He feels like a Commander Rank beast. If I wasn''t familiar with him, I would think that one of the local monsters had just advanced." Prince Corbin exined.


    That was what one of the nearby Elite groups had thought as well, and they came running into the area, searching for the beast that had just advanced, hoping to catch it while it was still vulnerable during the aftermath, the way that Rae had been when she shed her chitin.


    "Where did you alle from? We were informed that everyone else had evacuated from the mountains. We''re just here to prevent the spread of the anomaly monsters." The team leader, a Commander Rank warrior, asked.


    Karl''s group wasrger than usual, nine people, and the Spellde outfits suggested that it was two groups mashed together for safety. To the patrol, that meant their information that the region was clear of Elites was incorrect, and they needed some answers.


    "We were on a mission in the mountains. Dispatch code 025678." Prince Corbin replied.


    The team leader punched the code into his phone, sending a text message to someone, and promptly got a message back.


    "I see the issue. You''ve been gone ten days, and were presumed lost when the monsters surged. It''s good to have you back, Prince Corbin." The Commander replied.


    "Not it." Karl shouted as the man finished speaking.


    "Not what?" He asked confused.


    "I''m not taking the me or doing the paperwork for this one. It''s someone else''s turn." Karlughed.


    There were definitely going to be questions about what they were doing for ten days, though it only felt like two in the minds of the group.


    "I will call for an extraction team. Where will you all be returning to?" The Commander asked.


    "My team will be going to the Golden Divine Academy, and I believe the others will be going to the Capital." Alice announced.


    That would be a change. Karl hadn''t been back to his room in ages, and he could use a nice long rest.


    They simply waited as the extraction helicopter came to pick them up. Karl knew there would be all sorts of questions when they got back to the Academy. Like how he made it to Commander, how Dana made Ascended so fast, where all this new gear came from, and what they were going to do with him now.


    That reminded Karl of the warning that Prince Corbin had given him. Once he was back, he would have to learn to stand up for himself. Even if he was still a student, he was also a Commander Rank Elite, and theoretically on the same social standing as the Professors of the Academy, or even Alice.


    He might not have the usual record and des to go with it, but he did hold the Rank.


    Their ride was one lone helicopter, a smaller one and not one of therger cargo helicopters that would transport fifty Elites at a time to multiple locations.


    Everyone piled in, and the copilot made a motion for them to buckle up. Therge sliding doors on the sides were open, so they could attack out of the vehicle if there were flying threats, or ranged attacks, but the pilot was keeping fairly close to the treetops.


    That wasn''t normal, from what Karl knew. It was safer to be way up in the sky, where attacks from the ground couldn''t get to you, and this only made sense if you were hiding from a threat in the air.


    They were unable to hear anything being said over the noise, but the helicopter was headed straight for the Academy, if his sense of direction was correct.


    Karl was in the middle seat at the back, so he chose to meditate while they flew, establishing the power level of his newest space, and getting to know Remi.


    [So, you''re a Shaman. What sort of skills can you use?] Karl asked the tiny Spirit Snake.


    Her rich blue scales faded to pale gold along her belly, with ck swirling patterns on her back, making her look a bit like a python, though the pattern of the ck markings wasn''t right for a python and the blue of her scales was more like a gemstone than the camouge of amon snake monster.


    "I know Minor Water Control, and Chain Lightning, and Blizzard, and healing ssh. It''s not a big healing spell like the clerics use, but it closes cuts well." She announced proudly.


    Hawk was ring at her from the moment that she said Blizzard, but he wasn''t trying to break into her space, and he wasn''t hurling mental insults at her. At least, not anymore.


    Remi was still hiding under the nts in her space, in case he came for her, but Thor had been sneaking her chunks of meat, and Karl had just realized that he had stolen a corpse from Hawk''s space to get it from, as his didn''t have any.


    Remi made sure to dip them all in the water and wrap them in leaves from one of the tall grasses before eating them, like she was making sushi rolls out of meat bits that she chopped with her spear.


    It was adorable, and it didn''t interfere with her mentalmunication.


    Thor gave her more nts, to see what she liked, and the Naga got very excited, before folding one of them into a simple leafy crown that she tied with vines. Rae donated some bones to the cause, and the little shaman added them to her crown, then made a ne of them.


    Even Hawk, though he pretended that he absolutely hated her, donated a few small but shiny stones to her outfit.


    [I will get you a proper hatter so that you don''t destroy your leaf crown.] Karl informed her.


    The supply room at the school would have something for her that was rank appropriate and would hold up tobat damage.


    [Thor will give me a Lightning Barrier and that will protect it for a while. There are lots of the big leaves. They''re growing here.] Remi dismissed the concern for her decoration, which would likely fall off her head the moment she came out into the open anyhow.


    She didn''t actually care about the coverage, it was the decoration she was after. She was a Spirit Snake Shaman, not amon monster. She needed pretty things, so everyone knew she was impressive.


    Once she had filled herself with the meat rolls, Remi promptly passed out on a rock with arge leaf bent over herself, so she couldn''t be seen from above.


    [You scared her.] Thor chastised Hawk.


    [She was supposed to be food, not friend.] Hawk retorted.


    [But she''s a friend now.] Rae countered, ganging up on Hawk, who was still upset about the incident.


    [Fine, fine. I will be nice. At least she''s only part water magic. She''s got lightning as well, and lightning is warm.] Hawk reluctantly agreed.


    Karl meditated the next four hours away, waiting for them to reach their destination as everyone rested. The amount of power flowing both into him and into his spaces was twice what it had been a few days ago, when hest had time to properly meditate.


    The feedback from the two Commander Rank beasts had proven to be a real boon to his development.


    The energy level in both Thor and Remi''s spaces was growing at a noticeable rate, as was the newborn Snake. She had been absolutely tiny when she hatched, and the influx of food and energy had grown her by about a third, to the point that she would actually fill Karl''s palm now.


    She was still no thicker around than his pinkie, except at the base of her head, where the hood red out like a cobra or a Naga.


    When she was asleep, the hood of scales around her head was gone, tucked t instead of spread to make her lookrger. Or perhaps it was more than a threat disy and worked like ears for a Naga? Karl didn''t know much about their biology.


    Hopefully, Sergeant Rita would be here already, he couldn''t wait to tell her about all the things he had seen. But any side quests would have to wait because there was arge group of government vehicles sitting next to the helipad on the Academy grounds as they approached.


    Karl hadn''t really had to deal with them before, other than Colonel Valerie and her people from the Bureau, who wouldn''t need to assemble a group to greet their team, unless there was some formality to weing Prince Corbin and the Spelldes.

 Chapter 252 Government Officials

    <h4>Chapter 252 Government Officials</h4>


    The helicopternded, and the copilot motioned for them to wait inside until the des spun down. That gave them time to see who was waiting for them, and it appeared to be a rather illustrious group of dignitaries from every branch of the government.


    [Remember what I told you. You''re going to need a backbone here, firm but polite, or they''ll walk all over you and treat you like an unruly child.] Prince Corbin whispered to Karl.


    Alice gave him a questioning look, wondering what he was talking to Karl about, but before she could ask, the Royal Rank mage stepped down from the helicopter and greeted the crowd.


    "Ministers, Chief Researcher Davies, Generals, what brings such an illustrious group here today with their assistants?" Corbin asked as he walked toward the crowd.


    Corbin had been seated next to Karl, who followed Alice out of the door, with Larry right beside him. As he turned, Karl could see that the staff were holding the others back, having everyone disembark by rank, so the Ascended would be at the back of the group.


    When they reached the gathering, they held those ranks. Prince Corbin was in front, with Larry and Alice nking Karl, and the others in behind.


    Lotus and Tessa didn''t stay there long, and went to greet a High Priest in the crowd personally. That gave the teachers the opportunity to whisk Dana away along with Rose and Darryl, leaving just the four senior members to greet the politicians.


    "Oh, have you found a promising junior to introduce to us today, Corbin?" One of the men asked.


    "Who? Commander Karl? Yes, he is quite promising, but hardly a junior anymore, Ascended Minister Gerald."


    From the look on the young minister''s face, you would think that Corbin had pped him. Karl guessed that bringing up the fact that he was Ascended was considered to be an insult, despite his position as a government Minister, which was among the highest of appointed positions.


    "Oh, a young Commander, is he? I''m certain that we can find some suitable work for him." The minister simpered in an unsightly disy of sucking up that made Karl''s skin crawl.


    "I will see where I can fit you into my schedule, Minister. Thank you for the offer." Karl replied politely, and saw the split second where Corbin''s neutral look flickered to a smirk.


    In his peripheral vision, Alice was doing a much worse job of hiding her amusement, while Larry was stone faced, simply standing there like a statue, perhaps hoping that they would forget he was present.


    A man in a General''s uniform stepped up and shook Alice''s hand. "Agent, good to see you again, tell me, how is the Colonel?"


    Alice gave him a genuine smile. "Thest that I saw her, she was dealing with an ipetent forward operations base manager. She wasn''t in a good mood, but her health has been well."


    A rather fragile looking person in a vibrant peach-coloured suit stepped up, holding a clipboard. "Prince Corbin, would you like to sign up for one of the assistance groups? I have all the paperwork prepared for you, ready for signature." They asked, with a tone of demand in their voice.


    "No, thank you. I am quite busy with the Spellde training program, you see."


    Karl was beginning to see what he meant. If you didn''t say no to them, they would monopolize every minute of your day with their pet projects, using your power and reputation to earn themselves bonuses at work.


    Alice was rtively safe as a member of the Bureau, and Larry had Prince Corbin as a shield, but Karl would have been thrown to the wolves if anyone had known in advance that he had made the Commander Rank.


    "Should we proceed to the official Commander Rank testing, Elite Karl?" A deep voice asked from behind him.


    The voice was familiar, and Karl turned to find Tank, the Berserker training instructor, standing there with a smile on his face.


    "That sounds good. It''s best to get the little formalities out of the way first." Karl agreed.


    Tank smiled as Karl made his escape, headed back toward the warrior training grounds.


    "You don''t need a mage area, do you? I don''t know what you''ve been up to since you left here." The big berserker asked.


    "No, a warrior training area should be just fine." Karl agreed.


    He must have called ahead because they were already setting up the energy measuring equipment when the pair arrived.


    "You know the routine, power up, no summoned creatures. Then activate your skill against the target and we will measure the energy output." The instructor who was manning the station informed them in a dry tone.


    At first, Karl thought that the man didn''t know or care who it was that had made Commander, then he realized that there were whole lines of students awaiting tests. It was exam week, and he just happened to be here for it. The examiner didn''t even look up as Karl grabbed the two-handed training sword and activated [Refreshing Lightning] and [me Body].


    "Pass, low Commander." The man informed them in the same bored tone.


    "Respectfully, I haven''t even activated an attack skill yet." Karl informed him.


    That made the man look up and see the energy coated weapon still tip down against the ground. He gave an odd look for Karl being in armour, with a backpack on, instead of in school uniform, but didn''tment on it before getting back to business.


    "Oh, sorry. Please, proceed."


    Karl focused and added [Shred] to the ability stack, then realized he had gained new abilities from Remi. He could use her [Chain Lightning] which seemed as if it would go better with [Refreshing Lightning] than Shred did.


    So, he switched and mmed an attack into the armoured te.


    "Pass, still technically low Commander energy, but the damage output is Mid-Commander."


    "Thank you, examiner." Karl replied, then put the test weapon back.


    Tank smirked and handed Karl a golden badge. "You can put those on your uniform when you change back. You will need a fresh set, by the way, as Commander Rank students wear the teacher''s business suit around the Academy, not the in ck school uniform. If you make it to Royal before you graduate, you get a cape."


    "Well, I''ll try to escape to my room and get changed. What time of day is it? It should be almost dinner, right?" Karl asked.


    It had been daytime since they got out of the Portal, so he wasn''t entirely certain what time they started their day.


    "It is almost five in the afternoon. We got the message that your team members wereing back just after lunch."


    Karl smiled. "Perfect, then I will be done changing just in time to eat."


    Tank shook his hand and looked toward one of the other testing areas. "I will go register your results, you go get changed, wandering around the school in armour and a backpack attracts attention."


    Karl made for the supply room, and found the halls of the dorm building curiously busy with gawking students. Sure, ss would be out, but nobody hung out in the hallways like this. The rumours didn''t take long to reach his ears, that he was the next famous prodigy of the school. Reaching Commander in the first year, and that he was the reason all the government people were here for the exams.


    Of course, that was unlikely to be true. They had gone straight to trying to wrangle Prince Corbin into deals when they arrived, but that didn''t change the students'' rumour mill.


    "Hi, I''ll need a new uniform." Karl greeted the older man at the counter.


    "Wrecked one during exams, did you? No worries, I''ve got plenty." He replied.


    "Actually, I passed the Commander Rank test, so I need a change of uniform." Karl replied, holding up the golden school badge.


    "Oh, easy-peasy. They might be dusty, as I don''t go through many, but they''re always in stock."


    The old man took out two bags, then looked over Karl and changed them for two others.


    "There you go, a new uniform plus a formal suit. These ones will bond once you wear them, so do take care of them, as they''ll cost you to rece. The daily wear uniform is ck, and the other one is the formal white for official events." The clerk exined.


    "Thanks. I will see you again soon. I will need a few equipment pieces when I have a bit more time to talk." Karl replied, with a subtle nod toward the students openly eavesdropping.


    "Of course. See you soon."

 Chapter 253 Special Treatment

    Chapter 253 Special Treatment


    ??Karl checked on the nts that filled his balcony and found them freshly watered, then changed and showered quickly, before trying on the two new suits. As promised, they bonded the same way that armour did, allowing him to dismiss them with a thought, and get dressed again just as easily. Now, he wouldn''t have to worry about the spare clothes in his bag, as he had something to change into other than armour for when they got back to town, but he did notice that there was one oddity about these two outfits.


    The badge, the golden emblem of his Commander Rank, bonded separately from the suits. He could take it out and show it to people without changing, or put it on whichever outfit he wanted.


    That was truly convenient.


    It still marked him as a student of the Golden Divine Academy, which should be no shock to anyone, given his youth. However, the mirror on the wall was showing him a much less childish face than he was used to.


    That babyish peach fuzz was bing a proper beard, and the childish look was fading toward what he would call young adulthood. Like his beasts, the advancements had helped him through the adolescent awkward phase, and he was looking more like a proper adult.


    He quickly shaved, and put a bit of pomade in his hair as he brushed it, keeping it in ce now that it was beginning to grow out from the crew cut that he had finished middle school with. His parents would be proud of how far he hade, so Karl sent a message to them, as both would be out of the house at this hour of the day.


    When he went downstairs in his suit, none of the students recognized him right away, they simply nodded politely as he walked by, mistaking him for one of the part-time teachers'' assistants that came and went.


    But the cafeteriadies weren''t nearly as easily fooled.


    "Student Karl, wee back. We''ve got some Ascended Rank bear meat in, if your wee beastie would like to give it a try?"


    Hawk wasn''t feeling enthusiastic about the prospect with all the meat he already had, and Remi wasn''t sure what a bear was, so Karl shook his head.


    "We were lucky enough to stock up on meat while we were out. But I could use a double serving of your Shepherd''s Pie, and a coffee."


    The worker nodded happily, and gestured toward the seating area. "You can take a seat, we will bring it out. Or are you going to be in the staff lounge?"


    "I''ll sit here. I must say, I''m getting all the special treatment today." Karl replied.


    "You''re all fancy now, you get the privileges." Sheughed, then waved him over to the tables.


    The students were beginning to realize who he was, and the excitement to talk to him was building. To prevent utter chaos in the cafeteria, Karl picked a table in the corner, where he would be able to talk without being surrounded. Having to turn around to answer questions from behind would be a pain, as well as blocking most of the room, so it seemed like the best option.


    At first, it was the generic congrattions on having made Commander from people whose faces he barely recognized, then some of the mages from Hawk''s training ss came in to have dinner and saw Karl in his suit with the gold badge.


    "What the hell? How is that even fair? I haven''t made it to ascended yet, and he already made Commander." One of the water magesined.


    Karl felt hawk''s smugness in his mind at the man''sment. The victory over that particr bit of water wasplete.


    "What are you going to do now? I mean, once you are as good as the teachers, is there really much that you can learn in the Academy?" One of the other mages asked.


    "There''s always more to learn, andbat isn''t the only subject that we need to know. Sure, I could and will likely spend a lot of time doing mercenary hunting jobs because I have beasts to feed, but the other courses, martial arts training and theory sses are all still valuable." Karl replied.


    The mageughed. "I suppose that''s right. They''ll expect big things of you now. But did you hear the news while you were away? There''s a big thing happening with the Frost Giants'' nation. Apparently, they''ve been using some sort of Ice Magic to attack neighbouring countries and spread their borders. I saw it on the news the other day."


    That got Karl''s attention. When they were sent, the thought was that the anomaly was what was causing the cold in the region, but the anomaly ended up being some sort of Dark Elf vige trial, and a Naga Dungeon.


    Neither of those was of the Ice Element, though there were frozen battlefields in some of the trials that they faced.


    Finding out that it was most likely the beginning of an attack by the Frost Giants along that border made sense of a number of things. Like the fact that when they came out, the mountains had been evacuated, and the people left behind were feared dead.


    With an ongoing conflict between them and the Frost Giants, it wouldn''t be safe to go train there for the foreseeable future.


    The staff brought his dinner while Karl answered questions, and after a few minutes, Dana came to join him at the table. So far, nobody else had been brave enough to take a seat, but Dana looked more concerned about the meal on her te, while her curly hair slowly dried and turned into a giant mass of frizz.


    "We''ve been in the field too long, it''s weird seeing a meal with no rice and beans." Shemented as she began to eat.


    It was, actually. They were such amon staple in Lotus and Tessa''s cooking that he didn''t even think about it, but they were missing from the Academy meals.


    Karl cut up a bit of roast chicken and wrapped it in lettuce, then brought Remi out of her space to say hello to everyone.


    The baby Spirit Snake was growing fast, now over thirty centimetres long, and starting to take on more of a dull sheen, which Karl suspected meant that she would be shedding her skin soon.


    "Is that Remi? The baby Naga Spirit Snake, or whatever she was?" Dana asked.


    "She is. Remi, this is Dana. Would you like to say hi?" He asked as Remi grabbed a chicken ball and manoeuvred it toward her mouth.


    Remi flicked her tongue in greeting and used [Minor water control] to make a pair of tentacles to wave at the mage before filling her mouth to prevent any more questions.


    "Wow, I didn''t think that you could bond a Spirit Snake. They''re technically magical beasts, since they can''t speak anguage, and they''re not much smarter than dogs, but still, when they evolve into Naga, they grow up to look partially humanoid." A mage from the morning trainingmented.


    Dana looked up. "The ones we saw in the dungeon couldmunicate well enough."


    That startled the mage. "They were speaking? Like hissing at each other to coordinate attacks? I grew up near the swamps, and there is a theory that in ancient times, Naga were semi-


    intelligent beings, but now they''re basically snakes with arms. They can''t even be trained to performbour tasks."


    Dana nodded. "There was a whole vige full of Naga in the Dungeon,plete with tents and furniture. That''s wild, I wonder if Remi will be that smart or if it was just the magic of the dungeon making a home for them?"


    Remi looked up at Karl. [p him for calling me a snake with arms.] She demanded.


    Karl chuckled, catching the mage''s attention. "She is quite insulted to hear the Naga called snakes with arms. But I canmunicate with my beasts much more clearly than with regr animals, so being bonded to me most likely brings up their intelligence level.


    Hawk speaks in my mind, speaks in a humannguage which his body could never make, so it''s hard for me to say how smart the other Naga actually are. But Remi, for certain, knows when people are insulting her."


    Remi nodded as she ate, and took out her spear to wave it at the mage using the water control tentacles.


    It should have been menacing, but given her size, it was smaller than a chopstick, and much of the effect was lost in trantion.


    "Got it, no insulting the tiny snake girl. Is she a warrior, then? I see that she has a spear already." The warrior beside the mage asked.


    If Karl was going to be sending his pets to train with the other students again, he wanted to know how long he had before some crazy snake girl with a spear wasing to beat his ssmates up.


    "She''s actually a Shaman. The spear was a birthday gift." Karl replied.


    Dana hid herughter with a mouthful of food. Yes, a birthday gift. On the day that she was born, from the dungeon that she was born in.

 Chapter 254 Rita

    <h4>Chapter 254 Rita </h4>


    Once dinner was done, Karl took Dana back up to his room to rx, away from all the excitement of the Academy on exam day. Rae came out as soon as they opened the door, and went to improve her living space using the new design ideas she had gotten since they left, including the forts they had been sleeping in.


    She had the space, and she could attach them to the whole wall of the building, since she didn''t care about anyone else''s windows.


    Unfortunately for her, Karl caught that line of thought and stopped her before she could web up the entire side of the Academy to make herself a mansion.


    She did upgrade their hammocks, and check on the nts she had been waiting for. Some of them had been picked by whoever was watering the trees, but there was a lot of ripe fruit here for her to stuff in her space forter.


    That gave Rae a great idea.


    Hawk threw Remi into the space, and they got to keep her.


    Rae walked over to Dana, picked her up and then vanished into her space, leaving Dana behind to drop back to the ground. Three times in a row, she tried before giving up andining to Karl.


    [If Thor gets to pick a Naga Egg, why can''t I pick a Dana?]


    Karl and Thor bothughed, while Hawk rolled his eyes.


    Thor mumbled a response, half asleep in his pond. [Karl is a beast master, not a Dana Master. If you find a way to turn Dana into a puppy or a kitten, then you could probably keep her.]


    Karl really wished they would stop giving each other strange ideas. Remi was already wondering if Shaman magic could shape-shift people so they could invite friends over to show off their homes, and Rae was making ns to find a way to turn Dana into a tiger.


    [Don''t you think you should ask her before turning her into a tiger?] Karl teased Rae, disrupting her train of thought.


    [It''s easier to ask forgiveness than permission. I read that in the ethics textbook.]


    While he was fairly certain that Rae had misinterpreted something in that textbook, Karl left them to their own devices and pulled Dana down into the newly expanded hammock.


    "It''s good to be home. We can finally get some real rest, and maybe we might even sleep in." He whispered to the mage in his arms.


    Dana justughed. "Did you forget that Sergeant Rita and Jill are both here at the Academy? We''re guaranteed to be pulled out of bed at the crack of dawn."


    With all the stress of the long trip, they both drifted off to sleep early that night, still sharing a hammock. That was where they were found when Sergeant Rita and Jill came looking for their students the next morning.


    Karl woke up to the sound of careful footsteps on the balcony.


    "Agent Jill, good morning." He whispered.


    "You have good hearing. I wasing to wake you up, but I didn''t want to wake Rae." Jill quietly replied.


    "She already knows you''re here. Don''t worry, she''s not going to tie you up today." Karl joked.


    Not that she hadn''t considered it.


    Karl equipped his new uniform as he swung himself out of the hammock, waking Dana up when she suddenly found her arms empty. Rita shook Karl''s hand when he reached her, and her usually stern look turned to a big smile.


    "Well, it looks like you''ve outgrown my tutge. I remember when we first met, Hawk said that one day he was going to be more powerful than I am, and what do you know, it hasn''t even been half a year, and he''s already there." She informed him with a mixture of sadness and pride in her expression.


    "I take it that you''re being reassigned now that I''ve advanced?" Karl asked.


    Rita nodded and gestured to her uniform. "They''ve made me a warrant officer, and I''m being reassigned to the Ministry of Education as a liaison officer. I will be tasked with helping rare sses and special cases make their early benchmarks, in the hopes that I can replicate your sess."


    "How much time do we have, or have you already been reassigned?" Karl asked.


    "I meet my new student today, a transfer from out of the country who will be moving here. I think you might already know her." Rita replied.


    "I might know a foreign transfer student?" Karl asked confused.


    He didn''t know many people at all, so the odds of him meeting a random transfer student in advance were pretty low unless...


    "It''s Rose, isn''t it? The Ascended Rank Spellde?" Karl asked.


    "Good try, but not quite."


    Rita stepped out into the hallway, and came back in with a young teen girl who looked oddly familiar to Karl. He had seen her somewhere recently, but it was taking him a second to figure it out.


    "The Seminary Academy. You were serving breakfast." Karl announced once he put the pieces together.


    "But how does that make you a foreign transfer, Sister? It''s not that far to the Seminary Academy."


    The girl smiled. "My name is Cora, and I''m not a Sister of the orders. I grew up in a Red Dragon Priestess run orphanage, and I was in the process of transferring to work at one near here when you came through the Seminary Academy with Thor.


    Since I''d only missed the injection by a month, they decidedst week to give me the shot early instead of waiting for next year. They didn''t want to risk letting me go through training, then losing me if I gained a ss marking.


    Is Thor here somewhere? Can I meet him?"


    Danaughed. "That''s the answer I was waiting for. Everyone loves Thor."


    Karl nodded in agreement. "What ss did you get?"


    "Hunter. The one with the bow and the wolf head." She announced proudly.


    That mark should be for a type of Hunter that summoned apanion animal. The summoned pets were not strongbatants in the long term, as they never left the Common Rank, but they could be very useful in many situations.


    "Do we have any feathers? If I can get a feather quill and some Ink, I will make you a skill book with my talents as a weing gift." Karl offered.


    Rita blinked slowly, staring at Karl.


    Right, he had a bird.


    [Hawk, have you moulted a feather that I can have? I want to make her a skill book for Rend.]


    Hawk pointed to a feather sitting in his space, which Karl pulled out before realizing it wasn''t one of his own. It was a feather from one of the damaged Naga nes that Hawk had been hoarding. Broken magical items had been useful before, so he didn''t want to let them go to waste.


    "Alright, I have my quill, I have ink in the school supplies, I have paper, and this is an easy one, only four pages. I hope everyone can wait a minute." Karl exined.


    He quickly wrote out [Rend] and passed the thin manuscript to the newly minted Hunter.


    It vanished from her hands as soon as she tried to open it, and Cora pulled Karl into a hug.


    "Thank you so much. That is an incredible skill, and it''s going to work so well with my Night Vision skill."


    Hawk made a happy noise. That was all that a true Hunter needed. Rend and good eyesight. Every Windspeed Hawk knew that.


    "Alright, Commander Karl. I think we''ve taken enough of your time, and Jill needs to bring Dana to be tested for her Ascended Rank badges this morning. We will see you around the Academy, but you are wee to drop in to give lectures if you have some spare time." Rita announced.


    "I will see you soon."


    Thedies all left, and Karl realized that maybe he really would be expected to give lectures about something. He was a Commander Rank Elite, he knew his skills. Asking him to teach others who had simr skills didn''t seem too oundish, and they would likely give him school credits for it.


    Left alone in his room, it didn''t take long to discover that he had no ns at all for the day. He could go get breakfast, then just rx and meditate, catch up on sleep, and get reacquainted with the pace of life in the Academy. It didn''t sound half bad, and Thor was on board with the idea that there was no harm in a little more sleep.

 Chapter 255 Bossy Bureaucrats

    <h4>Chapter 255 Bossy Bureaucrats</h4>


    Of course, simply sleeping the day away when you were the talk of the Academy was easier said than done. Karl hadn''t even had time to sort through his gear to see what was depleted and what needed recing before there was someone knocking at his door, then another, more insistent knocking.


    "Good morning, was there something you needed assistance with?" Karl asked the stern looking woman at the door.


    She was wearing a visitor''s pass, which she would have needed to get up the stairs without being redirected by the spell, and she was holding a briefcase in one hand and a clipboard in the other.


    "Wonderful, you are still here. Come with me and we can get started." She announced.


    "Started on what? Perhaps you can exin what you are talking about over breakfast." Karl responded.


    "I''m afraid that our time is short, so if you would, we need to be going." She replied.


    "Madam, I have no clue who you are or what you want. If you wish for me to go anywhere except to the dining hall for breakfast, you are going to need to provide more details." Karl retorted, exasperated by this stranger, who wasn''t even authorized Academy personnel.


    If she had been clergy, or from the Bureau of Elite Development, she would have gone to the Headmaster and had herself put on the staff list, so she would have a staff badge and wouldn''t need the visitor''s pass to get around.


    It didn''t take long to realize what she meant by time being limited, though. Karl could already hear running down the hallway, and it was hard soled shoes, which only an office worker would wear. The students wore running shoes or boots, and the staff wore either soft soled shoes or military boots, depending on their preference.


    The woman looked annoyed as a half dozen more government workers ran up, all wearing visitor passes with their clipboards and briefcases.


    One night was more than enough time for their departments to find out about the new Commander, ande up with a n to try to rope him in.


    Karl looked at the massed group of recruiters with his best fake smile.


    "Wonderful, we can all go for breakfast together, and you can make your pitches." He announced, closing and locking his door behind him.


    He started to walk, and one of the men in the back, with a nasal voice that made even Thor wince, asked the question that was on all their minds.


    "Who might we bepeting against? Has anyone already made a pitch for your time?"


    Karl turned to smile at him. "Indeed. One High Priestess of the Blue Dragon Clerics, no fewer than two bishops, one Spellde n, and the Bureau of Elite Development have all beat you to the punch and are in consideration. If you don''t think that you canpete with what they are likely to have offered, I won''t be offended if you choose to withdraw politely."


    All but one of them looked a bit nervous at that list of names. They were from smaller special interests, they couldn''t provide the sort of benefits that the church or the Bureau could. The best that they could hope for was that one of their projects caught his interest.


    They had been counting on the fact that students are generally naive and unprepared to get him to sign on to a time - intensivemitment, but if he was already calling them out, then the bumpkin from the mines wasn''t nearly as clueless as they were led to believe by his background report.


    That had to be that damnable Bureau Agent''s fault. If she had prepped him for this situation before they returned, of course the Bureau would have a head start.


    The fact that they werepeting against the Church was a given, the clergy used the nket method. All-inclusive recruitment, everyone wee.


    Everyone who was anyone, and some who would never amount to much, were all approached by the Church, and every Elite tried to keep friendly ties with them because they had all the healers.


    Little did they know that it was the Church or the Bureau, but a rather jaded Prince Corbin who had warned Karl that saying no was in his best interests, and then proved it when they got off the helicopter. The fact they were still going after Corbin, despite the fact he had a faction andmitments, showed Karl very clearly that they would never give up.


    Alice was waiting at the bottom of the stairs with a gentle looking High Priestess of the Green Dragon, the Nature God. The High Priestess smelled heavily of giggleweed smoke and incense, and her eyes were slightly zed, but her smile was warm and friendly.


    Alice nodded to Karl as he came down. "Do we have room for two more for breakfast. I didn''t hear screaming, so I assumed that things went fairly smoothly upstairs."


    Karl chuckled. "If I had gotten frustrated, I''m quite certain there would have been screaming, yes. I would love to have you and your friend join us for breakfast. High Priestess, you must be hungry."


    As hunger was a side effect of the herbs she had been smoking, that was guaranteed. But the High Priestess curtsied quite formally as she looked up at Karl.


    "That sounds lovely. I have brought some tea."


    Alice led them to the staff dining hall, which was nearly empty already, and away from prying ears.


    Once they were seated, Alice gestured for the staff to bring them all the breakfast special and drinks, then turned to get the morning chaos started.


    "Colonel Valerie will be here in an hour, but she has asked me to inform you that she''s looking to formally recruit you for the Bureau. I don''t know the terms, but it would be full-time agent status, with conditions, probably including finishing your sswork to cover the core subjects."


    A few of the others saw that as a chance to challenge the Bureau Agent. If they were just trying to hire him, that wasn''t much of an offer. He made Commander as a first year student, not like Alice, who only made it to Commander years after graduation.


    The green robed High Priestess sipped her coffee, then poured herself some hot water from the insted pot on the table into a teapot and started to steep her tea.


    "I''m sure Agent Alice is omitting some important details because that sounds boring. Even I can offer you a generous stipend and a cute cleric to y with."


    The others looked scandalized, but Karlughed. "And did the cleric in question phrase it exactly that way, or did she say that she was bored this morning and wanted to go to the woods with Rae and y instead of whatever she''s supposed to be doing."


    The High Priestess looked thoughtful. "It might be the second one. But if you''re Ray, it''s the same thing, really. She''s out in the yard somewhere, exploring."


    [Rae, go find Lotus and keep her from getting lost or injured.] Karl instructed.


    The recruiters hit the ground, diving out of their chairs when the enormous spider suddenly appeared in the room, but Rae just ran outside, looking for Lotus so they could make a fort in the woods and look for flowers.


    "What in the seven hells was that?" One of them wailed, her eyes tearing up in fear as she cowered under a table.


    "Oh, that''s Rae. She''s my partner, and the one that the team''s nature Priestess wanted to y with."


    The High Priestess pointed at Karl as if he had just made a great revtion. "You know, that makes so much more sense. Nature Priestesses rarely want to y with humans."


    The man with the nasal voice red at Karl and the High Priestess. "If you just wanted us here to mess with us, we cane backter."


    "I would rather you didn''t. Now, please, feel free to make your presentation, and I will give you some warning before more giant monsters appear in the room."


    The High Priestess smiled. "You should warn them about little ones, too. Because even if they insult the little Spirit Snake Shaman, it will still be prohibitively expensive to have them resurrected."


    The man cleared his throat. "As I was about to say, I represent the seventh bank and investment conglomerate, who are working on an expansion into the Southern Wilds, and we think you could be just the person to head security for our new facility."


    A banking conglomerate could likely put up some decent pay, but full-timepound security for a Southern outpost? No, thanks.

 Chapter 256 Contracts

    <h4>Chapter 256 Contracts </h4>


    Sadly, that might have been the best out of the six proposals, but they only got through four, as two of the others excused themselves to "take a call" and didn''t return.


    "I appreciate you all taking the time to make your presentations today, and if you will leave a copy with me, I will look them over at ater date, when my time is not so limited, and I can properly consider their merits." Karl informed the remaining four recruiters once the final pitch was done.


    "Thank you, Commander. We look forward to your positive response." A young woman, who had tried to sell Karl on spending three days a week being the spokesperson and security chief for their exclusive gatedmunity, replied.


    The others offered simr sentiments as they left, and the Green Dragon High Priestess turned a smile on Karl.


    "Well, that''s the nicest way I''ve heard to tell someone to go fuck themselves all day." She announced.


    "Which implies that you''ve heard less polite versions today." Karl replied.


    The aura of inebriation suddenly vanished, and the woman''s sharp eyes turned on him. "You know, we really did suggest that Lotus should stay and entertain you to keep you aligned with the church."


    Alice cleared her throat. "For legal reasons, I am going to pretend that I didn''t hear any of the questionable implications behind thatment. But I don''t think that he''s ruled out keeping the clerics around yet. They work very well together, and they have both made good friends with his beasts."


    The High Priestess shrugged. "They''re too young for what you''re thinking that I''m thinking. Dirty minded Elite. But where did that spider go? Did you really send her to find Sister Lotus?"


    Karl nodded. "With instructions to take her to y in the woods, but not to let her get lost or harmed."


    The High Priestess sighed. "Great, now we''re going to have to look for them both at the end of the day."


    Karl chuckled and did his best to imitate his Uncle, who had seven children of his own.


    "They''lle back when they''re hungry."


    They rxed for a few minutes and finished their coffee before anyone came up with another good reason to bother them. That ended uping from the church, in the form of Tessa and a Red Dragon High Priestess.


    "Good, we found you together. Have youe to an arrangement?" The muscr High Priestess asked.


    Karl had never seen muscles like that on a woman before. She was built almost like Tank, the Berserker. Her arms were the size of Lotus'' torso, and she was wearing her robe parted up one leg, showing off a massive, muscr thigh.


    "Sort of. Rae and Lotus are out ying in the woods." The Nature Dragon High Priestess replied happily.


    "I should have expected that it would end up like this. I will make our proposal much simpler. The Red Dragons would like to leave a War Priestess with you to assist your adventures. Specifically, this one. If you agree to take the deal, you will be responsible for ensuring that she has the chance to serve her Goddess, while we will provide her with the standard stipend for her living expenses. With this, you will get priority ess to church missions you wish to take." The Red Dragon High Priestess exined.


    "Church Missions with no forced dispatches, so we can take them on my schedule, and at my discretion?" Karl asked.


    Her eyes shed red as the woman red down at him, but Karl waited patiently, hoping that she was justmuning with her Goddess and not looking for reasons to squish him like a melon.


    He still had the Giant Strength Ring on, but he wasn''t convinced that it would be enough.


    After a few seconds, her eyes faded. "The Goddess wants a minimummitment. Either to war or to caring for Orphans from wars. If you agree to either at least one mission every three months, of your choosing as long as it pleases the War Dragon, or foster an orphan child under the age of selection, it will meet the requirements of the Goddess."


    The muscr woman smirked. There really was only one option there, unless he was going to be foster parents at fourteen with Tessa.


    "If you draw up the contract, I will read it over and consider it carefully." Karl agreed.


    The High Priestess'' eyes red red again as she nodded, and then she took a rolled contract in a red jade tube out of thin air.


    Karl took the tube from her hand and rolled it out. The details on the scroll were actually simple and specific. Karl agreed not to leave Tessa in danger except in life or death emergencies, to ensure she was receiving proper treatment, take at least one mission that pleased the Red Dragon every three months, and then the contract guaranteed that the Red Dragon''s followers would provide her living expenses.


    Karl couldn''t see a reason not to agree to the deal, but he read it over again, just to be certain that he didn''t miss anything. The dy made Tessaugh quietly. The Red Dragon wasn''t big on tricks and doublespeak outside the battlefield.


    He hadn''t noticed that Dana and Lotus hade back in while he was reading, or that Rae had returned to her space.


    "What''s all this, then?" Lotus asked as she saw Karl holding the scroll.


    The Red Dragon High Priestess shrugged. "You went to y, so we came over first."


    "And you were just going to leave us out of the deal? Party foul!" Lotus announced.


    "You want in on the deal?" The Red Dragon High Priestess asked, intrigued by the unexpected actions of the nature Priestess.


    They were notoriously ky, and getting one to go along with a deal thatsted longer than one day was sometimes an issue.


    Lotus nodded happily, and her own High Priestess gave her a stern look. "This is a long-term agreement. It''s not for one or two trips, it''s a magical contract, so you will have to pay a penalty to break it in less than a year and a day."


    Lotus gave her a thumbs up, and the Red Dragon High Priestess turned to Karl.


    "Is that everyone in agreement, then?" She asked.


    "Agreed." Karl, Lotus, Tessa and Dana all replied at the same time.


    The scroll shed red, and a red ring appeared on the wrists of the four teammates.


    Dana smirked, as Tessa and Lotus realized that she wasn''t just here to watch, and that she had gotten herself attached to the deal. Now they couldn''t leave her behind to train with the other students, or to be reassigned to other missions.


    Karl looked at the three girls and smiled. "Well, it looks like we will be working together for some time. It''s a pleasure to have you."


    Lotus giggled. "How about you show us to our room? I want to see the nts."


    "Our room? I''m fairly certain that the Academy can manage to find you a room of your own." Karl reminded her.


    "But it wouldn''t have silk hammocks or a balcony full of magical nts. I don''t really care where I sleep, but I want to see the room." Lotus countered.


    That was when Alice, Colonel Valerie, and what looked like half the staff of the Academy burst in.


    "Stop, before you sign, let us see that contract." One of the Professors shouted.


    The Red Dragon High Priestessughed. "Toote, we got verbal agreement. But it''s not a work contract, at least not in the conventional sense."


    She turned over the magical contract, which Colonel Valerie grabbed from her hand and rolled out for the others to see.


    "No leaving them in danger, ensure proper treatment. Alright, it''s not as bad as we had feared." The Professor who had shouted replied with a sigh.


    Colonel Valerie red at Karl. "I thought we had something going here?"


    Karl smiled back. "I think we do. There''s nothing in that which prevents us from having an arrangement, only that once every three months or less, it must please the Red Dragon."


    Colonel Valerie smirked. "Well, isn''t that a coincidence? Because what I have in mind just might please the Red Dragon. How would you like to lead a team back into the anomaly area and find out what the Frost Giants have been up to, and where the extra ice ising from?


    It might take some time, but it will please the God of War. They made a formal deration of war less than an hour ago."

 Chapter 257 Learn When To Say No

    <h4>Chapter 257 Learn When To Say No</h4>


    The words that Prince Corbin had spoken to Karl while they were on night watch suddenly came back to his mind. ''If you don''t learn to say no, they will keep sending you on nearly suicidal missions until one actually is.'' That advice seemed to fit this situation very well, and the pressure to please so many important people and go along with their requests was strong.


    "I am going to need some more details about this mission and the situation in the area before I can agree to go anywhere. Thest I saw, that entire region was unfit for human habitation, and that was before the Frost Giants showed up." He replied.


    One of the ministers gave him a disgusted look. "Refusing your first mission as a Commander doesn''t portray your character in a very good light. Cowardly, some might call it."


    Karl rolled his eyes at the man, who was no Elite, just a pencil pusher. "And what words do they use for a Commander who takes his team into a war zone without a clue or a care in the world?"


    The Minister stammered for a second before Karl continued.


    "A martyr, that''s what they call them. Because they wind up dead. Now, who has the details, or am I headed to the Church''s mission board to upy my time?"


    For a second, he thought that he saw respect on Colonel Valerie''s stern face, but when she motioned for someone to bring forward the map, that was long gone and her standard working glower was back in ce.


    The official who brought forward the map rolled it out on the table between Karl and the High Priestesses, and Karl immediately noticed that there was almost no detail on it.


    "This is the most recent official map." The man insisted.


    "With no troop deployments or enemybatant numbers?" Karl asked.


    Tessa looked over at the map and shook her head before turning to her order''s High Priestess.


    "Do we have numbers for this? If they''re not cooperating, it might be better to go through you." The War Cleric asked.


    "We were speaking to the Commander." The official informed her in a dry tone.


    Karl shrugged. "And we operate as a team. Now, are you going to quit messing around, or are we going to have to decline your request? If you want us to deploy, you''re going to have to share enough intel for us to make a properbat assessment."


    Colonel Valerie raised her hand to stop any more arguments, and took out a small box from her pocket.


    Inside were two sets of rocks, one in light blue and one in green. First, she set out about a hundred blue stones near the border. Then she began setting out green stones of various shapes and sizes.


    "This is the current deployment situation, as of myst meeting. The stone sizes are the maximum detected rank within the enemy formations, each stone represents roughly a hundred Frost Giants.


    The round green stones are Elite teams, the diamonds are Military Elite Companies, and the squares are conventional artillery batteries."


    Karl looked over the map and did some basic math.


    They were screwed.


    There were more stones measuring Frost Giants by the hundred than Commander Rank led teams in the area, and Karl wasn''t certain how useful artillery was going to be. It was great against Common Grade and Awakened Threats, but There were Royal Rank Giants in the Frost Giant nation, and they were Commanders when fully grown.


    "The teams that are already there. Are they being sent ten or twenty at a time?" Tessa asked.


    Valerie remained silent for a few seconds while the Cleric waited.


    It was the official who brought out the map that cracked first in the tense atmosphere.


    "They''re being sent in five-person teams."


    That was just an all around terrible idea, in Karl''s opinion. But they could link up once they were in the field and make stronger teams for actual operations, the same as they had to dost time.


    "Why are we so pressed for numbers? There are far more Commanders than this, and there aren''t even a significant number of soldiers. When is the rest of the army being mobilized?" Tessa asked.


    The official looked to Colonel Valerie, as he wasn''t approved to give out that information.


    "The other Giant ns have been pushing the borders as well. They have dered a grand alliance of the Giant Tribes, and we believe that they intend to take the entire Golden Dragon Nation in one offensive push." Valerie informed them.


    "Then Prince Corbin?" Karl asked, digging for deployment information, as there were norger stones along this border.


    "Has been deployed next to the Stone Giant n''s border. That is where the Spellde Sect''s towers are, so he has chosen to defend his home territory along that stretch of border."


    You couldn''t fault him for that. The Lithium mines were near the centre of the nation, so they would be one of thest spots to defend, unless there was some massive breach. Karl''s family would be one of the safest.


    Colonel Valerie took out another map that had hundreds of marks on it, and showed the entire nation''s borders. There were only three spots that they weren''t under attack. The magical nation had marks noting that they were deployed along all the borders they had with monster popted nations, the beastkin nation appeared to be in full lockdown, and the Divine Beast Nation had no marked forces deployed anywhere on either side.


    That was still the vast majority of the border under attack at once.


    If they were using this angle to guilt the more powerful Elites into fighting, they had a pretty good sales pitch, now that they actually started to show the details and not just try to demand that he help out without any information.


    "My team will need a fifth if we''re going to agree." Karl sighed.


    If things got any worse, there would likely be an official draft, and then he would really get thrown into the worst of it along with all the bookish sorts like the ones at thest deployment with the Mackenzie family.


    Alice nodded. "You have your pick of the Ascended Rank students to fill your team with whatever role you think that you need."


    She already knew that Karl had a fairly well-rounded set of pets, so they weren''t particrly short on anything if the two clerics and Dana were all going with him. She assumed he would pick another mage to take her ce, as she would be taking care of more official government business and arranging deployments of their agents with Colonel Valerie.


    "Can you give us a few minutes to discuss this in private?" Karl asked.


    "Of course. We will be waiting here when you return." Colonel Valerie agreed easily.


    Karl led everyone up to his room, and Lotus immediately flopped on his bed.


    "Well, this is a clusterfuck, isn''t it? We will all be fighting soon enough, so it seems better that we pick the spot we want to fight from the start." The tiny nature priestess announced with a deep sigh.


    Dana nodded. "She has a point. I definitely didn''t expect to be sent straight to war the minute that we agreed to stay together, but if we are going to have to go, we should pick our spot."


    Tessa smiled at her. "You''re still a student, so it would be an option to stay here for likely another year before you got too close to the Commander Rank, and they started pushing for you to go wild with the supplements."


    "Sure, stay here as the second string genius, falling further behind by the day while the other students only look up to me because the one with real power is gone? I don''t think so."


    There was definite bitterness in Dana''s tone. It made Karl wonder how often she found herselfpared to him and his insane growth rates. It was just unrealistic to expect any other Elite to keep up with this pace. He not only had the beasts pulling him forward, but he had more ess to the System Interface than most.


    He could see his skills and add them. He even had enough to get another one right now. He could actually get two, if he picked from the defensive side, or the first rank of the offensive side, but he wasn''t sure what they would need yet, and he didn''t want to leave his team unbnced.

 Chapter 258 And When To Say Maybe

    <h4>Chapter 258 And When To Say Maybe </h4>


    Tessa cleared her throat. "The real question is what sucker are we going to take to their death with us?"


    Lotus giggled. "As much as I appreciate your optimism, I don''t think that any of the mages would actually agree to go with us. Even the tank type warriors wouldn''t fall for that, and we can only pick from the Ascended Ranks, so we can''t recruit an experienced Commander from the Mercenary groups.


    That rules out calling for any powerful old friends or connections."


    Karl had considered that for a moment as well, but Bob Mackenzie would be too powerful to be pulled into their team, and if Karl''s guess was right, the entire family would be out somewhere already.


    "Then who can we even get?" Dana asked.


    Karl smiled. He knew just who to ask.


    "I think I know who we can get. Thor learned Earthquake from the Berserker ss. I bet that we can get one of their Ascended Rank members toe along with the promise of battle and rewards. The Berserkers don''t get out much during ss because they''re a bit wild inbat, and teams with no healers can have issues.


    But we have all the healing that we could need, and Thor''s [Refreshing Lightning] spread over everyone, so we don''t have to worry too much about them taking damage, unless we find an overstrength enemy."


    Lotus looked pensive. "How are your credits looking? You''ve got a beast of a weapon, and you can coat it in attack spells all the time. But not everyone can do that. We might need to equip a new member before we head out."


    "I don''t know exactly now that we''re back from this mission and those rewards will be processing, but buying armour didn''t change the first two digits on the bnce, so we should be good for me to get someone Ascended Armour and a weapon if they don''t have a good one." Karl agreed.


    Tessa frowned. "Alright, we will go talk to the Berserkers. Does that mean we''re going to agree to this idiocy?"


    "I have an idea. There is a spot in the mountains, not too close to where we were earlier, but not in the most popted passes. I don''t want to go into an abandoned area, that just seems like idiocy, but if we go somewhere near the edge of a secondary pass, we can aim for their scouting teams.


    They should be smaller and weaker, as they will need to be agile and able to make it through the mountains. Giants shouldn''t be good at that when they''re excessivelyrge. There are obvious clusters to their strength on the map, and as long as we avoid that, we can do a lot of damage and help everyone upgrade their gear and skills before anyone tries to change our mission." Karl offered.


    Lotus raised her hand. "It''s all well and good to say we''re bringing a Berserker, but I''m not travelling with some creepy guy who thinks that sweat is a form of shower."


    Dana smirked, knowing that described a lot of the Berserkers, and Tessa nodded her agreement with Lotus'' sentiment.


    "Then I will leave it to youdies to find our fifth member, while I deal with the details of the deployment. If you need to bribe them, let them know I will find them armour and a new weapon." Karl agreed.


    Before going back down, he spent a moment mentally preparing himself for the influx of questions and pressures to go to the very worst of thebat zones to add bodies to the main lines.


    The group had gotten evenrger when he got back down, and there were two groups of senior ss students added to the chaos, all Ascended Rank with a Commander from the Bureau of Elite Development leading them. Namely, Jodi and Josh, two of the team members who had gone with Karl to go looking for his second pet.


    "Jodi, Josh. Good to see you two gentlemen again." Karl greeted them as he entered the room.


    Jodi smiled back. "You''ve gotten all fancy on us. Tell me, how is that bloodbath spider doing?"


    "Rae? She''s doing wonderful. Commander Rank already, and she made good friends with a nature priestess so they can y in the woods together. Thor, the Lightning Cerro is also doing well, and Hawk is making the best of the evolutionary resources we have found." Karl informed them.


    "Where are they sending you?" Josh asked, concern obvious in the blue eyes that looked much too old for his youthful face.


    "We were just about to discuss that. I have a particr spot in mind, where my groupposition would be well suited to hunting scouts from the Frost Giants, and to prevent the movement of surprise forces around the main battlefields." Karl exined.


    "And what makes you think you have a choice in your deployment?" An older bureaucrat, decades past his prime, demanded.


    "Who are you to think that you get to tell me what to do? Will you be joining us on the front? I don''t think so. Now shut up and let the warriors speak." Karl replied.


    The room fell silent as the man''s face turned red in rage. Even Alice backed away from Karl, seeing that this was going to do downhill fast.


    "I am the undersecretary to the deputy minister of defence!" The man shouted.


    "Then, dear undersecretary, get your boss''s boss here, and we can speak on even terms." Karl replied, emphasizing the man''s junior role.


    "That was a bit harsh." Jodi noted as the undersecretary was hauled away by other government officials before he could start a fight he couldn''t possibly win.


    Karl shrugged. "He knows nothing of our capabilities, nothing of our personal experience, and he has never seenbat in his life. He shouldn''t have been here in the first ce, puffing up his chest and making demands above his station like a newly promoted shift manager."


    "And if I made a demand as to where you would deploy?" One of the Elites from the government, a Commander in histe twenties who would have been one of the earlier graduates, asked.


    "Then we can discuss the reasoning behind it. I am not part of the military to be ordered around, and we all know that ordering students to the front lines would require an official decree, as we''re still underage.


    I came down to tell you that my group has gone to look for our fifth member, not to pick a fight. Now, would you like to hear what I had in mind?" Karl replied.


    There was a new map on the table, and it had tenrge red rings ced on it. One of which was over where Karl was nning to have his team deploy.


    "These are the spots where we need teams. What were you nning to request?" The Elite asked.


    "This spot here. It''s close to the mountains, and challenging to scout by normal Elites on foot, but not too far from reinforcements if we do find something we can''t handle. That is the spot that I was going to request, based on the troop deployment map."


    The Government Elite smiled. "So you did have an actual n in mind, and you weren''t just pulling the Elite card on the Undersecretary. Alright, we can grant you that deployment area."


    A quiet voice cut through the conversation, and a sense of power filled the room as someone entered unannounced.


    "Dealing with rogue and unaligned Elites is always a tricky matter. It looks like some of you underestimated the situation at hand, but Imend the others." The man spoke.


    "Overlord." Alice greeted the man, while the other Elite bowed.


    "Minister of Defence." The man who had shown Karl the map greeted their new arrival.


    Like Drake, he must have been one of the early test subjects for the Divine Injection, as he was at the Overlord Rank and well into his thirties, meaning he was much older than usual for recruits when the injections were made public.


    At first, they had given them to anyone under eighteen, but that was still only ten years earlier, so very few of the Elites were over thirty.


    The Minister held out his hand to Karl. "Congrattions on making Commander while still in the Academy. I don''t believe that we have met. I am Defence Minister Orleans."


    "Karl, first year student, originally from the Lithium Mines, and the Academy''s newest headache at the Commander Rank."


    That made the Minister smile. "I got a missive from Prince Corbin, asking that you be assigned to his battlefront, so I had the Mage Council send me over to see what was so special about you. That man lives to be a pain in my ass, but his n has the skills to back up their arrogance."

 Chapter 259 Cold Front

    <h4>Chapter 259 Cold Front</h4>


    "Do they need us over there?" Karl asked.


    Overlord Orleans shook his head. "They have three times as many defenders per likely enemy unit as this front does, and the Spellde n has a number of old masters who they can pull out of retirement if they are in real danger."


    So, he was still on the worst front, just in a decent spot along it. That should be alright. From what he remembered of the Giants, they should be near his own team''s power level, mostly ascended, with Commanders leadingrger teams on asion. But there was one more question that needed to be asked.


    "Other than what was on the map, what is the strongest Frost Giant that has been seen in the past few years? Not what we know is deployed, but what could being at us unexpectedly." Karl asked The Defence Minister.


    "There are Royal Rank Frost Giants, nearly thirty of them within the nation, and three known Monarchs, but their Immortal King, as they call him, is a Totem Rank monster, one step above the Overlord Rank.


    He has been alive for hundreds of years, and we are unsure of hisbat power these days, but there is a theory that they organized this alliance with the other Giants to eliminate the threat of the humans before the Immortal King sumbed to old age.


    The leaders of the other Giant Nations are simrly impressive, though the Stone Giants are taking the majority of our strongest warriors, as they have dozens of Overlords in their ranks, and their average warriors can grow to Royal Rank inter adulthood."


    Karl nodded and made notes as Defence Minister Orleans outlined the issues. Now it made sense that there weren''t any Overlords on this front. They had all been deployed to keep the Stone Giants and Hill Giants at bay.


    The Frost Giants were more numerous, but not as domineering at their peak strength.


    The other two teams looked a bit relieved at the news that there weren''t many Frost Giants above Commander Rank, but Karl had already seen the deployment numbers, and no matter where they went, it was not going to be an easy battle.


    "What are the chances that they are going to stand down after a prolonged stalemate? Should we be aiming to push them back, or just to limit casualties on our side?" Jodi asked, distracting the Minister from his exnation about the difference between Giant Nations.


    "Limited losses are the aim right now. If they make a full offensive against the artillery lines, that might change. The artillery is powerful enough for the Awakened Giants, and will have some effect against the Ascended beasts as well.


    But if they make a full push, none of our conventional weapons will be able to hold against them, and it will be up to the Brothers of the Church and their blessings to allow our line infantry to fight back."


    He was obviously trying to push them to do as much as they could to keep the Giants from attacking, as the casualties involved in regr infantry fighting Giants were guaranteed to be catastrophic. That was just basic history, and for millennia, that was how the less magical nations of humans had survived.


    During those times, even when the average family had ten children, the nation had barely managed to increase its poption after casualties in the wars against the monster tribes.


    In thest ten years, they had made huge strides in the stability of the nation, and it was honestly surprising that the Giants had waited this long to start to team up to eliminate the human''s power base.


    The rest of Karl''s team came in with a rather unassuming looking girl in an Ascended Rank school uniform. He had thought that they were going for a Berserker, but if she was their choice, Karl would work with it.


    The most important thing was that everyone got along, and she didn''t look like she intended to cause any friction among the team members like some flirtatious male warrior might.


    "Karl, this is Bear, an Ascended Rank Berserker from the senior sses." Lotus introduced their new member.


    "Bear?" Karl asked.


    "I am a Bear Totem Berserker. I transform when I use the [Enrage] skill, and the nickname kind of stuck. My name is Ophelia."


    "Good to meet you, Ophelia. Now that our team is ready, we can head to the supply room and start packing. I have arranged our deployment point already, and the government sorts will inform us when our ride is ready." Karl exined.


    He led them out of the room, along with Dave, Jill, Alice and Daniel. The four Agents from the Bureau who had been looking after Karl and Dana were rightly concerned to be seeing them going to war so early into their training, but they were also going out to make sure that other promising talents had a bit of extra protection when they were in the worst spots.


    So, this would be thest they would be able to see each other for a little while, unless the situation near Karl changed.


    "It looks like you''ve formed an enviable group. Take care of them while you''re out, and we might see you soon. We''re all being assigned to strike teams to rescue Elites in trouble. That''s one of the primary duties of the Bureau. It''s difficult to have Elites develop if they''re dead.


    But you''re in a good position, so as long as you don''t get into the main lines of the Frost Giant army, you should be alright.


    Don''t try to y hero, and ... I''m sure there was something else I wanted to say." Alice ranted.


    Daniel patted her on the back.


    "They will be fine with Karl along. I have read all the reports, and I don''t know many who have more skilled scouting abilities than him and Hawk. When ites to avoiding ambushes, they''re top-notch." Heforted his partner.


    Jill smiled at Dana while pulling her blonde hair back into a ponytail.


    "Are you certain that life as a pop music idol sounds that bad? It''s not toote to back out and find a recement to go to the front lines." The mage joked.


    Dana nodded enthusiastically. "Anything sounds better than that. As Daniel said, we will be fine. I just hope that Jodi and Josh will be. They''re taking student teams out, and it sounded like they weren''t going to get to pick the good locations."


    "They will be alright. They''re going to be attached to military units, so they''re not out alone. The lines are dangerous, but there is support. Most of us have been there before. That''s how Rita got all but herst promotion, it''s not as bad as the historical battles were." Alice assured them.


    A call from inside the meeting room drew the Agents away, and Karl led the team to the supply room, then looked at their newest member.


    "Does your transformation preclude wearing armour?" He asked.


    The Berserker shook her head, knocking some of her straight brown hair loose from its tie. "Not if it''s bonded. Sister Lotus said you would splurge and cover some bonded armour for me, and a new weapon."


    Karl smiled. "Of course. We all need to be equipped to go to battle, and I will check on the others as well. What is your transformed shape like?"


    Ophelia made a vague gesture upwards. "I''m about 250cm tall, standing on my back legs, half bear, half human. I can still hold things, but I''ve got ws on my hands, and a bear head. It''s the rage that causes problems because I can forget who is an ally if they look too much like the enemy."


    "That shouldn''t be a problem while fighting Frost Giants, but we can put you on the far side of Thor if that makes you morefortable. I don''t think anyone has ever mistaken him for a Frost Giant." Karlughed.


    "There is another member?" She asked.


    Karl turned to Lotus. "Did you forget to give her details?"


    The nature Priestess just shrugged. "We got the important parts."


    Karl sighed as he turned back to the Berserker. "Thor is a Lightning Cerro, one of the four beasts I am partnered with. He''s full-grown, bright green, and provides everyone a Lightning barrier that refreshes stamina, as well as providing basic healing.


    Then we have Hawk, our scout, who is a form of Dragon Hawk, and Rae the Bloodbath Spider, who usually fights with two spider Golems made of vines at her side."


    She nodded along, then counted on her fingers. "You said four, that is three."


    Karl called Remi out into his hand.


    The little blue and gold snake looked up at Bear, then activated [Minor Water Control] to make herself a pair of arms to wave hello.


    "Oh my Goddess, she is adorable. But I can see why you don''t count her as abat pet. Why did you pick amon grade water snake?" She asked.


    "Remi is a Naga Spirit Snake. When she grows up, she has a high chance to evolve into a Naga, but she is an Ascended Rank shaman already. Her skills are limited due to her age, but she isn''t entirely incapable.


    In fact, as she can cast Blizzard, she might even help us blend in with our surroundings on this mission." Karl exined as they reached their destination.


    "Commander, what brings you back so soon?" The supply room manager asked when the group entered the room.


    "We''re heading out on a mission, and one of our team members needs gear. Possibly two, if Sister Lotus has been worried about everyone but herself." Karl replied.


    "We''ve got just what you need. Just give me a moment to pull up the inventory."

 Chapter 260 Bear Chops

    <h4>Chapter 260 Bear Chops </h4>


    The screen changed a few secondster, and there was an assortment of te armour disyed.


    "This should all bond to the user, as Miss Ophelia will need. Now, were you fronting the credits, or did she need to take a battle credit loan?" The staff member asked.


    "I will be purchasing her new armour and a weapon to match. There are also a few items we will need for our packs, which Lotus will inform you ofter. Those can all go on my tab." Karl exined.


    "Alright, I will let you sort out the repayment terms on your own. It''s not like you''re hurting for money the way that you keep turning in reward materials. But speaking of which, do you have any more of the tea moss? We''re running low, and it has been in high demand since the first outing''s members began to run out."


    Karl checked Thor''s space, and then Rae''s space, where it was actually growing in abundance on the trees. He collected a few kilos of fresh moss and passed it over to the supply room clerk, along with some of the herbs that were growing within Thor''s space and beginning to spread beyond their intended area.


    "Here, you can put those on my ount to help offset the cost. If you need more of anything that might be growing along the border with the Frost Giants, just let me know, and I will see if I can bring any of it back when I return."


    The staffer nodded as he sorted through the various armours that were avable.


    "This one has a me enchantment on it. That will be good both for hunting Frost Giants and for keeping warm in the mountains. Did you have a mobile source of heat?" The Clerk asked.


    Karl smiled and activated [ming Body] over his hand.


    The clerk nodded. "That will about do it. No need to worry about freezing when you can just set yourself on fire for fun. Alright, why don''t we have Miss Ophelia try this one on. If it bonds, she will be armoured, and then we can move on to finding a suitable weapon.


    What are you using now? Will it hold up to the rigours of Commander Rankbat?"


    Karl took out the two-handed de, and the Berserker gave it a look that Karl could only describe as lust. That was definitely her preferred weapon, but the energy leech effect that it had was really pushing Karl''s beasts forward with all this fighting.


    His mental spaces were almost ready to be equalized again, and that should push Thor nearly to the Commander Rank, as the spaces naturally tried to push the beasts to the same point.


    The supply clerk frowned as he examined the de. "It''s not particrly high quality, and I''m guessing that you use a skill to protect it from direct damage, but it''s not going to hold up to your increasing abilities for much longer.


    The enchantment is strong, but the material quality is definitely on the lowest side of Awakened, so even as sturdy as it is against physical strikes, too much skill power being channelled through it will damage the weapon."


    Karl sighed. It was a bonded weapon, but if he was going to outgrow it, he would have to find another weapon to use in generalbat, and leave it to passively draw the life force of their enemies.


    He had the bow now, so he could fight at longer ranges, but depending on the fight, he might still be needed as a frontlinebatant.


    Possibly not, if they used Dana''s Golems with Thor, but they would have to adapt their strategies.


    "I have this bow as well. But I''m more often needed to hold back the enemy, so I haven''t had a chance to use it." Karl exined.


    The clerk assessed it with a trained gaze. "That''s a good one. Low Commander Rank, infinite arrows, and it will grant your strength modifier to the arrow damage. As I recall, you had a strength ring."


    Karl nodded. "Indeed. It''s a good item, but I could likely use another sword, as the only other one I have is also getting outdated."


    It was still strapped to his pack, but he rarely used the short sword for anything, it was just an emergency spare.


    The clerk went into the back and came back with a cart full of weapons.


    "I don''t have much at the Commander Rank, but I have one that has a life steal ability that should be simr to the one you''re using. The rest of these are all for Miss Ophelia to choose from."


    Karl refrained from mentioning that it wasn''t exactly a life steal effect that his existing de granted, since they only had one simr quality weapon anyhow. If he had one that healed and one that granted life force to help them grow, that was twice as good.


    Karl went to pick it up to check it out, and energy sparked from his hand, forcing the weapon away and nearly knocking over the rack.


    The clerk hurriedly saved the weapons cart from tipping as he cursed.


    "I was afraid of that. Some equipment will interfere with others and prevent you from bonding them. It could be that the two des are too simr, and the old one won''t let you rece it. If that''s the case, just keep a spare of some sort and use it until it shatters." He exined.


    The de looked better than when Karl had gotten it. Much better, in fact. If he kept using it and letting it absorb energy, he might not need to rece it. It was falling behind his power level, but as long as it wasn''t so far behind that his skills broke it, the de should be fine to keep using.


    Bear chose a pair of matched axes which granted fire damage on hit, a perfect counter for Frost Giants, and suited to her fighting style. They could be used both in her normal form and in her Werebear transformation, and they bonded to her, so they could be safely stored when not in use.


    Everyone else had Ascended Rank or higher armour on already, though Dana wasn''t particrly happy about her incredibly ornate mage robes from the Naga dungeon. They were good robes, though, and she wasn''t willing to give them up for an inferior option just because of the style.


    "What is your front-linebat formation?" The back room clerk who brought out most of the weapons asked.


    "Thor, who is near peak Ascended Rank, and two Ascended Stone Golems with the [Durable Constructs] bonus. Then we have two Commander Rank attack Golems." Karl exined to the aging veteran.


    The man considered it for a while, then nodded. "So, you count on the weaker Golems to hold the line, while the more powerful ones are able to go all out on damage? That''s not a bad n. You''ve got four constructs with the group, after all.


    I was going to rmend something to add barriers, other than your one mage."


    Karl smiled back at him. "We have a group [Refreshing Lightning] and a Circle of Protection, as well as the holy protections from the War Priestess. That should be enough to hold."


    Dana actually had a very advanced barrier that she used on her Golems, it was just that until recently when she made it to Ascended Rank, she was so far behind the group leaders that the main threats could shatter it faster than she could rebuild it. It simply wasn''t mana efficient when they had Alice''s Golem there as well.


    "As long as you are sure the barriers can hold. With no Commanders to take the brunt of a charge, it could get dicey for your tanks." He replied.


    "If needed, I can join them, and the two Commander Rank spider golems can as well, but it shouldn''t be necessary most of the time. If I can stand back of the fight, I should be able to greatly increase my damage instead of spending all my time blocking strikes and keeping targets upied." Karl exined.


    Lotus sneaked up to the counter with her wish list of supplies for the mission, which the other clerk quickly filled, then swiped Karl''s card to pay for everything.


    "The supplies you provided covered three quarters of what you spent today. Not a bad deal, if I do say so myself. Good luck on your mission." The clerk announced.


    "Thanks. We will see you when we get back."


    The old manughed. "Kind of a Commander like you toe make a pity visit to this old man. Just bring back the young ones in one piece, and we will call it even."

 Chapter 261 Back In The Snow

    <h4>Chapter 261 Back In The Snow </h4>


    Two dayster, Karl found himself standing in the snow at the base of the mountains again, just as he had been on hisst mission, only this time, instead of the frigid cold and silence, he could hear the distant sound of Frost Giant war horns, the sound carrying over fifty kilometres through the hills as they staged for an attack along the front lines.


    The group had justnded, and the intelligence on their area looked good, but the numbers that his keen eyes had detected along the main lines were farrger than the number of stones that had been ced on the map.


    If each blue stone had been five hundred, not one hundred, it might have been an overstatement, but much closer to the truth of the situation, while here in the hills, their newly arrived group had yet to spot anything threatening.


    "Which way should we search first?" Bear asked as she surveyed the trees in front of them.


    Like Lotus, she was morefortable here in the wilderness than she was in the Academy or in a city, and Hawk wholeheartedly approved of her naming sense. Karl, on the other hand, preferred to use her actual name, so he didn''t get into the habit of treating her like one of his pets by calling her Bear.


    Karl brought out the folded map from under his tabard. "The first sweep should go east, away from the Frost Giant front lines, to see what might being around to look for better routes, then we will double back and check for hidden scouts before the sun goes down.


    I got them to agree to allow us to operate in a wide area, so we''re not going to be easily tracked back to the same routes, but that will also mean that we need to set up multiple camps and be finished with our route before the sun drops behind the mountains.


    That doesn''t leave us a lot of time to do our work, so we might as well get to it."


    What he had failed to consider was how much the magic of the Frost Giants had changed the area from its natural state. There was normally no snow in the mountains within the Golden Dragon Nation, but now, even in the middle of the afternoon, the temperature was below freezing.


    Hawk was out, sitting on Dana''s backpack and surrounding them both with [ming Body], which was generating an area of warmth that the others were standing in, while Karl kept his own active and moved ahead.


    [You''re going to have to go scout soon.] He reminded the bird, who was just gettingfortable on top of the mage''s backpack.


    As a recement for Hawk''s warmth, Karl lit his sword with mes and passed it to Ophelia, who was thergest of the group other than Karl, even when she wasn''t transformed.


    "Here, that will stay lit as long as my barrier is up. The effect should be enough to keep the team warm if you hold the de in the middle of the group, and you''re the only one in the group that has superhuman strength other than myself." Karl quietly informed her.


    "Got it. I''ll take good care of your sword. We''re going to have to work on something for the future, though. My armour keeps me plenty warm, but the others will need regr breaks, even with the winter gear they packed." She replied.


    The Golden Dragon Nation did not have great winter gear, Karl would admit that. But he hadn''t mastered the art of spreading the [ming Body] ability, which Hawk could only do by touch, so they were going to need to stop and warm up every few hours.


    "I will think of something. If there are caves nearby, perhaps we can set up in one of them to make it easier to sleep at night." Karl agreed.


    Hawk disappeared over the trees, and within minutes he was sending back reports of Frost Giants moving near their path.


    [Three Ascended and seven Awakened in this group. They look like trainees.] Hawk reported.


    [Anything else nearby?]


    Hawk paused for a moment. [One Commander and two Ascended about four kilometres past them, moving south along a trail.]


    "Alright, we have our first targets. A training patrol with three Ascended Giants and seven Awakened Rank juveniles. If we can make a quick and clean job of it, there is a Commander led smaller group a few kilometres beyond them." Karl exined.


    Thor and the Golems were all being held in reserve, only to be brought out to fight so that the group could move silently through the woods.


    Karl had gained the skill [Silent Movement], which allowed him to lead from well in front of the group without alerting the Frost Giants, whose sense of smell was no better than a human''s, but the sound of a Cerro or a Stone Golem in the woods would give them away far too early.


    Karl paused and motioned for the group toe forward when the patrol came in sight.


    "Rae will move up on the left nk with her golems, Ophelia, prepare to rage and charge with Thor and Dana''s Golems toward the pack. Sisters, you are with Dana, just get close enough to keep them in healing range. I will circle right, and keep them from running when they realize they''re in trouble." Karl whispered.


    He didn''t have much training with a bow, but this one didn''t need it. Once you activated it and drew the magical string, it gave you a mental impression of where the arrow would strike.


    Karl silently raced through the trees, getting in position as Tessa rode Thor into battle, with Ophelia in her half bear form running alongside them. The Golems were still a bit slow, and would arrive a second or twoter, but that gave Karl time to prepare for his first-everbat shot with the crystalline bow.


    The bowstring appeared as Karl made the drawing motion, and the solid crystal flexed as he aimed the shot. Since it was a day for firsts, Karl decided to use Remi''s Chain Lightning, the one skill he gained from bonding the Naga Spirit Snake.


    It made the arrow crackle with energy, and Karl released, hitting the closest giant square in the chest as it turned to scan the area.


    skill he gained from bonding the Naga Spirit Snake.


    It made the arrow crackle with energy, and Karl released, hitting The Lightning spread through the entire group, leaving them shaking and partially paralyzed, as if they had been hit with a Taser, which allowed Thor''s charge to shatter a Giant''s femur, while Tessa''s nged mace glowed with golden light and crushed its sternum.


    Rae was there before the Giants had realized what was going on, and Ophelia only had time for one swing of Karl''s sword, cutting deep into a Frost Giant''s chest before everything was dead.


    Karl went to rejoin the group, and Tessa gave him an enthusiastic thumbs up.


    "Was that a new skill from Remi? I like it. Stunning the enemy makes the fight so much easier." The War Cleric congratted him as Rae began to rifle through the bodies, emptying them of loot before stealing the bodies for her art exhibit.


    One each went to Hawk and Remi, so they couldn''tin, but the rest were scheduled to be strung up in the trees for Rae''s diorama.


    "I didn''t know that it would stun them. I was just going for the damage. That arrow hit a lot harder than I expected, though. It punched through armour and all the way through the Frost Giant. Sure, it was Awakened, but still." Karl replied.


    There was a lot of blood on the snow, but Remi had a n to fix that. Once the group started to move toward the second group, the Commander with the two Ascended Frost Giants, she cast a [Blizzard] over the battlefield, freezing the blue blood and covering it in a freshyer of snow.


    That was enough to satisfy her that nobody would suspect that there was a battle until they actually stepped on the location and revealed the blood. She wasn''t a cleanup specialist, but hiding your kills from sight was just good practice in her mind.


    The second group was facing away from them when Karl reached their position, so he didn''t wait for the others, and unleashed an arrow into the leader''s back. The Chain Lightning spread, slowing the others, but the Commander shrugged it off.


    It bellowed in rage and turned just in time to catch an arrow to the chest, which caused a fountain of blood before the third arrow struck home only a few centimetres from the second.


    By now, the other two were twitching on the ground, and the Spider Golems raced in to finish the job.


    [Make it quick and hide your tracks, that shout brought more patrols this way.] Hawk warned as Rae borrowed the bodies and Karl picked up what couldn''t be brought into her space.


    "Remi, work your magic on the battlefield. Ophelia, these are for you. Vambraces of Giant Strength. I''ve got two strength type items already, so these are all yours. You will make good use of them inbat." Karl whispered as he motioned for the group to retreat from the forming blizzard.

 Chapter 262 Hunting Frost Giants

    <h4>Chapter 262 Hunting Frost Giants </h4>


    Hawk led them away for a few minutes, then directed them to turn left to hit another of the weaker patrols. The stronger groups had gone toward the shout, while the weaker one had carried on their mission.


    Hit-and-run was the name of the game that day, and Karl was intending to do as much damage, and make as many groups go missing as possible.


    The second Awakened Group went down even more smoothly than the first had, as Karl got used to his bow, and the others got used to working together without Prince Corbin or Alice around.


    Being without the Spelldes and their rapid movements and magic changed the way the group had gotten used to fighting, as did having Karl in the distance instead of right up close.


    Interestingly, while Ophelia couldn''t store the de the way that Karl did, it had no resistance to her using it inbat, and it happily transferred Karl the energy from the monsters that died near it.


    That was far better than he had expected, and with Karl''s newfound ability to stun or slow the Frost Giants, the use of a singlerge weapon wasn''t a hindrance to the survivability of the Berserker.


    Remi had refused toe out and see things with her own eyes. She was a monster, but a cold-blooded one, and she would have to burn mana to keep from freezing. She could extend her powers out just enough to cast [Blizzard] when needed, and that was enough for her as she hid in the tropical heat of her swamp.


    Thinking about that made Karl realize that the others were getting cold, so he instructed Hawk to find them somewhere to hide and reheat.


    [Go north. There is a small cave in the mountains there. It looks dry and unupied.] Hawk instructed.


    "Follow me. There is a cave ahead, and we will rest for a while and warm up before we head out again. This cold is unnatural, and I don''t want anyone getting frostbite." Karl instructed.


    Hawk settled into a tree outside as they hid in the cave behind one of Dana''s barriers. It didn''t have the illusion factor that Prince Corbin''s did, but there had been vines partially obscuring the cave entrance, and the barrier would keep any nearby monsters from smelling them inside.


    Karl turned up the heat from the sword to warm the small cave, and took out his map to note the battles that they had been in. The instructions were to make reports no more than once a day, and only right before you moved on from a location, in case the Frost Giants had found a way to trackmunications.


    They weren''t known to have any such technology, or really any technology at all, but if they had gotten their hands on one of the military radio phones, they might be able to decrypt all the nearby messages or even track the source of the signal.


    That could be disastrous for the teams who were operating in the field, so the standard procedure was to send the message then move on, leaving the area where they might be able to track the team to.


    Of course, this didn''t matter to the main lines, as they weren''t hiding from anyone, but for Karl''s team, anonymity was their friend. Even just being able to collect the bodies of the fallen Frost Giants and have Remi coat the area with new snow would make it incredibly difficult for the enemy to track their movements.


    They would know that their teams were missing when they didn''t sound the horns at the next random interval, but they wouldn''t easily stumble across them either.


    [Hawk, what else do we have in the area?] Karl asked once the group was beginning to get warm again.


    [Nothing close. You''ve only got an hour and a half until it is dark, and the closest group is over six kilometres from you now.]


    [Alright, you cane into your space to rest, or stay in the tree, whichever you prefer. We will stay here the night, and then go hunting again in the morning.] Karl agreed.


    "Short day everyone. There is nothing close enough to hunt before dark, so Hawk rmends that we stay here. We will head out in the morning and get back to work." Karl exined.


    They had twomunication devices on this trip. The emergency phone, and the standard open channel radio. The first was safely stored in his pack, but the second was tucked into Karl''s armour, with the earbud in one of his ears.


    That way it wasn''t loud enough for anyone else, or any nearby enemies, to hear, but he could keep up to date on what was going on around them.


    The battle lines were active, but there were no major changes that day, just a few skirmishes.


    What he was waiting for was a report of an enemy troop draw down, or a redeployment, which would likely mean more enemiesing through their patrol area. As long as the Frost Giants were busy on the main battle lines, he would only have to deal with scouts here.


    But there was a second part to their mission, and it was to try to determine how they were spreading the frozen area out of their nation and into the Golden Dragon Nation. The hope was that it was some sort of device that could be destroyed, forcing the weather back to normal and putting the Frost Giants at a disadvantage.


    There wasn''t any sign of that within the patrols, and they were deployed well within the frozen area, so if it was something that happened near the edge of the advance, it would be beyond their reach.


    But what they could do was keep hitting the Frost Giant scouts until they started to send more troops into this area, weakening their front lines and giving Karl and the others the chance to earn a massive amount of rewards once they were back home.


    Dreaming of being able to advance beyond Commander in one deployment was insane, but that didn''t mean that they couldn''t gain anything. For one, there was the credit for the kills that they could trade for resources, and the other was the Skill Master upgrade that Karl had chosen during the Dungeon hunt.


    [Skill Master Rank 2] Usable only by those with the Skill Master Ability. Allows learned skills to improve to one rank above the bonded partner''s current Rank with practice.


    That was his goal on this mission. The beasts were going to be using their skills nearly constantly, and finding new ways to expand theirbat skills. That meant abundant practice opportunities, and the chance that one of the Commander Rank skills might actually improve in power by a Rank.


    If Rae''s Golems improved, they would have something akin to low Royal Rankbat power, without having to wait for Rae herself to improve.


    Then, when she did improve, the skill should improve along with her, and she would be even more deadly.


    Or perhaps it would be Thor''s [Refreshing Lightning] or Hawk''s [me Body] that advanced first, as both were in constant use. The condition of practice wasn''t all that clear, so it could mean just keeping it active, not actively trying to improve it.


    Though Thor had proven that he was improving it, when he learned to expand his skill to everyone, and step into his desired role as the team''s healer.


    Tessaid the sword t on the floor of the cave and gestured for Karl to turn up the heat. It was already reasonably warm inside, but she didn''t want to waste their precious fuel canisters, and there was no wood in here to create a cooking fire from.


    "Alright, I''m not going to do anything that will mess up the dinner schedule. We''ve got a long night before we have to move again, but while you cook, we shoulde up with a better n for dealing with these groups.


    I am thinking that we have Hawk scout arger area tomorrow during the early morning hours, and then he can inform us of their general movement patterns, and where they are likely to be so that we''re not wasting time looking for them.


    We will be able to go out, hunt, and then return somewhere warm to rest before we go out again." Karl suggested.


    Lotus nodded. "That''s not a bad idea. We could also have Rae set up a spot in advance if we knew that we were going to be circling back to itter. It would allow us to go straight inside without waiting around.


    I''m not sure the forts will be the best option, though. The cold is getting insane out there, and spending the overnight in a cloth fort, even with the de for heat, might not be the mostfortable thing ever.


    If we can keep returning to caves that we can properly heat, that might be best. But like a heated tent, it is possible to keep the forts warm."


    Rae thought about that for a while. [If I double theyers used to make the fort, we can keep the wind out, and the floor will stay warm under everyone''s bodies. That will keep the wind down, and the de will keep the inside warm.]


    "Rae says she can make a fort that will be warm enough. Once Hawk scouts in the morning, we will start making ns for where we will rest tomorrow. I think that switching between caves and Forts hidden high in the trees would be a smart move, so the Frost Giants don''t have as easy of a time guessing where we might be hiding.


    A few more days of eliminating their patrols, and they are going to start trying to do something about it."

 Chapter 263 Taunt The Giants

    <h4>Chapter 263 Taunt The Giants</h4>


    The next morning''s scouting report revealed that the Frost Giants had caught on to the problem much faster than Karl had been expecting them to. They were not known for being particrly bright, but this morning there were no fewer than twenty teams in the area, and it appeared that they were doing a methodical search for the missing teams.


    From Hawk''s report, they had spread out along a ridgeline very early in the morning, and they were moving south through the valley and past the cave now.


    If the team moved out in twenty minutes, they would be attacking the Giants from behind, and they could kill multiple groups quickly before retreating.


    That seemed like a good n to Karl. If they picked one of the stronger groups to eliminate as a group, Rae could use her Golems to take out a weak group nearby, starting with their Ascended leader, which would leave the Awakened Giant trainees helpless.


    [I can y too.] Hawk suggested.


    [True, but you''re our scout. I don''t want them associating you with the missing Giants. Can you do it cleanly enough?] Karl asked.


    [No problem. I will wait for them to get close enough to you that I can throw the bodies in my space. We''re going to need to do something about all the excess Frost Giants, before they start getting in the way.] Hawk reminded him.


    [Oh, don''t worry about that. I have just the n to get rid of them, which will ensure the Giants are in chaos when the main line decides to advance.]


    Karl led the group out of the cave toward the closest powerful group, which was nked by two weaker groups.


    The patrol line went on like that all the way across the valley they were working in. One group with amander leading it, and then two groups of Ascended and Awakened. That should realistically give the Commander and his smaller group time to react to any attacks on the weaker groups, but with Karl''s divide and conquer strategy, it was about to be a feeding program for the beasts.


    Remi was already overjoyed by the amount of Commander Rank food that she could gorge herself with as she waited for her body to grow up to fighting size, where she could crush and swallow her prey whole.


    That was an odd bit of logic for a venomous snake, but that was how she preferred to eat, even after biting them. Biting was actually ast resort for the Spirit Snake, as she insisted that it made the food taste funny, but if she was threatened and her magic wasn''t doing enough, she had no problem getting physical.


    But for the most part, she didn''te out of her hiding space, and just poked her head out to cast Blizzard after fights.


    [Remi, how long can your blizzard spellst?] Karl asked.


    [About five minutes if I need it to, then I will cast it again.] She replied.


    [In that case, cast it at the start of the fight, and just let it continue as we move away. Keep it centred on the group, and it will hide both the fight and our footprints, so the other groups can''t find us as easily.]


    [Got it boss.]


    The next group was justing into sight when Karl caught a change in Rae''s thoughts.


    [Tremble before theing darkness.]


    She wasughing at her hapless targets.


    "Rae found her group. Let''s get to work. Remi, you''re up. Keep us hidden." Karl instructed.


    He charged forward with Thor, and the roar of the Frost Giants who were being damaged by a snowstorm out of nowhere echoed through the valley. That might not have been his best call, but they were already damaged when he made it tobat, and Dana''s twin Golems had no problem holding off the two Ascended Frost Giants while Karl fired arrows into the Commander''s chest and Thor prevented it from going after any of the other group members.


    Ophelia had no problem assisting the Golems with one of the Frost Giants, and even Tessa had dismounted ande forward into melee range, attacking with her mace while Dana cast [Magic Missiles] and Karl''s [Chain Lightning] slowed the giants.


    Karl felt two groups of Giants reach his space, one from Hawk and one from Rae. That was their signal to move, and Karl quickly stripped the giants of anything of value and threw the corpses into Remi''s mostly empty swamp.


    Tessa identified the items left on the ground, and stuffed the magical ones into a pair of pouches that she slung over Thor''s back.


    "We can sort themter. Where are we off to now?" She asked.


    "There should be another three groups like those on their way here. Remi is keeping the blizzard active to hide our movement, and Hawk is scouting their locations as they approach." Karl exined.


    The groups had moved into the same formation as the ones they had attacked, weaker groups on the nks with the stronger one in the middle as they searched for the attackers.


    "Same pattern asst time. Tessa, did you want to ride Thor intobat?" Karl asked.


    "Sounds great. I will start with the Commander, and Dana can focus her attacks on one Ascended, while Bear gets the other." Tessa agreed.


    Ophelia made a pleased grunt at the n, still caught in the berserker rage, and still transformed into her half bear form.


    As she fought, small wooden totems would appear on the ground around her. Karl wasn''t certain if they were buffs, or some sort of skill, but they vanished after ten seconds or so and didn''t seem to affect anyone but her.


    Remi came out of her hiding spot to climb into Karl''s armour, leaving only her head exposed. That was warm enough that she couldfortably fight, and secure enough she wouldn''t fall down and into the snow.


    Now they had an extra [Chain Lightning] at Ascended Rank to go with the Commander Rank version on Karl''s arrows. With the [Blizzard] damage being so negligible to creatures with cold damage resistance, the Giants had barely begun to understand that they were in serious trouble before they were paralyzed and cut down.


    Two more batches of bodies entered the space, and Karl sent Hawk scouting down the line, getting a location for any other groups that might have been alerted to the battles.


    [They''re all still moving forward. Should I bring some this way, or do we ambush them the same way again?] Rae asked as Hawk reported the location of the groups.


    [Same pattern. Wait for us to get in position.] Karl instructed.


    [But you''re so slow. Why don''t you just chase after me, and I will take out all the weak ones to throw in your space, then we cane back to the group for the Commanders?] Rae suggested.


    [Because we can''t leave the rest of the group unprotected. There''s a reason for this group size andposition.] Karl reminded her.


    [If I could just ess the space from more than a hundred metres, this would be way easier.] Raeined, eager to keep hunting.


    [Work with what you''ve got. We will clean up all along the line today if we can, and then retreat somewhere warm.] Karl instructed.


    That was all the motivation that Rae and Hawk needed to go off mission and start hunting the weaker groups on their own.


    Before Karl had even reached the first Commander, they had cleared the weaker groups and had started on the next pair, racing through the snow-covered trees to avoid detection and then brutally ambushing their hapless prey.


    Remi was stuck on cleanup duty, spreading her [Blizzard] as wide as possible, while collecting the bodies, which Karl was doing his best to run past as the group chased the rampaging pair of beasts.


    "Why are they in such a hurry?" Ophelia asked as they reached their fifth group of the day, who were standing back to back, already paranoid and on alert after all the shouting from the other groups under attack on both sides of them.


    "I may have promised them that once the line was clear, we could go somewhere warm for the night." Karlughed.


    "Well, that sounds good to me, but the casters will not be able to keep this pace up forever. Even if they''re riding on Thor most of the time, that much magic will wear them out mentally."


    Karl nodded. "We''re almost done. I will call the two hooligans back once we clear this group, and then we can hide the battles in the snow and look for a good spot to spend the night."

 Chapter 264 Thors Loot Bags

    Chapter 264 Thor''s Loot Bags


    ??By the time that they had finished clearing thest battlefield, the bags on the side of Thor were overflowing with loot, and he looked more like a pack mule than abat pet. They had simply killed so many Frost Giants today that they couldn''t resist grabbing anything remotely magical looking, with the n to identify and sort itter.


    The Frost Giant scouts should have been sent into battle with decent gear, and that gear would be very close to what the group needed to fight them. It wouldn''t be the fire Element attack gear they wanted, but if even a few of the armour pieces could be bonded, and assuming there were some Giant Strength type enchantments, they could make massive gains.


    Hawk sent them an update on his scouting mission.


    [To the south, four kilometres, there is arge cave. That will be perfect for the night.]


    That would also put them in front of where the patrol lines had been ughtered, so it would be unlikely that the next day''s reinforcements would start there in the search for the humans killing off their scouts.


    As they were making their way to the cave, Karl began to hear disturbing news on the radio. The Frost Giants were redeploying, and sending a huge number of troops into this valley. It looked like their efforts had gone overboard, and now the enemy thought that there was a major military force here.


    Of course, as they were sending arge force to the valley, the Golden Dragon Nation was also sending an entire artillery regiment to the other end of the valley, to ensure that the Frost Giants didn''t advance past the lines.


    That put their hiding spot in the middle of no man''snd in what was likely to be an artillery bombardment the next day.


    "It looks like we might need to be cold for a few more hours. Keep heading south until Hawk finds you a new hiding spot along the southern end of the valley. The army is redeploying artillery here, and I don''t want to get caught in the middle of a bombardment." Karl exined once he had a full grasp of the situation.


    "You make it sound like you won''t be leading." Lotus noted.


    "For the next hour or so, I won''t be. I will follow Hawk''s guidance back to you, and you''ve got Rae and Thor for extra protection. I''ve got Remi with me to hide my movement. I''m going to put out a distraction to slow the Frost Giants'' advance." Karl exined.


    "Alright, see you soon. None of us can run fast enough to keep up with you anyhow." Tessa joked.


    That was true, and he had [Silent Movement], so he didn''t need to worry about making amotion.


    [What''s the n? Are we going to ambush them from out of a blizzard and just boom pow smack down a bunch of Giants?] Remi asked as Karl ran toward the point where the Giants should be entering the valley.


    [Not exactly. You see how we''ve got all sorts of extra Ascended and Awakened Rank Frost Giant bodies? We''re going to pile them all up at that end of the valley and set a bonfire for the Giants to keep warm by.]


    [Oh, we''re doing something nice to apologize. That''s kind of you.] Remi replied proudly, thinking that they were doing a nice thing for the enemy.


    [Frost Giants are terrified of fire, and the heat causes them pain. Sorry, Remi.]


    For a moment, she was disappointed that they weren''t doing a nice thing, then she decided that it wasn''t worth being sad for monsters that would lose a fight to a bird.


    [Well, they get back most of their dead, so they can''t be too mad, right? Even if it''s not their usual ritual?]


    [That is true, they''re getting most of the bodies back.]


    That was enough assurance to make the naive young snake y along with the n, and keep her Blizzard active on its lowest setting, creating a snowstorm that would only really damage Common Rank monsters. It did dump a lot of snow, and the winds were high over arge area, so it would hide their movement once they were gone, as Karl was leading them right to the mouth of the pass.


    [This is the spot, you start piling up the bodies into a huge hill, and I will cut down some trees to get the fire started.] Karl instructed.


    Starting a fire when you were whittling deadfall logs for kindling with a ming de was a simple task, and within minutes, Karl had a good, hot fire burning, and Remi was piling bodies all around it as Karl hacked down more trees to ce in a secondyer around the outside.


    The smoke was billowing up into the clouds, thick and ck, and it would be impossible to miss the smell, which reminded Karl entirely too much of wet work socks drying by the fire without being cleaned first.


    Once the outer logs were burning steadily, Karl headed south at a run, hoping to catch up to the group before they made it too far. Remi''s Blizzard was reactivated as soon as they were out of range of the bonfire, hiding their tracks, but even the howling winds couldn''t hide the rage of the Frost Giants when they realized that the fire they hade to destroy wasn''t a human army camp but a massive funeral pyre.


    The army wasn''t sure what to make of the situation, so Karl sent a brief message, letting them know that it was a diversion.


    [Regional Command, I can confirm that the fire is set by our side. Repeat, the fire is a distraction to slow the Frost Giant advance.] Karl informed them.


    [Understood. Report all sightings for ongoing bombardment as the line is extended.]


    That was terrible news. He had deliberately picked a deployment spot well away from the main battle line, but they had already expanded to meet him only a few days into his mission.


    Worse, there was no real reason for it, other than a single day worth of increased activity. There was something going on behind the scenes that he wasn''t aware of, and it wasn''t making logical sense based on what he had seen of enemy deployment strategies during their flight in.


    If they were going to bombard the area, he couldn''t scout it. But the mountain ranges further from the line were too inhospitable for either humans or Frost Giants to traverse inrge numbers.


    The best bet was for Karl to take his team behind the enemy lines, where he would still be within his appointed zone, and they could attack Frost Giant supply caravans.


    Hawk would like that. They farmed monstrous boars and giant goats.


    [Hawk, where are you leading the team?] Karl asked as they began to turn toward the human military unit.


    [There are soldiers everywhere. Unless we''re going to take a cave near their camp without talking to them? Tessa thinks we should say hello before we move on.] Hawk replied.


    [Alright, I will catch up to you before you reach them.]


    Karl had Remi stop the blizzard when they got close enough to see Hawk above the trees, and then caught up to the group just before they reached the outer patrols of the iing military camp.


    Once the beasts, except for Thor, who still had a pair of massive packs full of magical items, were all safely back in their spaces, he led them out into the open, where soldiers were surrounding the camp, all carrying swords glowing with the holy light of a Cleric''s blessing. So, not Elites, but regr infantry, relying on Holy Magic to be able to injure anything that came their way.


    That could make it difficult to get back out of the camp, as they weren''t going to want to lose the protection of a Commander Ranked Elite and his team, especially just for Karl and the others to go scouting in another region.


    "Identification." The patrol guard requested, with a hint of reverent respect in his tone.


    "Commander Karl, 95988. Deployed to the region with my team to control scout movements away from the main lines." Karl replied.


    "And how did that go?" The patrol leader asked.


    "We''re up by about seventy Frost Giants for the day." Lotus cut in with a smile on her face.


    The man froze as if she had pped him.


    "Did you say there were seventy Frost Giants in the zone today alone? I will need you to report to the battalion Commander asap. I don''t think that they are aware of the threat level."

 Chapter 265 Commander Dalton

    Chapter 265 Commander Dalton


    ??Karl and the team were quickly escorted to the Battalion Commander''s tent, where they found a Commander Rank soldier with his secretary bent over his desk when the scout burst in unannounced. Karl stopped the team and let the scout be the only one to go inside while the tent p swung closed, and Tessa did her best not tough out loud.


    "Dammit, knock." The man shouted, as the secretary, who was in civilian clothing, hurriedly rearranged her skirt.


    "It''s a cloth door, sir. We have a report that you need to hear. A Commander led mercenary scout team took out roughly seventy Frost Giants in the zone just today. It has given us reason to believe that the deployment orders understated the severity of the threat." The scout announced in a dry tone as Karl and the team waited outside.


    Hawk and Rae had kept a bunch of the heads for just this reason, and they quickly piled them up outside the Command Tent, creating a five-metre tall mound of Giant skulls still dripping with blood.


    The scout and his Commander stepped outside and saw the massive pile of heads, then turned in shock to Karl.


    "Where the hell did thosee from?" The Commander demanded.


    "I have a skill to keep body parts from defeated monsters in a separate space for the day. I use it to provide proof of kills, as we are onmission, not sry." Karl informed him.


    "Someone count those and do a Rank check on them." The Commander shouted.


    Nobody was hurrying to do that duty, but they would get to it, Karl was certain.


    The Battalion Commander gestured inside. "Please,e in. I need a report on the situation, and anything you know about that fire burning at the other end of the valley."


    Karl took a seat across from the other Commander, while the rest of the team sat in the chairs along the wall.


    "The fire is easy. I used Frost Giant bodies to light a bonfire and slow the enemy advance so that they wouldn''t follow us toward you. I got the message that you were moving in an artillery battalion, and I really didn''t want to get caught in a bombardment while we slept tonight." Karl exined.


    The Commander smiled. "That was the right choice. We had no idea where you were in the zone, and the bombardment will start with the morning light. Not that your group wouldn''t be able to outrun it in most cases, as long as you were listening to the radio, but still."


    Karl heard somemotion and stomping outside, and realized that the soldiers were trying to unload Thor, who had distinctly not given them permission to touch his bags.


    "Tessa, Lotus, can you take Thor outside the camp and deal with his burden? Pick what might be useful and bring it back. The rest can be turned in for credit." Karl instructed.


    They disappeared out of the tent p, while the Battalion Commander waited for Karl to exin.


    "We didn''t just take heads. I''ve got a Lightning Cerro outside with bags full of unidentified magic items. Someone tried to get into his bags, and he was getting upset to the point of considering stunning them with [Earthquake]." Karl exined.


    "A Lightning Cerro learned Earthquake?" The Commander asked,pletely confused.


    "Not only that, he learned Circle of Protection, and he''s almost to Commander Rank now. Give him a little longer, and I think that we can teach him a healing circle as well. It will be glorious, a self-healing, self shielding, self buffing tank." Karl agreed.


    The Commander shook his head in dismay. "Even I never managed to learn Earthquake, much less a Circle of Protection. Instead, I mastered the basics up to Commander Rank. sh, Guard, Shield Bash and Commanding Shout."


    "You didn''t get the scribes to at least make you a Rend skill book? I believe all warriors can use them." Karl asked.


    The manughed. "No, by the time that I wanted more skills I had be an officer, and it was ''Lieutenant Dalton go here, Lieutenant Dalton, go there''. I was never in activebat anymore, so I never needed to upgrade."


    "Well, that does make some sense. Desk officers and unit officers don''t spend a lot of time fist fighting Frost Giants, they have other responsibilities. My group, on the other hand, spends all our time fighting. That''s all that we''ve done since Awakened Rank, with a few pit stops back at the Academies to remind people that we''re still alive." Karl exined.


    Commander Dalton sighed. "Well, that''s one way to live. But aren''t you worried that one day the mission will go wrong and all that credit you earned will be for nothing?"


    Dana looked nervous, as she had certainly considered exactly that when she was thinking about joining Karl outside the Academy. But Ophelia was a Berserker, and ending in glorious battle when you were too old or crippled to fight was basically a life goal for her ss.


    Karl smiled. "It''s a chance, and if that''s the way that Nature wills it, that''s the way it will be. Nevertheless, I have faith in the World Dragon that we will live to a ripe old age."


    Dana smiled. That was precisely the sort of non-answer that Lotus would have given.


    The two clerics came back in with onerge bag of stuff, and Thor retreated to his space.


    "Done already?" Karl asked.


    "Yep. There were only a few truly good things in there, since we were already stocked up. We have a ring and boots for Bear, Lotus and I have taken a bracelet each, and there is a brooch for Dana. The other boots are for you, if you can use them." Tessa exined.


    They were Commander Rank leather boots with fur trim at the top, and an increase to his cold damage resistance. But most importantly, they were warm.


    Karl also noticed that she had a bundle of weapons behind her back that she wasn''t speaking about, possibly just so that the soldiers wouldn''t get upset that they took all the best for themselves and didn''t leave anything exceptional for the base to skim off before it was officially submitted.


    "Will you be needing space within the camp, or do you prefer to camp outside?" Commander Dalton asked.


    Karl thought of the nearby caves that Hawk had found. "I think that we will set up not far from your position, within the caves. They''re easier for our group to keep warm andfortable than a tent, and they''re sheltered from some of the sound of artillery."


    Dalton nodded. "I will leave you to it, then. Remember to inform me of your patrol route before you leave again so that we can avoid shelling your position."


    "That won''t be a problem. We will likely leaveter in the day tomorrow, once we know how the Frost Giants are reacting to the presence of an artillery battalion in the area. They sent reinforcements yesterday when we started to target their trainees, so there is a chance they will transfer even more, or even retreat entirely once your teams get to work." Karl exined.


    Commander Dalton ran a hand through his short brown hair, then reced his cap. "Understood. We will call for you over the radio if they decide that an offensive is the answer. We''re a bit short on actual fighters, as you might have noticed, and we only have four clerics with us to keep the weapon enchantments active and do part-time healing duty."


    Karl nodded. "Alright, if we''re still around, we will see what we can do. We''re not a front line, stand and fight head on sort of team, it''s better to just let us work from the shadows. We can go through quite a few Frost Giants that way without them finding us."


    Dalton smiled and gestured to the door. "Good luck, we have space if you can''t find somewherefortable."


    Karl led the group out of the Command Tent. It wouldn''t be a problem to find a spot. Hawk had already scouted them, they were just too close to the military camp for them to arrive at undetected. But since the Battalion knew that they were there, they didn''t have to put up a tent, they could just have Rae make a cover for the door and keep the interior of the cave heated.


    It took time to get a cave properly warm, but once the rocks were holding heat, it would stay warm for quite a while. Warm ces to sleep were in short supply in this unnaturally cold region, but Hawk was getting quite skilled at finding them.


    The cave that Hawk had found today turned out to be fairly deep, and ran nearly ten metres into the cliff face, where running water had cut away the limestone over the years. That would work out well for them. It was protected from the elements, but there was still plenty of venttion, and an easily defensible single entrance.

 Chapter 266 Shadows In The Snow

    Chapter 266 Shadows In The Snow


    ??With Karl, Hawk, and the sword all adding heat to the cave, it warmed up quickly, and they were able tofortably hang the hammocks using Rae''s web to attach them to the walls.


    There would be no sleeping on the cold floor for his group, and they could get away with a minimal watch, as there were artillery battalion patrols ten metres outside their door.


    As they finished dinner, Karl noticed that the patrols were lingering outside the entrance to the cave, which was located about a metre above ground level, and four metres above the cavern that they were in.


    The stone walls of the cavern were already warm, not frozen by the suddenly frigid air outside, but with the mes they were using for heat, Karl suspected that the guards were lingering where the warm air was venting before moving on with their patrols.


    It had to be torture to keep walking by while the group was roasting meat and cooking up a stew, but the majority of the scent would go up the air vent in the chamber and be filtered through the trees instead of flowing out the main entrance to torture the patrols.


    Rae took the entire night watch, ostensibly because she was sleeping most of the afternoon after they arrived at the base. In reality, it was mostly because she enjoyed watching everyone gently sway in her web hammocks.


    The hammocks werefortable, and with the ming de set against one wall, the room was luxuriously warm all night until Rae fell asleep as Lotus started breakfast to the apaniment of the sound of artillery fire.


    As promised, they had started the bombardment of the Frost Giants promptly at dawn, so Karl turned up his radio to listen to the morning broadcasts.


    They had a scout team in the mountains, looking down at the valley with high-powered binocrs, and they could see the majority of the region well enough to target the shells. They had also determined that the number of Frost Giants had grown again overnight, but mostly on the weaker side of the spectrum, trainees at the Awakened and Ascended Rank, not their Commanders.


    That was a relief to the artillery, as their shells didn''t do much to the Commander Rank Frost Giants, they had to call in the Elites, or wait for them to engage in meleebat with the Holy Magic enhanced soldiers to be able to kill them without relying onrge amounts of luck.


    "Are we going to go out and scout?" Dana asked as they packed up after breakfast.


    "Not yet. The Giants are building some sort of defensive structure right now, and the artillery is going wild on them. Even if we wanted to go out, there isn''t anything that we could do except dodge shells." Karl exined.


    Then he unplugged the earbuds from his radio and turned up the volume, so everyone could hear what was going on with the messages.


    For the next few hours, it was the same pattern of radio transmissions as the main line. Just target, fire, target, fire. Then when it was almost time for lunch, and Tessa was about to unpack their cooking gear again, the reports slowly began to change.


    The Frost Giants were no longering out of their bunkers, they were hiding behind stone, snow and barriers, with a blinding snowstorm raging all around them to hide troop movements. That wouldn''t stop the bombardment, but it would make it impossible to tell if the enemy was building their strength for an offensive.


    "Once we finish lunch, I am taking us to the far side of the valley to check the mountain passes and the next valley for Frost Giants. That''s still within the range we agreed to work, and it''s pretty obvious that they''re up to something if they''re keeping a Blizzard active along the entire north end of the valley." Karl informed the others.


    "We''re not leaving them to their fate, are we?" Tessa asked cautiously.


    She was a priestess of the Red Dragon, The God of War, and anything deemed cowardly in battle was anathema to her faith.


    "No, we will actually be closer to the enemy lines when things do go sideways, but I want to being in from a nk that I know is clear, and not crossing no-man''snd with a bunch of terrified infantrymen in a snowstorm."


    With lunch finished, and their gear packed, Karl headed to the camp after stuffing bits of moss in his ears as earplugs against the noise of the artillery.


    He stopped at the supply tent and got a notepad and pen so he didn''t have to remove his own from his pack, then wrote a mission description for the Battalion Commander to read.


    There was no way they were going to be able to have a discussion here beside the artillery, so Karl just handed him the letter with the crude map on it and patted him on the shoulder to say good luck.


    Dalton nodded and waved him away, letting Karl rejoin his team and head into the hills.


    The reports were that the snow storm was spreading,ing in from the Frost Giant''s side of the border. However, with all the strange atmospheric anomalies, and the Ice Magic of the Giants, nobody knew if it was a natural storm or a massive artificial one.


    [What do you think, Hawk?] Karl asked as the bird floated high in the sky, barely a ck speck in their vision.


    [It''s a natural storm, the wind is carrying the clouds this way, and I can feel the cold moisture already. But that doesn''t mean there''s nothing in it. I keep seeing shadows, but they''re too far for me to tell what might be casting them.]


    [Keep an eye on them and let me know when you can tell what is casting shadows in the snow storm. It might be nothing, it might be something important. Chances are, human eyes can''t tell that there are even shadows to begin with.] Karl reminded him.


    Their route quickly took them into the hills, and that was where their smooth progress ended. The paths were narrow and steep, winding along the side of cliffs, while a river gorge made up the bottom of the canyon.


    "Do you think that something might try to move down the river? I mean, they could freeze it over, right?" Dana asked, directing her question at Lotus, who would be more knowledgeable about the weather than anyone else here.


    "They probably can with their ice magic. But we can see the river from here, and this path would be a nightmare for Frost Giants to navigate, so it''s better that we don''t follow the river ourselves.


    I mean, we will because that''s where the canyon goes, but not along the river itself." Lotus exined, with a gesture along the path.


    They walked at a careful pace, not wanting to lose anyone down the hill if the path under the snow was loose or icy, and by the time that it got dark, they still had an entire kilometre to go before they had made it up the valley''s length.


    "Alright, there is a path between the mountains ahead, ording to Hawk, which will lead us back into the other valley close to the Frost Giant lines.


    There are no caves on this side of the fault, it''s te and not limestone like the other side of the hill, but Rae can make us a double walled tent in the trees, and we will call it a night." Karl instructed.


    Rae was happy to run ahead of the group and test her theories on a double walled fort. You couldn''t see out of it, so her and Hawk were on night duties in the cold again, but it would be warm, and sheltered from the increasingly frigid winds.


    They were just about to finish their scans and head into the fort when Hawk sent a final sunset update.


    [I can see what''s casting the shadows. It''s Frost Giants in white suits, hundreds of them. They''re hidden in the snow, but they can''t hide their shadows.]


    [Where are they headed?] Karl asked.


    [For our valley. The one that the artillery is making a mess of right now.]


    An exceptionally loud mess, Karl noted, now that they were so close to the edge of the bombardment zone.


    [I will call it in.]


    [Battalion Command, this is team 95988. We have spotted reinforcements on the other side of the mountains, headed for your bombardment zone. Two hundred plus Frost Giants in snow camo outfits. Strength unknown.] Karl broadcast.


    [Received.]


    It was probably better that Dalton let go of the mic button at that point. It would never do to curse that much over open airwaves.

 Chapter 267 Artillery Lullaby

    Chapter 267 Artillery Luby


    ??The sound of artillery shelling the area continued all night, and then just after dawn, the sound of Frost Giant war horns red across the north end of the valley, interrupting breakfast and causing the radiomunications to go crazy.


    Karl had left his earpiece out so that everyone could hear the radio during the night, in case the Frost Giants attacked early, but from the sound of the broadcasts, their reinforcements were just arriving.


    The bunkers had greatly reduced their casualtiesst night, and with the addition of hundreds more warriors, the Frost Giants were preparing a charge on the south end of the valley, which would put them in position to nk the main army lines.


    The problem for Karl and his team was that the shelling continued, so they couldn''t safely approach the Giants to get to work.


    [Hawk, fly up and double-check the area, I want to be absolutely certain that nothing is trying toe down this valley before we leave.] He instructed.


    First, Hawk flew south, to make sure that nothing got by them in the night, as unlikely as that was. Then he headed north up the valley, where only ten kilometres from the camp, he found arge group of the Giants in white building rock hurling siege weapons and building barricades.


    Karl checked that against his map and found that the location should be the Golden Dragon Nation side of the neutral zone, or contested zone, between the two countries. Theke that was directly behind their barriers had been the boundary marked on the map.


    The army almost certainly wouldn''t want to push that far, and if they were setting up artillery, the Frost Giants weren''t going anywhere. The river wouldn''t support the weight, and it was too much trouble to have to disassemble and reassemble them for half a morning''s march.


    But as Hawk circled back, he saw that the group at theke wasn''t the only one that was digging in for a long battle. On the other side of the ridge, the Frost Giants were building a massive ice fortification within their raging blizzard, visible to the keen eyes of Hawk only because they weren''t trying to hide it from the back.


    Karl sent in the message, and got back a quick response. Not from the Battalion Commander, as he had expected, but from the main line''s regional Command.


    [Please remain on site to secure the secondary valley against enemy incursion. Reinforcing troops have been dyed.] They informed him.


    [Understood, we will be holding our monitoring position.]


    Karl looked at the others and shrugged. "Well, we''re up the side of a hill, in the trees, where we can see half the valley. I would say that''s a good enough position for what they want, and we can just wait here where it''s warm.


    Until we get other directions, Hawk and Rae can take turns watching for movement, and we can all stay well rested.


    I know that we''re not military, so we can theoretically decline the order, but it wouldn''t hurt to wait here and see what happens next."


    Tessaughed. "If we move and somethinges down the valley to cause problems for them, you know that we''re going to hear it from the High Priests as well. They despise it when they get messagesining about the actions of their clergy, and they''re already stressed by the current situation.


    Lotus might be used to getting yelled at all the time, but I prefer to avoid it."


    Lotus giggled at the insinuation, but Tessa was right. She got yelled at on a fairly regr basis for getting side tracked when she wasn''t with a Green Dragon or other type of Nature Priest. They got side tracked just as much as she did.


    The artillery never slowed, only staggered its rhythm so that the enemy wouldn''t find it as easy to predict. The sound carried through the mountain valleys, impossible to escape as the battle raged on.


    The Frost Giants were active on the main line, charging forward to eliminate artillery emcements and scout bunkers, but in their valley, the enemy line was stationary.


    The big fear of everyone, both in Command, and in the fort with Karl, was that this was just a buildup. That the main line would get fully engaged, and that would be the signal for the troops that had built up along the secondary valleys to move intobat.


    But they couldn''t put that over the radio, or they would be used of trying to damage morale, so they had to wait and watch as the hours passed, and the two positions that they could scout remained patient and the battle along the main lines intensified.


    At dark, Hawk returned to the fort to rest inside and out of the cold, while Rae went out to scout and made herself a secondary fort, up near the ridge and built into a tree. It kept the wind off her, and allowed her to see both the end of the valley and the main valley''s ess route, though she couldn''t see the actual fortress built there.


    It was enough to be able to see if anything was moving in their own zone, as the army already had scouts all over the hills lining the other valley.


    To Rae''s eyes, the Frost Giants were the opposite of what most living things should be, a mass of cold in the distance, not freezing, but much colder than most living things. If the weather wasn''t so frigid, they would be hard for her to spot, as they would blend into the background temperature variation, but as it was, she was certain she wouldn''t miss them if they moved.


    Near dawn, right when night patrols would be switching for morning patrols among the human armies, the radio reports of massive movement among the front lines began. The Frost Giants were beginning their full offensive, apanied by ice magic enchanted boulders that smashed apart artillery wagons and brought area freezing magic with them that both damaged the infantry and caused blinding snow.


    With the blinding snow, the rest of the forces couldn''t see what wasing for them, and the reports were rather grim, with an entire armoured battalion reported lost in the first hour.


    That was seventy kilometres from where Karl and the others were, too far for them to do anything about it, but close enough that it made them paranoid about what might happen to their positions.


    If the main line was breached or forced to retreat, that would put the unit under Commander Dalton behind enemy lines. That was not where an artillery Battalion wanted to be, and he would have trouble even retreating with such arge unit and so much heavy equipment.


    [If they leave one behind, I want an artillery.] Thor announced, thinking of ways that he could pull one of the wheeled cannon batteries for long rangedbat.


    [What''s this? You''ve gone for Tank position, and the Healer Role, and now you want to be artillery too?] Karl joked.


    [Remi is just a tiny snake, how could she take up our rangedbat role all by herself? Well, by herself or with Hawk if he doesn''t have to scout.] Thor asked.


    Hawk silentlyughed at the thought of an overgrown afternoon snack bing their ranged damage member, but refrained from saying anything that might make Thor sad. He was excited about helping, so Hawk let him have it.


    Thor''s idea made good sense to Remi. She wasn''t even big enough to see over people, she had to hide in Karl''s armour or in her space just so she could see to cast her spells. If she was a flying snake, she could do like Hawk and target them from above, but her minor water control only allowed her to make simple appendages, not wings.


    But one day she would be big, and then she would be able to see everything in her swamp.


    [We just need to teach her a new skill, so she can see further. If she could find targets when they were further away, Remi could be our tiny blue artillery snake.] Hawk suggested, hoping to keep Thor happy even if they couldn''t get an artillery.


    That didn''t sound like a bad idea to Remi. She just didn''t know how she was going to do it. Maybe if her water control was better, she might be able to sense what her blizzard was hitting, and then she could target more spells without needing to see them.


    As an added benefit, she would know where everything in her swamp was. She just had to find someone who knew how to teach her that skill. Or have Karl torture one of the Frost Giants until they told him. The Frost Giants should know.


    Only, nobody spoke Frost Giant.


    Learning was hard, Remi decided.

 Chapter 268 The Line Retreats

    Chapter 268 The Line Retreats


    ??For the first few hours it almost seemed like they were going to be able to repel the Frost Giant attack, but then the units that had arrived in the snow made their move. Three hundred white robed and hooded Commander Rank Frost Giants appeared from the storm and rampaged through the main lines of the Golden Dragon Army''s formation.


    [All secondary units, this is a general retreat. All secondary units, this is a general retreat. Form at Checkpoint Bravo for counterattack.] The radio repeated.


    [Hawk, is that causing Commander Dalton to move?] Karl asked.


    [They are already packing up their gear. It doesn''t look like they are nning to leave a cannon for Thor, but we might get lucky.] Hawk replied.


    [Cannon, cannon, cannon.] Thor cheered, while Rae and Remiughed at his optimism.


    "That doesn''t sound good." Tessa sighed as the radio went silent to allow the units to ry their progress.


    "It''s not. The armoured Battalion is retreating. We could probably make it back to them if we ran, assuming that the Frost Giants aren''t moving. But if theye down this valley, and we''re not here, things will get bad very fast for the infantry." Karl replied.


    While a general retreat order did give them permission to leave, the fact they were the only ones blocking an entire valley meant that it might also lead to mass casualties.


    Tessa''s eyes glowed red for a moment before she smiled. "How much attention do you think that the Frost Giants are paying to their border patrol? I get the feeling that they have good stuff just waiting there for us to take it."


    Her eyes were glowing with the influence of the Red Dragon, and everyone in the group knew that meant the odds were excellent that she was right. Either there was good loot or a strategically beneficial fight. The War God wouldn''t be interested if there were neither of them present.


    "I will send Hawk to see what the next valley is doing before we move. If they''re advancing, we will move north toward the border. If we''re lucky, it might make them hesitate and save some of the artillery Battalion." Karl agreed.


    Hawk soared out over the mountain peaks, looking down over the next valley, where the Frost Giants were beginning to get up out of their bunkers now that the artillery had stopped. They were forming up for a charge, which would be faster than the infantry, which didn''t have enough transport trucks to leave except on foot.


    "They''re forming up for a charge. If we leave now, they should be about halfway down the valley when the rm goes up that we''re attacking the border defence teams." Karl informed the others.


    Dana gritted her teeth and nodded. "Let''s do this. How bad is the battle at the border going to be?"


    Karl thought back to what Hawk had seen.


    "Bad. But nothing that we can''t handle. Just keep your shields up so that the ranged team members don''t eat a boulder to the face from the catapults."


    They all grabbed their packs and Karl led them down to the river. There was a bend just fifty metres from the Frost Giant lines, which would hide them from view until they were close enough to attack. That was when he would start the charge, and with a bit of luck, their shields would hold long enough.


    There was no cover in front of the line, it was all knocked down and removed, so they would have toe through the open, no matter what tactic they wanted to use.


    Lotus caught a ride on Rae, while Dana hopped up behind Tessa on Thor, which brought the speed of the group up to Thor''s full running speed. With her strength enhanced, Ophelia had no problem keeping up with the Lightning Cerro, and Karl was faster than either of them. The deployment would put everyone in the right spot when the fight started, with Dana''s Golems forming up around Thor, while Rae brought her own out a little further down the line as a distraction.


    They were the most deadly in the group, so the Frost Giants wouldn''t be able to ignore them, and that would turn them away from Thor and the others. A few extra seconds should be all they needed for Karl to Stun the more vulnerable members and give them an early advantage.


    "I will distract them away from your advance. Good luck, everyone, and I will see you in a minute." Karl instructed as they got close to the final corner.


    While the group went left, he moved to the right through the woods, and prepared to shoot the Frost Giants that were immediately in front of the main group.


    He was the first one out into the open, and his arrow was loose before anyone had seen him, plunging straight into the heart of an unprepared Ascended Rank Frost Giant.


    [Stun] hit the creature''s heart directly, and the Giant twitched as it hit the ground, dead. That wasn''t quite the n, but Karl already had another arrow in the air, going for the Giant beside the one that fell.


    To the defenders, it looked like he was taking out the reinforcements before he charged a weak spot in the line, and they began to shift positions while the rest of the group charged out of the woods.


    The distraction was just enough, and only three catapults managed to hurl ice magic infused boulders at the group as they charged. None of them were close enough to damage the group, firing hastily had cost the inattentive Giants their advantage.


    Rae''s Golems appeared in their ranks, attacking without hesitation, while Dana''s appeared a secondter, nking Thor as he knocked his target to the ground.


    Karl sent another round out, hitting the closest Giant to him with [Chain Lightning] which slowed the Giants'' response even further. Remi took that as her cue, and cast a [Blizzard] over the far side of the defensive line, while using her own [Chain Lightning] on the closest Giants.


    The ice element attack would do very little, if any, damage to the Giants, but it would block their vision and stop them from using ranged attacks against the much smaller human attackers. The risk of hitting their own people while firing blind was too high.


    There was a whoop of victory, and Karl saw Ophelia in bear form hacking both arms off an Ascended Rank Frost Giant with her axes. Giant strengthbined with the buffs of a Bear Totem Berserker was a deadlybination, and the small wooden totems on the ground were pulsing with energy as she fought.


    Karl let loose another arrow, catching a Frost Giant in the throat. It fumbled at the arrow as the Lightning arced between it and those nearby, but the next arrow went straight to its chest, ending its struggle and leaving the others nearby staggering in pain.


    A sweep of the bow itself cut an arc of [Rend] through the air, slicing the front of the Giants open and dropping the weaker ones. For a moment, Karl had a clearing around him, so he turned his arrows on the Frost Giant Commander headed for Thor.


    The creature moved with surprising speed, catching the arrow. Then it howled in rage as [Chain Lightning] activated and Karl smirked in his direction.


    That was what Karl was after, drawing the leader to himself. Even with Rae around, the others would have enough trouble with the Frost Giants. They had far too many Commanders in their ranks, and Rae wouldn''t be able to take them all out fast enough for the clerics to keep everyone healed indefinitely.


    Hawk''s fireballs were raining down from above, causing immense pain wherever theynded, but he had learned his lesson, and he was far above the battle, out of range of any Ice Spike type attacks that might knock him out of the battle.


    Karl started to retreat toward the remainder of the group, intending to give Thor some reprieve while he could. But it appeared that the Cerro didn''t need it. The Frost Giants were having a hard time getting to the battle, with Thor casting constant Earthquakes and Lotus using her [Water Vortex Staff] to create spinning water funnels that pulled them off their feet and knocked them to the ground.


    Rae''s Golems were showing no mercy, making full use of the [Spear] skill that they had gained in the Naga Dungeon to turn anything they couldn''t reach into a pincushion. As it was their only active skill, they didn''t seem to have any issues firing them while fighting. Eight eyes that never blinked were a spider''s great advantage, as they could see everything going on around them in a 270-degree arc, and fire spears at anything showing vulnerability.


    "That''s nearly two minutes to rejoin us." Lotus noted as Karl rejoined the group.


    "But I saw you a minute ago, so it still counts." She added.

 Chapter 269 Border Jumping

    Chapter 269 Border Jumping


    ??Tessa''s eyes were glowing red as she buffed the group with Holy magic, adding damage to all their attacks, even Karl''s lightning and the Golems'' des.


    With the Golems in ce, Karl didn''t have to switch back to his sword, but it was still transferring energy to the group from its spot on Ophelia''s back while she used her twin axes to block and attack at the same time.


    The Giants were beginning to reform their lines, and Karl was considering giving the order to retreat as they worked together for a group spell. His [Stun] couldn''t deal with that many of them, and he wasn''t certain what they were casting.


    He fired as fast as he could, targeting different areas of the group, but at thest second, a surge of golden Holy Energy surrounded them all, and the power radiating off Thor surged. The Lightning Cerro had made it to the Commander Rank, and with it, his Circle of Protection and Refreshing Lightning Barrier had improved a Rank.


    Karl noticed that the golden streaks on Thor''s scales were bing more pronounced, and now his horns were beginning to turn golden from their natural ivory.


    "Looking fancy, buddy." Karlughed as a barrage of Icicles mmed into the hastily erected barrier Dana had ced in front of them, and then shattered against the barriers on their bodies.


    None of them took more than minor wounds, and these icicles weren''t as insidious as the attacks of the Yeti ns, as they weren''t trying to freeze them now that the damage was done.


    Tessa shouted in victory as the Giants roared in frustration, but the battle was far from over. Karl''s group was still vastly outnumbered, and most of what was left was the Commander Rank and the stronger Ascended Rank Frost Giants, who hadn''t been annihted by Chain Lightning or Hawk''s fireballs.


    The water hating bird was going insane overhead,unching fireballs as fast as he could, three at a time, into their ranks. They had ice barriers erected over themselves, but the fireballs weren''t weak, and the barriers were having a difficult time keeping up with the iing damage.


    Karl wasn''t ready to rest yet. Even with the barrier refreshing them, Thor would run out of mana eventually, and they had to have the Frost Giants dead before then.


    Tessa was fully focused on offensive buffs, and was mostly out ofbat and not attracting attention, while Lotus was focused on keeping Thor and Rae at full efficiency.


    That meant Ophelia had the worst of it, with Dana not far behind, though the clerics were keeping them both fully healed, and they weren''t showing any visible injuries, despite the stters of red blood on Ophelia''s armour.


    The enraged Berserker knocked both of a Frost Giant''s arms wide, and Karl put an arrow into its forehead, shocking all the enemies gathered behind it with [Chain Lightning].


    The Berserkerughed as she charged into the body and tossed it backwards to get at more targets. But Karl noticed that she carefully stopped before she got out of range of Thor''s Circle of Protection.


    The Giants had no probleming to her, and now that the group was getting surrounded again, it was getting easier to shockrge groups, slowing them to the point that they were barely effective fighters against the speed of the Spider Golems.


    Stun was an option, but as it only affected a single target, it was less effective in a group fight, where slowing everything made life easier for the offence than stunning one target.


    While they focused on herding and eliminating the Frost Giants, Hawk had set fire to all the wooden siege weapons that the Frost Giants had constructed, and the orange glow was giving the blowing snow a hazy look, like streetlights on a foggy morning. At the very least, that would make it safer to retreat if it became necessary.


    Lotus whistled to get his attention, and pointed toward her staff. "I need time to recharge."


    That meant no more water funnels, but the number of enemies was dropping rapidly.


    Karl realized that something had changed, and the enemies were dying much faster than they should have been, given the groupposition. Commander on Commander, it generally took five or six solid hits per enemy to disable your target, but the back ranks were nearlypletely gone.


    He knew he had missed something, but not what, until thest of the Frost Giants turned and ran back into the hills with Hawk in hot pursuit. His fireballs were burning straight through their armour and into their bodies, causing massive damage even to Commander Rank giants.


    Karl thought he might have learned a new skill to optimize himself against water or ice element targets, but a nagging feeling in his mind brought his attention to his status.


    [Skill Master Rank 2 Activation] me Body skill advanced to Royal Rank by Hawk


    He actually hated Ice Magic so much that he had forced his me Body skill to the Royal Rank so soon after reaching Commander Rank, just to spite the Frost Giants.


    Never again would Karl underestimate the benefits of the beasts having an emotional attachment to their advancement.


    But more importantly, now that the advancement wasplete, Karl could feel the shared skill advancing as well. The retreating Frost Giants were too far for him to hit with an arrow already, but the next time they were inbat, he would have to try to use the improved skill in meleebat.


    Tessa made a pleased noise as she looked around the battlefield. "Well, that was more than enough to keep the War Dragon happy. Plus, it looks like we made a pretty good haul today. There are plenty of magical items on the battlefield for everyone to take their pick."


    Everyone spread out and collected all the potentially magical items that they could, and then Tessa dumped out the bag of weapons that Thor had been carrying around, which had been dropped in the trees when they charged.


    "We should have time before anything gets close enough to give us trouble. So, I will identify everything, and we can try to bond what works best for us. It looks like we''re behind enemy lines, so if there is anything that might even be a little improvement, don''t hold back." The Red Dragon Priestess reminded them.


    There had to be fifty pieces of gear in front of them that had been identified as possibly useful, not counting the ones that had been tossed to the side as too damaged to be salvaged.


    Ophelia passed Karl''s sword back to him as she found another two-handed de, this one with a proper life leech effect, so she would heal as she attacked. For a Berserker, that was definitely close to optimal gearing. She also found a few pieces of Commander Rank armour, and a ring of fire resistance, not that it would do her much good here.


    Lotus and Tessa both managed to finish upgrading their armour to Commander Rank, while Dana imed an Ice Barrier Ring that added strength to her already impressive advanced barrier spell. Karl found a ring of agility and a set of bracers that improved damage reduction.


    They were an odd-looking bunch now, as they were all wearing the Frost Giants'' preferred boots with fur trim, as well as Commander Rank leather pants, with mismatched armour pieces. Tessa and Lotus hid them mostly under their robes and new white cloaks, while Dana hid them under her mage dress and arge fur cloak with a hood. Karl and Ophelia had found fur trimmed cloaks that helped resist cold damage and cold weather.


    More than anything, they looked like they were from one of the arctic barbarian tribes. Those didn''t live anywhere on this continent, but Karl had read about them in school and saw pictures. They were one of the stories that teachers told about human resiliency.


    "Well, at least we''re all warm now." Lotus giggled as she looked around at the collection of white fur cloaks.


    Then she grabbed one of the excess cloaks, which were sized for Frost Giants until they were equipped, and tied it around Thor''s neck. It didn''t bond to the Lightning Cerro, but it did cover him in a huge fur nket that matched the snow. That would make it easier to sneak up on future enemies, and it was a Commander Rank piece of beast fur, so it would resist some wear and tear without issue.


    Rae took one look at it, then adjusted her body colour to match the cloak andy on top of Thor with a happy buzz of her mandibles. He was like a giant pillow now that he was covered in fur.


    "Now we just need to pick weapons, and we should be good to go. There has to be enough Commander Rank weapons there for all of us."


    Ophelia had already grabbed one, while the others looked dubiously at the assortment of clubs, massive sword and other weapons. If they didn''t adjust to human sized, they would all be useless to them.


    Dana hesitantly picked up a dagger the size of a short sword, and after a moment of concentration, it vanished, then returned at dagger sized in her hand.


    "Oh, that''s a relief. I have no skills with a sword, but I can use a knife well enough." She sighed.


    Karl looked over the pile with his hand on the hilt of the Vampiric Sword. Most of the weapons he got close to produced a repulsion effect, but when he got to the far side, where a massive maul with a blue crystalline head on it was sitting, he nearly got dragged off his feet by the attraction between the two weapons.


    Karl put the sword away and hefted the Maul, which instantly adjusted to be just over two metres tall, andfortably usable with a double dose of giant strength items. That seemed a bit excessive, but when he noticed the stats on the weapon, he decided it might be worth it.


    [Crystal Maul of Resonance] Applies the effect of spells imbued into an attack up to five times when a strikends.

 Chapter 270 Left Behind

    <h4>Chapter 270 Left Behind </h4>


    There were still so many weapons left over that it would be a shame to discard them for the enemy, but none of the ones that remained appealed to any of the group members.


    "Why don''t we have Rae make a fort back in the trees, and we can load the excess into that, so we cane back for itter? We can''t keep carrying everything we find, there is just too much. But we can hide the good stuff and destroy the rest, or bury it here, so whoeveres looking will be convinced that''s all that there was." Lotus suggested.


    "That''s a brilliant idea. Alright, we will have Rae find a good hiding spot for the excess loot, and we will bury the rest, then burn the bodies. We don''t need to fill the entire valley with scavengers looking for a Commander Rank meal." Karl decided.


    With the ming Body Barrier over his folding shovel, it only took a few minutes to dig a hole in the frozen ground deep enough to bury all the excess weapons that were either heavily damaged or just not great quality. Rae took the rest back into the trees an unknown distance and created a cocoon to hide the loot in.


    While she was finishing her work, the team listened to the radio messages. The Artillery Battalion under Commander Dalton had made it safely out of the secondary valley, but were briefly engaged with a Frost Giant scouting unit as they rejoined the main line at the fallback point.


    Casualties were light, and the unit was still mobile, while the Frost Giants had stopped at the mouth of the valley and had begun erecting new fortifications.


    That left the valley scouts taking the hard way out of the hills that they had set up on, but that was to be expected with such a rapid retreat.


    Unfortunately, while they could rejoin the main lines once they got to the west side of the mountains, there were three units trapped well behind the enemy lines. Two were forward observation units, led by Commander Rank Elites, and one was Karl''s team.


    [Team 95988, continue scouting operations where possible. Enemy intelligence from your location is invaluable.] The regional Command Centre informed them.


    Karl confirmed the order and thenughed. "Well, it''s not like we''ve got many options here. Hawk says that nothing is chasing after us from therger valley, but they''ve fortified again between us and the main lines, so we either go the long way around or we follow the river along the border and see what we can find."


    "Do we go behind the main lines, or further away from the battle?" Tessa asked.


    That was a good question.


    "Well, further into the mountains, and we very well could find ourselves cut off and trapped. But behind the main lines will be the supply lines. That many Giants are going to need a lot of food, so we might be able to do some good if we can strike fast and return to a hiding spot." Karl offered.


    Everyone was quiet, thinking about which way they would prefer to go when the radio crackled to life.


    [Team 62345 is under heavy attack by white cloaked Frost Giant Special Forces. Attempting to retreat east toward the border from grid B3 sector 8.]


    Karl checked the map, and that was only a few kilometres to their west, between them and the main lines.


    "Everyone pack up and get ready to move. We will go give them a hand." He instructed.


    Rae quickly rejoined the party, letting Lotus take up her riding position aboard the spider''s back, while Tessa and Dana climbed aboard Thor.


    They ran toward the battle, not worrying about the noise that they were causing, though Karl was running silently thanks to his skill. The noise of the Elites and the Frost Giants in battle was loud enough that they didn''t need Hawk to tell them exactly where they were going, so the scout was instead circling the area, making sure they were the only reinforcements that were going to show up to the party.


    [It looks like it''s just two scout groups fighting it out.] Hawk informed them as Karl got close to the battle.


    [Perfect. Now, it''s time to see what your advanced ming Body can do with the shiny crystal hammer I just got.] Karl replied.


    Charging five spells into it at once took more energy than he had been expecting, but the weapon was primed and ready to go when they entered the clearing, and found that the human team was one High Priest in white robes, and four mages.


    Who had picked thatposition was a mystery to Karl, but it was not a goodbination to fight the Frost Giants.


    All five of the Giants were not only Commander Rank, all five of them were well into the Commander Rank as well. The white cloaks that blended into the storms appeared to mark the mostpetent of warriors, and the Giants were startled to see Karl charging in their livery.


    One of the mages had five blue orbs active, firing magic missiles at a furious rate, a trick that was rather familiar to Karl. One of the mages at the Academy knew that spell, and she had shown it off during the first week they were training Hawk with the mages.


    As he got close, Karl realized it wasn''t just a familiar spell, it was Tori, the Ascended Rank blonde mage from the Senior ss, that was using her signature spell here.


    The magic missiles put the Frost Giants on the defensive, and Karl mmed the Crystal Maul into the closest Giant''s chest. The head of the hammer pulsed five times in rapid session, like the pulse arc welders that they used to fix mining equipment back home, and the enormous monster was thrown clear across the battlefield, to crumple against a tree.


    The sight shocked the humans even more than it did the Frost Giants, and one of the mages had his barrier shattered when he dyed a bit too long. The sound of breaking bones was a sickening one, but a golden glow was already surrounding him as his team''s cleric got to work.


    "Don''t you have Golems?" Dana shouted as she summoned hers to fight the Giants.


    Rae''s were already inbat, and Hawk was sending down a rain of fire from above. It wouldn''t be long before the situation was under control, but it made no sense that they didn''t have any golems out if they didn''t have defensive warriors.


    The cleric pointed to the far side of the group, where two exhausted mages were doing their best to avoid attacks and keep their barriers up. That was enough for Dana to understand that yes, they did have Golem Mages, but the Frost Giants were too smart for that trick, and they had targeted them first, exhausting them and draining their mana.


    [Lightning Next] Remi shouted in Karl''s mind as he approached a wary Frost Giant.


    This time he only put three charges of Chain Lightning in, to test the theory of whether the stunning effect stacked while saving some energy.


    It was harder to hit the Giant with a huge and slow maul, and it wasn''t going to try to take the hit for a chance to counterattack after seeing what happened to its friend, so the first six tries were parried before Karl managed to get a swing up and under the warrior''s guard, only lightly clipping its hip, but enough to activate [Chain Lightning].


    The power arced between the four remaining Giants, which twitched a little, but weren''t slowed any more than one strike had. They were smoking and visibly ckened at the point of contact, so the damage was all there, but the stun effect didn''t appear to be any worse.


    The reprieve was enough for the mages to regain some mana and catch their breath, which allowed them to bring back two more Ascended Rank Golems. That wasn''t going to do much in this fight, as they weren''t enhanced in any way like Dana or Rae''s Golems were, and they were still a Rank below the enemy, but it was a good shield to hold the Frost Giants in ce while the Spider Golems and Hawk''s mes dealt with them.


    Their Cleric enhanced the Golems with a golden Holy Blessing, increasing their armour and attack power to Commander Rank, as was done for regr human soldiers on the line. That gave the ambushed team a bit more of a chance, but the High Priest''s blessing simply wouldn''t have been enough for two Golems to take on five Commander Rank Giants.


    The Giants were quickly dispatched, and the High Priest came over to give Karl a grateful hug that made Lotusugh.


    "Thank you, Commander. We were in real trouble when those five happened upon us at the end of a fight. We have heard much about you and your team of monsters and beauties." The High Priest informed him.


    Karl smiled. "You hear that, Rae? He says you''re a beauty."


    Now Lotus wasughing so hard she was holding her sides, while Rae stood up a little taller and subtly wiped the blue Frost Giant blood off her limbs in the snow. She was still covered in it, blood was sttered on every part of her body, but it was a small improvement.


    The Cleric was obviously confused as to who Rae was, and why he was beingughed at, but at that moment, it really didn''t matter. He was safe, nobody was dead, and the Frost Giant threat was ended for a moment.

 Chapter 271 Tori’s Choices

    <h4>Chapter 271 Tori''s Choices</h4>


    Rae returned to her space, leaving the blood behind, then came back out clean and fluffy. Well, as fluffy as she got, as her fur was rather stiff and not as thick as a furry mammal''s.


    The High Priest smiled as he realized the beast was doing the equivalent of getting dressed up to meet them, and decided formal introductions were in order.


    "I am High Priest George, of the Main Faith. I believe you already know Tori, who is an Ascended Rank senior at the academy, and these are Yuri, Petrov and Ivan." He exined, gesturing to each in order.


    Tori was a blonde, who, even in this cold, was still showing cleavage, while the other three mages were all simr in their skinny and e riddled appearance, as young men at the Ascended Rank. They should be past the youthful e phase, but for them, it had lingered well into their twenties.


    "Karl, Dana, Ophelia, Sister Tessa and Sister Lotus." Karl introduced.


    For a second, Karl thought that Tori looked jealous, but she was in the mirror of his position, the only woman in an all male group, instead of the only man in an all female group.


    Maybe it was the groupposition she was jealous of.


    Hawk came down tond on Dana''s backpack, and the mage gently stroked his head, while Lotus climbed up on Rae''s back.


    Karl looked at the other group, who were still recovering from the battle, and too exhausted to go far.


    "What are your ns? Are you going to head back to the main lines, or are you going to remain out here behind the lines and keep hunting? I know you had a tough break with your position during the fallback order, but with a bit of effort, I''m sure you can dodge the wandering Frost Giant patrols." He asked.


    High Priest George looked at Karl like he was crazy. "You''re nning to stay out here? We''re behind the Frost Giant lines. If we get attacked, there''s nobody else toe help. We didn''t know you were nearby, but the other groups are together on the far side of the line, a whole day''s walk from here."


    Karl nodded. "Yeah, we''ve got things to do out here, and we have been asked to see if we can find out what is causing the change in temperature before we head back. If you have any ideas, that would be great, but the temperature seems to be dropping before the Frost Giants appear, so it has to be some sort of area effect."


    The mages all looked a little traumatized, and Karl knew that they wanted to just go home and not be out here anymore. That may or may not be an option for them, but at the least, he could help them get to the human lines.


    "Why don''t we help escort you south, and then you can make a run across the open ground between the lines? The Frost Giants shouldn''t chase you, and you''ll be back in the safety of the main force." He suggested.


    "And how do you n to get away after you help us get past the main line? They''re not going to just let you walk by." Tori asked.


    Karl smiled, and the mages shuddered a little at the aura of a predator that he gave off.


    "I think that we can handle ourselves long enough to get out of sight."


    The other group shared a concerned look, then shook their heads before High Priest George answered.


    "I think it''s better to merge the groups until there is a better opportunity to rejoin the main force. We will assist with your mission, and the extra numbers should make it safer for everyone."


    Karl wasn''t convinced that was true, the other group didn''t look all thatpetent, but telling them that would probably lead to a bout of severe depression and someone doing something stupid to prove themselves inbat.


    "Alright, wee to the party. What is everyone''s specialty? I recall that Tori uses orbs that fire multiple magic missiles, but what is everyone else good at?" He asked.


    One of the mages, Yuri, Karl thought, gave him a rueful smile. "We''re all Fire Element specialists who know the Golem Spell. In theory, it should be as good as having three warriors with us, but that group just demolished the Golems."


    Dana frowned. "They''re a whole Rank higher than you. Do any of you know [Durable Constructs], or an upgraded barrier spell instead of the basic one?"


    They all shook their heads in shame.


    Karl shrugged. "Alright, I see where the issue is. The Special Forces Team, as you called them, simply outmatched you, even though you had the right basic stats for the mission. We can''t teach you new spells right now, but with three more Golems and three more Fire Spells, we should not have any troubles with future teams."


    Of course, he had a Royal Rank [ming Body] ability of his own, plus Hawk''s fireballs. While the skill was a Rank higher, his own mana output wasn''t quite up to the standard of a Royal Rank mage or beast using it. So, the maximum output was limited, but it had greater pration and mana efficiency than the Commander Rank version had managed.


    "What was that ability that you used to toss a Frost Giant across a clearing?" George asked.


    "Ah, it''s this fancy new hammer I got from some Frost Giants. It can stack an ability on it multiple times. It''s brutal on the mana usage, but when multiple instances hit at once with the force of the maul and my upgraded strength, they fly pretty well."


    Tori looked Karl over. "You don''t look like the sort that got big strength increases from your ss."


    Karl just shrugged, but Danaughed.


    "He didn''t. He''s got two Giant Strength items on, and he could probably body m a Frost Giant without using a skill." She exined.


    "Speaking of which, check those bodies. The Commander Rank giants usually have good stuff on them." Karl added.


    Tessa pointed to the bodies. "And take the cloaks. Not only are they warm, they blend in with the snow, so you aren''t as easy to spot. If things get dangerous, we will bring up a snow storm of our own to hide in."


    Even Thor was wearing one, while Rae and her Golems blended in with the snow on their own. From a hundred metres away, it was difficult to see Karl''s group, even on a clear day with no blowing snow.


    The cloak went well with the white cleric robes that George was wearing, and the four mages quickly got theirs on and put up the hoods to gather a bit of warmth to themselves.


    "We were going to head away from the main lines to attack supply lines and keep the main lines from receiving their food deliveries. Are you ready for that, or should we allow you a bit more time to recover your mana and stamina?" Karl asked.


    George gave them a confused look. "Is regenerating stamina so easy? Once you''re tired, you''re tired. Or do these Sisters know refreshing spells?"


    "Both of them, plus the Lightning Cerro, actually. Thor, can you extend your Lightning over the whole group? They could use the help." Karl replied.


    Thor didn''t really trust strangers, but Karl had asked, so he covered them in Lightning, and then detached it from himself. If the barrier broke, it broke. He wouldn''t use his own energy keeping it active until he trusted these new humans who weren''t part of the pack.


    Thor was usually much more weing, and he liked to bump up against people and beg for attention, so the wariness put Karl on guard. If there was something wrong with this group, he wanted to understand what it was before it got them all in trouble.


    After another minute''s rest, the group was ready to move again, and Karl took the point position with his bow in hand, then sent Hawk to scout.


    [Find us a supply convoy small enough that our group could fight it alone. Just in case.] He directed their scout.


    [Got it. There is one with these pigs, the size of Thor. Do you think they taste good?] Hawk asked.


    [There is only one way to find out.]


    "Alright, we have our target. It''s a small supply convoy bringing boars to the Frost Giants. If we can intercept enough of those, it should destabilize their lines." Karl exined to the neers.


    Tori nodded in understanding, while the others got sour looks, while the High Priest looked a bit defeated. That was strange, attacking supply convoys was a great way to resupply your own group, so most people should want to fight them instead of active military units.

 Chapter 272 Abundant Pork

    <h4>Chapter 272 Abundant Pork </h4>


    Their progress through the woods was slow, as the three male mages were dragging their feet, unwilling to go forward into battle, but not brave enough to say anything. That continued for about five minutes before Karl had enough of it.


    "Look, if you don''t want to go intobat, that''s on you. You don''t have to join our mission. But I''m not going to stand for dragging feet and dawdling. Either you get with the program or you stay behind." He insisted.


    The men of the other group looked shocked and insulted, but Tori might not have noticed, as she was busy talking about magic missiles with Dana.


    She did notice when the group came to a halt, while Karl waited for their answer.


    "As I said, it''s up to you. If you don''t want to be here, then don''t be here. But screwing with the attack schedule so you can ck off isn''t eptable. You''ve got ten seconds to decide before I leave you behind."


    Tori snorted withughter and the rest of the group red at her, then the other three mages promptly sat down, while the High Priest red at them.


    "Understood. Brother George, if you would be so kind as to remain and keep them safe. We wille back to check on you in a few hours." Karl dered, then returned to the front of the group and moved forward at a jog.


    Dana pulled Tori up on Thor with her and Tessa, while Ophelia fell in beside Karl at the front of the group.


    "Are you certain that is wise?" the Berserker asked.


    "It is for us. If they''re too cowardly to fight, and they won''t even walk toward a battle properly, they''re a liability, and it is safer for everyone if they''re here in the middle of nowhere." Karl whispered back.


    The supply convoy was not even staffed by Giants. It was Ice Trolls and Yeti, which enraged Hawk to the point that he was ready tounch the attack on his own. These were all Ascended Rank or lower, but Karl had told him to scout the area and pick targets, not to attack before everyone arrived.


    [We''re about to leave the trees and approach the trail. Once Iunch the first attack, you can join in and prevent them from running away.] Karl instructed Hawk.


    [Finally. What took you so long?]


    Karl went right as they reached the road, while Ophelia and Rae went left, with Thor charging straight up the road, while Tori did her best to hold on to Dana, as she hadn''t learned the trick to remaining seated on the Cerro yet.


    The Ice Trolls saw Thor a few secondster and began to charge.


    That was when Dana grabbed Tori and jumped down from Thor, tucking and rolling, while using the Lightning Barrier to prevent injury. Tessa would ride him into meleebat, but that wasn''t Dana''s style.


    She sent her armoured Golems forward to nk Thor, and Tori began to create orbs around herself in preparation for the battle.


    Karl let the first arrow loose, hitting a Troll at the back of the line. The arrow that had been coated in fire was engulfed in ice for a few seconds after it embedded itself in the Troll''s chest, then the mes began to spread, lighting the creature on fire.


    Trolls had no immunity to fire, and they were quite mmable once you got them lit, especially the Ice Trolls.


    Hawk predictably vented his fury on the Yeti herders, while Remi went straight for the enormous pigs, unwilling to let them get away before she found out what they tasted like. Some thin slices with broadleaf spirit grass seemed like it would be a wonderfulbo to her.


    Karl hit one of the lead Yeti with [Chain Lightning] on an arrow right before Tessa''s mace, coated in Lightning and Holy Light, collided with its face, briefly setting the beast''s fur ame. He hadn''t known her ability could do that, but it was an impressive trick for these mmable monsters.


    The fight onlysted thirty seconds, and Tori had three hovering orbs for her magic missiles in the air when they finished. She seemed both confused and startled as she realized there was nothing left moving. She turned to Dana for answers, but the other Mage wasn''t sure what she wanted.


    "That''s about how it always goes. They''re a rank lower than Karl and the beasts, so they''re not going tost long against their area attacks."


    Tori shook her head. "That level of attack power is just insane. Like those Spider Golems. They just touch things and they fall apart. That can''t be normal."


    Raeughed in Karl''s mind, while Lotusughed from her back.


    "They are affected by the Bloodbath Spider''s [Offensive Adaptation] skill, so the more they fight a target, the more damage they do to them. They''ve been fighting high ranked Ice Element targets for a while now, and they''re naturally higher damage than most Commander Rank skills, even before Rae added the [Durable Constructs] skill to them to increase their armour and attack even more.


    It really is unfair how much damage they do, but there''s only so many of them. If we had like fifty tiny ones, it would be even better." The nature cleric joked.


    Tori shuddered in revulsion at the thought of a battlefield overrun by tiny murderous spiders.


    "Well, it would certainly have a psychological effect." She reluctantly agreed.


    "But what are we going to do with all this? It''s right on the road, and the next patrol will see it in minutes."


    Rae grabbed all the pigs and threw them into Hawk''s space, except one for Remi, while the four Golems worked together to pile the rest of the bodies for Hawk to create a bonfire.


    "They burn really well. In fifteen minutes, they''ll be ash. After that, none of the other patrols will have any idea what happened here." Karl exined as the team worked.


    Then he gestured south. "Let''s go check on the idiots. They likely want an escort back south past the lines by now. I don''t suppose you have any idea what their issue is, do you?"


    Thest bit was directed at Tori, who sighed and nodded.


    "I may have led them on a little to get them to agree to go along on a mission with me. There were supposed to be two mages and one Pdin type warrior, but he pulled a no show and sent another mage in his ce. Then, when the mages figured out that I actually just needed a group for the mission, and they weren''t going to getid, they started pouting and looking for reasons to go home.


    High Priest George has been sick of all of us since about noon on day one, and I suspect that he''s nning to report us all for conduct unbing an Elite when he gets back." She exined.


    Karl''s look made Tori flinch a little. "Look, I know it was a scummy thing to do, but I wanted to fight at the front and get some credits before I graduated. If they had just sucked it up and did the job they agreed to, it would have been fine."


    "Well, we will see if their attitude has improved when we get back. If not, we will have to do something. Either find a safe spot to hide them, or a way to get them back to the main lines. At least you managed to get a few kills in before you had to go back." Karl replied.


    Tori sighed and nodded, not eager to go back to her group, who obviously weren''t going to be wee with a proper group like Karl''s who were here to kill Giants and help the war effort.


    Only, when they got back to the spot where they left the group, they were gone.


    [Hawk, find the idiots and let me know where they are.] Karl ordered.


    [On it boss.]


    Karl checked the snow, and saw three sets of running footsteps headed southeast, toward the secondary valley, and a fourth set moving slower behind them, but probably tracking the mages.


    [They''re still running toward the secondary valley entrance. The cleric is way behind them, but he''s following their footprints. Should I keep tracking them?] Hawk replied.


    [Give us a minute to decide. We might just let them leave and keep their other mage for a bit.] Karl replied.


    All four petsughed at that. Why would they want the useless ones back? Besides, they weren''t even cute or scaly.


    Lotus pointed to a set of symbols drawn in the snow. "That''s clerical shorthand. It says the mages deserted, and he is required to go after them, then what, I think, should mean to watch over Tori."

 Chapter 273 Runaways

    <h4>Chapter 273 Runaways</h4>


    Tori waited impatiently for Karl to finishmunicating with his pets for a few minutes, before she realized that he had forgotten about informing the rest of them about what was going on.


    "Care to fill the rest of us in on the details?" She asked quietly, frustrated, but not eager to insult Karl.


    "Hawk found them and he''s tracking them. I''ve got him eliminating a few groups along their escape path, so they don''t get intercepted before they can make it to the empty valley. After that, they should be fine until they realize that the south pass is barricaded by the Frost Giants, and they''ll have to go over the mountains.


    The cleric will catch up with them soon, he''s pacing himself, and the mages are nearly exhausted again." Karl exined as he listened to the updates from Hawk''s side.


    Tori shook her head in dismay. "What are they thinking? We signed up through the army for a deployment. If theye running back without the rest of their group, they''re going to have to exin what happened. Or maybe they''re expecting us all to die out here behind the lines?"


    The words seemed to cause a revtion as they left her mouth. They were behind the enemy lines. Everything around them could be considered hostile, and nobody would being to help. Hitting the supply lines would provoke a response from the hungry Frost Giants, and there were only six of them now.


    Even if the others were pretty useless, they still wanted to stay alive, and they should fight for that reason alone.


    "They might think that we''re in trouble, but unless they happen to find a scout team that hasn''t retreated yet, they''ll be the ones with issues very soon. It gets incredibly cold in that valley, and they''re going to need shelter. If they''re not smart enough to scout for a cave before dark, they''re in for a rough night, and a fire will attract giants." Karl assured her.


    Tori looked confused. "How do you keep warm, then?"


    Karlughed, and Dana patted her on the shoulder. "We start a fire. Well, a magical one. We''ve got a good night watch schedule, so we''re unlikely to get ambushed."


    "Speaking of ambushed, should we go see if anything has found our present while Hawk takes care of the lost mages?" Lotus suggested.


    "That''s not a bad idea. They should have multiple convoysing down the road, and we can stock up today. I will radio in about the situation, and then we will move back to the road." Karl agreed.


    [Region Command, this is team 95988, we have obtained 1 additional Ascended member from team 62345. Other members of 62345 are headed south through the secondary valley.


    We have eliminated the Special Forces Team, plus one food supply convoy. Positioning for continued hunts.] Karl informed them.


    [Understood 95988. Your increased member count is noted.]


    Tori looked at him. "That''s it?"


    "Yep. They don''t really need to hear all the details, they''ll either get them in the debriefing, or they won''t matter at all. Knowing that we have six people, five of which are Ascended andbat capable, is enough for them to make ns and record our reports.


    Now that they know we''re here and hunting, they will n for the Giants to be short a few convoys, which will lead to some rationing after a week or so of continued attacks." Karl agreed.


    "But you don''t sound like you just want to hit a few convoys. From what I have seen of your team, you intend to keep destroying their supply lines until they go berserk and start sending teams that you can''t fight anymore." Tori pointed out.


    Lotus smiled. "She''s a quick learner. How is Hawk doing with the path clearing for the men?"


    Karl mentally checked in, and found that the High Priest had just caught up to the mages inside the valley, and he was encouraging them to get up and get southwest into the hills before dark.


    "It looks like the High Priest knows what he''s doing. They should be fine. Hawk is on his way back. Let''s get in position near the road so that we aren''t too far away to hit the next group to pass."


    Everyone who couldn''t run fast enough took up their seats on the two mounts, while Karl and Ophelia jogged through the trees.


    [I found another group. Turn left, they''re further than we expected.] Hawk instructed.


    Karl turned at the same time as the two beasts, leaving a confused Ophelia to chase him.


    "The next convoy made it further than expected. They didn''t slow for the fire. We''re going to catch them before we go back for the next one, so that the main force doesn''t get any convoys from this direction today." Karl exined.


    "Got it. How big is the group?" Ophelia asked as they ran.


    "About the same as thest one, but they''ve got some wounded, I think they were attacked by monsters." Karl exined.


    [That means they''re likely missing pigs as well.] Rae noted.


    Hawk did a quick count and gave a mental screech when he realized that the group only had seventeen instead of twenty pigs. Someone stole his pigs.


    Karlughed. [I think the rule is finders keepers. They''re not yours until you find them.]


    [Well, I''ve found them now, and there are three missing.] Hawkined, cing the me directly on the wounded guards that he could see below him.


    Ophelia gave Karl a curious look. "You''re smiling, what''s so funny?"


    "The group got attacked on the way here, and they lost three pigs. Hawk is mad at them for losing his pigs before he got there."


    The Berserker burst intoughter as they ran. "He is a very single-minded individual. That''s alright, we will rescue the rest of them for him. He can stow them in his space and snack on them as he pleases."


    The best part was that Hawk likely wouldn''t even eat them. The pigs were massive, a giant variety, but they were only Awakened Rank for the most part, and Hawk preferred small amounts of energy dense food to keep his growth steady.


    The herd was rushing along, barely paying attention to their surroundings, when Karl''s first arrow struck and Hawk began to bombard them for losing his pigs. The herders were already exhausted from the previous battle they had been in, and couldn''t put up more than a token resistance.


    Thest of the bodies were still twitching when Rae started to strip them of their equipment, bringing efficiency to the cleanup process.


    Ophelia pointed at the pile as she shifted back from her Werebear form to human. "We''ve got two staves if anyone wants them, that seems like a mage and cleric sort of thing."


    Tessa identified them, then tossed them to Tori and Dana. "They are both for reducing spell cost, so it doesn''t matter much who takes which one. They''ve got a lot of added mana on them as well, since they are Ascended Rank staves."


    Tori looked startled as Tessa dug through the leather clothing that the Yeti had been wearing.


    "Nope, all scrap quality. Alright, we can toss this on the pile, and none of the other weapons are magical." She exined.


    The pigs were already in Hawk''s space, so the bird lit fire to the pile of bodies, starting with the trolls. That would hide most of the signs they had been here while they ran up the road to find the next group of supplies.


    Karl had no idea how many groups they were sending a day, but two didn''t seem like enough for all the Frost Giants on the main line. So, Hawk was sent back out to check up the road for the next group.


    Only, there was nothing for the next twenty kilometres. The road was clear, and the pigs weren''t fast enough that they should be further than that.


    He did find the signs of the battle that had imed the missing animals, which were already nearly stripped down by a Warbear and her cubs. Now that he knew what had done it, Hawk wasn''t mad anymore. He instinctively liked the species, and didn''t begrudge them a good meal.


    "Alright, Hawk says there are no more groups nearby. Let''s find a good spot for the night, and get settled in. We can hunt more supply convoys tomorrow." Karl announced.

 Chapter 274 Missing Deliveries

    Chapter 274 Missing Deliveries


    ??Hawk found them another good cave for the night,rge enough to befortable, but small enough to be easily heated with the door blocked by Rae''s silk.


    Tonight, they went one step further, since they were in a snow-covered area, and they had Remi keep a [Blizzard] spell active for half an hour after the entry was covered, obliterating their tracks, and piling snow over the entry points.


    This cave had three, which wasn''t optimal, but they were all small enough that the Frost Giants couldn''t get in. That was the important part, as nobody expected the escorts for the supply convoys to be wandering in the woods and looking for hiding spots where ambushers might be waiting for them.


    Lotus and Tessa started cooking, which got Tori panicked again, but the two clerics onlyughed.


    "Hawk is still out scouting, and Rae is in the tree outside. If there is anythinging for us, we will know. There is no reason not to eat well while we''re out in the field, and it saves us from having to return to refill our rations every ten days.


    In fact, we haven''t touched any of the ones in our packs, so they''re likely frozen solid right now." Tessa exined.


    Tori nodded. "That''s what happened to ours yesterday. Even after the heater stopped working, the food was still almost cold, but not frozen anymore. We even had to get the priest to create water so we could have something to drink, as we couldn''t thaw our canteens."


    "Your other mages had fire magic, why not just get some heat going? Even if you just defrosted everything first, it would have been better." Tessa asked, with a gesture to Karl''s sword, which was currently doing double duty as room heater and hot grill for the cooking pots.


    The blonde mage giggled and shed a suggestive smirk at Karl. "Well, nobody in the other team was packing the same sort of impressive weapon that you''ve kept hidden away."


    Dana and Tessa gave her matching disgusted looks, while Karl chuckled and Tori shook her head with a rueful smile. "Sorry, it''s be a force of habit. My mother always told me, use what you''ve got to get what you need, and I might have gone a little bit overboard with the technique."


    Tessa''s frown faded into a malicious smirk, and sheughed as she tossed cut vegetables into the pot. "Might have gone a bit overboard? You nearly got killed because your group only came along hoping to getid. They didn''t even have any intention of doing their jobs. That''s more than a little overboard. But we won''t hold it against you as long as you are trying to act right.


    Our group has a magical contract to travel together for the next year, and we don''t need drama or infighting. Besides, if you lose the favour of the beasts, you''ll lose the strongest defensive magic that we have right now.


    We''re happy to have extra hands in battle, but the easy girl routine doesn''t make friends with the clergy."


    Tori looked somewhere between mortified and humiliated, and Karl thought that she might actually bolt out of the cave in embarrassment, but after a moment, she began to calm, and wiped a tear from her eyes as she nodded at the War Cleric.


    "I understand. Thank you for keeping me around. You have my word, by the time that we get back to one of the bases, I will have it together. Karl, I apologize for how I am. Dana, I apologize for flirting with your man."


    Now it was Dana''s turn to blush bright red, but she didn''t say anything to refute the usation.


    Lotus put strips of sliced pig meat on a pan, causing a sizzling that distracted everyone.


    "I''m d we got all that out of the way early. Now, the food is almost ready, and then we will set the night watches. I will take the first, who has second?" She asked with an impish grin on her face.


    "I will." Dana agreed.


    "And I will take the third shift." Karl decided.


    That would put him on watch when everyone woke up for breakfast, which was the best time to send Hawk out to start their morning scouting missions.


    Karl got Rae to attach all the hammocks to the cave walls with her silk, and then turned down the mes on the de a little, so the back of the cave would stayfortably warm, but they wouldn''t melt the snow that had built up around the exits after Remi''s blizzard.


    "Hammocks? That''s different." Tori mumbled as they got set up.


    "We didn''t bring an extra, but it''s warmer if you share and zip two sleeping bags together. One goes over you, and one under the hammock. Shared body heat makes for afortable night." Lotus suggested.


    Ophelia nodded happily. "Then you''re with me. I''m the odd one out, and I was nning to sleep in bear form, but we can share."


    Tori was skeptical about the idea, but once it was time for bed and she unequipped her boots to climb into bed, she learned that there was a reason nobody else had volunteered to wee Ophelia by swapping spots.


    Bear was a hugger, and she had the mage thoroughly wrapped up in the arms of a sleeping berserker thirty secondster. Fortunately, she didn''t snore, but there was no way that Tori was escaping without a struggle against the superhuman strength of a berserker.


    Karl woke up briefly when Dana left for her watch, and then again a few hourster when she woke him to take over.


    [Hawk, Rae, have you spotted anything?] Karl asked as his shift came to an end as the sun was about toe up.


    [Nothing, just silence. Even the small animals are gone, the blizzard scared them off.] Rae replied from a small fort in the trees outside.


    [I will go see where the morning food is.] Hawk replied, meaning the supplies that the Frost Giants would be expecting that morning.


    Tessa woke up early to get started on breakfast, carefully sneaking out of her hammock without waking Lotus. Of course, that didn''tst long, as once the small priestess began to get cold without the extra warmth, she was awake as well, but it gave Tessa enough time to get the cooking utensils set out and the oatmeal heating.


    "What''s the word from Hawk?" Tessa asked as she chopped the fruit that Lotus was creating.


    "Nothing so far. They might have taken a different route than yesterday''s targets as well, so Hawk is still scouting." Karl shrugged.


    For another half hour, Hawk searched before he began to get frustrated.


    [They have to be eating something. Where are all the supplies? There aren''t even extra weaponsing down the road.] He ranted as he continued to fly a search pattern over the hills.


    "Hawk can''t find anything. There are no unnatural snowstorms, spots where he can''t see the ground, or other issues, there''s just nothing on the road today, and not on any of the other nearby roads." Karl exined as everyone eagerly awaited a new update.


    Tessa took out her notepad and began to write down math calctions on it, periodically looking off into the distance, as if that would help her remember some fact or figure.


    "How big do you think the average boar we harvested was, by weight?" She asked.


    "About two tonnes, give or take a little. They''re bigger than Thor, and fat." Karl replied.


    She wrote a few more figures, then nodded in satisfaction as she began to add them up.


    "You see, Frost Giants don''t eat as much as humans do,pared to their size. Most Magical Beasts don''t. They use mana instead, so they don''t over hunt their territory. With the rough numbers we are getting from the radio on the main line, my calction is that each of those convoys should have supplied them for two days.


    So, there might not be a shipment today because we took out four days worth of their food supply yesterday." Lotus exined.


    Dana looked excited for a moment, then concerned. "Then what do we do today, and what are the odds that arge groupes looking for them?"


    Karl considered that. "I would say the odds are it will be a scouting group first, not argebat unit. They don''t have any reason to think that there is arge military unit here, so they won''t waste resources. As to what we do today, I say we wait.


    They will send giants looking for their missing dinner, and we can eliminate those as well."

 Chapter 275 Ice Front

    Chapter 275 Ice Front


    ??Everyone rested in the cave for the morning as they listened to the reports from the main lines, which were bing even more dire by the minute. The Frost Giants were not just waiting at their lines, they were working together tounch ice magic, and enchanted boulders at the defenders.


    While it was crude, with the strength of Giants operating the mechanisms, the Frost Giant Catapults were proving to be incredibly effective. The ice boulders exploded on impact, causing every bit as much damage as any artillery round, even against armoured targets.


    The main lines sounded like they were in the midst of a disaster, and at one point Karl was reasonably certain that he heard Jodi''s voice announcing a unit retreat for heavy casualties.


    The line was moving back again, and sometime around mid-afternoon, High Priest George and the remainder of his team were rescued by scouts after being attacked by a Frost Giant patrol. The Cleric was heavily injured, and both teams were airlifted out with unstated casualties in an emergency rescue that couldn''t have been easy that far behind the main line.


    Hawk still hadn''t seen anythinging up the road toward them, and the whole region appeared to be deserted.


    Rae thought the same thing. There was simply nothing left here, and the temperature was dropping fast. Whatever the Frost Giants were doing, it was turning what should have been a tropical area into a frozen wastnd, where none of the native creatures could survive.


    [It''s too cold to fly, even with mes. We need to leave this ce.] Hawk informed them not long after.


    [It''s almost dark. Should we move out immediately, or will you return to the cave, and we will leave in the morning?] Karl asked.


    It took a moment for Hawk to answer, but his decision was firm.


    [There is a ridgeline behind these clouds, and the wind is even colder there. I think that we should move this afternoon and go further east. If we keep staying here, we''re going to freeze.]


    Surprisingly, Remi was with him on that decision. She poked her head out of her space to see what was going on, then promptly returned to her swamp.


    [There is strong shaman magicing.] She announced.


    Well, that was something. If she could sense the magic, then they had their answer to why everything was freezing, just not where the effect wasing from, other than somewhere deeper into the Frost Giant nation.


    "Everyone, pack up, we need to move. There is a wave of ice magicing our way, and it''s not suitable for any living creature, ording to Hawk. That could exin why they''re not sending anyone to look for the missing animals. They don''t expect anything to remain alive after that wave of cold passes over us." Karl exined.


    "Where are we headed?" Lotus asked.


    "The nearest edge of the wave is southeast of here, so we''re going to head that way and hope that we can properly outrun it. If we can''t, we will have to find a cave or make a strong fort to hole up in until it has passed, and the temperature is back to just cold." Karl exined.


    They were getting very well practised with loading their packs, and only the hammocks and sleeping bags hade out, other than the cooking utensils. Within minutes, they were loaded up, and Karl called Thor and Rae to give everyone a ride, while Hawk came down tond on his backpack and warm up.


    [The temperature up high is so cold that the Ice Magic is wearing down my mes.] Hawk exined.


    [I will report it to the others.]


    [Urgent Message for the Command Group and all Mobile Units. This is Team 95988. There is a wave of Ice Magic behind the iing storm, powerful enough to snuff out fire magic barriers.


    We are relocating outside the designated zone to escape the path of the magic, and I rmend that all units unable to reach a secured camp seek immediate shelter, as the storm will be at the main lines within the next two hours.]


    The already chaotic messages over the radio intensified as the Front Line Command Group realized that there was more going on than just a minor cold snap. They began issuing orders and getting troops moved, which Karl was immediately grateful for.


    They could have second guessed him or dyed, but they chose to believe his report and act on it immediately, which should save some lives when the Ice Magic reached the battle.


    The Frost Giants would predictably charge when the cold front moved through, forcing the humans to fight in the magical cold, but at least they wouldn''t be trapped out alone in it.


    Well, most of them wouldn''t. There were still some scouts too far out to reach the lines, and they were reporting their moves to caverns, which they intended to barricade and hide in until the storm had passed.


    The one great downside to Ice Magic was itsck of pration. Unlike Fire Magic, which would try to burn through a solid surface, Ice Magic would coat it and freeze it. So, if you could seal your shelter well enough, the magic would naturally seal it, and you could heat the inside while the surface froze.


    That''s why the Frost Giants would attack during the cold snap. With the humans frozen into their shelters by a wall of ice, they were sitting targets, and could be easily smashed along with their tents and houses.


    Ophelia had to transform into Werebear form to withstand the cold even now, and the others had their cloaks pulled tight around themselves as the beasts began to run through the snow, getting as far away from the iing wave of magic as possible.


    Fortunately, they were already near the edge of the storm, and as they ran, the temperature began to return to the abnormal, but nonmagical cold that they had experienced the first time that they were in the region.


    By the time that it started getting near sunset, they were well away from the storm front, which had already long since passed them, and the temperature was close to freezing again. But they were so far from the front line that they had been deployed to that the radio signal was fading.


    Karl checked the map, and found that there was no repeater listed in the encoded radio station guide. So, he just put the radio on scan, looking for a closer signal.


    It stopped on the first rotation through the channel, and a clear voice came through the speaker, giving instructions for a counterattack. The iing signal level was so strong that they had to be close to the source, but the number of unit movement orders that were being given made it sound like they hade across another section of the line.


    Karl was sure they hadn''te that far, the next portion should be more than a hundred kilometres from their deployment point, but once he mentally calcted their movement, he realized they might only be thirty kilometres from them now.


    He took a moment to ce himself on the map, and then sent in a report to this new Commander.


    [Zone 17, this is team 95988. We have relocated to avoid a magical cold front, cing us in your zone. Be aware, we have tamed beasts with our team.] Karl reported, along with the map code for their location.


    [Wonderful timing 95988. Are you a Commander led team? We have a fire mission that has evaded our scouts near your position. I can offer additional mission rewards if you can eliminate them before dark.] The confident voice replied, along with a map location code.


    Karl checked the map. It would be close, but they were much faster moving than most teams.


    [Understood, we are on it now.]


    He altered their direction toward a mountain, which was the logical spot to spend the night anyhow, as it hadrger trees, as well as a chance of caves. As soon as he did, Ophelia gave him a concerned look.


    "You''re not going to ask what we''re up against?" She asked.


    "They can''t see it, so they couldn''t tell us for certain anyhow. But if they are willing to send one Commander led team, it''s most likely a Special Forces team." Karl replied.


    Hawk took to the sky, looking for their target and revelling in the somewhat warmer air that didn''t make him strain to keep his mes warm.


    [I''ve got them. Twenty Frost Giants, four Commanders that I can see, and ten catapults hidden behind a ridgeline. I can see the army lines too, I think the Giants are firing blind into our troops.] Hawk reported.

 Chapter 276 Need For Speed

    Chapter 276 Need For Speed


    ??With that news, it made perfect sense that the main lines were sending them on an urgent mission to eliminate the Giants before dark, when the boulders would be hidden by the dark until they were almost in the camp.


    What this bit of the line was doing so far forward was a mystery, but if they were doing better than the other main line portion, it was good work on their part that got them to that position.


    "Twenty Giant artillery team with four Commanders leading them. Does the same routine as before work for everyone?" Karl called to the mages riding on Thor''s back.


    Tessa gave him the thumbs up, and Dana nodded, while Tori began to form the magic missile firing orbs that she used as her primary offensive ability. Spreading out the mana cost made the battle much easier on her, and if she had a bunch of them charged when they arrived, she could eliminate a number of the weaker targets right away.


    [Two hundred metres, just over the next ridge.] Hawk reported.


    "Get ready, we''re charging after the ridge." Karl informed the team.


    He took out his bow and prepared to fire while running. The Giants were at the bottom of a hill, which sucked for the defenders, but kept them out of sight of the Golden Dragon Nation scouts. Being uphill allowed Karl to let loose his first arrow just as Thor and Rae began to charge down the slope.


    He wasn''t particrly skilled at shooting and running, but it was possible, and he was still hitting them with [Chain Lightning] while Thor closed on the artillery emcement.


    Tori rolled off his back when they got near the bottom, and Dana stood up to cast her Golems in the Frost Giant ranks before jumping clear of Thor''s back as well.


    Rae and Lotus had vanished into the trees, but the Spider Golems were going for the Commanders already, leaving only Ophelia a few seconds out ofbat when Thor came crashing through the catapults with a happy braying noise.


    [Smashing poles!] He cheered as the Frost Giants roared in frustration.


    Karl closed in, so he could provide support for Ophelia, who was going to need someone to watch her back in a battle this crowded, but he kept his bow out for now. Firing from ten metres away was even more effective than from a hundred metres, even if he was close enough that he could have used his skills through a de.


    Only when the Giants rushed him did he switch to the two-handed de and join Ophelia in closebat.


    Royal Rank [me Body] was making short work of the Ascended members of the group, while Hawk''s fireballs and the Spider Golems kept the Commanders from assisting in the fight.


    [We need more speed.] Raeined as she called another set of Golems to rece the ones that the Frost Giants had almost finished hacking apart.


    Four on two, with a few Ascended Rank assistants trying to pin the constructs down made for an unfair fight, and while they had severely injured all of them, the constructs had only killed the Ascended Rank pair when the Golems first died.


    [Alright, watch this.] Karl agreed.


    2 Points [10 Points for Bnce] [Haste] improves the speed of the target beast by 10 percent per Rank (40 percent at Commander)


    [10 points spent. [Haste] obtained.]


    Karl cast the spell on all three of his pets. The sudden burst of speed from the Spider Golems caught the Frost Giants off guard, and Thor''s next charge nearly tossed Tessa from his back with the force of impact when he collided with an Ascended Frost Giant.


    Karl could hear the sound of breaking bones as the Giant crumpled, right before Thor smashed its face with an [Earthquake] enhanced tail.


    Hawk was blocking ice attacks with his [Wind Shield] so he didn''t have to take away from the mes for his fireballs, and the increased attack speed was the final straw for the Frost Giants.


    All Four Commanders fell within seconds, and the remainder of the Ascended artillery operators were close behind.


    Karl checked the sun, which was just touching the horizon.


    [Command, this is 95988. The Artillery team has been eliminated. I will collect my rewardster.] Karl joked.


    There was a short pause, then a new female voice came over the radio.


    [95988, confirm count of the Artillery team.]


    [20 members total, including 4 Commanders. Ten Frost Giant Catapults were destroyed on location as well.]


    The voice sounded shocked when it spoke next. [Excellent work, Commander. We rmend relocation before dark.]


    [Understood. We will check in at dawn.]


    [It might be easier to say we''re finding a spot than to actually rest in one. There are four other groups of Frost Giants in the area.] Hawk informed Karl as he returned to scouting duty.


    "Hawk reports four more groups in the region right now. We''re going to have to deal with them now if we don''t want to fight them all night." Karl informed the team.


    "Can Rae make us a Fort in a reasonable time after dark, or will we be in the open?" Tori asked.


    "Yeah, she can make a quick fort after the fights." Karl agreed.


    [Just watch me, I''m fast as fuck Boiii.] Rae agreed.


    [Who is teaching you to talk like that? Am I going to have to speak with Lotus?] Karl replied.


    Karl looked toward where they were standing, and Lotus burst intoughter. She was definitely teaching the Bloodbath Spider strange things.


    [The first group ising to you. Tell Thor to bugle, so they don''t miss you.] Hawk instructed.


    Thor didn''t wait and let out a happy nasal bugle, which brought the sound of smashing trees from two different directions.


    [Oh, we got two. Efficient.] Hawk added.


    "I don''t think I need to exin, everyone in position to block a charge by Frost Giants. This way will let us get rid of most of them before it''s fully dark. I can fight just fine in the dark, but I know nobody else can." Karl exined.


    He didn''t know how well the Frost Giants could fight in the dark, but it probably wasn''t any worse than what the mages would be working with, even if he used his de to light the battlefield. Or, one of the clerics could do it. They had light spells, and their weapon and armour enchantments could make a bright golden glow.


    The Giants didn''t hesitate as they charged, but they were scout teams, only one Commander and two Ascended Rank Frost Giants in each group.


    That wasn''t even a warm-up for the Spider Golems, and Tori had stacked up a whole new batch of orbs before they arrived, so she could mass bombard them.


    "Watch your stamina usage. If you''re too exhausted to walk after a battle, it will be a pain. If Thor gets injured, he needs to rest in a separate space, so everyone ends up walking." Karl exined as he saw the barrage of spells chasing after his arrow.


    "Thanks, I will keep it in mind. Did we have more fights tonight?" Tori replied.


    "Two more. Hawk is scouting them now, so we can set up a nice secure camp."


    [Go southeast toward the main lines, over the ridge. There is a group there, and I will get the training group to the North.] Hawk decided.


    Karl led them over the ridge, expecting to find anotherrge group of Frost Giants, but what they came across was a blended unit, with one Commander Rank Frost Giant walking crouched over to look smaller, and ten Yeti wearing Frost Giant cloaks, so they looked like juvenile Giants, not high Ascended Rank elite Yeti warriors.


    Karl was going tounch the attack right away, but Rae decided it was no fun if she didn''t get to taunt Hawk first.


    [Fear not, valiant Hawk, we will avenge you.] She announced in her best grieving tone.


    [What are you talking about? I''m not dying to some stupid trainees.] Hawk retorted.


    [No, we found an entire team of Elite Yeti, dressed up as baby Giants.] Rae informed him.


    [I will make these die right away. Don''t start without me. Two minutes, just give me two minutes.] Hepleaded.


    [We''re starting now.] Rae taunted as she moved into position.


    [Behave, you two. We will save a few for you when you get here.] Karl insisted.


    "It''s Yeti elites dressed as baby Giants. Be prepared, they''re high Ascended or possibly early Commander Rank, and they can use quite a bit of magic." Karl warned.

 Chapter 277 Sneaky Yetis

    Chapter 277 Sneaky Yetis


    ??True to his word, Hawk eliminated the training group in a matter of seconds, and he was already on his way back to take vengeance on the Yetis.


    Karl led the group close enough that he could get a general sense of how powerful the targets were, and found that they might have underestimated the power of the targets. What he had thought were High Ascended Rank Yeti were all Commanders, making this a ten Commander attack force.


    Now that he had added the [Haste] Skill, they would be dealing much more damage for every minute of the fight, but they were still at a disadvantage in both numbers and Rank. [Terrorize] added forty percent damage, and [Haste] gave them forty percent more speed, but that still might not be enough to deal with ten Commanders at once.


    The problem was that as soon as he attacked, those Yetis were going to start casting spells, which would exhaust Thor as he tried to keep everyone''s barriers up. Once the barriers were down, everyone was in trouble, so Thor would have to be pulled back from the front lines to focus on the defence of the Golems.


    What they needed to do was eliminate the targets as fast as possible, before they could do too much damage. It was that, or find a way to ambush the target with Golems and let them fight to destruction, then send more, preferably without being noticed. If they could take down a few targets, it would even the odds enough that Karl would be morefortable fighting.


    "Alright, I have a n. Everyone stay back for now, and I will call when it''s time to join. Rae, hide in the trees out of sight and summon your Golems into the group. Let them fight it out, but don''t let yourself be noticed until I give the signal.


    Once the Golems are fighting, I will start firing arrows from the other side, using [Chain Lightning] to slow them down.


    The goal is to eliminate two or three of them right away, then charge in. Ten Commanders is too much, but if we can take that down to six in an ambush, it will be manageable." Karl exined.


    Tessa pointed up. "You might want to be quick because Hawk isn''t going to wait once he gets back."


    "That''s fine. If they think that this is a monster attack, they won''t be ready for the mages when you approach. Thor, try not to get yourself too engulfed in the fight, the Golems are going to need your Lightning to hold up against the Yeti Ice Magic." Karl added.


    Thor nodded and stomped the ground in annoyance, but he understood the order.


    "Alright, I''m off. Rae, I will attack as soon as the Golems appear."


    Karl rushed to get in position, so their ambush could be sprung before Hawk made it back, while Rae vanished into the woods after grabbing Dana instead of Lotus.


    He activated [Terrorize] in advance, as it would spread to the Golems naturally, and then settled in behind arge bush, where his arrows would be fired without exposing his location.


    The first grunt of warning marked the appearance of the Golems, and the entire patrol turned their backs on Karl, who began firing as fast as super humanly possible.


    Three arrows were in the air at the same time, whistling toward their targets, and all charged with [Chain Lightning], while the Spider Golems leapt intobat with Stone Golems on their backs.


    Commander Rank strength was enough that the burden hardly slowed them down, and the move put all four Golems in closebat just as Karl''s first wave of arrows hit.


    Lightning Arced through the Yeti n, but missed the Frost Giant, who had been just a bit too far forward of the main group.


    But it had better danger sense than the others, and when they had turned right, it had turned left, allowing it to see Karl''s arrows flying, and guess where he was hiding.


    The next three gave away his position for certain, but wounded three more Yetis while keeping the others slowed.


    That was good enough, and Karl whistled, calling Thor like he would an overgrown pup.


    The Cerro began charging across the field, needing time to cover the hundreds of metres, but overhead, Hawk was faster.


    A barrage of fireballs rained down on the Yeti n, ignoring the Frost Giant that was headed for Karl.


    One on one, he was confident that he could win that fight, so destroying the frost armour and eliminating the Ice Bolts of the Yetis were more important priorities.


    Remi brought up a [Blizzard] killing visibility, so the enemy wouldn''t know that Thor wasing, and to confuse them as to why they were taking damage. Using the enemy''s own tricks against them seemed like the best tactic to the Spirit Snake, even if it did annoy Hawk, who thought that the ten metres off the ground that it extended was much too close to where he was flying.


    [Couldn''t you teach her to cast Firestorm instead of Blizzard?] Hawkined.


    [Sure, as soon as we see it, I will have her work on learning it. Just be d that Lotus isn''t using her staff of Water Vortex.]


    Karl spoke too soon. Threerge water funnels, filled with ice shards from attacks and the blizzard, had appeared on the battlefield, making Hawk shriek in rage.


    She was doing it just to mess with him, Hawk was absolutely certain. It was only ten Commanders, they could handle that without all this excess water magic.


    [And teach the Lotus Priestess how to use Lightning.] Hawk added.


    She was a cleric, not a shaman. The chances that she would be able to learn an elemental attack spell on her own were pretty slim. Maybe she could learn the Nature Golems. Those seemed like the sort of thing that a Green Dragon Priestess might be able to learn.


    But once the water vortex spell was active, Lotus had begun to focus on creating binding vines to slow the Yetis, while Tessa cast attack buffs and healed the Golems of the damage they took between Thor''s activations of the Refreshing Lightning barrier.


    As the Frost Giant approached, Karl switched from arrows to his new Maul, and charged fiveyers of [me Body] on it, ready to swat the enemy leader into oblivion.


    The Giant paused when he sensed the power of the weapon, and the Commander Rank Elite in the trees, but only long enough to switch weapons from therge club he was carrying to two smaller swords.


    That would be a problem for Karl, as he still needed to actuallynd a hit on the beast, but Remi was ready with the assist.


    Her Chain Lightning caught the Giant unaware, as it was only watching Karl for signs of a skill activation. That slowed it for a split second as the Maul streaked toward its target.


    The giant crossed its des, stopping the upward swing of the maul towards its tender bits, but Karl simply shoved forward with the strike.


    It wasn''t enough to cause any sort of damage with the weapon itself, but the skills activated on contact.


    The Giant saw the opening and its des shed, striking the barriers over both of Karl''s arms as the maul made contact with the Frost Giant''s lower stomach.


    Bothbatants were knocked to the ground, and Karl was bleeding heavily from his left arm, where the second blow hadnded after the barrier was weakened.


    He brought [Refreshing Lightning] back up as Remi used [Healing Ssh] to close his wound, and the Giant got to its feet, swatting out the smouldering wound in its chest with a handful of snow.


    Now they were both more wary as they circled each other, buying time for reinforcements to reach their position.


    The battle was getting brutal behind them, as the Yeti n realized just how mmable they could be against the targeted vengeance of Hawk''s mes.


    Karl sidestepped a strike and smashed the maul into the Frost Giant''s right hand, sending [Chain Lightning] coursing through its body, which caused it to drop one de.


    The other was quickly discarded, and the Giant went in for the crushing blows, intending to grab Karl and simply rip him into pieces.


    But [ming Body] came to the rescue, coating Karl in fire as the Giant grabbed his chest. It instinctively flinched, and the Maul smashed into its face, charged with fire.


    Bones splintered, and the giant dropped dead, before vanishing into Remi''s swamp.


    There was a small pile of items left where its body was, unable to be transferred, but Karl was more interested in the actual fight.

 Chapter 278 Yeti Uniforms

    Chapter 278 Yeti Uniforms


    ??Lotus was using a [Refresh] spell on Thor to keep his endurance up, while Thor did his best to keep the [Refreshing Lightning] up, and the Golems tore apart the Yeti n to the apaniment of dozens of Magic Missiles.


    Both Dana and Tori were using them, while Ophelia kept the Yetis away from the mages.


    They were winning, and half the n was already down, while the rest bled out onto the snow as they fought. Against [Lacerate] they were not going to win a battle of attrition without healers.


    Onest volley of arrows ended the already wounded Yeti n, and Karl quickly gathered the Frost Giant''s belongings for Tessa to identify.


    "Is everyone alright?" He asked as he ran over to the main fight.


    "We will be in a minute. Bear is still recovering from a couple of wounds, as is Thor. Rae should be good, but everyone burned a lot of mana and energy." Tessa replied.


    Remi''s blizzard was slowly covering the battlefield as Karl searched the bodies for magical items to toss into his trusty loot bag. The yeti corpses all had magical weapons, but no other items on them other than the cloaks that they were using to disguise themselves as Giants.


    That was good enough for Karl, as ten more weapons gave them a chance to either switch, or to turn them inter for credits. The soldiers on the line would appreciate the weapons upgrades, and goodwill from your reinforcements could never be a bad thing.


    Back in middle school, when he was thest one who hadn''t gone through puberty, Karl had one huge friend who looked out for him when he had time. Karl hadn''t thought about Big John for a while, likely not since bing an Elite, but him and John used to study together all the time, and John kept the bullying from getting out of hand when the teachers turned a blind eye.


    John hadn''t been on the train, so he was likely in the mines right now, ving away for the pittance they made at the bottom of the hole.


    The others quickly sorted through the weapons with growing disappointment.


    "It looks like these are uniformly made, perhaps by a mass blessing by a Frost Giant Shaman. They''re all identical, and though the [Biting Edge] enchantment is strong Ice Magic, it doesn''t really grant any benefit other than the ability to cut like a Commander Rank weapon." Tessa exined.


    "Well, I think that will be good enough for the front-line troops. We can drop by and give them the loot tomorrow if we have time. But right now, we need to get ourselves into shelter before we can''t see what we''re doing at all. Hawk, lead the way." Karl replied.


    [There is a good spot not far from here, a small cave, but big enough for everyone to hide inside.] Hawk decided, not wanting to be stuck outside all night again, in case another cold front came through.


    They jogged through the snow-covered hills with a blizzard raging around them, hiding their tracks from anything that might want to follow them and dispersing their scent trail. In this battlefield, it was quickly bing their best ally, and a great safeguard against surprise attacks.


    The fact that there was no surviving local monster poption helped as well. Everything that lived here had run away, and the Frost Giant Army could only send so many troops to cover an entire border.


    The cave turned out to be muchrger than Hawk had thought it was. The front area was small, but behind it, a narrow tunnel led to a muchrger room.


    Out of an abundance of caution, and because they had fallen for that trap once before, the team checked all the walls to ensure that none of them were fake before settling in for the night.


    With the front entrance blocked by silk and snow, and then a hanging cloth in the narrow passage to the second chamber, they were able to keep the rear chamber quitefortably warm without having to turn the ming de up too high.


    Tori smiled as she saw the two clerics setting up to make dinner. "You know, I could get used to this. But I suspect that when we get back to an operating base, I will be reassigned either to my old team or to a new one, depending on where they were sent."


    Lotus nodded as she created spices for the stew.


    "Most likely. They are so short on people that they''re not going to want to let us wander around with an extra Ascended Rank mage, especially not one that is specialized inbat.


    I''m not sure if that''s better or worse than staying with us, though. We''re guaranteed to be in danger just about every single day, so being reassigned to a different group, who is sent to deal with less powerful threats, might be safer." Lotus suggested.


    "Safer than being with Thor, Hawk and Rae? That''s like having three extra Commanders in your group. It might not be perfect, but it''s pretty close to it. Even outnumbered two to one by an all Commander team, we still weren''t in mortal danger, and we only took minor injuries."


    She had a point. A Commander Rank beast who recovered stamina at an abnormal rate was a cheat code when it came to keeping a barrier active over the whole group.


    After a half hour, Remi let the blizzard fade, leaving them snowed in and secure inside their cave. There was no artillery on this section of the front, and the change from the deafening barrage made it feel like they were somehow all alone in the world as they rested in their shared hammocks that night.


    Rae took watch, but she was inside the cave, not interested in going outside, as they were going to have to scout in the morning anyhow, and nothing should be able to find them here overnight.


    Besides, even if the Frost Giants did somehow find their cave, they wouldn''t fit through the entrance, and definitely wouldn''t fit through the tunnel to the second room. She could just call her Spider Golems to attack anything that disturbed their door.


    But nothing did, until the morning radio reports started toe in.


    The main line that they had left behind suffered massive casualties the previous night, but repelled a Frost Giant offensive without losing ground. Thousands of the Frost Giants had been killed after the Shamanistic weather spell had passed overhead, thanks to the ingenuity of the General in charge of the zone. He had the whole front line turned into a minefield with Fire Element magical resources as projectiles.


    The cost was high, but they were hoping to recover many of the crystals and metals from the bodies to be reused in another round of manufacturing, and the explosives had proven to be deadly to even Ascended Rank Giants.


    That left the Commanders and one Royal Rank Frost Giant for the Elites and the Holy magic enhanced infantry to deal with. It hadn''t been easy, but it had been possible, and the General closest to Karl''s cave was reporting that the other position was intact and unmoved.


    Hawk was sent to scout while the humans ate, and quickly started making reports of enemy movements. Most of them didn''t sound like they were intact units, the numbers were all wonky. Three here, seven there, and even some solo Giants were reported to be moving along the border toward what Hawk said was a city far on the horizon, visible only when he flew high enough.


    That would put it at least a hundred kilometres away, directly into the Frost Giant Nation.


    That wasn''t a troop movement that they were going to be able to stop, but they could deal with anything that came too close to them today, with the n to rejoin the main line for the evening and turn over whatever loot they had found.


    The soldiers were going to need it, as the Frost Giants wouldn''t leave anything behind after a raid.


    [Hawk, you can take out lone stragglers and small wounded packs if they can''t attack back. It will make the others think that there are more groups in the area than there are, and it will help keep them away from the lines.] Karl instructed.


    [Got it. Free rein to kill the Evil Ice Giants. Today is going to be a good day.]

 Chapter 279 Hawk Gets The Stragglers

    Chapter 279 Hawk Gets The Stragglers


    ??"What does Hawk say?" Lotus asked as they prepared to move out.


    "He says no easy fights today, he''s going to take care of the lone stragglers, the severely injured and the trainees, but there are plenty of Frost Giants retreating from yesterday''s battle toward one of their cities that will be crossing our path.


    As long as the main force doesn''t pull back to rescue them, we should be fine to hunt at will. Hawk will keep an eye on them for us, but the chances are they will never know that there is an issue until it''s all over." Karl exined.


    Remi''s voice whispered in Karl''s mind, as if she was trying to hide it from the other beasts.


    [We should keep going into Frost Giantnd. I can feel an incredibly strong shaman energy there, and I want it.]


    [Wouldn''t that be a Frost Giant Shaman? What good would a living Giant do you?] Karl asked, considering the fact that the Shaman in question might well be an Overlord Rank monster.


    [No, not a person, a thing. I can feel it.] She insisted.


    [Well, we will see what we can do, but if it''s days away, that''s too far for us to leave our area.]


    Remi pouted as she realized that they wouldn''t be taking a multiple day detour to go find her the thing she could sense, but she didn''t stop working, and kept her blizzard active and low enough not to damage the Ascended Rank or stronger Frost Giants they were hunting.


    If they weren''t hurt, they would think it was just a snow storm, or at least that was the theory.


    The first target they found was a lone Commander, lightly injured. Unfortunately for the Giant, it never even realized that Rae and her Golems were stalking it before it was dead.


    Then came an injured trio, who Karl marked with an arrow before the Spider Golems got to them.


    In fact, for most of the morning, it was the Karl and Rae show, and everyone else was just out for a walk in the snow. Nothing was living long enough to have a proper fight.


    But, it was valuable work. They were eliminating the survivors of the failed attack before they could get to safety or heal themselves and rejoin the fight.


    Around lunch, Hawk came back to take a break while the Giants who had noticed him attacking stragglers either calmed down or gave up on searching for him. They had been chasing him for hours, but the bird had been hiding among the trees to ambush the weak and then racing away.


    At this point, the Giants likely hated Hawk just as much as he despised them, and it felt like an oddly bnced situation as the exhausted bird took a short nap in his space while he recovered his mana and strength with a good meal and some sleep.


    In the middle of the afternoon, after taking a few detours to pick up loot that Hawk''s targets had left behind, they were headed back for the nearest main line, and Thor was again loaded up with equipment, while Karl''s loot bag held the good bits.


    There were a surprising number of nearly identical weapons, which they hadn''t seen during their previous days at the other front, though these Giants had beening from that direction. The change and uniformity of the gear implied that they had been keeping them in reserve for the main line force, to increase their attack capabilities.


    It was a solid tactic, but they had failed to create a breach.


    [Regional Command, this is team 95988, we are headed to your location for a supply drop this evening. Look for the Lightning Cerro as our marker.] Karl broadcast to their allies.


    Remi would drop the blizzard once they were close to visual range of the camp, so they didn''t get themselves bombarded, and then they would walk in from the same area where they took out the artillery team the previous night.


    As they got close to the ridgeline where they had eliminated the artillery team, Karl spotted a five-man team of Elites searching the area.


    [Remi, you can end the blizzard. We''ve found the first scouts.] He instructed.


    As the snow faded, they continued their jogging pace, headed straight for the scout team. Tessa raised a hand from Thor''s back to let them know they were friendly, while Rae remained a bit behind with Dana on her back.


    The Bloodbath Spider had switched riders for the day so that the Golems could all being from one direction, even though that meant leaving her pocket healer behind. She wasn''t big enough to carry them both, or rather she couldn''t carry bothfortably due to her body shape, though she wasrge enough for them both to fit, so she had chosen to only take one rider at a time.


    "Identity?" The scout team asked as they approached.


    "Commander Karl with team 95988."


    The scout smiled and gestured to the wreckage of the battle. "We''ve been finding signs of your work all over the region today. Dead Giants left everywhere, and even arge group of Yetis that looked like they diedst night. Have you been that busy, or is there another team out here?"


    Karl shrugged. "We''ve been busy, but I can''t say for certain that there wasn''t another team out here. I didn''t know that you were here until just a minute ago."


    The scouts finished taking notes on the destruction, then turned back to Karl. "I hear that you''reing back to the base for the evening. Can I ask what you''re short on, so we can get it ready for you?"


    Karl shook his head. "We''re short on storage space. We loot the Giants so that they can''t reuse the equipment of the dead, and we''ve got numerous weapons and magical armour with us. I just need to drop it off for credit, and we will be on our way again."


    "Weapons? We''vee across a few, but most of what the Frost Giants carry is just junk strengthened with their magic when it''s time to fight." The scout replied.


    "We found a number of matching enchanted des today. Here, check that out. Simple, but effective." Karl exined.


    The scout examined the weapon with great interest. It was arge sword for a human, a short sword for a Frost Giant, but surprisingly light, and Karl was right, the enchantment was basic, just enough to make it cut as if it were a Commander Rank weapon.


    It was the sort of thing that the army would issue to line soldiers if they had the ability to make them inrge numbers.


    "How many of these did you recover? Because we could use these for the warriors of the scout teams." The soldier asked, eager intensity growing in his eyes as he imagined the possibilities.


    Karl turned to Lotus, who was sitting closest to the bags on Thor''s back.


    "Um, about thirty, I guess? There''s a bunch of other gear in here, and I lost count." The Nature Priestess apologized.


    Identical items normally wouldn''t equip for the same person, so keeping a spare set of Giant Strength Gloves or wearing two sets, one inside the other, simply didn''t work. That had led to them loading a lot of gear into the storage bags on Thor''s back now that they all had a copy of what the Giants had to offer.


    At least the parts of it that they could use. Dana was somewhat disappointed to learn that she couldn''t use the Ring of Giant Strength.


    The Giants also weren''t very creative with their gear, and it was just the same thing in different appearances on every Frost Giant that happened to have a magical item. If they were trying to improve their own gear, Karl would have felt like he got scammed. However, as they could keep trading it in until every Elite they met had Frost Giant gear on, it was a great money making opportunity for them.


    The scout shook his head in dismay. "You lot are monsters. We haven''t even killed thirty Commanders this week, and here you are bringing us back thirty Commander Rank swords for the day."


    Lotus giggled. "Technically, a bunch of these came fromst night, when we came here to avoid that cold front that moved through the other main line. We weren''t about to get caught out in that, so we came here and took care of that artillery group by special request right before dark."


    The scout made notes, and then gestured toward the south. "We should get moving if you want to get your gear sorted in time to pick a camping spot outside the main line tonight. You know how it is, if you''re there when the attack starts, you tend to get stuck on the main line."

 Chapter 280 Loot Drop

    Chapter 280 Loot Drop


    ??The camp''s patrols let them through without questions when they saw the scout team leading Karl''s white cloaked menagerie toward the base. The first thought of everyone that they passed was that this was an extreme Church Guard unit, thanks to their bright white outeryer, which they had pilfered from the Frost Giants to blend in with the snow.


    But once they saw who was underneath, they were simply confused. Those didn''t look like church guards, and the rest of their armour wasn''t covered in white. Nor did they have any sort of church insignia on them, except for the two Clerics, one in green and one in red, under their white cloaks.


    Karl shouldered the bags of loot and let Thor take a break in his space, in case they encountered a fight on their way to their sleeping spot tonight. The bags were nearly dragging on the ground as they hung from Karl''s shoulders, a sign that they might have gone a bit overboard with their loot hoarding. The fact he had to turn sideways to get between some of the tents was another solid hint, but nobody was too worried about it, as long as the contents of those bags were for them.


    To the soldiers, it looked like they had gotten an unexpected supply run. They had no way of knowing that it was just a bunch of hoarders assembled into an Elite team.


    The General, a Royal Rank warrior with arge shield strapped to his back and an axe at his hip, strolled out of his tent to meet them, then did a double take as he saw the bags on Karl''s shoulders.


    Karl greeted the steel-eyed warrior. "General, my apologies for the strange appearance. We had the Lightning Cerro carrying the loot, but he wouldn''t easily fit through the camp."


    "Not a problem at all. The scouts informed us that you had collected some gear from the Giants that we should be aware of, but we didn''t expect that it would be so much." He replied with a smile that said he had just made a new friend in Karl.


    Anyone who brought that much loot back for his soldiers without being asked, and while fighting their way through the enemy lines, had to be at least a half decent person, in his mind.


    "Yes, check these out." Karl replied, before removing all the identical swords from the bag.


    Not identical in appearance, that actually varied wildly between weapons, but the enchantments on them were all exactly the same.


    It only took a second for the General to realize that as well.


    "Interesting. We have known for a while that the Giants aren''t big on variety, but I think you might have just found proof that they''re using a very limited and precise magical tool to do all their enchanting. It may only be capable of a few different abilities, and that is why we see all the frost giants with rings and bracelets of Giant Strength, and then the rest of their gear is usually only magical because it is made of magical beast hides." The General pondered.


    "Not only that, but it''s also proof that they can make a lot of it. We have thirty identical weapons taken from the survivors of one assault, all Commander Rank swords. That will be useful for your troops, but it suggests that you might soon be facing them from the other side as well.


    Not all of these were taken from Commander Rank enemies, some of them were on the higher side of Ascended." Karl exined.


    "That''s not good at all. The reason Ascended Elites can so easily go two on one against a Frost Giant of the same rank is because it can''t quickly get through their barriers. But weapons like this wouldn''t have the same problem.


    How did you deal with it? I see that your mage is still Ascended." The General replied.


    "The Commander Rank Lightning Cerro has the ability to spread his barrier to everyone in the group. Between that and the Circle of Protection, we don''t have too many issues."


    The General nodded. "You have a solid group. I''m not certain what we are going to do aboutrge numbers of those swords showing up in the next charge, but we will be able to make good use of the ones you brought us.


    As you have likely already noticed, despite your status as a student, Commander rank gear is hard to find. There might be a piece or two at every depot, but that''s about it. When we''re fighting against dozens of Commander Rank Frost Giants at a time, every weapon counts.


    The mages can bring up barriers for us, and the Priests can issue blessings, but nothing truly reces a good weapon."


    Karl smiled as he gestured to the bag. "Those aren''t the only weapons in there, it was just noteworthy that they were all identical. There are a number of Giant Strength items in there as well, and some Commander Rank and Ascended Rank armour.


    We grabbed everything that looked decent and wasn''t destroyed in battle.


    Now, on to the important parts that I couldn''t put in a radio broadcast. The survivors of the battle at the other front line are headed for a Frost Giant city off in that direction, but the wave of intense Ice Magic that attacked the other line came from further that way, deep within their borders.


    It wasn''t cast close to the border, we were already in their territory when we felt iting on the horizon."


    The General hummed as he considered the new information.


    "I think I might know where it ising from. There is a Crystal Mountain, a massive block of pure ice, that keeps their nation frozen, right at the centre of the Frost Giants'' territory.


    The area it could keep cold was always the limits of their borders, but now, I have reason to believe they found a way to ess and enhance it.


    That''s not official, by the way, just this Elite''s thoughts on the matter. But I''ve been inbat for ten straight years now, and I''ve seen some things.


    The problem is that we don''t have any more information about it than some old drone footage and a team who saw it once a few years ago. Until someone actually goes there, we can''t know for certain, but it would be suicidal to ask anyone to actually do it, and we can''t spare the Elites who would have a chance of survival."


    Karl chuckled. "Well, I know it''s not going to be me unless I''m taking your army with me."


    The Generalughed. "It would have to be an Overlord. That''s the onlybat force we have that could logically survive both the intense cold, and the powerful Frost Giants who patrol the region around their sacred mountain.


    Notice that you haven''t seen any of their Monarch Rank Giants? Or even any of their Royal Rank Giants on this front? They''re all still guarding the holy sites, ording to military intelligence. So, we deal with the soldiers, while their Generals stand back from the fight."


    The General gave a rueful chuckle, as his rank hadn''t saved him from a front-line posting. They needed the fighters, and he was a soldier through and through.


    "I know it''s outside our deployed area, but ns change in the field, so if there is somewhere that you need us to be, we can render some aid tomorrow before anyoneins that we''re out of position." Karl suggested.


    The General gestured back into his tent. "There are some spots, but don''t worry about your position, I will have your status updated to roaming forward scouts, so you can be anywhere along the border that suits you.


    If you''re going to collect weapons like this every day, I don''t think they would even care where you got them from, we need them that badly. Especially Commander Rank des and Giant Strength rings. Those can be used by almost every warrior ss."


    Then he led them inside and stepped to the far side of a table with a collection of stones set on top of the map.


    "I know it looks sketchy, but it''s the easiest way to update troop movements, and if there is a chance that the camp will be overrun, the first thing we do is knock it over. It means we have to restart our map cementster, but it also means that the enemy won''t be able to use the map to track our troops." He exined.


    Karl nodded. "We''re familiar with the trick. And the fact that most officers don''t put all the assets on the map. We got a rather shocking wake-up call when wended here and saw the discrepancy."


    The General smiled sadly. "See, that''s an executive level issue. They always think we''re overstating the situation in the field. Perhaps it''s hard to hear with their heads that far up their arse."

 Chapter 281 Hunt For the Relic

    Chapter 281 Hunt For the Relic


    ??The General tapped a spot on the map, further from Golden Dragon Nation territory, and almost directly in front of this offensive line.


    "That is the target I would like for you to inspect. It''s too far to move the main line, as being that far forward would let them sneak behind us. But I think there is something there. A relic, or some other powerful magic.


    The Giants keep moving past that point, and our scouts suspect that they are gaining some benefit from it, but they haven''t been able to get close enough to verify. We''re not the priority line, just the B team Elites with a bit of artillery on a quiet mountain pass, so we don''t have Commanders to spare for scouting teams." He exined.


    Tessa smirked as she got some sort of Divine Inspiration that made her eyes glow red.


    "Well, for a day at least, you''ve got us. We''ve only got one proper Commander with us, but we''ve got three Commander Rank beasts as well, and that makes the fights a bit more even." She announced.


    "If the War Dragon thinks it''s a good idea, then we really have to go see what they''re hiding out there. For all we know, it could be a massive weapons bunker. Or it could be a simple shrine to some Ice Goddess, but either way, we will take a look for you in the morning and report back." Karl agreed.


    "I appreciate it. Have you picked a spot near camp? I know better than to ask you if you need a tent." The General chuckled.


    "Yeah, the big trees to your east will do for the evening. We usually set up in one of the trees." Karl exined.


    "Why in the trees?" The General asked.


    [Because I am the thing that goes bump in the night.] Rae answered in Karl''s mind.


    [To engulf the silly bird in Blizzard.] Remi added.


    [For better... you brat, I knew you were making the air evil on purpose.] Hawkined.


    Karl smiled as he listened to their answers. "Many reasons, but mostly it''s morefortable to be there than on the ground, and there are fewer tree climbing enemies than walking ones."


    The General nodded in agreement. He might not know a technique to make sleeping in a treefortable, but if Karl did, that was fine by him. The Elites never wanted to stay in camp unless they were office sorts or out of supplies, so he wasn''t going to get offended that they wanted to sleep nearby.


    "Alright, happy hunting, and I will expect your reports tomorrow when you leave the location." The General insisted, dismissing them to get back to work.


    Rae made them a nice fort in the trees, while Hawk kept a close eye on Remi, to ensure she wasn''t sneakily casting a minor blizzard spell to keep the blowing snow active around their camp. Blizzard snake was definitely untrustworthy, she must have been learning bad habits from the Frost Giants.


    The worst part was, he couldn''t even throw things at her because she was just a stupid snake, and she would probably eat it. If he made her sick, Karl would be mad.


    The next morning, they packed up camp, leaving the double walled fort which had served them well for the evening, and began to make their way toward the spot that the General had marked on the map.


    ording to Hawk''s scouting, it was hidden within a valley full of blowing snow, where he couldn''t see the ground from above, and he wasn''t going to fly down into it, in case the winds were strong enough to keep him from flying.


    He was powerful, but his feathers were rather delicate, and once they were pushed out of ce by extreme winds in the wrong direction, he would be forced tond.


    "Hawk says that the snow is blowing too hard to see down in to the valley, so we are essentially going in blind. I will have to call him in or have him sit on someone''s pack when we enter, as the high winds will cause issues with flight.


    Actually, we might have to tie Dana and Lotus to Thor and Rae, or they might blow away as well." Karl joked.


    Well, it was intended to be a joke, but when they got to the edge of the valley and felt the raging winds, it started to sound like a more practical idea.


    They waited in the trees near the ridge line while they tried to make a decision, and watched as a group of Frost Giants left the area, headed to the other front.


    Then, a half hourter, another group went the same way.


    "Hey, don''t you think there is something odd about those Giants?" Lotus asked as she watched the second group.


    Karl inspected them more closely. "One Commander, Nine Ascended. Standard group formation, the usual assortment of weapons, des with a few axes."


    Lotus shook her head. "No, that''s not it, let''s wait here for another group. Memorize this group as well as you can, and I think it will make sense."


    Karl did, and then they waited half an hour for another group toe out.


    "One Commander, nine Ascended, an assortment of weapons. The same assortment of weapons. Same outfits as well. We must have never noticed because the groups mixter, but those groups are identical." Karl gasped.


    "Exactly. That''s why we were getting so many of the same swords. Not because there''s some obsessive Frost Giant cksmith, but because the groups are being cloned."


    Tessa''s eyes glowed red again, and Karl smiled at the War Cleric. "We''re going down soon, we won''t let your Goddess down. The group has just gone, so we should be alright to head in and start searching now. If they could spit out a group every few minutes, the border would have been long since overrun."


    Karl led the group into the blowing snow, down the ridge and into the bottom of the valley. They could only see a few metres in front of themselves, so unless they stumbled across a group identally, nothing would be hunting them.


    Theck of visibility, even with thermal vision, made it seem like an impossible task, but once they were close to the valley floor, the storm ended, raging above their heads and revealing an entire valley full of Frost Giants.


    There were hundreds of them in the area, standing around a pulsing blue pir of crystal.


    [Yes! I need the good thing. Put that shiny stone in my swamp.] Remi insisted.


    [First we need to get there, and get rid of the Giants.] Karlughed.


    The groups here were the same as thest two they had watched leave. Nine Ascended for every Commander, and now that Karl could see them side by side, identical faces on the Commanders, but with different patterns painted to obscure their features.


    How that had escaped everyone was a mystery, but nobody really tried to memorize Frost Giant faces.


    "Oh look, a weing party." Tori sighed as the Frost Giants began to turn toward the interlopers.


    Tessa nodded. "Well, let''s not let them down. If anyone has a hidden secret skill, now would be the time to show it off."


    Karl quickly checked his points. 21 left. He had a variety of options avable from his skill tree, he just had to make a choice.


    -----------------------


    [Bnce Skills]


    50 Points [Evolution] Cause any bonded pet to evolve into a form one Rank Higher than when the skill is used. Usable once per beast, some materials may be required.


    [Skill Master Rank 3 Avable] 100 Points. Allows all skills to evolve to a skill one tier higher than their current tier with practice.


    -----------------------


    [Tier 2 Skills]


    10 Points [Brutality] increases the size and strength of the target beast by 10 percent per Rank (40 percent for Commander)


    10 Points [Barrier] Creates a barrier around the Beast Master or selected target at the Beast Master''s current Rank.


    10 Points [Bestial Regeneration] Greatly increases the target''s healing factor.


    10 Points [Refresh] Eliminates fatigue for 10 minutes per Rank. (40 minutes at Commander)


    ------------------------


    [Tier 3 Skills] [Will be passively activate on Beast Master and all active Beasts]


    20 Points [Shatter] physical strikes cause vibrations through the opponent''s body that damage organs and may break bones.


    20 Points [Sharpness] shing, Stabbing and Disintegration type abilities increase in damage by 10 percent per Rank. (40 percent at Commander)


    20 Points [Crushing Blows] Blunt impact skills increase in damage by 10 percent per Rank. (Effective on damage caused by Shatter). (40 percent at Commander)


    -------------------------


    Karl looked at the skills for a moment, and then the abundance of targets in front of them. There were definitely a few options there which would work out well for him today.

 Chapter 282 Snowed In Valley

    <h4>Chapter 282 Snowed In Valley </h4>


    "Sorry, Thor. The next one will be for you." Karl apologized as he made his choice.


    20 Points [Sharpness] shing, Stabbing and Disintegration type abilities increase in damage by 10 percent per Rank. (40 percent at Commander)


    [Sharpness learned.]


    [Rend] and [Shred] were both shing type skills, as was [Lacerate]. Unfortunately, [Chain Lightning] was not a disintegration ability, but he would take what he could get.


    Once Haste and Terrorize were activated on everyone, and the Spider Golems were summoned, they were ready to face the Frost Giant charge.


    "Back into the snow storm." Karl ordered, intending to limit the enemy''s line of sight.


    Lotus yelled back. "No, don''t. They''re using their magic to keep it active, and it will deal damage now that they know there are enemies here."


    So, they were trapped under the storm, unless they could march up out of the valley through hundreds of metres of Commander Rank [Blizzard] and blinding snow while under attack.


    The Frost Giants were charging, so Karl strapped hisrge sword to his pack for the bonus energy steal, then sent out a flurry of arrows charged with [Chain Lightning] to slow them down.


    With the benefits of [Sharpness] and [Terrorize] the arrows were punching holes clean through the Ascended Rank Giants when they hit bare flesh, and the lightning was doing its job, scorching flesh and slowing their movements to give the Spider Golems time to shine.


    The two bone-white wooden constructsunched themselves into the Frost Giant ranks, and true to Rae''s name, a rain of blood and body parts was the result.


    With nearly twice the damagepared to a regr Commander Rank Golem that had the [Durable Constructs] bonus, and forty percent increased speed, they were eight legged whirlwinds of death through the Ascended Rank targets.


    The Mages unleashed their spells on the Commanders, quickly grasping what the Spider Golems were after. They were eliminating the overwhelming numbers, while leaving everyone else to deal with the stronger targets.


    Karl led the group forward, away from the storm, so they weren''t ambushed from behind out of the snow, and turned his arrows on therger Frost Giants.


    Thor''s Circle of Protection red around them as the ice shard attacks came back in return. Their lightning barriers were holding, and while the Lightning Cerro was at the front, he wasn''t actively fighting, he was just focusing on maintaining their defences while the Golems did all the closebat work.


    "It''s a good thing that you don''t need arrows." Tori panted as she created more Magic Missile orbs.


    The refreshing abilities of Thor helped, but she was burning mana quickly to keep up her damage rate against the Giants one Rank higher than she was.


    "Cut back the individual power of your spells, we''re going to be at this a while, and we can''t have you exhausted." Karl reminded her.


    Dana had already done that, and was relying on multiple hits to cause serious injuries, instead of putting extra effort into individual spells.


    Hawk was on Thor''s back, using [Rend] in wide arcs to damage anything that got near them. It wasn''t Royal Rank, but it was the easiest spell on his energy, and he could keep these attacks up all day. They still cut deep into the Frost Giants, and for a moment, he envied Rae''s Lacerate ability.


    If Rend made them bleed like that, it would be so much better.


    Rae was staying close to the group, targeting Giants who made it past the first line of defenders, or who were giving Dana''s Stone Golems trouble, and the ground everywhere around them was bing soaked in cold blue Frost Giant blood as Karl slowly pushed the group forward toward the massive crystal.


    Rae''s [Spear] spell, gained from the Naga Swamp, wasn''t as devastating as some of her other abilities, but the small spikes peppered the Frost Giants and left dozens of heavily bleeding wounds. Thebination with Lacerate was proving to be quite impressive.


    Karl could see that there was a spell active at the base of the crystal, and the goal was to make it stop. It had to be the spell that was summoning more Frost Giants, and while it was slowly fading as their numbers decreased, they couldn''t afford to retreat until it was gone.


    Ophelia pointed to a spot to their right, and Karl adjusted the group''s movement to go see what it was.


    The Werebear berserker ducked down and pulled a book from the corpse of a Frost Giant woman that didn''t match the clones, before tossing the tome to Karl. It looked like a spellbook of some sort, not a skill book, but it might be useful to Remi if the dead Giant was a Shaman.


    If not, he would just hold on to it for their Berserker Bear.


    Rae hissed in pleasure as she summoned a fresh group of Spider Golems, which appearedrger than Karl remembered them.


    "Did she just upgrade her Golems?" Lotus asked.


    "I think so. The same skill that allowed Hawk to improve Fire Body is active on everyone." Karl called back as he continued to fire arrows. His arms were getting sore, even with the refreshing effect, and he was mentally exhausted from the [Chain Lightning] which he was only using now when there was a cluster of targets.


    An arrow caught an unfortunate Ascended Rank Frost Giant in the face, then hit the inside of his helmet, throwing the body backward into a Commander, who red at Karl with pure murder in its eyes.


    Tessa wasughing, and glowing with red light as she cast some sort of area buff on everyone. This was the sort of War that her patron deity craved. Pure controlled violence, crushing an enemy position with absolute, overwhelming power.


    Every Dragon Priestess knew the ways of the dragon species. Might makes right.


    They all had their own ways of doing things, though the Dragons made at least some effort to work together and keep society functioning. But when it came down to conflict, the strongest were the only ones with the right to speak.


    Tessa''s spellpleted, and the Golems, as well as Karl''s arrows, were coated in ayer of red energy that caused the Frost Giants to boil and explode after being injured. Karl had no idea what to call that Divine Blessing, but it was the most wonderful thing he could think of at this moment, as the entire valley of Frost Giants was headed their way.


    Karl switched to simply coating his arrows with fire from [ming Body] and letting them loose into the charging Giants. With Tessa''s Blessing active, the wounds began to boil, and even a hit to the leg would be fatal.


    They were getting closer to the spell on the ground, and the ring of Frost Giants, who were focusing all their attention on it.


    [There''s a weird little crystal in the middle of the circle.] Remi noticed once they were ten metres away, with a wall of Commander Rank Giants between them and the spell.


    [How lucky are you feeling?] Karl asked the Spirit Snake.


    [Pretty lucky. You''re totally going to get me that big stone after we finish.] She replied.


    [Then grab this next Giant by the ankle, and I will send you to the circle to recover the little crystal. Once you have it, return directly to your space before they mince you into sushi rolls.] Karl instructed.


    Karl switched to his maul, and Remi moved to his leg, prepared to strike when he got close.


    Karl leapt into meleebat and kicked his leg forward, tossing Remi onto his target giant, who raised a shield to block the strike of the oversized hammer, but was blown backward by fiveyers of [ming Body] on the blunt weapon.


    He flew right over the spell circle, even over the casters, who ducked to avoid a collision. As she passed over, Remi dropped from his body and swallowed the strange object whole before returning to her space and spitting it out.


    The storm overhead instantly stopped, leaving the battlefield in an eerie silence.


    "I don''t think we should have done that." Ophelia muttered as the huge blue stone in the middle of the valley began to pulse more violently, making the ground shake.


    "I think you''re right. Everyone, get on a ride, we''re leaving." Karl ordered, grabbing Dana as he ran past the mage. Lotus climbed on Rae, while the Stone Golems grabbed Tori and Tessa.


    Thor tried not tough as he chased everyone out of the valley. This was a great game. They ran in, pped the Frost Giants in the face, and now they ran away before they got pped back.


    Hawk fired back into the Giants chasing them, while the Spider Golems did their best to stop the tide and keep them in the valley. Now that the storm was gone, the bird took to the air, bombarding the enemy with abination of Rend and fireballs.


    [Run faster, that stone is starting to crack.] He warned, when the group was only two thirds of the way up the valley ridge.


    The Giants had fallen well behind them, thanks to the defensive efforts of the Spider Golems, but Hawk was right, that glowing stone was making the snow glow bright blue with the intensity of the mana surges it was experiencing.


    Remi did her best to hide her despair. That was supposed to be her prize, but now it was going to blow up, and she was left with just a cute little crystal statue of a fatdy. At least it had strong Shaman Magic on it, so she could keep it in her swamp and bask in the power.

 Chapter 283 Close Call

    <h4>Chapter 283 Close Call</h4>


    A st of Ice Magic washed over them, shattering Thor''s [Refreshing Lightning] and dealing mming into those caught in its path. Rae summoned her Spider Golems closer to protect Ophelia and Karl, only to watch the outeryers of them being shredded by the violent magic before she made it over the ridge and behind a huge boulder to hide.


    The Stone Golems were shattered to dust, and the barriers over everyone shattered as Thor was hurled through the air, leaving a trail of damaged scales before he chose to return to his space.


    Karl felt his bones creak and vainly clutched at Dana as the magic sent him flying after tearing through the Spider Golem, but it didn''t feel like anything broke. He would be soreter, but his armour held. He lost his grip on Dana, but hopefully, she would be alright with both him and the Golem as a shield against the initial st.


    When the st had spread from the stone, Hawk had returned to hide in his space, avoiding any injury, but the Frost Giants weren''t so lucky. Most of them were still gathered around the stone, trying to stabilize it when it had exploded.


    The st sent a bright blue mushroom cloud up into the sky, dwarfing any mountain range. That would be visible from a thousand kilometres away, all along the front lines, as well as in the Frost Giant nation.


    "Check in, is everyone alright?" Karl called as he got back to his feet.


    Thor made an unhappy noise from in his space, then brought the barrier back up over everyone, while the others all groaned in pain. The Refreshing Lightning, and Remi''s Healing Ssh, which she was throwing out at everyone now, were precisely what everyone needed, but it sounded like there were worse injuries than those two spells could easily deal with.


    Lotus cast her area healing spell over the group, and Karl heard Tessa curse as she reset her own broken arm so it would heal properly, before going to help the mages, who were in even worse pain, despite the numbing effect of the healing spell.


    Karl justy in the snow for a few minutes, catching his breath as the healing spell took its course, and the pain from his joints began to fade.


    Looking over, there was some blood on Ophelia''s fur, but nothing major, as the Spider Golems had taken the worst of the st. It was the spell casters who needed the most help, and the clerics were both busy with the task.


    After fifteen minutes, everyone was back on their feet with a golden glow surrounding them as the clerics worked together to cast a spell to repair their armour. It was a form of nature magic called [Mend], quite useful if the gear wasn''tpletely destroyed. They hadn''t had to use it before, but it was considered one of the basics for a wandering Nature Priestess or a War Priestess.


    Especially a Red Dragon Priestess who worked with orphans. They needed all the mending spells they could get, so the children didn''t destroy the few clothes they had.


    "Excellent. Job done, no casualties. I say we go back to the Front Line and take a few days to rest and recover." Karl decided.


    Lotus raised a weary hand. "I vote we do anything but that. Do you have any idea how many questions there will be about whatever that was? I''ve never seen an explosion like that, and everyone would have seen and felt that."


    From a few metres away from Karl, Dana nodded. "She has a point. I say we radio in and tell them we''re not dead, then hide in the hills somewhere for like two weeks."


    She grabbed the radio from Karl''s chest pocked and frowned. "It''s smoking."


    Karl doused it with snow, stopping the smoke, then flicked it off and on again. There were no lights, no sound on any channel, nothing.


    "The radio is fried. Can someone get the emergency phone out of my pack?" Karl asked.


    Dana unbuttoned the side pouch, and took out the small emergency phone.


    Karl hit the button for a dial tone, and got nothing. No lights on that either, though it wasn''t smoking.


    "Emergency phone is dead as well." He sighed.


    The barrier,bined with Lotus'' area healing spell, had already repaired the damage to the group, but it couldn''t fix theirmunications gear.


    "Well, maybe if we go find a scout team, we can tell them that we''re not dead? That should be enough to ensure that they don''t make our families cry." Ophelia suggested.


    Tori looked shocked, as if she had forgotten that was a possibility. If they were presumed dead, they would be added to the war casualty rolls, and their families would receive a death benefit from the government based on theirst recorded Rank.


    Since they were all young, or clerics, it would go to their parents, not a spouse, but that was still bad enough.


    [Hawk, can you go find us a scout team?]


    Hawk left his space and flew out in search of a scout team for them to meet up with, out of sight of the main line. That way they could hold the meeting, then disappear into the battlefield without anyone interfering.


    That didn''t take long, as there were dozens of scoutsing their way from all along the front line, even a few two-person teams running their way from the other portions of the front line. Only the ones closest to them would be likely to suspect that there was someone from the Elites here already, but they would all need to confirm what the situation was, and if you couldn''t see it, the sight would be very concerning.


    They weren''t at the front lines, but they weren''t that far from it, so the other lines wouldn''t be able to tell that the line here hadn''t just suffered a catastrophe.


    Karl turned the group to the closest group of scouts, and saw that there were others running toward them. They were the first on the scene, so they might have more information than the others who hadn''t reached the site yet.


    "Commander, was your group close when that happened? Is everyone alright?" The leader of the first scout team they reached asked.


    "Indeed we were. We were tasked to scout the crater valley, and it turned into an all-out battle with the Frost Giants. Somewhere along the way, arge glowing stone got destabilized, and its destruction was what everyone saw." Karl exined.


    "Perfect. I will send a runner back to the line to report."


    Karl gave him a confused look. "Just radio it in."


    The scout shook his head. "The explosion knocked out every radio in the base. We had nomunication when our team was dispatched. They should have some fixed soon, I heard something about blown fuses, but I don''t have a working radio."


    "Same here. Even my emergency phone is fried. We were still in the crater when the explosion happened." Karl exined.


    "You''re lucky to be alive. I will have the runner exin to the General that your team is fine. Where are you headed next?"


    "Into the wilderness between front-line groups. I wille grab a new radio in a few days, or poach one off another scout group." Karl replied.


    The scout smiled and nodded, then led his whole team back to the line. They were Elites, they knew what was up, and they weren''t going to waste their breath trying to get Karl toe straight to the chaos of a base with nomunications.


    For the next two hours, Karl repeated the exnation to various scout groups, who returned to the front-line camps to give exnations, as anyone close enough to reach him that fast had lost their radios to the st.


    [It''s time to go. Frost Giant army, 40 kilometres out,ing for the crater from the city.] Hawk informed them as thest of the scout groups was about to leave.


    "You, Lieutenant, I forget your name. There is a Frost Giant army Battalioning this way from the city. Can you run and tell the General that he''s likely to have iing hostile forcester today?" Karl shouted after them.


    "No problem, Commander. Make yourself scarce before they get close enough to spot you."


    Karl nodded and led the team away, headed for the woods between the two sections of battle line, where he could take the team and disappear into the mountain caves in only an hour or two. That would keep the Frost Giants from finding them, and if Remi cast a Blizzard once they were out of sight, they wouldn''t even leave a trail to follow.


    [Yep, Blizzard is useful.] Remi agreed, while coiled around her new statue, trying to determine what it was for.


    [Blizzard is useful.] Hawk mimicked, while Thor chuckled, startling the group members who were standing beside him.


    "They''re bickering about the virtues of Ice Magic." Karl exined, while the mages climbed up behind Tessa on Thor''s back and the Golems were dismissed.


    The trees were densely packed in the foothills here, and Thor had to be dismissed, while Rae chose to return to her space, as she couldn''t climb sideways between the trees without dropping Lotus.


    Remi started a snowstorm with [Blizzard] as Hawk gave them directions to a nice cave he had scouted. It was part of arge caveplex, as far as he could tell after his brief exploration, but there were spots that could be blocked off for safety, and the whole ce was well underground, and warm from the stone of the mountain.


    [That''s good enough for me. We might even get to explore another cave and spend a few days without going out in the snow.] Karl agreed.


    It probably wasn''t thatrge, but no snow sounded good to Hawk.

 Chapter 284 The Good Cave

    Chapter 284 The Good Cave


    ??Rae blocked the door of the cave with silk and a few entangled branches, while Remi blew snow up against it to make it look like it had been that way for some time. That was good enough for their disguise, as the tunnel ran deep into the rock, just as Hawk had promised.


    And it was a tunnel, and not a natural cave, as it was carved with a smooth arch to the ceiling, and alcoves every five metres along the wall that had likely once heldnterns of some sort. The sight put everyone on edge, in case this was another trial instance, or home to some sort of intelligent monster.


    The good caves, like this one, would normally be imed by something, and there was no telling how nasty that thing might be. So, they were cautious as they made their way deeper into theplex, and into a chamber where a set of long forgotten houses stood petrified, coated in mineral stone from the dripping water.


    "Hey, look at this. I think that is Dwarven writing. There haven''t been Dwarves here in a thousand years. Not since the Frost Giants betrayed them and they fled the continent." Lotus noted as she gestured toward some runes written at the entrance to the cavern.


    "Do you have any idea what it says?" Karl asked.


    "Nope, I can''t read Dwarf. But if my memory is right, it should be some sort of protective spell to keep monsters out of their vige, and the livestock in. It usually didn''t target humans because we''re not a threat, but your Companions might have to stay in your space when we go in and out." She replied.


    Tessa looked around the cavern. "And that means there is another tunnel to check. There are always two ways in and out of a Dwarven Vige, even one this small."


    There were only five houses, and a few smaller outbuildings, so this might have been a way station along a trade route and not a proper vige, but the Dwarves were meticulous, and they would have made a second exit that led to a different side of the mountain.


    Karl nodded. "Alright, stay close and try not to damage anything. This ce feels like a museum, and I''m certain some historian will love to hear that it''s still intact. If the houses are still in good shape and empty, we can bunk in one of them, if not, we will set up out in the open."


    Tori looked at him strangely. "Why would you think that there might be something intact in those houses? It would take hundreds of years for the dripping water to coat the roof in deposits like that. One of them has turned into a proper stgmite."


    Karl smiled. "I grew up in the mines. There were always old men joking about how we were digging so deep we might find Dwarves, and how they made their furniture of stone, so they could pass it down to their grandchildren in a few hundred years.


    I don''t know how true that is, but it seems like it might be possible. Look at the fences. They''re all stacked stones, carefully cut to interlock."


    The other tunnel only took a minute to locate, as the designers weren''t trying to hide it. But there would be no threats from that direction, as the tunnel had been carefully blocked over with cut stones. However, the stones weren''t the same as what was in this cavern, it was a different sort of granite, darker, and with a faintly pink inclusion in it.


    "What''s got you staring at a stone wall so hard?" Lotus asked as Karl paused to take it in.


    "The stonees from deeper in the mountain. I think they bricked it up from the other side." Karl exined as he ran his fingers over the cool stone.


    "A holdout against the allies of the Frost Giants?" Tessa suggested.


    "Possibly. But, if it''s still standing and undamaged, we should be safe here. I don''t see any bones, campfire rings or other signs of previous uncivilized inhabitants."


    If this really had been a holdout against the Frost Giants when they sent their allies against the Dwarves, it could be a very valuable safe spot for them. It was deep in the mountain, secure, warm even without artificial heating, and there was plenty of room for anything they might need to bring inside.


    "You look like you''re considering a long-term residency." Tessa noted as Karl surveyed the area.


    "It''s not a bad idea. The front lines are unlikely to move too much, so we will remain within striking distance of the Frost Giants for some time. They''re going to be pissed about their valley, but they might not be able to do anything about it now that it has exploded. That''s a real shame, you know. Remi wanted that big stone for her space. It would have made a great decoration."


    Tessaughed at Karl''s reply, but Lotus looked intrigued. "You know, there was a big fancy stone behind the Naga Shaman boss in the Dungeon. I wonder if they were the same sort of stone? If we get to another dungeon, we will have to see if that stone appeals to her as well."


    Karl led them back to the nearest house, whose stone door was sitting wide open. It was dusty, but the roof hadn''t leaked, and the interior was intact, as well as being almost all stone, as Karl had suspected.


    The beds had been carefully made when thest resident left, and the decayed remains were still there, though moss was growing on them, giving off the faint luminescencemon to nts that grew in the underground caverns of the Dark Elven City inside the Dungeon.


    "I thought that they would have packed and taken everything with them. I guess not. It would take too much time and cause too much damage to the artifacts to sleep inside. Rae, can you set us up a fort and hammocks outside?" Karl requested.


    Rae popped out of her space, then looked around for a good spot. There were a number of stone pirs supporting the ceiling of the cave, so she picked one of those to build at the base of, pulling from all sides, so the weight of the people in the hammocks would be evenly distributed, as if it was a flexible tree that she was worried about toppling.


    Then she returned to her space to rest. There was still lighting in from above, reflected through a crystal that lit up the cavern with the afternoon sun.


    When it started to get dark, she woulde back out again, but for now, it was time to nap.


    The group was thinking the same thing, so Karl led them to a fire pit in the backyard of one of the houses. It had a metal grill te over half of it, and it was obviously intended to be for cooking, with an adjustable hangar for your pot on the other side.


    "This is fancy. Get that stoked up with your lucky de and I will start on dinner." Lotus informed them as she admired the way that the metal of the griddle hadn''t corroded even after a thousand years.


    It would need a good cleaning before it could be used, but she wasn''t nning to use it anyhow, she was just going to put her pans on it once it was hot.


    Karl activated [me Body] on his spare short sword and went to ce it in the pit. But the moment that the fire touched the stones, the pit roared to life, creating an evenly distributed fire through the whole pit.


    Karl removed the de, and the fire went out, enthralling Lotus.


    "Just use the skill in the pit. I think you will be able to control it directly. That had to be pretty convenient for whoever made this ce." She suggested.


    Karl extended the [ming Body] skill into the pit, which required him to touch it to get it started. But when he removed his hand, he could still control the skill, and the pit stayed burning.


    "Alright, we really are set now. Cook to your heart''s content, and we will rest here for a day or two."


    Dana and Lotus smirked at each other.


    "Don''t you think this reminds you of something? Like when you identally broke something of your mom''s and then hid until she calmed down?" Lotus asked.


    "Or ate a cupcake from the batch that was supposed to be for the church potluck." Dana agreed.

 Chapter 285 Rest And Recovery

    <h4>Chapter 285 Rest And Recovery</h4>


    For two entire days, the group rested in the Dwarven Vige ruins, resting and rebuilding their strength. But Karl wasn''t cking. No, he was working hard to spread the energy from the focal points in his beast spaces and then rebuild them. The process of spreading the energy smoothly took an entire day, and then it would likely take him weeks to rebuild it back to its new peak level, but he could feel the difference in the spaces after putting it off for that long.


    With three Commander Rank beasts, the energy was flowing much more smoothly through his body after the process waspleted, and he had an easier time activating his skills. The Royal Rank [ming Body] skill was bing much more effective, though still limited by his own capacity.


    It was more efficient than the Commander Rank version for the amount of mana used, but because his cap for energy usage was lower, he still couldn''t exert the maximum amount of power that someone like Prince Corbin could have. By Karl''s best estimate, it was close to twice as strong as it would have been at Commander Rank, though.


    The jump between the two ranks was arge one, and while Karl didn''t quite understand the difference yet, the feeling of power from [ming Body] was definitely not the same as it was from the other skills he could use.


    If it had been [Offensive Adaptation] that Rae had managed to advance, he might have a more detailed understanding, with two skills topare, but it was her Golems that had advanced first.


    Of course, if it had been Offensive Adaptation that advanced first, the amount of damage that he was doing at the Commander Rank might have made even the Red Dragon of War blush. That skill was truly overpowered to begin with, and having it a full Rank higher than the user would just be disgustingly effective.


    They had no way of knowing what was going on outside, other than the silence when they went to sit by the door and listen for movement. There was nothing close enough for their senses to pick up on the first day, so on the second day, Karl sent Hawk out to scout in the morning.


    [There are still plenty of Frost Giants in the area, searching for us, I guess. They''re big mad about something, and it has to be us blowing up their rock.] Hawk exined as he returned to rest in his space for the remainder of the day.


    With the energy stabilized in an evenyer on the third day, and the new focuses forming properly, Karl sent Hawk out to scout again, updating them on the situation.


    [Not so many Frost Giants as yesterday, but still plenty of Frost Giants to keep us busy all day. There are humans there now too, fighting.] Hawk informed them during his dawn scouting mission.


    "It sounds like it''s time to go. There are other human teams outside now, fighting with the Frost Giants that are looking for us. Well, they likely don''t know it''s us they''re looking for, but they''re looking for the relic from the crater." Karl exined.


    "But it blew up." Tori reminded him.


    Dana and Tessa both gave Karl matching suspicious looks.


    "It did blow up, didn''t it?" Tessa asked.


    Karl took Remi and her new lucky statue out of her space to show to the others.


    "I think that this is what they''re looking for." He exined.


    "A statue of the Allmother? I mean, she''s the primary Goddess of Shamanistic magic, but what does that have to do with the Frost Giants?" Lotus asked.


    Tessa shrugged. "No idea. But if it was in the crater, then it''s not just a statue. Where did you find it?"


    Remi wrapped protectively around her statue, in case someone tried to take it from her.


    Karl smiled and stroked the Spirit Snake''s back as he answered. "They were using it as the focus for the circle that was summoning more Frost Giants. I stole it to break the spell."


    Tessa nodded in understanding. "And then the crumbling spell destabilized the Frost Stone, and everything blew up. Alright, I see what happened now. Tuck that away again, and don''t let ite out. It should be good for Remi, but the Frost Giants will sense its magic if they''re close."


    Remi quickly vanished into her space to protect her statue, while the clerics tried not tough. The little Spirit Snake was growing quickly, but nobody had noticed because it was so cold that she never came out of her space. Or at least she never came far enough out that they could see her.


    "Are we bringing our packs? Or leaving them here in camp?" Tori asked as she red at the heavy bag.


    Unlike the others, the mages couldn''t use the rings of Giant Strength, so they were working with basic human stats, and carrying their packs all day was tiring.


    "You and Dana can sling them on Thor''s back. It should help mobility, and he won''t mind a pair of saddlebags if Rae helps us tie them on nicely." Karl suggested.


    Rae happily made a harness for the packs, and for the riders to hang on to while they sat on top of Thor''s new white fur cape. It was warm, it helped him hide, and it had a hood. The hood was the best part, in Thor''s estimation. Tessa had cut holes for his upper horns, so it would stay in ce when he moved his head, and it kept his cranial ridge warm without blocking his eyes.


    The harness kept it securely in ce, with the backpacks hanging at his rear hips and the riders in front of that, with Tessa sitting at the base of his neck, where she could more easily attack their targets.


    "We need to get you ance." Karl decided, as the riders took their ces.


    Lotus was back in her spot on Rae again, so they could ambush from the side without the Bloodbath Spider losing her pocket healer. That put both mages on Thor''s back, but they would climb down as soon as the fighting started, as they weren''t physically adept enough to stay on a bucking Lightning Cerro during battle.


    Karl led them down a path toward the closest group of human scouts, who were about to end up inbat with a Frost Giant hunting team, keeping the pace to a moderate jog, so that neither of the beasts was tired when they found their fight.


    [Can I engage?] Hawk asked, after rying that the Frost Giants were about to reach the human scouts.


    [Go ahead, just don''t get yourself attacked.]


    The fireballs made it easier to track the scout from the ground, and Karl adjusted their route to intercept the Frost Giants.


    The scout team had slowed their advance, wary of the insane Dragon Hawk, allowing Karl and the others to make it to the hunting team first.


    It was just five Ascended Frost Giants with spears, no fancy armour or magical weapons, but they had arge hound of some sort with them, who was sniffing at the ground, searching for something.


    It wasn''t them, as the hound didn''t make any signal that it had recognized them, but if they were tracking every group who had been near the crater, they would get to him eventually.


    Karl took out the dog handler with an arrow, while the others fell to Hawk''s fireballs, leaving a very shocked scout group standing fifty metres to their right, unsure as to what they should be doing now.


    "Good morning everyone. I don''t suppose that you have a working radio, do you?" Karl asked.


    The team leader smiled, and gestured for someone to bring one forward.


    "We do have a spare. All the teams do, now that we''ve learned the trick. The only ones that blew up were the radios that were in use at the time, the ones in storage with the batteries removed were fine. It took a few hours to realize that with all the chaos, and by then the scouts who had been near the crater had all dispersed again." He exined.


    "Got it. Keep the battery removed from the spare radio when we get one. Hopefully, that sort of thing won''t happen again any time soon, but you never know." Karl agreed.


    "You should call in soon, Commander. The General would like to have a few words with you, and he is requesting that you return to the base." The scout chuckled as Karl tucked the radio in his pack and put the earbud in.


    "I thought that might be the case, especially after two days of recovery time. Alright, I will head for the base this afternoon, so I have time to make it back to my camp before dark."

 Chapter 286 Could There Be Others?

    Chapter 286 Could There Be Others?


    ??Hawk wasn''t joking about the number of Frost Giants in the area. Karl could see three other groups from where they were standing, and if the Giants had better eyesight, they would be able to clearly spot his group across the open fields, even with their white cloaks.


    It was a shame that he couldn''t fire an arrow that far, but from Hawk''s point of view, it looked like the Frost Giant front line had spread out into a search pattern, and they werebing the area looking for their lost relic.


    "That thing must be significant to them, even though it''s not their primary Goddess." Lotus decided, as they headed for another group of Hunters.


    "Perhaps it''s because she''s a Shaman God, and they needed the Shamanistic magic to activate the stone that was letting them clone the warriors?" Karl suggested.


    Lotus frowned. "That could be, but it might be something else as well. The Goddess is called the Allmother, and she is a god of Shamanistic magic, so it might be that only a holy relic of that one specific Goddess would enable them to use the spell they need. If that''s the case, there are likely more of these statues all over the front lines, hidden in ces too dangerous for most of our teams to scout.


    The Frost Giants know that we don''t have any Royal Rank fighters here, so they haven''t deployed any of theirs, they''re just wearing us out before making their big move."


    Remi perked up at that suggestion. [Is she saying we have to collect them all? Like Totems for my swamp? A whole collection of magical statues to build an array with?]


    "Remi wants to know if we should try to collect them all and see what happens. She seems to think that they''re supposed to work together." Karl ryed.


    Tessa and Lotus shared an enlightened look, both remembering something from their training.


    "I think that the summoning effect really might be a set of statues. Totem Magic is a thing, but it''s far beyond most of us.


    If there are a whole set of Divine Totems working together, representing a pantheon, or a concept, then the totems might be creating all of the strange phenomenons that we are seeing, with the expanding borders and the appearance of new Frost Giants, as the Totem Magic tries to align the world to favour them." Tessa exined.


    "And if we steal enough of them, the effect would stop, and the borders would begin to return to normal, ending their invasion. That is brilliant. We just need to find the others." Dana eximed.


    [And I would get my own expanding Swamp.] Remi added helpfully.


    How that would work was a mystery to Karl, as the swamp was a mental space, and the maximum size seemed to be tied to her Rank, but perhaps the statues would help her grow up faster.


    "I think that we need to go to the base, and see if there are other ces like the one that we attacked. If we tell them what we suspect, they might make a mess of attacking it, and then the totems will be moved again.


    But if we can get a few more before the Frost Giants realize that they''re being targeted, I think that it might be enough that we can send the army after the others." Karl decided.


    "So, you''re saying, get the intel, attack another hidden spot and see if there is a totem statue there, and only then should we tell the army about the threat?" Tessa asked seriously.


    "Yes, I think that is the best strategic decision for us to be able to not only test the theory, but to end the war if we are right."


    Ophelia looked deep in thought as she made little piles of snow with her foot. "I think Karl is right. The Totems won''t do anyone any good if they''re spread out. The damage would be done, and the border would just stop advancing. But if we can get enough of them together, the effect should begin to fade as the Totems align to favour us.


    That''s how my totems are. The more that I have active, the stronger the effect is. I don''t have the strongest Totems yet, only Bear Strength, but once I have four of them out, my strength has doubled from its base level."


    Remi nodded along in understanding. Totems were Shaman magic, and although she didn''t know any of them yet, she was getting a much better idea of how they worked after watching them appear all around the Werebear when she was inbat.


    Karl led them back toward the front lines to talk to the General, and Remi studied her statue, while trying to remember everything that she could about the totems that Ophelia made. She was close to a revtion, she just needed a bit more time to understand what she was missing.


    The scouts were waiting for them as they got close to the camp, despite the fact that Karl hadn''t sent any radio messages yet.


    "Commander, the General would like to see you in his Command tent." The scout greeted them.


    "I would have been more startled if he didn''t want to see me." Karl joked.


    "Lead the way, I don''t want to walk in on anything unfortunate, my poor clerics have seen too much already this mission."


    The scout looked confused, but Lotus giggled at the memory of the startled Artillery Battalion Commander when he was quite literally caught with his pants down.


    They heard the General''sughter when the scout stuck his head in to see if he was free, and then followed him inside.


    "General, good to see you again. I trust that you got a ryed version of the events from the other scouts?" Karl asked.


    "Yes, all sorts of confused and conflicting reports. Now, firsthand, what happened out there? You did go to scout the location, did you not?" The General asked.


    "We did, and here is how it went." Karl went through the details of the engagement, including the snowstorm that made it look like there was no valley there at all until you were in it, to the clear area at the bottom, the identical Giants, and the destruction, but omitting the bits about the totem Remi borrowed.


    "I understand now. It makes sense that the Frost Giants are out hunting. They might be looking for the culprit, but also for any leftover magical items that survived the st, shards of the Frost Stone, and other valuables. If there are still shards of that exploded stone, they will be valuable not only to the Frost Giants, but to other water and Ice Magic users." The General exined.


    Dana and Tori smiled. They shouldn''t have too many problems finding a piece or two of the shattered stone to help with their magic.


    "One other thing. Ascended Mage Tori, you have been reassigned. There is a new group here in need of a mage, and we unfortunately don''t have the resources to keep an overstrength scouting group active in the wilderness."


    "But I just got here." Sheined.


    Karl''s group was the best she had ever seen. They werepetent, worked in unison without arguments or questions, and even better, they actually wanted to be there. Plus, there were three Commander Rank beasts already in the team, more than doubling theirbat strength. What more could you ask for?


    The group in question came in just after the General mentioned them, most likely because they had been waiting for the signal.


    Two familiar Elites entered leading two others with simr faces, suggesting that they mighte from the same hometown or be rtives to each other. Their entrance was silent, but apanied by the faint smell of giggleweed and leather oil.


    The Mackenzie brothers were here with two other warriors, and they had been assigned the first free mage, as far as Karl could tell.


    "Bob, Brother Doug, good to see you again." Karl greeted them with friendly hugs.


    "Commander Karl. I didn''t expect to see you here, did you bring us our extra mage?" Bob asked with a slight smirk on his face as he took in Karl''s group.


    "I suppose that we did. We were further down the line when the fallback signal was given, and we ended up behind enemy lines, so we''ve been poking their supply lines and attacking a couple of suspicious points." Karl agreed.


    "With the help of a certain Spider and Hawk, who can spot and sneak up on Giants with ease? It looks like you''ve got a reliable bunch, but I don''t know these two." Doug asked.


    "Dana and Ophelia, meet High Priest Doug Mackenzie, of the Nature God, and his brother Commander Bob Mackenzie. Bob, Doug, meet Dana the Golem Mage and Ophelia the Bear Totem Berserker."


    Doug gave Ophelia an appraising look. "I bet she''sfortable in bear form. She''s just big enough to be furry and warm."


    Ophelia looked vaguely offended, but Lotus was quite familiar with Brother Doug, and the other Nature Priests.


    "She gets like twice that size. No worries about being cold with her around, though she''s been cuddling Tori at night, so we''re going to have to fix our sleeping arrangements." The tiny Priestess agreed.


    Doug smiled, and lit a herbal cigarette. "Sister Lotus, you''re living too good. Why don''t you lend us the Berserker as well?"


    Bob and Karl shared a smile while the two Nature Clerics joked with each other, ignoring the fact that they were supposed to be in the middle of a meeting, or that the people they were referring to were literally standing right beside them.

 Chapter 287 Reunion Trip

    Chapter 287 Reunion Trip


    ??Once the General was done with them, he chased both groups out of his office. He would soon have more directions for both, but a scout could pass the message before they left. He had enough to deal with already without adding the stress of dealing with a stoned Nature Priest and a bunch of miscreant Elite Mercenaries.


    "Only one mage in your group?" Karl asked as he looked at thebination.


    "Yeah, not great luck on thebo this time, but we''ve got a Ranger, who''s good with longer distance attacks. Our sisters were both sent to the Capital for security detail, so we can''t get them for the team this time." Bob sighed.


    "Well, Tori is good with multiple target attacks, but it''s a bit of a shame that you don''t have a second caster."


    Then Karl paused. There was a spell that Rae knew which could likely be used by Brother Doug. The [Skill Book] ability required that he study and have some understanding of the skill, and he had certainly fulfilled that requirement, though it wasn''t one that he could use himself.


    "If you wait a moment, and find me some paper and ink, plus one of those cigarettes, I think I can make a spellbook for Doug. It''s a nature spell, so a Nature Priest should be able to use it." He added.


    Doug didn''t hesitate, and brought out a stack of paper, intended for reports, as well as his good pen and a rolled herbal cigarette.


    Karl crushed the herb onto the paper as he took a seat at one of the tables in the dining tent beside the General''s, and began to write out the spell book.


    "Rae got this in a Dungeon instance as a reward, but I think it will bepatible. I managed to make a [Refreshing Lightning] version for the Blue Dragon Priests." Karl exined.


    Dougughed. "I heard all about that. They''re so excited to have a new spell to teach that they''ve been trying to get everyone they meet to learn it. The problem is, it only works for the Blue Dragon priests. Not even the Shamans have managed to learn it straight from the book."


    Thorughed at that one. He didn''t know how human shamans yed with lightning, but Remi''s Lightning and his Lightning were totally different things that just looked the same. He was also eager toe out and y with his old friends, but the camp was so crowded that there simply wasn''t space for him.


    Karl needed Rae to help him with the book, for the parts that he didn''t understand, but between them, they quickly got the spellpleted, and it formed itself into a Skill Book with a simple wooden cover, and a spear tip on the front.


    Doug took the book, and flipped the cover open. That was all that it took for the book to vanish, while the others looked on in envy.


    "You know, there is a supply tent here with the essentials, why don''t you get a Golem book?" one of the warriors with Bob''s group asked Tori.


    "I''ve already tried, I''m ipatible with the book. I can use arcane spheres that fire multiple magic missiles, though. I''m not great at defence, but I''ve got strong offensive abilities." She replied sadly.


    "That''s alright. We''ve got a High Priest with us, and a Commander Rank defensive warrior. Golems are nice to have, but they''re not the only way to deal with Frost Giants." The warrior consoled her.


    Lotus raised her hand. "I would just like to say, what the heck, dude? You could teach Nature Priests to use [Spear] all this time, and you didn''t make me a copy like two weeks ago? I''ve been right here, riding on Rae''s back while she casts it, and you didn''t once think to teach me?"


    Karl blushed in embarrassment. "Would you believe me if I said that I forgot it was possible? I have to study and somewhat understand the skill to transcribe it, but I''ve seen it cast a thousand times now, by Rae and her Golems, and with her help, it wasn''t hard."


    Lotus made a ''get on with it'' gesture, and Karl started over with Rae''s help to make her a copy of the book.


    Lotus grabbed it and did a little happy dance the moment they finished. "This will be perfect. I will have vines and spikes."


    The book vanished in her hands, and the little Priestess frowned. "I have been robbed! Oh, wait, no. This is just as good."


    Karl tried not tough at how simr her response was to his beasts when things didn''t go as expected while he waited for her to calm down.


    "The two spellsbined to give me a third option, which reced the other two. [Thorned Vines] are basically the two at the same time, but the spears are thorns, and don''t fly out, they just stab when the vines grab something."


    That seemed like it would actually make things easier on Lotus. She was already used to using the vines to restrain targets, but they didn''t do any damage. Now they would restrain targets while doing damage, a two for onebo package.


    Bob came over to Karl''s side while Lotus and Doug did a little happy dance together.


    "Why did youe in so early? There are still plenty of hunting hours for the day, you could havee at the end of the afternoon." He asked, while the two Nature Clerics celebrated their new skills.


    "I''m not nning to stay. Now that we''ve given them their report, I''m going to leave again. We''ve got a good spot in the forward operating area, where we can engage the Frost Giants easily, but still remain safe to sleep at night." Karl exined.


    "We found your other fort on the way in, the one in the trees near the camp. At least, I assume it''s you. It is spider silk, and I didn''t see any sort of monsters in the area other than the Frost Giants." Bob replied.


    "Yeah, that was almost certainly the one made by Rae. It''s far enough outside the camp that you don''t get suckered into a front-line rotation in an attack, but you''re close enough to assist or return to inform them of your destination when you head out in the morning."


    Suddenly, Doug and Lotus both turned back to the group.


    Lotus had a huge smile on her face as she made her announcement. "We have an idea. Why don''t we head out together tonight? The safe spot is big enough for both groups, and we can have Remi hide our tracks every night. Then we can work out of the same area for support, andpete to see who can eliminate more Frost Giants?"


    Bob looked impressed. "That''s actually not a terrible idea. Two scout groups to protect a camp, which means we can split resources, and we will only need to warm one space, and we won''t have to lose as much sleep to watch duties."


    It would also keep the two groups close together if there was arger threat, so if they sent a radio call, the other team coulde quickly to assist them. The official stance was that they didn''t have enough Elites to haverge teams, but their two teams working out of the ruins was no different from all the teams that returned to base at the end of the day.


    The ranger on Bob''s team immediately became suspicious, and began looking back and forth between the team leaders and the Nature Priests.


    "What are you not telling us? We all saw the scout reports, why do you think that we need two teams with multiple Commander Rank members working together?" He demanded.


    Bob patted him on the shoulder. "Bless your heart, you don''t get out much, do you? The official scout reports don''t include anything from teams that were lost, or teams that haven''t reported in, or any of the enemy reserves that are too far for our scouts to get a confirmed number for.


    In short, it''s about a quarter of the totalbat power that the enemy has in the area at any given time, and only gives a general idea of what you''re likely to see on patrol.


    But the Frost Giants are all worked up today, so they''re going to start sending more attackers forward. When they do, we will be d to have the support nearby. Their team is fast, and if we call when we see a major threat, we can face it as a group instead of taking risks, then spread out to continue scouting."


    The Ranger sighed. "I work for the bureau of natural resources. I run an animal shelter for unwanted and abandoned pets. I didn''t expect to get a draft notice in the mail so soon after the conflict started."


    That was truly unfortunate. Nobody wanted to be in the first round of draft notices.


    It did, however, solidify Karl''s opinion that he had done the right thing by picking a team anding in advance.

 Chapter 288 And Then There Were Ten

    <h4>Chapter 288 And Then There Were Ten </h4>


    The trip to the cave took longer than Karl had expected, as the other group was on foot, but they still managed to make it there before dark, and got Remi to use a [Blizzard] to hide their tracks.


    "That''s some serious paranoia you have, you know that, right?" The other warrior in Doug''s group asked.


    "The Frost Giants are out here hunting for whoever blew up their Holy Relic, and given that we''re the ones who did it, I thought it might be better if nothing could track us back to our sleeping spot.


    But you will like this ce, it''s an old Dwarven Vige, deep in the mountains, and it''s got all the creatureforts. Or will once we have Rae set up a second fort with hammocks for you all." Karl exined.


    Tori smiled. The hammocks were a wonderful thing.


    Her mind briefly went to the muscled physiques of the men in her group, then she shook her head, dispelling those notions. She was here to work, and after thatst fiasco, she had learned her lesson about leading her group members on.


    No more flirting to get favourable treatment, it wasn''t worth it.


    This time, she was going to prove to a group that didn''t know about her past indiscretions that she was truly worthy of her ce on the team, and that she had the skills to make a name for herself as abat Elite.


    As they got settled in, Rae started to work, building up a second tent in the town for the second group, again arrayed around a pir using Spider Silk at the Commander Rank anchored to the floor and wrapped around the stone pir as the structure.


    As they rxed, the warrior, whose name Karl had learned was Harry Kim, began to dig through his pack for a dinner ration. The clerics burst intoughter, and the warrior stopped, confused as to what was so funny. It was definitely dinner time, and they might as well start cooking before it got dark.


    Doug exined with a grand gesture at the two Priestesses. "We have not one, not two, but three clerics here, including a High Priest, who can all use advanced food creation spells. There will be no eating lousy ration packs in this camp. In fact, you might eat better here than you do at home."


    Harry smiled and put the ration pack away. "Now that is good news. Me and Lao Tie, we''re not used to eating ration packs, it would likely mess up our digestion for months. I eat almost all my meals at the office cafeteria, since they''re free, and I only recently got the raise for my promotion to Ascended."


    The High Priest chuckled and ran his fingers through his short beard. "It has been a season for promotions. I just made High Priest, Commander Karl was promoted in thest few months, Dana made Ascended recently as well. With you, that''s almost half the group that has made a milestone right before the war."


    Ophelia chuckled and raised her hand. "I made Ascended two weeks before we left, but I was only officially promoted at the end of term exams the next week."


    Harryughed. "I''m not sure if that makes me feel better or worse. Usually, the Ascended members are pencil pushers with a lot of involuntary experience, not promising students."


    The ranger joined in theughter and shook his head. "If I didn''t know better, I would say that half of you were still in the second year. And before we get too far, my full name is Lao Tie, but please call me Ty."


    "Well, I can say for certain that you are wrong, but not for the reason that you think." Doug joked.


    Karl nodded. "Ophelia is in the second year, but Dana is in the first year."


    Ty gave her an assessing look that narrowed, his ck eyes almost looked closed. "First year and Ascended? What the hell were they thinking, even letting you out of the Academy, much less to a forward scouting team?"


    Now both the MacKenzie brothers, and all of Karl''s team, wereughing.


    "Commander Karl is also a first year student. The monster of the Academy. Compared to sending him out, sending Miss Dana with him was a small thing." Bob finally exined.


    Thor saw that as his opportunity. Everyone wasughing, that must mean they want to y, so he came out to bump up against Doug, begging for head pats.


    "Who gave Thor a cloak? That is adorable." He asked as he reached under the hood to scratch between the Lightning Cerro''s horns.


    "It''s cold outside, and it helps him blend in. I''m the one who cut the horn holes for the hood." Tessa replied with a soft smile for the happy Cerro.


    Bob and Doug tag teamed Thor, showering him with attention as he pranced around happily. It was good to have happy people around again instead of serious people.


    Ty stared at Thor for a few minutes, then turned to Karl. "That''s a Commander Rank Lightning Cerro, isn''t it? No wonder you''ve grown so powerful. How did you manage to bond a beast that strong?"


    "He actually started as an Egg, as did the others. No, that''s not a restriction of my ss, just an oddity of fate. Abination of resources,bat experience and training made him into the Cerro that he is today."


    Ty looked amused at the phrasing, but more intrigued by the mention of others. "They said that you had a Commander Rank beast. Was it actually more than one?"


    "Three actually, and one more that''s still at Ascended.


    Thor you have already met, then there is Hawk, a Dragon Hawk, who does our scouting duties, Rae the Bloodbath Spider, who is our resident attack Golem Specialist, and Remi, a newborn Naga Spirit Snake, who is still at Ascended Rank."


    The ranger nodded in understanding. "Now I see why they let you out of the Academy. The beasts need it, and with them, you might as well be with a full Commander Rank team, plus some extra support. How much trouble do you have with the Frost Giants? None of your team members are Giant sized, and only Thor is particrly durable."


    "Against the five Commander teams, we are a bit slower than we are used to when fighting teams with only one Commander Rank Frost Giant, but we are still not in any real danger. With Thor''s barrier over the whole team, plus the blessings of the Clerics, the Circle of Protection and the Golems from both Rae and Dana, we''re actually at a reliable advantage."


    Ty smiled. "In that case, I won''t hesitate to call on your team if we find ourselves in a bind. Normally, it''s considered bad manners to pull another team from their mission unless it''s an emergency, but if you''ve got strength to spare, you will probably be able to finish up ande to us in time."


    Rae headed back to her space for a short nap after she finished creating the second fort for the Mackenzie team, and the Clerics made their way to the fire pits to start cooking. Doug had a skill that created a small fire, and that was enough to control the cooking area, where they were happily scrubbing away centuries of dust and preparing the area for an borate meal.


    It was going to be fairlyte when they finished cooking, but neither team was rushing to head out in the morning. They would head out when they were good and ready, then hunt until mid-afternoon and return here. With the number of Frost Giants that Karl''s team had reported, they wouldn''t be short on targets, and they would be exhausted well before the sun went down.


    "This is quite the fortification. How long do you think that we will be able to continue to use it?" Harry, the Ascended warrior with the Mackenzie brothers, asked, his ice blue eyes glinting with curiosity.


    Bob shrugged. "For at least the next few weeks, unless the Frost Giants mount an offensive that puts the main battle line out of reach of it. I don''t see them pushing the line that far back, especially now that their Holy Relic in the area is destroyed, but unless we can find another and destroy it as well, they are unlikely to retreat either.


    So, it is a stalemate, and we just continue to wear them away and keep them from building up enough of a force to challenge the General."


    Karl nodded. "We are almost certain that there are more locations like the one that exploded, most likely near the other main lines. But what we suspect is that we need to pull the cores of them together to be able to reverse the changes they have made.


    Simply destroying them likely won''t be enough. So, my team was nning to scout further, to try to find simr hiding spots near the other lines."


    Bob smiled. "And with the two of us sharing a fort, we can cover for you when Command wants to know what your status is."

 Chapter 289 Relic Hunting

    <h4>Chapter 289 Relic Hunting</h4>


    Hawk went out extra early the next day, intending to make it to the next pass, so he could check the Frost Giants that had gathered near the next portion of the main defence lines. That was the most likely spot for there to be another of the relics, and he would happily help them steal it if it was going to make the cold go away.


    Even if Karl gave to the snake again.


    He was in luck, they weren''t even hiding this one. Or, maybe they were, but not from above. It was just like the other one, a magical circle next to a big stone, but this one was in the caldera of a dormant volcano, and it didn''t feel the same.


    Instead of so much snow, it was bitterly cold, and the monsters around the magical circle were different. It was still Frost Giants, but not strong ones. They were making the Awakened groups, led by Ascended, and sending them back into the Frost Giant nation to regroup and mingle with more powerful groups that wereing back to the front-line groups as abined force.


    With his enhanced eyesight, and a lot of silent cursing at the effort needed to fly in the thin air, Hawk had managed to get high enough that he could see most of the process around that same Frost Giant city.


    Quick math, which the Windspeed Hawks developed to help them guess where Earth Mouse holes would be rtive to thest ones they had found, told him that there should be one more likely hiding spot on the far side of the first spot they had found a magic stone.


    That was an almost equal distance, but it was too far for him to fly this morning.


    So, he set a shallow dive that would build up speed as he went back to create the morning reports on the closest groups to the fort. There were still too many Frost Giants nearby, and it would take time to get to the volcano where the next stone was hidden.


    Karl tapped his spoon against his canteen to get everyone''s attention. "I have the preliminary scouting report from Hawk. He has found another Frost Stone location.


    It''s in a volcano that is a full day''s travel from here, near the next major engagement. The distribution appears to be near the main ess valleys to their territory, to better spread the effects.


    If we can get the next one, and then find a third, we might be able to cause a whole section of the effect to copse.


    Normally, Hawk would be cursing the cold if he had to fly up that high to find a position, but he''s not, which tells me that the effect isn''t as strong as it was before. That''s with just one spot inactive. We will hunt today, going in that direction, but we won''t return to the camp tonight, we will leave that for the Mackenzie group.


    If they''re calling for a report from us, fake it and let them think we''re still in the area and not on yet another battlefield. We will be back tomorrow, hopefully with good news."


    Bob gave him a sloppy salute. "Good luck, Commander. We will cover for you today, and if you aren''t back tomorrow night, we will go looking for you."


    That was the best that they could offer. It might be that the aftermath would take outmunications again, or Karl''s group might not make it out as smoothly this time.


    Both groups left together after breakfast, and Remi kept the snow active until they were out of the trees. It would make it harder to find their way back to the caves, but most of the Elites had good memories, and they didn''t want anything else following their footprints back to their fort. It was too good of a spot to have it defiled by monsters or taken over by some random group who would smash all the relics for firewood and make a mess.


    For the first few hours, they passed in front of the main lines, hunting the roaming groups of Giants which were still searching for shards of the Frost Stone.


    The numbers of both the stone fragments and the Frost Giants searching for them were dropping dramatically with the efforts of the teams that the main group was sending out, and Karl managed to lead his team into the hills on the far side of the line before noon, after which he brought them up to a jog with Hawk leading them on a rtively trouble-free path toward their target.


    The Frost Giants weren''t interested in the actual hills, as a river ran along this portion of the border, leading to theke where Karl and his team had crossed. The steep valley along the majority of the border would make it nearly impossible for a human attack force to cross, so only where there was a gap in the mountains passable enough for vehicles did they set up defences.


    "Don''t you think this is a bit too easy?" Ophelia whispered as they ran through the trees.


    "Like this second location is a trap, and they''re going to spring something on us the moment that we try to go up the mountain? Yeah, I got that feeling as well. But Hawk hasn''t seen any sign of what the ambush might be yet." Karl agreed.


    "And we''re going anyhow?" She asked.


    "I know, you have a good point. But even if it is a trap, the Frost Stone should still be real, as we know the Frost Giants that are leaving the area very much are real. The soldiers in the area are currently engaged with them." Karl replied.


    "Alright. It is what it is, just approach cautiously, so we don''t end up ambushed by something invisible."


    That was a good point. They might have found a way to make the threat invisible.


    [Hawk, can you send a couple Rend attacks down to ground level on the hill? If they hit ground with no issues, we''re good to go. If not, there is a barrier or an illusion.] Karl suggested.


    They were only a few kilometres from the base of the Volcano, but Karl didn''t want tounch the attack tonight, as it would likely continue until dark, and then they would still need to find an escape route while exhausted from a day''s travel and fighting.


    [Rae, find us a good hiding spot for the night, and we will go up in the morning.]


    Rae rushed out with Lotus on her back to find a good spot to build a fort, and ended up finding a small cave buried under a snowdrift when her foot knocked the opening clear.


    [Found the spot. Bring everyone, and have Remi keep her blizzard up to hide it again.] Rae informed them.


    The cave was tiny and cramped, but with a bit of a silk dome at the entrance, the snowstorm buried it deep, and everyone huddled together for the night with the heat of a dagger covered in [ming Body] keeping the cave warm.


    They ate quickly the next morning, and sent Hawk up once again to check the area.


    [All good, many weak Giants. I flew low through the trees, and they didn''t see me all the way to the ridge.] He reported.


    "Alright, it looks like we''re good to go. Is everyone prepared for this?" Karl asked.


    "As ready as we can be." Tessa agreed.


    Once they were out of their snowy sleeping location, Karl called out Rae and Thor so that everyone could get a ride on their way up, and began carefully following Hawk''s route up the mountain.


    He had found a route that should be easily walkable, even for Thor with passengers, and if they didn''t fall into a trap, they should be at the peak within two hours. There were very few Frost Giant patrols in the area, possibly to hide their presence near the human lines, but that didn''t mean that Karl and the others wouldn''t run across one and set off an rm if they were unlucky.


    Their first test came only ten minutes after leaving camp, when they came across a group of ten Awakened Rank Frost Giants with an Ascended Rank leader.


    It wasn''t easy to eliminate them all fast enough that none of them could shout, and without causing so much noise that other groups woulde running, but with the help of the Spider Golems and one Magic Missile to the throat courtesy of Dana, they managed the task and moved on, leaving the bodies for the next patrol to find.


    There was too much damage to the trees and snow to hide that there had been a battle, and taking the bodies would only emphasize that they were trying to hide their tracks, and that it wasn''t a wild monster attack, so they simply left them and continued on their way. The [Blizzard] spell that Remi kept active would make it hard to tell when the attack had urred as long as nothing happened across it too quickly.

 Chapter 290 290

    <h4>Chapter 290 Chapter 290 </h4>


    Karl looked up the mountain. "There aren''t many patrols, so let''s keep going, with Remi''s blizzard covering for us, it will be difficult to tell when we came through. Speed is our friend until we reach the caldera."


    They kept moving, using the blowing snow as cover, both for their tracks, and to keep them from being noticed. It seemed to be working well enough, and they made it most of the way up the mountain without being intercepted again, but the closer they got to the top, the stronger the feeling that there was something seriously wrong grew.


    [Rae, is there any sign that we''re being tricked by an illusion?] Karl asked.


    [No, it all looks good, not like that strange situation underground. This ce just feels wrong, like something bad is about to happen to us, but I can''t see anything that could cause us problems.] She insisted.


    Then she paused. [Whatever is wrong, it is here.]


    Remi stared out of her space at the same time. [Stop, there is something here.]


    Karl signalled for everyone to pause. The beasts had senses they didn''t, and a few moments to understand what they were sensing wouldn''t hurt anything.


    Karl closed his eyes, focusing on his mental space, the one he used for mediation, in hope that he would gain some understanding from the void.


    As he focused on nothingness, he felt something staring back at him. The feeling made his skin crawl, as the sensation of attention grew.


    They weren''t joking, something was?really wrong with this ce.


    Then, the ground began to shake under their feet, and the Thermal Vision that Karl only paid minimal attention to during the day began to show him hot spots everywhere on the hillside, and even more potently above them.


    "Oh shit. The volcano is about to erupt." He realized.


    "U-turn, it''s time to leave." Lotus announced, pointing back.


    Ophelia was momentarily frozen, but when Thor began to turn around and run, she joined the group.


    The first spout of hot gas vented only a few metres from their path as they ran, and the rumbling of the volcano got worse.


    Thor and Tessa were glowing with golden Holy Light, which was unusual, as they would normally spread the effect to everyone. But, as most of the group was on Thor''s back, it might be the best way to protect them from venting gas from below. Rae was doing a better job of dodging the vents, as she could see theming, but Thor could feel the rumbling in the ground before they erupted, and he wove through the trees as he ran down the hill, struggling not to topple over forward.


    Like a Warbear, with his build he was a bit top-heavy, and the steep slopes were hazardous for him when running downhill.


    The top of the mountain exploded in a shower of rock and fire, firing high into the sky. That almost certainly spelled the end of one of the statues, but this time they weren''t lucky enough to have recovered it.


    A sense of power drew Karl''s attention behind them, and what he found was the horror of every Frost Giant in the world.


    There was a massive mottled red dragon bursting free of the volcano, flying easily among the explosion of magma and stone.


    "Lotus, look back. What is that?" Karl shouted over the roar of the volcano.


    She only looked for a split second, then shuddered and looked forward.


    "That is a Magma Dragon, a form of Chromatic Dragon. But I don''t think they''re supposed to get that big. Even an Ancient Forest Dragon doesn''t have a wingspan thatrge." She shouted back.


    "Do you think it might be on our side? It looks pretty mad at the Frost Giants." Dana asked.


    Lotus justughed and shook her head. "Magma Dragons aren''t really known for their kindness or humanitarian actions. It''s better that we just get out of here before it turns its attention in our direction."


    As if to prove her point, the Magma Dragon tail swatted an enormous glowing red boulder in their direction, headed straight for their group.


    Everyone scattered as it crashed down between them with an impact that shook the ground even better than Thor''s earthquake skill. Karl was momentarily blinded by the steam from all the melted snow from the impact trench, but quickly realized that they had fully evaded the attack, and they could keep going.


    [Wait, shiny rock for me.] Thor cheered as he picked the boulder up with his horns and moved it to his space.


    It was still radiating huge amounts of heat, but as it cooled, Thor could see that it was a naturally blue crystal, arge portion of the Frost Stone from the top of the mountain, that the Dragon had used as an artillery projectile.


    It would look good next to Thor''s pond once it cooled enough to regain its natural blue appearance, Karl decided as they ran down the hill and away from the tidal wave of molten stone making its way down the slope behind them.


    But the flow was not the greatest danger, at least not to themon people who weren''t on the volcano''s slopes. The massive cloud of ash and fire had ckened the sky, turning day to night, and nketing the snow in a thickyer of ash.


    "Maybe this was their n all along? That volcanic eruption is going to throw the entire region into an artificial winter. It will take months for that cloud to clear, and even longer for the temperature to starting back up." Lotus noted, looking backwards from her perch on Rae''s back.


    [Remi is a Shaman, tell her to make the cloud go away. Shamans do weather, right?] Hawk insisted.


    An extra winter, when they were already in winter, seemed like it should be prohibited by some sort of rule. That was just too much winter in one ce for Hawk to ept.


    Remi thought about it for a while and then shook her head. [If there is an Overlord Rank Shaman, they could blow all of that back away from us, but I don''t have that much power, I''m just a small snake.]


    Remi was doing her best cute and innocent act, even curling the ''hood'' of scales around her head to make it look like she was hugging herself. Hawk wasn''t buying it, but Thor thought it was adorable.


    However, neither opinion changed the fact that Remi simply didn''t have the power to change the weather over hundreds of kilometres and blow the ash cloud away from the Golden Dragon Nation. But worse than that, the prevailing winds were blowing out of the Frost Giant Nation, and would be moving more of the ash into human territory, and after that, into Stone Giant territory, where Lotus knew it would stagnate as the air off the ocean halted its momentum.


    The Stone Giants would not be happy, but this had to count as a Force of Nature, unstoppable and not preventable. It might not have happened right now if the Frost Giants hadn''t either deliberately or inadvertently upset the Magma Dragon, but it would have risen from its slumber eventually and the result would have been the same.


    "I hope your stamina is beyond impressive because both theva flow and the ash cloud are gaining on us." Karl informed Ophelia as they reached the bottom of the hill, over half an hourter.


    "It''s good enough to run all day, but what way do we run?" She asked.


    "Upwind. That will take us back over ground that we''ve already covered, and toward the first incident, but we know there is a force there, even if everyone is busy with the chaos." Karl exined.


    "Does the wind even matter to that?" She asked, pointing upward at the mushroom shaped cloud.


    "Honestly, I have no idea. Later it should blow the ash away, but it does kind of look like it doesn''t care."


    The volcano was making its own weather now, and the wind was blowing outward from the eruption, rapidly heating everything and melting the snow all around them into slush.


    "Do we go for the main line?" Lotus shouted as they moved down into the open, hoping to make better time than they had through the hills and trees.


    "No, go for the Dwarven Vige." Karl called back.


    That seemed safer, and if it wasn''t for their barriers, the ash would be burning their clothes already.


    There were spots on the trees that were already scorched, despite the snow which had built up on them, and to Karl, that meant there was likely to be a massive wildfire.


    How to escape an erupting volcano had not been one of their school subjects.

 Chapter 291 Chain of Disasters

    <h4>Chapter 291 Chain of Disasters</h4>


    As they ran, the radiomunications made it clear that the erupting volcano was neither the only, nor the worst, disaster that the border region had undergone that afternoon.


    Along the border, seven other locations had either exploded, copsed, or undergone dramatic events involving Dragons. It was nearly impossible to piece it all together, but from what Karl could decipher, the location where the Frost Stone had exploded when they looted the statue had exploded again, only this time it had released a massive Frost Dragon, every bit as angry as the Magma Dragon at the volcano was.


    It had rampaged through the front lines, uncaring of whether the target was a Giant or a Human, and then flown off into the Frost Giant nation surrounded by a storm that hid everything within fifty kilometres from observation.


    Karl couldn''t see any logic in the Frost Giants setting those dragons free, and from the number of incidents, it did seem likely that it was their intention to set the Dragons free. Either that, or they had been trying to steal the powers of sealed Dragons, and that was even more insane, as the other Dragons would see that as an insult to their entire species.


    The humans might have sessfully hid through such blunders, but the Frost Giants wouldn''t be capable of finding a safe spot to hide and wait for the Dragons to calm down.


    They didn''t quite have to travel past the spot they had gotten the first statue from, but it was still nearly dark when they made it to the Dwarven Vige on their "Fastest Travel" route.


    The entrance was heavily snowed in, and they had to have the Spider Golems dig to uncover the entrance of itsyer of hardened ash and snow before they could enter. Then, they piled it back over the entrance, and let Remi''s Blizzardyer more snow on top to hide the fact that they were ever there.


    They could hear the other team inside, the Mackenzie brothersughing and joking, while the three other voices were much more nervously making remarks about the radio messages.


    "Good eveningdy and gentlemen. We have returned." Karl announced as they walked down the tunnel and into the vige, forcing him to return his beasts to their space, as they could not cross the threshold between the tunnel and the cavern.


    "Good to see you all intact. We thought for certain you were going to be sted to the moon when that mountain erupted. How did you make it out in time?" Bob asked, curiosity clear in his pale eyes.


    "We never made it to the top at all. The Magma Dragon broke free while we were climbing the slope, so we turned around and ran." Karl replied with a shrug.


    "Good call. Doug here has been doing some research as a Nature Priest, and he has found an interesting fact about the dragons that were spotted today." Bob agreed, then gestured for his brother to exin.


    "Not all the spots that we heard of incidents from were known to have a Dragon present, but the ones that did were the prisons of Dragons who had gone against the Gods or the Elders. They are the Rebels, who would kill without reason or mercy.


    Now, it doesn''t take a genius to realize that there aren''t enough Frost Giants to take this border in any sort of reasonable timeframe. Their allies are the real threats here, and they might be the driving force behind the invasion.


    All that Command can tell us is that the Frost Giants attacked first, and that the Giant ns are working together, so I''ve made a few conjectures of my own.


    First, The Frost Giants are idiots, but strong with Shamanistic Magic. They''re using that to expand their borders. Second, they set up a bunch of locations of power on top of buried rebel Dragons, and the general assumption would be that they intended to set them loose against the human armies.


    But that''s not what I think. I think that they were set up. That they were told that these were ces of power, and not that they contained insane ancient Dragons, who would kill their soldiers as readily as ours."


    Doug paused to catch his breath, while everyone else absorbed the ideas that he had shared.


    Dana looked confused. "You think the other Giant ns set them up to fail, and just wanted the Dragons to make this entire area uninhabitable?"


    Doug shook his head. "No, I think that they intended to make this area the territory of the Rogue Dragons, and wipe out the Frost Giants, while also giving the humans nowhere to retreat to when the other ns moved in to crush us.


    It''s not a secret that the Giant ns never got along all that well, and they only ever cooperated because they viewed themselves as better than everyone else.


    This could very well be the Giant n version of politics, and we''re caught in the middle of it."


    Karl frowned. "Then what do we do?"


    "Do? We try not to die. The main lines are gone, dispersed, in hiding. If the Frost Giants arranged this, they will be marching through here in a matter of days with an entire city full of Giants. But from the direction that those two dragons were going, and the amount of fire off in the distance, I don''t think that is the case.


    If their n was to gain allies in the Dragons, they picked the wrong ones. That Frost Dragon might be on their side, but the Magma Dragon? They''re essentially mortal enemies. Their elements arepletely opposed to the point that one cannot survive where the other one lives." Doug exined with a deep frown as he tried to make sense of the situation.


    "Well, if the amount of ash that is dropping on the area is any indication, the snow won''tst for long. The fires were already starting as the snow melted, and the volcano is still going off. How long do those eruptions evenst, anyhow?" Karl asked.


    Doug and Lotus both shrugged, before Doug answered. "Usually, it''s just one big st, and then there will beva flows for a few more weeks, but with a st this massive it will take days or weeks for the sky to clear. Perhaps that''s why the Frost Dragon flew away, it wouldn''t have wanted to be in that ash cloud any more than we do.


    But if that eruption is being fuelled by an angry Magma Dragon, the ash won''t cool, it will get hotter, and the cloud will continue to spread. Soon, we won''t have to worry about being cold."


    Bob looked toward the direction where the eruption was still taking ce, as if he could see it through the stone of the mountain. "That''s all well and good, but it doesn''t answer the question that both of our teams were sent her to learn the answer to. Where did the Frost Giants get the power to expand the borders, and how do we undo it?"


    Karl smiled. "I should have guessed that you got reassigned here for the same reason that I was here. We thought that it was the Frost Stones, and that if we could reverse whatever we were doing, or steal enough of the focal points, it would reverse the effect, and let the snow begin to recede."


    Bob smiled. "Of course, our missions weren''t quite the same. We were strictly here to find a way to reverse the effects, while I am under the impression that you were here to find the underlying cause. That wasn''t what they asked of us."


    Lotus giggled. "I wonder if [Huge pissed off dragon melted everything with a volcano] is enough to get the bonus for reversing the cold effect?"


    That made Bob''s whole groupugh. "I suspect that they won''t let us im credit for this one without exining how we set the dragons loose, and then we would have to take responsibility for that as well."


    Lotus waved her hands. The word ''responsibility'' was anathema to the Green Dragon''s followers and other Nature Priestesses.


    Harry, the warrior with the ice blue eyes that came with the Mackenzie Brothers, looked toward the entrance, which was now ominously silent as the door had been buried by ash and snow.


    "Hey, how long do you think that we will be stuck in here? I mean, we have radio signal still, but I get the feeling that going outside in the next few days will not be easy or wise." He asked.


    Doug just shrugged. "It''s a volcanic eruption, they can''t give us crap for being buried inside. But fortunately, we have a spot far inside the mountain because that hot ash would make it distinctly ufortable in a smaller cave, even if you escaped the fires."

 Chapter 292 In The Mountain

    <h4>Chapter 292 In The Mountain </h4>


    [All units along the volcanic line, we are reforming one hundred kilometres from the border. When it is safe, make your way back toward the reformed line outside the burn zone. Units who are unable to retreat, sound off for attempted rescue.] The line General requested over the radio the next morning.


    Karl looked over at Bob Mackenzie, who just shrugged.


    "We''re pretty much fine where we are, we''re not going to be affected by the fires in here, the Dwarves nned for things like that. So, we might as well just wait it out, as we''re already in front of the main lines." He suggested.


    [Line Command, this is 95988, we are isted in front of the lines, past the fire threat. We will shelter in ce until the situation is resolved.] Karl informed them, right before Doug called in to inform them of the same thing.


    If Command suspected that they were together, they didn''t say anything, only confirming that they wanted the two teams to continue daily check-in protocol, so they could confirm that they were alive and well.


    The other soldiers and Elites were quickly escaping from the area as the snow melted, and the forests began to burn under the hot ash, which seemed to be intensifying, instead of dissipating, as it should have after an eruption.


    The Magma Dragon was still somewhere in the area and staking his im on the region around the volcano, adapting it to more perfectly suit his personality and racial environment requirements.


    He was a proud and ancient being, locked away for a millennium, and now that he was free, it was obvious to the two nature priests that the Dragon intended to make himself a new home right where he had been imprisoned.


    "It would be nice if we could getmunications from further away. Now that they''re retreating, it''s not going to be easy to even get the dailymunications out to the lines. There is a channel for long distance, low-qualitymunications, but that won''t let us hear any of the news from the other fronts, only get our signal through to the lines in Morse code." Bob exined.


    The rest of the group gave him nk looks and heughed.


    "There is a trantion on the radio, it''s a series of long and short tones. It makes it easier to understand distant signals, and the Command Staff will have both an automatic decoder and an expert on hand to trante signals. It''s only to be used for urgent messages, and you keep it brief.


    Normally, what we would send would be something like our name and then all alive." He exined.


    Not long after, the radio signals on the main channels started to get less frequent, as the teams that could be recovered were led to safety. The ash was clogging up the vehicles and making it hard to breathe, but a mage or cleric barrier made it rtively safe to keep moving, as long as you weren''t too close to the volcano, where the Dragon''s magic was already imbued into the ash, and causing it to burn through barriers.


    Bobughed as the radio finally had a moment of silence, with nobody attempting to transmit. "This might be the most rxing mission I''ve been on in a while."


    Tessa chuckled at the notion. "Only for the next few days. Things are going to get hectic again after the Frost Giants regroup and try to eliminate that Dragon from their border. They might evene back with the Frost Dragon."


    Karl considered that for a moment. Their elements lined up, and the dragon had flown off into their territory, but that was no guarantee that they were on the same team. In fact, if they really had been trying to siphon power from the Dragons, they might have made a new enemy of the creature.


    Karl took some time to work on rebuilding the energy focus in all the beast spaces, and noticed that Remi had made some interesting alterations to her swamp. There was a miniature swamp within the swamp, using sprigs of the various nts and small rocks, so she could slither through it like she was a giant snake, as tall as the trees.


    It was cute, like a child''s yhouse, and Remi looked happy with her construction, so Karl didn''t mention anything about it as he continued to build the power in the spaces. It would still be quite some time before she was fully grown, but the other three were slowly moving up through Commander rank and didn''t seem to be limited by anything yet.


    It was simply a matter of time, lots of time, until they managed to advance again.


    Therge Frost Stone that Thor had obtained had been transferred to Remi''s space, and was serving as the focal point behind a tform like the one that the Naga Bosses in the dungeon had been standing on.


    Remi had the book that Ophelia had found opened on the tform, where she had built up a set of strange statues. They had been ced around the perimeter of the space, and she was currently working on some sort of skill, Karl assumed. She was intensely focused on something, and she was adjusting the position of the items on her tform, then focusing again, and making more adjustments.


    Comparatively, Hawk was making small flying mice out of his fire, Thor was napping in his pond full of Holy Stones, and Rae was carefully rearranging the corpses strung up in her forest.


    It took a while for Karl to understand what the little snake was up to, but Remi was trying to create a Totem. Each of the stacks of stuff was designed to represent something, and she had even made a bunch out of mud, then adorned them with shiny things to get them just right.


    He couldn''t tell what sort of effect she was going for, but it looked like the Frost Stone had been permanently changed by the magic of the Magma Dragon.


    Even now that it had cooled her her swamp, the stone was still glowing red and not ice blue, though it was still giving off a strong sense of magic. Perhaps that was why Remi was having so much trouble trying to get her totem experiment to work, but as she was basing if off the ones that Ophelia made, there was a chance that she would need to make extensive modifications anyhow to make a Shaman type totem.


    It didn''t really matter if she was sessful, though. Remi had found a learning project that was keeping her attention for more than five minutes, and that alone was impressive.


    Even if most of it was just making statues of herself out of y and then decorating them to see if they would be magical. It seemed a bit silly, but it was making her happy, and the fact that there were dozens of little Remi statues around the tform now was highly entertaining to the other beasts.


    Among the humans, everyone had a hobby to pass the time as they waited. Karl had chosen to meditate to work on his strength, as had the three clerics, though they had taken a mid-afternoon break to y with the beasts before focusing again.


    They were just beginning to rx for the evening, secure in the fact that they were underground with the entrance to their bunker buried under ash, when a roaring from above them caught everyone''s attention.


    It wasn''t the deep roar of the Magma Dragon, it sounded smaller, but simr in tone.


    Then there were more roars in the distance, and the sound of pping wings.


    Dougughed as the dragon flew away. "I hope that''s a territory fight about to break out. Because if that idiot of a Magma Dragon has attracted a mate already, it''s going to take forever before it''s safe to leave the mountain."


    That was a thought that hadn''t urred to them before. The Magma Dragon was turning the area into a perfect nest for himself, but what if there was another single Magma Dragon in the area?


    It seemed unlikely, as there were no other volcanic areas that Karl knew of, but anything could seem possible if you knew little enough about how the world worked. And he knew exactly zero about how Magma Dragon mating rituals worked.


    Whatever happened, it was in the distance because they didn''t hear anything else that night other than a few more messages from the lines, reporting that there were no Frost Giants approaching their new position today, and that the ck cloud of ash was still blotting out the sky.


    Once that changed, and the ash began to cool, they would head out to see what survived.

 Chapter 293 Remi’s Dedication

    <h4>Chapter 293 Remi''s Dedication</h4>


    The first of them to see sess in their endeavours that week was Remi. On the third day after they had hidden inside the vige to wait out the volcanic fallout, she managed to reach a level of sess with her Totems that none of the others had expected.


    "Well, did you find something good in the book?" Karl asked as the overjoyed Spirit Snake came outside to show off for everyone at the same time.


    Remi shook her head, and gave a smile that made her fangs drop, startling the members of the other group, except for Doug, who had been expecting it.


    She focused hard, glowing with red energy for a moment, and then a small Lamia statue appeared on the ground.


    It was four-armed, with brown scales and a cream underside, where Karl had been expecting it to be blue and gold like Remi herself, but the head definitely looked like Remi.


    The statue just sat there, looking almost lifelike, until Remi asked Karl for some help.


    [I need a target.] She exined.


    "Remi needs a target for her spell." Karl informed the others, causing Dana to create her two Golems for the Spirit Snake to work with.


    "There you go, Remi. Show us what you''ve got." The mageughed, unsure what the statue was actually going to be able to do against a Golem. Unless it was a form of Golem itself.


    The totem rotated to face the Golems, and then began spitting ming balls at the Golems, leaving them scorched and dripping with some sort of thick burning liquid.


    [ming Serpent Totems. They burn and poison!] Remi dered proudly.


    After a dozen fireballs over the course of thirty seconds, the Golems were looking ready to crumble and the totem vanished, but that was more than enough for the group to see what they could do.


    "Burning poison? That''s a new one, I thought she was an Ice Element creature with a secondary lightning attack?" Doug asked.


    "She''s a Shaman ss creature. A natural-born Spirit Snake Shaman." Karl exined.


    "So, she''s basically an Elemental caster, with a full range? Those totems will be a game changer for ambushes. They can be left behind, and they will attack enemies without putting anyone in danger." Doug realized.


    Remi''s shock startled Karl. She had never considered using them that way.


    [How were you thinking they should be used?] Karl asked the little snake, curious as to how her mind worked.


    [You put them on your backpack, and they fire poison fireballs at anything trying to bother you.]


    Hawkughed in amusement. There was no doubt about it, he had been the inspiration for that totem, sitting on Dana''s backpack and firing fireballs.


    [Maybe stupid snake isn''t as stupid as I thought.] He mused, keeping themunication as a whisper between him and Karl, so Remi couldn''t hear him.


    "Remi says she thought they would be good if you put them on your backpack, so they would go where you go, and protect the group. They onlyst thirty seconds or so right now, but I think that with some practice and time, that can be extended." Karl ryed to the group.


    "Oh, that''s not bad. A defensive snake totem." Ophelia agreed, then frowned.


    The totems were too small to see over her head when she was in bear form. But they could at least watch her back or something, she guessed.


    But just casting them on the ground to the sides of the fight would be good enough for most situations. It would allow them to attack without being in the way, and like her own totems, which expired quickly when she wasn''t fighting, they could be constantly moved to be in the best position for the current situation.


    Totems were easily crushed, and these ones would be targeted because they actually did damage, so you wanted to keep them some distance away from the main fight.


    If the enemy had to turn their back on you to crush the attacking totems, you got free swings at them while they were defenceless.


    "Once things calm down, I will work with Remi to show her all the ways that you can use Totems in a fight." The Bear Totem Berserker announced with a smile.


    She didn''t have any offensive totems yet, but her ss was known to gain them once they reached Commander Rank.


    The advancement made by Remi served as motivation for everyone else, and they all increased their training that week, as they waited for news from outside that the ash cloud was beginning to dissipate.


    The fires were raging through the mountains, only stopping when they reached natural firebreaks like rocky cliffs or wide rivers. That had turned a huge chunk of the mountain range around the Volcano into an uninhabitable nightmare, and there were reports from the scouts that there were Fire Elemental creatures roaming the area when they went to inspect it.


    If nothing else, that should keep the Frost Giants away, but the ash cloud was lingering much longer than it should have, and wasn''t spreading out to darken the skies over as wide of an area as the radio reports suggested they were expecting.


    The Dwarven Vige had proven to be an incredible radio antenna after Doug had attached their antenna to a vein of metal on one wall, and they were able to receive, but not easily transmit, clear signals even the hundred kilometres from the new front line.


    The rest of the front line wasn''t that lucky. The spots where there was no massive ash cloud, or enraged Magma Dragon, were facing intensified assaults from the Frost Giants, who had been disced from a few unfriendly areas along the border.


    Now that they only had a few areas tounch their assault through, the Frost Giants hadn''t given up. They had only focused their reinforcements on the more hospitable areas, which was giving everyone a headache.


    The defenders couldn''t afford to transfer too many soldiers, in case the Frost Giants moved back to the less friendly portions of the border, but they needed as many as they could get on the portions of the line where the attacks were still taking ce.


    From what Karl could tell, further down the border between the two nations, there had been another incident of some sort, and the Frost Giants hadpletely retreated, ceding the area to the Hill Giants after the snow melted.


    That put their current position near the southeastern end of the battle lines, with arge Frost Giant city supplying new troops constantly, as a staging point for their invasion.


    On the tenth day, the ash cloud began to dissipate, and the temperature of the falling ash dropped until it stopped sparking spontaneous wildfires. There was still ayer of blowing ash all over the region, sustained by the Dragon''s magic so it would never truly fade, but what was blowing out of its territory wasn''t harmful to anything but a housekeeper''s sanity.


    That was their sign. The worst of it was over, and the reports said that they were outside the dragon''s territory, so the falling ash should have mostly ended, though they were still close enough to get some blowing at them.


    "Shall we go see what is outside, and get back to work dealing with the Frost Giants? We can strike what dares toe close to these hills and return here every evening." Bob Mackenzie suggested.


    Karl nodded. "That works for me. We can work our way into the Frost Giant nation and attack troop patrols as onerge unit, to cut down on the number of reinforcements that the main line is getting.


    They''re still being drowned in numbers by the weaker Giants, so there is almost certainly at least one more of the summoning spots active. If we can trace it back, we might be able to do something about it."


    Tori and Ty both gave Karl matching looks that said he was insane, but a strong desire for vengeance burned in Tessa''s eyes.


    "I owe them for the broken arm. Do you have any idea how much that hurt? If it wasn''t for Tessa being clear of the ridge, I likely would have lost it before I could get it in ce and healed." She growled.


    The Ranger sighed, narrowing his ck eyes as he stared at the War Cleric, trying to decipher her intentions.


    "Well, if there are the ten of us, we should be alright. They normally send their reinforcements in groups of ten, so even if we hit an all Commander group, it won''t be too bad." He eventually agreed, holding his objections when he saw how serious the Cleric was about her vengeance against the summoning spells.

 Chapter 294 The Path More Travelled

    <h4>Chapter 294 The Path More Travelled </h4>


    Getting out of the cave required shovels with a magical barrier over them, as the falling ash had hardened into ayer that would put the average concrete wall to shame, and theyer was over a metre thick.


    That didn''t bode well for what was outside, where they found that the trees had been mostly spared from the fire this far from the volcano, but there were still signs of scorching, and the undergrowth waspletely gone, so the trees themselves might be dead within the next few months if they couldn''t get water through the ash.


    Karl wasn''t certain how porous the newly fallen ash would be, but once they were outside, he realized that the upperyers were all soft ck dust, like an upperyer of dirt, and there would likely be things growing here soon enough. If that was the case, the trees would likely be able to grow new roots to survive, even if the ashyer didn''t let much water through.


    Doug looked around. "Well, this isn''t as bad as I feared. We''re outside the dead zone, and the ash didn''t burn down the forest around us, though the trees are pretty scorched, and I see that some of them boiled off and exploded.


    If we head a few more kilometres, we should be out of the ash entirely, and that will be where we run into Frost Giant reinforcements skirting the destruction. They don''t deal well with heat or Fire Magic, as I''m sure we all remember."


    Hawkughed in his space. No, they did not like Fire Magic at all.


    Thebined group made their way forward, now able to keep Rae and Thor out, as the smaller trees were gone, and all the underbrush was buried under the ash. It would make it a bit harder to hide their tracks back to the Dwarven Vige, but the Frost Giants would be hesitant to follow them inside anyhow.


    They weren''t too concerned about humans finding the ce and making a mess, as there weren''t any others reported to be in the area. They were way behind the enemy lines, and the Frost Giants hadn''t been attacking through the ash zone at all, so the scouts stopped where the ash started.


    It was the perfect setup for them to hunt. Nobody in the way, nobody to ask questions if they did something strange, or give them trouble about going in abined group instead of as two separate teams.


    Karl sent Hawk up, and the bird immediately found that there were teams of Frost Giants spread out all the way to the horizon, and all headed this way from the city, going for the next section of front line, near where the first explosion had happened.


    With the hills and scattered trees, most of the groups couldn''t see each other, so if they timed their attacks right, they wouldn''t even rm other groups, despite the hundreds of Frost Giants that were spread out through the hills.


    "Ladies and Gentlemen, we''re in luck. There are more Frost Giants out there than we know what to do with, and they''re free for the taking. We''re inside their borders without a scout in sight, anything we kill is ours." Karl announced.


    "And what are you nning to gain from this?" Harry Kim, the warrior with the Mackenzie brothers team, asked curiously.


    "Hopefully, another smashing tool, or maybe a chopping one. I''ve got a two-handed de and a Maul from the Giants so far, but I think that there is a chance we can all load up on special weapons before we run out of Frost Giants to kill." Karlughed.


    Tessa smirked. "Plus, there is a maximum of two Giant Strength type items that a warrior pattern Elite can use. A ring and a bracelet or bracers. You can''t double up on identical items for each arm, they won''t grant you anything, but you can use them with a different effect on the other hand.


    I notice that neither you nor Ty have one yet, even though we dumped a bunch of them with the main lines, so we should get you some loot."


    Lotus nodded. "Plus some of the good white cloaks. These things are nice and warm, and they blend in with the snow very well. We might not be the most stealthy, but if they even confuse us with allies for a moment, it can help us get close."


    Karl led the group toward the closest team of ten Frost Giants, who looked like the Ascended type with a Commander in charge.


    They met with them just as the Frost Giants reached the bottom of a valley, letting themselves be easily ambushed by the Spider Golems, while Remi got the chance to try out her backpack totem theory.


    The totem appeared on Dana''s bag, and for a few seconds, it was spectacr. The totem was firing just as intended. Then Dana moved, and the totem fell to the ground, still working fine, but no longer mobile.


    [Noted. They need to be attached or something. But they don''tst long enough. Maybe the Beardy was right. I should put them at the edge of the fight.] Remi decided.


    That was what she did with the second batch, and it worked much better. Three of the Frost Giants turned to face the new threat, and were promptly stabbed through the back by the Spider Golems.


    "That''s just brutal." Tori gasped as she saw the fountain of blue blood from the heart strikes by the Golems.


    "Effective though." Dana agreed.


    Even with Hawk up high and scouting for their next target, the fight was over before the second group of Totems faded away, leaving Harry and Bob with smiles on their faces.


    "Now that''s the sort of fight that a defensive warrior appreciates. Short and brutal, not drawn out while a Frost Giant kicks my ass." Bob chuckled.


    "It''s certainly an improvement on fighting them while outnumbered. Where is the next group? We might as well keep moving." Harry agreed.


    "This way. Don''t forget to check the corpses for magical items. We will leave the bodies, so we can get as many as possible here today." Karl reminded them.


    In this formation, Thor was moved to support, protecting the clerics and mages, while moving to keep everyone in his Circle of Protection. Ty and Karl stood on the nks, as they both had bows, while Bob, Harry and Dana''s Golems were the front line, with Rae and her Golems as the ambush attackers. Ophelia moved wherever she felt needed, keeping the warriors from being pressed too hard, or joining the Spider Golems in their attacks from behind.


    The second group went much like the first one, but the third they timed incorrectly, and they managed to make a stand on top of a hill, which attracted other Frost Giants, who saw that they were under attack.


    "Do we try to fade into the trees, so that those two groups waiting for each other don''te at us together?" Harry asked as they saw the Frost Giants adjusting their course and speed.


    Bob shook his head. "We have the advantage in attack power, we move left and go to them. Hit them just as they''re beginning the search for us, before they can get settled into their roles on thebined team."


    "This one has a Giant strength ring, for whoever needs it." Tori cut in, and Karl could see the effort it was taking her not to fall into her customary flirting routine. She really was trying to be a proper party member.


    Or so he thought. She had slipped and made a suggestivement to Bob on the second day in the cave. In response, he told her that he didn''t like flirtatious little girls, which was a harsh blow to her ego. But Tori did like big, muscr, stoic men, so she was trying to show him that she wasn''t just some ditsy teen mage.


    The end result was that she was turning into apetent team member, so everyone else assumed she really had turned over a new leaf, which made it a small victory all around.


    "Same pattern as before. Remi, make sure your Totems are far enough from the group that the Giants can''t just stomp them. We will strike as soon as Rae is in position." Karl instructed.


    Remi could only keep two totems active at a time, but two streams of fireballs while she cast her Chain Lightning was more than enough to put her on even ground with the Ascended Mages in the group.


    That was enough for Karl, but Hawk and his opinion that beasts were better teammates than humans had stuck in Remi''s head, and she wanted to prove to Karl that he could rely on her, even if she was still small.

 Chapter 295 Totems and Spears

    <h4>Chapter 295 Totems and Spears</h4>


    The group rushed the Frost Giants, who were ready for their approach, but not for the dirty tricks that the team was about to pull on them.


    First, the appearance of the two snake totems pulled their attention to one side, as fire and venom invaded their bodies, amplifying the pain of the Chain Lightning. Then, once the left nk was distracted, the Spider Golems hit from the back, causing chaos in the ranks before Rae herself was into the right nk of the Frost Giants.


    She wasughing as she dodged a long spear that one of the Giants was holding,pletely removing one of the two Commanders from the fight, and forcing the formation to spread out, to avoid being in the way of his attacks.


    With [haste], the Giant had no chance of actuallynding a solid hit on the nimble Bloodbath Spider unless she got closer to him, but that wasn''t her goal. She just wanted the real fighters out of the way while her minions took care of the weaklings.


    Then, she got a brilliant idea. A stream of silk wrapped the spear, and with her forelegs, she pulled it free of the Giant''s hands as he lunged forward on the attack. Then she fired her own volley of [Spears] back at him, small spikes that peppered him with heavily bleeding wounds.


    [Where is your spear goddess now?] Raeughed, and Karl felt an ominous sense of attention in the back of his mind, as if they had insulted something that could look down on them from another ne of existence.


    [Maybe don''t insult war goddesses?] Karl suggested as Rae hurled mental insults at the enraged Frost Giant, who was finding it impossible to catch her.


    [Then I will make him give the pointy stick to our War Cleric and have her teach the Frost Giants how to use one.] Rae retorted.


    She whipped the strand of silk, sending the spear flying clumsily toward the clerics.


    "Tessa, catch. She says it''s for you, since a Cerro Knight needs ance." Karl joked.


    Though she was confused, Tessa caught the flying spear, which instantly bonded with her, creating a golden shafted and silver headed spear that looked infinitely more impressive than the crudely enchanted item the Frost Giant had been using.


    Instead of a crude metal wedge, the spear now had wide, three sided des as long as her forearm at the tip, with a hooked crossbar, like a boar spear, to keep it from running all the way through the target.


    The spear glowed with Holy Light as she hopped up on Thor''s back and led the Lightning Cerro on a charge into the Frost Giant Ranks with her spear levelled and her shield in her other hand.


    The warriorsughed at the sight, but when she thrust the spear forward, and the de sunk into a Commander Rank Frost Giant to the crossbar, then carried him off his feet with the momentum of a charging Thor, they couldn''t help but be impressed.


    The Spider Golems closed on Thor''s nks, so nothing could attack him as Tessa shook the spear free of her target, and they came around for a second charge.


    "It''s a spear, not ance, you don''t have to run them through." Bob yelled as the duo charged at the Giants again.


    Thor bugled an annoyed response. Running them through was?way more fun than just stabbing them. But with quick thrusts of the de, Tessa attacked the Frost Giants, letting Thor run down the ones he wanted, so she could stab them while they were on the ground.


    If Thor was going to remain as a charger, he was going to need some practice. The happy prancing was not at all dignified.


    The second charge carried them out of Rae''s side of the battle, while the Ascended Rank Giants scattered and tried to survive the affections of the Spider Golems chasing after Thor. As for actual damage, it might not be the most effective. But as a chaos tactic for breaking an enemy formation, Thor''s method was unparalleled.


    The Frost Giants didn''tst much longer, and the next group was still over a kilometre away, on the other side of the ridge, when thest of them fell.


    "Check the bodies quickly for other good things. There are more Giantsing. Thor, this time you and Tessa are in reserve. Stay back unless you need to charge to rescue the warriors, but no charging right through the lines." Karl admonished.


    Thor nodded and stomped his feet. He was a good Cerro, he would help however they needed, even if it meant all barriers and no smashing.


    [You cane forward and smash them with Tessa if they try to run away at the end.] Karl allowed, knowing it would make Thor happy.


    The next group came over the ridge as they were finishing the looting process, and Thor promptly forgot his instructions, and opted to go with Tessa''s motion to charge into battle with the Spider Golems.


    Karl realized that he really should have told Tessa as well, to prevent exactly this, but the Stone Golems were on their way forward, and thebination of a rampaging Lightning Cerro and two Spider Golems had taken out the Commander before the reinforcement group even realized that they were in trouble.


    Then the arrows from Karl and Ty reached them, sending Lightning and fire into their ranks, while the warriors moved to nk the existing front-line formation. The spear seemed to have an affinity for Tessa, and it adjusted from two to three metres long with a thought as she fought the Frost Giants, giving her the reach she needed in battle, while also shortening enough that she could still stab them when Thor got up close and personal.


    Insulting war deities might not be the brightest thing they had ever done, but it seemed to have worked out well for their War Cleric.


    Once the battle was over, everyone took a break to refresh while Lotus made them a light snack and some fresh water.


    Harry smirked at Tessa as she rested against Thor''s nk.


    "You know, you have to be the least cleric like Priestess that I''ve ever met." He joked.


    "You just aren''t around the Red Dragon Priestesses enough. We love to fight, we just don''t often get as many great opportunities as I do. If I was the only cleric in the group, I wouldn''t be able to charge intobat with Thor, I would have to hang back, as the group couldn''t afford to have me injured.


    But with two others, including a High Priest, it''s no problem at all if I buff up and head for the front line. During the consolidation wars, many of the Red Dragon Priests fought that way, with healers in the back and the War Clerics up front among the warriors, keeping offensive buffs active and defensive blessings spread through those who needed them most."


    Harry nodded. "The War Clerics have always been a bit nuts, but nobody doubts their bravery. The golden standard for military units is that they shouldn''t retreat until the War Clerics tell them to. If they canst until the Red Dragon''s Clerics think it''s best, then they''ve done all you could ask of them."


    Harry held up a de, then caused it to vanish into his inventory,ing back as a slightly oversized sword, but still usable single-handed with a shield.


    "Nice, nothing too special, but a freezing effect on a Commander Rank de will serve me well for many years after I get out of this frozen shithole." He exined.


    Bob gave him a celebratory pat on the back. "You can''t argue with that. Once we finish here, freezing the enemy will work much better."


    He had a good point. Once they were outside the Frost Giant Nation, freezing effects were going to be incredibly effective. Most creatures could be easily slowed or encased in ice if the magic was strong enough, it just didn''t affect the Frost Giants and Yeti the same way, due to their Ice Elemental nature.


    "How many more groups will we hit today?" Lotus asked as they finished the cleanup work.


    Karl shrugged. "I say that we head back just after lunch. We''re going to have to start moving back and forth to get the groups, as they''re not all following the same path, so we will want to be back for an early dinner."


    There were no arguments to that suggestion. They had been sitting for days, and the first day back they had been working hard to eliminate the Frost Giants. An early dinner and a long rest were just what they needed to be ready to target a new region tomorrow.


    After all, hitting the same one every time would only cause the Frost Giants to avoid it.

 Chapter 296 Still The Same

    <h4>Chapter 296 Still The Same </h4>


    Tessa frowned down at the body of theirst kill of the day. The Frost Giant was a Commander, one of the many team leaders that they had killed that day, and unfortunately, identical in appearance to the others under the war paint.


    Doug stepped up beside her, and turned the corpse''s head to one side with his boot.


    "It would have been better if they were different looking." He grumbled, agreeing with Tessa''s silentint.


    "Well, we can say for certain that they still have the means to summon more Frost Giants, and we now have a decent idea where they areing from." Lotus added helpfully.


    Karl checked a corpse for magical items before he joined the conversation. "And once we radio in for the evening, Command will know as well, but I''m not certain what they will be able to do about it. From the sound of things, this front is being withdrawn further every day, and the number of actual elites on the line is nearly nonexistent now.


    They have been called away to the other fronts, and the regr army has been left to deal with the Frost Giants."


    The battle wasn''t lost. In fact, it was far from it. What the army was doing was luring the Frost Giants down out of the mountains, where they could shell the enemy lines with impunity.


    They did have to evacuate a few viges, but that was a minor loss in the grand scheme of things, and the relocation would cost them less than a day''s worth of wasted munitions if the Frost Giants continued to hide in the hills.


    The same General was responsible for this section of the line, and it sounded like he had gotten a single Elite strike team to stay with him for security reasons, but almost all the other scouts had been swapped for regr soldiers with a battle cleric.


    The change was obvious to anyone in range, as the radio call in patterns were different for the Elites, who gave their number, and the Clerics working for the army, who gave a team designation by regiment andpany.


    Theirs was the only regr daily check-in that was stilling to that position by Elite number, and they were considered to be too far behind enemy lines to be extracted, so the army just epted the numbers that Karl and Bob gave for the day without question.


    They certainly weren''t going to send anyone out here to find out for sure, and they didn''t want the teams to stop hunting if they were giving urate numbers. Intercepting them in small groups before they got to the main lines was much more effective, it seemed, than hitting them with artillery.


    Once they were safely back in the vige for the night, they began drawing up a map of the Frost Giant reinforcement routes, and marking them the same way that the officers marked the battle lines. It still seemed like the best way to do it, but with so few details on their map, anyone else who read it might not even understand what they were looking at.


    "So, what do you think, should we go for a spot near the other attacks, or should we go all the way over here, to make it look like there are multiple groups hidden in their territory?" Karl asked with a gesture to the map.


    Bob pointed further down the border. "I think that we should hit them over here, so they believe that it might be somethinging out of the ash zone and killing their reinforcements. They would naturally suspect it, and it would make for a good cover, instead of sending them looking for humans immediately."


    Karl looked to the others, and they nodded in agreement.


    "Alright, that sounds like the best n we''ve got. I will have Hawk scout the area in the morning, and we can attack the Frost Giants further down the border, closest to the ash wastes, first."


    With their n made, they settled in for the evening, keeping a light watch from inside the vige. The cave mouth was open now, as the presence of snow over the ash would actually make it easier to find them instead of harder.


    But when they arrived, the cave was open and nothing had ever disturbed it, so none of them were too concerned about it, especially with the Spider Golems standing watch in the tunnel all night, prepared to deal with anything that might try to attack them.


    Karl didn''t have a turn on watch that night, so he woke up to the smell of breakfast cooking, and Hawk''s first morning scouting report.


    [We don''t need to go down by the border. There are no Frost Giants there. The glowing red things ate them.] He reported.


    [Glowing red things?]


    [Maybe Fire Elementals? They are red, they burn everything they touch, and they really like turning Frost Giants into ash when they get too close to the border.] Hawk replied.


    "Hawk says that there are Fire Elementals in the ash wastes, and they are attacking the Frost Giants who get too close. Going there to fight them might get us attacked, but there aren''t any more Frost Giants there this morning, even if we wanted to go look for them." Karl exined to the others.


    "How did he describe them?" Doug asked.


    "Red and glowing, on fire, and they burn everything they touch."


    Doug nodded. "Ask him if they look solid. They might be Magma Elementals, a hybrid earth and fire species. They''remon in magically rich volcanos, and the Magma Dragon might have been nurturing them. It makes sense that they would serve as the guards for his territory, but we need to know for certain before we report it.


    If it is a proper Fire Elemental, it looks like living mes and just moves through the air without anything to burn."


    [Yeah, that first thing sounds right. They''re kind of small, but really hot. They go dark red, almost ck when they touch the Frost Giants, but when a bunch of them do it, the whole giant burns to nothing.]


    Karl ryed the message, and Doug ryed it back to the main lines.


    "We are going to have to change our ns. If we''re working near the ash wastes, we should burn all the bodies, so the Giants can''t tell if the group was eliminated by us or the elementals. If we''re further out, we can leave them like usual and work through them at a higher rate.


    More importantly, we need to pick a new area to target for the day. If this is the first time that the creatures of the Ash Wastes attacked out into the snow, then it might be the start of a new conflict as the Dragon attempts to expand his own space as well.


    Or, they might have just been too close forfort, and his minions were defending their border. The Elementals have an innate hatred for water and ice element magic." Bob exined as Doug sent the reports back to headquarters.


    [Understandable.] Hawk replied as Karl exined the situation to the beasts.


    When it came to elemental affinities, Hawk was definitely on the side of the Magma Elementals, but it was more important that the Frost Giants not know that they were being hunted from this particr edge of the Ash Wastes.


    If the Frost Giants thought that this was the weaker end of the Dragon''s defences, and not just an outlying area covered in ash, then they might well send a full offensive here, and the ten of them didn''t stand much chance if they were caught in the open by that.


    Everyone knew it was a dangerous game they were ying, taunting so many of the Frost Giants. But the odds were strongly in their favour, as long as the Frost Giant army didn''t know where they were sleeping.


    [Combined team Mackenzie. Your intel is received. Hold for further updates. Three.]


    Thest bit didn''t make sense to Karl when he heard it over the radio, but Doug smiled happily.


    "Three is the number of days before they n to take action. As that action involves us, we can guess that it''s going to be an offensive of some sort, to try to push the Frost Giants back.


    For all we know, the freezing enchantment might have been broken not only near us, but all along the line, and the borders might be returning to normal." The Nature Priest exined.


    "Or they could be running short on clones, and the front lines are actually making progress." Tessa reminded them.


    "Right. That brings us back to the topic of the day, what route are we going to ambush?" Karl agreed.

 Chapter 297 Inland Route

    <h4>Chapter 297 Ind Route</h4>


    Bob looked at the map and pointed well ind of any of the major routes.


    "What if we don''t ambush any of them, but instead, we zigzag across the pattern, as if we were a wandering monster pack being chased from ce to ce. It would confuse them with its disorganized nature, and it would let us search their territory to see if there are any signs of where they might be making the new clones.


    I suspect that it is actually in the city, where we won''t be able to easily get to the next summoning spell, but if it is still out in the wild, then there is a chance that we can break their reinforcements a little more, and not just by killing them in vast quantities.


    If one spell can make a group every half hour, we would have to kill them every fifteen minutes during daylight hours just to keep up. That isn''t feasible in the long term, so it would be better if we could find a way to either distract or dy them, assuming that there isn''t a good way to stop the cloning."


    Karl nodded. "That works for me. The main lines will thank us for every Frost Giant that we kill, and if we happen to find something that can stop them from continuing to make more attackers, it will be even better.


    I know that we reported it, but who knows if High Command took it seriously enough that they are going to actually do something about it and not just throw more bodies on the line to face an unending tide of Frost Giants.


    Eventually, even we will get tired and worn down by the fight, so anything that has a chance to change the bnce is worth trying."


    They led the group out again, hunting groups of Frost Giants, who were no more on guard than the first day back had been. That made no sense, as they hadn''t cleaned up the bodies. They had to have passed at least a few dead groups of Giants on the way, but they hadn''t taken any additional precautions, and they were barely paying attention to their surroundings.


    But their inattentiveness began to make sense when the group reached the second path. They Giants there were almost running through the tundra toward their spots on the main lines. So, it wasn''t that the first group was inattentive, they were all rushing, and the Frost Giants were just doing the best they could while following orders to make it to the front as soon as possible.


    "Well, we should kill a few groups this way. We will still be fighting when the next group shows up at this rate, so we are going to eventually have to rush a fight so we can break free and make it to the next path." Bob realized as they prepared to fight again.


    Doug shrugged, unconcerned. "We will do what we can. If it turns into a huge fight here, then it is what it is."


    Ty and Harry gave him a look that said he should be concerned, as it would lead to an all-day fight until they were exhausted and made a mistake. But the Nature Priest had a level of confidence that they could only aspire to.


    Today, Thor was pulled back to the second line, defending the casters, but by the time that the fourth group made it to their battle, that proved to be a valuable bit of foresight.


    The Frost Giants pushed past the warriors, taking light wounds to shoulder them aside. If it hadn''t been for Thor, they might have made it into the much less durable magic users, and that would have been a disaster.


    With Thor''s Lightning Barrier on them, they weren''t just squishy and easily killed, but they didn''t have Giant Strength, so they could end up being grabbed and hurled through the air, while they were unable to fight back.


    But with Thor blocking, the Giants ended up boxed in, and were quickly dispatched by the arrows fired by Karl and Ty.


    "This is a mess. Rae, finish those quickly, and we will withdraw to the first line, but further toward the city. That way, we can make a fighting retreat at the end of the day. We''re not going to make it any further with so many Giants on the path today." Karl announced.


    Hawk broke away from the fight to scout them a route to the next fight, assuming that they could get away from this one, but came back with bad news.


    [There is no more first line today. They''re all on this path. The Elementals have chased them away from the Ash Wastes.] He exined.


    "Hawk says we have two routes worth of Frost Giants to fight. They abandoned the line closest to the dragon''s territory." Karl informed the others.


    Bob nodded. "Finish these as quickly as we can. If we can charge into the next group, we can take them by surprise. Advancing into them, so they don''t see the other bodies, should give us a little bit of an advantage, and we can use all we can get.


    When the day starts to wear us down, we will retreat toward the ash and see if they follow."


    Karl burned extra mana to add [ming Body] to all the arrows, in addition to [Chain Lightning]. The extra damage took the Giants out fast enough that they still hadn''t heard or seen any sign of the next group when the fight ended.


    So, they charged forward, away from the growing pile of corpses and into fresh snow, where they could ambush the Frost Giants from inside of Remi''s [Blizzard].


    The change of pace was just what they needed, and the group picked up a new rhythm, hitting the Frost Giants hard, and then taking a short breather before charging into another group. They didn''t move far between fights, just enough that the next group didn''t realize that the blinding snow wasn''t a natural phenomenon, as the day was windy, and blowing snow was a constant phenomenon in theirnds.


    They managed to keep the pace until the middle of the afternoon, when Hawk informed them that the flow of Giants was slowing, and that would give them a chance to retreat and hide before they got too hungry.


    There wasn''t enough of a break for them to sit down and eat a proper meal, so they had been snacking between fights. That was enough to keep going for a while, but it wasn''t good for a whole day''s worth ofbat.


    They weren''t uncaring bureaucrats who saw fighters as data on a sheet, just numbers to be added and subtracted, so they would let the rest of the Frost Giants go, and take care of themselves first.


    They were about to retreat when Lotus pulled an interesting item from the body of one of the Commander Rank team leaders.


    "Check this out. I think that it''s a drawing of the statue of the Allmother that Remi is holding on to. They''re still looking for it, so there has to be something special about that particr statue." She announced as Rae flipped the tiny cleric onto her back for the run.


    "Did we find anything simr on the others?" Karl asked as they jogged off toward a stand of trees closer to the ash coverednds near the volcano.


    "No, The tube that it was in caught my eye because they never have scrolls or anything with them, and I''m not sure that they even have a writtennguage to read. But it''s just the drawing, so I don''t know what they are nning to do when they find it. For all I know, it might be a drawing to get someone to make another statue." Lotus realized.


    Karl shrugged and slowed his pace once they were out of sight behind the trees and headed into the ashes.


    "Anything is possible, but my guess is that they can''t recreate whatever magic is on the old one, so they want it back, and they''ve got the reinforcements looking for it. We just happened to find someone who didn''t dispose of the instructions before leaving town." He offered.


    Bob frowned as he replied, an expression that made him look much older than he actually was. "We will know more tomorrow. If there are more scrolls, then it''s a new thing. If there aren''t, then it was a one-off, and likely not so important.


    But I get the feeling that the Giants are getting desperate. They are running to the lines, which could only mean that they are urgently needed. None of us heard anything on the radio, but that''s no surprise, we can barely hear the messages from the closest front, and during the day, we can''t even hear that."


    [Despair is good. Let them suffer.] Rae cheered.

 Chapter 298 Light Reinforcement Day

    <h4>Chapter 298 Light Reinforcement Day </h4>


    The radio reports of the soldiers on the line were so happy to have a reduction in the Frost Giant numbers that it felt cruel to report in their numbers that day.


    The main lines were celebrating that the Frost Giant reinforcements were finally slowing down, but that all came to a crashing halt when they found out that it was only because Karl''s merged group had killed hundreds of Giants today, and nearly prevented them from resupplying their lines.


    That news was a shock all through the Command Structure. There was something definitely amiss with this double strength group, but none of them were privy to the details of the group''s strength, other than their official rankings.


    On paper, they didn''t look like anything special. There was one extra cleric from the usualposition, but that shouldn''t change the oue of the fights in a highly positive way. If anything, it would normally reduce their efficiency, as the Clerics weren''t known for their damage output among well-equipped Elites.


    It was only among the average soldiers and the faithful on the line that they really shone as the beacons of power with their blessings.


    So, the Generals inmand of the Theatre were thoroughly baffled by the number of Frost Giants that the ten Elites were managing to kill. So much so, that they even sent a scout up the mountains to watch the Frost Giant city through binocrs.


    They could see that the Giants were leaving the city, and then at various points, they just stoppeding over the hills. A few times, they did manage to get a view of the fighting, but it was so far in the distance that none of them could make it out clearly through the blinding snow.


    Seeing all those Giants disappear before they could make it to the front lines was a wake-up call for the soldiers. The Elites in whatever group was hunting out there were even more scary than the groups of Frost Giants that they had been hoping not to run into during this mission.


    But more than that, they could keep up their kill count all day long.


    They seemed to have left the battlefield mid-afternoon, but you could only be inbat so long before bing exhausted, and by the preliminary count of the scouts, they had killed hundreds of Giants in a single day, just as their reports had insisted.


    Most of the top brass would not be happy to hear that, as they had thought that the threat was tapering off, and they could im credit for their stalwart defence. But if it wasn''t the case, then they were only resting while the Frost Giants found a new way around to attack their lines.


    But for groups that had retreated, other than the two who were closest to the Volcano, it was a golden opportunity to move up to a better position. They could retake the best defensible spots and fortify them as much as possible while the numbersing at them were lower than usual.


    It might be their only chance, and they didn''t know how long that group would be in the area. The suspicion was that it was an unannounced Royal Rank elite, and not two Commander led groups working together, as the official reports said.


    If they had a Prince with them, it would make sense that they could mow through Frost Giants so quickly. But even two on one at the same rank, it would not be easy to defeat the groups fast enough to get out of the way before the next group was on you.


    The sun faded from the sky, and the scouts bedded down for the night, hoping that Karl and his group would be back out in full force the next morning.


    The next morning brought the Generals just the reprieve that they were hoping for. More disappearing Frost Giant reinforcements all along the paths leading to the closest sections of the line.


    But what Karl and the others found was not nearly as encouraging.


    Tessa sighed as she picked up a wooden tube with her spear. "That''s the fifteenth one this morning. Every group leader, whether it''s a Commander or an Ascended, has one of the drawings of the statue.


    They are definitely hunting for it, and that means they''re not going to give up until they either find it or run out of soldiers. But if they''re still making more clones..." She trailed off, letting that sentiment linger.


    If they were making more clones, they would never run out of troops, they would just keep hunting for the statue, or whoever had taken it.


    Lotus shrugged. "At least the flow is lighter today. There are only a third as many groups as before, and that is with the first route blockaded by the Magma Elementals. I think that we might be able to push further forward, or up into the other routes, soon.


    If we can find out where the ones who aren''ting this way are going, we can ry that back to the lines and maybe save some lives."


    "Don''t you think that it''s getting warmer here? I mean, it''s still frigid, but it is definitely warmer here than it was a few days ago." Doug noted as they fought.


    "I think it is. That warm breezeing from the volcanic ash area is taking the chill out of the air, and it''s only a little below freezing now. At this rate, it might actually befortable to wait on the front lines, instead of a constant struggle to keep from bing an ice cube." Bob agreed.


    Karl looked up at the faint haze of ash still in the sky. "But the Giants don''t do well in the heat, so it might change their deployment routes. If they stoping this way entirely, then what do we do?"


    Tessa chuckled. "Then we kill Giants somewhere else until they give up and go home. If a Magma Dragon wants to hold this portion of the border for us, I have no objections to that.


    However, I do want to see what is in that city. If they''re still cloning Frost Giants, it would be best to find a way to destroy another of the statues or crystals."


    The group paused for a snack, as the groups were so far apart today, and Karl looked off in the distance, where the city should be if it wasn''t hidden behind the horizon.


    "If the rate drops again tomorrow, I say that we head for the city and see what''s going on. Perhaps they''re sending them on a different route, further from the Dragon. If thebination of us and the Elementals haspletely rerouted reinforcements to this portion of the line, then the army should know so that they can push their advantage."


    [Want me to go look?] Hawk asked.


    [Yeah, go ahead. We will do our own scouting here for the next few hours. Let us know what is going on in the city.] Karl agreed.


    "Hawk is going to go take a look. We will keep clearing what we can while he is gone, and then we can use whatever he finds to make our ns for tomorrow." Karl exined.


    Dana frowned at him. "We''re not seriously nning to raid a Frost Giant city, are we?"


    Karl shrugged, and the clericsughed.


    Doug shook his head. "The chances of that are very low. The summoning stone will likely be ced outside the city limits so that they can gather the troops and send them on the way without bothering the citizens.


    If it''s right in the middle of the city, there isn''t anything that we can do about it, and the army isn''t going to press all the way out here into Frost Giant territory to attack a city. They would rather save their manpower to defend the existing border and hope that we find a way to return the cold to the area it covered before the war.


    If that happens, then this front will be considered a resounding sess and the army will focus on the other fronts where there is much more danger."


    [Then we should smash the city and make the giants go away. I want to be warm again.] Thorined.


    "Thor says he''s all for driving the Frost Giants away if it means he gets to go to another front." Karlughed.


    This might be the supposedly easiest front, when judging purely by the rank of the opponents, but the pure numbers as well as the freezing cold certainly didn''t make it the most popr.

 Chapter 299 They Ran Away

    <h4>Chapter 299 They Ran Away</h4>


    What Hawk found in the Frost Giant city was not at all what anyone had been expecting. The city itself was nearly demolished, with arge breach in the wall that faced the Ash Wastes near the volcano.


    He was not the first one there, the Elementals had beat him to it, and from the look of it, they had either taken the city or done enough damage to make the civilian poption retreat. There was still a sizeable military contingent nearby, so the Elementals might not have won the battle, but the city was demolished anyhow.


    That began a search for the summoning spot. If he could find that, they could smash it and stop the reinforcements entirely. There was nobody on this team who wanted to leave more than Hawk did, and that included Remi, who couldn''t survive the cold for long in her current state.


    The logical ce for him to start was where the remaining Giants were. If they were still being summoned, the stones had to be there.


    But there was no big stone, no Giants standing in a circle to cast a ritual spell, just a bunch of weak Frost Giants standing in rows.


    [Hey, these Frost Giants are strange. They''re not identical to each other.] Hawk informed Karl.


    [Of course they''re not. There is a whole city full of them. How is the military situation there?] Karl replied.


    [The city is empty and most of the buildings are smashed and burned. All that is left are a few Awakened and Ascended Giants standing around outside, but they''re the ones who aren''t identical.] Hawk exined.


    [Do you see the path where the other Frost Giants left? They must have sent the ones who can''t fight, the very young and the elderly, out of the city when things got bad.] Karl asked.


    [Yes, back further into theirnds. Lots of them went that way, too many to tell by footprints.]


    [And they''re gone over the horizon already, even from your altitude?] Karl confirmed.


    [Long gone. Not even traces left, except the stomping that broke all the little bushes and ttened the snow.]


    [That is excellent news. If we can find where they were summoning from, we might be able to gain another statue.]


    Hawk snorted in annoyance. [I am looking. It''s not by the soldiers, and it''s not in the fields near the city, but there aren''t any more Frost Giants.]


    [Well, there is a chance they took it with them when they left. But we will head there tomorrow and clear the area if there is a small enough group left for us to fight.]


    [That sounds good. There can''t be more than three hundred left, but they''re almost all Awakened, and they don''t even have the good weapons with them.] Hawk agreed.


    Now, Karl just needed to sell the idea to the others, who would naturally be very wary of approaching a Frost Giant city, even if it looked abandoned.


    They might not have taken their ve species, who would have been ordered to defend what was left, and whatever took the city would not be happy to see random humans either, so no matter what they ran into, it was likely to end badly for them.


    Karl didn''t realize that everyone was watching him so intently until he turned to talk to them, with the intent to sell them the n to go check the Frost Giant city.


    "Well, out with it. I can tell that it''s a bad n already, but we might need to do it." Bob insisted.


    "The Frost Giants have abandoned their city after it was attacked and mostly razed to the ground. That is why the number of attackers dropped today, they were too busy fighting to send anyone to the front lines.


    However, there is still an Awakened Rank garrison of Giants there, plus any ve species or possible attackers who might still be in the city.


    What I am thinking is that we need to find out if they managed to take the summoning materials with them, or if they were destroyed in the attack." Karl began.


    Bob nodded. "Because if they left with them, the attacks won''t slow, they will just be reinforced from a new direction, and that doesn''t help us at all.


    But if the materials were destroyed, the Frost Giant front lines could very well be in full copse within the week.


    They''ve already lost most of their summoning ability with the spots near the front lines that were destroyed, and while they could theoretically make more, if it were just that easy, there would have never been peace with them."


    "Exactly. Now, is there anyone who has a good reason why we shouldn''t at least go check it out tomorrow?" Karl asked.


    Tori rolled her eyes as she red at him. "Other than the fact that you''re insane, that is a suicide mission, it''s a city full of Frost Giant Magic traps and possibly thousands of lesser ice monsters?"


    "Yeah, other than the obvious. Hawk says the city is mostly empty, and I really do want to know what they did with the summoning equipment. If it''s destroyed, that''s perfect. But Hawk can''t tell from the air, there''s just no sign of it." Karl exined.


    The mage looked around for support, but everyone else was either resigned to the fact that they were going to have to search for the summoning location, or kill off the rest of the Frost Giants in the area and then wait to see where the next batch wereing from.


    "Alright. I suppose it''s not actually more dangerous than fighting them in the fields, as long as the city is actually empty. Hawk wouldn''t lie to us about that, would he?" Tori asked.


    "No. If there was anything to kill there, he would have informed me. So, anything that is still in the city is in hiding." Karl replied.


    Tori looked suspicious, but Doug had a knowing smile.


    "If he had found anything alive in the city, he would be hounding Karl to go kill it. Hawk hates all things water and ice element. He wouldn''t hold out and miss a chance to attack them." He exined, while straightening his robes to check them for stains.


    Karl began to draw out a new map in the dirt, rying what Hawk was telling him about the situation, and theck of new Frost Giant reinforcements from the city, as well as the location of the forces that were still in the area.


    He would return before it got dark and the glow of the Elementals would give them away, but for now, he wasn''t seeing any of them lingering in the area at all.


    Of course, there was a chance that the city had been destroyed by something else, like one of the other Dragons that they had upset, but as it had happened while they weren''t watching, they would have to get someone more skilled in forensics to make the determination.


    Hawk knew that the walls were breached and the houses burnt, but that was about the extent of his analysis ability when there were so few bodies visible during his high altitude scouting loop.


    "This is the situation now. The remaining forces are here by the wall, and there is a t section of ice there which should be ake. There are entrances to the city here and here, both of which are open, and the wall is breached here, closest to the volcano, and there is a smaller breach on the other side of the city.


    The bodies are most prevalent near the wall breach nearest to the volcano, but there are some scattered all through the city.


    Hawk reports that there is a stomped down section ofnd headed over the horizon in this direction, which we can assume is the refugees. Is there more that we need to know, or can I call him back for the evening?" Karl asked.


    Bob pointed to a spot behind the city. "There is a valley there, roughly round, like a crater. Can you have Hawk check it out before he returns? It''s not part of the normal search area, but there is a chance that the Summoning might have been done there to keep it out of sight of the scouts."


    Hawk flew over the area a few minutester, and ryed his findings back to Karl.


    [There might have been something here. There are signs that Giants were in the valley recently, but there is nothing there now except fresh snow and fog.]


    "No sign of upation, but you were right, they were there recently. Why, we can''t tell, as they didn''t leave anything that Hawk can see from the sky, but they were there." Karl ryed.


    "Well, that''s one more spot to search. Central Command is going to owe us big time for this one."

 Chapter 300 A City Razed

    Chapter 300 A City Razed


    The next morning they were moving with the first light, before proper dawn, so that they could get to the city before the Frost Giants could see theming. Hawk had been sent out early to scout their route, and had informed them to stay further from the ash, as the heat was increasing, and the areas closest to it were bing muddy as the snow melted.


    That was bad news for the Giants, but there weren''t any of them out at the moment. The flow of reinforcements had entirely stalled, and the only enemies that Hawk could find were patrolling around the city''s perimeter.


    There was no sign of activity in the city, and the signs of previous upancy were fading as the wind blew the snow over the roads and paths.


    A few hours after dawn, Bob gestured into the distance. "Turn right a little, but stay out of the slush. The valley that I was referring to should be over there, and I''m curious to see if it''s still frozen."


    Karl led the group forward, with the less physical members all mounted, though that meant that the Spider Golems had to take passengers to bring their travel speed up to standards.


    Ty was a Ranger, not a warrior, and while he was quick, he didn''t have the sort of stamina for an all morning run the way that the warrior sses did. So, he needed a ride, and Doug was more than happy to take a ce on the other Spider Golem, so that Thor wasn''t overburdened.


    The Lightning Cerro had hit a minor growth spurt after reaching Commander Rank, and he could easily amodate four on his back with a suitable harness, but it was better to just have Tessa, Dana and Tori, so their bodyguard didn''t get too tired to fight.


    Karl slowed the group as they got close to the valley that Bob had mentioned, and had Hawk circle the area.


    [That ce isn''t right. It''s all melted now.] Hawk reported.


    [What''s there? Just slush?] Karl asked.


    [A smallke.]


    Karl led them cautiously forward, in case there were still more Magma Elementals or other servants of the Dragon around. The temperature was rising rapidly as they approached, and Lotus was getting excited.


    "I know what this is. This phenomenon ismon after a volcanic eruption. There was an underground fissure here, and now the frozenke is a volcanic hot springs." The little nature cleric dered.


    Her hair had changed to an icy blue today, nearly matching her cloak, but looking more like thick ice. That seemed somehow appropriate to their situation as they came over the ridge, and saw that the whole valley was covered in ash, while theke was gently steaming.


    "That''s too hot. The water is nearly boiling. I was hoping for a spot to swim, not to be soup." Lotus sighed.


    "Check everything. There might be magical items dropped by the Giants, possibly fire element infused gems, and if we''re really lucky, the remains of a summoning circle." Karl announced.


    Tessaughed. "g on the y. You can''t just ask for the prize to be in the first spot you look, that''s definitely a red g."


    If there had been anything in the valley, it was long gone now. There were some signs that the Frost Giants put up a fight, bits of obsidian stone that Doug assured them were the remains of a dead magma elemental, and a few charred bones, but no loot, and no sign of the summoning circle.


    "See, what did I tell you? Now, let''s take out a patrol and see if we can sneak into the city. I have a good feeling that there is something left to kill hiding in there." Tessa dered.


    Karl thought that should be counted as a g as well, but it was most likely divine guidance.


    There was a small stand of trees between them and the city, so that was where Karl led the group to wait for a patrol to pass and then attack the next once they knew the timing. If they were patrolling in sight of each other, it would be a huge fight to enter the city, but if they could find a way to sneak past, their search would go much more smoothly.


    The first group didn''t reach the open area between them and the city for nearly ten minutes, then went down the hill and out of sight.


    "That valley is a blessing. If we attack there, we will be able to take out a scout patrol without them seeing using, and then we can make the city before the next one arrives." Bob noted.


    The team moved into position, and when the next patrol came over the edge of the valley, Thor led the charge out of the trees, letting Karl and Ophelia fall in on his nks with the warriors outside of them.


    "You''ll enjoy this, just watch them work." Tori joked to Bob and Harry as Thor ran, and she tried not to fall off.


    Karl fired two shots as they ran, causing the Awakened Rank Frost Giants to stagger under the effects of [Chain Lightning], and killing two of them with the arrows themselves. Then he switched to his hammer, coated with [ming Body]. The first swing shattered bone and sent the Ascended Rank leader of the team flying like a rag doll while Thor charged through the lines, and Tessa stabbed at everything she could reach.


    Ophelia leapt intobat with an axe in each hand, hacking at the Giants in a frenzy that would make Rae proud, and caused nearly as much of a mess as the Bloodbath Spider usually did.


    In seconds, it was over, and the rest of the group didn''t even get a chance to engage in the fight before Remi pulled the corpses into her space and intensified the snow of [Blizzard] to hide the battle.


    Ty whistled in appreciation from his spot on the back of a Spider Golem.


    "No wonder everyone said that your team were monsters. Even without the advantage of numbers, your attack power is just stupid. What sort of skill one hit kills an Ascended Frost Giant?" The Ranger asked.


    "The maul lets me stackyers of the same skill on it before I attack. That first hit was fiveyers of ming Body at the same time. Even if he was a Commander, taking that hit square to the chest would have killed him." Karl exined as the group ran for the wall of the city.


    The st went outward, so whatever had attacked had already been inside the city. That was not a good sign for the residents, who were sensitive to even normal heat.


    Their entry point was a small secondary breach, where something had melted the stone and caused it to run in liquid form.


    The st went outward, so whatever had attacked had already been inside the city. That was not a good sign for the residents, who were sensitive to even normal heat.


    The team made the wall without being detected, and paused just inside the city to take in the level of destruction that hade for the residents.


    There were bodies everywhere, and not just Frost Giants. There were Yetis, some sort of Satyr species, and even Mountain Ogres, who lived in the hills before the border expanded. n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om


    Each and every one of them showed signs of fire damage, and they were all long dead, likely two days, as they were frozen solid and covered by ayer of snow.


    "The Dragon wasn''t holding back." Karl whispered as he looked over what used to be a residential area of the city, and now didn''t have a single standing building.


    Not even the little ones had been spared, everything had been levelled as the invaders had passed through. From their entry point, they could see the main breach, so this was the start of the fighting, but that meant that the destruction didn''t make much sense. If they had seen the attacking, they would have at least evacuated the vulnerable to the other side of the city, so there wouldn''t be many nobatants near the walls.


    Tessa looked over the destruction, and drew little lines in the air with her finger, as she worked to recreate the battle in her mind.


    "They attacked from the other wall first. A diversionary attack that breached the walls, and made the Frost Giants retreat. Then they breached this wall, probably from the hot springs valley, where they wouldn''t have been seen. This side of town should be nearlypletely destroyed, and the number of bodies might be more than everyone is prepared for." She exined.

 Chapter 301 Survivors Found

    Chapter 301 Survivors Found


    The group spread out a little, and everyone dismounted as they moved through the ruins of the city, looking for signs of survivors, loot, or any indication that there might have been a summoning ritual in the region.


    That was their primary goal, and if they didn''t find it, then they would have to warn the lines that they were likely to see an influx of Frost Giants from a new direction in the next few days.


    [There is something strange under here. Bring your shovel.] Rae insisted a few minutester.


    "Rae found something. Let''s check it out." Karl informed the others quietly. It just felt wrong to make noise here, like the city was a tomb and deserved a level of reverence, even if they were here to loot it.


    Dana took out the shovel from Karl''s pack and passed it to him, so he could dig through the rubble to get to whatever Rae had found.


    With the barrier on it, the shovel cut through stone with a little effort, and it only took a few minutes to clear the rubble, while Rae got more excited by the second.


    "There is a door. A stone door that leads downward." He informed the others when he realized what he was digging towards.


    [Yes, open it. There are treats inside, I''m certain of it.]


    Karl was about to move thest of the rubble to open the door when Tessa stepped between him and Rae with her eyes glowing red. "No, Rae. You can''t eat them." She insisted in a booming voiceden with holy magic.


    The spider red at the cleric, who was obviously under the influence of the War Goddess, unwilling to relent so easily when she had been the one to detect the hidden treasures. But after a few seconds, she backed away and turned her back on the tunnel, letting Tessa have this victory. [Fine, I didn''t really need them for the art anyhow. I will just use the frozen ones.] She pouted.


    Karl cleared the door and led the way down a set of hidden stairs, with Tessa right behind him.


    What he found was a small room with a few dozen liquor barrels and a dozen Satyr children, huddled together in terror, and looking malnourished far beyond what two days in a hiding hole would justify.


    Tessa held out a hand to them. "Rx, little ones. We''re not going to let them eat you. Do you have a guardian with you?" The closest of the Satyrs, a young boy in filthy blue shorts, shook his white furred head. "Alright, let''s get you out of here." The War Cleric insisted.


    Karl had forgotten for a moment that the Red Dragon had a soft spot for war orphans, and the Satyrs were considered to be beastkin, not an enemy to humanity, even if they weren''t harmless young ves like these ones appeared to be.


    Karl stepped to the side as the cleric led the group up the stairs, and then did a final check to make sure they didn''t miss anyone who was too terrified to move.


    The ce was empty, and thenpletely empty as Remi looted the barrels. She didn''t care what was in them, they would go well with her current decoration of her shrine. Like a nice wooden plinth collection for her statues.


    The group was giving Tessa looks that ranged from confused to annoyed, while Rae resisted the urge to drool as she looked at the Satyrs. If they had been in better shape, she might not have been able to resist, but these ones didn''t look juicy at all.


    "And what the hell are we supposed to do with these?" Tori demanded when she saw the horde of small children.


    A full-grown Satyr was under a metre and a half tall, barely chest height on Karl. These were all less than waist high, malnourished and terrified.


    "They are valuable witnesses. When they''re not so terrified, they can tell us what happened, and then we can lead them back to the lines, so they can be turned over to the church for relocation somewhere safer." She exined.


    [Those aren''t the only ones. If the Cleric Knight is going to collect them, we might as well get them all. Like an army of little furry blood bags.] Rae suggested.


    [How did you find them anyhow?] Karl asked.


    [Scent, mostly. But the edges of the door were a bit warmer than anything else.]


    "Everyone, Rae says there are more hiding. If we''re going to collect refugees, we might as well get a whole bunch of them." Karl informed the group with a sigh.


    The warriors frowned in resignation. That meant they would also be nominated to dig through the rubble to rescue them. They had the superhuman strength, and with the War God pressuring Tessa to fulfill her duty as a cleric, they wouldn''t be able to leave them behind without at least trying to look for survivors.


    Rae pointed out more spots, and the group began to dig, finding more Satyrs, and a few other species of beastkin, and then finally a small group of terrified human children, dressed the same as the Satyrs, and suffering from frostbite.


    "Thor, can you surround them in a barrier to keep the cold off them? I would ask Hawk, but he can''t spread his fire skill torge groups, it doesn''t work like that." Karl asked.


    The Refreshing Lightning didn''t actually warm you, but it did heal and refresh stamina, so while the cold was still painful, at least the frostbite was healing.


    Bob stepped up beside Tessa. "Greetings everyone. We are Elites from the Golden Dragon Nation, here as a scout team investigating the situation. Now that the city is destroyed, we will take you all back with us to be ced in the care of the Red Dragon Clerics, or the church''s healers, who will find a suitable permanent home for everyone, or settle the children in orphanages among others of their species. You might not know if you were born here, but the servants of the Red Dragon are active in both the human and beastkin nations."


    He gestured to Tessa with thest bit, and she smiled as she gave them a slight bow.


    There were some confused looks, as not all of them had a solid grasp of the humanmonnguage, but the message was quickly ryed to everyone, and hesitant smiles came to the mass of filthy faces.


    Karl cleared his throat. "Now we just need to finish searching the city, and we will be ready to leave once we have as many survivors as we can find." n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om


    That brought a bit of enthusiasm to the group. They knew the spots where the others would have tried to hide, and they were willing to go down and help encourage the groups toe up and join the growing tide of refugees.


    There were very few working age adults here, and the ones who were older were all women.


    From what Karl could tell, those left behind were the children and pregnant women, who would have slowed the pace of the fleeing Frost Giants.


    Karl had expected to see the Elderly as well, but after a moment, he realized that there was no such thing as Elderly for these people. When they could no longer work due to age or infirmity, the Giants simply ate them.


    When they made the far side of the city, they had nearly a hundred people in their care, and Bob was looking concerned about the chances of making it back to the front lines with the poor condition that so many of them were in.


    "Thor, do you see arge wagon anywhere? The bigger, the better. We will load everyone in it, and you can pull it back to the lines." Karl asked out loud, so everyone would know what he was thinking.


    Lotus pointed behind them and toward one of the open gates. "There are a bunch of supply caravan carts over there. They should hold plenty of people. It might not befortable, but the goal is just to get everyone back to safety." [Are you ready to be a cart Cerro for the day?] Karl asked.


    [Like with the bus, but we can string a bunch of them together, and then I can be a whole train.] Thor suggested.


    The image in his mind was hrious. He saw himself as a lotive, pulling the train of wagons through the fields with his looted beastkin. Satyrs didn''t attack the Lightning Cerro in nature, as they were both herbivores, so Thor didn''t see them as a threat. There were some arguments over the good food when they met, but not enough to consider them an enemy.


    There were some arguments over the good food when they met, but not enough to consider them an enemy.


    With that in mind, Thor donated some of the [Mount Feed] nts that he had gotten from Doug the first time they were together. They were growing in his space now, and he could spare enough to give all the nt eaters a meal.


    [I will pass it out once we get to the wagons. That will keep everyone upied as we travel, so they don''t panic when the patrols attack us.]

 Chapter 302 March of Ash

    Chapter 302 March of Ash


    Overhead, Hawkughed at their n. It was like a huge face p to the giants. First, the Dragon''s friends smashed their city, now the humans showed up, and they were going to loot the ce dry, leaving with a wagon caravan full of pilfered people and supplies.


    It was kinder than the Frost Giants deserved for being Ice Element creatures, and he was looking forward to roasting any of them who tried to stop the caravan from leaving.


    There were a half dozen wagons there, and everyone understood the n without too much confusion. The carts were moved to link up in a chain, with a harness made by Rae for Thor to pull the whole convoy. They were strong, made to pull huge loads of gear and food for the Frost Giants, not just to carry a load of small Satyrs and starving humans. Thor looked at the six wagons with pleasure. That was more than enough to make a proper train behind him, and the General would definitely be impressed with him when he made it to the camp. Karl caught that thought, and realized that it was genius. Instead of going to the active lines, they could go through the smooth ash at the edge of the Magma Dragon''s territory. The Frost Giants wouldn''t follow them, and it was the fastest way out of thebat zone, though there was a long walk to the front lines, which had retreated away from the destruction, and they would have to rest or walk all night to make it there.


    "Everyone into the carts. I will run along with Rae, but everyone else can rest while they protect the convoy. Once we exit the city, the patrols will see us, but stay with the caravan and let me and the beasts take care of them. We will catch up with you soon enough." Karl exined.


    "Wait, we didn''t find the summoning stone." Dana realized.


    One of the satyr boys looked at her in terror, shaking his head. He whispered too low for her to hear, but Lotus ryed it for her. "He says that the stone is gone. The burning things smashed it into a million pieces, then melted the pieces."


    Well, that was one way to guarantee that it wasn''t used again.


    With everyone loaded, Karl sent Thor out of the open gate and into the open. N?v(el)B\\jnn


    The convoy was unmistakable, and a round of shouts went out as the patrol realized that the hidden survivors were escaping with a Lightning Cerro.


    Thor took the convoy up to a gentle trot, which was as fast as he wasfortable going without tipping the wagons or throwing anyone out of them when they hit a bump.


    [Rae, it''s your time to shine. We made you behave all day, but you can make a mess now if you''d like.] Karl suggested.


    Hawkughed at them as Rae and her Golems sped toward the scouts, then the ice hating bird began to bombard the hapless Frost Giants with fireballs, intent on killing all of them before Rae could get to them.


    But Rae was fast, and so were her Spider Golems. The Frost Giants hurled themselves to the side to avoid the bombardment, but that left them on the ground when the spiders arrived and tore them apart before moving on to everything else that they could see.


    [Thank you for bringing them down to my level, that was much easier than jumping up on them.] Rae taunted Hawk as the bird moved to attack the next group before Rae got to them.


    The refugees in the wagons didn''t see a friendly sibling rivalry. What they saw was an Elite with a ming bow in his hands, and a group of monsters tearing apart the Frost Giant patrols that had kept them captive for most of their lives. They didn''t know what they had done to deserve this rescue, but they were definitely thanking the Dragon Gods for the assistance.


    "Thor, where are you going?" Tessa asked from her spot on the Cerro''s shoulders.


    He had turned for the ash wastes between the volcano and the Dwarven Vige, which would take them through the Ash Wastes, where the Dragon''s minions were in charge. It was the best t route that he had found, and it was faster to not have to pull the wagons uphill, so that was the route he chose. A little extra time in the ash was no big deal in Thor''s mind, so he just snorted happily and gestured with his head toward the valley that was their target.


    "Alright, big guy, I trust you to pick the best route for us." She agreed, stroking his horns in encouragement as he continued to trot along with his precious cargo.


    The Frost Giants hadn''t even tried to chase after them. They were too concerned with the full-scale assault that Karl and the spiders wereunching on their patrols. There were none of them above Ascended left, and that was barely one in twenty among the mostly Awakened Rank trainees who were assigned to prevent exactly this sort of incident.


    But none of them had expected the human Elites to be so brazen as to assault their city, even if they somehow learned that it had been razed by the Dragon''s minions.


    In the distance, Thor heard a Frost Giant war horn blow the tone for retreat, and knew that they wouldn''t have any more pursuers for a while. But he didn''t slow down, and kept to the pace that his barrier could refresh his stamina at, so he could travel all night.


    Karl and Rae would catch up soon enough, as they were much faster than his wagon train. They just had to finish ying with the fleeing Frost Giants, and then they would be satisfied.


    [Hawk, go scout for Thor and keep the path clear. I don''t want any dys on their retreat.] Karl instructed as he watched thest of the Frost Giants following the same retreat path as the others into the distance.


    That was valuable information, as it told him that it wasn''t a random retreat in the only safe direction, but a deliberate choice where they were going. He didn''t have a map of their territory, but that should be toward the centre of the nation, and presumably toward arger safe zone.


    That should also be where their Royal Rank elders were waiting for the battle''s oue.


    They weren''t something that Karl would look to go challenge without a good reason, so he just asked Rae to let them run and to scout the area between them and Thor for anything that might dy the convoy.


    [That was fun. We should do that more often. Did you see their faces when they realized that we stole from them? It was even better than Hawk when he realizes that someone is stealing his food.] Raemented as she searched for signs of life.


    [Stupid Yetis, losing my pigs.] Hawkined, still not over the betrayal by the supply caravan, who had been attacked in advance.


    They caught up to the convoy within thirty minutes, and paced alongside it at a distance, with the Golems on one side, Rae and Karl on the other, and Hawk leading.


    That put Thor''s train in a bubble of protection, but they didn''t see anything all afternoon, and Thor had just passed back piles of feed to be spread among the wagons for dinner when they reached the edge of the ash.


    "Thor, pause here for a moment. We will all eat and rest a moment, then we will head through the ash tonight. If we press all night, we can make the lines in the morning. It won''t be fun, but it will be the safest way. The Magma Elementals glow in the dark, so we will be more easily able to see theming. We might not see any this far away from the Volcano, but following Larkin''s Law, anything that can go wrong will go wrong."


    Lotus giggled. The legend of Larkin the Unlucky was amon children''s story. ording to the legend, he had been an aspiring adventurer, who had been brazen enough to try to see a nature goddess in the bath. He had been caught, of course, and from there, his misadventures only got worse, with every n that he attempted to form failing in ever more spectacr fashion, until the World Dragon took pity on him and calmed the ire of everyone the unlucky man had upset along the way.


    Then, true to his name as Larkin The Unlucky, he had been caught peeping into the baths again.

 Chapter 303 All Nighter

    Chapter 303 All Nighter


    Once everyone had food in them, the atmosphere among the wagons drastically improved. But when they learned that Thor intended to push through the night, with Rae to lead him past any pitfalls they might find in the ash, the atmosphere was nearly ecstatic.


    They were already out of the freezing cold that marked the Frost Giants'' territory, and by morning, they intended to be at the human battle lines, where the World Dragon church would gather them and take them somewhere safe.


    That notion was a bit dubious among the Beastkin, who were less likely to trust the humans at all, but the Dragon Gods were worshipped all over the world, and that was enough for the refugees to trust Tessa''s word that the Red Dragon Clerics would take them in and care for them.


    "Are we really going to travel all night, even though we''re out of the frozennds?" One of the human refugees asked softly, with a heavy ent.


    "Yes. This area belongs to a Magma Dragon, and we''re not certain how his servants will respond to our presence, so we are going to pass through at night and not linger. The sooner we can get you to the safety of the Golden Dragon Nation''s border, the better." Tessa exined.


    The girl smiled. "I have heard so much about it, and now, I have actually met someone from there. I must say, I didn''t know that humans could be so strong."


    Tessaughed. "It is a blessing from the World Dragon. You''re still young, so perhaps you will get a chance to try one day as well. We all see if we arepatible when we are fourteen years old."


    That was great news for the humans. None of them were fourteen yet. In fact, most of them were not ten yet. Anyone who was grown enough to keep up with the forced march had been taken away by the Frost Giants when they fled. Well, that or they were dead in the streets because they couldn''t get to safety fast enough when the attack started.


    "What about us? Do we get a chance at the blessing?" One of the satyr children asked.


    Tessa shrugged. "I honestly don''t know. Our country is almost all humans, and I haven''t met anyone else who waspatible with the blessing. But I also can''t say if you will remain in the Golden Dragon Nation, or if they will arrange to have you join a Red Dragon orphanage in the Beastkin Territories."


    That made sense to them. While being anywhere safe was a thousand times better than their lives yesterday, there was a certain appeal to living among other beastkin. Like, they wouldn''t be a minority group, they wouldn''t be treated as lesser, and they might actually get to live the sort of idyllic life that ves told stories about.


    Thor began pulling them forward, and Rae returned to her space to sleep, while the Spider Golems were instructed to follow Karl''s orders. That should be good enough, and then when Hawk turned in for the night, she woulde out again to lead Thor.


    Not that Hawk couldn''t do it. From the sky, he would be able to see much more, but there was no reason for them all to suffer a sleepless night if they didn''t have to.


    [Oh, this is better already. The ash here is soft and warm on the feet. I like this ce.] Thor announced as they began to move through the destroyed aftermath of the volcanic eruption.


    [Just be careful if you see solid stone. Many of the volcanic stones can be slippery.] Karl warned him.


    Of course, most of them were heavily textured and provided firm grip for the feet, but it was better to be safe and not take any chances with wagons full of people. A slippery side slope could spell disaster for their little adventure.


    As they trudged off into the night, Hawk kept a careful eye out for anything that might pose a threat to their group. But what he found was much more exciting to the bird than any elemental.


    [There are squirrels and mice and small monsters in the forest again.] He dered a few hours into the ash.


    [Already? I thought that they would still be far away from here.] Karl replied.


    [Me too, but I can see them. I think it''s a good sign. If the Elementals hated all monsters, they would chase off the little ones first, right?] Hawk replied.


    Karl wasn''t certain how sound that logic was. It was easier to scare the little monsters away, but they weren''t really a priority, as they weren''t a danger to anyone or anything.


    Not long after that, Rae woke up from her nap, and came out to lead the caravan down the path that Hawk had scouted for them.


    [Are you certain that you''re not going to sleep yet, Hawk?] Karl asked.


    [I will stay up until we reach the edge of the dangerous area. Once we''re out of that, I will sleep and you can deal with the human soldiers.] He replied easily.


    Well, if he wasn''t tired, Karl would let him keep scouting. Between him and Rae, they shouldn''t miss much, if anything.


    Thor pressed on well past midnight before they came across their first real obstacle. The remains of a magma flow that were much thinner than they looked, ording to Rae''s eyes. Her thermal vision showed the intense heat below the surface, and if they had only been looking at the topyer, they might have gone right over it without noticing, and possibly copsed it. N?v(el)B\\jnn


    [Is there a better spot nearby?] Karl asked as the Bloodbath Spider raced down the magma flow searching for a crossing point.


    He was headed in the opposite direction, doing the same thing, but he was headed toward the core of the territory, and the flow was only getting more intense.


    [Yes. Thor, turn right ande to the base of the hill. The flow spread out, and there is a nice thick crust on it here. That should be more than enough for the wagons.] She instructed.


    Thor adjusted course, and Karl made his way back to the wagons.


    [I think we might need you here.] Rae muttered as Karl was nearly to the convoy.


    [Don''t tell me it fell through and burned up the wagons.] Karl sighed.


    [Nope, we made it past that. Now, we''re just a bit stuck. The ground on the other side, to get back to the main path Hawk scouted, is really rough with waves of stone, and the wheels are getting stuck in the ruts.]


    That was easily enough solved, Karl thought as he approached the wandering line of wagons.


    "Gentlemen, and Lady Ophelia, can I get you down here for a moment? We need some strong arms to take the weight off the wagon wheels while they get over the waves in the stone. Thor is losing traction." Karl exined.


    It was a moonless night, and they hadn''t lit any lights, to avoid attracting attention, so to the eyes of everyone else, they were still making progress, and they hadn''t realized there was an issue.


    "No problem. We will each lift one from underneath, just enough to get them to move over the ridges. How far do we need to do it?" Bob asked.


    "Not far. Twenty metres should put us back on smooth ash again."


    It was a slow and careful process to ensure that they didn''t break a wheel with a side load, and Tessa set a light spell over them so they could all see what they were doing as they worked. Then, when they were on the old road, which was now a smooth spot in the ash, everyone got back on board while Karl moved ahead with Rae to check the area for dangers again.


    The progress wasn''t as great as they had hoped, and it only got worse as they left the ash in the small hours of the morning. The ash ended before the snow had, and the result was that the tropical weather on the other side had turned the entire area into a mud bog, which Karl repeatedly had to wake the others to help pull them through, as Thor couldn''t get enough traction on the slippery hills.


    But they did eventually make it out of the worst of the mud and onto a hard-packed section of road, where they took a break to let Thor snack and rest while the sun came up. The radio transmissions were clear now, and the army lines were within Hawk''s visual range, so they would only be four or five more hours before they arrived at their destination.

 Chapter 304 Orphans Delivered

    Chapter 304 Orphans Delivered


    Karl took a fifteen-minute nap as they were preparing a proper hot meal for everyone''s breakfast, and woke up to the smell of roasting meat and pancakes.


    "Good timing. We''re just getting ready to serve everyone. Thor passed out food for the Satyrs, who need roughage, or they get stomachaches. They can and will still eat with us, but notrge quantities." Lotus exined.


    Karl nodded blearily before Doug passed him a strong cup of coffee to bring his brain back online. That was just the thing that he needed after an all-nighter. Most of the team had slept, though he had to wake some of them up to help with the rough patches.


    "Get a bit of sleep. Thor can lead us in, and we will guard the caravan now that the sun is up. At least that way, you will have a few hours sleep while we finish the trip. The ground is getting more solid by the kilometre, and the army knows that we areing. They arranged to have Red Dragon Clerics airlifted to this location while you were napping, and they will be there to take over the refugees when we arrive." Doug exined as Karl sipped at the glorious ck nectar of life and cleared his thoughts.


    The Satyrs happily made a spot for Karl in one of the wagons, and Karl leaned back against the side in the corner, so he would be able to see out if anything required him to wake up.


    He ate breakfast there before passing out, and what seemed like secondster, a light tap at his shoulder brought him awake.


    "Sir, we are ten minutes from the army camp. The warrior man just met with a scout, and they''re escorting us in." One of the boys whispered.


    "Thank you. I will join the others at the front." Karl replied quietly, then gently shifted so he wouldn''t rock the wagon too badly when he vaulted out.


    Karl checked his spaces, and found that both Rae and Hawk were asleep already. There were no more threats that needed their attention, so they caught up on sleep while they could. Inside the army camp might have its own dangers, but those were human dangers, and the humans could deal with them on their own.


    They didn''t have to go all the way to the camp, as fate would have it. Arge group of red robed clerics ran out to greet them, drawn by the presence of Tessa on the back of Thor.


    "Priestess, where did you find such a magnificent steed?" Asked a sharp-eyed High Priestess, who had dragon horns above her ears, and a ridge of spikes down the centre of her head, along with slotted golden dragon eyes. N?v(el)B\\jnn


    That was a sure sign of either dragon blood, a lot of favour from her Goddess, or more likely both.


    The appearance set the beastkin at ease. If they had sent someone who was obviously not human to meet them, then these people might not be too bad.


    "He''s a bondedpanion to Commander Karl, on my left." She exined.


    The High Priestess looked at Karl in shock, making him wonder if he had something on his face. He hadn''t shaved in a while, and he had been sleeping in the wagon as they drove through the ash, so he likely looked like one of the minersing to the surface after a shift right now.


    Fortunately, he had unequipped his white cloak when they entered the ash, as it was too warm for the environment, so he could at least put on a cleanyer.


    Then he realized that he didn''t have to. He could swap into the Commander Rank student''s suit when they reached camp if he had to go indoors somewhere.


    The refugees were quickly sorted by age, and Rae erected a wall of spider silk to make a changing room for them, while the clerics hung bag showers so they could get clean before changing into the traditional visitors'' hassocks that the church passed out to everyone.


    "Have they eaten?" One of the Priests asked quietly.


    Tessa nodded. "We stopped a few hours ago for breakfast. I don''t think that they''ll be able to eat much again so soon afterwards, but by afternoon they will certainly be hungry and exhausted." Karl could hear theughing as the refugees got washed and changed, not entirely in that order, as some of them didn''t quite get the idea of showering.


    It wasn''t something that you could do in the Frost Giantnds. Just getting enough liquid water to drink was a chore, so there was none for washing, and they would usually just use handfuls of snow.


    After a few minutes, they were back out in matching white hassocks, with clean faces and wet hair, or fur, in the Satyr''s cases.


    The High Priestess raised her voice a little, catching the kids'' attention. "There we are. Everyone is looking much more refreshed. Now, we have set up tents for the day, and then the church will be sending buses for us all tomorrow to bring us home.


    For those who didn''t meet me earlier, I am Matron Millie, head of the Acheson Orphanage, not far from here inside the Golden Dragon Nation, but near the Beastkin Nation border.


    A messenger has been sent to see if the orphanages there have enough space for those who want to transfer, but you are all more than wee to stay with us.


    If you would like to say goodbye to the kind Elites who brought you back, you may do that now, before we begin your processing."


    There were many tearful goodbyes from children who had only known the Elites for less than one full day, and didn''t even know everyone''s name. But nobody would hurry them.


    They had been through enough, and the Church wanted them to feel safe in their transition.


    The affectionate goodbye meant that now they were all dirty again, but the Priestesses didn''t mind much. Even Thor didn''t miss out on the affection, and might have actually been the most popr, as he had pulled their convoy all the way here.


    That was what the Lightning Cerro had been waiting for, and once the kids were led away, he vanished back into Karl''s space, leaving the convoy of empty wagons alongside the road.


    "Elites, pleasee with us. The Generals would like to speak with you about what happened inside the Frost Giant Territory." An officer with a Lieutenant''s Gold Bar insignia informed them.


    Karl pointed to the shower bags. "Give us a few minutes to get refreshed, and we will be with you. Like the kids, we crossed the ashst night, and we''re not quite fit to be meeting with the high brass."


    The man looked like he was going to argue that he had orders to bring them immediately, but something about the look on their faces told him that discretion was the better part of valour, and he simply nodded.


    Rae had made two rooms for the kids to shower in, which were now split into men''s and women''s showers. It was a short shower, as the bags weren''trge, but the amount of ash and filth that was washed off was incredible. Once he was certain that there weren''t tracks of ash mud down his face anymore and the crud was gone from his hair and beard, Karl switched into his suit, and Doug switched to a formal set of High Priest robes, while the others simply equipped their armour again, leaving it fresh and clean, though stillbat damaged.


    "Change back to your armour. They don''t know how to deal withbat Elites. They will push harder if they see you as a suit sort of person." Bob whispered as he put his own armour back on.


    Karl chuckled as he changed back to the armour, and carefully rinsed off his pack so he didn''t get ash all over himself again.


    "Alright. How annoying do you think this is going to be on a scale of one to ten?" Karl asked Doug, who had the most experience with authority figures.


    "I will put it at a solid eight. They will want a lot of information, as we''ve been behind the lines so long. But they won''t push too hard because honestly, you two look a bit scary right now." Dougughed, then created a herbal cigarette which he put to his lips, then motioned for Karl to light.


    Karlughed and used [ming Body] to get it lit, before leading them out to wait for thedies, who had longer hair to deal with. Karl had to wash his hair three times before the ash stopped running out, so he knew that it would not be a fast process for them to be clean again.

 Chapter 305 General Orland And Company

    Chapter 305 General Ond And Company


    As expected, it took another ten minutes before thedies were ready to face the world again, freshly washed, and with their hair loosely braided so it wouldn''t go wild as it dried. Their travel packs weren''t exactly loaded with the finest of hair products, so frizz was just a fact of life for adventuring Elites, but after the effort to get rid of the ash, it was worse than usual.


    "Alright, that is everyone. Lead the way, Lieutenant." Bob announced once the group was back together.


    Karl decided to let Bob take the lead on this one, as he had all the experience on his side when dealing with military leaders. He was out here all the time, preferring to be on a mission to being anywhere else, so he was constantly in contact with the military leadership, and knew more about just where his role as an Elite fit into the social framework. Karl hadn''t had enough experience with that yet. Though he was certainly one of the more powerful Elites now, and everyone granted him the respect that a Commander deserved when he had the badge on his chest, there was a lot to be said about knowing how hard you could push before someone would push back.


    But the one thing that they had all missed was the word "Generals" not "General". When they entered the Command building, which used to be the council building of the small town that had beenmandeered as the military camp when they lines were pulled back from the volcano, they found four men in highly decorated uniforms waiting for them.


    By the change in Bob''s expression, Karl knew that this could mean trouble. So, he gave the officers a closer look, to see if he could guess which would be the issue. Not all Generals were Elites, most of them were too old for that, andmanded based on experience. But these four were all Elites, and surprisingly, one was a Royal Rank Elite as well.


    That must be the cause for Bob''s change in expression.


    In a room full of Commanders, military Rank didn''t matter much to the Mercenaries like Bob. But even for regr civilian Elites, the Royal Rank General still had authority over them due to his power level.


    Not the sort of power that a General had over his troops, but enough that he could easily change their deployment orders and nobody would question it.


    Bob stopped in the middle of the room, with Karl and Doug on either side of him. "Generals, it''s a pleasure to see you all again, though I must say I''m surprised to see you all in the same spot." He began.


    The Generals chuckled at hisment as they looked between the trio of Commanders. n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om


    The Royal Rank General replied with a straight face and a gravelly voice. "Yes, seeing three Commanders in the same spot is somewhat unusual, isn''t it? But let''s skip the pleasantries. What happened to the Frost Giants? The reinforcements have stopped, Our scouts tell us that the city looks like it''s been destroyed, and you were the only forward team in the entire region."


    Bob shrugged. "I wish we could take credit for all of that, but we''re only partially responsible. We were killing the reinforcements as quickly as we could, but they were using a Shaman Magic type cloning spell to create more every day. It was the servants of the Magma Dragon that attacked the city and presumably either destroyed the spell, or some of itsponents, and forced the Frost Giants to abandon the city.


    The Magma Dragon''s influence is spreading ind, and soon that whole region will be thawed.


    There is a volcanic hot springs under a kilometre from the city, and from what we can tell, it is increasing in intensity. That alone will keep the Frost Giants from returning to the region unless their magic can ovee whatever the Dragon has done."


    The Generals nodded as their assistants took notes.


    "Simr events have taken ce all along the border. For whatever reason, it appears that most of the Summoning Spells were ced on top of trapped Dragon Elders, and now that they are free, the Frost Giants are in real trouble.


    What we need to know is how much trouble they are in. The Hill and Mountain Giants are giving us enough trouble along the other sections of the border that we can''t spare manpower to sit around here if we are not being attacked." The General insisted.


    "Has the new snow began to retreat?" Bob asked.


    The Generals nodded. "In fact, not only has it begun to retreat, the natural weather is nearly back to the old border, except for the region around the volcano, where the snow has retreated even further.


    That volcano was well within the Frost Giants'' border before the war, and now everything up to thirty kilometres inward of it has melted."


    "Then what is left of the actual battle lines? There was nothing here, we would have passed it on our way if there was." Bob asked directly.


    "This portion of the line is only still in ce to secure against invasion by the Magma Dragon. The next pass is also nowpletely unguarded by the Frost Giants, as our soldiers finished a push just this morning and eliminated all resistance. The next two passes are still fighting, but north of that everything has been abandoned by the Frost Giants, and nobody knows if they are ending the battle or withdrawing for arger offensive."


    Bob nodded in understanding. "Well, we can''t tell you much about that. But we can tell you that this section of the line is unlikely to see Frost Giants in the near future. They already lost a major city to the Magma Elementals. It doesn''t appear as if the Dragon''s allies are hostile in this direction, though. We saw no evidence of attempts to expand in our direction, only toward the city, where the core of the Frost Giants'' force was located. Once the battle was won, the forces of the Magma Dragon retreated and did not attempt to upy the city. There were nobatants left when we entered, only a token force of Frost Giant guards outside the city, left when the rest of the upants fled."


    The Generals brought out a rolled map, which an assistant set up on a folding table, along with a number of blue stones. "These are the known poption centres of the Frost Giants. The red stones are the number of Frost Giants that have been reported killed during this conflict." The General exined.


    The red stones were still being set up, but already they vastly outnumbered the blue stones, and there was a concentration of them right where Karl and the others had been fighting.


    Karl might not have liked math ss much, but it was fairly obvious that the known poption of Frost Giants was about a third as many as the number of Frost Giants that had been killed on their battle lines since the conflict started.


    "They have summoned three times their poption to send to war?" Doug asked, startled by the scale of the devastation.


    "Not all of them are summoned, but close to that, yes. That is why it is so imperative that we find out what happened to the summoning ritual materials. Not hearsay or guesses, we need solid proof of how they are doing it, and of any locations that have been forcibly stopped.


    The problem is, many of the suspected locations have been the site of natural disasters in thest few weeks, and now we don''t have the troops to search them all." The General agreed.


    Doug gave a ruefulugh as he took a long drag on his smoke. "I suspect that there is a ''however''ing up in your next sentence."


    The General''s face turned up in a slight grin as he watched the unconcerned High Priest bing a very high Priest in the middle of their meeting.


    "You would be absolutely correct. We have an official mission for all of you. We have a location for you to scout. This location previously generatedrge troop movements, then suddenly stopped without any visible signs of attack.


    The spot is well within enemy borders, and theplex is suspected to be currently upied by a Royal Rank Frost Giant and his retinue." The General replied.


    "So, it''s a trap, we know it''s a trap, and you want us to go spring it anyhow, for the chance that we can kill a Royal Rank Frost Giant?" Doug asked with a vague wave of his hand.


    "There will be appropriatepensation." The General agreed, his raspy voice making the promise sound more like a threat, or a promise of restitution for the grieving families.


    One of the other Generals, a portly young man with a blotchy face that spoke of years of alcoholism, smirked at them as he joined the conversation.


    "It is non-optional."

 Chapter 306 Sent Back

    Chapter 306 Sent Back


    Karl rolled his eyes at the smug General.


    "Well, I still don''t have a Royal Rank head as a trophy for my dorm room. I suppose a Frost Giant will have to do. A bitrge for the disy case, but such is life." He answered while everyone else paused, not taking the bait as the General tried to goad them into something that would give him an excuse to put a ck mark on their records.


    General Ond, the Royal Rank General with the harsh voice, which Karl suspected might be due to a previous throat injury that was hidden below his cor and tie, gave him a knowing smile.


    As always, when the Elites with bureaucratic titles met with the Mercenary Elites, it had turned into a dick measuring contest. The battle hardened General knew full well that his smug counterpart couldn''t even keep up with the pace of their group, and he had likely never killed a monster his own rank or higher in his life. So, the easiest way for Karl to get a rise out of him was to treat the death of a Royal Rank enemy as just another trophy hunt.


    And it was working.


    "If it''s such a trivial matter, then I will be expecting to hear positive news of your sess very soon." The portly man replied.


    "Good things take time, General. Like a well cooked meal, you must be patient until everything is just right. I suspect you''re familiar with that particr anticipation." Karl agreed.


    General Ond red between the two of them and raised his voice for the first time.


    "Enough. Both of you cut it out or take it outside to hold abat trial. The mission has been demanded by the Central Government, and approved as necessary by the Bureau of Elite Development and the Army. Yourbined team has been volunteered by regional draw, so I will provide you with the information that we have on the situation." He insisted.


    Then he said the wordsbat trial, the portly General turned his head away, no longer feeling like fighting, so Karl focused on the task at hand.


    "He''s a spicy one, isn''t he?" The General seated on the far right whispered to Doug as General Ond began to outline the situation around the cavern where the Royal Rank Giant was suspected to be hiding.


    "He used to be so humble and polite. I think he''s getting it from his bonded beasts. He''s got a Bloodbath Spider with him, and if it were up to her, there would already be someone shouting for a medic." Doug whispered back.


    Karl could clearly hear him, as could General Ond, but the others were both mages, andcked superhuman senses.


    The quiet General nodded without changing his expression. In a confined space, not even General Ond was likely to be fast enough to prevent a Commander Rank Beast like that from carrying out at least the first strike.


    [What would they need a medic for? I''d eat his face without even needing to ambush him.] Rae chuckled in amusement.


    Karl ignored her taunting to focus on the intelligence reports, and found that while the indicated spot was a fair distance from the border, there were no major forces or cities in between them and the site. At least that part had been well judged. The threat inside the cavernplex under the ruins was unknown, but thought to be at least ten Commander Rank Giants, plus their Royal Rank leader. That would normally be enough to take out any team that the humans might send to try to destroy the summoning ritual, but there was no guarantee that they hadn''t saved ast batch of summoned Giants underground as well.


    The reports said that it should no longer be active, as there hadn''t been any troops sent out since the volcano incident, but that was no guarantee.


    "How long do you need to prepare?" General Ond asked once his briefing wasplete.


    Bob looked over at Karl and subtly shrugged. They were already intending on heading back to the battlefield, but they could tell the General that they needed a few days, or some particr supplies, before they returned if Karl wanted to dy a little.


    "Just a quick restock of our hygiene and other supplies, and we should be good to go."


    They had been in the field far longer than usual, and it was normal to only carry a small amount of unscented soap and shampoo with you. But, with the warm Dwarven Vige, they could wash regrly, so they were running out, and hadn''t been filthy until they crossed the ash ins to get here to the front lines.


    "The supply tent is fully stocked with anything that you might need. Will you be leaving in the next few days?" General Ond asked.


    Karl looked at Bob, and the older Elite''s face took on a deceptively innocent smile.


    "I''m afraid that we have much to do, General. Once we have resupplied, we will be leaving again within the hour. If you could ensure that one of the wagons our team and the refugees arrived in is still avable, we would appreciate it."


    The overweight General red at the team with growing suspicion. There had to be a reason that they were rushing right back into battle after only recently having returned to civilization. But the part that he failed to realize was that they were morefortable in their hidden camp than in the small town that the army had taken over as their base.


    General Ond waved his hand toward the door. "In that case, don''t let us keep you. It''s a long walk back to the border, and you don''t want to be caught out in the ash overnight."


    Once they were well away from themand building, Tori sighed and turned back to re at it.


    "Are we the only Elites on the entire front? If they had already developed such a detailed n,plete with routing and estimated numbers, they could have sent someone a week ago." She muttered.


    They likely had, and it hadn''t worked out for thest group, which was why they had such a detailed n this time, but nobody wanted to say that out loud.


    "Well, at least we will have plenty of soap and shampoo again. I hope that nobody took the time to shave because we''re about to go right back into the heart of the cold." Dougughed.


    Ophelia took the nearly depleted smoke from his hand and finished it off with one long drag. "At this point, I''m not certain whether my legs are hairier in this form or as a Werebear." She joked.


    The soldiers passing by did a double take when they heard that from the muscr berserker, who they hadn''t expected to be a shape-shifter.


    The supply Sergeant gave a simrly startled look at the group as they approached. There hadn''t been anyoneing or going from the base in a while, they were only holding position near the ash, so new faces were an unexpected sight for him.


    "What can I do for you?" He asked as Karl led the group in. n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om


    "Mostly hygiene supplies for everyone. Then one new multitool for me, and whatever the others need." Karl replied, then shifted, so the man could scan the Commander Rank badge he had pinned to the tabard of his armour. "Got it. Combined team with ten members in total, on official military assignment. That makes it easy, I''ll grab the kits while the Corporal takes the rest of the orders."


    The Sergeant disappeared into the back room before the Corporal on duty could even put his book down and realize that he had just been volunteered to take the orders of ten Elites in need of supplies.


    Everyone had broken or worn out something during the trip, and this was theirst chance to get it fixed before they headed back into the cold. Plus, as a military assignment, as long as the item they requested was regr military issue, they could just have it. For the Clerics, that was bonus loot. They could rece any worn out tools or utensils and nobody would ask any questions. The army had some good stuff that the Clergy always wanted to have, lightweight and made for durability, but more expensive than what the Clerics were issued by the church.


    "I have a list." Lotus announced with a smile, passing over the running tally of damaged and worn items that her and Tessa had been keeping since the war started. If the Army was offering, the Priestess wasn''t about to hold back.

 Chapter 307 Through The Snow

    ?


    307 Through The Snow


    Once they were resupplied and everything was packed carefully into its assigned spot in their packs, the group headed back for the edge of camp where they had left the wagons. The soldiers seemed startled to see them heading back out only a few hours after they had arrived, but the ones who had been around longer understood that the group was likely just running away from something annoying.


    The n was to hook Dana''s two Stone Golems up to the lead wagon to pull the group along, while they left the others behind. That would make the trip back much easier on everyone, and faster, as the Giant''sfortable jog was a running pace for the mages and clerics.


    Plus, with only one wagon, and a path to follow, they would be able to avoid the worst of the dys that had slowed them during the trip out, and the Golems might even be able to get enough traction on the muddy hills to make it up without assistance this time, when Thor''srger feet had struggled.


    It only took a few minutes to get them hooked up, and they were on their way back into the ash, with the intentions of stopping overnight at the Dwarven Vige to get a good night''s rest and finish refining the n to attack the cavern,


    Obviously, the army thought that you could just march in there and wipe them out with enough firepower, but that was thest resort. Pretty much any other n than charging into the cave was likely to be a better one.


    They waited until the town was out of sight over the hills before anyone said anything, but they weren''t in a big hurry to start making ns when they hadn''t even seen the area around the target.


    Finally, Doug broke the silence.


    "Your group has been randomly selected from those in the region." He mocked the pudgy General. "As if we weren''t the only ones in the area at all."


    The others chuckled, and the Nature Priest took out another smoke for Karl to light. It was the most that anyone had seen him smoke at work, and it was a sure sign that he was feeling the stress, but didn''t want to outright say anything about it.


    Lotus smirked as she joined the rant. "Well, we will have all the bragging rights when we get back home. Imagine how jealous all those white robed battle clerics and guards are going to be when they find out that it was a pair of the Green Dragon''s Clerics who got the first Royal Rank team kill of the war.


    In fact, I''m not even certain that the main lines have managed to get one yet, so it might be the first at all."


    Dougughed. "Wouldn''t that be something? If we find out that we''ve got the first one of the war, I say we go get another, just for funsies."


    Karl knew that it probably wouldn''t be that easy, but if they could get not only the first one, but the first two of the war on this front, then they would certainly live up to any level of hype when they got home.


    But more imminently, Karl noticed that everyone in the group was bing much more powerful than they had been when they started the battles. Officially, practice did help the growth rate, but it was supposed to have more to do with the individual how rapidly they advanced unless they were using some sort of magical aid.


    That didn''t seem to be the case with their group. If Karl had to hazard a guess, another month of this, and there wouldn''t only be three Commanders in the group. The Golems were already noticeably more impressive than they had been at the start of the war, but Karl didn''t have a standard to judge them against, so he couldn''t really tell how far through Ascended Rank they were.


    He would judge them against the Spider Golems as a Commander Rank standard, but Rae had advanced them to Royal Rank, and they were multiple times more powerful than they had been, so that still didn''t actually help.


    He couldn''t even go by the ease with which they killed the Frost Giants, as they had so much practice now that everyone knew where their vulnerable areas were, and they could target them with minimal thought.


    But while he was thinking of power levels, Karl had a good idea. Since they were going to be keeping the Golems active most of the time after they left the safety of the Vige, they should give them some of the Frost Giant weapons that were enchanted to cut like proper Commander Rank weapons.


    That would give them an extra bump inbat power, as opposed to the single de that came with the [Durable Constructs] buff. They would have to carry Giant sized spare weapons with them to give to the Golems, and give them back every time the Golems were summoned, but it would increase the speed that they could clear the weaker groups, where the Golems rarely sustained serious damage.


    They had their loot wagon now, so they might as well make good use of it.


    Everyone rested as the Golems trudged steadily through the mud near the ash wastes, doing their best to avoid slipping on the muddy slopes.


    But it seemed that the logic behind using Golems instead of Thor was right. Thor''s feet kept him from sinking as deeply in the mud, but they also reduced his traction.


    The Golems were pulling them smoothly along the path that the wagon train had followed to get to the linesst night, and with the sun up, they were able to avoid some of the worst areas, where they could now see that the mud was worse than it was a few dozen metres away.


    That let them make it into the ash in good time, where their speed improved, and by the time that it got dark, they were almost back to the Dwarven Vige.


    Thest few kilometres were a bit more difficult, as they were getting far enough from the volcano that the trees had survived, but they managed to get the wagon to within a hundred metres of the entrance to the tunnel.


    They left the Golems to guard the wagon, and everyone made their way back into the Dwarven Vige.


    "We''re not leaving at first light or anything crazy, are we? Because as nice as it is to not walk, that wagon is not soft." Tori asked.


    Karl and Bob looked at each other and shrugged.n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om


    "I don''t see any reason to rush that much. We should head out before noon, but it''s less than a day''s travel, and we don''t want to get too close at the end of the day" Karl


    suggested


    Bob nodded. "Alright, then we will double-check all our gear in the morning after breakfast, then head out. It will get us in ce early enough to check their scouting situation, and then we can make a proper n based on what is actually there." "What are you thinking? Pick off the scouts and see if we can lure out what''s actually in there instead of going into the cave ourselves?" Tessa asked.


    Bob nodded. "That seems like the better option. There are ten of us, and fighting in a cave sucks. You never want to fight in a cave if there is another option. Out in the open, we can make proper use of tactics. In the cave, we are limited by the space we have to work with, and even if it''s big enough for a Giant to pass, it''s unlikely to leave us room to nk them, or even make a proper defensive formation."


    Karl frowned. "Monsters generally get smarter as they grow in Ranks, so the Royal Rank Frost Giants might not fall for simple tricks like luring them out a few at a time by killing patrol members."


    Bob ran a hand through his hair and sighed. "That is certainly a possibility. They might send out everything that they have the moment that we''re detected, and that will be a


    nasty fight.


    So, before we get anything started, we will have to make some preparations. Depending on the terrain, we might be able to have the two Greenies make a vine field


    to slow their approach."


    He gestured to the two green robed clerics, who smiled at the chance to show that


    they could do offensive magic as well. "But we won''t know until we get there."

 Chapter 308 Clever Girl

    Chapter 308 Clever Girl


    The next morning, everyone took a leisurely shower, courtesy of the free use of cleric magic, and then checked all their equipment after breakfast while they mentally prepared themselves for the day.


    Hawk was sent out to scout, and he hadn''t found anything for the first twenty kilometres, so the start of their journey should be an uneventful one. They didn''t waste any time getting Thor hooked up to the wagon so that the Golems were free to fight while he protected the casters in his cart. It was connected with rtively weak spider silk, strong enough that it wouldn''t break during use, but weak enough that Tessa could easily slice it with a wave of her spear if Thor needed to be cut free during battle.


    This way, he was the only one walking, and everyone else could rest in case of emergency. It was the most efficient method that they hade up with so far, and Thor was delighted with his new toy.


    [How far is it to this hiding hole for the Frost Giants?] Hawk finally asked after lunch.


    He hadn''t seen a single living thing all morning, just snow, snow and more snow. Plus, the temperature was dropping even further with every hour he travelled, and it was putting him in a terrible mood.


    [From the location on the map, about a hundred kilometres from the ash. So, about the same as from the lines to the Dwarven Vige. When you see two rivers meet, that will be where the cave is.] Karl replied.


    [When we''re done, I''m burning this entire country to the ground just to make it warm again.]


    Thor plodded along, periodically looking back to see if everyone else was having as much fun as he was. There wasn''t anything to bother him today, he just got to pull his wagon around, and nobody tried to rush him.


    Only an hour before dark, Hawk sent back a report that, for the first time that day, was not about the easiest route for the cart.


    [There are human bodies over here, and they are in armour. They might have something important on them.] He reported.


    [Are we near the cave? How far is it to the spot where the rivers meet?] Karl replied, just to be safe.


    [Thirty more kilometres. Their math sucks. But I can see it, and I can see the Giants in the distance.]


    This location was entirely too far for humans to be inside the Frost Giant nation. If they were in armour, they weren''t prisoners of the Frost Giants, so they must be another scouting team that had been sent in.


    "Hawk found bodies ahead. They''re in armour, so there is a chance it was another Elite team." Karl reported.


    [Twenty of them in total. Three in white robes, two in red, the rest are not clerics.] Hawk amended.


    "Yeah, almost guaranteed they were an Elite team. Hawk says that there are five clerics, including two war clerics, among the twenty bodies." Karl added.


    Everyone grimaced as they heard the news, but he was right, they might have important information on them. If nothing else, they could load them in the wagon on the way back out so that they weren''t left here for the Frost Giants or monsters to eat.


    That seemed like the least that they could do for them once the threat was dealt with.


    [Is there any sign of what attacked them? It might lead us to a second group of Giants.] Karl asked Hawk.


    [Nothing. It''s been snowing down there, and the footprints are all gone.]


    Thor led them toward the site of the attack, while Hawk circled in the sky, waiting for any sign that the Frost Giants were still nearby.


    They shouldn''t be too far from where they were supposed to find that Cave, but he hadn''t seen it yet. All that was out here was deep snow, deep enough that Thor had been avoiding going over hills, as it would drag on the bottom of the wagon and make it hard to pull.


    Thor pulled to a stop next to the bodies, and Karl got down from the wagon with Bob and Harry. They would check the bodies while the others waited on guard. With no sign of what attacked the group, there was no telling if this was actually a frequently travelled path, where Frost Giants mighte across them while they were searching.


    Not that they didn''t trust Hawk''s scouting ability, but he could only be in one spot at a time.


    Karl made his way through the bodies of warriors and mages, all of which were showing signs of losing a fight against the Frost Giants. There were missing limbs, massive crushing damage from clubs, and general carnage.


    Karl felt his stomach turn at the scene, and tried to forget the fact that these were all Ascended and Commander Rank Elites only a few days ago at the most. n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om


    He had been in battle a rtively long time, but not like this, not with these massive casualties.


    It was horrifying to think that an entire group could be wiped out like this. There were twenty bodies, so the chances are that none of them had managed to escape to warn the army about the situation or threat that they had met.


    Karl was about to turn back to the cart when he noticed a slight puff of warm breath from one of the bodies. Someone was still alive here, but not by much.


    He whistled, drawing the attention of the others, and made a waving gesture toward the legless body that Tessa immediately guessed meant healing.


    A golden glow surrounded the cleric an instant before Lotus'' area healing surrounded the entire area. But only the one body glowed with healing light, it was toote for the others.


    Once the survivor had some time to heal, Karl knelt beside the body and brushed some of the snow off the man''s face.


    "High Priest George? What the hell are you doing here?" Karl asked softly.


    The man''s body didn''t move at all, but it was still glowing with healing light, repairing the damage done.


    George''s eyes opened weakly, and he silently mouthed a word.


    [Trap]


    Karl stood up and drew his de, surrounding himself with ayer of [ming Body] in addition to the [Refreshing Lightning] that he always kept active.


    That seemed to trigger the trap, and from all around them, Frost Giants burst up out of the ground, showering the area in rocks and snow. They were surrounded, and the bodies were bait for whichever human group came next.


    The warriors and the Stone Golems circled the wagon, while Tessa cut Thor free. The Frost Giants hesitated, but not like they were afraid, more like they were waiting for something.


    The side of a hill copsed, and a massive female Frost Giant strode out of the previously buried hiding spot.


    {Look what I have caught. Stupid sentimental humans.} She spoke with a heavy ent, in a booming voice that somehow made her feelrger than she was.


    And she was not small. She towered over the Commander Rank Frost Giants by an entire head, and Karl was hardly more than shin high on her, his head didn''t even reach her waist.


    Karl saw Bob nod in his peripheral vision. They would hold off the ambush while Karl took care of the leader.


    [Rae, guard the wagon. Thor will be sad if they break it.] Karl instructed.


    "Well, there is no point in waiting, let''s get to it." Karl shouted up at the Royal Rank Frost Giant.


    Rae appeared on the wagon, and called her Spider Golems in to ambush the Frost Giant lines as Karl leapt forward with the two-handed de ming in his hands.


    {Puny human, I will enjoy eating you.} The leaderughed as she moved with astonishing speed and blocked Karl''s attack.


    Frost and fire shed as the magic on their des met, sending Karl sliding backwards as he lost the test of strength.


    Using [Shred]yered with [ming Body] Karl hurled three fast arcs at the Giant leader. A twist of her de blocked two, while one cut a gash in her side.


    Blue blood dripped down her torso as the Giant roared in rage and the encirclement closed on the group, stomping the bodies of the unfortunate group who hade before them.


    Ice magic was building around them, then fading as Remi used [Blizzard] to offset the leader''s identical skill. She wasn''t nearly as strong, but the Royal Rank Giant couldn''t focus on the skill with Karl attacking her, and the snow was merely blinding, cutting visibility to under ten metres, making it hard to even see her head when he retreated between engagements, but not damaging his barriers.


    If she had only been bigger and faster than the others, this fight might not have been so bad, but she was fast, and even with Agility bracers on, Karl was struggling to keep up.

 Chapter 309 Duel

    Chapter 309 Duel


    Every attack, Karl was forced further from the group, isted from any chance of reinforcement, but the Blizzard was fading as the leader felt that her mana would be better used onbat than distraction, now that they were fifty metres away from the main battle, and well outside the encirclement.


    Karl flicked his de down, parrying an attacking for his legs, but couldn''t react fast enough for the left hand that she took off her de and punched him square in the chest with.


    His barriers held, but he was rolling in the snow, and the de wasing for him again, while he didn''t have the footing to force it away.


    Remi intervened, hitting the Giant with [Chain Lightning] and making her arm twitch, sending the attack wide as Karl rolled to his feet.


    Her expression was startled, not having expected the attack from what she thought was a defeated opponent.


    Karl sent a flurry of [Rend] attacks at her, coated with [ming Body] the same as Hawk did it. There was no way to block them all, but the Giant twirled, sending her cloak billowing and taking arge part of the damage before the thick monster fur was destroyed, leaving it in shreds on the ground while the remainder of the attacks hit her back.


    Karl almost fell for the fake opening, and leapt to the right, back in front of her as her de shrieked through the air, right where he would have been if he had tried to attack her vulnerable back.


    His jump had given him a little distance, and Karl quickly switched to his bow to fire a [Chain Lightning] Arrow into her stomach.


    It only sunk in a few centimetres, and made her eyelid twitch before she pulled it out, but it bought Karl a second to retreat further and keep firing.


    Her snarl shook the air, carrying some sort of magic with it, and Karl felt his mind go nk, while his hands continued to fire arrows.


    [Mental Fortitude] kept him from cowering in fear before the might of the Frost Giant leader''s [Intimidation] ability, and well-trained hands kept his attacks going, while Remi set up her Poison me Totems on either side of the Giant.


    The pain had to have been incredible as the first balls of poison and fire hit her body, and the Frost Giant turned, looking for the insect that dared to try to ambush her while still at the Ascended Rank.


    But all she found were the totems, and one of Karl''s arrows buried itself deep into her ribs, sending numbing Lightning through her body, slowing her reactions.


    Powerful strides brought her back to Karl, who hastily switched back to his de and shed with the weakened Giant, who was still taking fireballs to the back, distracting her from the fight, and coating her in agonizing poison.


    The damage might be negligible, but with every attack it stacked, and when she tried to stomp the totems out of existence, Remi simply moved them out of reach, another dozen metres away, and behind her again.


    Then, their knight in shining feathers was there to take his vengeance on the Ice Element, and Hawk was bombarding her from above with Royal Rank fireballs.


    Those ones were causing real damage, and while Karl was still on the defensive, she was slowing.


    A direct hit to the back of her head dropped her to one knee and made her eyes roll back, giving Karl the opening he had been waiting for. His de streaked toward her neck, aiming to decapitate the Frost Giant, or at least slit her throat and take her out of the fight. Three on one, even a Royal Rank Frost Giant was no match for them.


    That overconfidence was what cost him the most dearly. Without looking, her de shed out, slicing cleanly through his left arm and burying itself in the chest te of his armour. N?v(el)B\\jnn


    His strike came up short, barely clipping her throat, but sending out a fountain of blood as the artery was severed.


    Pain shot through Karl''s body as he watched the Frost Giant woman fading in the distance. He realized that he was flying through the air from the force of the strike, and he could still see his severed hand holding his swordying on the ground in front of her.


    But the fight was over. Hawk''s [Shred] hit the back of her neck, and the Giant''s head rolled free of her body,ing to a stop next to Karl''s sword.


    Karl mmed into a tree, and his barriers shattered along with his ribs, but hended on his feet, before falling to his knees gasping for air.


    Everything around him was fuzzy, and he could feel the world fading, but there was one thought in his mind.


    He needed his sword back.


    That drove him to crawl through the snow as the buzz of Remi''s voice in his head faded in and out.


    Thest thing he knew before the world went dark, and he felt himself fall to his side, was his hand grasping his sword.


    Karl''s entire world was pain and ckness, then there was a strange pressure on his arm, and a voice in his ear, saying something that he couldn''t understand.


    Rae had hurled Lotus over the battle, sending her flying into the snow next to Karl, where the Nature Priestess got to work, pinning Karl''s arm in ce with a number of hasty stitches and a bandaged splint before she began her healing spells. That was her only chance of reattaching the arm. If it healed with the arm off, it would have to be cut again to reattach the two, and that would just be unnecessarily painful.


    At least it was clean, as the deep white snow had nothing but mixed purple blood in it.


    "Stay with me. You need to stay awake." Lotus was shouting at him, dragging Karl back out of the darkness.


    "There you are, open your eyes. We need to move, my vines will only hold off those Giants for a few more seconds." She exined.


    Karl blinked away the fuzziness, and saw that there were two Commander Rank Frost Giants being torn apart by Thorned Vines, while Remi was sitting on the ground in front of him, hurling lightning at them.


    Karl staggered to his feet, using his sword as a crutch, and realized that while his arm was back, and in a sling across his chest, he couldn''t use it. It was just there, numb and motionless.


    Using the oversized de one-handed wouldn''t be easy, but it would be impossible to use the maul or the bow. He took a deep breath as [Refreshing Lightning] cleared his mind a little and prepared to fight again.


    The two Giants smirked at him as they realized the warrior was heavily wounded, and wouldn''t be able to recover fast enough to stop them. But Karl didn''t need to lift his de to fight.


    Arcs of [Rend] coated in [ming Body] raced for the two Commander Rank Giants, whoughed and easily blocked the strikes, then fell forward, dead, as Hawk''s strikes from behind broke their necks.


    [The ssics are always the best.] Hawk bragged as the me enhanced [Rend] attacks did their job.


    There was a braying noise, and Tessa ran back toward the main battle, leaving Karl to scoop up Remi and stumble after her.


    The fight wasn''t over yet, but the number of Giants was much lower than it had been.


    Karl felt the power transferred from the sword sinking into his body, bringing a tingling to his immobile fingers, and a rush of rity to his mind.


    Karl attacked from behind, joining Hawk in ambushing the Giants and making a path to Thor, who was standing on three legs, while one hung limply, broken by a Frost Giant club.


    Rae was protecting the Wagon still, and magic missiles were still casting steadily, with all four Golems on defence.


    Harry was under the wagon, nursing injuries, while Ty was kneeling in front of him, firing his bow into the Frost Giants from the rtive safety under Rae.


    The sudden assault from behind distracted the attackers, and two fell in quick session to the Spider Golems, then two more from Karl and Hawk, followed by another from Rae herself.


    Thest few tried to run, but Hawk and the Spider Golems were on them, and before they had made it a hundred metres, they were all taken down.


    Lotus vanished into the wagon, which her healing spell was centred on, covering the whole group. Tessa ducked under the wagon to check on Ty and Harry, and Karl did a quick head count. Bob was still standing next to Ophelia, who was panting as she leaned against a Frost Giant corpse, with all her limbs intact. Tessa was in the wagon, as was Lotus. Thor''s leg was visibly healing, Dana''s Golems were still active, and Rae looked fine.


    But there were two that he couldn''t see.


    Doug and Tori.

 Chapter 310 Mad Dash

    Chapter 310 Mad Dash


    Karl stumbled back to the scene of his battle and grabbed the head of the Royal Rank Frost Giant. He had told the General that he would mount the head on his wall, after all.


    Somewhere in Karl''s muddled mind, he knew that made no sense, and that there was something wrong with his thinking, but he dragged the head all the way back to the wagon before Tessa sat him down in the snow, and shone a shlight in his eyes.


    "Can you hear me? How many fingers am I holding up?" She asked.


    Everything was a bit blurry, and it took him a few seconds to focus, as her image kept swaying in front of him, but Karl confidently held up two fingers in the V for victory.


    "Definitely a concussion, plus whatever other internal injuries aren''t healed. Lotus, what is up with the sling?" Tessa asked, far too loudly, as it was causing him intense pain in his head.


    "It was severed. I pinned it in ce and put a localized healing spell on it, but it won''t be ready for at least a day." Lotus replied.


    "Can you move your fingers?" Tessa asked, and Karl tried his best to focus on his hand. Then realized he didn''t have to, he just had to wiggle his fingers aimlessly.


    "Well, they''re all moving. Alright, you should keep the limb." Tessa informed him.


    "Doug and Tori?" Karl asked.


    "Doug is recovering from a de across the chest, but he will be fine." She replied, then patted Karl on his good shoulder.


    "Alright, time to get up. Can you send the beasts back into their space to rest and recover? Or do they need more healing first?" Tessa asked quietly.


    Thor returned to his pond to sleep, followed by Rae and Hawk, though Rae left her golems out. Remi remained in Karl''s sling, periodically casting a healing ssh on his arm, in hopes that it would help it heal properly. She hadn''t been injured during the fight, and the inside of the sling wasn''t too cold after Tessa adjusted Karl''s cloak to cover most of his front. n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om


    Karl remained sitting for a few minutes as the others worked, and then a motion to his left caught his eye. The movement of a Frost Giant had him on his feet in a sh, ready to attack, but it was only Bob and Ophelia, wrapping the Royal Rank Giant''s head in a bag to hang off the back of the wagon.


    Bob quietly addressed the team. "Alright, we''ve got everything cleaned up, and the bodies are in the wagon to go back with us.


    Let''s get everyone in, and the Golems will take us back. Rae, can youe out and make a new harness? Wait, can she even hear us when she''s not out?" Rae came out and quickly harnessed Dana''s Golems to the wagon, which was now half loaded with bodies, and created a harness for the humanoid Golems. Then she returned to her space, where her stamina would recover more quickly, and curled up to sleep, while Hawk kept watch on the outside world.


    Everyone was seated a few minutester, and Karl found himself in the corner, with Dana leaning against his side, unnaturally quiet, while Tessa directed the Golems to get the cart moving.


    Karl wrapped his one good arm around the mage, and looked across the wagon, where High Priest George gave him a weak smile. Somehow, the man was still alive, having avoided being crushed during the ambush, but he had lost both legs above the knee, and his own magic was only enough to stop the blood flow and keep himself alive with the injuries he had sustained.


    Somehow, the man was still alive, having avoided being crushed during the ambush, but he had lost both legs above the knee, and his own magic was only enough to stop the blood flow and keep himself alive with the injuries he had sustained.


    Doug was doing better. His staff was shattered into splinters on the floor of the wagon, and he was wrapped with bandages all around his chest. He had wrapped himself in a fur cloak for warmth while he mixed some sort of herbal concoction, but Karl''s headcount still didn''t find Tori.


    Reluctantly, Karl turned to look at the back of the wagon, and saw the telltale mage robes and white fur cloak under the pile of bodies. They had defeated the Royal Rank Frost Giant, but Karl couldn''t call this a victory, not when they weren''t alling back home.


    For some reason, Tessa was pushing the wagon at a full run across the snow, headed for the closest section of the line, while Lotus continued to maintain her healing spell over the wagon.


    Karl faded in and out of consciousness for the next few hours, being briefly jostled awake byrger bumps as the wagon raced across the frozen ins.


    The sun had set not long after the battle, but still, the cleric didn''t slow the wagon, keeping the Golems at a full run, heedless of the bouncing that they were doing. Nobody was saying anything about it, so Karl assumed that there was a good reason for the rush, and continued to fade in and out until finally the bright spotlights of a front-line encampment lit up their wagon.


    There was a lot of shouting, and people were moving around frantically, unloading bodies from the wagon, but he just sat where he was with Dana under his arm as the mage sobbed silently and pretended that she was asleep.


    Eventually, a handnded on his shoulder, shaking Dana awake in the process, while bringing Karl out of his stupor long enough to turn to see who was looking for him.


    "It''s your turn, if you two can walk to the triage tents." The man in the white robes of a High Cleric of the main faith whispered.


    Karl was thankful for the consideration, as loud noises were still hurting his head, but his body was feeling better with that much time in Lotus'' healing spell and the [Refreshing Lightning].


    Remi was still in his sling, half asleep, but randomly mumbling and casting [Healing Ssh] on his arm until Karl stroked her head and let her know that she had done a good job, and she could go sleep in her space.


    The cleric passed Dana off to a female High Priest, and brought Karl to a small diagnosis room, where he repeated the ''light in the eyes'' thing that Tessa had done.


    "Still a concussion?" Karl asked.


    The priest nodded. "It''s healing, but won''t be finished until morning, most likely. You did good getting back here as fast as you did."


    Karl gave him a rueful smile. "We didn''t make it fast enough."


    The High Priest put a gentle hand on his shoulder. "No, you did. High Priests George and Doug are both going to be fine by morning, though George''s legs are a lost cause without months of treatment spells or a Royal Rank healer.


    But more importantly, with them, we had the six High Priests necessary to cast a resurrection ritual. Tori should reappear somewhere familiar to her in the next forty-eight hours."


    Karl just blinked at the High Priest, so he exined.


    "There are two basic resurrection spells. One brings them back to life within ten minutes of death, but only a Royal Rank Cleric or a select few of the healing specialist High Priests such as myself can use that. The other is a six-person ritual that puts a soul that''s still linked to its body into a new body with its memories intact. They usually show up somewhere which they associate with good memories, and then they have to exin to someone who they are, ore to the church, where we can verify it and update their records."


    "So she will be fine, and back at the Academy soon?" Karl asked hopefully.


    "Not back at the Academy, most likely. I have never heard of the new body forming with the effects of the injection, so she wouldn''t be an Elite anymore. But she''s still a student, so there is a chance they will make an exception, and she will be able to start over if her new body ispatible, just a little older than the others. It''s not like the injection doesn''t work anymore if they give itter."


    Well, that was better than dead, he supposed.


    The cleric finished giving Karl a checkup, which found that other than his head, everything seemed to be fine, and he was recovering well, but would need to eat a lot to recover the energy that he had burned while healing his body.


    That was something that he could do. Dana was waiting outside the tent with a faintly hopeful smile that said she had gotten the same news about Tori, so he led her toward arge wall tent where he could hear Bob arguing with someone. That was most likely the mess hall, and if it wasn''t, it was still the right ce to be, as that was where their team was.

 Chapter 311 Mess Hall

    Chapter 311 Mess Hall


    The remainder of the group had gathered at a table in the nearly deserted mess hall, where Karl and Dana joined them after loading their trays with random items. Karl still couldn''t think clearly, and every light source made his head hurt, but not enough that he couldn''t just leave them mostly closed while he ate.


    "What''s the prognosis, monster man?" Doug asked as Karl attempted to operate a canned drink one-handed, as his other wasn''t working properly, even if he removed it from the sling.


    "They say my head should be better tomorrow, and my arm will work eventually. Good work, by the way, to whoever put that back on. I distinctly remember that it was not attached for a while." Karl rambled.


    Lotus smiled and gave him a thumbs up. N?v(el)B\\jnn


    "I did the best that I can. I''m a good healer, but that was a pretty gnarly injury."


    Karl smiled at the little cleric. "Where''s George?"


    Doug frowned. "They took him for more intensive treatment. He was somewhat coherent once they drugged him, and we got the ritual done, but he''s in bad shape. I take it you''ve worked with him before?"


    "Briefly." Karl agreed, not wanting to get into it too deeply, as that was when they had picked up Tori, whose current fate was uncertain.


    They were eating quietly when amotion outside drew all their attention. The feeling of a powerful creature or Elite approaching put them all on guard, but the feeling was familiar to Karl, with his heightened senses, and he just returned to his eating.


    "Someone you know?" Doug whispered.


    "I''m fairly certain that is Prince Axel and Overlord Drake." Karl agreed.


    That surprised the high Priest, as they should have been on the Mountain Giant front, keeping the most powerful of their foes under control.


    The two stormed into the mess hall, followed by over a dozen officers, and then paused in visible relief as they saw the group eating.


    "Ah, there''s a sight for sore eyes. When we heard that the group sent to subjugate the Frost Giant Royal had been annihted, we feared the worst." Prince Axel blurted out with a relieved smile on his face.


    "I take it that you got the news about the same time that you got the news that we had been sent out?" Karl asked, while the others looked unsure how to respond. Karl and Dana were the only ones in the group who had held a proper conversation with either of these two leaders, and Overlord Drake had quite the reputation as a fighter.


    "We were meeting with General Ond when the news that a group had been wiped out and their tracking spells were all disabled within five minutes of each other. But the report was iplete, and we only knew that it was the church who put the trackers on. They didn''t include the team leader''s name." Drake exined.


    Karl winced at the loud noise, but smiled. "We will have to send the Generals a message and let them know that I got that head for my trophy case."


    Axel and Drake both burst intoughter.


    "You really did it? Ond told me about your little spat with the Generals, but I didn''t think you would actually manage it. The Frost Giant Royals aren''t just a little bit above Commander Rank, they''re skilled leaders and cunning monsters." The big warrior asked.


    "You really did it? Ond told me about your little spat with the Generals, but I didn''t think you would actually manage it. The Frost Giant Royals aren''t just a little bit above Commander Rank, they''re skilled leaders and cunning monsters." The big warrior asked.


    "That''s no joke. They were hiding down under the snow and rocks,ying perfectly still in an ambush ring around the bodies of the first group when we arrived. They had been there for days, and they were deep enough that not even thermal vision could spot them until they moved, and by then it was toote." Karl exined.


    Prince Axel whistled. "Damn, that''s just evil. The Mountain Giants camouge well with the stone, but at least you can see them on thermal. What else can you tell us about the Royal Frost Giant?"


    Everyone turned to look at Karl, as he was the only one with the opportunity to get a good look at it while it was still alive.


    "Middle-aged female Frost Giant, a full head taller than a Commander Rank Giant. She was fast, stupidly fast, and even with a Commander Rank agility buff, she was nearly faster than I was. Stronger than a Commander with two Giant Strength items on as well. She spokemon, and understoodbat tactics as well asmon battle traps intended to put her off bnce.


    Still vulnerable to fire, but able to take an immense amount of pain from poison attacks with no noticeable decrease inbat efficiency until fire attacks began to damage her back and shoulder muscles." Karl exined.


    "She spoke humanmon? What did she say?" Axel asked.


    Karl took a second to sort through the fuzzy memories for exactly what she said. He couldn''t get it, but Remi filled him in with the details.


    "She said, ''Look what I have caught. Stupid humans.'' then told me that she would enjoy eating me after Inded the first blow." The Prince nodded. That much was expected of the Giants, and not enlightening or shocking, even if it was umon for them to bother to learn humannguage.


    "Alright. I just need a basic overview of the battle, who was where?" Axel asked.


    Karl gestured to Doug, as he hadn''t actually seen the battle. He was too busy.


    "Karl was lured off to fight the Royal Giant, while I was in the wagon with Dana and Tori. Tessa was mounted on Thor at the front of the wagon, with Harry and Bob on either side.


    The stone Golems started at the back with Ophelia and then spread to Harry''s side when he was injured. The Spider Golems that Rae makes attacked from behind at first, while she guarded the top of the wagon. Hawk was on scout duty above, and I think that''s everyone."


    Axel was briefly confused as he counted the number ofbatants.


    "Hawk, Rae and Thor are beasts belonging to Karl. Commander Rank magical beasts." Doug exined.


    "Ah, I see now. Alright, how many Frost Giants were there?"


    Doug counted in his head for a moment. "Thirty Commander Rank Frost Giants, plus their leader."


    Everyone in the tent fell silent at that announcement.


    "Not the ten that were reported, but thirty Commander Rank Frost Giants, and a Royal Rank leader? And you returned with one half casualty? They just might give you all amendation for that." Prince Axel dered.


    Karl hadn''t realized that there were so many, and it was a miracle that anybody had made it through, even with multiple healers. The first group was twice their size, and they had been massacred. But there also might have been even more Frost Giants before that fight.


    One of the officers from the back stepped forward with a frown. "Not to question the integrity of a High Priest, but how is that possible? If one of the Commanders was fighting the leader solo, and the other was on defence, protecting the wagon, how did you manage to kill thirty Commander Rank Frost Giants while surrounded?"


    Doug sighed and had Karl light him another smoke. "Partially the berserker, Ophelia, who lives up to the reputation of the Bear Totem n, and did a massive amount of damage with the War Goddess'' blessing on her weapons, but mostly it was our ability to hold them off while the Spider Golems summoned by Karl''s Bloodbath Spider tore them apart and the Dragon Hawk set them on fire.


    Both of them havebat power well beyond what you expect of the average Commander Rank monster, and no matter how many times you kill a Golem, if you don''t take out the source, they don''t stoping.


    The Frost Giants thought that both mages were summoning the Golems, but it was one and the Spider. So, they targeted the mages first, before deciding that the second set of Golems belonged to the one fighting the leader.


    They weren''t speaking Common, but some hand gestures are universal to all humanoids."


    Drake looked curious. "And the Ascended Rank warriors and Golems were able to stand up to the attacks of the Frost Giants long enough for the Commander Rank Golems to eliminate them?" Doug gestured at Karl, and Thor brought up [Refreshing Lightning] over the cleric.


    "This is [Refreshing Lightning] the Lightning Cerro''s primary defensive barrier. Thor can spread it to the entire group, and between that and [Circle of Protection] at Commander Rank, the iing damage was low enough that we could hold." He exined, then motioned for Thor to lower the barrier so he could smoke.

 Chapter 312 Prognosis

    Chapter 312 Prognosis


    Overlord Drake silenced a round of iing questions from the other officers. "Is it possible that some of you might have advanced since you were sent to the battlefield?"


    Bob shrugged. "Not me, but I suppose that it''s possible one of the clerics might have. The others are all still too new to their advancement, so it seems unlikely that they would have achieved the next rank."


    Drake was looking more at Karl than anyone else. Karl shook his head. "No, while my ss is an oddity, and I might count as more than one Commander, I am not at the Royal Rank. Not even close. I was told that when I get close I will feel the bottleneck in my mental spaces, where I will have to adjust my technique, and they still have a long way to go before that."


    The others nodded, but Tessa shrugged. "I have gained some favour from the War Goddess for my work, but I''m not certain if it is enough to qualify."


    Drake nodded. "Alright, I will put it in my notes. Intervention by the War Goddess should quiet any calls for a verification mission, but someone will likely use a truth spell on you to verify." One of the officers snorted inughter, and held up a green disc. They had already verified Doug''s words as truth.


    Prince Axel looked excited. "Do you think we have a new High Priestess of the Red Dragoning soon? Tessa, have you noticed any new draconic features? I would like to know what you have been up to that would have attracted so much of her attention to you, the War Goddess has seemed rather uninterested in this battlefront."


    Doug burst intoughter, and nearly dropped his smoke before Ophelia stole it from him and smirked at the officers as she took a drag.


    "Who do you think that the War Goddess likes better than murder hobos on a battlefield? We have been halfway down the border since we arrived, and our total kill count has to be over a thousand by now." The muscr brteughed, then frowned as Doug stole his smoke back and thumped her on the head.


    Overlord Drake made a gesture to the officers behind him, and someone brought forward arge red folder.


    Inside were typed transcripts that looked like copies of radio transmissions, along with mission reports and the usual paperwork that went with most missions.


    Karl wasn''t certain why the folder was red, but he was still having issues thinking clearly, and it didn''t really matter, as Drake was skimming through the contents, so it was all within his security clearance.


    "What is this? This string of triple digit kill counts? I''m assuming that is for thebined group?" Drake asked, and the officer shrugged.


    Tessa snapped her fingers. "I know what you''re reading. Those days we went hunting reinforcement groups, and split the kill count between the two groups so that we didn''t have to file paperwork for abined Elite Recon force."


    "So, it''s not just the same number, misreported? Your groups killed the total of the two numbers that day?" Overlord Drake replied.


    "Exactly. We didn''t want to mess with the total, as that would change the expectations of the main lines, so we split the kills between us when reporting."


    The officer held up his green disc again, and Drake shook his head in dismay. "And they call the Overlords the monsters among the Elites. Is one of you perhaps auditioning for a position with the ck Dragon, Goddess of Death?"


    Doug shook his head. "No, we''re keeping things bnced, we rescued a town full of refugees too, if you check a few more pages in. We''re a bit behind on the good works, but helping reset the climate back to normal has to count for a few bnce points.


    It''s just that they were sending Awakened Groups with an Ascended leader, and we have a Commander Rank Bloodbath Spider who summons Golems, and a Dragon Hawk with a pure hatred for all things water and ice element. The reinforcement groups died so fast that sometimes the rest of us wouldn''t even get to fight."


    One of the officers chuckled. "What''s next? Stacking so many giant corpses that you create a beacon fire that can be seen from two valleys away?"


    Karl''s mouth was moving before his brain realized what was happening. "That''s in the records for sector G-4C. We already did that."


    Doug choked on his coffee, then did his best to return his expression back to neutral.


    "So it is. But they didn''t actually see it from two valleys away, only one." Drake informed him when he found the file.


    "Murder Hobo." Lotus mouthed in Karl''s direction, with her back to the officers.


    "You should have seen how sad Remi was when she learned that they wouldn''t appreciate our nice warm bonfire. I almost felt bad about setting it." Karl whispered back, possibly louder than intended, as a few of the officers gave him amused looks.


    "You''re taking this exceptionally well for a novice Elite." Prince Axel noted, looking at Karl.


    Doug shook his head. "He''s got a major concussion. Nothing has actually sunk into his mind yet, and probably won''t until he has a few days to unwind and return to reality."


    The Prince sighed. "I suppose that makes sense. Everyone else but Doug looks some level of traumatized, so I thought he might have some skill that helps with processing andpartmentalizing traumatic experiences."


    A High Priest in white robes cleared his throat from the doorway, and Overlord Drake nodded.


    "We will wait until you''re done eating, and then you are all being evacuated back to the Capital for medical assessment and recovery. For those of you who are still in school, your personal tutors will be there when you get there."


    Karl was not looking forward to a helicopter ride with the condition that his head was in, but it seemed inevitable. It would take days to get there down the gravel roads in a bus.


    "How is their recovery prognosis?" Overlord Drake asked. "90 days to full recovery." The white robed High Priest exined. N?v(el)B\\jnn


    "That long? We were hoping to get them back in abat position once the healing was finished." The Overlord sighed.


    The High Priest frowned. "If it''s an emergency deployment, then fourteen days. But surely, we don''t need them back on the line that desperately. The Frost Giants have been devastated by dragons, and this line has almost gone calm over thest few days. Unless theye up with something new tactic or weapon, then we can spare two teams of Elites."


    Overlord Drake rolled his eyes. "Do you think I care about a bunch of Ascended Rank Frost Giants? No, we still need more people on the Hill Giant lines, while I am with the other Overlords, keeping the Mountain Giants at bay.


    The Hill Giants are all worked up for no good reason, and they''ve been hitting everywhere along the border. Unlike the Frost Giants, they don''t need to change anything to move their border, and they''re stronger. So, if thisbined team can reliably take care of teams made mostly of Commander Rank Giants, then we need them on the other fronts."


    Karl sighed, and Prince Axel smirked. "You shouldn''t have told them that. I know that sigh, it means ''I foreseeplications that might stretch that maximum recovery duration in my future''."


    As if they had practised it, the whole group turned to Karl with looks of clearly fake concern. "That poor severed arm, and the lingering head injury, certainly we won''t be able to deploy so soon." Lotus joked.


    Now it was Prince Axel''s turn to sigh in frustration. "Alright, enough of that. You''re not even trying to fake it properly. But the next time, you shouldn''t be in a scouting role, you will be in a main camp where it''s safer, and you will have support to deal withrger attacks."


    Karl couldn''t help but smile at the sour looks on everyone''s faces. "No offence, Prince Axel, but it''s likely safer for usnot to be on the front lines with the rest of the Elites. I have heard on good authority that that''s where the monsters attack.


    If we''re in the field, we get to be on the offence, and with one notable exception, where we were outsmarted by a bunch of angry popsicles, it''s been working out well for us." Karl exined.


    [Angry Popsicles, I like that one.] Hawkughed.

 Chapter 313 Evacuated

    Chapter 313 Evacuated


    The Church worked fast, or perhaps their timing was simply impable, as that was the moment when the Clerics came in to inform everyone that the evacuation helicopter for the wounded Elites wasnding, and that it was intending to return to the Capital as quickly as possible.


    "Where in the Capital will it bending?" Overlord Drake asked.


    "The University''s Wounded Veteran Treatment Hospital." The cleric responded immediately.


    That was likely one of the many facilities that were actually connected to the University and Cathedral, but hidden in the woods, to preserve the feeling of natural surroundings.


    "Alright, we wille with you. We would like to be present for the official diagnosis from the resident experts." Prince Axel dered.


    "Did we do something to piss off Colonel Valerie?" Karl muttered to himself, making the Prince and Overlord bothugh.


    "Probably. Goddess knows I likely did, but that''s just how she is. But we were tasked to ensure that the students were safe and to impress upon the Church that we can''t afford any lingering damage that will hinder their growth. We had to be on this front for an inspection anyhow, so it was no big thing." Prince Axel remarked quietly.


    "So that''s how it is. I don''t think that we have much to worry about. My arm might be mostly useless right now, but it will almost certainly recover in a reasonable timeframe." Karl replied. n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om


    Axel smiled and gestured toward the door. "It''s that almost that the brass finds uneptable. Now, I suppose we should be leaving, as the Church specifically made space for everyone in the evacuation flight."


    That made sense to Karl, especially when they had started with the spection that one of the others might have made it to Commander Rank. The church did almost all the testing once you were out of the Academy, and two of the most likely candidates were Tessa and Lotus.


    The thought of Lotus, the tiny wild child of a nature cleric as a High Priestess brought a smile to Karl''s face, which drew the attention of the others.


    "Something amusing about an evacuation flight?" Harry asked.


    Karl shook his head. "No, I was thinking that they likely expedited it, hoping that one of their own had reached Commander Rank. Now, it might be Tessa, but can you imagine Lotus as a High Priestess? I mean, nature Priestesses are known for being a little out there, but Lotus in charge of stuff that involves sitting and paperwork?"


    Lotus gasped in horror and Dougughed. "There are at least fifty pages of reports to write after you officially advance. You should mentally prepare yourself, little one." The High Priest teased his counterpart.


    "And how long did it take you to do them?" Tessa asked.


    Doug shrugged. "I got through the first assignment that day, and I''ll get them the rest of itter."


    Meaning that he still hadn''t done it, even months after the advancement test waspleted. Either the paperwork wasn''t all that important, or the Church just gave up on the Nature Priests and let it slide. Karl had thought that they were going to force him to be responsible for at least a whole week before letting him escape again.


    Once they were loaded, the helicopter began to spin up the rotors, and Karl''s head began to pound in time with the thumping of the air.


    "Here, take one of these. It will help with the headache. Head injuries are tricky, since so much healing magic depends on what the body thinks is its proper state. It knows what a healed arm should be like, but when the brain is injured it gets confused." One of the clerics exined as he handed Karl a small white pill.


    Karl swallowed the medicine and immediately his headache began to fade as his whole body became numb.


    Fortunately for him, the ride ended long before the pill wore off, and before he knew it, Karl had his arm around Dana, leading the group into the hospital while she grumbled about it being a waste of time as she wasn''t injured.


    "Physical wounds aren''t the only thing that we treat here." One of the clerics informed her with a gentle smile.


    Lotus pulled Dana out from under Karl''s arm with a smile, and gave her a spin. "Rx, I''ve been here before. It''s good to get things off your chest, and they have the good food, as long as you''re not sick."


    Dana smiled softly. "Is itmon for Nature Priestesses to be sent for mental health evaluations?"


    Lotus nodded happily. "All the time before we are confirmed as followers of the Green Dragon or one of the other Nature Gods. People usually think that we''re crazy or scatterbrained, when we''re really just bored."


    "Or stoned." Ty muttered.


    "That''s a definite possibility. The others tell me that I don''t need drugs, though. I''m fun enough without them. Speaking of which, once we are settled in for the night, can we get Karl to let Rae out again? I want to swing in a hammock." Lotus agreed.


    The cleric in front of them in his doctor''s robes gave her a concerned look while the groupughed.


    Karl gestured to her bag. "You know there is a hammock in there. You can just hang it up in your room if Rae isn''t around to make you a custom one."


    "Oh, right! I forgot that there was one in here. We haven''t had a chance to use them in a while since we''ve been in the same spot with new ones made for us."


    The doctor pinched the bridge of his nose and closed his eyes to take a deep breath before dealing with them again.


    "I would ask if this was new behaviour, but it clearly isn''t. Are there any other oddballs in the group that I should know about?" He finally asked.


    "Other than the Werebear Totem Berserker who gets super growly if you tickle her, the guy who talks to his pet monsters, the War Priestess who treats a Lightning Cerro as a pet, and Doug? Not really." Lotus replied happily.


    Harry and Ty gave each other knowing smiles, while Bob smirked at Doug.


    "See, brother. I AM the normal one." The warriorughed.


    Lotus shook her head. "That honour definitely goes to someone else in your family. But you don''t really qualify as an oddball."


    Doug gave Lotus a high five, while the Doctor shook his head.


    "You know what, I''m bringing in a specialist team for this. I''m not doing this on a Monday." He muttered as he tapped a button on the wall by a door.


    It seemed to be some sort of pager, and after a second, four aging hippies came jogging down the hall, as if there were some type of emergency.


    "You paged?" The first one to them asked, panting a little from the exertion.


    "They''re all yours. I am clocking out." The first doctor informed them, while the four confused Nature Priests looked at the group.


    Karl saw the moment that the realization hit them, that the first guy just wasn''t up to dealing with the shenanigans of a green robed High Priest and his friends, and they spread their arms in a weing gesture, indicating that the group shoulde forward.


    "Alright, we have your notes from the flight. Who is Commander Karl, the one who ... No, that can''t be right. It says here you were punched in the face by a Frost Giant." One of the clerics in the back asked.


    Lotus shook her head. "Technically, she punched him in the chest, and his head hit a tree when he was finished flying. The initial diagnosis was a concussion."


    "Alright, was that before or after he lost the arm?" The doctor asked, directing it at Lotus, as the first responder on the scene.


    "After, but not long after. The fight was over when I got there, but it couldn''t have been more than thirty seconds apart. I did my best to put the arm properly in ce, and he''s got motion in the fingers, but they''re still weakened and not responding properly." She exined.


    The man with the most prodigious of the beards among the group nodded in understanding and cast some sort of spell over Karl.


    "That''s an easy fix. It''s just nerve damage, and we can fix that as we deal with the head injury. It would sort itself out in a few weeks of treatment anyhow." The bearded Doctor agreed.


    "Why does nobody have name tags?" Karl asked Doug, who was standing beside him.


    "So that we can''t yell at them by name. It helps keep things impersonal. Once we''re settled in, and they know that we''re not in the middle of battle rage or psychosis, they will usually introduce themselves. But these are Dale, Jerry, John and Skittles." Doug replied.


    The bearded man burst intoughter.


    "High Priest Xander Moonbeam Rainbow. Doctor Xander to most, but this impertinent whelp made up a nickname for me when he was still one of my more promising students." He exined.


    Well, that was an unfortunate name. Perhaps his parents were nature priests as well.

 Chapter 314 Capital Checkup

    Chapter 314 Capital Checkup


    They walked down a hallway, and found High Priest George, as well as a number of other injured clerics sitting around a radio, listening to a broadcast of the Capital''stest Idol singer, an Ascended Rank, bard ss Elite known only as Su.


    She sang in an upbeat pop rock style, and the clerics were enthralled, even through the radio. In person, the Bards could draw the whole crowd in with their magic, and she had an astonishing voice that was helping the wounded recover, if their smiles were anything to go by.


    Karl smiled at George and patted him on the shoulder as they passed, and the High Priest smiled back from his wheelchair. He had loose hospital issue pyjama pants on, but it would be some time for his legs to grow back.


    As they walked, the group members were taken away one by one, escorted into various rooms. Most of them would be in and out quickly enough, but Karl knew that he would be there for at least a few days while they sorted out whatever was still going on with his head.


    Eventually, Doug was thest one with him, and Doctor Xander turned him by the shoulders, into an examination room while two aging High Priests in the white robes of the main faith under their coats escorted Karl into the room across the hall.


    "Alright, we will start with the physical injuries, and then we will ask you a few questions about your time in battle. It can do strange things to people, and it''s as much for our peace of mind as your own.


    Keeping things bottled up isn''t healthy, after all. Now, this is going to feel bright, but it''s actually in your head and not a physical light." The doctor exined.


    He wasn''t joking, it was like the whole world went Gold, but underneath the light, he could sense something paying attention to him.


    [I told you that Mental Fortitude was an important skill, didn''t I?] The voice asked.


    [I can''t argue with that. At this point I feel like I should be freaking out and breaking down. In fact, it doesn''t make sense that I''m not. But like, it''s in the back of my head, you know?] Karl replied, used to the sensation of mentalmunication from interacting with the beasts.


    Karl sensed multiple sources of amusement, and then the sensation faded with onest bit of wisdom.


    [Even the smallest beast knows when to run and when to fight. Don''t forget that.]


    The light faded not long after the voice did, and Karl opened his eyes again. He was staring at two very concerned doctors, but he didn''t recall any pain or anything other than the voice and the light.


    "That wasn''t as bad as expected. Bright lights have been my nemesis all day." Karl exined.


    "What do you remember?" The doctor asked. "There was a voice in my mind, the same as when my beasts speak to me, but not one of them. It made a joke about one of my ss skills, and then reminded me that every animal should know when to run away." Karl shrugged.


    "That''s all?" The doctor asked. N?v(el)B\\jnn


    "I mean, yeah. What were you expecting?" The Doctor frowned. "You were surrounded by Golden Light for over two hours. We expected a longer timeline."


    Now it was Karl''s turn to frown. Thanks to Rae''s shared echolocation, he had a fairly good sense of what was going on around him, even with his eyes closed, he should have noticed if hours had passed. Losing situational awareness was more concerning than anything else.


    [What happened while I was out?] Karl asked the beasts.


    The only one who had been awake was Remi, and she was as confused as he was. [What do you mean? I didn''t even have an opportunity to fix the eyes on this new Totem, and then you were done with your thing.] She asked, unsure what the doctors were talking about.


    "Are you trying to remember something?" The doctor asked.


    "Oh, sorry. I was conferring with the beasts. But their sense of time is the same as mine, and they think it has only been a minute or two since we arrived in the room. Have you conferred with someone outside to see if it were you whose sense of time was warped?" Karl replied.


    The doctor pointed at a side table with a pair of empty tes and coffee cups.


    "Point taken. If everyone else had hours, then it had to be me. But on the bright side, my head feels wonderful again." Karl informed them.


    "Well, we will continue our checks, and verify that the damage from the concussion is healing properly. But the reaction of your pupils is back to normal as the light in the room adjusts, and that''s a good start."


    Karl knew what they meant, he had seen miners with head injuries before after the many minor copses, and they always had one huge pupil and one tiny when the lights got bright again.


    "Alright, now for the part that''s going to be much more difficult. We would like to talk to you about your time behind enemy lines. What was that like, being cut off from support, alone with only a few strangers?" The doctor asked.


    Karlughed. "My team aren''t strangers. We might not be family, but we''ve been through a lot together, and this was not our first mission together. In fact, even the Mackenzie brothers are familiar faces, as I have worked with them recently as well.


    Being behind enemy lines was partially our choice. We wanted to be away from the main lines, where we could start fights on our own terms, not wait for the Frost Giants to charge and then respond.


    But when the lines were pulled back the first time, we were guarding a spot along the border. We would have had to go through the enemy lines to get back to our side, but as I mentioned, we didn''t really want to be involved in that shit show anyhow. So, we set up a nice den in a cave, and went out daily to hunt the Frost Giants and their allies."


    "A den?" The doctor asked, taking notes.


    "That''s really the best way to describe it. We didn''t make physical upgrades to the caves we stayed in to call it a fort, we just had Rae, my Bloodbath Spider, create hammocks, a proper door, and such. Then the Clerics added the residential touches, setting up proper tables with nature magic, while I used Fire Magic to keep the caves warm.


    All in all, it wasn''t all that bad. Do you know how many nights I slept in the cold in the Lithium Mine vige because we couldn''t afford more coal for the stove than we needed for cooking? Having Fire Magic to keep a cave warm all night is pure luxury."


    The Doctor gave him a gentle smile.


    "Do you resent the Lithium Mines?"


    Karl shook his head. "They suck, but the job of a miner will probably never be a good one. I have transferred money home for my parents, but I heard that the day I made Ascended they promoted Dad up out of the hole anyhow, so he''s in the office and doing better."


    "Any other siblings?"


    Karl shook his head. "My mom wasn''t big on children. She liked me, but she wasn''t the sort that wanted to raise an entire football team on her own."


    The priest chuckled. "It sounds like you know a few of those."


    "There are always a few families like that in any town, right? I heard from some of the other students that the farms are way worse, as they need the extra hands, but more hands means they need even more help, which leads to more kids, until they have a small army on the farm." Karlughed.


    That made the cleric give an honestugh. "I grew up on one of those farms. Tenth of what are now fourteen children, and most of my siblings already have at least five of their own. I showed an exceptional affinity to Holy Magic even as a small child, and when I managed to actually cast a healing spell at sixteen years old, they brought me to the church for training."


    "Then you understand. Not everyone wants all the family. As the nature priests would say, some people rte better to the Warbear and her lone cub than the Earth Mouse and their litters."

 Chapter 315 Roommates

    Chapter 315 Roommates


    The Cleric made notes as they talked, and when he had finished with his list of questions, he stood from his chair and nodded in satisfaction.


    "Let''s get you moved to a recovery room so that your head can recover. As far as I can tell, that is the most pressing issue. The rest is all incidental, and it should sort itself out with only a few more sessions." He dered.


    "Well, that''s all that we can really ask for, right? But can I ask a favour? Our tenth group member, Tori, underwent a resurrection ritual, and she should be showing up somewhere soon. Could you please let me know when she is found? I''d like to do something for her, regardless of whether they''re going to see if she''spatible with the Injection again in her new body or not." Karl asked.


    "Of course. The Church is keeping an eye out for her, along with a number of others. The Hill Giant war front has been brutaltely, and they have resurrected a number of Elites. It''s amon enough request, so I will put it on your notes, and when there is news, someone wille to inform you.


    But you should really rest first. Nothing is better for healing than time, and we will have a specialiste to check on you in the morning." The doctor informed him with a smile.


    "Wonderful. Where are we all staying?" "We all? Commander, this is a hospital, and you are a patient. You will be in a recovery room, while the others will be in their own rooms, though you will likely all be in the same ward, as you came in for the same evaluation." He chuckled.


    Karlughed. "You make it sound like I''m some sort of invalid."


    The Doctor looked from his arm, which was still in a sling, to his head, which still had a visibly healing scar on one side. "Alright, point taken. Where is this room?" n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om


    The doctor gave a sigh that spoke of released tension, and left Karl with even more questions. Why was he so uptight? They had just finished the meeting about his experiences, and Karl didn''t think that it had gone that badly. The man shouldn''t have a good reason to be so nervous.


    The room that he led Karl to had three other Elites already there, all Awakened, and all sporting visibly missing limbs.


    "Gentlemen, we have your fourth roommate. Wee Commander Karl to your little group, please. He will be here for a bit, but not as long as you, since his cleric managed to find and reattach his old limb." The doctor informed the men in the room.


    The hospital beds didn''t lookfortable, and the room was full of strangers, not exactly prime sleeping conditions. Karl considered asking them to reconsider the arrangements, but coed naps in monster made hammocks didn''t seem like they were a hospital approved activity.


    "Hey everyone. Good to meet you." Karl greeted the three other Elites in his room for the evening.


    "Dude, you''re a freaking legend. It''s an honour to meet you." A bearded blonde man missing one leg informed him.


    "A legend? I just got here." Karl replied with a smile for the enthusiastic Elite.


    The three all shook their heads, and the blonde man continued. "Word spreads fast here. We don''t have anything to do but gossip. Word is that your team killed a Royal Rank Frost Giant, even after being ambushed, and made it back to tell the story. But even before that, we all knew who you were. We were on the front when your team blew up the Frost Stone and knocked outmunications for an entire battlefront, then just chilled in the wilderness killing Giants until someone brought you a new radio."


    Karl smiled. "What should we have done? We''ve been running away from Command Staff interrogations and paperwork since before the war started. We came straight from monster subjugation missions to the border when it all kicked off, and I''ve been doing my best not to be in a main camp overnight ever since."


    Theirughter caught the attention of the staff, who sent a white robed acolyte with a nurse''s hat on to yell at them.


    Only, when she arrived in the room, the first thing that she saw was that they weren''t arguing and that Karl was still in his armour.


    "Would you mind putting your gear in the locker, and changing into a hospital gown, or one of the many avable recovery outfits?" She requested.


    "If you try getting me into one of those silly paper hospital gowns, I''m putting it on backwards." Karl warned her.


    "The white hassock is fine, but the short-sleeved one, as you have an arm injury that''s still in a sling. Or you can wear the lounge pants and loose shirt from the lockers. They are eptable as well, but there is no need for armour or backpacks in the hospital." She reminded Karl with a strained professional smile.


    Karl used his good arm to open one of the lockers and set his backpack inside, then grabbed a white visitor robe and looked for the shower. If he was going to change, he might as well get clean again.


    "Can you shower without assistance, or would you like me to call an orderly?" The nurse asked.


    "I should be fine. My arm isn''tpletely dead, I just don''t have good control of the fingers yet. The doc said that once my head starts to heal, the fingers should sort themselves out. Nerve damage, ording to the healers." Karl agreed.


    The nurse nodded and left the room, closing the door behind her.


    "They''re so much nicer to you." The man in the back left corner of the room sighed from his bed.


    "That''s because he''s a Commander, and he''s got monsters with him. They''ll have the room under surveince with a High Priest down the hall, since he''s got a head injury. Head wounds are tricky like that, you never know when someone is going to snap and forget that they''re in a hospital and not in the middle of a battleground." The blondeughed.


    Karl stopped and gave the man a shocked look. "And yet, they put me in a mixed room?" "We''re all warriors. We might not look like much right now, but we can take a hit or two, and there aren''t any spare rooms right now. Normally, all Commanders get the private rooms, but if you''re here with us, then there are zero left."


    "It''s likely more fun here than in a solo room anyhow. They told me that they''re not going to put the group back together in a dorm while we are in the hospital, so it''s better here than bored alone. But I will be back in a few minutes."


    Once Karl was washed up and refreshed, he was feeling much more human again, but he did notice that there were no shaving implements in the bathroom, and he had forgotten to get his from his bag. He didn''t grow a great beard, it was still fairly thin, but now that he was out of the Frost Giant Nation, his face was warmer than he would have preferred.


    He came back out in the in white robes, and watched as the other men traded money, clearly having bet on something.


    "Did you really think that I wouldn''t manage to change? My armour is bonded." Karlughed.


    The blonde shook his head. "We were betting that you would take out a razor and trigger the emergency response. Head trauma measures, remember? My bet was that you forgot it in your bag."


    Karl chuckled. "That''s exactly what happened. Now, what is there to do around here?"


    "Well, you can walk, so you can likely wander around until they yell at you, or get the nurse to bring a book, or meditate, if that''s possible with your head injury. Sometimes they tell you not to. Mostly we just sleep and sit around telling jokes and war stories.


    It helps pass the time. You''ll see soon. Time passes either very fast or very slow here."


    While they talked, Thor was mentally measuring the room. There were plenty of people here to meet, but not enough room for him to stand between them. The blonde man was right, hospitals really were boring.


    The man in the back corner smiled at Karl. "I suspect that with you in the room, things will be much more interesting than thest week was. There was a huge fuss on the radio after you left for your mission, when General Ond found out that not only had another team been sent, but they were missing."


    The other two red at him for a second. "Sorry, I didn''t mean to bring up bad memories."


    Karl shrugged. "It''s not all bad. We got the target, and we brought back a survivor. There was still one High Priest from the first group alive at the ambush site. He''s here in the hospital already, I saw him on the way in."

 Chapter 316 Light Sleeper

    Chapter 316 Light Sleeper


    Karl had just sat down on his bed to meditate when he felt someone casting a spell to calm them, or possibly to put them all to sleep. He wasn''t sure if it was hospital policy for this time of day, or if they had annoyed someone with their joking around, but he decided toy down to meditate anyhow.


    The mattress was hard and ufortable, and Karl frowned as he rxed onto it.


    "Cushy, right?" The blonde asked.


    "I''ve been sleeping in spider silk hammocks that stretch to match your body weight distribution. I don''t think that a regr mattress will ever feel right again." Karl exined slowly as he felt the spell settle over him.


    The others were slowly drifting off, and didn''t seem to notice the spell. Either that or they were used to the effect, and it didn''t startle them, but Karl''s mind rebelled against the magic, wanting to force him awake. So, instead of sleeping, he put [Refreshing Lightning] back up and continued to meditate. n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om


    For the next six hours, by Karl''s rough estimation, that worked out well, and everyone else in the room slept and recovered while he worked on rebuilding the power focus in the beast spaces. Then the doctors came in to make their rounds, and cast a plethora of healing spells to help rebuild and regrow the lost limbs of the others. But when they got to Karl, he heard someone cussing, and the sound of a wall being punched. He focused on Rae''s version of echolocation, which didn''t require him to open his eyes to see, and noticed that someone had tried to give him an IV drip. It appeared that they punched the wall in frustration after they had burned themselves on the [Refreshing Lightning] barrier.


    "What the hell are we supposed to do now? The order says IV fluids for the next six hours with an antipsychotic, and then another forty-eight hours of sedation until the head wound heals." The burned person, an orderly by their outfit, whisper shouted at the others in the room.


    "You''re lucky to be alive. Did you even think to check for protective spells before you tried to jab him? That one is a fresh Commander Rank battlefield trauma case, of course he will be paranoid enough to keep up defensive spells while he sleeps."


    Thor giggled to himself as he spread the barrier over the whole group again. Karl hesitated for a moment, as he considered not stopping him. The others would likely appreciate the extra healing spell, but the staff definitely wouldn''t. So, he had to say something.


    [Let them rest without the spell until they''re awake again. We don''t need to make life harder on the healers. Healers are our friends.] Karl eventually reminded the Cerro, who was still resting in his pond, where the Holy magic from the stones would heal his leg faster than being outside with healing spells.


    The spaces were the perfect space to recover, and with his pond, he would be fine in no time at all if he wasn''t already. Thor had no intention of getting up to find out. It was more rxing to simply float here and wait for something to do.


    "What do we do now? If we can''t administer the medicine, do we just make a note or send someone else in?" The burned person asked.


    From outside the door, someoneughed softly. "Or you could simply ask him to take the barrier down. He''s been awake the entire time, you distracted him from his meditation when you tried to stab him with the IV needle."


    It was obvious that his sleeping act was not fooling whoever was outside, so Karl opened his eyes to see the Acolytes in the room with one doctor, while the doctor who had walked Karl''s group in and turned them over to nature priests stood in the hall.


    "I thought you weren''t up to this on a Monday?" Karl joked.


    "It''s Tuesday now. I just came back on shift and already your group is giving me headaches. The War Priestess is studying instead of sleeping, the Nature Priestess is bored and asking for her imaginary friend, and the Mage girl had to be moved in with the Berserker to keep her from breaking down." He sighed.


    "I should likely go check on her then. Being around others helps, and I''ve got a barrier that will elerate the recovery process, both mentally and physically. Of course, it also shocks people who take a stab first, ask questionster, approach, but it''s not really harmful." Karl replied, prepared to get up out of bed.


    "You think that you can help more than the doctors?" The old man asked, amused.


    "Friendly faces always help. You do the medicine, we do the moral support. But I''m guessing that the problem is that they''re in a women''s ward." Karl questioned.


    "It seems that you do actually understand the issue. It is highly irregr to allow a male patient into a woman''s room during the night. But it looks like your mind is healing smoothly, and there is a minimal risk of a psychotic break.


    You should get some real sleep and not just mediation. That''s the whole point of the spell, but it appears that you have some resistance to mind-altering effects." The doctor replied.


    "It seems so. At first, I thought that I was under attack, but nobody else was concerned about it, and they all just settled into bed."


    The doctor nodded. "That''s part of thepulsion of the spell. It tells you to getfortable and ready for bed, and it suppresses nightmares so that the veterans can sleep more easily. It doesn''t seem that is a problem for you, but many of the others are not so lucky."


    One of the Acolytes gave Karl a curious look. "How do you do it? ept all that bloodshed? You''ve got to be younger than I am, and yet you''re not even rattled by the thought of being stuck inbat against enormous monsters."


    Karl chuckled. "That''s kind of why they call them Giants. They''rerge. They''re ugly too, and that helps. If we were fighting against an enemy that was cute or more rtable, it might be worse.


    But the Frost Giants are just ugly and mean, it''s not hard to fight them."


    The older doctor who had entered with the Acolytes nodded. "Some people just have a punchable face."


    The Acolytes looked a little horrified at the notion, but Karlughed. "You have no idea. There was this fat General with General Ond when we were sent on the mission, an absolutely obnoxious jackass. If Ond hadn''t intervened, I would have happily taken him out behind the woodshed for a lesson."


    The doctor chuckled. "I will make a note of it in your files. But General Ond isn''t likely to apologize for the attitude of the other Generals. It''s a bit of an ongoing issue between the military and civilian Elitestely, and the problem is getting worse."


    Karl shook his head. "That''s inevitable, really. When someone has this level of power, it is always going to go to their head. Like the foreman at the mine lording it over the workers on his shift, the temptation is inevitable.


    But a lot of the problem is that there are two types of Elites, and it''s not civilians or military. It''s the ones who embrace their ss, versus the ones who embrace the benefits that their rank grants them.


    Here in the hospital, everyone has to y nice, and we all know our roles and our ranking, and things move smoothly. But there, you have Elites who would never have the guts to take on the missions that they are assigning others to do, and those who have done it themselves. Only one of those two types of Elites gets respect in a war zone, and quite frankly, it would be better if they sent the others home before they got anyone killed.


    Ond knows what it is to fight. Most of the Clerics know what it is to be on the front lines with nothing more than regr human soldiers and the grace of their Gods. But when they press bureaucrats to do their time in some front-line camp, they just make a mess of things."


    One of the Nursesughed. "They''re still Generals, and Commanders. Where else would you have them?"


    Karl shrugged. "We could put a fancy uniform on them, and they could guard public buildings in the Capital. It would be a nice show of civic virtue for the citizens."


    The nurse choked trying to stop herughter, and the doctor shook his head. "We can''t just be asking Ascended and Commander Rank Generals to stand around on honour guard duty because they''re not well suited to the actual battlefield."


    From behind him, one of the hippie Nature Priestsughed. "We ask civilian Ascended and Commander Rank Elites to do security details and honour guard duty at the government buildings. Maybe it would do the officers some good to get back to their roots."


    "What brings you over here?" The first doctor asked suspiciously.


    "One of my patients says that if she can''t have the spider, she wants to at least pet the snake. Can I borrow your patient?" The old hippie asked.

 Chapter 317 Morning Visitors

    Chapter 317 Morning Visitors


    Karl smiled at the old hippie. "Of course, I wille with you. I''ve had plenty of sleep, and if I don''t go visit, then we will have to guard against marauding Nature Priests all night anyhow. Sitting still indoors isn''t in their nature, and from what I know, she wasn''t injured."


    The white robed doctor did that pinching the bridge of his nose thing again, and Karl knew that they were stressing him out only minutes after his shift had started.


    Karl patted him on the shoulder. "I rmend that you just go with the flow. It''s the nature of things. The harder you fight against it, the more problems you will cause for yourself, and it''s not like anything you could do would prevent it if we were actually determined to make it happen.


    That''s one thing that the Nature Priests have right. You need to embrace nature, and ept that rigid rules aren''t always the right answer for every patient. Just let the nature priests cuddle the monsters, and they will be happy again. It''s better than any medication you can give them."


    The old hippie snorted inughter as he nodded in agreement. "This one is practically custom-made for followers of the Green Dragon. Do you know how many of our people have been mauled or killed trying to pet the unpettable? Now, he shows up with dangerous monsters that will actually ept their affection, you can''t just tell them ''no'' all of a sudden."


    That was a real danger to the Nature Priests'' lives. Their brains had a hard time epting that not all friend shaped things were friends.


    The white robed doctor waved Karl out of the room, and he followed the old hippie into arge empty room that he thought might be an empty storage room. Lotus and Doug were already there, along with a half dozen other green robed clerics, all sitting around telling jokes.


    "Karl, you''re already awake. Good timing. I just realized that we haven''t actually gotten to properly meet Remi yet, even though I saw her on the battlefield." Lotus announced.


    "Of course. Remi, how about youe out and say hello?"


    Remi came out of her space to coil in Karl''s sling, and then poked her head out to take stock of the room before she decided if she was going to actuallye out in the open.


    The old hippie that had led Karl here burst intoughter, shaking his head in dismay.


    "It''s a good thing that I led you here. Can you imagine the white robes reaction if they met her? Remi, wasn''t it? They get panicked enough when we bring in cats and Earth Mice forfort, but a venomous Spirit Beast? We might need the crash cart for them instead of the patients."


    Remi giggled in Karl''s mind as she heard him ramble, but the little snake recognized that he was looking at her with adoration, while Lotus hade up in front of them with a pleading look and her hands out.


    The little snake slithered out of the sling and wrapped herself around Lotus'' arm to take a better look around the room.


    She was bigger than Karl remembered, well over a metre long now, and beginning to get properly snake thick, not pencil thin as she had been when she was born. But, if she stayed as a Spirit Snake, she would be twenty metres long fully grown, and if she evolved into a Naga, she would be at least human sized in the torso.


    Karl thought that if she was going to evolve, there should have been some signs of it by now, but Remi was happy as a snake, even if her totems were of a four armed Naga Shaman.


    While Lotus was leading her around the room, introducing Remi to all her new friends, more people came in to join them. Ophelia was escorted by another Nature Priest, and a nurse escorted a delicate featured teen girl with a mass of bouncing blonde curls into the room. She looked to be about thirteen or fourteen, possibly a freshman at the Academy, if she was an Elite, but Karl didn''t recognize her.


    "That''s them. I tell you, I''m not crazy. Karl, tell this crazy woman that I am Tori." The dainty girl demanded.


    Everyone went silent as they turned to look at her.


    [She still smells like Tori.] Thor agreed.


    [Yup. It''s a tiny Tori.] Hawk added.


    [Can I keep her?] Rae asked, thinking how much fun it would be to run around with an even tinier human on her back.


    Lotus and Dana were only a minor burden for the extra firepower they provided. But the new Tori was two thirds their size and just as Stabby. Or, she had been. Rae recalled the clerics saying that she might not be an Elite anymore.


    "Yeah, that''s Tori. She was ritual resurrected. The beasts confirmed it, she still smells like herself." Karl agreed.


    That was enough for the nature priests. If the family pets recognized you, then it didn''t matter what disguise you had on, it was probably you. Not many disguise spells were powerful enough to fool the finely tuned senses of certain animals.


    "How did you get younger?" Karl asked.


    "Would you believe it if I told you that myst thought was that I would like a chance to do things over again if I was reborn?" She sighed.


    Karl felt the familiar amused presence in his mind, and he smiled at the annoyed mage.


    "I one hundred percent believe it. With the Dragon God''s own luck protecting us, that''s only a small thing. Between all the Dragon Scale luck charms and Holy Stones that our group carries, it''s only natural that you got a small wish granted when you were resurrected." Karl agreed.


    Tori smiled, and a [Magic Missile] orb formed in front of her. "Not just a small wish. I kept my powers, but from what they tell me, I''m not an Elite anymore, just an Ascended Rank mage."


    Karl shrugged. "Semantics, really. You could use magic before because of the injection, you can use magic now because you had it before."


    The nature priests all nodded in agreement, and the nurse gave Karl a suspicious look.


    "You''re encouraging them to team up on me, aren''t you? There is no proof yet that she is who she says. We need to finish the testing and psychological evaluation." The Nurse insisted.


    Lotus giggled. "Just annoy them until they stop. It worked for me."


    "Can I trust you to keep her here while I talk to the administration?" The Nurse asked suspiciously.


    Lotus gave her a thumbs up, but the nurse looked at the green robed doctor.


    "Of course. I will make certain that all the patients and visitors in the room remain here until someone returns for them."


    The nurse nodded and left, while Lotus ran over to hug Tori, who recoiled from her, and the Spirit Snake on her arm.


    "What the hell did you bring into a hospital?" She demanded, and Lotus pouted at being rejected.


    "Oh, this is Remi, Karl''s fourth pet, who doesn''t like toe out in the cold. She''s the Chain Lightning source. We''ve all seen her Poison me Totems, remember?"


    Tori''s eyes lit up in excitement. "Oh, you''re Remi? You''re beautiful. Sorry, I thought you were some random snake that the nature priests had found."


    Remi''sughter made her fangs drop, and Tori backed up again, while the nature priests chuckled.


    Karl stroked Remi''s head. "That''s aughter response. She might not be able to speak, but she understands us just fine. Ignore the fangs, she''s not likely to bite anyone here."


    "How is Thor''s leg?" Doug asked as the other priests came over to meet Remi, who was happily curled around Lotus'' arm.


    "Better. It''s all healed, and while he hasn''t tested it to make sure that it will hold weight, it seems to have set properly, and it doesn''t cause him pain anymore. n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om


    The separate spaces are an optimal recovery spot for the beasts, with everything they need to heal. Thor also has a pond full of Holy Stones, and that seems to help his healing ability." Karl exined.


    "A whole pond full of Holy Stones? How did he even manage that? You can only pick up one."


    Karl just shrugged. "He scooped them up and dumped them at the bottom of his pond. There was a wholeke full of them on a resource gathering mission we epted, and he wanted to recreate it in his space. I have no idea why the stones didn''t stop him."


    Doug nodded skeptically. "Well, at the very least, it does exin why he managed to learn [Circle of Protection] as a Lightning Cerro. The influence of that much constant Holy Magic was bound to have an influence on him."

 Chapter 318 Gathering Friends

    Chapter 318 Gathering Friends


    Over the next few hours, news spread that Tori was here in the hospital, and the rest of the group came to the Nature Priests'' sitting room toe greet her.


    Her memory was mostly intact, and there was no question that she was who she imed to be once she started talking to the others.


    Then the nurse came back in with a Commander Rank Spellde Elder, wearing thebat robes that Karl recognized from his time with Prince Corbin and the others.


    The man nced around the room, pausing when Remi wiggled her head p at him in greeting, and then turned his gaze on Tori.


    "Miss Tori? I am Elder Khalil of the Spellde Sect. We would like to invite you to finish your training with us." The man greeted her with a soft smile.


    "Spellde? I don''t know anything about swords?" Tori replied.


    The Elderughed. "How many mages do? That''s the point of training, to learn things thatpliment your abilities and close holes in the skill set of a mage. With the abilities of a Spellde, mages be an even more potentbat force.


    I can''t promise that it will be fast or easy. In fact, I can''t even promise that it will be particrly enjoyable. But I can promise that we look out for our own, and you will learn what you need to know before your training is finished."


    Tori looked skeptical, but Karl thought it might be a good idea. She wanted a fresh start, away from her reputation, and she didn''t have one with the Spelldes.


    Karl nodded to the Elder. "They do train the girls just as well as the boys, and they''re well suited to the techniques. I duelled one of their Acolytes, and she was much more impressive than most of the Awakened Elites that I have seen. Thebination of de and movement techniques along with mage spells was incredibly impressive."


    That calmed some of Tori''s fears.


    "And how are the Spelldes regarded?" She asked.


    "We''re less present here than we are in many of the magical nations, but officially, we are treated the same as Elites of the same Rank. In the magical nations, the Spellde ns have a status equivalent to Elite Soldiers of their armies, and the Elders are granted respect everywhere they go, unless it''s the territory of a rival n." Elder Khalil chuckled.


    The politics of the ns in other nations were much moreplex, as everyone fought for influence among the many factions of magic users. But in the Golden Dragon nation, and the other nonmagical human nations, the respect for their powers was less conditional, and more linked to their Rank. n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om


    But that was a lot to exin to someone that he was trying to recruit for his n. It wasn''t often that they not only got the chance to take in someone with proven potential, but someone who already knew the basics of magic.


    The first few years were normally spent building the base of their magical knowledge, as without the Divine Injection, they were starting from zero without a cheat code, and it all came down to the umtion of knowledge and hard work.


    Tori knew a little about the Spellde ns, but only as hearsay, and hadn''t met any that were from the Golden Dragon Nation before. The Elder did seem like a decent guy, though, and everyone in the room seemed to have a positive opinion of his group.


    "What would I have to do to join your n?" Tori asked.


    "We have two requirements. An oath of loyalty, that you will not betray the secrets of the n or its members, and secondly you must give up your past. All our Acolytes take on new names when they join the n so that they can''t be as easily tracked by those who might hold a grudge against their lineage.


    Now, I doubt that your parents have enemies that would challenge a Spellde n, but the rule is the same for mages who join from other nations as well." He exined, then straightened his long white beard with one hand, making him look ancient and wise, in a stereotypical mage way.


    Tori hesitated for a few more seconds, then extended her hand. "I agree to your proposal."


    The Elder bowed politely to her as he shook her hand.


    "Wonderful, I will escort you back to the Sectplex. Don''t forget that your name will be changing when you arrive, so those friends that you have here won''t be able to easily look for you. We won''t deny them, if they arrive looking for you, but if anyone asks about your old name, we will deny knowing your old identity." he reminded her.


    Karl gave the now young mage a hug. "Don''t worry, if you need us, we''re easier to find than you are. In a pinch, just ask Prince Corbin to send me a message. We''ve worked together in the past, and he is a good man."


    Elder Khalil nodded. "He actually requested for Commander Karl and his group toe fight on our battle lines during the war. I do wonder what you did to Rosalind that made her hate you so much. She hates men in general, but Karl in a very personal and particr way."


    Dana and Lotus bothughed and gestured for Karl to exin.


    "When we first met, she challenged me to a duel to prove that Spelldes were the superior training method. Now, I was Ascended to her Awakened, and it didn''t end well for her. She didn''t take the loss well. She was still quite professional while we were in danger, but I suspect that we''re not going to be lifelong best friends." Karl exined.


    Lotus nodded. "That sort of public humiliation won''t be quickly forgotten. Her team was there to fight a monster above their rank as a training exercise, and Karl is definitely a monster and above her Rank. Prince Corbin had to intervene to save her at the end."


    Karl gave Lotus his best innocent look. "Monster? I am a sweet and gentle young man."


    [No, that''s me.] Thor interjected.


    Karl couldn''t even argue with thateback.


    The Elder nodded, and Tori gave a tearful bow to the others before turning to follow him. Long tearful goodbyes would only make this harder than it had to be, and everyone was already waving farewell to her.


    "I can''t believe she was so cute as a kid. Those ringlets." Bob chuckled once the Elder and Tori were well away from the room.


    "Right? She''s going to be a heartbreaker once she gets to the Spellde n. But worse, she''s like six years older than she looks. She will be ready to stab someone within a week for treating her like a child." Karlughed.


    Bob smirked. "That''s kind of the point, isn''t it? I mean, she''s there to learn to blend des and magic. She knows some magic, so making her better with a sword is their definition of sess."


    "How is your head?" Dana asked as Karl settled into a chair along the wall.


    "Much better. I''ve had the Refreshing Lightning barrier up all night, and it''s helping, but they said when I got here that the healing spell should have it sorted in a day or two.


    I doubt that they''re going to release us that quickly, and my arm is still a bit numb. My fingers are working as instructed now, which is a good start, but it will need a few more days to be back up to fully functional.


    How about you? You were pretty shaken when we arrived." Karl asked.


    Dana gave him a thin smile that made it in that she was nning to lie to him.


    "I''m alright. Actually seeing Tori helped. At least I know that she''s alive and well." She replied.


    That second part sounded like the truth, but Karl didn''t know what had happened in that wagon during the fight, other than that it had ended badly. The first part was clearly a lie, and even the clerics that didn''t know her could tell, judging by the sympathetic looks they were giving her.


    "Well, we''re all here for the same reason. Have you considered herbal remedies?" One of the nature priestesses suggested.


    Dougughed. "I know that everyone thinks we''re just getting high, and they''re not really wrong. But we''re notjustgetting high. It''s a spell to bring the mind back in bnce with nature. But do you know what would help even more? If we could all just nap against a Lightning Cerro."


    [YES! Finally.]

 Chapter 319 New Advisors

    Chapter 319 New Advisors


    When everyone woke up from their nap, they found that they had three more visitors to their group. Jill was sitting and waiting for Dana to wake up, while Colonel Valerie was entering with a dark haired young woman whose light chocte skin waspletely covered in tattoos, visible through thece sleeves of her floor length ck dress, and all along her chest and neck. n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om


    "Good morning, sleepy. I brought you your new advisor. I think that you two might already be acquainted in a way. You took over her old room after she graduated. Meet Morgana, the Witch Doctor, the newest member of the Bureau of Elite Development." Valerie greeted Karl in her business tone.


    "It''s honestly a pleasure to meet you. While I haven''t been home to take proper care of the balcony, it has got to be the best room in the entire Academy." Karl greeted her.


    Karl was going to give her a handshake, but when Remi came out on his shoulder to check out this odd woman, she pulled him into a hug, which put her face centimetres away from the snake.


    "She''s beautiful. What is your name, lovely?" Morgana asked.


    "She''s Remi, a Shaman ss Naga Spirit Snake." Karl exined.


    "A shaman? You know, Witch Doctors are a type of shaman as well." Morgana replied.


    "I thought that you were a witch? The others said that it was a Goth Witch in the room before me."


    Morganaughed. "That''s because they''re idiots. I''m a highly fashionable Witch Doctor, not a Witch and a Doctor."


    She gave a little twirl, showing off thece back of her dress, which exposed even more tattoos, and then summoned a small cloth doll, which she gave to Remi.


    The snake coiled around it and hissed happily as she examined her new toy.


    "Don''t worry, it''s not bonded to anyone. It won''t cause any damage if she ys with it." Morgana assured them.


    Karl gave her a slight bow, then addressed the Colonel, who was waiting patiently for them to finish.


    "Are you certain that there will actually be time for lessons? From what I hear, they want us back on the lines again soon." He asked.


    Valerie nodded. "There will be plenty of time. After the scare that you gave High Command, who didn''t realize that your group had been tasked to take out the Royal Rank target alone, they''re not going to let you go scouting alone again.


    The group that you found was not sent to hunt the Royal Rank Giant, at least not officially. They were supposed to be scouting the region for a buildup of Giants because the cold was preventing us from high altitude flights over the Frost Giant nation. Losing them while you were tasked to the region hit the Command Group hard.


    So, you''re going to have to suffer in a main line camp with us and the Seniors from the Academy. It won''t be attached to the army as you have been, instead it will be treated more as an Academy mission, with teachers present. Plus Bureau Agents, of course." The Nature Priests all made sympathetic gestures toward them, and the Colonel red at them.


    "You know, you could join them if you wanted." She informed them in a snarky tone.


    "We''re happy working here in the hospital. But I suppose that moving to a triage camp might be more in tune with nature. We will discuss it, and see if there are enough others avable to bnce out our movement." One of the Nature Priests replied.


    From what Karl had learnedst night, they specialized in treating elemental damage and mental health. With so many young Elites facing mortality for the first time, the hospital wasn''t going to send away half their mental health staff.


    Karl nodded toward the door. "I take it that you talked to the staff before you got here? I get the feeling that we''re not going to be leaving anywhere in a hurry, so I wasn''t expecting to see you so soon."


    "That is true. They''re not nning to let you out of here without at least a few more counselling sessions. I offered to take over for them, but apparently they doubt my credentials as a trauma counsellor." Colonel Valerieined.


    Most of the doctors who had been assigned to them were twice her age, and Karl wasn''t certain that she had actually taken any higher education sses at all, so they might have a point.


    Remi crawled down Karl''s arm to go sit on Morgana, who was making soothing gestures, and holding out bits of food for her.


    [Didn''t anyone tell you it''s not safe to take food from strangers?] Rae asked.


    [But they just said her name is Morgana, and she''s the new advisor.] Remi countered, staring at therge bug in the witch doctor''s hand.


    [And how long ago was that? You have to know them for long enough to trust them before they''re not strangers anymore.] Rae warned her.


    Remi considered it for a few seconds, while Morgana gave her a curious look. The snake definitely wanted the food, but she wasn''t taking it.


    "The others are telling her not to take food from strangers. Remi is still very young, and doesn''t know all the practical advice. She did manage to make some lovely totems, though." Karl exined.


    Morgana put the food away and stroked Remi''s head. "That''s fine, we will get to know each other better, and then you can try the snacks."


    Lotus smiled at the Witch Doctor. "Nature lovers are taking over. First we get two Nature Clerics and a Cerro Knight, now we''ve got a snake charmer." Morgana got excited about thement. "The Cerro has a Knight? Does Karl ride him into battle? It sounded like he preferred to fight on foot or from a distance."


    "The War Priestess, actually. She rides the Cerro intobat, so they can spread their buffs along the front lines. She''s pretty good with a spear and a shield, but with Thor''s barrier, they''re quite durable." Lotus exined.


    "A Red Dragon Priestess, riding a Lightning Cerro intobat? Now that is not what I had expected." Morgana replied, bing even more curious.


    "Riding monsters is fun. Sometimes Rae will let me or Dana ride her intobat, but more like an essory, depending on if she wants to equip more damage or healing." Lotus added.


    The clerics allughed at the thought of equipping a priestess, but Karl thought she might be right. Rae liked them best because they were smallest and easiest to carry, and she traded between them depending on her need.


    She liked sleeping next to Dana better, but ying in the woods with Lotus.


    Mostly, she didn''t y favourites as much as Thor did with Tessa going intobat, but in Tessa''s case, she was the only one suitable for the role.


    Colonel Valerie waited while they got sidetracked before giving them the update that she hade to deliver. "Karl and Dana will be taking sses with their tutors beginning this afternoon after your session with the doctors. They''re still concerned about Karl''s head and arm, in particr. Then after a week, they will reassess the situation and determine how much longer you need to rest for." The Colonel informed the room.


    Lotus cheered. "Oh, that works out wonderfully. If we get Rae to set up hammocks for us here, we can all hang out in the lounge during our off time and unwind."


    "Rae makes hammocks?" One of the clerics asked. They had folding cots in the break room, for when they were too busy to go home after their shift, but Spider Silk Hammocks sounded pretty good.


    Rae happily came out, and Morgana did a double take when she saw how big the Bloodbath Spider was.


    "You know, when they said ''spider'' I was thinking Wolf Spider, or a tarant. It appears that I have vastly underestimated what the word spider can mean." She mumbled.


    Insects, spiders and snakes were involved in many of her spells, though not like Karl''s. The Witch Doctors often used them to deliver curses and poisons, so the summoned creature was nothing special, but the magic on it was deadly.


    Rae used the corner of the room to make racks of six hammocks with a climbing rope attached to the walls, and then made arge webbing along the ceiling that you could climb out of the top bunks and y in.


    The Nature Priests always appreciated a good spot to rx, and being at ceiling height meant that anyone wanting to bother them would have toe up to them or risk being ignored. Plus, it was a stretchy web, so it was soft and morefortable than the floor.


    Hawk flew up into arger hole in the, and took a perch to watch the people, just seconds before Karl heard cursing in the hallway.


    "This is a staff break room, not an animal sanctuary. Where did you even find them? Is that a Bloodbath Spider? Dammit, I am filing aint with the Deacon." Someone was shouting, while the nature clericsughed.


    "I guess I should bring everyone back inside in a few minutes." Karl chuckled.

 Chapter 320 Break Rooms and Evaluations

    Chapter 320 Break Rooms and Evaluations


    The doctors showed up a few minutester to get everyone for their morning treatments, which were mostly psychological, but Doug needed to have the internal wounds under his ribs checked to ensure they had healed properly, and Karl needed to have his arm checked as well.


    The concussion treatment mostly fell under psychological evaluations, other than the first scans by the clerics to ensure that the healing spells hadn''t left any lingering pressure or pooled blood inside his brain that might cause a stroke.


    "Well, it looks like the physical damage to your head has healed well, but after healing magic is used, the areas can be tender and sensitive for a while. The rest of your body looks like it is doing well, though I see that you had some recently broken ribs that were also set with magic, so you should avoid taking any more hits to the area for the next month, just in case." The Doctor began after the scan.


    Karl chuckled, and the doctor shrugged. "Whether anyone actually follows our rmendations or not is an entirely separate matter from the fact that we give them. Logically, they are healed, and they should be as strong as ever, but the nerves in the area remain sensitive, as they remember the damage. So, we rmend not to take more injuries in the near future, as it can lead to phantom pains and other psychosomatic effects, which are nearly impossible to cure."


    Karl nodded. "That makes a lot of sense. The whole body can be trained, so if your body remembers constantly being in pain, then it will be trained to respond with pain."


    "Exactly, but you Elites all abuse your bodies constantly. When you get to my age, all those old injuries add up, and you end up slow and nearly crippled without doing anything at all. That''s why the hospitals still encourage the Elites to take care of their bodies. I know that none of you are old yet, and with the advanced healing abilities, and superhuman bodies, you might never be as old and slow as a cleric like me, but you will still feel it in time." The Doctor warned him.


    "Don''t worry, Doc. I am listening. It might not be possible to avoid all injuries, but you already know that here at the Veterans Hospital. I will do my best to avoid allowing the injuries to stack up, both on me and my beasts. I wouldn''t want to hinder their growth with battle damage."


    The doctor nodded, more concerned about Karl than about his pets. But if that was what it took to get the Elite to take the medical advice seriously, then that was what he would go with. Too many of them didn''t take their lives seriously enough, in his opinion.


    Of course, that had always been a problem with soldiers, ording to a doctor.


    "Alright, we''ve finished with the concussion and the rest of the body, let''s see that arm." He announced.


    Karl took his arm out of the sling, showing off the smoothly stitched seam, where they hadn''t taken Lotus'' handiwork out yet. She hadn''t sutured him like a doctor, she had sewn him back together like she was fixing a nket, with crossed running stitches.


    The doctor smiled and shook his head. It was very neatly done, and he had no doubt that whoever had done this was a very skilled crafter, but if it got snagged on something, it wouldn''t just tug one stitch free, it was all connected.


    "First, I will remove the stitches, and then cast another healing spell, to ensure that thest of the damage is repaired. Then we will have to scan the bone. For Elites who have undergone treatments with various magical remedies, their bones can be quite different from a standard human physiology, so I need to do an intense scan to see what I''m working with and how well it has healed." He exined.


    "Oh, I can do the stitches, if you''d like." Karl offered.


    "You can do them?" The doctor asked. Karl activated [ming Body] on his arm, and burnt the stitches away instead of coating them, then used [Refreshing Lightning] to push the inner parts out for the mes to burn them away. When he was done, there wasn''t a mark on his arm. There wasn''t any hair either, but that was just a minor miscalction on what the mes would burn.


    "Well, that is unexpected. Do you have some sort of healing ability as well? I don''t see any scabbing or scars left from the repair, and the fact that it healed without scarring is incredible." The doctor asked.


    "I have a regeneration effect on the barrier that I use, but it has taken a lot of healing along the way. One of my beasts has a minor healing spell, [Healing Ssh]. It''s not up to the standards of a healing cleric, but it''s good for closing small wounds." Karl exined.


    The Doctor smiled. "That spell is often underestimated. It''s a healing liquid, and it will continue to work for a few seconds after contact if it isn''t washed away. It''s primarily used through an IV or multiple needle injections, to heal damaged veins."


    Karl had never considered that. Healing the inside of a person wasn''t easy with most magic, as he had learned. But if you could just fill them with a healing liquid, it would do the job much more effectively. Introducing it into the blood would let the body circte it everywhere, healing whatever it touched.


    Of course, Remi wasn''t a doctor, and neither of them knew how to set up an IV, or even find a vein with a needle. But that wasn''t the point. The point was that they had a skill that would make it possible for the real healers to do better work.


    Remi considered the implications for a moment. [Emergency response snake. I evene with built-in needles.]


    Karl burst intoughter, and the doctor gave him a look that said he was going to send him for another psychological evaluation.


    "Sorry. Remi, the Spirit Snake Shaman that has the Healing Ssh ability, pointed out that shees with built-in needles if the spell is supposed to be directly injected." Karl tried to exin.


    The doctor''s face went nk for a second, and then he also began tough.


    "The thought of a snake biting you to inject a healing spell is just so ridiculous that I can''t help butugh, but it would actually be incredibly effective if they could avoid poisoning you. Their fangs are made for the precise and rapid injection of liquid into muscle tissue." The doctor stammered.


    Then he paused. "So, you have multiple voices in your head all the time?"


    Karl made a nomittal gesture. "There are four beasts linked to me, but they''re not always sharing everything. It''s more like, when they want to talk, I hear it, and vice versa."


    The doctor made a note of the description before continuing.


    "That has to be distracting inbat. How do you deal with that?"


    Karl shook his head. "Like anyone else, when there''s actual fighting going on, there is no time for talking. Theyment with vital information, kill celebrations, and confirmations that they heard directions. But none of them is really a chatterbox.


    If they could talk to more people, I suspect that Thor, the Lightning Cerro, might be. He loves people. Especially people who will rub his head."


    Thor was nodding enthusiastically in his space. If he could talk to more people, that would be outstanding. He had a whole lifetime of things to tell them that Karl already knew. n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om


    The doctor cast a spell over Karl''s arm, and then focused on his magic for a few minutes as he examined the formerly wounded limb.


    "I think that it''s good to go. The healing spells bonded the bone properly, and I don''t see any unhealed secondary fractures or floating bone fragments. Those often don''t heal properly. From today, you should be able to remove the sling and begin to use the arm again, just take it easy.


    As we talked about, all the nerves will either be somewhat numb or oversensitive. It will just take a few days for them to adjust again.


    Now, we can start the grip tests, to make sure that everything really is functioning properly."


    Those tests of manual dexterity, grip strength and fine motor skills took them right until lunch, when Morgana came toe get Karl so they could get to know each other before the afternoon sses.


    He had basically skipped the entirety of his Academy Education, and Colonel Valerie had tasked her to get him up to speed on all the things he would need to know as a Commander.

 Chapter 321 Morgana

    Chapter 321 Morgana


    Morgana sat Karl down at an empty table in the hospital cafeteria, and took out her notebook, which he couldn''t help but notice was just as covered in drawings as her body.


    "Alright, we will start with the basics, your future goals, growth path, anything that might not have been passed on to me by the Colonel or by Lieutenant Rita." She began. n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om


    "It''s still odd to hear Lieutenant in front of her name. She was always Sergeant Rita, and she was promoted after we were separated. But I think most of it should be in the notes. But I would like to add that I got this shiny sword that steals life essence from things I kill, and that seems to have a rather noticeable effect on the beasts'' growth rate.


    Once I got it, they started growing to full adulthood in a rather remarkably short time period. The only exception is Remi, who is still in her early growth phase, when the others would have been fully grown by now."


    Morgana nodded. "That''s just because she''s a Spirit Snake. They normally take decades to be fully grown, not just a few years like the spider or Cerro. So, it''s nothing to worry about if Remi''s journey to adulthood is slower than the others. She also has an evolution ahead of her, but from what I can tell, she is developing in the giant spirit snake direction. Most likely in the Storm Snake pattern."


    "Storm Snake?" Karl asked.


    "It''s a name that the researchers have given to Spirit Snakes whose abilities favour weather maniption. Blizzard, Lightning, and so on. Then there are the Blood Snakes, who favour blood magic or the Giant Spirit Pythons, but she''s clearly not one of them, as she has venomous fangs." Morgana borated.


    "That makes sense. I thought you were saying that there were even more evolutionary options avable to her than I had realized. There is a chance she will grow into an actual Naga Shaman, but somehow that seems unlikely. When she was just born, she used her water maniption to form arms, but I haven''t seen her do it since."


    "Oh, what caused her to do that?" Morgana asked.


    "A celebratory gesture, marking the fact that she had safely and sessfully made it into the world." Karl borated, while the Witch Doctor nodded in understanding.


    "Naga aren''t as bad as the Lamia, who tend to kill their clutch mates, but they don''t tend to have any sympathy for them if resources are limited.


    But we can get to Remi''s developmentter. What were your ns for after graduation? What sort of career would you like to get into? The school is a bit lost as to what sort of path you should be on. They first thought that you should be trained to join the ranks of politicians and bureaucrats, but you have developed a habit of telling those sorts of people off at every chance you get, so I believe you might be unsuited to the task.


    Did you want to take up some sort of trade? Perhaps be a business mogul? What is the dream future for Karl?" "They''re determined to set a career path for me, are they?" Karl sighed.


    "It''s essential to your training. You didn''t think that you could skim through four years at the Academy without taking a single actual ss, did you? The first year is more focused on your skills to determine potential without the extra education getting in the way, but we can''t neglect your future."


    Karl chuckled at her earnest determination to be a good teacher, but he really had no ambitions involving business or politics at all. If it was left up to him, he would work just enough for a luxury life and spend the rest of his time focusing on the growth of his partners.


    Maybe being a librarian or teacher would suit him? He had an ability for making skill books, so it would benefit him to know as many skills as he could. That also sounded like it would give him plenty of opportunities to be in the wilderness, looking for new skills.


    Karl gestured toward the book in her hands and smiled. "Actually, I have a talent for learning and teaching skills. Perhaps I could do a job along those lines? Searching for new skills and turning them into skill books to be distributed by the Blue Dragon Clerics after they''ve been duplicated."


    "You want to be a treasure hunter, or perhaps a teacher? That''s a bit of a dichotomy, but I can see that the focus is more skills for your team. Do you get ess to all those skills directly?" She asked.


    Karl shook his head. "I get ess to racial skills of the beasts, but not their entire repertoire. For example, I have the effect of the [Offensive Adaptation] skill active on me, but I can''t create Golems on my own.


    I have studied it enough times that I might be able to make the Golem book with Rae''s help, but I still can''t cast it. I suspect that I wouldn''t be able to use the book I created either."


    "What an interesting skill. Can it just be any skill that your beasts know?" She replied.


    Karl shook his head. "No, I have to have a pretty solid understanding of how and why it works before I can create the book, even with their help. If it''s a new skill, there is no chance. But [Spear] is a pretty simple one, and simr in function to [Rend] and it creates a solid object, like the bow that I use. I know how both those things work, and with Rae''s help I managed to make the book for both of the Nature Priests."


    Morgana smiled. "You know how to use [Chain Lightning], correct? What do you think that the chance is that you could make that into a book that lightning magic users could use? Lightning Bolt is amon book, but [Chain Lightning] is not. The odds are that I wouldn''t be able to use it, as that isn''t my specialty as a Witch Doctor, I''m a Hex type, not an Elemental Shaman. But if we could give the book to the Cathedral Library, they would give you a nice littlemission off each copy sold, the same as they do for the [Refreshing Lightning] barrier, but hopefully with a wider target audience."


    [Do ming Body too. More Fire Magic users to offset the evil ice giants.] Hawk insisted.


    "I think that it should be possible, and I would like to do one other book as well. The more skills that are avable to future Elites, the better." Karl agreed.


    Morgana gave him an odd look. "When you say it like that, without any greed in your tone, it just sounds strange."


    Karlughed. "Hawk wants me to teach everyone [ming Body] as a form of vengeance against the Frost Giants, and cold in general. I strongly suspect that he learned the skill entirely to spite the water element."


    "Is that how it works?" Morgana asked, taking notes.


    "Probably not, but nobody ever told Hawk that, and even if it shouldn''t be possible, it didn''t seem to stop him. He gained a number of fire skills from resources that we used for growth, but he has evolved those skills and perfected the usage of them on his own.


    For example, the ming attacks I use, and the fireballs that he throws aren''t actually a separate skill. That''s just [ming Body] formed in different ways. Even the cigarette lighter for Doug is the same skill." Karl exined.


    "You know, if someone taught that skill to the nature priests, they would be unstoppable, a true menace to society. Hiding their lighters is the only way to get some of them to work." The Witch doctorughed, and Karl noticed that the whites of her eyes wentpletely ck when she was amused. It was kind of freaky, and he wondered if it happened for all emotions, or if it was different. "Well, if you want to learn and teach more skills, and you have a skill that makes inscription training unnecessary, then I think that we can work out a path for you. I am thinking that it will be cartography and history, with an emphasis on ancient architecture, so that you know the signs that there might be an undisturbed ruin nearby, and what era it might be from.


    Then it would just be a few extra courses in public speaking, for when you need to introduce a new find to the world. Some things that you find when you''re searching for the rare and exotic won''t be what you might have expected, but they can make big news, and that means being on television, but unable to throw Thor at them to distract the reporters."


    So, she had seen his first time being part of a news broadcast. Karl was quite proud of that performance, for a first attempt at doing a public interview.

 Chapter 322 Career Path

    Chapter 322 Career Path


    After lunch, Morgana led them to an empty room, which might have been a consultation room, as there was nothing more than a simple desk in it with two chairs and a side table with a pot of coffee and cups.


    "I don''t have all the books that we''re going to need for the lessons, but I do have an aptitude test for you, both to judge where you are in your education, and to see if your head injury is causing any lingering effects when you need to focus.


    I know that they will try to steal you back to the battle lines with the other advanced students even sooner than they said, so we should get the basicsid out now." Morgana exined.


    Karl nodded. "Before we start, who did all that ink for you? Some of those tattoos are incredibly intricate." Morgana chuckled. "I did them all, but they''re actually all spells. As a Witch Doctor, one of my abilities is a blessing or a curse on a target to enhance their abilities. So, the few who have the ss all chose to cover themselves in the spells to mimic the abilities of the other sses, with enhanced mental powers and physical skills."


    Karl smiled and thought about thest of the Rank Two attack skills that he hadn''t learned. [Brutality] increased the strength and size of the target by ten percent per rank. If he had been thinking ahead, he could have used that during thest battle to help even the size difference between him and the Frost Giants, as well as reducing the strength advantage of the Royal Rank Giant. n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om


    Morgana rapped her knuckles on the desk. "You look lost in thought. Care to borate?"


    Karl shrugged. "Just thinking of what I could have done differently in thatst fight. There are a few ss Abilities that I could have taken advantage of and the fight might have ended differently."


    Morgana shook her head. "Don''t second guess yourself. That only leads to doubt and hesitation. Neither of those things will help you survive, so just put them out of your mind. Now, here is the aptitude test. Much like your graduation test from middle school before the injections, but more difficult.


    You have all afternoon to finish it if you need, but it usually only takes an hour or two."


    Karl opened the booklet and picked up the pencil, then smiled as he realized that it was a multiple choice test. Multiple choice was easy.


    But after the first page of general knowledge that all changed. It became long answers, more in depth questions about things he had learned at the Academy, things he had no clue about, andplex math questions whose answers he could only guess at.


    The only sections of the test that he was certain that he had done alright on were the botany and monster rted questions. The math was a lost cause, while he might have done alright on the magical theory, though he suspected that section had no real right or wrong answers, as long as you actually knew how to use magic.


    Every ss did things a little differently, so their understanding of magic wasn''t the same, and they would describe the answers very differently. Even the beasts had conflicting answers about how and why some things worked. For example, Thor said that you knew the Circle of Protection was working because it felt right on the scales. How did you rte that to anyone else? It wasn''t the sort of thing that you could exin in words, but Thor''s impression told Karl just what it should feel like on the scales - if Karl had scales.


    "Alright, I think that is all the questions. I can see now that there are plenty of things in life that I don''t know the answer to. Like the volume of a cylinder. But there should be at least a few of them where I did alright." Karl informed Morgana, who was reading the notes of his training as he worked on the test.


    She flipped through the test, and got to a question in the math section, where she looked startled. "How did you get the answer to this?" She asked, turning the book back to him.


    "Oh, that''s a force and velocity thing. One tonne is about what a juvenile Lightning Cerro weighs, and if he hits a wall with his brute strength at a forty kilometre an hour run, he will exert about that much force. Thor loves smashing things. Poles, barriers, walls. They''re all fun. So, I have seen it in action enough times to know the answer.


    I didn''t use some fancy calction, but I''m pretty certain that''s right." Karl exined.


    "It is. All of the ones on applied force are close to the proper answer, which was shocking, given how badly you did on the rest of the math questions." Morgana replied.


    Well, at least she didn''t try to sugar coat it.


    Then she went through the rest of the booklet, only smiling when the got to the botany section, where Karl knew all the nts in question, and the monster biology section, where Karl knew the vital points and the likely skills of themon species referenced.


    It had all been onmon threats in the Golden Dragon Nation, so it wasn''t hard for him to recall the early lessons that Sergeant Rita had gone through with him when they thought that Common Rank Monsters were going to be the target of his missions for the first year.


    "Alright, I understand where you are at now. They went over the survival portions of the training first, and left the others until you had settled into your ss, which they obviously never got to as you left the Academy to y in the woods.


    That doesn''t change much except the starting point for your next bit of training, and I will have the books here by tomorrow so we can get to it. Honestly, it''s going to be a fairly simple and enjoyable course load. The first thing you will need to learn for geography is the basics of all the different environments. How to traverse them safely, the creatures you are likely to find, what nts are edible and which are poison. How to hide your scent, and how to blend into your surroundings."


    She paused at that point, noticing that Karl had been partially distracted by the team''s runningmentary.


    "I need a real-time trantor for you. I get the feeling that I''m missing out on two thirds of the conversation, and I''m the one speaking." Shemented in a dry tone.


    "Sorry. They''re all giving me hints on the areas that they know best. The ins, the forests, the swamps, the sky. Rae is a Bloodbath Spider, so she has a natural ability to blend into her surroundings, and she doesn''t really understand why it won''t transfer to me, when it did transfer to her Golems. Thor thinks that blending in is overrated, and we just need a stronger pack. Hawk isughing at their inability to fly away from danger." Karl narrated.


    "So, you''re saying that you should be good at the wilderness survival portion of the training? That''s a real time saver. I thought that we would have to call in a Nature Priest to help." She sighed.


    "We can still do that. I have one in the group, well two of them if High Priest Doug and his team will be staying with us. But Colonel Valerie said that the next mission would be with the Academy students, so possibly not." Karl suggested.


    Morgana shrugged. "Well, I am also a Commander, so probably not. The war isn''t going well for us, even with the Elites on our side. Every line is spread thin, but your time in the Frost Giant nation gave them hope that the new generation of students might have either some sort of power advantage as the World Dragon''s favour returns to the people, or new ideas that would overturn the prevailing logic of battlefield engagements."


    "The sort of logic that doesn''t bother to count the number of Giants before sending teams deep into enemy territory to engage them? Yeah, I can think of a couple of ideas that would overturn that line of thinking." Karl agreed, with anger slowly taking over his voice and expression without him noticing.

 Chapter 323 Suitable For The Role

    Chapter 323 Suitable For The Role


    "Is this an ingrained issue with authority, or a new thing?" Morgana asked cautiously, concerned that Karl''s anger might be the start of a bestial rage.


    "It''s not really an issue with authority. I mean, Overlord Drake, and every one of the Princes that I''ve met so far have all been solid and intelligent leaders. Some of the others, not so much. I''ve always had issues with stupid people and the ''give head to get ahead'' crowd." Karl replied with a shrug.


    Morgana choked on her coffee. "The what now?"


    "Oh, sorry. I guess that bit of ng isn''t universal. It means the ones who suck up to the leadership to get better positions, raises and perks. The sort of pencil pushers who always know better than you, even if they''ve never done your job, and are happy to go whine to their superiors if they don''t think that they''re getting the respect they demand." Karl exined.


    Morgana smiled as she tapped a rhythm on the table and thought about what she had read in his file.


    "I get it now. That''s why you get along with the church so well. They actually do the things that they ask others to do. For example, if they want monsters cleared, they send a cleric with the group who knows what they''re doing. There''s a frontyer ofpetence, which the politicians and most of the luxury Elitesck." She guessed.


    Karl nodded and his posture began to rx. "I mean, every Elite who got the injection has the blessing of the World Dragon, right? Shouldn''t that be used for something more important than forensic ounting in a government office?"


    Morganaughed as the anger faded from Karl and the sense of danger vanished as if it had never been there. "I get your point. I am also not an office person. I prefer to be left alone with my potions. I used to sit in the gazebo for days at a time working on them. Alchemy is my trade skill, you see. It goes well with my ss skills, and fills in the gaps in the abilities that I have. I think that learning to explore might fill your need to be away from bureaucracy, but I''m not certain that it will fill the gaps in the abilities that you have. Of course, you are one of the most versatile Elites that I have ever met, so I am not certain where the blind spots in your abilities are yet. But when we find them, we can consider adding a trade skill to your courses."


    Karl smiled at the dutiful teacher. "You make it sound like they''re really nning to keep me in the Academy for all four years. I am already a Commander, and by this time next year, I will be at the bottleneck and looking for a way into the Royal Rank, or possibly past that bottleneck already. By the time that I graduate, where will we be?


    The estimates I have heard are two years as a Royal, so with a bit of effort I should be pushing for Monarch Rank as I start senior year, and then what? At that point, I might as well be here in the university because there won''t be much for me to learn other than some newbat skills at the Academy. The Academy not really a ce of higher education, more of a survival training camp for those with magical powers. I don''t need that much survival training, and the ultimate goal here is to have fun while I push my beasts to the peak of Overlord Rank, where nothing is a real threat anymore. Where I can make the rules, simply because I''m the one with the power." n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om


    Morgana looked shocked for a moment. "A survival training camp? I suppose that would be how you see it, as you never followed a life n or career path at the Academy. But there is much more to it than just building power. Networking, building connections, a reliable social circle that can help you through the rest of your life. That''s what the Academy is good for."


    Karl considered that for a few minutes as he thought about all the people that he had met since he left the Academy and started hunting outside.


    "I think that is more true for those who are still Awakened and Ascended. When you''re a Commander, the others treat you more as an oddity or a teacher. We''re not really one of them anymore, no matter how much we want to be. You graduated right before I started, right? So, less than half a year ago? When did you make Commander?" Karl asked.


    "The week of the graduation ceremony." Morgana replied.


    Karl sighed as he gestured in her direction. "And now here you are, as a teacher, assigned by the Bureau of Elite Development, no longer a student of the Academy. You''re not on their level anymore. I made Commander before the end of the first term of the first year. Out here, I''m leading Elite teams intobat, standing on par with thebat power of Generals and Regimental Commanders twice my age, sent as the rescue force when Awakened and Ascended teams can''t deal with the threats that they have found.


    I remember that Sergeant Rita said there are about six Commanders per year in the graduating ss out of hundreds of Elites. It''s like I''ve skipped the entire progression part of the Academy''s team building exercise, and I don''t really have a ce there anymore.


    No matter how nice the balcony that you left for me is."


    Morgana smiled softly as Karl exined his point of view. "You know, I wonder if this is also rted to your ss? Beasts grow up fast, ready to take their ce in the world. Normally, freshman students keep that cute and naive nature for most of the first year, then they start to form cliques and factions during the second year. You went from that cute naive kid during the first weeks to the jaded child soldier much too fast, and you''ve already formed your clique. Or should I call it a pack?"


    Thor nodded enthusiastically in Karl''s mind. Their herd was a good one.


    Karl chuckled. "Thor prefers herd. A Lightning Cerro operates as part of the herd."


    From behind Karl, Doug''s amused voice interrupted their talk. Karl hadn''t heard him open the door, so the Nature Priest was being extra sneaky today.


    "Not all hope is lost, there is still some of that hopeless new student left. You should see him with Dana, it''s adorable. They''re clearly crushing on each other, but too shy to say it outright." The Nature Priest joked.


    Morgana smiled as Karl blushed before turning to face the intruder.


    "Brother Doug, have you finished your meetings for the day?" He asked.


    Doug shrugged. "Skittles was mad at me for shirking on my paperwork. He says you have to bnce work with fun, so I spent the day catching up on reports. But I came to see if you two wereing to dinner. It''s about that time already."


    Morgana checked her watch and frowned. "It''s not dinner for like two hours yet."


    Doug shrugged. "Overlord Drake and Prince Axel wanted to have dinner now, so I''ve been sent to fetch everyone before they have to go. I think that they have enough information now to give a proper update to whoever they''re reporting to.


    I know you and Jill are reporting back to the Colonel, so someone else wanted them to stay and keep an eye on us until everything was decided."


    The High Priest had a point. The Bureau already had their agents standing right beside the students they were most worried about, and Ophelia likely had Anise with her, or someone else from the Bureau, since she was with Karl''s team, and they were all away from the Academy and showing promise.


    Sure enough, when they followed Doug to the cafeteria, Ophelia had Dave, Jill''s partner at the Bureau, sitting next to her, working on a lesson n, while Dana and Jill were engrossed in a conversation about something magical theory.


    Drake and Axel were sitting at opposite ends of the long table, so everyone was spread between them, while a number of doctors came in and out, adding reports to the files that the pair had assembled.


    It couldn''t all be for Karl''s group. There were only nine of them here, but at least forty folders between the two Elites, and the doctors were bringing more of them every minute. That meant it had to be a general update on the state of the patients who were likely to be able to return tobat in the near future.


    That notion seemed to be supported by the cautiously optimistic look that many of the doctors had as they turned in the files. If they were bringing reports of those who would be confined to the hospital for the foreseeable future, they wouldn''t look as optimistic.

 Chapter 324 Drakes Verdict

    324 Drake''s Verdict


    Once the reports stoppeding in, the staff brought over food for everyone at the table, an oddity at the cafeteria, where you usually ordered from the counter and waited for it. But this was an impromptu meeting with the Prince and the Overlord, whose gear had already been brought in, and was sitting by the door.


    Overlord Drake''s deep voice carried through the room with ease. "As you''ve guessed, we have been called back to the line. But we have the official reports for your groups. Lao Tie, Harry Kim, and Bob Mackenzie. Your wounds are considered healed, and you are officially fit for duty. High Priest Doug Mackenzie, you will be reviewed in two more days. She''s not here, but Ascended Tori has been officially assigned to the Spellde n for training, as it has been determined that she is now a naturally awakened Mage.


    Sisters Lotus and Tessa, you are both cleared and fit for duty. Ascended Elites Ophelia and Dana, you are both on medical hold for the next two weeks, barring a change in circumstances. Commander Karl, your healing will be reviewed at the end of the week."


    Karl looked at Ophelia, and wondered if her quiet eptance of everything and generally mild nature when she wasn''t in Werebear form was hiding more issues than she was willing to speak about in public. With Dana, it was much easier for Karl to tell that she needed more time. She had been right next to Tori in the wagon, and she had taken it hard.


    Drake cleared his throat and continued. "For the others gathered here, I have some news as well. There are assignments for fifteen of you to the Frost Giant border, as a recuperative period after your injuries, as the fighting there has decreased to a minimum.


    There are many others in our pile of reports who are cleared to return to duties, but who are not being requested to go to battle at this time. Military personnel who are cleared for duty will be contacted by yourmanding officers, and cleared civilian personnel without abat assignment will have transport arranged for them. There are enough names here that I will post them on the wall. Long-term patients, those who have been here more than a month, are with Prince Axel, and those who have been here under a month are with me.


    If your name is on the list, you are cleared for discharge from the hospital. If it is not, your doctors will advise you as to when you might be."


    The two Elites put the list on the table next to them, and the doctors put copies up on the poster board by the door.


    That caused a slow exodus of bodies from the room, as the patients who had gathered to hear the news began to get excited to see the official determination. The doctors had told most of them whether they could leave or not, but the doctors didn''t know who would be going where.


    Once the room was mostly cleared, Prince Axel looked around at the group with a tired expression before giving them the final announcement of the night.


    "As much as I fought against it, as I don''t support student soldiers, the entire Awakened and Ascended poption of the Academy is being sent to the border in the next two weeks. Once you are cleared, you will not be going back to your dorms, but to the border near the Hill Giant offensive.


    Commander Doug Mackenzie and his group have been assigned to the Capital for security, along with his two sisters. While you are cleared forbat, the Bureau wants you to have some downtime between battles, so you will spend a minimum of one month here in the Capital. High Priest Doug, that will unfortunately include you as well.


    Apparently calling the head of psychiatric medicine Skittles to his face earned you some time doing public rtions work for the church." Axel informed them, his stern expression turning to a smirk at the end.


    Doug just shrugged as he ate his dinner. "He is, and will always be, Skittles. I regret nothing."


    Prince Axel just shook his head at the Nature Priest. There was no reasoning with the man, it seemed.


    Overlord Drake stood from his chair. "Now, I wish you all the best of luck, and we will see you at the next inspection of the lines, World Dragon willing."


    The two ranking Elites left the room, and Karl''s group fell silent for a bit before Tessa finished her juice and sighed.


    "Well, I guess we will meet again soon if half of us are being discharged. Do any of the doctors know if we''re just waiting at the Cathedral?"


    One of the doctors nodded. "Yes. You''ve both been assigned to wait at the Capital Cathedral until your team is cleared to leave. Official orders from the Archbishop himself have your entire team together for one year. It would take a lot to get him to change his mind on the matter, and it''s doubtful that it will even cross his mind again."


    Tessa nodded. "Well, we do have a contract that we won''t leave anyone behind, and that we will do one task that pleases the Red Dragon Goddess every three months. think we''re actually way ahead of the curve on that one, but I suspect that the extras don''t factor into the time frame when she expects her next tribute."


    "You have three months between missions for the War Dragon? How long has it been since thest time her influence was obvious?" The doctor asked, not wanting to risk an issue by keeping the team in the hospital.n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om


    "The battle that led us here. So, under a week, and the one before that was only three days or so prior, so we''re good even if one doesn''t count." Tessa exined. "You have been busy. Though, with your groupposition, it''s a bit concerning that you would agree to a contract like that." The Doctor frowned.


    "Actually, our group is really well suited to it, once you add the monsters and Golems. That makes all the difference. It''s a lot like having three extra Commanders with us, all with different skill sets. But I think that the War Dragon is particrly pleased by the fact that we are actually willing to go out and fight, and don''t just do the minimum.


    I might have tested short of the Commander Rank exam requirements, but not by much. By the time that we get back from the Hill Giant border, I might be the youngest High Priestess of the Red Dragon." Tessa replied.


    The doctor looked shocked. High Priestesses of the War Dragon only usually came in two varieties. Disfigured and angry battle nuns in their early middle years, and matronly sorts who looked after orphans for a living.


    Bing a High Priestess so young, at least for the Dragon God of War, was unthinkable in the minds of many.


    "So, once we clear you, there is a good chance that you''re going to throw yourselves back into battle, and challenge the Hill Giants to please the Red Dragon?" The Doctor


    asked.


    That was clearly a trick question, and designed to be used against the other members when they were doing their evaluations the next day. But the Doctor had no shame about his actions, and wasn''t trying to hide it.


    "I wouldn''t call it throwing ourselves inbat. Thor likes to smash things and Rae is likely running short on blood by now, so we will take a cautious outing to find some monsters to refill our supplies. Then, whatever happens, happens. Maybe we will find another vige full of refugee children. That pleased the Red Dragon a lot."


    Tessa replied.


    The Doctor nodded, having heard the story already.


    "Alright, I won''t pry too deeply. I know battle is an essential part of most Elites''


    lives." He reluctantly agreed.


    Thest of the assembled doctors slowly dispersed, and then Karl''s team retired back to their respective rooms for the evening, prepared for at least another week of monotonous tests and afternoons filled with lessons and chores.


    The ''chores'' part was especially fearsome to Lotus, who had been enjoying the wilderness far too much, even if it was cold. Now that she was back in the city, and headed for the Cathedral, she would be expected to join the chore rotation during her stay there. That meant long hours and honest work, two things that no nature priestess willingly volunteered for.


    !


    Vinta


    ă

 Chapter 325 New Doctors and Understanding

    325 New Doctors and Understanding


    Karl sat in the next day''s ''dpression session'', a mental health counselling session that was mandatory for all patients here, and stared at the new doctor who had been assigned to him. She just wasn''t getting it, and he wasn''t certain how to exin the situation anymore.


    "So, you''re saying that a young child such as yourself isn''t bothered by the death and gore, but you don''t feel that is a problem?" The old woman asked.


    Karl considered that for a moment, trying to find a new way to exin the issue, before he gave into the urge to just stand up and just walk out on her.


    "If there is a rabid animal or wild monster loose in your neighbourhood, what do you do?" He asked.


    "Call animal control, of course." She replied.


    "And what do they do?"


    "Trap and relocate it, I assume." She shrugged.


    Karl rubbed his temples. This woman had never actually worked with anyone who had been inbat before, and it was exceedingly obvious. She had to be one of the academics from the University.


    He shook his head. "You can''t just relocate a dangerous creature and make it someone else''s problem. They put them down. That''s what we do. We put down dangerous creatures who are threat to the people. It''s not personal, it just needs to be done."


    "But if they were people in your mind, how would you handle it?"


    Karl saw where she was leading with this now. "I would say that is aw enforcement issue. If they were humans, each and every one of them would be a serial killer and mass murderer. Many of them would be cannibals, as they prefer human flesh.


    I don''t think that many people would object if they were put down, even if we did it live on television."


    The woman huffed in annoyance and walked out of the room.


    Victory.


    Skittles, the aging Nature Priest doctor, came in to rece her with a big smile on his face.


    "What did you say to make the substitute counsellor cry?" He asked.


    "I told her that the human equivalent of monsters are serial killers and mass murderers that nobody wouldin about being executed live on television." Skittles, or Doctor Xander, as he should properly be called, burst intoughter. "The University sent over a bunch of academics to prove that our way isn''t effective


    enough. They think that their treatment methods will create more healthy and bnced Elites."


    "Or get someone stabbed for asking the same stupid questions over and over." Karl pointed out.


    "We monitor our patients for weapons." Doctor Xander replied stiffly.


    Karl took out his maul and passed it to the nature priest, who nearly dropped it on his foot.


    "Goddess, that thing is heavy. Is that what you use to fight Frost Giants?" He asked. "No, I usually use a two-handed sword, but that maul packs a beating with it when ites into y. But my point is that most of the patients are armed, even when it doesn''t look like it."


    The doctor chuckled. "Point taken. But I suspect the actual weapons aren''t thergest issue if your personal problem is the annoying academics. Those who are unstable are sedated to prevent them using magic, but we already know that doesn''t work on you, and if you set a monster on them, they wouldn''tst long.


    The Academics aren''t clerics, they''re just teachers. They don''t have any magic or superhuman abilities, so they don''t really understand what it''s like. They''re terrified of the threats to humanity, and many have the attitude that the ones who protect them are some sort of servants tasked to clean up problems."


    Karl nodded. "Like that one. Maybe we should terrify them a little, make them


    leave?"


    Karl saw why Doug called him skittles when the man smirked, his eyes shed with multiple colours of light. It might be some sort of skill or ability, but the glow did


    rather look like skittles in his eyes.


    "What were you thinking just now?" Doctor Xander asked.


    "I could use a bit of exercise. Perhaps we could arrange space to do some sparring out


    in the yard? Or if there is a suitable gymnasium here?" Karl suggested.


    "I will arrange it. There have been all sorts ofints this morning, and I have been concerned that some of the Elites might just do a self-checkout against doctors''


    advice."


    "Let me know when you''ve got somewhere for us to exercise, and I think that we can arrange something that will take the naive ones'' attitude down a notch." Karl agreed. Doctor Xander nodded and left the room, and Karl made sure he had shorts and a tank top under his hassock. He tended to forget, but if he was going to be sparring, he should have the loweryer on.n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om


    He was just gettingfortable in the chair when Doctor Xander came back, under a minuteter, with a big smile. "Alright, it''s arranged. Even the white robes are on board with this. Just, don''t do anything that might cause more patients." Karl chuckled. "You don''t have a cardiology department, do you? Because I can''t


    guarantee that some of them won''t need it when they see what being an Elite actually means."


    "Nope, that''s next door and not our problem. We''re not an emergency care centre."


    Karl followed him out into the courtyard, where someone had created a huge amount of sand for a twenty-metre roundbat circle, the sort of training pit that soldiers had been using for closebat training since before recorded history.


    "Alright, Doctor Xander has asked that we all attend this seminar, both for the Elites to blow off some steam, and to show the new hires a little of what it means to be an Elite inbat. Commander Karl has graciously volunteered to help with the Demonstration, so who would like to go first?"


    The patients looked a bit confused, but Ophelia hopped up. "Do we get to spar with


    Karl? Or is he going to cheat?"


    Karlughed and had Rae call out a Spider Golem with the ends of its legs blunted.


    There were a number of screams from the new doctors, and Opheliaughed.


    "I see how it is. Alright, who has the training weapons?"


    Karl shrugged. "I don''t think that you need them. Rae won''t take it personally." [Because there is no chance they''re going to be able to kill my Golem.] The two squared off against each other across the circle as the civilian doctors watched in horror, then Ophelia activated her armour and twin ming axes before transforming into Werebear form andunching herself at the spider golem. The two exchanged dozens of strikes in the first two seconds, with the golem parrying Bear''s berserker rage infused attacks, while she looked for an opening. Karl watched the doctors for a while, and even some of the clerics looked shocked at the brutality of the fight. Then it slowly turned to amusement as the Golem knocked Ophelia over and used its blunted legs to tickle her belly while pretending tond


    strikes.


    Only when she roared at the golem in a fully animalistic rage did Rae finally relent and have the spider golem retreat.


    "That''s one for the golem. I think almost everyone gets the point. Who wants to spar


    next? I know I could use the exercise. My muscles are getting sore fromck of use."


    Karl offered.


    A man with a fresh scar across his face and down his bare chest raised his hand. "Commander on Commander unarmed spar?" The Monk suggested.


    "That sounds good. We''ve got plenty of healers to deal with bruising, or we can do it


    with a barrier up so we''re not actually harmed." Karl offered.


    "Then we would need to use skills, and that might lead to idents. Bare hands


    versus training weapons is fine."


    Karl had Rae dismiss the Golem as he stepped into the ring. The hospital hassock


    would be fine for fighting, it was easy to move in.


    The two stretched a little, and then moved into a light sparring session, testing each


    other''s skills. Karl didn''t have his rings on, and this was the first time in a long time he had to test himself against another Elite in actual physicalbat.


    But once they started moving, he realized that his natural state was neither slower nor weaker than the Monk.


    "I thought you were a Ranger type." The Monk questioned as they circled. "Beast Tamer is an odd type. Our growth direction depends on our beasts. If we were using melee skills, I would get my ass kicked in seconds, but as for the basic body, I''m getting closer to that of a Commander Rank beast." Karl exined as he tried and failed to grab the shirtless monk.


    He realized why they fought shirtless when his hassock was grabbed, and he was flipped to the ground, only narrowly avoiding being pinned. Theundry room was going to hate them for this event.


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    ** Send Gift

 Chapter 326 Let Off Some Steam

    326 Let Off Some Steamn/?/vel/b//in dot c//om


    Once the Monk began to sweat and look a bit winded, Karl backed off and smiled at him.


    The Monk nodded. "That was good exercise, I needed that after two months here. The new limbs are still a bit sluggish."


    They left the ring, and more groups moved in, Awakened Elites, who went four teams to the ring, as they weren''t moving nearly as far as the Commanders had.


    The new doctors all seemed to be in shock, even now that the fights were on a closer to human scale. They had been so overwhelmed by what they had seen at the start, which they could see was a game between friends, with no harm done despite the brutality of the event, that they still hadn''t managed to get themselves under control. One of the younger doctors was sitting with her head against her knees, working to control her breathing. She didn''t look alright, so Karl went over to check on her, snagging a couple of bottles of water off the table by the ring on his way. "Here, sip slowly, it helps." Karl informed her as he sat down in the grass beside the young doctor.


    She numbly sipped the water as she stared at the Elites sparring.


    "Do you know why I became a psychologist? An Awakened Rank Giant Wolf Spider took residence in my hometown while I was in the city at school. It killed half the poption, and the ones the army recovered from the cocoons were never the same." She whispered.


    "Sorry, I didn''t mean it as a personal thing to anyone. The spider Golems are just renewable, so I could show everyone an actual fight without injury." Karl replied.


    She nodded slowly, her heart still pounding so hard that Karl could hear it.


    "I know that. It was just so... so..."


    Karl patted her back. "I know, and so does everyone else here. Every Elite in this hospital has seen that level of battle and much worse. Most of us have been sent on those rescue missions to invaded viges. But look how much fun everyone is having now. That was the goal ofing here, right? To get everyone''s mind back into a good ce."


    The doctor smiled at Karl as she got to her feet. "That''s right. Thank you for reminding me. But I should give you some advice as well. If you''re going to spar in a hassock, put pants on first."


    Karlughed. "I am wearing shorts underneath. I''ve been yelled at for that before, so I changed before we came out."


    A few of the other doctorsughed, especially the nature priests.


    As the doctors from the University began to see the camaraderie between the Elites,


    they began to rx and look at them differently. Not as a problem to be solved, but as people who shared something that the rest of the world couldn''t really understand. And so, the morning meetings were changed to morning outdoor activities, at least on the days with good weather. Wheelchair basketball, sparring, any sort of game the Elites came up with was incorporated into their recovery regimen.


    Many of the doctors had pushed for this from the start of the Elite program, but it was considered unconventional, or too risky for the wounded, even when they were confined to a basketball court, where they could easily be kept within the range of an area healing spell for treatment while they exercised.


    So that was how Karl''s next week went, with exercise in the morning to bring his arm back up to his standards, and lessons with Morgana all afternoon to catch up on the schooling that he should have been taking during the first and second year, before he was sent out into the world.


    Karl didn''t even know that some of those historical eras had happened, much less that they had their own architectural style that was likely to contain magical relics. It was enough new information that even Thor''s prodigious memory was struggling to


    remember it all.


    The only easy part was the public speaking lessons, as Karl wasn''t bad at that to begin with. The challenge was learning how to turn everything into polite doublespeak so that you could convey your message without antagonizing anyone, even in a hostile crowd.


    But all fun things must end, and at the end of a week, it was time for the review of the party members'' progress. He had been healing well, but it was still unlikely that he would be discharged early.


    Ophelia might be, as she was doing much better now that she got to spend her mornings in Werebear form, wrestling and sparring. It was Dana that Karl was concerned about. She had gotten quiet since the battle, and had lost a lot of the bubbly personality that used toe out at every chance.


    Perhaps that was just part of the experience, but it still seemed like she could use a bit more time with the priests. Or perhaps that was the problem, and she just needed to get back to normalcy with the other students?


    On the final day of the week, instead of the morning games, Karl was called to a meeting room where five doctors in five different cleric robes sat as a panel behind a desk.


    "Commander Karl, initial prognosis, nerve damage to the left arm and a severe concussion. We are pleased to inform you that your time with us is now ended. You are cleared to return to duty at any time. The Academy should be contacting youter today to let you know of their deployment ns."


    Karl smiled. "That is excellent news. Have you met with the rest of my team yet?" The doctors shook their heads. "No, you are the first review of the morning. There


    are a number of other patients between you and them, but you should have answers before you go anywhere."


    That seemed to signal the end of the meeting, and Karl stepped out into the hall, where his three roommates were waiting along the wall for his results.


    "I''m good to go. It''s been a pleasure, gentlemen." Karl informed them with a smile. "Where are they sending you? Back to the Frost Giant border to freeze again?" Karl shook his head. "No, once my team is ready, we will be off to the Hill Giant border with the students from the Academy. I haven''t graduated yet, after all." The trioughed. "We heard a curious rumour about you. Is it true that you''re still in the first year?"


    Karl chuckled. "Yeah. Halfway through my first year at the Academy. I know it doesn''t really look like it anymore, with the advancements and their physical improvements, but I was in thest batch of serum injections."


    "Shit, we should try getting on the good side of some monsters. Maybe that''s the secret." The blonde man joked.


    "Ask the nature priests about that one first. They have many stories about the appeals and hazards of trying to cuddle the danger floof."


    Behind them, Doctor Xanderughed. "You''re a bad influence on the entire Green Dragon Priesthood, you know that? Do you know how many of them have tried to make new friends in thest week and nearly ended up in the emergency room?" "I im no responsibility for that. They were like that before I arrived." "That is true, I suppose. But speaking of which, we will be moving you over to the Cathedral tonight to wait on the rest of your team, unless they''re all released and ready to go today. I believe some of them were suggested to stay another week." Karl nodded. "Yeah, I believe that the two Priestesses are already there waiting for us. I''m sure that after a week in the Capital Cathedral, they''re ready for some less exciting days."


    The doctorughed at the thought that being with a military unit at the border was either less exciting or more enjoyable than the cathedral, but Karl knew that they would be stuck with all the paperwork that he had been dodging for thest month. Compared to that, sitting with a thousand students in a camp at the border sounded much better. The two Priestesses weren''t students, so they wouldn''t be asked to take lessons while they were there, and they were part of Karl''s team by contract, so they wouldn''t be reassigned to some menial duty, as they had to stay near the action to please the Red Dragon.


    Plus, Lotus had to be going crazy without any animals around, other than the cats of the Cathedral.


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    Send Gilt

 Chapter 327 Rehabilitated

    327 Rehabilitated


    Karl waited in the cafeteria while the others went in for their analysis that morning, and watched the mood change every time someone got good or unexpectedly bad


    news.


    Dana and Ophelia went in one after the other, with Ophelia going first anding out with a positive attitude to give Karl a thumbs up.


    "Well, we''re good to go. They cleared me to fight, and said that these issues with my berserker rage trying to take over were all sorted out. As it turns out, I just wasn''t embracing the bear fully enough, and it was the sparring session with the Golem that set things back in bnce." She exined.


    "Weren''t embracing the bear enough?" Karl asked.


    "Yeah, you know how I''ve usually got some sort of self-control in battle? That''s not how it is supposed to work. I thought I was better at the Berserker Rage, but I just wasn''t fully activating it. Those partial activations were causing a mental imbnce, as the berserker side and the sane side of my mind were trying to merge, and that''s just not possible without going insane."


    Karl nodded. "That makes sense, the whole point of Berserker Rage is to let go and just go wild, right? I''m d that you got it all sorted out. It''s not going to mess with yourbat too much, is it? Like, you won''t have to start training all over?"


    Ophelia shook her head. "Nope. It''s all instinctive, so I''m unlikely to attack known teammates. Well, no more likely than an angry bear is to attack her own instead of the enemy. That should be fine inbat, and the way that Berserkers train imprints our skills in our subconscious, so we will still use them when we''re in a rage."


    As they were talking, Dana came back out as well, with a more cautiously optimistic smile on her face.


    "Well, I''m cleared to leave, but they want me to avoid intense battles for a while. I know that''s not really possible, but that''s what it is." She informed them.


    Karl pulled her in for a hug. "Of course, we can avoid the more intense battles. Only small scout group eliminations with supervisors and reinforcements until it''s time to go find more refugees or something to keep Tessa from getting in trouble with her goddess."


    Danaughed. "If you''re going to make up a lie, at least make it a good one. I don''t think that any of us would be happy just cking off. But seeing what happened to Tori, I wasn''t ready for that."


    The mood turned sombre at the end, but they understood.


    "It''s fine. I will get them to transfer us away from the main lines, where we''re more likely to see allies die." Karl assured her, but Dana shook her head.


    "I think that we should join the main group. It might help if we can thwart a few direct attacks, you know? Save some lives where we can actually see them."


    Ophelia nodded. "That sounds good. We can socialize, and build up some of that reputation that we''re supposed to have with our peers. I mean, I didn''t socialize much because everyone but the Berserkers is afraid of the only female Berserker. But you two were barely at the Academy at all, and now you''re powerful, so you might as well go get them to put some respect on your names."


    From Karl''s left, one of the other patientsughed. "That''s right, they''d better put some respect on the monster man''s name. Who else here could use half their ss skills to defend their group while taking on a solo duel against a Royal Rank Frost Giant?"


    Karl smiled at the man, whose hand was halfway regrown and held in a brace, so he didn''t damage the forming portions.


    "Don''t forget, that idea got me here with you. I don''t rmend it."


    While they were chatting, Morgana, Jill and Dave all arrived in the cafeteria. "We got the good news from the doctors when they finished the morning assessments. You might as well get something to eat, and then we will head over to the Cathedral for the night. They want to test everyone before you head out again, just in case.


    We will be leaving for the border tomorrow morning, but no more hospital nights for you."


    "I should go change, after lunch, I guess. Finally, the hospital can get their stylish short-sleeved outfit back." Karl joked.


    The kitchen staffughed at that. The short-sleeved hassock was unique to the hospital for people who needed injured limbs essible at all times. Normally, if you had a cast, it would fit under the sleeve, and you would just roll it up for checkups. With Karl''s, they were constantly looking for discoloration or other issues, since there was a high risk of infection by Frost Giant blood. None had appeared, much to their surprise, as there was very little chance that Lotus had even tried, much less managed, to get all the Giant blood off the severed limb.


    The two species were about as far frompatible blood donors as it was possible to be, so the body would normally treat it as a toxin and go into overdrive trying to expel the blood.


    When Karl returned to his room to get his gear, there were fresh robes waiting for him, the standard ones from the Cathedral, with the Cathedral''s property tag on the inside, so he didn''t have to change when he got there.


    That was convenient.


    His roommates were still out, but Morgana came in a few seconds after Karl had the new robes on.


    "Ready to roll out? Where is your pack?" She asked.


    "In the locker. I never unpacked anything in it, so it''s still good." Karl exined.


    "We can restock it at the Cathedral. The hospital doesn''t have mission supplies." Karl shook his head. "I meant that literally. I haven''t unpacked anything from it. It''s still fully loaded and ready to leave. We had three priests who could cook and Rae making the shelters on ourst mission, so I never actually opened my main pack for anything."


    The Witch Doctor shook her head as she grabbed the pack out of the locker. Karl was a bit startled that she could heft it around with one hand like that. His pack was quite heavy, as the weight didn''t mean much to him, but she was a magic user, and they usually couldn''t use strength items.


    "Alright, take that and let''s go. They''ve got a surprise for you at the Cathedral." Morgana informed him with a wink.


    "Did Lotus adopt a Warbear? Because I wouldn''t put it past her."


    "Goddess, I hope not. But that''s not the surprise I''m referring to." She muttered,


    making Karlugh.


    She led him outside and down a cobblestone path that led into the side of the Cathedral, where Tessa and Lotus were waiting for them, along with Bob and Doug, who now had teacher''s badges hung on chains around their neck.


    "No way, they made you guys teachers?" Karlughed.


    "Substitute teachers for the remainder of the school year, technically. Not all of the Academy''s teachers are well suited tobat, and they needed a few extras. We''re both Commanders, and we have more than a little experience with the Hill Giants that roam into the Nation, or appear during the monster spawns.


    What do you think? Does it suit?" Bob replied.


    "Definitely. I think that you two will be great teachers. You even volunteered to look out for me during my first proper solo mission. Teaching might just be your calling."N?v(el)B\\jnn


    Karl agreed.


    Morgana gave them a curious look. "What are you supposed to be teaching, anyhow? Don''t all teachers have a subject?"


    The brothers smiled back at her. "Wilderness Survival."


    The Witch Doctor rolled her eyes. "Of course you would get a ss that doesn''t


    involve actually knowing how to read."


    The brothersughed, and Karl put on his best innocent questioning look.


    "I didn''t know that you knew each other."


    Bobughed. "We met a few times on missions, while she was still in school, but for the record, I can read. I won''t make any guarantees for Doug."


    Doug reached into his robes and pulled out a hymn book. "I will have you know that


    once you have memorized all the songs, you don''t need to know how to read


    anymore."


    Morgana sighed while everyone elseughed, so Karl patted her on the shoulder.


    "You get used to them, but they''re the sort of people you want on your side when things go wrong in the wilderness."


    Post your firstmen!!

 Chapter 328 Cathedral Again?

    328 Cathedral Again?


    Morgana looked toward the Cathedral. "As much as this is a surprise, it''s not the one that I was expecting. Monk Chen was supposed to meet us at the Cathedral, he has joined the staff as well, and will being along to help with meditation and mental fortitude training."


    Karlughed and pointed toward the building. "He''s almost certainly inside those doors. They lead to the meditation area, and they''re a much better spot to surprise a visitor."


    Tessa and Lotus surrounded the Witch Doctor and wrapped their arms around her.


    "So you''ve been drawn into the Karl gravity well. Aren''t you a bit old for him?" Tessa asked.


    "First off, I am his advisor from the Bureau, secondly, aren''t you older than I am, Sister?" Morgana cut back.


    Doug and Lotus bothughed before Doug gave Tessa a conciliatory pat on the shoulder. "She''s got a point, she was the youngest in her ss, nearly a whole year younger. She didn''t even get long enough legs to keep up with the group until third year."


    "You really want me to Hex you, don''t you?" Morgana replied.


    Lotus hugged the Witch Doctor. "Don''t feel bad. I graduatedst year and I still have short legs."


    Morgana sighed and looked away just as the door opened, revealing Brother Chen, who had been drawn by themotion.


    "Commander Karl! It''s good to see you all healed and returned to service. But why does the lovely Miss Morgana look so defeated?" He announced.n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om


    "She''s not ready to deal with Nature Priests today. I heard that you''re joining the Academy Staff, congrattions." Karl replied, before giving the Monk a hug. Monk Chen smiled back at Karl. "You know, you actually look your age from this angle."


    Behind them, Dougughed. "Not for long. It''s his birthday next week, and he will get his baby face status back."


    Karl did quick math, as he hadn''t seen a calendar in ages. Doug was right, but he was surprised that the Nature Priest knew that.


    Tessa nodded. "And it''s both Lotus and Dana''s birthday next month. We''re all getting old, make it stop."


    Her dramatic announcement made the Monkugh. "Just wait, soon enough you will be looking like one of the Orphanage Matrons, all round and jolly with a ruler in your hand as you terrify school children."


    "You take that back right now."


    Tessa had the sort of narrow and angr features that Karl couldn''t see ever getting that sort of chubby. The Battle Nuns, as everyone called the lean and muscr female Red Dragon Clerics who practically lived inbat, seemed like a more probable oue.


    The rest of the group joined them as the clerics all exchanged stories. They hadn''t seen each other in a while, as Bob and Doug had been assigned to guard duty, and while Monk Chen wasn''t technically a cleric, he was mostly hidden in the meditation areas of the Cathedral.


    "Let''s lead you all to your rooms to drop off your gear. It''s good that they got you robes in advance, that makes life easier. The Cathedral has seen too many visitors trying to sneak out of boundstely, so if you will notice, those robes don''t have the silver thread in the cuffs that the regr visitor robes do." Brother Chen exined. Karl had never noticed the silver threads before, but he hadn''t really been looking for them in an all white robe. But as they walked through the cathedral toward the upper floor rooms, he did notice that on the tourist robes, one single thread on each sleeve was dyed silver. Not always in the same spot, but they all had a silver thread near the cuff.


    That was brilliant, and meant that even if you tried to sneak in by blending in, the actual clerics would notice right away.


    But if they didn''t have the silver, that meant there was something else that marked the Elites and other authorized visitors from the clerics who were working there. Karl still hadn''t found it by the time that they reached the rooms, so he put it out of his mind for the moment and stowed his pack for the evening before quickly washing his hands and face. He really did need to shave, he decided, before pulling his kit out and realizing that there was an easier way.


    On second thought, that was a terrible idea, and it would fill the room with the smell of burning hair. So, with his shaving kit in hand, Karl headed for the sinks in the men''s shower room. A few minutes of work and he was clean-shaven again, looking like a proper Academy student, and ready to face the remainder of the day. When he walked out again, he heard cursinging from thedies'' showers that sounded like Ophelia, as well as a lot ofughing. She had said that she might be hairier in human form than Werebear, but Karl didn''t realize that she actually intended to shave it all off again.


    They were headed out in a day or two, so it was just going to grow back. But perhaps, like him, it just felt a bit more human to be all cleaned up for the day, like a reset between missions.


    Karl returned to his room and took out one of the books from the small bookshelf that each room had. They were all church literature, but some of them had useful information and not just religious dogma in them.


    Like this one. It was told from the viewpoint of the church, but it was a history of the conflicts with the Giants, who upied most of the territory around their borders.


    He could use a bit more information about the Giants, and how things had gone in the past.


    Karl recalled that there should be some wise saying about repeating history, but he couldn''t think of quite what it was as he began reading through the book. The story started the same as this war had begun. The Giant ns had started to work together, attacking the nation from all sides as they searched for relics of the System Stones, which they believed would allow them to regain some of their lost


    power.


    The first war was only a few generations after the stones had been shattered, and the Giants were convinced that the humans had another set.


    They didn''t understand how the humans were keeping their advanced magic. But that was because, uniquely among the species, the humans had managed to train new generations in many of the skills that had originallye from the system.


    The book was an older one, written before the Elites had been a thing, and it didn''t mention Inscription as a skill, as it had been considered a lost art at the time.


    That was how humans had passed down the skills, until the number of Inscriptionists had dropped so far in ces like the Golden Dragon Nation, thanks to the concentration of magic users in their own enves, that it had been forgotten by


    most of the world.


    Some nations had always been able to do it, but it was a jealously guarded skill, and only when the Elites had started to do it on their own had they slipped up and revealed that they could as well. It was their determination to find the person who leaked their secrets that had actually given away their secret.


    They had rampaged through the nation as the humans hid or defended their walled cities, doing what they could to defend their survival. At the time, it had been unthinkable that the humans could take on the Giant ns without the legacy magic users who had fled and left them to their fates.


    And they had been right, but at the end of the war, the humans had managed to hold enough, and the Giants didn''t have the poption to hold the entire region. So, they slowly rebuilt, and attacked the Giants where they found them, until a centuryter the church had managed to unify the region.


    The story was the same nearly every time, with some subtle variations. There was only one exception, the Fire Wars, when the Giants had allied to trap and destroy the Fire Drakes that humans had been breeding as their defenders.


    Karl hadn''t realized that they had started here. He had thought that the Ind nation of Drake Riders was where they were because they had arrived from another


    continent.


    Of course, it could all be propaganda, but it was official propaganda, and the Church was actually very particr with their records so that they didn''t upset the Blue Dragon of knowledge.


    !


    Send Gilt

 Chapter 329 Empty Halls

    329 Empty Halls


    There were far fewer Clerics in the dining hall than there had been thest time that Karl was here, and the room looked almost empty, while the lower ranked dining hall had only been half filled when he had passed by.


    That was a testament to how much of their membership had gone to war, as the Capital Cathedral was one of the bastions of the faith, where most of the residents were researchers, theorists and essential staff to record keeping.


    The dining hall was silent as the food was brought around, but in a remarkable break from their usual rules and decorum, once it was served, the Clerics began to talk and shift between tables.


    A number of them brought their food over to the table where Karl and Morgana were seated with Monk Chen. The rest of the group had split up at the table behind them, as they wouldn''t all fit at one, but even then, Karl noticed that there was shuffling, and both Bob and Doug shifted to a third table full of clerics.


    "Well, this is new." Karl noted quietly.


    The Clerics who had just sat down nodded in unison.


    "It''s our chance to get news, and we will all be rotated to the front soon, when they release more of the wounded from the hospital. We heard that you were on the Frost Giant front before you were sent to the recovery wing." A dark-haired Blue Dragon Priest replied.


    "Yeah, the Frost Giant border has calmed down significantly. They suffered a disaster as their actions broke a number of imprisoned dragons free of their confinement. There was arge volcanic eruption as well, thanks to an angry Magma Dragon. It''s just a general mess all along that front, but not nearly as dangerous as it had been, just cold." Karl replied.


    The Blue Dragon Priest wrote notes and nodded in satisfaction. "That''s what we have been hearing from everyone. Do you know where you''re going next?"


    "The Hill Giant border. From what I''m told, they need all the Commanders that they can get to keep the incursion under control, and I have been used on at least one asion of being enthusiasticallypetent at that." Karl replied.


    Morgana chuckled. "Well, that''s one way to put it. The Academy is sending all its Ascended and higher students to the front lines for a training mission. There will be teachers there to keep up with their course work, and to help provide a measure of safety for our next generation of Elites.


    Wow, it feels strange saying that when I just graduated and some of them are only a year behind me."


    The Clerics sighed at the news that they weren''t the only ones running short on staff. If the Academy was mobilizing en masse, then the rest of society wouldn''t be far behind. The elites had been living a pretty good life, and many of them were the sort of rich and famous that most could only dream about.


    However, when it came down to it, they still had a duty, and that was to keep themselves and everyone around them alive.


    The cleric across from Karl nodded. "I will be going there as well. Most of the ones here now will be going to the Frost Giant front, as they''ve already shipped out the High Priests, but I got the draw to go to visit the Hill Giants."


    Karl smiled at him. "You''ll like it better. The other border has terrible weather, and a little bird tells me that we can celebrate my birthday with a bonfire."


    Morgana gave Karl a suspicious look. "Is that code for Hawk wants to see if the Hill Giants burn as well as the Frost Giants?"


    Karl shook his head. "They don''t. We already tried, and it''s better to bury them. But everyone likes a good birthday party, right?"


    "Well, if your birthday is next week, we might not even be settled into the lines yet." Morgana replied.


    "How is that? It''s only a few hours helicopter flight from here, I know, we were almost to the Hill Giant''s portion of the border when we flew back." Karl asked. "They have been shooting down our helicopters. Once they learned that trick, it became too dangerous tond near the border, so it''s eithernd in a safe spot and walk most of a day to the mission location, or go in by bus.


    The bus was the obvious choice, since we can''t walk in with an entire line''s worth of supplies, so we''re doing to have a few days worth of driving, and possibly more if there are monster attacks or bad weather.


    That''s also why you don''t see many wounded Elites from the Hill Giant front at the hospital here. They''re recovering at a triage hospital closer to the border, instead of flying them all the way back." The cleric exined.


    That was better than what Karl''s mind had conjured up. When things got really bad, there weren''t any wounded to send anywhere. They simply didn''t make it back.n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om


    "Do you know what they''re doing for deployments with the students? I''m sure with that many of them in one region, they''ll being up with something to keep them safer than usual." Karl asked the others at his table.


    Morgana nodded. "From what I''ve been told, they are nning double deployments, ten where it calls for five and so on, along with an extramander for every enhanced group that leaves the base."


    That wasn''t necessarily better. Larger groups would attract more attention everywhere that they went. But the extra Commander was a brilliant move if they could spare them.


    They must have only left the Ascended Rank teachers at the Academy for the Common Grade and Awakened students that had been left behind, which would be an interesting event on its own, but there still weren''t all that many Commander Rank teachers in the Academy.


    They taughtrge groups of students, and had their assistants help out with the


    individual issues, there was far from enough to send one with every ten students. Or perhaps, they weren''t nning to send all that many of them out to begin with? If they were only going to allow three or four groups out of the camp at a time, then it would be feasible, and the majority of the students would be with whatever army reinforcements or other Elites had been sent to their location.


    Tactically, that made a lot of sense, but to Karl and the others in his group, it sounded horribly dull.


    If they were going to be stuck in a camp at the border, they might as well be at the Academy. They wouldn''t really be doing anyone any good, just sitting around all day. Even if there were attacks on the front lines, they had always been minimal, at least on the Frost Giant front, while the artillery did all the heavy lifting for them. He could keep up a barrier over the group without any real issues, unless they were either using Royal Rank attacks, or repeated Commander Rank artillery strikes.


    It would be better, both for him and for Thor, if it didn''te to simply tanking the artillery, but if they had to, they could, at least for a while.


    "So, when do the buses leave in the morning? It doesn''t sound like we''re getting a flight, and I''m hoping the answer is early." Karl asked the others at the table.


    The Golden Robed priest sitting next to Morgana nodded. "Yeah, right after breakfast. The recements for the Clerics who are being shifted out will be here by then, so it should be a smooth transition, and then a very long drive.


    The roads have been improved all the way to the border, in anticipation of extra traffic, but the wilderness is always unpredictable.


    Maybe, if you''re lucky, you will get on the train most of the way there, and then a bus for thest fifty kilometres or so to the border. That would be much better. I know I will be flying, but that''s because I''m going to the Frost Giant border."


    "Did you pack warm? You are certainly going to want something thick and fur, not just the cold weather gear that they issue. Trust me, it''s terrible, and everyone fighting on the Frost Giant front does their best to get a recement for it as soon as they can." Karl exined.


    "I will make a note of it. We have thicker cloaks and robes in the store rooms, but the border is supposed to be starting to return to normal temperatures."


    Morgana smiled. "Starting is the operative word there. Given a few more months, you shouldn''t need it. But this week, you''ll be thankful for it."


    !


    %


    **

 Chapter 330 On The Road Again

    330 On The Road Again


    After dinner, everyone settled in for an early night, prepared to get as much sleep as they could before the long bus ride ahead.


    The borders weren''t the only dangerous areas, and some of the areas that they had to pass through had recent monster incursions. They were at the Common and Awakened level, but that didn''t really matter if they had damaged the roads, or attacked the buses before the passengers could stop them.


    The n was for the buses to keep moving constantly until they arrived, and lunches had been packed for everyone, while dinner would be made on the bus, should they still be moving at that time.


    Given that the roads were previously soft dirt for much of thest portion toward the border, Karl didn''t have high hopes that they would actually get there in one day, but he might get to let Thor out to help pull a bus convoy.


    A little extra traction was all that they usually needed, and Thor could provide that for them.


    The helicopters arrived during breakfast to take the clerics that were going to the Frost Giant border, and to drop off more patients for the rehab facility, as well as Elites and clerics who hade off rotation.


    The buses were waiting and ready to go when Karl and his group loaded themselves in, along with as many of the clerics as they could fit.


    There were no supply vehicles in this group, only personnel, to get the number down to just two buses for the sixty people going, with the hope that it would reduce the


    risks of them being attacked while a vehicle was immobilized.


    Break-downs, t tires, stuck in the mud, or a dozen other reasons could cause them to be dyed, and every dy increased the danger to their healers.


    "Are we ready?" The bus driver asked as Karl took a spot at the front of the bus, putting him closest to the door in case there was a threat.


    Karl and Morgana were the only Commanders on the bus, as Bob and Doug were in the second vehicle, so that put him first in line to respond to any incidents. They didn''t have the usual security guards in the small convoy today, as they couldn''t be spared for escort duty when there were already Elites in the bus who could do the job, but Karl didn''t really mind, and Bob knew that the beasts would step in to help deal with most issues, as Karl was in the lead vehicle. "Yeah, we''re good. The head count is correct, everyone has verified that they didn''t forget their gear, and they''ve all been to the potty before our field trip." Karl replied. The bus full of clericsughed, but Karl wasn''t joking. Thest thing that they had been advised was to use the facilities before they left, as the bus had a limited capacity. Not that anyone wanted to use the tiny bus bathroom any more than they wanted to be seated next to it after someone used it.


    They rolled out of thepound and headed for the main highway out of the Capital, using the priorityne normally reserved for emergency vehicles.


    That got them out of the city in a reasonable time, and for the next few hours, the road was paved as they moved through the core of the Golden Dragon Nation. It was only when you got near the borders that the roads were strategically unimproved so that they didn''t make it even easier for an invading army toe straight to the Capital.


    But they hadn''t had rain in quite a while, and the roads were solid. Dusty, but solid. Their speeds dropped as the roads got worse in the hills near the border, and by the time it was dark out, they were down to twenty kilometres an hour or less, crawling through the rutted dirt paths toward the distant lights of artillery shelling. That was a better start than any of them had dared to hope for. Karl had expected that it would take at least a day to get this far, and while they had seen monsters, none of them had been brave enough toe near the pair of church buses. "Those awake, please ensure that the sleeping passengers have their harnesses fastened. This next portion will be very rough." The driver announced.


    Karl looked out the window and saw that the road was deeply rutted in the valley from thest rainfall, and now that it had dried, that y dirt would be as hard as pavement, with only a few routes that could be safely navigated without getting the bottom of the bus hung up on the ridges.


    "Slow a little more, and I will send Thor out. His Earthquake should be able to level the ground a little, or he can smash down some of the biggest ruts with his tail." Karl


    offered.


    "Alright. I will let the other bus know that we''re stopping while he works."


    Karl had said the magic words, and Thor was already running past the bus, looking


    for the best path to smash so that he could let them through.


    He hadn''t had a chance to smash anything in days, and this was tail smashing, not just charging a pir in his space. The Cerro equivalent of a full-body workout. Or perhaps the equivalent of leg day, Karl thought.


    He wasn''t convinced that the Cerro was looking for the best route for the bus as much as he was looking for the route that would be the most fun to smash to a smooth surface, but Thor was already at work, and the dust cloud was apanied by a deep rumble that said he was using Earthquake and not just his tail to level the


    road.


    The noise woke Morgana from a light sleep, and she looked around in rm before realizing that they were stopped and Karl was still in the bus.


    "It''s just Thor, fixing the road for us to get through. Nothing to worry about, and we will be back in motion in a minute." Karl whispered, trying to avoid waking the sleeping clerics.


    As soon as they got to the border, all of them would have their hands full of work, so


    it was only right that he tried to let them sleep for now. Thor made it to the other end of the valley, where the road was smoother again, but he didn''t stop his work, and smashed out the ruts on the way up the hill as well, resurfacing the dirt as well as could be hoped for until the next heavy downpour. "Alright, it''s clear to go through. Thor says it''s bone dry all the way down, so you can take whatever route you like. The right side of the road is fairly soft, though, as it had the worst ruts and he didn''tpact it after he levelled it."


    The noise had scared away even the smaller creatures, and for half an hour after Thor returned to his space, they didn''t see a single living thing.


    Then, they came across a few farms which were still inhabited, with a single red light illuminated to inform the Elites and others passing by that they had nothing left to


    spare.


    The lights would draw the aid convoys from the clerics to them, and they would help them restock, so the farms had enough for themselves, as well as a bit more to spare for the next group that came along, but at the moment, they were in too much of a


    hurry to stop.


    Plus, farmers with animals to feed in the morning would likely not appreciate visitors at two in the morning.


    The shing lights of the artillery were slowly joined by the sound of rolling thunder as the dawn crept up on them, and Karl began to be concerned for the state of the border. That was an intense bombardment, and it had been going on all night


    long.


    If it wasn''t enough to repel whatever attack wasing at the lines, then they were in for even more Chaos than they had expected once their journey waspleted. They only had a few more hours to the border, and even if his group got out and ran, with the casters on the beasts, they would be there in the same amount of time or less. So, there wasn''t much they could do but wait, and hope that any changes in the rate of fire were good news.


    !


    Swipe left to continue >


    **N?v(el)B\\jnn

 Chapter 331 Who Needs Points?

    331 Who Needs Points?


    The radiomunications from the front line crushed their hopes within seconds. [Iing Giant charge. All hands to the lines, prepare to repel.] They were ordering. That meant that not only had they made it past the artillery, they had made it past the first line of defenders, and the camp itself was on defence.


    [Estimated arrival ten minutes.] The voice announced.


    Karl looked at the passengers on his bus.


    "Morgana, can you look after things here with the others? I need to go see a guy about a thing." He asked, casually, knowing only those in the front few rows would have heard the radio broadcast if they were awake.


    "Seriously?" Morgana asked.


    "I can make it there in ten minutes. The bus cannot." Karl replied.


    "Do you think that one Commander will be the difference?" Morgana asked.


    "For someone it will."


    Morgana sighed and made a shooing gesture. Karl grabbed his pack, then opened the door and jumped out of the moving bus. From the bus behind him, Ophelia and Bob Mackenzie jumped out as well, with Ophelia already transformed into Werebear form before she hit the ground running.


    Nobody else on either bus was likely to be able to keep up with them, not even Thor, who was quick, but not fast enough for this mad rush down the road. Like the other beasts, he would join them when they reached the battle.


    As they topped the next hill, Karl gave directions to the team. "Thor, stay in behind our front-line offensive, you''re watching our backs until the clerics get to us. Rae will put the Golems on our nks. I can see the Giants from here, and we''re off to the side of the main line. The bus wille in on our left by about a kilometre.


    We will hit the side of the Hill Giant lines and push inward as they crash into the defenders. Make it fast and keep moving. There are enough fighters on both sides that wounding and crippling is as effective as outright killing. Someone will get to them, we just need to lighten the blow on the students."


    Bob frowned. "Are they hitting the students portion of the line?"


    Karl nodded. "From what I can tell, yes. They''re aimed right at them, and it looks like they''ve focused their forces to avoid whoever is covering the sections further away."


    They were all breathing heavily as they ran past the shocked front lines of the


    Academy students, who had prepared a pike wall to block the Giants while the mages were beginning to rain spells on them.


    "Remi, Let''s see how the Hill Giants like a good Blizzard." Karl shouted, so the others would know that it was on their team.


    Blinding snow filled the air, and Karl turned the group into the end of the Hill Giant lines as he called the beasts out.


    The Hill Giants were stronger than the Frost Giants, and over half the group in front of him was either a strong Ascended or a low Commander Rank monster. But Karl had been thinking about his past mistakes, and he knew what he needed to do now.


    {10 Points spent} [Brutality] increases the size and strength of the target beast by 10 percent per Rank (40 percent for Commander)


    {20 Points Spent} [Shatter] physical strikes cause vibrations through the opponent''s body that damage organs and may break bones.


    {20 Points Spent} [Crushing Blows] Blunt impact skills increase in damage by 10 percent per Rank. (Effective on damage caused by Shatter). (40 percent at Commander)


    {1 Point remaining}


    [Tier 4 Attack Skills Unlocked]


    Forty percentrger, Thor was a true monster among Cerro, standing chest high to a Hill Giant, and the increased size of the Spider Golems made them look much more intimidating. But more interestingly, [Brutality] had affected Ophelia in Werebear form.


    It seemed to be judging by height, and not total mass, as she had gone from just over two metres tall to a solid three metres, and her axes looked tiny in her hands for a moment before they adjusted, as bonded weapons naturally matched their wielder. The first strikes of the Spider Golems'' forelegs sent ripples across their targets'' bodies, and the pair of Ascended Rank Hill Giants spat blood as their rib cage seemed to copse. That must be the effect of [Shatter], Karl decided.


    That was verified when his Maul hit his Commander Rank target, and the giant folded likeundry in the wind, mmed to the ground by the strike. The Giants had no time to respond, they were still being attacked from the front, and their momentum was carrying them toward the line as they tried to turn to face the surprise attack. A rain of Hill Giant spears and magical stones mmed into the [Refreshing Lightning] barriers through the snow, while dozens more missed them to dig into the soft soil, creating a tripping hazard for anyone moving across this area.


    But Karl was already pushing forward with the others at his shoulders, and the Spider Golems were rampaging through the Hill Giants, while Rae darted in and out of their formation, targeting Giants who tried to get around toe at them from the back. With Thor focusing on defence, and Remi''s Blizzard and Chain Lightning slowing their opponents, who were already under assault by the defending mages, they were making quick progress across the back lines of the Hill Giant assault.


    For a moment, it looked like an easy clear, and then Karl saw a target muchrger


    than the others, the leader of the assault, and most likely a Royal Rank target. "Don''t do it." He heard Bob shouting, but Karl was already moving.


    With the whole herd on his side, this battle would end differently than thest one, he was certain of it.


    The Hill Giant waved his hand, and the ground seemed to explode under Karl as he leapt into the air to avoid the attack. He closed his eyes, keeping the dirt out, and giving him a clear vision of the moment that the Hill Giant turned and fled, leaving a bodyguard squad of Commander Rank giants in front of Karl and the others.


    "Bloody coward." Karl muttered as he parried an overhand chop by the closest of the bodyguards.


    The group''s progress had been brought to a halt by the concerted efforts of the Hill Giants, who were turning around to join the fight, making it obvious that they were preventing the human assassins from going after their retreating leader.


    From the line, a shrill bugle sounded, sounding so much like Thor that for a moment, Karl thought they had a Cerro there as well. But it was a brass bugle, and the signal to advance, now that the charge had been halted by the ranged Elites.


    The Hill Giants turned and ran, disengaging to avoid needless casualties, and Karl stopped his advance when Bob put a hand on his shoulder.


    "It''s over, you did good." The warrior reminded him.


    That brought both Karl and Ophelia out of their battle fog, and the Berserker shrunk down to normal size as she let go of her rage, though she didn''t transform back. [Oh, that''s neat. She only gets affected when she''s raging. She isn''t beast enough when she''s not.] Hawk noted from above them.


    Rae and Hawk returned to their spaces as the other Elites from the Academy approached, and Karl let Thor shrink back to normal. He was too big to have his head properly patted at his enhanced size.


    Tank came up and pulled first Ophelia and then Karl into a hug before gently rubbing the back of Thor''s head ridge, which caused the Cerro to make a happy hum. "Good to see you. When did your team get here?" The big berserker asked. "Just now. The rest of the team is still on the bus with the clerics. We were the only ones who could run fast enough to make it to the battle on time." Karl smiled, then realized that Giant blood was dripping in his mouth from the stters that had hit


    his face.n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om


    [ming Body] burned him clean again as Tank looked around in satisfaction.


    "Well, it was good timing. I can''t believe the attack leader took off like that, they''re normally as single-minded as a Berserker."


    Karl nodded. "I was surprised as well. But if they gave up this easily, they''ve likely got another attack lined up, and they just wanted to know our strength, as this group is unfamiliar to them."


    You''ve arrived at thetest chapter!


    Send Gilt

 Chapter 332 You Left Us Behind

    Chapter 332 You Left Us Behind


    To say that Morgana and the others were unhappy with Karl taking off without half his team was an understatement.


    It didn''t quite vite the terms of their agreement, as the rest of the team was technically on their way to the battle and might have made it if the battlested longer, but he was pushing his luck, and he had left without his healers and support.


    The fact that Karl came back into camp covered in ash and reeking of burnt Giants, while hispanions were soaked with blood, was not lost on anyone, students or otherwise. The team had gathered at the back near the bus, and the looks that they were giving the trio said more than any words they coulde up with.


    The mixture of annoyance, anger, fear and betrayal let Karl know just how unhappy they were with this chain of events, but Karl knew he would likely do it again if given the option. It had saved lives on the line by distracting from the charge, and it had made the Hill Giants retreat prematurely.


    Tessa red at the trio and then sighed. "You know what, I''m not going to say anything. You already know what I was going to say. Now, go shower, you stink."


    Ophelia giggled, looking quite innocent now that she was out of bear form, even if she was now even more soaked in Hill Giant blood. "Yes Mom."


    The showers were fairly empty, as most of the line was still recovering and waiting to make certain that the Giants didn''t change their minds. Tank was there in the men''s shower, and in a much better mood than Tessa.


    "That was quite the showing. Did you take any injuries? I can call over a high priest." He suggested.


    Karl shook his head. "There are two healers in the group. Four of them if you count Remi and Thor, five if you Count High Priest Doug. I''m not short on healing, even if they''re mad that we ran off and left them trundling along in the bus. But no, nothing broke my barriers this time."


    "Well, you''ll have an interesting group once you get your reinforcements." Tank chuckled.


    "Reinforcements?" Karl asked.


    "Didn''t they tell you? I suppose not, since you just charged intobat the moment you arrived. Two Commanders in a ten-person group of Ascended is the minimal size standard. So, you''ll get one of the teachers or Bureau Advisors with you when you leave camp, and a team of Ascended students." Tank exined.


    Karl sighed. "That sounds like it''s actually going to be more hassle than it''s worth. Will it at least be the same group?"


    Tankughed. "The same group? With the amount of time that your group prefers to be in the field? Highly unlikely. The first time you go out in front of the line, you''ll traumatize a group of students, and we will have to find new ones to send with you."


    Karl gave a dismissive wave of his hand. "Normally, it isn''t that bad, and when we''ve got a whole group rolling through, we can handle most things without drama."


    Tank smirked. "I hear that you want to be a treasure hunter, so you should get used to working with random groups of opportunistic Elites who are just there for the payday. That''s simply how the industry is. But why did you want to do that anyhow? You don''t strike me as the sort of Elite that is desperate for cash."


    Karl chuckled. "I''ve already got more money than I know what to do with. More than I would have earned in a lifetime in the mines. Ancient Ruins have all the good stuff that my beasts need to grow, and the remnants of the System that will help me gain new ss abilities. You see, I realized after ourst mission that the ones with the most power get the most say. Only other Overlords with influence can tell an Overlord what to do. So what happens if I can get my beasts up above that level? I have a skill that can help my beasts evolve once. If I use that when they are Overlords, we should be able to move beyond that bottleneck."


    Tank looked impressed. "So, you''ve got a ss cheat skill to break a bottleneck once? I can see how you would want to save that for as long as possible. But do you really think you can make it to Overlord without using it?" n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om


    Karl smiled. "Just try to tell Rae that she''s not the most deadly creature in the area, and she will soon prove you wrong. I have no doubt that they will find a way to make it that far. Rae and Remi can make at least Commander without any outside help, and Hawk has already shown that the ss can help them go well beyond their limits. Rae doesn''t think that the Royal Rank bottleneck will be an issue for her, so that means that it will be growing her from a Royal Rank Princess to a Monarch Rank Queen where things get tough. However, I might be able to get another teammate to help with that.


    Plus, there is Remi. Spirit Snakes seem to be unpredictable, but powerful. The stronger one of the beasts gets, the stronger the other beasts get, and I''m dragged along with them. It''s a symbiotic system."


    The Berserker nodded. "It''s messing with your mind, though. I''m not certain if you''ve noticed, but you''re not thinking like you used to."


    Karl frowned. "That naturally changes with experience, I think."


    Tank shrugged his shoulders, not pushing the point. Now that it was in his head, Karl would notice soon enough that his thinking was being influenced. It was already evident to everyone else, and he walked like a predator stalking prey, with that same sharp look as if everything around him was a potential target.


    Or a potential snack.


    The only time that Tank noticed him acting more human was when he was surrounded by his long term team members.


    Karl patted Dana on the head as he came out of the showers, and she resisted the urge to punch him, as he was still wearing armour. Lotus poked him on the cheek, drawing Karl''s attention. "We''ve got new people to meet. Are you ready now, or should we run away and y in the trees for a bit first?" She asked.


    "As tempting as it sounds to go make a tree fort right now, we should meet the people first. There is a chance that the Giants will be back tonight, and we don''t want to have to arrange things at thest second because we procrastinated." Karl suggested.


    Tessa whistled, and with a gesture, four young men who all looked like they should be in the senior year, still wearing their academy uniforms with the silver Ascended Badges, came running over.


    "Gentlemen, let me introduce you to the rest of the group. First we have Dana, a Golem Mage, Ophelia, a Bear Totem Berserker, Lotus, a Nature Priestess, and finally Commander Karl, a Beast Master.


    Everyone, meet the second half of our mission team. The hairless one is Mick, a Sand Golem mage who is good with traps. The short ck hair is Ali, a defensive warrior. The blonde is Jimmy, also a defensive warrior, but with a specialty in evasion instead of shields. Then finally we have Seamus, our new bard."


    Karl looked over Seamus, whose long auburn hair was pulled back in a braid. He had a small guitar slung over his shoulder, either a mandolin or a lute, Karl couldn''t tell from this angle, and he looked utterly terrified to be here.


    "How are yourbat buffs, Seamus?" Karl asked.


    "Good, good. I mean, when I can focus enough to y. Until this week, I was preparing to go on tour with a folk music band. I''m not really a fighter. But I can use the essential bardbat spells well enough. [Inspiration] to increase attack speed and luck, [Courage] in case someone other than myself is terrified of being here, and [Mesmerizing Chant] to distract the enemy.


    They have a considerable area of effect, so I''m better on the battle line, where I can just y [Inspiration] in the background.


    I am also superb with a dagger, but I will tell you right now, if you try to make me stab a Giant with a dagger, I might wet myself."


    Karlughed and patted him on the shoulder. "No, I don''t think that will be necessary. Just keeping a battle hymn active will be enough. I believe that you all met Tessa first, and she has the favour of the War Dragon, so a little [Inspiration] type battle chant should be just the thing to get everyone around us motivated.


    The only other question I have is Mick. You have Sand Golems, right? Are they upgraded, and is there one or two?" Mick shook his head. "I have six small ones, Goblin sized and easy to disperse. I don''t know how much use they will be against the Giants, but they will deal Ascended Rank damage from the knees down."


    "That could be fun. They might actually be as much use whenbined with your trap skills to trip, entangle and slow the Hill Giants as they are for damage. But don''t underestimate how much a well-ced slice to the back of the knee can cripple an opponent, and they''re small enough to run around between targets." Karl replied.

 Chapter 333 The Final Reinforcement

    Chapter 333 The Final Reinforcement


    Karl considered the new group''s strengths, and wondered who they were going to get as their second Commander. Presumably Morgana, as she was his advisor from the Bureau and didn''t have sses to teach, but in this camp it appeared to be the Headmaster running the show, and he didn''t know her as anything other than a student.


    "Why don''t we sit and get to know each other before we have to work together in battle?" Karl suggested.


    Mick, the bald Golem Mage,ughed. "Well, more like you get to know us. You''re a bit of a legend in the Mage ssrooms after your Hawk spent weeks torturing the Awakened Rank ss."


    Karl chuckled. "But Hawk isn''t my only beast. In fact, he''s the first of four now. Plus, it''s more of the personality of the people than the skills. I can find that in your deployment orders, or at least the basics of your skill set, so what I need to know is how everyone will react.


    Have Jimmy and Ali faced the Giants before? Will Seamus really wet himself when a spear flies past his head? You know, the little life details that determine how you react."


    Seamus sighed. "You joke, but the Bard sses normally do morale work in camp when we''re assigned tobat duties. It''s more like an Idol show. Well, sometimes it IS an idol show, depending on who they sent.


    I don''t even know what I''m supposed to be doing in abat group, it''s not part of my training, but the Academy says that every Ascended ss has some sort of utility in battle, and I''ve got to work on mine."


    "Would it help if we had the nature priestess get you a bit stoned before we have to go to battle? Strictly medicinal, of course." Karl asked.


    The other boys from his teamughed, and Seamus looked horrified, waving his hand frantically to deny the suggestion.


    "No, that''s a bad idea. It definitely won''t help my use my skills, I can say that much for certain. Why don''t we start with Mick? My own shorings cer." Seamus suggested.


    Karl shrugged. "I don''t see why not, but I should ask, how much field work have you all done?"


    Mick shrugged. "Seven missions, five of which were resource gathering. Jimmy and Ali are about the same, since they were usually with me. Having six small golems is really helpful against Common Grade wild animals or monsters and for gathering resources, after all."


    "So, seven weeks, give or take, of which, two were monster hunting?" Karl asked.


    Mick shrugged. "That sounds about right, but the monster hunting missions went longer than a week each, since we forgot to bring a tracker, and it turned out to be really hard to find them."


    Even Tessa winced a little at that news. That meant they had done very little actual fighting.


    Ali, the darker of the two warriors, gave Karl a curious look. "How muchbat have you seen this year? You''re still a first year, right?"


    Karl nodded. "I was with this team on the Frost Giant border, as advanced scouts for about a month, and then in the field doing monster influx suppression before that for another month. Then a couple of Academy Missions to start the year.


    Really, we''ve basically been inbat since the war started, as we got trapped behind the Frost Giant lines."


    Seamus'' eyes lit up. "Oh, I heard a great song about you the other day. Hawk the Giant yer, about how an Elite and his bird killed a Thousand Giants as revenge for making it cold."


    Hawk was startled. [How did they know?]


    [I have no idea. I think that they think it''s a joke.]


    The girls wereughing, while Seamus now looked confused.


    "Don''t tell me you actually did it? I heard the song from a bard ss student who had just gotten back from the Frost Giant front lines. He''s somewhere around here if you want to hear the full song." Seamus suggested.


    "He must have been working the radios, or in the dispatch office. Hawk despises the Ice Element. Hates it with a passion. And, he''s our scout, so he''s always up in the air where people can see him." Karl exined.


    Tessa patted the shocked bard on his shoulder.


    "Where were you during yesterday''s battle?" She asked.


    "Right on the nk. I wasn''t really in the fight for long, and I was at the back." Seamus shrugged. "Ah, that makes sense, I was wondering if you had seen Karl move through to meet with Tank in the middle where the leader of the attack was. He left the rest of us to protect the buses and ran ahead with Ophelia and a Commander Rank warrior."


    Seamus just shrugged. He hadn''t seen any of that, but Mick looked excited. "Bob Mackenzie, he came up with Bob Mackenzie." The mage announced.


    "You know Bob?" Karl asked.


    "No, but his sisters are super hot. I''ve had a crush on them forever, since they first got guard duty in the capital in front of my apartment."


    Lotus giggled. "Oh, he''s down bad."


    Tessa smirked at the embarrassed mage. "I don''t think that down bad even begins to cover it. But if we do well, I bet there will be a chance to meet them in person. After all, their brothers are both here, so they will likelye meet them when we return."


    Then Lotus walked right up to Mick and stage whispered in his ear, loud enough for everyone else to hear. "I would suggest that you don''t tell the Commander Rank warrior that you want to bang his sisters. It won''t end well for you."


    Mick looked horrified at the thought, and Karl took the opportunity to lead them to a seat in the mess hall.


    "So, what do all of you do for fun? Any hobbies, other than creeping on cute security guards?" Karl asked.


    Seamus reached into his pocket and took out a stack of collectible cards. "I enjoy ying Pocketmana."


    Mick shrugged. "I just enjoy reading."


    Karl turned to Jimmy and Ali, who were the quieter part of the group.


    Ali frowned. "I used to y football, but I don''t think there is a team at the Academy. That was always the thing for me, all day I dreamed of ying football. But Elites aren''t allowed in the pro teams for obvious reasons."


    Jimmy reached into his pack and took out a small wooden statue of a duck. It was only about three quarters done, and still needed details on the back half, but the front was very well done.


    Remi came out of her space to wrap around Karl''s arm and examine the small statue.


    [That is good. I need to get that good to make better totems.] She informed Karl with excitement.


    "Remi likes your handiwork and says you are very skilled. She makes totem statues with mud and basic water control, and she''s looking forward to making them as detailed as your duck." Karl exined.


    "That is Remi? She is adorable." Jimmy replied, smiling at the venomous Spirit Snake as if it were a normal pet.


    "Did you have reptiles at home?" Lotus asked. n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om


    "And give my mom a heart attack? I don''t think so. But we always had wild corn snakes in the yard, taking care of the earth mice. They''re not what you would call friendly, but they keep pests under control, and that makes it hard to dislike them.


    They have an entirely different pattern than Remi does, but somehow she looks friendly." Jimmy exined, running a hand through his tousled blonde hair, which kept falling across his eyes when he didn''t have his helmet on.


    Ali tipped his chin towards Karl. "What do you do for fun when you''re not out making bards sing songs about your vengeance against the Frost Giants?"


    Karl shrugged. "Honestly, I don''t have many hobbies. I grew up in the Lithium Mines, so I was always at either school or work. I also didn''t really have friends beforeing to the Academy, I was the runt of the school year, always smaller than everyone else."


    Ophelia snorted in amusement. "Now we all know why he''s so violent. The repressed rage of a small man unleashed, even though he''s grown now."


    "I seem to recall that you were the one who scared half the hospital staff by roaring at them." Karl reminded her.


    "You made the spider tickle me." She replied, her voice taking on a rather Ursine growl.


    Mickughed softly at their interaction. "I see now. Karl''s pastime is actually ying pranks and pushing people''s buttons."

 Chapter 334 Colonel Wilkes

    Chapter 334 Colonel Wilkes


    After a few more minutes, the group broke up, and one of the teachers came over with a note in his hand.


    "You are with the new arrivals from the church, right? Commander Karl and his team?" The aging mage asked.


    "That''s right. What can we do for you?" Karl replied.


    "We have an update for you. The second Commander for your team has been selected, and a bunk has been prepared for you in the male dorm tents." He exined.


    "Is it eptable to set up my own outside the camp? I sleep better that way, and I''ll be close enough to hear mission orders." Karl asked.


    "That is fine. If you prefer an individual tent, they are set up behind the line, you can pick a spot and set up. But the Commander who is assigned to the second half of your mission team has just arrived, and he seems somewhat perturbed, so perhaps you could help set his mind at ease?"


    "Of course. Where might he be?" Karl replied.


    The teacher gestured for Karl to follow him, and they walked through the camp to the bus parking area, where a familiar looking mage in his mid-twenties was having a smoke. He wore an officer''s uniform with a Colonel''s bird shaped badge on it, but Karl didn''t recall meeting many Colonels in his time, other than Valerie. They were one of those ranks who got stuck either in an office or leading a veryrge group of soldiers, so they would be in a back line Command Station, not anywhere near Karl. n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om


    He looked up and gave them a rueful smile, which seemed odd to Karl. He didn''t recall this man having anything to be apologetic for.


    But then, he realized who he was. That was the silent General from the meeting that sent them to take on the Royal Rank Frost Giant. If Karl recalled right, the man was a fairly aplished mage, which would be useful in the team to keep Jimmy and Ali off primary defensive duties.


    The teacher introduced them. "Commander Karl, this is Colonel Wilkes. Colonel Wilkes, this is Commander Karl and his team. The four Ascended members you will be partnered with will be here shortly. Your teams will be working together for the next few missions."


    Karl walked over and shook the man''s hand. "It seems we have some catching up to do, General."


    Wilkes nodded and took a drag off his cigarette, the smell startling Karl, who had gotten used to Doug''s being distinctly not tobo.


    "Indeed we do. Is there somewhere private?"


    "Just over here behind the bus parking is as good as it gets, I''m afraid. But I''ll take the abridged version if it''s necessary." Karl suggested.


    They walked away from thest of the crowd, and Colonel Wilkes took a seat on a crate of food supplies. "Where do I start? The obvious, I suppose. I have been relieved of my Command and demoted to Colonel, then sent to the front lines. The same is true for General Jormundson, the warrior. General Ond is under arrest, but they likely won''t demote him, just hold him until the trial." The Colonel began.


    "Wait, back up. They arrested General Ond for sending us on a fool''s mission?" Karl asked.


    "No, General Milton threw a fit about General Ond''s disrespect in telling you two to go outside for a duel, and General Ond identally killed him. It just happened so fast, Milton drew his de, and before we knew it, he was dead. I don''t think that Ond even realized what he was doing, it was just a reflex." Karl shook his head. "What a clusterfuck." Colonel Wilkes used the stub of hisst one to light another cigarette. "Tell me about it. There was only one High Priest left in the camp, and he couldn''t cast resurrection. Then, the rest of us spent an entire week in the tender loving care of the Holy Inquisition, who didn''t believe that we hadn''t conspired to get a ranking Elite killed, and now here I am."


    "Well, wee to the Hill Giant border, I guess. I, personally, don''t hold any sort of grudge. It was a mess, but the hospital counsellor told me that I need to learn to not take those things personally, as it''s bad for my mental well-being. We all recognize that it was a messed up situation, but I already met with Overlord Drake, and he informed me that you didn''t know about the other group who had been sent and went missing when you sent us, so that makes the bad intel, and the fact that the location of the Royal Rank Frost Giant was off by over forty kilometres a bit more understandable."


    Colonel Wilkes looked startled. "The fight wasn''t at the cave?"


    Karl shook his head. "No, they ambushed us where they hit the other group. They used the bodies as bait and buried an ambush team under the rocks and snow to wait for us to stumble on them. Being Frost Giants, even Thermal Vision didn''t spot them under the snow. We had already located the cave, using Hawk to scout, but we were going to rest overnight and hit it in the morning."


    Their conversation was interrupted by the arrival of Mick and the others from the second team, so Karl shook Colonel Wilkes'' hand and gestured toward the trees. "If you need me, I will be in a spider silk fort just outside camp. But I will see you at breakfast."


    "Understood, Commander. I look forward to working with you."


    Karl led his group away, so the Colonel could get acquainted with his new team. The extra mage would be a good counterpart for the team, but Karl realized that he didn''t know what the Colonel''s specialty was. He had forgotten to ask.


    Karl led his team out of the camp, getting many strange looks from the guards along the road. They were going the wrong way for a mission, and past where the tents were set up in a clearing. Tree roots made for lumpy beds, so nobody set up that close to the forest.


    Then Karl led the team right into the forest, headed for a big tree where Rae could build her fort, but not so far in that they couldn''t see the camp. That part was important, so they could see who wasing toward them, and react to any major movements on the line that would signal an attack.


    [That''s a good one. Let''s use that one.] Rae announced as she left her space and skittered up a tree to begin her work.


    She connected five different trees today, going all out with her fort, while everyone on the ground wondered what sort of mansion Rae thought that they needed for their home base here on the Hill Giant lines.


    It was enough that even with the silk blended to match the tree coloration, it still brought over teachers, who were wondering what was going on.


    Karl waved to them, and a few understood, but they were even more curious, as they understood what was happening, but they had never seen it in action before. Commander Rank spider silk could stop even skill enhanced arrows if it wasyered, and they had made such arge fort that they had to be nning to spend some time here.


    The line was unlikely to move, but they had made a fortrger than the fifty-person dorm tents for a five-person team.


    [It''s a masterpiece. They''re going to love it, and I even decorated a little.] Rae announced when she was finished.


    That got Karl''s interest, and he motioned for the team to go up while he spoke with the teachers.


    "It makes Rae happy to get to try out new designs for her forts everywhere that she goes. She says this one is a masterpiece, and it''s not interfering with anyone else, so I didn''t see any reason to stop her." Karl exined to the group that hade to see what they were doing.


    "Can we enter? Or is it a personal thing to her?" One of the warrior instructors asked.


    "That should be fine. She likes it when people praise her hard work." Karl agreed.


    The teachers went up next, and Karlughed as he heard the gasps andughter of them discovering what Rae meant by a masterpiece.


    He climbed up thedder, and looked around what appeared to be their new sitting room, as Rae had made a half dozen hanging chairs to swing in, and found that she had decorated the tree with nes of gems and bits of bone stolen from the dead Frost Giants.


    It had a very shamanistic vibe to it, and the magical gems glittered in the twilight under the tree branches.


    That led into a kitchen area, where Lotus was already hard at work building counter space with [nt Growth], and then open bedrooms with curtains between hammocks, and one morerge open room, which Karl assumed was for guests.


    "It''s a whole house, built in the trees in what? Five minutes?" One of the teachers asked.


    "With all new beds and swinging chairs. Those are new, we didn''t have thosest time." Lotus added.


    "Is this how you live on the front lines?" The warrior instructor asked.


    "It is now."

 Chapter 335 Envy The Fort

    Chapter 335 Envy The Fort


    Karl didn''t miss the envious nces that the other students were casting at his fort when he came down with the others for dinner, or the gossip about the features that they had added inside, which sounded much more grand than the actual interior of the silk fort.


    It was more of a suspended tent than the pce that they made it out to be, butpared to their rooms at the Academy, the canvas tents with fifty students packed inside were no luxury hotel.


    The fort was much less crowded, and they actually had room to spread out when they were getting ready in the morning. The tents were so packed that you had to either take turns, or equip your armour whileying in bed if you had a bonded set.


    Many of the others didn''t have a bonded armour set, as it was prohibitively expensive for the average student, and not well worth the resources that they could have bought instead.


    Their growth rate was normally the priority for all of the Golden Divine Academy students. Karl was just an exception to the rule, and from what the others could tell, his group was either enjoying the benefits, or they had all gained significant opportunities in the recent past.


    "Do you think that they will be back tomorrow?" One of the students asked as Karl and the others were taking a seat at the table next to him with their trays.


    "I guess. They''re still close enough that the artillery is firing at them, so they muste back pretty often." The other student at his table replied.


    "Oh, we can ask this teacher. Commander, do you think the Hill Giants will charge again tomorrow?" The boy asked.


    It took Karl a moment to realize that they were talking about him. His back was turned, and he was in armour, so they hadn''t realized he was a student.


    Karl turned around with a smile. "Well, you got the Rank right. But I''m no teacher. However, I can say that the chances are they willunch at least a small attack every day, even if it''s just to test our lines. The Giants are rtively smart. Smart enough to know that if we start to ck off, we will leave vulnerable spots in the defences that they can use to get to us."


    "So, something like today will happen every day?" The boy asked.


    "I take it you got here very recently? This was a smaller attack. It onlysted ten or fifteen minutes, and the enemy retreated with most of their force intact. That''s just a probe to see how we''re doing with our defences. I attacked forward into the lines to throw them off bnce, so they didn''t think that we were too predictable, and that was all it took to make them back off." Karl exined.


    Tessa wagged a finger at him. "It''s not nice to lie to people. You attacked into the lines because you thought it would be fun."


    "Maybe a little because it was fun." Karl agreed.


    The other students sitting around them chuckled, and a few of them discussed what they had seen when Karl and the warriors had charged into the lines.


    That was drawing even more students into the discussion, those who had been on Karl''s side of the line during the attack and had managed to see something through the [Blizzard] attack that Remi had been using to reduce visibility.


    "I tell you, it was like a whole army rolled into the Giants, man. They just marched through the attack, cutting down everything like it didn''t matter there were Commander Rank Giants there." One of them was telling his team.


    "There is half the Academy here, how much difference could three more make?" One of the other students asked.


    "Yeah, that''s what I thought, and then suddenly there was a three-metre tall Werebear and a bunch of Giant Spiders, and that maul tossing around Hill Giants like they were dolls. I tell you man, Commander covers a huge range of powerpared to Ascended." One of the others insisted.


    That was actually true. Commander Rank went for a much wider range of power than Ascended because the bottleneck wasn''t just a number but a qualitative change.


    Before that, the lines were somewhat vague, but Commander to Royal was a very distinct cutoff, and once you were past the bottleneck, you would make a huge step-up in power, leaving a gap between Royal and Commander that wasn''t easy to bridge without the assistance of magical devices or some sort of cheat.


    Karl chuckled. "I have ss skills that increase size, strength and speed by nearly half, including bonuses that will double skill damage, and add secondary damage of a different type than the main attack. Evenpared to other Commander Rank Elites, I do a lot of damage."


    "Are you like the World Dragon''s cousin or something? What sort of unfair advantage is that when you''ve already got three Commander Rank Monsters with you? Wait, does that apply to all of them as well?" One of the other students asked.


    Karl chuckled. "It''s primarily for them. The fact I can use it is just a little bonus."


    Opheliaughed. "He says that, but he shoots arrows with Commander rank Chain Lightning on them until his arms get tired." N?v(el)B\\jnn


    One of the kids pointed at Karl. "I saw that. In the snow, I saw Chain Lightning." That was actually Remi, for the most part, but Karl nodded in eptance that was rted to him.


    One of the teachers gave Karl an intrigued look. "With the power that you have amassed, do you have any alternate ideas on how best to keep the Hill Giants under control?"


    [We could make them part of a new art exhibit.] Rae suggested helpfully.


    Karl could only imagine the level of horror that the students would have if they saw what Rae called an art instation. But it would likely dissuade the Hill Giants froming anywhere near them.


    "I can think of a few ways, but I''m not certain how viable they would be as a long-term deterrent. We could try to terrorize the Hill Giants into backing away from the border, but eventually, they would likelye back with evenrger numbers and that would be a real mess.


    We could try thinning their numbers as well, and I saw the numbers from the Frost Giant front, where they were summoning more Giant clones to fight. If the Hill Giants aren''t cloning themselves with magic, they might not win a war of attrition." Karl suggested.


    "A war of attrition? Doesn''t that imply that we can kill more of them than they do of us?" The boy at the table next to Karl asked.


    "That''s right. It''s not the best option, but If we can eliminate even fifty to one, we should be able to crush their poption to the point that they simply can''t attack."


    The other students looked at him like he had just said the dumbest thing they''d ever heard, and Karl felt the need to defend his idea. "We were only on the Frost Giant border for one month, and my team killed well over a thousand. Given even three months, I don''t see why the lot of us couldn''t do it." He exined.


    The teacher sighed. "When you put it that way, it sounds so reasonable. But that''s simply impossible for most of us. Unless you''re going to single-handedly wipe out an entire town, that math doesn''t work out for those of us who are at less exaggerated power levels."


    From the far side of the room, Morganaughed. "You''re not going to get to y that much on this front. You''ve got sses to take, rotations along the line, and even rest days in your future." The Witch Doctor informed him, but with the intent to epass his whole group.


    "Rotations on the line? Seriously?" Karl asked. "Most of the defensive tactics aren''t a pike wall, that''s just for slowing the charges. You will get used to fighting in arger group soon enough. Besides, you''re with Colonel Wilkes, and he summons Fire Elementals. I think that him and Hawk might be good friends after a few fights together." Morgana replied with a smirk.


    [Fire Elementals? Like Magma Elementals, but all fire? That sounds neat.] Hawk agreed.


    "Alright, we aren''t quite Feral yet. We can y well with others." Karl reluctantly caved under Morgana''s demanding stare.


    "I''ll believe that when I see it. Don''t forget, I''ve met your nature priestess."


    Lotusughed and waved, knowing that Morgana couldn''t see her sitting behind Ophelia.


    "Oh, there she is. Good evening Lotus."

 Chapter 336 Morning Combat Drills

    Chapter 336 Morning Combat Drills


    As if speaking of him had summoned the man, Colonel Wilkes walked in with his team, and gave a friendly wave to Karl''s team as they loaded their tes and sat down.


    But no sooner did they get seated than the attack rm went off, and everyone began to rise from their seats.


    "Where is our spot on the line?" Karl asked Morgana as they prepared to head out.


    "Last one on the right nk, where you entered yesterday."


    Karl nodded, then turned to the other group, who were getting ready to leave.


    "eptable response time is three minutes. Shovel food in your mouth fast and then jog over. You''ve got the time, and you''ll need the energy." He instructed, then led his team out the door.


    It was strange to be going to battle without his backpack, which was safely stowed in the fort, along with everyone else''s. But that didn''t change their arrangement, and the two clerics hopped on Thor, while Rae strapped Dana to her back and Hawk took to the sky.


    Morgana was running alongside them, doing her best to keep up, and nearly seeding. She wasn''t a warrior ss, but those enhancements that she had tattooed onto her body were no joke. They took the end of the line, behind the final few pikes, and waited as the Hill Giants came into view.


    "Where does the Remi usually stay for the battle?" Morgana asked. "Either in her space or in my pocket. Would you like to hold her for a while?" Karl asked. The two seemed like they could be good friends, with Morgana''s puppets and Remi''s totems.


    Morgana held out her hand, and Remi slithered up her arm to loop around her neck and put her face right beside Morgana''s so they were looking at the same things.


    Lotus giggled as the snake nuzzled against the Witch Doctor''s cheek, and Thor''s [Refreshing Lightning] barrier stretched out to epass her as well.


    "Well, it looks like you''re one of us now. The barrier only works on the ones that Thor considers friends." Karl informed her with a smile, while Morgana gave the Lightning Cerro a shy smile.


    It seemed to evaporate the aura of professionalism, and made it obvious that Morgana was no older than Lotus or Tessa, who had also graduated from their Academyst year.


    The second team wasn''t far behind, though they were running at a mage''s speed, so they stayed together, and they were carrying slices of egg battered toast with them, eating on the way. Chances are, when everyone cleared out of the mess hall, they had been too embarrassed to stay, but if the fight didn''tst long, their meals would still be there when they returned. It wasn''t like the Academy had kept someone back to clean up the mess while they were fighting.


    Everyone in the Camp was an Awakened Rank or higher Elite, including the staff, and many of the Awakened Rank students had been left behind with the Common Rank students at the Academy for their own safety. What percentage Karl couldn''t say, but there weren''t many of them here at the border. The camp was almost all Ascended or higher.


    The group under Colonel Wilkes fell in between Karl''s group and the rest of the line, looking much more nervous than anyone in the more experienced group. Even from where he was standing at the end of the line, Karl could see most of their hands shaking.


    Tessa smiled at the students. "Seamus, the Giants are just over that next hill. Why don''t you strum us a little inspirational ditty? Something with a nice rhythm." "Um, okay. I think I know a good one. Do you have a preference?" He stammered.


    [Baby Snake Do do dah do do do] Remi sang in Karl''s mind.


    It was a species modified version of the theme song of a popr children''s morning radio broadcast, which aired at seven in the morning, making it the bane of parents everywhere. But how Remi had ever heard it was a mystery.


    Karl ignored the happy snake and made his own suggestion. "Why don''t we go for something fun? Do you know any drinking songs?" "A drinking song, now?" Seamus asked.


    "Definitely. See how nervous everyone is? A nice upbeat drinking song to take their minds off the battle is just what they need." Karl agreed.


    Seamus strummed the intro to a popr pop song, then adjusted his lute and slid a metal tube onto his finger. When he strummed again, the tone was entirely different, and the nearby students began tough as he yed. They were stillughing as the Giants came over the hill and into attack range. All of the nervous hesitation was gone, and when the order was given to raise the pikes, the entire row went up in unison, as if they had actually trained the manoeuvre. From the Hill Giant ranks, thousands of rocks, from baseball to boulder size, were magically hurled at the human defenders, crashing into shields as the ever present artillery fell silent, protected by the mages from the wrath of the Giants'' Earth Magic.


    Therger boulders exploded on impact with the shields, sending shrapnel everywhere, and forcing the mages to work to keep up the barriers over the defence lines. Thankfully, their fort was far enough back that it wouldn''t be in danger from the secondary damage.


    [Just hold until the order is given.] Karl reminded his beasts. n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om


    Lotus climbed down from Thor''s back, and Dana got down from Rae, preparing to cast her [Golem] spell.


    {Golems Forward, break the charge.} The radio announced when the Hill Giants were thirty metres away, and already under attack by the mages.


    The Spider Golems only took three steps beforeunching themselves into the air, crossing the gap in a dull green streak of motion. But right beside them were two floating balls of fire, the Fire Elementals summoned by Colonel Wilkes.


    Karl began to fire his bow, sending [Chain Lightning] through the attackers, who stumbled under the onught.


    [Haste], [Terrorize] and [Brutality] all came online, increasing the size, speed, strength and damage done by himself and the Golems. That was enough that the [Chain Lightning] was actually stunning the Ascended Hill Giants, who died in a spray of blood as the Spider Golems raced between them.


    Then the six small sand golems created by Mick, the bald mage student in the second group, reached the battle with Dana''s Stone Golems, and the Hill Giants began to il about at the ground, trying to hit the annoying things slicing at their legs.


    The tactic was brutally effective, as it left them vulnerable to the attacks of the other Golems, as well as Karl''s arrows and the attacks of the mages in their section of the line.


    Most of the charge was continuing, but their end of the line hadpletely faltered under the weight of the attacks. Then Mick turned the soft soil to soft sand, and the giants began to sink and stumble, turning the rout into a massacre, where they couldn''t even retreat.


    Reinforcements from the back lines of the assault were on their way in Karl''s direction, but they wouldn''tst long, as Hawk was bombarding them with fireballs. Mick was panting with exertion as he remade his Golems again and tried to keep the sand trap active against the efforts of the Hill Giants to turn it back to stone, but Colonel Wilkes stopped him.


    "That''s what the pikes are for, son. Save your energy forter in the fight." The Colonel reminded him.


    {Pikes Forward.} the radio ordered, sending a wave of warriors forwards into the Hill Giants with long spears in front of them, so they were out of the reach of the attackers. The mages were getting tired, but the warriors hadn''t done anything yet, so it was their turn to take over while the mages slowed and regained their energy.


    [That''s our signal. Forwards on me.] Karl ordered Rae and Thor.


    Behind them, he saw Remi create a totem in both of Morgana''s hands for the Witch Doctor to hold up, so they could fire over the crowd. Morgana wasughing, as holding the totems prevented her from using most of her spells, but Remi thought it was a brilliant idea, and she could just make more when they expired, since she was attached to the Witch Doctor anyhow.


    "Seamus, we need a party song!" Karl shouted as he raced forward with the beasts.


    This time the bard had a bit more confidence, and his song took on the notes of a hard rock guitar as he began to sing along, strengthening the [Inspiration] bonus as he followed the warriors forward.


    The rhythm of the bow in time with the music was afort to Karl as he ran forward, firing arrows twice a second and spreading [Chain Lightning] everywhere.


    Tessa speared a Commander Rank Giant, tilting his body back, right before Thor gored him and tossed the body back behind the lines.


    That made a small gap, and Rae recalled her spider Golems to join her ahead of Thor, establishing a breach in the lines and leaving the outermost twenty Hill Giants cut off from theirrades as they were surrounded and eliminated.

 Chapter 337 Whistle While You Work

    Chapter 337 Whistle While You Work


    Again, as they had yesterday, the Hill Giants created barriers of Earth Magic as they retreated, and left the human defenders to be tended to by the clerics.


    The actual losses on the human side were very low, though the number of wounded was straining the abilities of the healers assigned to some of the sections of the line. On Karl''s end, it was light, but just beside them, there had been a few Hill Giants who managed to break the pike line and get into the mages before they were taken out. They were doing their best to take down the shields over the line, as without that, the boulder artillery would devastate the students, but the line had managed to prevent enough of them from getting through to aplish their goal.


    It would surely be the topic of their next few lessons, as that was the worst possible oue for the defenders, but the students near Karl were in high spirits, still buoyed by the lingering effect of [Inspiration].


    "Good work Seamus. That''s what we need out of our bard. Now, we just need to work on your song selections, so you don''t have to pick one at random at thest second. Like the bedroom, the battlefield benefits from a bit of mood music, and if I left it up to the beasts, Remi would be singing baby snake." Karl joked.


    Seamus choked on hisughter, and yed the first few notes, which made everyone elseugh as well, as they realized what Karl was referring to.


    "World Dragon, NO! Not that song!" One of the older clerics shouted.


    "Oh, I take it you are up at seven in the morning more than you would like?" Karl called back.


    The man turned around, and Karl noticed the red robes, which made himugh n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om


    "Oh, you''re from the Orphanages? That makes sense. I bet that any of the orphanage supervisors view the creator of that show as their personal nemesis by now." He added.


    The Red Dragon Priest nodded. "Exactly. That song is evil, and it gets stuck in your head."


    Tessa and Lotus had already run off to help heal, and Doug was with a group of older clerics near a stack of bodies under blood stained white sheets. Karl was certain that they had at least one healing specialist who could resurrect the fallen instead of reincarnating them, so it took him a few seconds to realize what they were doing. They had two clerics who could resurrect, and the other High Priests were granting them mana and energy so that they could get to as many casualties as possible before they were exhausted.


    If it worked out perfectly, everyone would be back on their feet by that time, and if not, they would do the reincarnation ritual and notify the church to watch out for more returned Elites. With the number of recent incidents of them returning with skills, it was obvious that they needed to be cautious, as some of them would reincarnate in a daze and think that they were still under attack.


    If it worked out perfectly, everyone would be back on their feet by that time, and if not, they would do the reincarnation ritual and notify the church to watch out for more returned Elites. With the number of recent incidents of them returning with skills, it was obvious that they needed to be cautious, as some of them would reincarnate in a daze and think that they were still under attack.


    Karl watched the hills in the distance, getting updates from Hawk, who had gone up into the clouds to avoid attracting the attention of flying stones, and waited for news, or the stand down order that the Hill Giants had retreated far enough that those not on duty could return to their days.


    [Shit, shit, shit. Angry birds inbound.] Hawk screeched, then dive bombed Karl and vanished into his spot.


    Karl was confused for a second, then he saw a group of giant winged forms iing from the clouds.


    "Everyone, heads up! We have iing. Bring the barriers up!" He shouted.


    The mages who could hear him did just that, and the radio operators spread the order down the line.


    For a moment, they had no idea what Karl had alerted them about, and they were beginning to rx, prepared to call it a false rm, when the rocks and fireballs began to rain down on them from above.


    Karl focused on the iing giant birds and let loose an arrow, using [Chain Lightning] to lend speed and distance to the attack.


    The Rocs naturally dodged the long-distance projectile, but what they didn''t realize was that simply not being hit wasn''t enough, and the Lightning arced to them anyhow as the arrow passed by.


    It didn''t seem to do much to the enormous feathered monsters.


    Karl had heard that Dragons were the greatest threat among all monsters, but from what he could see, they might not be thergest.


    Any of those flying monsters could easily grab and carry away a bus, and while they were only Commander Rank, Hawk was utterly terrified of them.


    It was most likely an intimidation skill, but that didn''t change Hawk''s opinion of going back outside before those things were gone.


    Even Thor instinctively pressed closer to the crowd, recognizing them as a dangerous predator. Even if their magic couldn''t easily damage a Lightning Cerro, if they dropped him from a thousand metres in the air, it would not be pleasant, to say the least.


    Flying monsters were the most terrifying of threats to most Elites, and these ones seemed happy to hold at high altitude, hurling magic at the Elites from a distance that most of the mages couldn''t reach.


    Karl considered the options, and then put [Blizzard] on the next arrow. If he couldn''t hit them, he could just use arger area of effect.


    With his [Brutality] enhanced strength, the arrows flew faster than any of the other spells except Lightning Bolts. It made them more difficult for the Rocs to get sufficient distance from, though they were far from being apetitor to the barrage of artillery shellsing from the k guns.


    Those were being pulled into action for the first time since Karl had arrived on the border, and the rapid-fire shells were now filling the sky with exploding shrapnel.


    It wouldn''t do much damage to a Commander Rank beast, but they had feathers. In theory, if they damaged the wings enough, the beasts would be forced to fly away or crash.


    The [Blizzard] formed on the way up, making the attacking formation vanish in a cloud of white as the birds shrieked in rage, and Remiughed in Karl''s mid.


    [Serves them right, throwing rocks at people.] The snake giggled.


    The ice crystals of the Blizzard were a shing attack, and the [Sharpness] passive boosted their damage forty percent when the skill was used by the Commander Rank Karl.


    It was enough that the flight of birds began to reconsider their approach.


    But Karl wasn''t done firing, and heunched more [Chain Lightning] arrows as the blizzard stalled and began toe back to the ground, only to be reced with another [Blizzard] enhanced arrow.


    That sent them scattering, and they parted ways so that Karl couldn''t hit them all with one spell, but that put them in the range of more mages with long-distance skills, while the dispersed formation spread out the effects of their attacks.


    The birds were bing frustrated with their inability to get their attacks through the barriers, as from such an altitude the mages had plenty of time to intercept them and nullify most of the power behind them.


    Karl also wasn''t the only archer with the ability to fire that high, and the flight of Rocs was slowly taking enough damage that Karl could see the blood dripping and their feathers bing tattered. Soon, they would have to retreat, so Karl just focused on spreading [Blizzard] across as much area as he could, keeping them in the damage range. Then a lucky shot hit one in the throat, fired blind through another [Blizzard] and an enormous bird plummeted from the sky, coated in ice and leaking snow out of its mouth from the tip of the arrow.


    That enraged the others, and Karl smiled as four enormous forms raced down from the sky in his direction.


    [Hey Rae, how high do you think you can summon those Spider Golems?] Karl asked.


    Raeughed and vanished into her space as the birds plummeted at terminal velocity towards the ground, all headed for Karl.


    They were almost on him when Rae reappeared a hundred metres in the air and summoned her Golems straight onto the backs of the diving monsters.


    Their legs speared deep into the tender flesh of the birds, and Raeughed as she vanished into her nest, avoiding falling to the ground from that height.


    Karl was still firing, and when the first bird was fifty metres from him, a spear thrown from somewhere on his left cleanly pierced an eyeball, killing the bird instantly, and leaving only one to finish that attack flight.


    It was being pummelled by spells and attacks, but the bird was determined as it closed on Karl.


    [Jump NOW!] Hawk instructed.


    Karl leapt into the air, twisting to keep the Roc in his vision, and the bird passed between him and the other Elites.


    [NECK!] Hawk instructed.


    Rend mmed into the back of the bird''s neck, shattering it, and thest Roc skidded to a stop, carving a deep furrow in the soft dirt.


    [Good work, buddy.] Karl congratted him.


    [I know all the ways not to get eaten, but those things are scary.] Hawk replied happily.


    Karl couldn''t fault Hawk for that one. Bird to bird, they were a hundred times his size, and they likely had a number of nasty tricks for dealing with other flying predators that they hadn''t used against the humans.

 Chapter 338 Pretty Rocs Obtained

    Chapter 338 Pretty Rocs Obtained


    The bodies of the Rocs were littered with damage, plugged with dozens of arrows, but few of the attacks actually made it past the underyer of their feathers, which Karl found to be as strong as Rae''s silk when he tried to pull a few of them free.


    "No wonder everyone is afraid of these things. Look at that, an arrow fired by an Ascended Archer didn''t even cut through the flesh. Between that and attacking from a thousand metres in the air, most of the world couldn''t even fight back." Karl muttered to himself as he examined the corpse that hadnded closest to the lines.


    That was where everyone had gathered to see what a bird with a fifty-metre wingspan looked like up close.


    It wasrge enough it could prey on Hill Giants and carry them away in its ws, a true terror of the skies. But it also had magic, both defensive Earth Magic and offensive Fire.


    While the students examined the closest body, Hawk flew back out and stealthily stole three for himself. They had secrets that he wanted.


    He was powerful, but they were powerful and scary.


    It was nearly twenty minutes before anyone noticed that the other bodies were missing, and teams were sent out to go look for them, in case they were wounded and escaping.


    "Professor! They''re not alive, Karl''s monsters looted the bodies. They do that." Lotus shouted out to avoid being sent with a team to look for a giant bird that she already knew they wouldn''t find.


    "What do you mean, they looted the bodies? That thing weighs literally tonnes, how could they even lift it?" The professor asked.


    "Don''t ask me, it''s some magic thing. They just whoosh, vanish, into a separate space. They do it with the Giants all the time." She exined.


    "Why would they even want them?" The teacher asked, not following her exnation.


    "You know. Snacks, growth resources, decorations."


    On Morgana''s shoulder, Remi nodded happily. She would negotiate with Hawkter, as she wanted some of those feathers for her space, and he had a lot of them now.


    Maybe she could get some of those colourful ones from the belly with the multicoloured stripes. Those ones would make great ornaments.


    "You know, there is just something about you that attracts trouble. Did you see how those things basically ignored an entire offensive line to attack you?" One of the other students asked.


    Morganaughed and patted the student on the shoulder, before he noticed Remi staring at him from only centimetres away and dropped to the ground in panic.


    "Dammit, woman, that''s a poisonous snake." The boy shouted.


    Remiughed, which opened her mouth and made her fangs drop, further panicking the student.


    "As I was about to say before you freaked out, it''s because Karl gives off the aura of a Monster, not a human. They likely thought that he was the leader of the army here, since there is nobody above Commander Rank, and he''s the only one who would feel different to them." Morgana exined.


    The student looked like he was considering the options much more seriously than Karl would have thought necessary, then he spoke again in a suspicious tone.


    "Are we certain that he isn''t actually a monster hiding in human form, like a transformation spell?" The terrified boy asked.


    Karlughed, and Lotus smirked.


    "No, we had him checked, one hundred percent human. It might have urred to the Doctors at the rehab hospital that he could be a polymorphed spy as well."


    Karl put a hand over his heart and looked offended. "Such little faith in my abilities. If I were truly a monster, how could gentle souls like Rae and Remi stand to be around me? I''ve been framed, I tell you." The Elites who weren''t part of his group all froze in ce, slowly blinking as they tried to process the fact that he had used the opinion of a venomous Naga Spirit Snake and a Bloodbath Spider to vouch for his credentials as a human.


    But more than that, he called the Bloodbath Spider a gentle soul? Remi, they could believe. She was actually rather adorable if you weren''t terrified of snakes. But Rae? Her favourite pastime was making it rain blood.


    "I think you need better character references." Morgana informed Karl with an exaggerated sigh.


    "Well, I''m not sure anyone would take the word of a War Cleric or Lotus on the topic, and Dana went somewhere with Ophelia." Karl shrugged.


    Lotus frowned. "Why does Tessa get her profession mentioned, but I get called out by name?"


    "Because the reason nobody takes you seriously is that you''re Lotus, not because you''re a Nature Priestess. Your choice of Goddess is like a side effect of you being you." Karl exined.


    Lotus frowned, then smiled happily. "You know, that''s right. Nature Priestesses be Nature Priestesses because we''re already like this. It''s a calling right from the start, not something that we learn."


    "You think that the Red Dragon''s favour is something that is learned?" Tessa asked as Lotus finished her speech.


    Lotus started to nod, then frowned. "You know, I recall that you traumatized a boy so much that he runs away and cries every time someone mentions your name, and that was before you were confirmed as an Acolyte of the Red Dragon. Maybe you have always been like that."


    Karlughed at the memory of meeting the man they were referring to.


    The young cleric had been quite arrogant when Karl was making that book for the Blue Dragon High Priestess, but the mention of Tessa and Lotus had sent him running.


    The Ascended Rank warrior who had remained on the ground to stay further from Remi looked around at Karl''s group in dismay.


    "What I''m taking from this is that you''re all a bit odd. Maybe that''s the secret. All of the most powerful Elites have strong personalities. Those who don''t, seem to get stuck at Awakened and then don''t really progress." He noted.


    "Are you saying that you have a strong personality?" Lotus asked, looking down at him.


    He nodded. "Yes. And an intense fear of snakes."


    [Who could hate me, I''m adorable?] Remi asked.


    Karl smiled, and Morgana looked between him and the snake. "She just got offended that someone called her scary, didn''t she? I''ve never seen her try to act cute and offended at the same time." The Witch Doctorughed.


    "Is that what she''s going for? She just looks offended, like she slithered in something foul." One of the nearby mages joked.


    Remi tilted her head, wondering what she was doing wrong that they weren''t getting the message.


    "See, that is adorable. The other just looks offended." The mage added. n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om


    "Does everyone suddenly speak snake?" The snake phobic warrior asked, backing away as he rose to his feet so that there were two other people between him and Remi.


    "She''s really good at it. Out of all the beasts I''ve ever met, I think only my pet dog and Thor are better at conveying emotion, but Thor only knows happy and yful." Mick joked, with a gesture toward Thor, who was ying kickball with some of the students.


    {Off-duty students may now return to your regr schedule.} The radio announcement sent everyone walking toward camp, leaving only about a tenth of their total number along the front lines.


    "Alright, Karl is with me, and I think the rest of you already have your assignments. Oh, Mick is with us as well. I''m doing the ancient history lessons today." Morgana informed them.


    "Great, straight from rock dust inbat to super dry history lessons." Mick sighed.


    Karl patted him on the shoulder. "It''s not that bad. Morgana finds the interesting parts of history to bring up. Though some of that is certainly because I''m most interested in the parts that might lead to System relics and rare resources for the beasts."


    "Well, that has to be better than Professor Jones'' descriptions of his times spent exploring the catbs under the Capital. How can you spend forty years on a career without a notable aplishment?" Mick sighed.


    "Well, at least I don''t need to worry about that. I have found a number of cool things already." Karl replied.


    "Oh?" Morgana gave Karl a sharp look, but he knew most of it couldn''t be mentioned. The dungeon in the hills near the Frost Giant border wasn''t ssified, though.


    "There was a mission, not long before the war started, where I went to investigate an anomaly, and it turned out to be abination of Yeti magic and a dungeon instance that had appeared beneath a cavernplex. There was a whole trial challenge series, and a vige of Dark Elves, plus the Dungeon Instance itself. That''s where I found Remi as an egg." Karl exined.


    If they were already enthralled in the story, they would remember more of the lesson.


    "Let''s start there today. Why don''t you describe the architecture, and we will try to match it to an era and region." Morgana decided.

 Chapter 339 Ancient History

    Chapter 339 Ancient History


    Karl focused on the interior of the Dark Elf city, the mushrooms, the glowing fungus, the crystals, and finally the dark ck angr buildings. One by one, he described every element of the city as they had encountered it, with the beasts filling in any gaps they thought were important.


    For example, Thor insisted that it was important they note that the short glowing grass smelled like mint, and Rae noted that the ck buildings had been painted with blood in the past, but the stone itself was ck, so you couldn''t see it.


    Both of those were good points, and they helped Morgana narrow down the era and region that they had seen replicated in the dungeon, even though the Dark Elves made it fairly obvious who had built the city.


    When he got to the man standing on the tform, preaching about the dungeon being opened for the people of the city, and more specifically his outfit, Morgana knew exactly when and where Karl had been sent to.


    But she wouldn''t tell them right away, and she had the two students search through the books for clues until they got to the section on the Cult of the Darklight Host. They were believed to have been a world dominating army just over a hundred thousand years prior, and they were alternately believed by some historians to be the precursors to the World Dragon Church. ording to their beliefs, the World Dragon had not been born as a world Dragon, and he had actually been an Ancient Eldritch Being, from the species that had helped create many of the worlds that the Great Pantheons ruled over. They believed that it was only when he decided to devote himself to protecting the world that the World Dragon had changed forms, taking on the aspects that were needed to obtain divinity and grant his blessing over the world.


    That didn''t match with what the World Dragon Church taught, but it didn''t directly conflict with it either, as there were no teachings about the start of this world in specific among church doctrines, only that the Dragon Gods often chose or created worlds to watch over. ording to the textbook, many of the ancient civilizations believed that the Darklight Host hade to this world and slowly conquered the entire, bringing with them the power of the System and the Ancient Training Grounds, now moremonly known as the magical dungeons.


    "So, it''s basically a fairy tale of the origin of the world?" Mick asked.


    "More or less. It might be true, but there isn''t any solid evidence. The fact that Karl actually saw one of them interacting with the ancient Dark Elves and opening a Dungeon Portal for them is the closest thing to proof of their existence that I''ve ever heard of.


    Everything else about them is told as a legend, an oral history or religious belief passed down through the ages, and those aren''t always historically urate after a hundred thousand years." Morgana exined.


    "What is with the grass, though? Thor insists it''s important to remind you about the grass." Karl insisted, then took a de out, as Thor had kept some for himself.


    "Where did you get that?" Morgana demanded, eyes wide with shock.


    "From Thor''s space. He kept some as we passed by. My skills say it''s not a growth resource for any of my beasts, so it''s just growing there, looking pretty." Karl exined.


    "It does smell like mint." Mick agreed, as he examined the faintly glowing de of grass.


    "Do you have any idea what that is worth?" Morgana demanded, her voice rising through the octaves. "I don''t even know what it is. I couldn''t find it in any of the books." Karl replied evenly, not sure why she was getting hysterical. It was an Awakened Rank magical resource, not even a great food source for a Commander Rank Lightning Cerro.


    Morgana put on a pair oftex gloves and gently took the de of grass from Karl''s hands to put it in a sealed jar. She looked so relieved that it was safe that Remi couldn''t resist, and picked one from her swamp, which she had nted from the ones in Thor''s field, and came out to give Morgana another one.


    "There are more of them? Thank you, Remi, but I can''t take your treasure." Morgana informed the snake.


    Remi just put it in her hands, then smiled and returned to her space.


    "It is literally growing in her swamp. She nted it near her altar because the glow makes for a pretty backlight at night." Karl exined.


    "So this will... grow back?" Morgana asked.


    "Yeah, fairly quickly, if I recall correctly. It''s one of the nts that Thor needs to prune so it doesn''t spread out of its allocated space." Karl exined.


    "Well, this should prove that you were really in the Underdark. This is ck Elf Grass. It only grows deep underground, and it is considered to be very nearly extinct. There are dozens of disguise and anti-aging potions that can''t be made without it. You''ve likely never heard of the Deeplight Face Creams, but a jar goes for more than the average house, and this is the primary ingredient." Morgana exined.


    Karl winked at the Witch Doctor. "Aren''t you a bit young to be worrying about anti aging products?"


    Mick chuckled with his hand covering his mouth. Indeed, Morgana still looked her age, and she would be under neen if she had just graduated. Even among the Elites, who were all of the younger generation, she was among the youngest.


    Morgana smiled. "I don''t care about face creams. But I am a Witch Doctor. One of my abilities allows me to make a transformation potion with that grass. I have been looking for it for ages, and now I have not just one but two whole des. My magic can fully transform someone for one full moon cycle. Not just their face''s appearance, their entire appearance." Mick gave a low whistle of appreciation, and Karl smiled. "Just think. Lotus could be not short for an entire moon cycle." Karl noted.


    "Why not just say tall?" Mick asked.


    "It''s magic, not a miracle."


    Morganaughed. "It''s a Commander Rank potion. It could have you and Lotus swap appearances for the duration if you both used it."


    Karl considered that for a moment. "She would go insane with jealousy, seeing her own body get to pet all the monsters whenever I wanted."


    Morgana couldn''t help butugh at the mental image of Karl transformed into Lotus, taunting her by ying with monsters all day long while she was stuck as him with no monsters.


    "That''s evil in a whole new way that I hadn''t even considered. Only a Nature Priestess could be tortured that way." The Witch Doctor replied, shaking her head in dismay.


    Mick nodded. "I don''t see the issue, though the guy who freaked out about Remi could be tortured that way, I''m certain. It would be like watching a live action nightmare. Or the bimbo brigade, they''re all terrified of spiders."


    Morgana gave him a concerned look.


    "Sorry, they''re a group of girls from the senior ss who are extra bitchy to us nerdy sorts. They''ve all got high - paying corporate careers lined up from their ultra-wealthy families, and I''m a favourite target, since I went bald long before I shaved my head." Mick exined.


    Karl patted him on the shoulder. "I should introduce you to a good friend of mine, Skittles. He specializes in helping people work through internalized issues. If you ask High Priest Doug Mackenzie, he should be able to hook you up with a good referral after all this on the border is finished." N?v(el)B\\jnn


    Mick smiled. "His name is Skittles?"


    Karl shook his head. "No, it''s just a nickname that the High Priest gave him, but it stuck, and it''s better than his actual name. He''s also a nature priest, and very rxed about any sort of issue you want to work through. Very easy to talk to."


    "I will talk to the High Priestter, I know who you mean. He''s here as a teacher now, right? Wilderness Survival, if I recall."


    Karl and Morgana both nodded, while the Witch Doctor worked to keep her thoughts on Doug Mackenzie as a person to herself. Karl seemed to recall that there was something between Mick or his group and Doug''s sisters, but he let that thought fade. If it were important, it woulde back to himter.


    "Alright, let''s get back to the lesson. Now, we have found the basics about the Darklight Host, so what we need to get into are the building styles of that era, where many of the world''s Dungeons, instances and magical trials were founded." Morgana diverted them back on topic.

 Chapter 340 What To Do

    Chapter 340 What To Do


    After an afternoon of lessons, Karl was ready for a good meal and a full night''s sleep. His group wasn''t on defence detail today, so they had all night to themselves unless there was an attack that made it past the artillery and the roaming scouts that the army had in front of them.


    It was a strange feeling not having a battle to go to in the morning, or other immediate obligations. Karl and the other students only had sses in the afternoon, while the clerics helped out all day at the treatment facility or the kitchens, depending on their preference.


    So, when the sun was already well above the horizon, Karl finally dragged himself out of bed and found a vignt new group headed to the line, prepared for whatever the Hill Giants threw at them.


    They were all well aware that the situation could change in seconds, and the first barrage of an attack was often the most deadly, as the defenders could be caught off guard and the bombardment might make it through their spells.


    It was standard to rx the defensive barriers when they weren''t under attack, so the mages had more mana avable when they actually needed it. But that came with the risk that they wouldn''t increase them enough to block the first iing spells when the attack dide.


    First up was breakfast, then a bit of physical conditioning training with the other students, with everyone making sure that while they did get their necessary workout, they weren''t too tired to answer if the call came that an attack was imminent.


    Mostly it was maintenance weight lifting, stretches, calisthenics, and so on. That kept all the muscles in peak form, without burning so much energy that they would losebat effectiveness.


    Then, after lunch, it was back to history and geography lessons with Morgana, but this time apanied by a dozen other mages, who were also taking the geography ss.


    "Are history and geography not a normal warrior ss education path? Like, do they just show up in ces and add them to their mental knowledge when they arrive?" Karl asked as he looked around at all the other students in the group.


    One of the magesughed. "Actually, you might be on to something. If the warriors need to know something about an area, they learn when they arrive, or it''s in the mission briefing. These sses are usually for the ones who have no intentions of going there themselves, or the ones who are the most interested in what they will find there.


    So, we have a couple of other treasure seekers, mostly after legendary magical items, and you, who is here for what? Monster food? Perhaps signs of a Legendary Divine Beast''s nest for your nextpanion?


    If you can, I rmend looking for the nest of the Rocs that attacked the other day. They''re like a transport and aerial attack forcebined, and they''re seriously powerful."


    Karl considered that idea. A huge flying transport would actually be quite convenient. However, the Rocs were Commander Rank beasts, just like Rae, and if he was going to use the beasts'' growth to push everyone to the next level, he would need something that was guaranteed to have a higher potential than that.


    Remi might, there was no telling what power level her parents were at, as she was created inside a Dungeon, and the magic of those ces was unpredictable. She might be Royal Rank, or she might peak right where she was at as Ascended. But the fact that she was born Ascended Rank did suggest that she had a lot of potential, even if she was slower to grow to adulthood than the others.


    Honestly, Karl was in no hurry to add anyone more to their team. If he made it to Royal Rank, he would have the ability to add another space, but as long as everyone was growing smoothly, he would take his time and try to find just the right beast and not hurry to find another member.


    Or perhaps fate would do it for him. Likely in egg form, if past experience was anything to go by.


    "Alright, the first thing we will start with are the known ancient excavations within the Golden Dragon Nation. Those are the safest of the regions to explore, and while they have been more extensively visited, they are also a guide point to your future explorations.


    Each of them will give you an idea by their location and construction of what the continent looked like at the time that they were built. Some of them were built along rivers that no longer exist, and that gives us an idea of where else we should be searching for simr relics.


    In the past, most nations built along rivers for the abundant water sources. So, following ancient riverbeds andkes found at known sites is an essential skill to the study of ancient geography.


    For example, who is familiar with the ruins of the World Dragon Temple at Whiton in the Beastkinnds?" Morgana asked, then paused to see if anyone was familiar with the story.


    Karl had never heard of it, but one of the mages had.


    "I heard that it''s still upied by World Dragon priests, and they say that it has always been. Like forever, as long as there are records, the Whiton Temple has been upied." He answered.


    "Exactly. ording to the World Dragon Clerics, it is one of the original World Dragon Temples, and while it has been destroyed during attacks a number of times, rebuilt and renovated, every map ever produced shows it in the same spot." Morgana exined.


    She brought out a map book and began to flip through the pages for them, with the book tilted on a stand, so they could all see.


    "The originals of these maps are all thousands of years apart, and as you can see, the oldest don''t show Chiptonrith Lake, but a massive desert. But here in the middle, some of them show a muchrger ind sea." The students looked confused. "But isn''t theke hundreds of metres deep? Like, so deep that no light reaches the bottom of the deepest parts?"


    Morgana nodded. "That is correct, but apparently, that was not always the case. What happened has been lost to history, but we do know that at some point during the end of the System Era, entire mountain ranges were levelled, while others were formed.


    That might be the case for the desert. The aftermath of a battle between demigods might have made the crater that became an ind sea, and then eventually levelled out to a massiveke." n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om


    One of the magesughed. "So, geography is a history lesson as well."


    Morgana smiled. "It''s inevitable, really. Even the borders are a history story, and the Frost Giant border is about to be rewritten after this war. Where it will end up is a mystery, but the new territory imed by the Magma Dragon around the erupted volcano will most likely gain its own territorial notation." Now, as you can see, thergest poption centre is obviously the Capital, but there are others along the rivers, especially ones with deep water all the way to Chiptonrith Lake. In better times, that was a major trade route between not only us and the Beastkin Nation, but also down the great river through the wilds and to the ocean.


    Now, most ocean shipping goes ovend to the shore, which is both slower and more dangerous, as it puts goods perilously close to the Frost Giant Nation, who has a muchrger oceanfront."


    One of the students pointed at the wilds, the officially unimednds between the beastkin nation''s southern border and the ocean. The Wild''s borders extended all along the southern end of the Beastkin nation, and the marked west side of Golden Dragon Nation''s im as the territory reached south toward the ocean.


    "Why haven''t there been efforts to im the wilds? I mean, we could have more ocean ess to ship around the continent, and get supplies." One of the other students asked.


    "There have been. What we managed to im from the monsters was that narrow strip at the south of the nation. Even that is difficult to hold, and there are constant battles around the border as the monsters try to take back their natural territory.


    If not for the constant effort, we would bepletelyndlocked." Morgana exined.


    Karl didn''t know how much of what they used came from other nations, but he did recall that many of the coal mines were in the southern hills. Even if it weren''t for the ocean ess, that region was still of significant importance to the people.

 Chapter 341 This Feels Like... School

    Chapter 341 This Feels Like... School


    The next morning, there was no attack on their section of the line, but the Hill Giants tested other sections further west down the border. It was oddly serene, with the artillery in the distance giving a steady thunder, nearly below hearing, setting a rhythm for the day''s activities.


    Physical training, a rotation on the front line, where Karl waited patiently for something to happen, and then sses in the afternoon.


    The following day was an afternoon rotation on the line, so he had sses in the morning.


    The third day he was off the line again, so he had the morning free to train and work on his meditation to build the strength of his beasts.


    By the sixth day without an attack on the line, it was bing a smooth routine, but Karl was bing nervous. They hadn''t hit the Hill Giants that hard, so they weren''t retreating because of the casualties. No, they were up to something, and their Earth Magic kept the Golden Dragon Army from sending scout nes far enough ind to find out where they were massing troops.


    Every tiny vige had at least one Elder who had been taught the trick to anti-aircraft fire, and it didn''t take much to shoot down the scout nes.


    "You look twitchy." Tessa noted as they finished dinner in the fort. They hadn''t eaten dinner in the mess hall since the first day, only breakfast and lunch, so that they would be able to keep up with the news and orders more easily. The food was mostly canned everything. Even the bread came from cans. The idea was that it would lessen the strain on the clerics, so they could just heal and not worry about dealing with the food supply, but the quality of the long duration preserved foods wasn''t always all that great.


    Some things were. The preserved eggs cooked as well as any, and the barbecue beans were just as good as they were fresh out of the pot. The canned potatoes were fine, but the green beans were atrocious, and everyone avoided them like the gue unless they had been heavily spiced or drenched in a sauce.


    Inparison, the dinner that Tessa and Lotus came up with was always fresh, including the meat that Karl donated to the process. Some of the meat sources hadn''t been as good as others, but there were still quite a few of the giant pigs, and those were outstanding.


    Karl had considered sharing one with the line, but Hawk was resistant to the idea, and they had eventuallye to apromise. It was Karl''s birthday in two more days, and Hawk had agreed to donate a pig to the meal, so the line could throw a proper party.


    Nobody in the Mines could really afford birthday parties that were more extravagant than a cake with friends, so that was their tradition. But with a whole Academy full of Elites, they could throw a full on barbecue, and trick the students into eating up one of the Rocs, which Hawk found entirely too stringy for his tastes.


    They tasted vaguely like chicken, and weren''t unpleasant, but if you didn''t marinade and deep-fry them, their natural state was almost a jerky. That meant Hawk, who liked his food raw, was out of luck. The frying was an essential step to making them edible.


    So, on the seventh day after their arrival, the day before his birthday, Karl went to talk to the mess hall''s leader, the Professor from the culinary arts department.


    "Professor Pom, could you spare me a moment? I would like to make a request and a donation for tomorrow''s lunch." Karl greeted the aging chef.


    She smiled at him, but the look on her face was full of suspicion, and she was ready to tell him to get the hell out of her kitchen at any moment.


    "Tomorrow is my birthday, and I have saved one of the giant pigs from the Frost Giants, as well as the body of one of the Rocs. I would like to have the Roc brined and deep-fried, and the pig ughtered and smoked for a barbecue feast at lunch.


    I know that we have plenty of beans and sd to go with it, and everyone loves a good barbecue." Karl exined, before she could yell at him for wasting her time. n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om


    "Put the pig on the table and let''s see it. We''ve got a thousand mouths to feed here." She insisted.


    Karl looked at the prep table and shook his head. "It is a Giant Pig from the Frost Giant nation. It''srger than Thor, and it certainly won''t fit on the table."


    "Then the floor over there. That tarp has been sanitized." She offered.


    Karl brought out the pig, and the chef gasped in delight, before realizing that they didn''t have nearly enough smokers to aplish the task.


    They could make some of them easily enough, as they had hundreds of raw metal barrels that were used to transport ammunition and supplies for the artillery units. Or, they could wrap it and pit smoke it. That seemed like it would be the easier option.


    "I will get the workers on the smoke pit right away. Did you say that you still had one of the bodies of a Roc? We''ve gone through the one that was brought back to me after the battle already."


    Karl nodded. "It''s not plucked or anything, but it has been in the equivalent of stasis, so it''s still fresh."


    The cook nodded slowly, lost in meal nning. "I will get the kitchens on the sds after breakfast, and the meat will need to be in the smokers by midnight, but if you cut me off a hundred kilos of breast meat from the Roc, we should have plenty to cover for a party. The smoked meat will be the main attraction, the students get enough fried chicken equivalents in their daily meals, and that''s the only way those birds are edible." Hawk gave a smug squawk as the chef agreed with his opinion, then sliced off arge b of meat for Karl to pass to the chef.


    This one fit on the table, though it took most of it, and Professor Pom nodded in satisfaction. "I don''t know how your preservation system works, but that looks as fresh as if the beast had just died.


    However, that giant pig hasn''t been cleaned or gutted, so I need to work. Get out of my kitchen ande back tomorrow."


    Karl had been expecting that. She had wanted to kick him out from the moment that he had entered, and there had to be some satisfaction in doing it now, even if she was going to help him with his request for an Academy wide birthday party.


    Sure, it seemed excessive, but with the majority of the Academy here on station, he couldn''t really leave anyone out without looking like a massive jerk, so he had to prevail upon the main kitchens to get his barbecue.


    It didn''t take long for word of the party to spread through the camp. Karl knew that nobody actually cared that it was his birthday. But they did care that there was going to be better than usual food for them.


    The army wasn''t going to send tonnes of fresh boar meat to them, likely ever. That wasn''t the sort of thing that you got on the front lines, where most of the meals were prepackaged and came with instructions for cooking in the standardized Company Kitchen.


    The Academy could have brought their own gear, but the army already had supplies ready, so they had chosen to use what was avable.


    The only one that Karl hadn''t gotten on board with the "Let''s party for my birthday" n so far was Morgana, who insisted that having a birthday was no excuse for skipping an entire day of training. They had a good, reliable schedule, and he would get all the attention that he could handle during the lunch break.


    So, it wouldn''t be a full day of cking, but a morning shift on the line, and then a barbecue, before he had to go back to history lessons. Or perhaps Geography, though the lines between the two did seem to get rather blurry when you were discussing how the Geography had been changed.


    Still, Karl settled into his hammock with a rxed mind, ready to begin the precious few weeks when he could im not to be the youngest person in the camp. Until her birthday, Dana would have that honour.

 Chapter 342 Presents

    Chapter 342 Presents


    The next morning, Karl woke to a surprise birthday present from thest person in the world that he thought would give him a gift.


    The Hill Giants.


    The attack rms started to re just before dawn, alerting all forces toe to the front lines. Karl was on morning shift, so they would have been headed there anyhow, but not for another two hours.


    That must have been why the Hill Giants attacked now, when the predawn twilight made it hard to spot them, and when the night shift would be at their most inattentive, just before they had to look professional as the next shift woke up, and the morning light revealed them to the eyes of supervisors.


    Karl and his team equipped their armour, and Karl called out the beasts to serve as mounts for the run across the distance between the camp and their assigned position.


    They made it with plenty of time to spare, as the first arrivals of the attack were on the far nk, going after the artillery battery, and there were no Hill Giants in range of his position.


    [Hawk, get some altitude and see what''s holding up our side of the party.] Karl ordered.


    Everyone was here, and the Golems were summoned, but there were no targets within a kilometre of this end of the position.


    Hawk soared out over the lines and started to ry enemy positions back to Karl.


    [We have more giantsing. They''ve got three forces. The one that is fighting, the oneing to reinforce those ones, then the oneing from the far right that should be headed to our side of the line after we send our reinforcements away.] He narrated.


    Karl passed that information along to Morgana, who ryed it to the teachers in charge of strategy. The best that was likely to happen was that a few extra troops would be left at this end of the line, as the reinforcement of the side which was actively under attack would take priority.


    But every little bit would count, and the third hit was intended to be against the weakest portion of the line, so they could breach the lines of warriors defending the much softer mages and devastate the human defences.


    They all understood that their position was important, but watching the other end of the line fighting while they waited for the order to do something, even to adjust the lines and attack the nk, was beyond frustrating to the students on Karl''s end. However, they were in for the biggest shock of the day. The Hill Giants had sent an actual strike force to them, and they were in for a much more serious fight than the other end. Morgana looked over at Karl. "Two Royal Rank leaders, fifty Commanders and a whole Company of Ascended Hill Giants. Did you do something personal to them?"


    Karl chuckled, and the rest of his team looked at him like it was a very real possibility. n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om


    "Not that I can think of offhand. But we''ve got a whole line of Elites here, and we still outnumber them." Karl replied.


    Ali, the swarthy warrior on Colonel Wilkes'' half of the team, gave Karl a concerned look.


    "You do understand that there are two Royal Rank Hill Giants there, right? What are we going to do against that? When they charge at the back of the line, we''re not going to be able to break their Earth Magic barriers in time, we will be too busy dealing with the Commanders."


    From behind the line, Tank came jogging over with a pair of other warrior ss teachers.


    "We will take care of the Royal Rank Hill Giants until you''ve handled the others." The oversized Berserker dered.


    Karl shook his head. "I wille with you, and Hawk can help us from above. The others will stay with the line. Two on one is a more evenly bnced fight."


    Tank shrugged, and prepared to move as the Hill Giant line charged at them.


    "Shall we, gentlemen?" Karl asked, taking out his bow.


    [On Karl''s mark, begin the attack.] The section leader announced over the radio.


    Karl buffed himself up and focused on the line. "Remember where the leaders are, it''s going to be difficult to see them." Karl reminded the team.


    [Chain Lightning] gave the arrows range, while [Blizzard] added the shredding ice damage and blocked the view of the attacking Giants.


    Karl wasn''t aiming at them, though. He was burying the arrows into the dirt in front of them, letting the lightning arc, and the blizzard spread over their section of the battlefield.


    That meant their mages and archers were firing blind as well, but the wall of snow and ice gave them a range finder to their muchrger targets, and as the Hill Giants began to emerge, Karl sent out another wave, moving the barrier forward.


    That put the front line in range of the majority of the mages, while the Hill Giant stone attacks were horribly inurate, with a full half of them missing the line entirely.


    Tank looked into the ranks of Hill Giants, now that they were close enough to see them through the snow.


    "Alright, let''s go."


    [First Rank forward, pikes up.] The zone leader ordered.


    The pikes rushed forward into the Hill Giants, and Karl switched to his Maul.


    [Everyone, stay here and protect the group. Rae, make sure nothing happens to Tessa and Ophelia on the front row.]


    [I''m feeling artsy today.] Rae replied, sounding somewhat distracted.


    [Fine, make an art instation in the clearing when you''ve got time. But don''t let anyone smash our team members.]


    Rae''s mental smirk let Karl know that he had been hoodwinked, and she only wanted to find a way to get him to agree to it. That didn''t slow his advance, Rae would follow instructions and build her art when she had spare time, likely while the Hill Giants were regrouping for a second charge.


    He moved in a defensive formation with the other three Commander Rank warriors, but when Karl and the rest of the response team advanced, the Hill Giants spread, leaving them a clear path to the leaders.


    "Oh, this is bad news." Tank muttered as they rushed past the Ascended Rank Hill Giants.


    "I''m not saying this is a trap, but this is a trap." Karl agreed.


    The other teachers shook their head in dismay, realizing that someone still had to stop these two Hill Giant leaders from attacking the front lines, as their Earth Magic would devastate the mages if they got any closer.


    [Rae, send your Golems forward to keep a hole open behind us.] Karl instructed.


    The Hill Giants behind them were mostly Ascended, and the Commanders in the attack force were spread out to make a pincer and push at the students'' weak points when the strongest defenders moved to fight the Royal Rank Giants.


    Rae was happy to help with that, and she brought Dana and Mick''s Golems along with Colonel Wilkes'' Fire Elementals forward with her. That made a solid breach in the Hill Giant lines, and the warriors pushed up into it, keeping Tank''s team as the spearhead of the counterattack.


    That was what the Royal Rank Giants were hoping for, now they just needed their leaders to defeat these four, and have their Commander Rank teams push through the extended lines, and they would be into the mages.


    But they quickly realized it would not be that easy.


    When Tank raged, he grew scales. Then [Brutality] took effect on him, and he grew from 250cm to 350cm instantly. That still only made him a little under waist high on a Hill Giant, but the extra strength made him a very scary opponent.


    Karl heard a musical giggle in his mind, and realized that Morgana had found a new way of working with Remi. She had nted an ankh topped staff in the ground for Remi to put the totems on, and the Spirit Snake had wrapped around it, leaving the Witch Doctor one hand free to cast her spells, which mostly required a gesture to activate.


    Karl and Tank split up to engage the Royal Rank giants, with the other teachers falling in beside them. Karl would pair with a double de wielding warrior, who dressed like an agility type in light armour, while Tank got the defensive warrior.


    It was a goodbo for the Berserker, who didn''t really care what was in the path of his axe.


    Karl aimed his maul at the Hill Giant''s club, forcing the creature to change trajectory to avoid finding out what Karl had enchanted his weapon with.


    The power rolling off Karl''s weapon felt stronger than a Commander should be able to manage, and that put the Royal Rank Giant on edge. The Hill Giants had been informed in advance that this end of the line had the army''s leadership team, and that they were Commanders, but there wasn''t much other information for them to go on.

 Chapter 343 Its Art I Tell You

    Chapter 343 It''s Art I Tell You


    The fact that Karl was aiming to shatter the Giant''s weapon right from the first strike seemed to make it obvious that he had a weapon shattering technique, but [Shatter] didn''t only work on weapons, but on anything that it hit.


    The vibrations would cause bones to break just as effectively as it caused a wooden club to break.


    That distraction let the other warrior get behind the target, and score the first strike of the battle, cutting a line down the Hill Giant''s lightly armoured back as Karl kept it distracted.


    The Giant turned to swing at the agile warrior, and Karl backed up, switching back to his bow to plug a [ming Body] infused arrow into the enormous target.


    It was like shooting at a house from the middle of thewn, impossible to miss.


    The Giant stepped forward to keep both targets in sight, and Karl backed up again, drawing the Giant behind the lines where it could receive no reinforcements, before he was forced to switch back to his two-handed de to deflect a flurry of attacks that he wasn''t fast enough with the Maul to handle.


    The teacher took advantage of the opening again, slicing the back of a knee, and going for a spot at the armpit where the Giant''s crude armour exposed a weakness.


    The Giant moved too quickly for that strike tond, and the warrior went rolling as he was clipped by a swing of the club.


    [Rae, Golems, now.] Karl ordered as he aimed a strike for the Giant''s left knee.


    His de and the Giant''s club met a shower of sparks from [ming Body], leaving the two of them deadlocked for a split second before the pair of Spider Golemsnded on the Hill Giant''s shoulders and began to shred his face and back.


    He reared back and iled viciously at the attackers, throwing the first one deep into the Hill Giant lines, but his movement left him vulnerable, and Karl struck upwards, hitting him at the gap between his hanging waist armour and his chest te.


    The ming de buried in the Hill Giant to the hilt, and Karl used it as a conduit to cast first [Chain Lightning] then [Blizzard] from the inside.


    The giant made a gurgling noise for a moment before his movements slowed, and the Spider Golem deprived him of his head.


    Then Rae was on the scene, prepared to begin her art exhibition. She had prepared a dozen Commander Rank Hill Giant bodies on pikes, which she mmed into the ground, standing them up as grotesque mannequins, before she used her silk to tie the leader up by his arms between two of the Commanders, leaving the body spread eagle and standing upright, but headless.


    "What the hell are you doing?" Karl heard Morgana shouting from behind him, as every Hill Giant in the area turned to him with rage in their eyes.


    He just made a "Come and get it" gesture, and then charged forward, firing arrows into the closest few Commander Rank Hill Giants, who no longer cared about tactics, and only wanted vengeance.


    The bow was quickly reced with the Maul, shattering a knee, and then crushing a rib cage before the falling Hill Giant had even reached the ground.


    Then Karl retreated, forcing the attackers toe at him one at a time through the small gap around Tank and his partner, who were still dealing with their enraged Royal Rank opponent. It was more intent on getting to Karl than on fighting them, and they were hacking it apart, but it didn''t seem to care.


    Tessa glowed with the red light of the War Dragon''s favour, and Thor''s defensive blessing increased in size, granting everyone near the macabre disy the benefits of [Circle of Protection].


    The Lightning Cerro charged straight for the second Royal Rank Giant, who never even saw himing before it was flung from its feet and set upon by two massive front feet and an enraged Berserker.


    But this time, the Hill Giant lines didn''t break and retreat. They were fighting as hard as they could, but without any sense of cohesion or tactics, and as often as not, their strikes were interfering with the fights of those next to them, throwing off timing, deflecting blows and causing arguments in the attacking line.


    The students'' defensive lines closed the gap as Tank and his partner retreated to catch their breath, and the Spider Golems darted off to cause chaos in the Hill Giant attack.


    "Well, that''s one way to get them worked up. They''re not going to forget this." The defensive warrior with Tank noted.


    "I hope not. The point of an object lesson is for them to remember it. They lost two Royal Rank Giants today, and we didn''t lose a Command Squad member. The Hill Giants that survive will spread the word that we''re taunting them, and the next waves will hesitate as they attack, allowing us more time to hit them from a distance." "Nine out of ten storytelling. If you can''t blind them with brilliance, baffle them with bullshit." Tessa called from her spot on Thor''s back.


    "Hey, who is telling the story here? Me or you?" Karl shouted back.


    Thorughed and stomped around, motivating the warriors nearby, while Seamus started on a new song for [Inspiration]. He had moved up a little, standing in the erged gap between the warriors and the mages, where everyone could see and hear him while he jammed out on his lute.


    Thor brayed happily, and Tessa let out a very draconic roar while holding her spear high. Karl had continued to fire his arrows now that nothing was getting through to his position in front of Rae''s art instation, and even Morgana hade up to join them, though she looked less than impressed with their antics.


    The clerics along their portion of the line were advancing as well, far enough that they could work together to cast an area heal over the whole spearhead of the line, while Lotus worked to keep her area [Refresh] spell active.


    Dana led a group of mages forwards, putting them in range of more Giants with their area attack spells. That thinned the front row of attackers, giving the warriors a moment''s rest, while the Hill Giants further down the line began to panic at the pair of Royal Rank Spider Golems who were going berserk among the Ascended Rank fighters.


    They weren''t even trying to fight the Commanders, they were just maiming and crippling as many as possible, then running away to do it again when anything challenged them. n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om


    "Does Rae have anger management issues?" Morgana asked as she stared at the impaled Hill Giants in the middle of the human formation.


    "No, why do you ask?"


    She gave a meaningful look at the disy, and Karl began tough.


    "That''s hertest art exhibition. Pretty isn''t it?"


    Remi looked at the row of corpses for a second, and ced her next round of totems on the second tost Giant''s head on both sides, then nodded with satisfaction. That was much prettier. Visually bnced, and spitting fireballs, for the true interactive experience.


    Hawkughed at her idea before dipping into his space as a massive barrage of rocks from the back lines converged on him, and then reappeared to continue hurling fireballs at them from the other side of the formation.


    [This is a fun game. We should make them mad more often.] He suggested.


    [I think we''re going to be in enough trouble for this time.


    But look on the bright side, all those reinforcements from the other end of the line areing this way. Well, at least the ones that can still walk.


    The Spider Golems have been busy.] Karl informed the happy bird.


    They also weren''t dead yet. They were over a kilometre away, by Karl''s estimation, and they were still going wild.


    "You''re lost in your conversation with the beasts again. The line is signalling the retreat, the Hill Giants are disengaging." Dana informed Karl as he finished mentally searching for the Spider Golems.


    "Right, sorry." He had still been shooting, but he had noticed the target selections were getting a bit slim.


    [Rae, move your art instation back indoors. We''re done here.]


    [Grab the shiny stuff, it''s still on the bodies, but it will drop when I take them.] She replied.


    Karl wasn''t certain what she meant, but a club and dagger, plus a ne, dropped to the ground when the Royal Rank Giant disappeared. Karl scooped them up, and the ne immediately bonded to him, while his sword rejected the other weapons to the point that he almost dropped them.


    "Tessa, do you mind holding these for me? They''re causing a repulsion reaction from my bonded de."

 Chapter 344 Buff The Tank

    Chapter 344 Buff The Tank


    Tessa tossed the weapons into the pouches that were built into the harness Thor was wearing, left over from theirst battle and equipped by him when he left his space, so his knight would have a saddle.


    Then the group retreated to their original positions after Hawk grabbed thest Royal Rank Hill Giant into his space for safekeeping. He didn''t really want it, they tasted awful, but the warriors had already looted it, so there was no point in letting the Giants recover the bodies of their leaders.


    For half an hour, they waited while the survivors of the Hill Giant attack retreated, taking their wounded and most of their dead with them.


    That was something that the Frost Giants didn''t do, and Karl wondered if there were Hill Giant Clerics who could resurrect their fallen. He hadn''t seen any sign of them inbat, but they might be somewhere in the back, as anything beyond the front lines was their undisputed territory.


    Once the whistles blew to inform them that they could retreat from the line to their regr morning duties, the students breathed a sigh of relief, and Karl took afortable seat on a nearby rock.


    His team was still on duty this morning, and the battle hadsted long enough for shift change to have urred, as the sun was now well above the horizon.


    Tank sat down on the rock next to him and looked up at the sky.


    "Good work out there. That ambush with the Spider Golems was pure poetry." The Berserker congratted him.


    "I didn''t know that you had the chance to see it. It worked just as well as I had hoped. There isn''t much on an average battlefield that can stop them." Karl replied with a smile.


    "That wasn''t actually why I stayed back. I know the others think that the way my size increased inbat was one of my skills, but that was you, wasn''t it?" Tank asked.


    Karl nodded. "Yeah, it''s the same skill that I use on myself and the beasts. You''re bestial enough when you rage that it will affect you as well. It also works on Ophelia, we just didn''t see it because she was behind us. N?v(el)B\\jnn


    The skill is called [Brutality], an increase of ten percent in both size and strength per rank of the user."


    "Do you think that you could teach that to me? I heard that you can make skill books of the skills that you know." Tank asked, bing more eager by the word.


    "Sure, if someone brings over paper and ink, that''s all I need for that one. Or we can do it after I''m off shift."


    Tank shook his head with a nce toward the Hill Giant side of the line. "They''re likelying back. If there is one thing that you are truly talented at, it has to be the art of angering the Giants. We''ve heard from our scouts that the Frost Giants are still looking for you, and they''re not giving up.


    I don''t know how they pieced it together, but they realized that the team who was ambushing their reinforcements was the same one that had killed their Royal Rank Elder."


    Then Tank sent a brief message over the radio, requesting supplies for Inscription, and the two patiently watched the horizon for signs of movement.


    "I heard that you had the ability to learn more skills after the Frost Giant incident, have you learned them yet?" Tank asked after a few minutes of silence.


    "Yeah, Brutality was one of them. I also learned skills that add impact damage to all my physical hits. It''s a bit like [Earthquake], but internally." Karl exined.


    "That sounds messy. No wonder they were so wary of that Maul. Whates next for your skills?"


    Karl shrugged. "I have two options, I can learn some basic defensive skills, or I can learn one that gives my pets a chance to evolve their skills up a tier. Like, Fireball to me Storm, or Stun to Petrify." "It''s just a chance when you learn it?" Tank asked, confused as to the nature of the skill.


    Karl shook his head. "No, it''s an increasing chance every time they use the skill. I don''t have the ability to get it yet, but the way that my luck goes, it won''t be long."


    "If it could advance them a Rank, that would be even better." The berserker sighed.


    "I''ve already learned that skill. Did you ever wonder why two Spider Golems can move through Ascended Rank Hill Giants like knives through warm butter? It''s because that is a Royal Rank skill. Rae is still a Commander Rank beast, but that one skill increase is enough that Hill Giants one rank below her aren''t even a challenge for the Golems." Karl exined.


    "And you didn''t think to mention that to anyone?"


    Karl smiled gently and patted the enormous berserker on his massive shoulder. "I havee to realize that Academy Instructors are very different from politicians and bureaucrats. Telling you means I''ll receive new courses better suited for my training. Telling them means they''ll find a reason to say that I have Royal Rankbat power and should be reassigned to more dangerous battlefields.


    And I don''t have that level of power yet.


    The maximum cap is still much lower than an actual Royal Rank monster, but the energy efficiency is up there."


    Tank nodded. "I get it. It''s an overpowered skill, but when Rae is actually a Royal Rank monster it will be better. You have to be getting pretty close yourself, though. I''m not on the weak side of Commander, and you didn''t have any trouble keeping up with me."


    "It shouldn''t be too much longer. I just need to keep building the strength of my mental spaces, so the beasts will advance. I think that once the space forces Remi to advance to Commander, we should be very close."


    Remi got excited about that. She was almost there, she could feel it. The next time that she shed her skin, she would likely advance.


    She was thinking about all the wonderful things that she might be able to do as a Commander Rank Snake when the runner arrived with the supplies for Karl to start making books.


    The ss skills were simple to transcribe, and Brutality didn''t need anything but blood, which they had a plentiful supply of.


    "What are you filling the pen with?" Tank asked as Karl got to work.


    "Oh, it''s Royal Rank Hill Giant blood. The book has to be written in blood, and I prefer not to use my own. I have plenty of blood avable, thanks to Rae and Hawk, so I am using that."


    He wrote out the Brutality ''book'' which turned out to be nothing more than an incoherent and rage filled poem about tearing things apart, and watched in pleasure as the blood-red cover formed over it.


    "There, try that. I don''t know if it will work for you, but if it does, I should make more. At least one for Ophelia, and one for the Clerics'' records." Karl suggested.


    Tank tried, but could not open the cover to the book. But Karl had an idea. "Try it while raging. That''s the only time that it worked on you."


    Tank''s eyes went red, and white scales formed on his arms and neck, then the book opened smoothly and vanished in his hands.


    He surged in size to roughly four metres tall, then returned to his normal calm state.


    "Did you say it was called Brutality?" He asked.


    "Yeah, that''s what was on the cover of the book as well." Karl agreed.


    "The skill I got was a modification of Rage. [Bestial Rage] was the name. It reced my old Rage skill."


    Karl tapped the back of the pen on the extra paper. "Give me a second, I want to know if I can teach you another skill that is intended to be used by beasts. Do you know Haste already?"


    Tank nodded. "I know a haste equivalent. Berserker Rush increases my speed while enraged."


    Karl refilled the pen with Hill Giant blood and began to write out Terrorize. Tank with 40 percent more damage would be awesome.


    "There, rage and try to open that." Karl instructed.


    Tank followed the directions, but when the book vanished, the result was not what Karl had been expecting. The already erged Berserker grew evenrger, reaching four and a half metres. Then his whole body became covered in scales, while his hands grew long ws, and his enraged red eyes turnedpletely ck.


    A roar of victory echoed through the camp, causing dozens of students to draw their weapons in fright before realizing that it came from their lines.


    With that sort of buff, Tank was now nearly asrge as the Ascended Rank Hill Giants. Letting him loose inbat would be a game changer for the humans.

 Chapter 345 Berserk Terror

    Chapter 345 Berserk Terror


    Tank stomped around in victory for a moment, then drew his axes and swung at the air, savouring his new ability before transforming back.


    "It''s called [Berserk Terror] and it''s a full transformation ability." He cheered, pulling Karl into a hug and spinning him in circles.


    "I''m d you like it. Now that we know it really works, I need to make more of those books, and we have at least one or two more people to try it on today."


    Tankughed. "I want to see what happens when you do it to a Werebear as well."


    "I''m d we understand each other."


    Karl quickly worked to make two more copies of both books, and then called Ophelia over from where she was chatting with Lotus and Dana about something, while Tessa napped on top of Thor. If anything happened, he would wake her up. n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om


    "What''s up? Have you been teaching Berserkers to read? That''s a noble endeavour, but not really necessary." She joked.


    "Here, first, try to use this. If it doesn''t work, try to use it while enraged." Karl exined.


    Ophelia opened the first book and immediately shifted into bear form as it vanished. She looked confused for a moment, and then picked up the other book, apparently thinking she had dropped it during the transformation. The second one vanished, and her Werebear form surged in size, still the same three metres that she had been under the effects of Brutality before, but now with metallic ws and teeth, and fur that looked more wiry and less fluffy. Like Tank, her eyes had gonepletely ck, and her roar shook the ground.


    This one didn''t startle the students as much, but Karl could see them backing away.


    Ophelia looked positively feral, and her eyesnded on Tank, seeing a challenge.


    Karl was going to try to calm them down, but the other Berserker had already transformed, and the fight was on.


    Tank was a full Rank above her, and over a metre taller, but that wasn''t going to slow down the enraged Werebear. Sparks flew from both sides as metallic ws dragged down scales and wiry fur, confirming Karl''s impression that the fur itself was now a form of armour.


    They looked like they were tearing each other apart, but Karl could see that they were pulling their strikes a little, so they didn''t hurt each other.


    Then Tank managed to swat Ophelia to the ground, and the two Berserkers transformed back,ughing.


    "That skill is remarkable. The raw power, the intimidation roar, it''s got everything. How did you realize that this would work?" Ophelia asked.


    "I gave Tank the Brutality skill that you get the size buff from. It changed his Rage skill, so I gave him another book, and this was the result. Pretty impressive, if I do say so myself." Karl exined.


    "So, you taught [Berserk Terror] to two Elites, and you didn''t think to tell the clergy?" A voice asked from behind Karl.


    "I made you copies. But we had to be sure that they worked first, right? Who knows, these one might have been as particr as the [Refreshing Lightning] book that I made for the Blue Dragon Priestess." Karl replied as he turned to see one of the camp''s High Priests waiting for him to finish talking to the Berserkers.


    "Don''t remind me of that debacle. Those books have been passed around by the Clergy more than the average offering te, looking for someone else who can use them. It''s still only the Blue Dragon Clerics, and like three Lightning Element Dragonkin, who have managed to activate the skill."


    Karl smiled. "That''s three dragonkin better than thest time that I heard the story, so they''re making progress."


    "And who can we expect to be able to use these two books?" The cleric sighed. "Most likely transformation druids, animal element berserkers, and possibly War Clerics. The Red Dragon seems like the sort that might appreciate Terrorize and Brutality as skills." Karl offered helpfully.


    "Have you tried the books on your own Red Dragon Cleric yet?" The High Priest asked.


    "Nope. We started with the Berserkers, as it seemed like the logical option. They are the ones that need morebat damage."


    The white robed cleric was giving Karl a suspicious look as he stared down at the two books with their blood-red covers.


    "Well, they are red, at least. But why do I get the feeling that it won''t have any bearing on who is actually able to use these them? Could your skill actually be to make ultra-selective skill books that only work for the person you first handed them to?" He muttered.


    "You know, you might be on to something. I make the skill books because I think that the skill I have might work for someone in particr. So, when they''re passed on to someone else, the meaning is lost, and it''s all up topatibility with a skill that they had probably never considered or trained towards.


    For the Blue Dragon Priests, their patron is an evolved form of a Divine Beast that uses lightning, so it''s natural that they would. But a beast''s lightning and a shaman or wizard''s lightning aren''t the same thing, so it''s only natural that they wouldn''t understand the concept as well.


    You don''t expect just anyone who can use fire to be able to use Dragon Breath." Karl suggested.


    The cleric was going to open his mouth and say something about how the idea was ridiculous, as the Dragons were the noblest of the Divine Beasts, but that would bring him right back to Karl''s point. That they were beasts, so you couldn''t expect others to easily learn their skills.


    "Alright, I will take these to the Inscriptionists, so they can add them to the archives and make copies for anyone who wants to try to use them. There are a whole ss full of them here on the front line, as the Academy sent everyone with Ascended Rank or higherbat power, so there should be copies ready by tomorrow." The High Priest announced, satisfied that he had gathered enough answers about what they were doing over here, scaring students with their roaring.


    That left Karl and the others alone on the line again, staring at empty fields, the earth torn up by the attacks of the Hill Giants and the recent battles.


    Tank was right, they were going toe back, especially after taunting them like that with their dead leader strung up for all to see. But it might not be soon. They had failed this attack, so they wouldn''t take a hasty approach to the next one. In fact, Karl thought that they might focus on other sections of the line for the next few days, just in case they were weaker than the student portion, which might have seemed like an easy target because of their ages.


    But as an additional torture to go with the waiting, the wind was blowing from behind them, bringing the smell of roast pig from the camp to the line and making everyone''s mouth water with anticipation for what the kitchen was going to turn out for lunch today.


    With the attack, it almost felt like a victory dinner and not a birthday brunch, but that was an improvement, in a way. Celebrating the day you were born was fun. But celebrating the days you didn''t die was much more meaningful.

 Chapter 346 Barbecue Party

    Chapter 346 Barbecue Party


    The party was in full swing by the time that the shift change started, and the roast pig had been sliced, pulled, and prepared a half dozen different ways for the Academy students. The ones going to the line had eaten early, and that was the smell that had tortured the students who wereing off the defence shifts.


    The Culinary Arts Professor waved at Karl as she saw himing off the line and waved him over.


    "This is considered a tradition in my home vige. Take a bite of the beast''s heart for good luck, and to gain some of its power." She exined as she handed him a small square of raw meat.


    Karl smiled. He had a sword that granted him the beast''s life force, and a Holy Stone for luck, but a little more never hurt anyone.


    Plus, both Hawk and Rae agreed with the practice, while Remi wondered what the attraction was with only eating parts of things. But Remi didn''t have taste buds the same way that the others did, so the taste of things was much less important to her than the texture.


    Karl''s team grabbed tes and found a seat with their lunch, while they watched the older students trying to distract the kitchen staff so they could spike the party punch. Unfortunately for them, the Academy already knew all the tricks, and they weren''t having any luck in their endeavour.


    "Happy Birthday, Commander. Good work on the line this morning. I don''t think that I''ve seen an above rank kill go that smoothly in a long time." One of the clerics congratted Karl as he walked by to maintain order.


    "Thank you, Brother. We''ve got some very talented warriors here, and the more we work together, the better we can predict each other''s actions." Karl agreed.


    Not that he had worked with that group before, but their actions were fairly predictable because the warrior with him didn''t use any skills that Karl hadn''t seen before, either from other Warriors or the Spelldes.


    He walked off, and one of the Berserker ss students came over to say hello. Karl didn''t recall his name, but he recognized him from the group training Earthquake with Thor.


    "Commander Karl. Good to see you again, and Happy Birthday. I hear that you''ve got the Inscription ss going insane copying books again." Karl chuckled. "Have they started trying to teach them to others yet? They will likely only work when you''re raging, and partially animal transformed." The Berserker sighed. "I thought it might be something like that. Professor Tank tried to exin, but you know how he is. Not big on words."


    That was not Karl''s experience with the big Berserker at all. Tank actually liked to talk out his ideas, from what Karl had seen. n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om


    While the party punch was being zealously defended by the kitchen staff, the off-duty teachers had found a loophole. Someone, most likely a nature priest, had been passing them sks of liquor all morning.


    The Principal stepped up onto a small podium near the outdoor dining area, where most of the off-duty students were gathered to eat andugh, releasing some stress after the morning attacks.


    "Good afternoon everyone. I already gave this speech to the morning crew, so I know this will be short. We realize that it is unconventional to have so many students out here on the main lines so early into their career, and we would like to thank you all for going above and beyond.


    The right nk had a massive victory today, eliminating two Royal Rank Hill Giants, while the left and centre managed to hold against the main assault without a single permanent casualty.


    That is our goal here. Zero casualties.


    So, I would like to remind you all, if you are injured, back away from the fight and let the healers get to you. I know you''re all eager to prove that you''re an asset to your team, but you will be a longer-term asset to them if you get prompt healing. We''ve got quite a few clerics here, as the Church has recognized the vital significance of the next generation of Elites.


    But to top off today''s celebration, I would like to add one more fact for you. Today, we celebrated the advancement of our ninth student on the lines to reach Commander Rank.


    That is a new record for the Academy. Never before have we had nine current students at the Commander Rank. It is my belief that this is a sign of the favour of the Dragon Gods, blessing our students with a moreplete System after the serum administration.


    There are a number of other students who are getting close to advancement as well, and it is the official position of the Academy that we should have over a dozen active students at the Commander Rank before the end of the year."


    He paused, and Karl smirked at Dana.


    "Do you think he means you? Because I think that you can do it. Commander by the end of the year."


    Danaughed. "Well, if everyone else is doing it, I might as well. But we should likely have Tessa tested first, because I''m reasonably certain that she advanced today when she received the Red Dragon''s blessing."


    "High Priestess Tessa has a nice ring to it. I think that we should let her decide when to tell people, though. When she does announce it, there will be a whole series of events, and they will want her to go back to the Capital Cathedral for a while to do the High Priestess orientation and paperwork. We''ve still got lots of time in our contract, so it''s better that we just let her pick on her own." Karl suggested.


    Dana smirked and looked across the table at where the bemused War Cleric was sitting. "Why don''t we let Lotus advance first? Then they will be in such a panic that they won''t even register the presence of a new High Priestess of the Red Dragon. You all saw them when Doug advanced, and that was amusing enough. I can only imagine what happens when Lotus bes a High Priestess. They might just change the rules to not automatically give the title to Commanders." She joked.


    Lotus sighed. "You know, I can see them doing that. Some big speech about how the world is progressing and the prevalence of powerful Elites is demeaning the title of High Priestess, so they''ll move it up to Royal Rank until I advance again."


    Tessaughed. "I can see it now, half the High Priests would be considered no longer qualified under the new rules, and would have to be grandfathered in just to keep you from being considered a High Priestess.


    Maybe we will have to tame you your own monster so you can just stay as a Feral Priestess forever."


    Karlughed. "You know, at one point Rae tried to im Dana by pulling her into her space to bond her. Tessa might be on to something. If we find just the right partner, we might be able to get Lotus a permanentpanion beast."


    "Why did she try to im Dana?" Lotus asked, pouting that it wasn''t her.


    "Because Hawk had grabbed Remi''s egg, and she thought it wasn''t fair that she didn''t get to pick someone." Karl replied, attempting to hide hisughter at the memory.


    "I remember that day, she vanished like four times, trying to take me with her." Danaughed, while shaking her head in dismay.


    Rae almost certainly wanted her more as a trophy or essory than a partner.


    "I wonder how long it will be before one of them makes it to Royal Rank?" Ophelia asked.


    They already had skills that were advanced beyond that of a Commander, so it was just a matter of energy storage and body growth.


    "It shouldn''t be long. I think by the end of the year, we should have at least two Royal Rank beasts. Then the burden on me will be to increase their living spaces enough to advance the others." Karl sighed.


    They had been ignoring the end of the Principal''s motivational speech, and hadn''t noticed when the teachers had stopped to listen to their conversation.


    "So, you think that Commander Karl really can reach Royal Rank by the end of freshman year?" One of thebat instructors asked.


    Thedies all nodded, while Karl shrugged. "Honestly, it''s a bit of a toss up when they will advance. But now that Rae has found Royal Rank targets to optimize herself against, I think that it shouldn''t be long."

 Chapter 347 A Relaxed Afternoon

    Chapter 347 A Rxed Afternoon


    The thought of a Royal Rank Bloodbath Spider was honestly terrifying for most of the people in the camp, even most of the Nature Priests who still had a healthy respect for their own lives. There were just some things in life that you didn''t want to mess with, and two hundred kilo spiders were among of those things.


    The beasts were mostly happily resting in their spaces while everyone enjoyed their lunch, but Remi was still hanging out with Morgana, watching the world from the Witch Doctor''s shoulder, with her tail wrapped around Morgana''s neck for security.


    She had been around the advisor long enough now that Remi had decided that it was safe to take food from her, and Morgana was patrolling around the camp, free to pass Remi morsels of anything that caught her interest.


    "Remi seems to have found her calling. The venomous snake reallypletes the creepy witch doctor look." One of the other students chuckled as the pair passed by.


    Morgana smiled at him. "You have arge cut on your hand there, would you like to have it healed? Remi is working on her direct injected [Healing Ssh] skill." The boy frantically waved his bandaged hand. "No, that''s fine, thank you. It will be fine in a day or two."


    Remi tried her pleading look, but the warrior''s mistrust ran too deep, and there was no way that he was letting the snake bite him as a training exercise for a supposed healing ability.


    Besides, who had ever heard of a snake that healed with a bite? n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om


    Once the food was done, the bards began to y some lighter dance music, taking the weariness from the students who had juste from the line. "Care to dance?" Karl asked Dana with a wink.


    "I''d rather sleep, but a dance still sounds good." She agreed, looking tired.


    Karl hadn''t really been watching the back of the battle, but the mages would have been busy trying to keep the barriers up against the constant barrage of rocks and spears the Hill Giants used in ce of artillery.


    The students were already filing out into the open area to dance as the bards yed, and Lotus was dragging Ophelia by the hand while Tessa gave a re at a hopeful young man that Karl suspected had him frozen in terror.


    He would have to ask her to danceter to see if it was personal or if she just didn''t dance.


    Karl and Dana danced and spun through the first song, as the energy seemed to slowly return to her from the refreshing magic of the bard''s songs. The same was true all over the improvised dance floor, and even a few of the teachers hade out to join them.


    The afternoon sses were on hold, as everyone rxed a little and forgot for a moment that they were still supposed to be in training and not fighting a border dispute with the Hill Giants.


    Dana bowed out of the dancing after one song, but she traded spots with Ophelia, while an unwilling Tessa was dragged into the action by Lotus.


    Nobody else knew the improvised dance steps that the Nature Priestess had made up during their time at the Seminary Academy, while neither Karl nor Ophelia actually knew how to dance.


    That didn''t really matter, as nobody else did either, and knowing what you were doing was never an essential part of having fun.


    So, they danced until they were tired, and then the instructors began to slowly pick students from the crowd to drag back to their afternoon studies.


    That greatly thinned the crowd and calmed down some of the party atmosphere, which was threatening to ruin the schedules of those who were off-duty for the afternoon. The teachers didn''t mind them unwinding, but if they got so into partying that they forgot to go to sleep on time, they would be tired and sluggish for their next shift on the line. These were still students, and couldn''t really be counted on to be responsible with their time management when unsupervised.


    That was why the teachers were here with them, instead of just deploying all the Elites from the Academy wherever they were needed.


    More soldiers wereing over from the artillery division further down the line, called to enjoy the celebration once they were off-duty, and the party was going to runte into the evening. The boar had yielded far more than any of the teachers of the cooking staff had anticipated, but they couldn''t keep it hot for multiple days without ruining the quality.


    It was a pleasant change for Karl, having such a high percentage of happy people around. The battle lines were always fairly grim, but the impromptu party had raised everyone''s spirits in a way that he hadn''t anticipated when he had first thought to try to get a fancy birthday barbecue.


    "This turned out rather well, didn''t it?" He asked Lotus, his dance partner at the time, when the first of the artillery soldiers finished eating and joined the dance floor.


    "It really did. The Hill Giants are finally learning what it is like to lose battles, and the troops who have been here since the start of the war are happy to see it.


    But you should grab a couple of tes to go and sneak back to the tree fort before Morgana changes her mind and decides that you should have lessons this afternoon after all." She informed him with a wink.


    Karl headed off to the fort with the food, and found Dana waiting there for him with a nest made from extra nkets in the empty extra room.


    "It took you long enough. Comey down and have a rest." She greeted him, gesturing to the pile of nkets next to her.


    That was where the others found themte that night. Curled up in the nket pile in the spare room, Dana wrapped in Karl''s arms, with a magic theory text on one side of them and empty tes on the other.


    "Should we wake them up so they can sleep in a proper bed?" Tessa whispered as she saw the two curled up on the nkets.


    Lotus shrugged. "Or we could make a puppy pile, and just all sleep in one spot."


    Thor thought that was the winning idea, but Rae hadn''t made the floor of the fort to support a full-grown Lightning Cerro, as his weight would break the trees that it was attached to.


    "Let the lovebirds sleep. I''m sure they won''t get up to too much trouble, they usually share a hammock anyhow." Ophelia reminded them, referring to the Frost Giant border where everyone shared for warmth.


    Lotus nodded. "True, and I stocked his toiletries bag with safety precautions anyhow. Let''s sleep, the Witch Doctor and Remi will be here first thing in the morning to wake Karl for sses."


    Tessa shook her head at the little Nature Cleric. Of course, she would have done something like giving Karl condoms before they left the Cathedral.


    Of course, Tessa didn''t know that Lotus had stocked Karl''s bag long before this mission, but that didn''t change the fact that the War Cleric was fairly certain things between the Beast Master and the Mage were still on the wholesome level, even while sharing a bed.

 Chapter 348 Reporting In

    Chapter 348 Reporting In


    Karl woke up early the next morning, thanks to his early bedtime and yesterday''s activities burning off some excess energy. Dana was a warm ball in his arms, and the nkets on the smooth, slightly stretchy flooring of the fort were warm andfortable, so he simplyy there a while, enjoying the downtime before he would inevitably be forced to get up and face the day.


    His shift on the line was in the afternoon today, so he had morning exercise and a ss with Morgana, who he noted still had Remi with her.


    Or, at the very least, the Spirit Snake had not returned to her spacest night.


    He could feel her approaching just as the sun came up, and then the Spirit Snake was back in her space and ready for a long nap.


    She had explored many ces in the camp that she had never been to before yesterday, and she had met all sorts of people, and tried over a dozen different snacks that Morgana had prepared for her.


    It was a good day, but she was still exhausted as she came home at the crack of dawn.


    Karl thought about asking her what she had been up to all night, but Remi was already asleep on her altar, curled up in a protective ball around her lucky statue, with her head on the voodoo doll that Morgana had gifted her.


    Karl carefully got out of bed, flipping the extra nkets over Dana so she didn''t get cold, and then equipped his armour as he sensed someone approaching the fort on the ground.


    [It''s just the Morgana.] Rae informed him.


    [Thanks. I''ll go see her.]


    Karl climbed down thedder to find Morgana waiting patiently on the ground. "Alright, let''s get going. I''m d that Remi understood my message." She began.


    "Wait, Remi likely understood, but she forgot and went to sleep as soon as she was home in her space. I have no idea what you''ve got nned this morning." Karl informed his Advisor.


    "The extra fun stuff that everyone avoids like the gue. The Command Group wants you, Tank and the other pair to fill out a report on the battle yesterday morning. It''s standard procedure forrger attacks, and nobody else could form a fully coherent report on what happened except you four." She exined.


    "And we''re doing this at the break of dawn, why?" Karl asked.


    "So that it is done and sent off before the Command Group starts to whine about being kept in the dark. They wanted it yesterday, but everyone was either drunk or missing, and you were having some quality time, so I didn''t want to interrupt you." Morgana replied with a sly smile.


    They walked toward the camp, passing by the empty training grounds and the mess hall, where breakfast was still being prepared. "The report shouldn''t take long to fill out, and then you can get back to your usual morning activities. The Academy says that three days a week of sses a week are enough while we''re on the line. They think that the extra sses will burn out the students when they''re needed forbat, so the actual Academy training will have to wait." She sighed as they reached one of the lesson tents.


    Karl chuckled. "That has to be hard on the teachers. Or are you going to split up the students between sses so you still have duties every day? I mean, you can fill space on the lines, since you''re all Commanders, but it''s probably better to keep you in reserve."


    Morgana shook her head. "That''s about what it''s going toe to. They''re worried that now that we''ve proven we can kill Royal Rank Hill Giants, they will start sending them all the time, and that will leave us short on Commanders to deal with the actual attack."


    "So, we''re too good at our jobs, and they''re worried that being too good at our jobs will get us a promotion in target priority? I suppose that is valid. There must have been other Royal Rank kills along the line, though." Karl noted.


    "Of course. But I seem to recall someone making a spectacle of themselves yesterday."


    Karl shrugged. "As I said before, Rae is an artist."


    "You understand that isn''t going to fly in an official report, right? You can''t just tell them that you let your pet monster go all d the Impaler on the battlefield in the name of art."


    Karl considered that for a moment. "No, actually, I think that I can, and I will. If I inform them that it was a psychological warfare tactic designed to intimidate the Hill Giants and reduce theirbat effectiveness, they might even believe that it was a good idea.


    I mean, it did work. We scored an overwhelming victory against the Hill Giant attack force, and when the forms are all filled out, that is the only part that is really going to matter to them."


    Morgana sighed, then began to smile. "Fine, do it your way. I want to see what happens when they read that report."


    So did Karl. In fact, he would pay good money to be in the room when that bunch of aging politicians read the report and found out that he was stringing up Hill Giants to terrorize theirpanions.


    The Giants had been known to do the same thing, leaving human heads in trees, or severed limbs and other signs that trespassers were not wee. It was generally epted as a barbaric practice, but nobody would say that the Hill Giants might misunderstand the meaning.


    They sat at an empty table, and Karl began to work on his report, while mostly ignoring the strange looks that he was getting from the other students in the room. They all looked like mages, but none of them were speaking as they worked, so Karl wrote his report in silence and didn''t disturb them.


    Morgana was right, it didn''t take long, and when Karl was satisfied that it was an urate reflection of what actually happened in the battle, he passed it to her to read.


    "Alright, that is fine. That as well. You actually write incident reports quite well. Did you do a lot of these in the mines?" She asked.


    "Yeah. I often got nominated to fill out everyone on the day shift''s reports because I was good at using the words that the shift manager wanted to see, and I didn''t know him, so I wasn''t tempted to tell him off in the report." Karl agreed.


    "So, your coworkers just turned in made up safety reports?" Morgana asked, appalled.


    "Should we have just told them that the shaft went in the wrong direction, or a hammer was dropped and broke a worker''s foot because half the shift was staggering drunk?


    That wouldn''t end well. So, yeah, we made up something nice and came up with a solution that didn''t actually involve changing anything.


    I learned how from my dad." Karl replied.


    From behind them, there was a deep chuckle, and Karl turned to see two elderly Generals standing at the door of the tent. "Now I''m even more interested to see what is in that report, Commanders. I am General Stonewall, and this is General Jackson, of the War Department''s Central Operations Group." The older man introduced himself, before tucking his cover into a pocket.


    "To what do we owe the honour, Generals?" Karl asked.


    General Stonewall shook his hand with a firm grip and then nodded to Morgana. "We are actually on a regrly scheduled line inspection, we just have good timing, it seems, as your segment is all that anyone can talk about today."


    Karl nodded. "Two Royal Rank kills in one battle with zero permanent casualties, from what I heard. The soldiers who faced the main assault have a good reason to be proud of themselves."


    General Stonewall nodded in agreement, and looked at the report on the table. "And where were you during this incident?"


    "I went with the strike team to deal with the Royal Rank threat. Myself, a berserker and two warriors, all at the Commander Rank. The line extended forward at our backs to form a solid breach and iste the far nk of the Hill Giant assault. All quite textbook, if I do say so myself." Karl exined.


    Morgana handed the report over to General Jackson, who thumbed through it, paused, and then started over, reading it in much more detail.


    "It''s a shame that we didn''t have video footage of the whole incident. This one sounds like it was quite the event. Especially this bit about creating a disy of corpses to taunt the Hill Giants, and the way that both teams managed to duel their opponents sessfully. That is an umon skill among the active Elites. The Royal Rank is a significant advantage over a Commander." General Jackson noted as he read, his face never losing its stern expression.


    Karl nodded. "Working inrge groups does have its advantages, especially in stacked buff abilities."n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om

 Chapter 349 General Knowledge

    Chapter 349 General Knowledge


    The two Generals gave each other a silent look, and then sat down at the table with Karl and Morgana, making it clear that they were going to be here for a while.


    "What about tactics? It has be painfully obvious to some of us that the way that the Elites fight the Giants, and the way that the Church''s Armies fight the Giants, is not the same. Too many of us had gottenfortable in our thinking long before the mass injections, and now that there is a new way of fighting, we''re not adapting fast enough." General Jackson announced as the cook brought them coffee.


    Morgana turned to Karl, as he had the most high-levelbat experience in the room at the moment.


    Karl nodded. "Basically, you want three things. You want someone with the defensive skills and damage reduction abilities to keep the target upied. Then you want someone who can slow them or weaken them, and finally, you want burst damage, a skill that can deal a massive amount of damage at once to swing the battle even if it doesn''t outright kill the target.


    If you try to grind them down, you''re going to take casualties. So, you need the first two to be strong enough that the third one can set up for the kill.


    In thest battle, we split into pairs, and I started out grabbing the target''s attention, while the other Commander went for the Giant''s more vulnerable back, hampering the Giant''s movement.


    Then we drew it back away from its reinforcements, and traded roles, so I could take out one of its knees while he had the Giant''s attention.


    Finally, I called in the Spider Shaped Golems to attack its back and face, so I couldnd the killing blow. The burst damage to end the fight quickly."


    General Stonewall sighed. "It sounds so easy when you put it that way, but how do we even n that? We have the skill sets of the various Elites, but being able to tell how they''ll work together is too unpredictable.


    For example, look at this one."


    He put a folder on the table, and Karl looked it over. 26-year-old Commander Rank warrior, with the usual cleave, shield m, guard and sh skills. He also knew Holy de, which gave Karl the idea that he might be part of the Church Guard.


    "Looks like a bog-standard warrior, except for thatst skill. I take it that he''s a Commander of the Church Guard?" Karl asked.


    General Stonewall shook his head. "He''s the assistant Attorney General, and he''s managed to find loopholes to avoidbat deployment since he left the Academy eight years ago. He''s never swung a de in anger in his life, and he''s currently being detained as a deserter."


    Karl frowned. "Well, I have to say, I didn''t see that answering, and you''ve got a damned fine point. If all you have to go on is their rank and skills, it''s nearly impossible to effectively n abat deployment.


    For example, Morgana and I are both Commanders, but when we go intobat, we would want very different people with us, and a list of skills isn''t going to tell us who that is. There''s too much that goes into building a solid team to build it from a list of dossiers in an office somewhere in the Capital."


    Both Generals nodded. "Team building works best on this sort of scale, where we have hundreds of Elites in one spot, and they can pick their teams on their own. But that''s never going to fly for most assignments."


    Karl frowned. "But why couldn''t it? I mean, there are some like thatwyer, the ones who are just ckers or cowards, but letting the Elites submit teampositions that they''ve worked with in the past that they know work shouldn''t be that much harder to work with. Then, if you do have to requisition their services, you can do it in a way that they agree should be feasible."


    General Jackson sighed and tapped the assistant Attorney General''s file. "He suggested that as well, but the team that he rmended always had him with four Royal Rank Elites to take on Ascended Rank challenges, with the excuse that he was too valuable to the nation to be lost inbat."


    Karl and Morgana bothughed, before Karl answered the General. "Funny how money makes people think that they''re more important to society, isn''t it? If he gotid off from his job, he would just be some guy with aw degree, but the money he has saved would still make him believe that he was important."


    Morgana smirked at him. "You know, you''ve likely got more money than he does. The rewards for higher rankedbat kills are quite significant, and the pay for government employees isn''t all that great. It''s the political power that they enjoy the most."


    General Jacksonughed along with them. "He''s actually quite wealthy, or at least his family is. His father owns and operates three coal mines in the south. It was his father''s influence that got him the job, and it''s his father''s influence that kept him out of prison for dodging his duties.


    There are a number like that who we would prefer to delete from the official rolls, demoting them from Elite status and simply marking them as dangers to society, but there are too many in the government who are afraid they would be on that list."


    "So, you''re on a tour of the front lines, looking for real answers that might help increase military efficiency?" Karl asked.


    Both Generals nodded. "Yes, that is our job. In theory, it is the duty of every member of the Command Staff, but a lot of them seem to have forgotten that. The presence of the Elites has shaken everything up, and thousands of years of practice becamergely irrelevant once fighters who could solo dangerous monsters like the Hill Giants became somon."


    Karl chuckled. "For me, it has been most of my life, but you''re both what fifty? It''s quite recent for you."


    General Stonewall smiled indulgently at him. "I am sixty-four years old. I was over fifty when the first ss graduated, and I was in my mid-fifties when the injections became a nationwide practice. I doubt your generation quite understands how controversial that measure was."


    "It was controversial to give everyone the chance to be Elites? Like some sort of ss warfare thing?" Karl asked.


    General Stonewall shook his head. "One in a hundred dies from the injection. Now, most of them can be revived by the clerics, but a good portion of their souls detach from the body, and resurrection doesn''t work on them. Do you know how many parents we have to send letters to every year, telling them that their child was the unlucky one who passed during the attempt to be an Elite?"


    Quick math said... a lot. He just hadn''t noticed because the school in his hometown only had a few dozen students per year, and they hadn''t personally lost anyone.


    "I guess you have a point. Plenty of Elites meet a tragic end, but they at least got a chance." Karl agreed reluctantly.


    "Are you one of those that believes it''s the divine will of the World Dragon that not everyone survives the injections?" The aging General asked.


    Morgana looked a bit nervous, but Karl just chuckled. "I''m not the sort to get all philosophical, General. I will leave matters of theology and divine favour for the Clergy to interpret. For all I know, it could just be a manufacturing error on our side. There are people who die to a peanut butter sandwich, so whatever we made the injection out of might well be toxic to some of the recipients." He exined.


    The General was a bit startled at that, and was about to retort before he thought about it. "You know, you might be right. I remember many years ago, there was a child in my ss who got incredibly sick after taking a healing potion. The potion was fine, but his body reacted to it like poison." Morgana sighed. "Do none of you know what an allergic reaction is?"


    "Like with cats or pollen? I don''t think that applies to medicine." General Stonewall replied.


    "You can be allergic to nearly anything. Even medicine. Trust me, I''m a Witch Doctor." She added. n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om


    "Well, I won''t argue with an expert." The General shrugged, while Karl did his best not tough.


    As she had said the day they met: She was a Witch Doctor, not a Witch and a Doctor.


    "Now, while we have you both here, and with two such unusual sses, we have a few more questions we hope to get answers to during our routine inspection." General Jackson informed them with a smile that said he realized the knowledge gap was because she was more educated than any of the others, not her ss Marking.

 Chapter 350 Twenty Questions

    Chapter 350 Twenty Questions


    The Generals had made an actual list, a few dozen questions that they wanted answers to, as well as a sheet of inventory that they had already checked for before they entered the mess hall.


    Karl could see that they had already checked the munitions reserves, the supply tents, spare weapons and sleeping gear, as well as dozens of other items, right down to the maintenance of the walkways between the dorm tents. N?v(el)B\\jnn


    Karl hadn''t realized that there were even regtions on most of these things, but from what he could see in their documents, there wasn''t anything in the camp that the army didn''t have a regtion or checklist for.


    "First, are either of you in the nonstandard sleeping areas outside of the main camp?" General Stonewall asked.


    "I am." Karl confirmed.


    "Have you had any flooding or excessive mud issues with your sleeping area?" The General asked.


    "Oh, that area. No, I''m in an elevated sleeping situation in the stand of trees just beyond those. If you look out the door and pay close attention, you can see the walls of my sleeping unit about five metres off the ground." Karl exined.


    "You sleep in the trees? Is that an innate fondness of your ss? I have heard that many Elites have particr tendencies due to their advancements."


    Karl shook his head. "Yes, it''s because of my ss, but not a mental quirk. One of my bonded beasts is a Bloodbath Spider, and she excels in creatingrge-scale webs, including silk sheets that can be used to create sleeping quarters.


    That is where my group is staying now. It is better to be together when an rm is sounded at night, so we don''t have to look for stragglers.


    The webs are Commander Rank monster silk, and they serve as a primary defensive device as well, so there is no loss of safety in our arrangement."


    "I take it that this has been approved by prior Regional Supervisors?" The General asked.


    "Regional Supervisors, Battalion Commanders, and even High Clergy." Karl agreed.


    "That''s good enough for me. Now, as a Commander Rank Elite, what are both of your opinions on the effectiveness of the continued artillery presence on the border?"


    Karl shrugged. "It''s loud, but it helps keep the Hill Giants far enough off that we have time to form up when an attack starts. Without that constant harassment, they would definitely form up closer to our lines."


    Morgana nodded. "Here, their primary purpose is deterrent, as the direct sts are less likely to cause significant casualties against these targets than they are against Awakened Rank or Common monsters. I know that isn''t the answer that most of the military wants to hear, but with regr munitions, you can''t really expect them to do much to a Commander Rank Giant."


    "So, your consensus is that it would be better to keep them active on the line than to remove them and redeploy them against softer targets?" General Stonewall asked.


    They both shrugged. "Where they''re needed most is above our pay grade. But we can say with some certainty that they''re not useless here."


    General Stonewall chuckled. "Excellent answer. Alright, next is about supplies. Are there any particr shortages that you have noticed?"


    Morgana looked at the buffet that the cooks were setting up. "Well, I wouldn''t call it a shortage, but if it''s possible to get at least some raw ingredients here to make fresh food, it would be appreciated by the troops. Too much canned, shelf stable everything is hard on morale. Even the bread is canned, and that can be made from shelf - stable ingredients here in the camp.


    We had a barbecue the other day, and you would think that the soldiers had never seen food before." She informed the Generals.


    The Generalughed. "That''s the story of soldiers everywhere. The food always sucks, and the opportunity for fresh meat and vegetables is far too rare. But how did you manage a barbecue?"


    Karl raised his hand. "That would be me. One of the secondary abilities of my ss is to store food for my beasts in a separate space. Sometimes there is a bit of extra that is suitable for human consumption, so I will pull it out and share it with the others. This time it was one of the giant pigs that I grabbed for Hawk from the Frost Giant nation."


    The General looked confused for a second. "Just how big is this pet in question?"


    "The pig was imed by the Dragon Hawk, so about ten kilos, give or take? I''ve never actually weighed him. But about normal-sized for a Dragon Hawk,rge for a normal bird." Karl replied with a shrug.


    "And he imed an entire giant pig? An Awakened beast that weighs over two tonnes?" The General asked.


    "More than one actually, but that''s a whole other story. He''s very protective of things that he believes are his food."


    Morganaughed, and the Generals smiled. "You make it sound as if they''re your children."


    "They are in a way. We share a mental link, so I know everything that they''re thinking, and they seem to be smarter than other magical beasts of their type. They don''t have any problems understanding humans, and they can form more creative answers than half of the people I meet, though the answers can be a bit predictable." Karl exined.


    "Predictable?" Karl nodded. "Hawk will be hungry, and he hates all things cold or water magic. Rae has a very tortured artist dark vibe going on, and Thor just wants to meet new people, while Remi is somewhat selective, with a bias towards people who are more attuned to the Elements."


    The Generals both looked down at their notes. "I don''t have anything about this Remi before you arrived here. Are they very newly bonded?" Karl shook his head. "No, she''s just a bit shy, and she''s a Spirit Snake, a cold-blooded monster, so she''s not a big fan of anything cold. Now that we''re on the Hill Giant border, she has beening out more."


    General Jackson flipped the pages of their investigative report. "Wonderful, we can start there. Do you believe the weather here is causing major issues with the war effort?"


    Karl chuckled. "You really do have a question for everything, don''t you? No, the weather here has been cooperative since I arrived. This portion of the battle is not suffering from the weather, and certainly not in the way that the Frost Giant border is."


    General Stonewall nodded. "The Mountain Giant border has been receiving torrential rainfalltely for no apparent reason. We suspect that it is magical, but it is causing major issues with the efforts to move through the mountains to find their hiding spots."


    "The Mountain Giants are in hiding?" Morgana asked.


    "We could only wish. No, we''ve been having issues trying to track them as they retreat between engagements. Without that information, it is exceptionally difficult to guess what part of that treacherous terrain will be the target of the next major offensive.


    But we should focus on this portion of the Hill Giant border first. We are hoping to make changes in the ways that the Elites are deployed, but we don''t fully understand their battle tactics yet. I believe that there was some footage takentely, but most of it was taken by the infantry, and the scenes of the Elites inbat are somewhat distant.


    So, we are forced to ask directly instead of reviewing solid data."


    Morganaughed, while Karl sipped coffee to hide his smile.


    "What''s so amusing about that?" The General asked.


    Morgana sighed. "Have you ever seen a unit of Elites fighting up close? Not all skills originate at a caster, and many of the movements require enhanced eyesight to properly track. Thebat techniques arepletely individualized, even if they''re the same on paper. In short, I''m not sure that watching will do you much good." "And we''re right back at where we started, with the fact that Elites on paper and Elites in the field have nothing inmon, as with the assistant Attorney General." General Stonewall grumbled.


    "But we can still tell you all about the camp." Karl offered helpfully.


    "Alright, let''s start with that. I see that the artillery battalion is all off to one side of the line, why is that? In the technical manual, it prescribes that they should be spread down the entire line to increase the effective carpeted area of the bombardment."


    Karl had no idea who had chosen that deployment or why, but fortunately for him, they weren''t alone in the room.


    One of the warrior ss professors sat down with them. "Generals, I am Commander Smith, I teach blunt weapons for the Warrior ss Elites, but I am the one who ordered that deployment for the artillery. You see, we defend them with skills, but if we spread them out, we can''t have one Elite cover more than one piece of equipment. It is more resource effective to have a small number of powerful Elites defend the artillery than to spread them out and constantly defend fifty different points along the line."


    "So, it is a manpower issue. Would sending more Elites help?" General Jackson asked.


    Smith shook his head. "No, you''re missing the point. The reduced bombardment range is inconsequential to their actual function.


    They can still provide suppressive fire when clustered. The primary original reason for spreading them was to reduce losses to enemy artillery. But we have Elites for that now, and they can erect magical barriers to stop iing artillery, so we don''t need to spread them anymore.


    In fact, if we were to spread them, we would have to stop defending them for practical reasons, and they would be sacrificial targets in nearly every battle."


    "Ah, I see now. So the tactics have already been updated, and Command simply didn''t understand the reason. Please continue."

 Chapter 351 But Is She?

    351 But Is She?


    The longer they sat at the table with the Generals, the more people they gathered, mostly Professors, but some of the Commander Rank Elites from the army unit who came to scope the kitchen for leftover barbecue, and a few High Priests, who were pretending they hadn''te for the exact same reason.


    That took a lot of the weight off Karl and Morgana, who now rarely had to answer questions for the Generals, but they were at the table with them, and there was no polite way to excuse themselves for the next three hours as they finished their question session.


    Then the Generals finally excused themselves to go to the line and check the veracity of the answers they had gotten, and Morgana could finally begin her lessons. But by then it was almost time for Karl to go on duty at the line, and it was time for lunch.


    So, she wasn''t happy to have lost arge portion of her already reduced teaching time to the questions of the Generals, but the other students who hadn''t had to study today didn''t mind in the least.


    Karl headed to the line for his afternoon shift, and spent most of the first two hours trying to decide if Tessa had actually advanced to Commander Rank. It felt like she had, but the beasts were split on it. She felt more dragon, and that was messing with Hawk''s ability to tell how powerful she was, while Remi thought she just smelled fantastic, so it was down to Thor and Rae''s opinions that she had advanced to Commander Rank.


    It was certain that something had changed after thatst surge of divine energy, though.


    There wasn''t much else to do along the line that day. The Hill Giants had pulled back to the point that the artillery was only sporadically firing, and the weather was mild, so everyone just sat around watching the horizon for signs that something was about to happen.


    That was the opposite of what was going on along most of the line, where the Hill Giants had renewed their push and even sent extra troops forward to see if they could cause a breach and push the Elites back, forcing them to regroup further into the formerly human held territories.


    They weren''t normally as aggressive as the Frost Giants had been with their cloning program in ce, but the Hill Giants had the power advantage, with so many of the powerful Elites dealing with the Mountain Giants.


    The Mountain Giants had aparatively miniscule poption, and a much smaller territory, but their absolute power made sure that none of their neighbours would dare to mess with them.


    It was a strange situation for Karl and his team, who had gotten so used to being behind enemy lines in the Frost Giant nation, with constant targets to attack, that they didn''t really know what to do with themselves in a situation where the order was to hurry up and wait.


    But it was a bit like a vacation, just leaning back against Thor, who was napping in the sun. Dana was leaning up against his side while Lotus had turned Thor''s head into a sun lounger, resting against his crest and between his horns, while Tessay on Thor''s back, watching the horizon.


    "You look mighty rxed for abat deployment." One of the other students noted. "We can still see the horizon. But you are right, this is much better than standing around doing nothing. In fact, if I don''t go too deeply into meditation, I can even work on my mental focus while we wait for the Hill Giants to decide what they''re doing." Karl agreed.


    "As long as you''re not actually cking when the attackes. We''ve all got bets on how many giants they''re going to send at you after you taunted them yesterday." The warriorughed.


    Lotus looked over from her resting spot. "The average from the battle reports says that in two days, four Royal Rank Giants will be sent to test us again.


    That''s how the Hill Giants usually operate, they double their force if an attack fails. But we''ve been getting smaller attacks than most other portions of the line, so perhaps they will leave us for a while longer."


    "That doesn''t sound like a solid answer, Priestess." The warrior joked.


    Tessa looked down from Thor''s back andughed. "She''s a Nature Priestess, if she makes a prediction, it will likelye true, simply so that she''s not made into a liar. Do you want her to give a solid answer?"


    The warrior shook his head. "I forgot to factor in Divine Favour. What do we have to kill to get an entire week off?"


    [All of them and a couple of humans who are a bit taller than average for good luck should do it.] Rae suggested.


    Karlughed quietly, and the Priestesses turned to him for answers.


    "Rae says all of them." He exined.


    "For one week off?" The warrior asked. "Yeah, I think that she''s underestimated the efficiency of the Clergy. They''ll have us filling out reports in no more than three days if we actually manage it. No way will we get an entire week off." Karl replied.


    Lotus red down at him. "You know, you still owe us for getting stuck with all the paperwork at the Cathedral while your arm was healing."


    "That was not my fault. They could have gotten me to write it in the hospital, as my pen arm was still working."


    Tessaughed. "Did you forget that you had a venomous snake in your sling? Half the staff were afraid toe into your room in case Remi bit them."


    Dana smiled as Remi slithered out of her space to see who was talking about her. She could tell what was going on around them just fine from inside, but with her own eyes out here in the sunshine was better somehow.


    She climbed up Karl and across Thor''s rough scales to wrap around his horn, where Lotus could pet her head.


    Hawk was slowly soaring above them, and Rae was happier in the darkness of her space than out in the direct sunlight, so that was how they remained until dinner, when the shift changed again and the first night shift took over from them.


    Dana sighed as Karl helped her to her feet. "You know, that was actually more productive than expected. I got a lot of meditation done."


    Karl nodded. "Yeah, it has been a good day for energy building. We don''t get enough time to properly meditate and build mental strength these days, and that''s most of what is holding back the beasts'' progression. Just a bit more and we can get little miss Remi up to Commander Rank and bnce the team. She''s the newest member, so she''s had the most work to do to catch up to the others. But she''s got good potential, I think she can catch all the way up." Remi nodded happily from her spot around Thor''s horn before sliding down to vanish into Lotus'' robes and appear again from a hip pocket.


    "Remi, what are you doing?" Karl asked out loud.


    [It''s warm here, and I didn''t want to get all dirty going over to you.]


    [You know, you could have stayed on Thor''s horn.] [He''s going to nap in his pool soon. He always does after a shift.]


    It wasn''t like Lotus minded. She hadn''t noticed that there was a hole in her pocket, but it was a pleasant surprise now that she realized it let Remi escape her robes and find a spot to hang out.


    But the Spirit Snake didn''t stay there long. She had forgotten one vital fact. Lotus was very short. From her waist, Remi couldn''t see anything but everyone else''s legs. So, she moved back up the robe to drape herself over Lotus'' shoulders, with her head on top of the Nature Priestess''.


    [Better. Still not as good of a view as Morgana, but Nature Priestesses are kind of warm in a different way than Witch Doctors.] N?v(el)B\\jnn


    Karl wasn''t sure what that meant. They were both the same temperature, so it had to be something to do with their magic.


    [Well, I''m d you found a good spot.] Karl teased the fickle snake. She didn''t enjoy riding on Karl, as the view was the same as being in her space, which was pointless in her mind. She could already find out what he was seeing, so it was much better to see what other people were looking at.

 Chapter 352 Remis Habits

    352 Remi''s Habits


    The next day was an off day from the line, and an off day from sses as well, which left everyone a bit confused as to what they should be doing. Both Tessa and Lotus were assigned to Karl''s team and not to the healers'' corps like the other clerics were, so they didn''t have duties, and that was a new feeling for them all. It was a bit like being back in the hospital, sitting around and waiting for something to happen, with nothing actually happening to keep you entertained. Very dull for someone used to being constantly active.


    Instead, they all spent most of the morning in meditation, while Karl worked to push the energy level in the focuses back to peak, so he could spread anotheryer over the spaces.


    The progress was going much more smoothly than it had the first few times that he had done this, and the extra practice was likely going to save him days per cycle once he had it fully mastered.


    Every little bit was an improvement on his growth speed, and Karl was feeling optimistic that this time might be the one that was going to yield actual results for him.


    He managed to finish theyer just after lunch, and stabilize the new focuses before dinner.


    The first sign that things were going right was Remi''s change of habits. She made herself a cleansing scrub out of coarse sand and bits of the crystalline nts from her space, then soaked in a bath of monster blood, which was normal for Rae, but out of character for the cleanliness obsessed snake.


    The blood softened her outer skin, and a few minutes of rolling around in the cleansing scrub had it all peeled off and her new skin nice and shiny.


    Then, she began to expand, the same way that Hawk had when he ate all the magical resources as a juvenile.


    Remi had been living on that level of resources so far, as everything that the others had collected was a valuable resource in its own right. But until now, there had been norge changes, and she had just slowly progressed from a tiny snake to a small snake.


    Energy was surging around Remi, and Karl noticed a sudden imbnce in the space as the other beasts began to push more energy into her portion of the mental construct, flooding the excited Spirit Snake, and allowing her body to continue to grow as she eyed a morsel that she had been saving. Someone had given her the heart of the Royal Rank Frost Giant, and while the organ resembled a blue crystal, it seemed to be flexible enough that Remi could squish it into a tube with her coils so that she could eat it whole.


    It would have been easier to cut it into chunks for her, but it seemed important to her that it was intact, and her body began to swell as the lump moved down her throat and began to rapidly dete, being digested in a matter of minutes.


    Remi still looked like Remi, but her power level was certainly at the Commander Rank now, and she had grown so much that Karl wasn''t certain anyone else would recognize her immediately. She certainly wasn''t going to fit in Lotus'' pocket anymore, and Karl wasn''t certain the dainty Nature Cleric would even be able to carry her anymore.


    Remi might only weigh twenty kilos, but she was three metres of solid muscle now, and as thick as a baseball bat. Karl got the feeling that she was still far from fully grown, and that she would keep increasing in size, but she didn''t show any signs of evolving into a Naga, and remained as the same blue and gold Spirit Snake that she had always been.


    But some things had changed. For example, she was now ying with ice balls in the air above her head, blowing them around with controlled gusts from [Blizzard] while the crystal trees in her swamp glowed with power.


    It became obvious that she was working on something when she brought out her totems to cast fireballs over the surface of the swamp, keeping the water warm. At first, Karl thought that she was trying to create a new skill bybining Fireball with Blizzard, but what she was actually working on was much different.


    The totems expired, and Remi made a new set, this time three instead of the two that she could create before, and with two Lamia back to back, looking around and firing in different directions.


    That was an impressive increase in the effectiveness of her totems, but it was a side effect of reaching the Commander Rank and not the actual goal of her experiment.


    It was the fog at the boundary that she was trying to create, the melted snow and ice from the blizzard, infused with all of the water magic, but none of the cold. Then, she began to cast chain lightning into the fog.


    It wasn''t doing anything much at the start, or even for the next few hours before Karl began to get ready for bed. But when she did finally make it work in her space, Remi had proudly created a brand-new skill for herself.


    [Thunderstorm] would dump magical rain that ate through everything that itnded on, using water magic to prate and tear it apart, while random lightning bolts descended from the cloud.


    Hawk was not impressed.


    [Why more water?] He demanded, certain that she had been nning to make a proper firestorm out of her Blizzard.


    [Water makes the lightning happy. Look how well it spreads over the wet things.] Remi replied, wishing that there was somewhere that she could test this properly.


    But nothing had attacked them in the past few days, and it would just seem silly to be creating a storm cloud in the middle of nowhere.


    So, she contented herself with making it rain in her space for a while. All night, in fact, while she practised changing the temperature of the water, so it could be an ice bath or afortable shower.


    The next morning was very simr, other than the fact that they had a shift on the line. They were still meditating and working on stabilizing their power, only now, they did it in a nice grassy spot, where everyone could lean against Thor.


    Technically, they were still in position, as the Cerro and the Clerics were in the middle of their formation, so nobody gave them any trouble about it while Hawk was circling in the sky to see where all the Hill Giants had gone.


    Karl had ordered him not to lose sight of their group, so he couldn''t go too far, and there were no Hill Giants anywhere in his visual range, other than the ones that were attacking dozens of kilometres down the line.


    He could go help, but they wouldn''t know who he was, and the Academy wouldn''t let Karl move thirty kilometres or more just to join another military unit''s fight. So, he had to content himself with sightseeing, and stealing the asional rodent as a snack when he saw them on the move.


    Remi finally got to try out her new spell that evening. Minus the Lightning. It was an exceptionally hot day, and a few of the water mages had set up a sprinkler for the off-duty students and teachers to cool off. That seemed like an invitation to her, so Remi exited her space, startling Morgana with her size as shended on the Witch Doctor''s shoulders.


    "You''ve gotten big. Is this a Commander Rank Remi that I am seeing?" The Witch Doctor asked.


    Remi nodded happily, and then cast her new [Thunderstorm] spell, with the lightning suppressed, to create a rain cloud fifty metres in the air, which dumped rain over the small area where everyone was ying in the sprinkler.


    The studentsughed as the event turned into a full-fledged shower, and one of the Earth Mages quickly turned the area into a stone pool with a sand bottom, approximating a beach.


    With the way that it was raining in Remi''s spell, even suppressed as it was so it didn''t hurt anyone, the pool would quickly fill, and then they would have somewhere to rx out of the heat.


    Morgana was just about to join them, not afraid of getting wet, when a high-pitched, girlish scream nearly shattered her eardrums.


    "Snake!" The boy shouted. n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om


    [Hey, it''s the ''afraid of snakes'' guy. I think he peed.] Remi informed Karl, too amused to be disgusted by the disy of terror.


    [Don''t scare him too badly, they still need him to work.] Morgana stroked Remi under her chin as the snake extended forward to get a better look at the boy, who was again cowering in terror. He froze in panic, and then Remi darted forward to bump her head against his nose, before retreating to Morgana''s embrace.


    [I tried giving him a friendly boop, but I don''t think it worked.]

 Chapter 353 Remis Expressions

    353 Remi''s Expressions


    For a moment, there was chaos as everyone worried that one of the students had been attacked by the Spirit Snake, but those who were close enough had seen Remi carefully boop him on the nose and knew that he wasn''t actually injured, just panicked and hyperventting.


    "False rm, everyone, the snake just headbutted him and made him panic." One of the students called out as the Elites began to run over to see what the danger was.


    One of the other teachers stared at Remi for a moment, as the snake stared back at her.


    "Is that Remi? I recall that she was much smaller than that. Or is she under the effects of a skill?" The mage finally asked.


    "She advanced to Commander Rank, and wanted me to show her around for the afternoon, apparently. At least, that''s the impression that I got when she appeared on my shoulders." Morgana exined.


    "I know that you''re Karl''s advisor, but you don''t have to carry his pets around for him." One of the teachers joked.


    Remi circled Morgana so she could see who was talking more clearly, and the teacherughed. "It''s like she''s judging me for questioning her choices. I can see why she doesn''t want to travel in the dirt, but still, isn''t she getting a bitrge to be carried around on your shoulders?" He asked.


    The student beside himughed. "That look is definitely offended. I think she took that as you calling her fat."


    The studentsughed as they realized that was really what Remi was going for, and that the snake had no idea how much more she weighed now than she did when she was a third that length.


    "Well, we should thank her for the rain, at the very least. It''s been so hot here that I''m beginning to wonder what''s wrong with the weather." One of the students added.


    That was a good point, Remi thought. She knew that it was supposed to be close to winter now, or perhaps in the middle of the winter. She didn''t actually know how long seasonssted.


    Plus, they were in the hills, and the weather should be cooler here than it was in most ces. It was much better than the Frost Giant nation, but they weren''t that far from their borders, so it shouldn''t be this warm, she thought.


    The problem was that she had no way to express that without going through Karl. She was beginning to enjoy learning new spells, but learning tomunicate with random humans still seemed like a lot of work for very little result.


    There should be a Morgana specific way, she thought. She only really wanted to talk to people in the group, pretty much ever, and only wanted to talk to Morgana right now, so why did she have to learn a whole writtennguage?


    She had learned to read the letters, and she had seen Karl making them before, but she didn''t have arms, and while her innate water control was good enough to hold a spear, it was not going to make legible letters.


    Plus, she only knew the runes for so many words. Certainly, not enough to properly express herself.


    What Remi didn''t realize was that the only books she had been reading were spell books and other arcane tomes rted to skills and history, so none of them were written in the much easier modernmonnguage.


    Their rxing evening was shattered by the sudden thumping of the artillery, which had been silent all day with no targets in range. Then, the attack rm red, and Morgana turned to the line, prepared to bring Remi back to Karl so they wouldn''t be shorthanded for the battle.


    Not that they would be far apart, as Morgana was stationed with him for battles, but Karl could give his beasts orders to work together, so she assumed he would want them all back.


    Remi was getting excited about the battle, as she would get to try out her new skill and her Commander Rank attack powers for the first time. Everyone had been excited when she made it rain for the pool, so they would definitely be excited when she made a full thunderstorm for the battle.


    But she couldn''t see the Giants. Not even with her head extended up above Morgana''s.


    "I don''t know where they are either, but they should being." Morgana assured her, mistaking her excitement to show off for eager anticipation of the battle itself.


    Morgana also had no way to know that the wave of disappointment that followed was because Hawk had reported that the Hill Giants weren''ting to this end of the line, but moving past them to attack the artillery and the group beyond the students. They had gotten close enough to make it look like an attack, but they hadn''t slowed their movement, and they were already past this nk.


    "She''s sad that she won''t get to show you how cool her new Thunderstorm ability can be. The Giants were only passing by this end of the line, and they''re going for the artillery and the far nk." Karl exined as Morganaforted the dejected Spirit Snake.


    "That''s the worst kind of disappointment. She was so excited to show me the skill, and now there is nothing to cast it on." Morgana agreed.


    But they didn''t stop their advance to attack the artillery either, they circled around, searching for something.


    They didn''t get closer than artillery range, and didn''te into sight of the line, so if it wasn''t for Hawk''s scouting, Karl would have thought that this was a false rm, as many of the others did.


    It didn''t take long before the other students remembered that Karl had a scout in the sky, who should be watching the action while dodging artillery shells.


    "How long until they arrive?" One of the warriors asked.


    "That''s a fine question, they passed across the line, as if they wereing for an attack, then they doubled back, looking for something. I have no idea what they''re up to now." Karl exined.


    "Do you think that they can sense something that we can''t?" The warrior on Karl''s left asked.


    "Most likely. But normally, my beasts would sense it as well, and they haven''t noticed anything out of the usual in the area. If there was some hidden treasure, we should have picked up some trace of it by now."


    [Treasure?] Hawk asked as he soared above the Giants.


    He didn''t sense any treasure, though. He was pretty good at it, but there wasn''t anything to find. The Hill Giants didn''t even leave their dead behind, so there were no loot filled corpses either.


    The Hill Giants appeared to making a crude grid pattern as they moved back and forth across the territory at the edge of the artillery bombardment. They were definitely searching, but neither Karl nor Hawk could determine for what, and nobody else had any clue, even after he tried to exin. N?v(el)B\\jnn


    Then, the guns fell silent as the Hill Giants retreated out of range.


    [Hawk, scout a little longer and see if there was anything hiding underground while they were here. Maybe it''s a hidden ruin, like the Dwarven Vige.]


    [If it''s like that, there won''t be any mice.] Hawk reminded him.


    Karl''s smile let everyone know he was talking to Hawk as he replied.


    [Not everyone is as good at pest control as the Dwarves. There might be mice.]

 Chapter 354 The Giants Search

    354 The Giants'' Search


    The search proved fruitless both for Hawk and the Hill Giants, as they returned every day for the next week, stopping before they could get in range of the artillery, and searching different sections of the line every day.


    One day, while sitting on the line, watching the empty horizon, Tessa looked down at Karl from her spot on Thor''s back. "Do you think that it''s actually possible to interrogate a Hill Giant? I really want to know what in the world they''ve been looking for this past week. There has hardly even been an attack, they''re so busy looking for whatever they''re looking for." She asked.


    The teacher closest to them burst intoughter. "Well, they are capable of speaking humanmon, but the odds of getting them to talk are pretty low. Hill Giants don''t feel pain the same way a human does, so you can''t really torture them for information, even if you have a way to restrain them."


    Karl sighed. "Well, that is unfortunate. I really do want to know what is driving them to search this whole area like that. But if they''re doing it just to troll us and drive us insane, I''m not certain that I could take the truth."


    Tessa chuckled. "I don''t think that Hill Giants would do that, but I can definitely see you doing it just to mess with them."


    She had a point. They could all see Karl doing it if he got bored, and the nature priests would help him.


    It was two more days of waiting before they would find out what the Hill Giants had actually been up to.


    Karl was sitting in a history lesson with Morgana when the attack rm red, along with a secondary tone that indicated this was an urgent iing attack. If they had failed to detect it at the usual distance, that would be extremely odd, given that they hadn''t been distracted by anything, so that more likely meant that they were already charging, and would be here sooner than anticipated. n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om


    Karl switched from his morefortable uniform suit to his armour as he rose from his chair, and the mages in the ss began to scatter to their various assigned locations.


    Karl let Hawk loose as soon as they were out of the ssroom, and immediately, excited chatter filled his mind. [It''s a buffet! A mobile buffeting our way. There are huge mice, and angry Thors and meat with horns, and even pigs.] [Angry Thor? There are Lightning Cerro in the stampede?] Karl asked.


    [No, scaly, but on two legs and angry, they keep attacking things that get near them.]


    When Karl arrived at his spot on the nk, the true terror of the advance became clear.


    The Hill Giants pretending to search the area yesterday had dropped bait bags all over the ce, and the monsters were racing from one to another, trying to get to them. But once they were close enough, they would smell the humans, and that would be the final bait bag of the lure that had caused the monsters to stampede.


    How they had managed to wrangle so many into one ce was a mystery, but it most likely involved a lot of work, given how few Giants they had seen recently.


    There were thousands of monsters, perhaps tens of thousands. As far as Hawk could see, there were monsters on the horizon, charging toward the human lines.


    It wouldn''t just be the Academy portion that was hit today, but everyone within fifty kilometres of them. Compared to this influx, every one of the previous attacks looked like child''s y. But worse than that, once they were done with the monsters and exhausted, they were very likely to see a full offensive from the Hill Giants.


    [Got it. I will be on Morgana. She brings snacks to battle.]


    10:19


    The artillery corps was firing furiously, taking out many of the weaker monsters and inadvertently creating more bait to draw the monsters forward.


    But Hawk had more bad news for them. There was an enormous swarm of flying monsters at the back of the ground-based influx, picking off the weaker ones. They were enraged as well, and acting much more aggressively than Hawk thought should be natural.


    "Morgana, tell them to make sure they save ammunition for the anti-aircraft guns. There is a massive swarm of flying monsters at the back of the stampede." Karl whispered as they took their positions.


    All of the teachers had radios with them, and served as the unit leaders, as they were stationed within earshot of each other along the line for an attack like this.


    She nodded silently before sending her message, and Karl considered what sort of tactic might be effective against this sort of enemy.


    [Remi, time to try your new skills. Can you cast it all the way back where the monsters are?] Karl asked.


    Remi exited her space and crawled up Tessa, who had the best view from the back of Thor.


    [Maybe. I''ll make it big and far.]


    The storm cloud began to grow, and the first few bolts of lightning hit the ground as the rain fell on the leading edge of the monsters.


    [Perfect, we want them all to have to run through it, so if you can keep it there the whole fight, as wide as you can, that is all you need to do.] Karl instructed.


    [Got it. I will be on Morgana. She brings snacks to battle.]


    Hawk was definitely a bad influence on the no longer small snake. But she would soon realize that tiny pocket snacks were not enough to sate the hunger of a grown Spirit Snake, and the appeal would likely be lost.


    But Morgana was prepared for Remi''s arrival, and she had her staff already nted in the dirt, ready for Remi to crawl up so she could get an even better view, and not put all her weight on the Witch Doctor for the battle.


    The monsters were getting close now, past the point where the Giants had ced bait, and they had noticed the massive number of humans who could sate their magically stimted appetites.


    They were ravenous from the bait bags, and enraged. The perfectbination for oveing theirmon sense and getting them to charge at the Elites.

 Chapter 355 Brace For Impact

    355 Brace For Impact


    "Pikes up. Brace for impact." The section Commander ordered.


    The warriors brought up their pikes, and Thor brought up his barrier over his team, including Morgana and the group under Colonel Wilkes, who were his team by default, as they were right next to him, and attached to the same unit.


    Therger beasts were closer, as the smaller carnivores had chosen to stay behind the hyper-aggressive giant lizards and beasts, who naturally treated them as food.


    Tessa activated the Holy Blessing on the pikes, in time with the other battle Clerics along the line. The metal heads glowed with golden light, prepared to cut through the thick hides of the attackers, but the monsters didn''t care.


    "Ranged attackers, begin." Karl raised his bow and fired [Chain Lightning] into the front ranks. The lightning arced between the attackers, and dozens of the smaller beasts went up in mes as the Commander Rank ability hit their Awakened Rank bodies.


    The Hill Giants didn''t care what they sent this way, they just herded everything, so there were many strong beasts, but also a horde of weaker ones that would slowly wear down the more powerful defenders once they reached the human lines.


    The first wave of attackers fell easily to thebined attacks of the defenders, and most of the weaker beasts were already severely injured from Remi''s Thunderstorm.


    The damage from the rain wasn''t extreme, but it was a Commander Rank skill, and against Awakened Rank monsters, even half a minute of exposure was enough to nearly cripple them.


    Then, they had to pass through the area attacks of the other mages, many of whom had the same idea that Remi did, and spread their attacks over thergest possible area so that they injured everything before it made it to the line.


    The air in the distance crackled with lightning, fire swirled along the ground, and razor sharp gusts ofpressed winds tore through fur and scales.


    Thor bugled his challenge to the closest of the giant lizards, who raised his head to chomp down on the Cerro''s back. But that was where Tessa was sitting, and as Thor charged forward, she brought up her spear and stabbed upward through the roof of the beast''s mouth to impale its brain and send holy light bursting out of its skull.


    The enormous predator fell, and Thor crushed the ribs of another with his armoured tail while Tessashed out with her spear, and the pike line pushed the other attackers away from them.


    Karl continued to fire, switching to [ming Body] for more effect on the Commander Rank beasts, who were starting to pile up against the spears, running over the bodies of the fallen first ranks.


    The mages put up solid barriers, halting the advance of the monsters for a split second before the warriors charged through again.


    The goal was to keep moving forward so that the bodies didn''t stack up and give the monsters the chance to jump the defenders. Retreating would do the same thing, but that would eventually lead them back to camp, so it wasn''t really an option in a battle thisrge.


    Karl remained a few steps behind the pike wall as they moved forward, pushing the beasts back so that he could continue to fire arrows toward the thicker clusters of strong beasts.


    Unlike the Hill Giants, most of these beasts didn''t have any defensive magic, so the ongoing attack spells were devastating to them, especially in their enraged and starved state, where they were stopping inside the attack zone to feast on the bodies of the fallen.


    But Karl knew this fortunate state wouldn''tst forever. The mages were burning a lot of mana to keep the area spells up, and once they started to get tired, things would be much more difficult.


    Remi left her ce with Morgana when the Witch Doctor didn''t understand that the refreshing spells were moving forward with the offence team. It didn''t take the mages long to understand that the warriors had gotten priority for the stamina spells from the clerics, as they were the ones in immediate danger if someone faltered due to exhaustion.


    That led to the whole line pushing forward, holding their positions, while Remi slithered along at Karl''s side, doing nothing but keeping her [Thunderstorm] active.


    Only when the monster density began to increase again did she start creating her totems on top of Morgana''s staff. They were now designed to look like two Lamia back to back, instead of just one, and the firing rate had doubled, while the totems themselves weresting closer to two minutes than their original ny seconds.


    The poison was slower acting, but the fireballs had an immediate effect on everything that they hit, and their nk of the line was holding strong, even as the others were calling up reinforcements from the army.


    They weren''t Elites, but there were more than enough Clerics here to give them blessings and send them intobat to reinforce the students, the same as they would do on any other battlefield.


    The Academy had been trying to avoid it, but the pure weight of numbers was dragging down some sections of the line that didn''t have as much area attack ability.


    "The strongest monsters are falling. Front line, hold position and let theme to us." The Section Commander ordered, giving the students a bit of a chance to catch their breath between fights.


    Not that they were going to getpletely out ofbat, as the mages'' reduction in mana meant that they had to cut the power of their spells back to the mana level that they could sustain in a longer time period, and that was bringing monsters to the front with less damage than at the start of the battle. n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om


    The pikes were beginning to falter, and the warriors in the front were being forced to change to shorter ranged weapons, while the second rank used their pikes to keep thergest of the monsters from crushing them as they fought.


    That was Rae''s cue to switch tactics. Now, instead of sending the Spider Golems after the most dangerous targets while she spat silk to trap ones that looked like they would make good snacks, she had the Spider Golems switch to the mass clearance tactics that they had used in thest battle with the Hill Giants, just murdering as many small monsters as possible.

 Chapter 356 Great Golden Lions

    356 Great Golden Lions


    The "kill everything that moves" tactic was working well for the spider golems, and the line was actually able to push back the monsters in a few spots, but there was much worse iing. The smarter monsters hadn''t beenpletely consumed by rage due to the spell that the Hill Giants had put on the area using the bait, and they had remained behind the area attack spells for as long as they could resist.


    But now they wereing forward, charging through the weakened mage spells, intent on tearing the humans apart and sating the magical hunger that was consuming their thoughts. They had resisted as long as they could, but now, their reasoning had been ovee, and they were rampaging the same as the others.


    There was arge group of massive feline predators, and for a moment Karl struggled to recall their names from the study books.


    Great Golden Lions, that was the name of the species, he realized. Then he realized that there was a muchrger problem. Unlike the other monsters in the horde so far, this was a proper magical beast, and it had abilities beyond strengthening and melee attacks.


    The Great Golden Lion could breathe fire, and if that pack made it to the front lines, things were going to get brutal for the defenders. The mages'' barriers wouldn''t hold up for long, and the Holy Light blessing that the Clerics cast on the warriors wouldn''t take many hits from the fiery breath.


    "Morgana, those things breathe fire. I need to move forward to keep them away from the line." Karl shouted back to the Witch Doctor.


    "Take your ten-person team if you can even get ahead of the lines. We will do what we can to protect your back." Morgana replied.


    Colonel Wilkes'' group wouldn''t be too impressed by that answer, but the extra bodies would help, and when Thor charged, the monsters would spread to avoid being rammed. It was instinctive, and their enraged minds didn''t understand battle tactics.


    "Just follow the Cerro. Everything else will back away from our fight when the mes start to fly. But those lions breathe fire, and they will tear apart the warriors who don''t have Thor''s barrier on them." Karl exined as he prepared to push the group forward.


    Seamus still looked terrified, but Tessa pulled him up on the back of Thor, and the bard took out a small pan flute, which he could y with one hand while he held a shield in the other.


    That was far better than he had been during the first battle he had seen on this front, and Karl was impressed with his bravery. It took a lot of courage to face that level of fear, and to not only go forward of the line, but to do it on a Cerro with a War Cleric.


    Of course, he might not have realized what he had volunteered for yet, so it could be excused if he panickedter, but Karl had a good feeling about him.


    Thor smashed the ground with his tail, sending an [Earthquake] forward into the monsters, then charged behind it with Rae''s Golems protecting his nks.


    They didn''t have far to go, not far enough that he would lose the slower moving members of the squad, but the monsters parted around them when they saw that the Cerro had a target in mind.


    Karl took up the back of the formation, preventing anything froming up behind them as Thor parted the monsters in front of them. And the monsters didn''t take long to close ranks behind them, but it was the weaker and more opportunistic ones that came first.


    "You go forward, we will hold the back." Colonel Wilkes instructed as he summoned his Fire Elementals to support Jimmy and Ali at the back of the team. Dana and Rae''s Golems were split between the sides of Thor, so as long as the group stayed close, they only had to cover a small area with actual warriors, leaving Karl and Thor free to fight the Great Golden Lions in front.


    The five beasts roared in unison, and a st of me washed over the group, causing everyone to glow in an oddbination of blue and gold as the barriers created by Tessa and Thor worked together to prevent the damage from reaching the Elites.


    [Give me a boost, big buddy.] Karl instructed as he ran onto Thor''s tail with his maul in his hand.


    Thor flipped his tail up, sending Karl flying over the heads of Tessa and Seamus. The startled Golden Lions looked up in shock and send a gout of mes toward Karl as he descended.


    The mes washed over [me Body] with no noticeable damage, then the maul hit home, crushing a lion''s skull and sending Chain Lightning out through the group.


    Tessa''s spear flicked out above Karl''s head, shing the throat of another Golden Lion before it could recover. Hot golden blood flowed from the wound, setting the grass on fire as Karl switched to the two-handed de for easier close quartersbat.


    The ming breath came for him again as Karl sidestepped, making use of his enhanced speed to pull the attack away from the rest of the group. That spread it over the monsters on Thor''s right nk, and the stench of burning fur filled the air.


    The Golden Lions didn''t care, the other monsters were nothing butpetition for food, and they had dared to try to eat the ones who had insulted the Lions by fighting back.


    ws raked down Karl''s barrier as he parried another set with his de and moved another step away from Thor.


    That was the perfect position, and While Karl was burning a lot of energy to keep his barrier up, he now had the closest of the Golden Lions facing away from the Lightning Cerro. n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om


    Two massive horns tossed the beast in the air, where it was helplessly impaled by Tessa''s spear before being torn apart by multiple [Magic Missiles] and [Fire bolts].

 Chapter 357 Regroup

    357 Regroup


    That left only two more Golden Lions, and a frightened horde of monsters, who were now giving them as much space as possible, as Karl rolled to Thor''s left nk and evaded another gout of fire breath, which burned even more of the unfortunate horde.


    They were forced too close to the battle by the press of bodies, and they were suffering as badly from the Lions as they were from the humans. n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om


    The Great Golden Lions were forced to their hind legs as Ophelia joined Karl with a furious roar.


    They were stillrger than the raging Werebear, but not by enough that they could discount her raw strength.


    Unfortunately for them, that opened their vulnerable bellies while they swatted away the Berserker''s axes, and another one fell, gutted by Tessa''s spear. That left only one, surrounded by Karl and Ophelia, fighting desperately for its life.


    Karl got a solid hit on one shoulder as the Lion twisted out of the way, and its leg suffered a grievous wound from the axe, but then it was gone, leaping off into the crowd of monsters on three legs, and putting a half dozen bodies between it and the humans as it retreated.


    The monsters were just letting it run, but they were closing on Karl and the others now that the threat of me breath was gone.


    "Back up to the line, fighting retreat." Karl shouted to be heard over the din of the battle.


    They had done their jobs, and the me breathing Commanders were out ofmission, leaving only targets that the line could reasonably be expected to deal with.


    Thor and Karl both needed a breather, as they had expended a lot of energy to keep [Refreshing Lightning] active, but the Golems and Fire Elementals were happy to cover for them as they backed away.


    Karl swept the surrounding area with [Rend], creating a wide path for their retreat. That got them back to the line in under ten seconds, and gave the line a moment to regroup after they had passed by.


    "Good work." Morgana congratted them as they stopped between the warriors and the mages. Karl just nodded in reply as he focused on recovering energy, and Remi crawled up the Witch Doctor to get to her favourite viewpoint on Morgana''s staff and set up new totems.


    "Will the other Lion be back?" Morgana asked, while holding the radio microphone in her hand, ready to inform battlefieldmand of the oue.


    "Not any time soon. It has a broken leg and a mangled shoulder. I don''t know how fast they heal, but it shouldn''t be back today at the very least." Karl replied.


    Morgana sent their report, and the group spread back to their positions, returning to their duties against the rapidly diminishing wave of monsters.


    All that was left was the very worst of it. The wave of flying monsters that had followed the others to the battle.


    Fortunately, they had a n. First, the [Thunderstorm] to soak and electrocute the iing birds.


    Then [Blizzard] to freeze the water.


    And finally, they would have Thor hurl Mick''s tiny Sand Golems at them with his tail.


    Thatst bit was an impromptu addition by Thor himself.


    The other portions of the line would have to fend for themselves, but as long as [Refreshing Lightning] was active, Remi was sure she could keep the area spells active long enough to make a difference.


    The thunderstorm would be spread over thergest possible area, as it needed time to reach maximum effect, and then the blizzard would be a narrow final line.


    There were a few other area spells in their section, including Colonel Wilkes'' [mestorm] spell, but its casting range wasn''t nearly as far as Remi''s.


    Why he couldn''t cast it as far away as she could use her area spells was a mystery, but the mestorm spell naturally wanted to be centred on the caster, and just moving it out into the monsters was an effort, while Remi only had to be able to clearly see and visualize her target.


    That was true for many of the mages'' area spells. They were primarily defensive, and while they could create a gaprge enough for their unit, the area spells were usually centred on them, not hurled hundreds of metres away. With the obvious exception of explosions, which had been a constant counterpart to the day''s battle.


    The flock was chasing thest of the beasts forward, herding them into the Academy lines, right until they hit the rain, and found that it was seeping into their skin and tearing their feathers out.


    That was enough to make most of them turn around and give up on the battle, ovee by the pain and shaken free of the effects of the rage that they had been under.


    But the beasts on the ground were closer to the bait packs all the way in, and the effect was much stronger. They weren''t turning back, they were intent on eliminating the humans, and even more now that they were wounded.


    [That works better than I thought it would. The damage is alright, but the deterrent effect is totally worth it.] Remi noted as she watched the first of the rain soaked monsters reach the [Blizzard] and get sh frozen.


    They were monsters, and they could break the magical ice easily enough, but it was sharp, and it cut into their flesh, making them bleed and slowing their movement. Then they were into the spells of the other mages, and being cut down so fast that the warrior lines were only doing cleanup on thest few who struggled through in a desperate attempt to get some form of vengeance.


    But their incredibly effective defence only extended so far, and the sections of the line further down toward the artillery were still having issues, and even with the reinforcements from the regr army, they were in for a hard fight.


    The problem was, that if they changed anything here, they would only move the problem back in their direction.

 Chapter 358 Meat Aisle Stocked

    Chapter 358 Meat Aisle Stocked


    The first group, the ones who had been ending their shift when the attack started, were rotated off the line to get some sleep, as the battle wasn''t showing any signs of ending in the next few hours, but Karl''s side of the line was at the point where you could call it under control.


    That let them all rest a little, as they were mostly using thergest scale attacks they could at greatly reduced power to deal with the stragglers of the monster attack on their nk. Remi had cut back the power on her spells to the point that the monsters were actually making it through, but only the Ascended Rank ones. That was low enough draw that she wouldn''t burn herself out before it was time to nap, as long as she still had Thor and Lotus''s help with their refreshing skills.


    "Having such arge area spell is a blessing in battle. I think that Thunderstorm is evenrger than the Blizzard she was using before." One of the warriors noted as he stepped back from the line, letting the second rank rotate forward.


    "She''s a Commander now, instead of Ascended. So, the Blizzard will have expanded as well, but her abilities definitely lean toward the dispersed damage effects over exceptionallyrge areas. I see that there is a Shaman further down the line using nearly the same spell, but we could have used several more of them." Karl replied.


    "Are there so few shamans?" One of the mages behind Karl asked.


    Morgana nodded and turned to the student. "There are right now. There are only five at the Academy, including the instructor. There are many more from previous years, but thest few haven''t had many shamans among them."


    One of the mages chuckled. "Eighty percent of the student body is either a cleave base warrior, or a wand marked wizard. It''s like we got all the repeat draws thest few years."


    Mick, the bald Golem Mage,ughed. "It''s like gambling. You get a streak of nothing and then something big. Our year burned up all its luck with Karl and Dana. Mostly Karl. No offence to Dana, but she did start as a basic Mage with exceptional talent. He got the broken overpowered super mark."


    Karlughed as he sent a wave of [Rend] through the wounded monsters.


    "It''s not that the mark is overpowered. It''s the beasts. If I didn''t have such a cool group of teammates, the mark would be nearly worthless." Karl informed him, making Thor stomp happily.


    Remi jabbed her head repeatedly toward the blizzard until one of the mages reached out to stroke her scales. "You are doing a wonderful job, Remi. Every bit as impressive as Thor''s shield, Hawk''s scouting and Rae''s Golems, wherever they went." Karlughed and gestured into the distance with his next [Rend] attack. "They''re over that way, hunting for things that are stronger than a wounded Ascended Rank pig.


    The camp will be eating good for a while after this battle, and I''ll be sure to pull a few extra beasts into my storage space so we can do another roast in case we run out of fresh goodness before the next event." He added.


    "What''s the next event?" The mage petting Remi asked.


    "Dana and Lotus both have birthdaysing up in the next couple of weeks, only a few days apart, so we were going to celebrate them together with another barbecue. It looks like we might not have to do much begging, though. There are hundreds of dead pigs out there." Karl noted.


    "Are those safe to eat?" Jimmy asked as he stood in the front row with a pike in his hands.


    "The ones in the thunderstorm are. That''s just lightning and water magic. They''ll be fresh and clean when we go to gut them, even if they are a bit charred. I''m sure we can save at least a truckload of meat from our section of the battle."


    Morgana considered Karl''s words. "You have a good point. I will see if they have an insted trailer nearby. If we can get them butchered and on ice, perhaps frozen with ice magic, we can have fresh meat instead of canned for months."


    The meal rations included canned pork. Or as the Elites called it, "Stuff Posing As Meat", but it was mediocre at best. Fried and thered with mustard it wasn''t too bad, and a number of the students liked to eat it with eggs, or drowned in a cream gravy. But Morgana was not a fan.


    One after another, the mages took turns petting and encouraging Remi, as it was her wide area spells that were making life so easy along this section. The range that she had with her magic was ridiculouspared to what most of the students could manage, and as a result, they were mostly just standing around, waiting for something to make it through the blizzard so they could finish it off. n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om


    But that was bing increasingly rare, and the flying beasts had nevere near their portion of the line, though they could surely have just flown over the spell effects. The thunderstorm clouds were only a few hundred metres in the air, and Hawk was flying over them constantly, looking for targets stupid or brave enough to challenge his air superiority.


    The birds had mostly fled as soon as the thunderstorm went up, and the only powerful flying things were all the way down at the anti-aircraft guns, ten kilometres from their location.


    But there were some Gryphons among them, and Hawk thought that might make a goodpanion, as it could fly, use wind magic, and walk on four legs. It was a versatile sort of monster. And it didn''t use water magic.


    That was why Hawk wasn''t dive-bombing the overgrown mice right now. The water magic wouldn''t attack him, but he would get soaked with every pass, and that was simply uneptable.

 Chapter 359 Rotate The Lines

    Chapter 359 Rotate The Lines


    They were about to rotate a second group off the line when the signal was given that the monsters had been defeated, and a temporary stand down order was in ce. N?v(el)B\\jnn


    That meant that while they were relieved of the official need to fight, everyone should remain nearby and prepared to fight, even if they weren''t on shift.


    So, Karl moved his group back, as they were in the third group, which would go on shift in half an hour, andy down against Thor for a quick nap.


    There were still a few monstersing their way, and Remi still had her [Thunderstorm] up at further reduced capacity, but what made it past the storm was nothing that a small group of warriors and mages couldn''t handle.


    The rest of the line was slowly managing to chase off the flying creatures, but Karl could sense the envious eyes cast in their direction. The storm and Hawk were enough to chase off all of the flying monsters at their end of the line, so the right nk was just resting while everyone else finished the fight.


    Karl''s team took over their shift right on schedule, but there wasn''t anything to do with Hawk already clearing out the monsters from above once they left the storm.


    The smart ones had already died or run away, so now it was mostly just the slower moving rodents and scavengers who didn''t have the brain power to realize that it was the water causing them damage.


    [So many dumb mice. They just keep running back into the rain.] Hawkined, unwilling to chase them into the storm.


    [You have a fire barrier, you won''t really get wet.] Thor reminded him.


    [Not the point.]


    Despite hisints, Karl could tell that the Hawk was actually having fun, circling around the edge of the storm and chasing the rodents back in to their deaths. Once the storm ended, they would all be freshly washed and ready for him to collect, so it was better that they stopped in the rain than running out through the mud.


    After another hour, even that had stopped. There was nothinging out of the storm anymore, and only a few stragglers were still being found by the rest of the defensive line.


    That was when Karl fully expected the Hill Giants to attack, and thanked his luck that he was on shift for it.


    Remi dropped the storm so that Hawk could clean up the beasts that he wanted, and the Academy started to send teams forward to gather beasts to be butchered for the kitchens.


    "Do they have a trailer for the meat?" Karl asked Morgana as he watched the recovery teams work.


    "They will in an hour. It''s on its way here now. Well, more than one. They''re assigning teams everywhere that got hit with beasts today to gather meat to help reduce the load on the supply convoys.


    The less that they have to send to us, the better. We have also taken low casualtiestely, so the clerics have been going all out with the rice and beans, which cuts down on the requirement for shelf stable rations even further. I know it''s a bit dull for most of the Elites, but it''s free and plentiful, so the supply staff loves it." Karl chuckled at Morgana''s description. "It''s actually better than a lot of the things that they serve in the cafeteria. I''ve grown quite fond of the rice and beans base for dinners with the Nature Priest grown fruits and vegetables plus monster meat.


    We eat better in the field than we do in camp."


    Morgana sighed. "Well, hopefully this conflict will be sorted sooner than expected. The Frost Giants are already in bad shape, and with one border only needing minimal forces, the army has managed to transfer more to the other lines."


    Karl shrugged. "It doesn''t look like the Hill Giants are going to give up so soon. But you never know what they are actually thinking. It could all be over tomorrow, but it could run until one sidepletely copses. I don''t pretend to understand what the Giants were thinking with this invasion."


    The Witch Doctor nodded. "There has to be some reason for the Giants to start working together. They hate each other, but they''re all forming a coordinated offensive against us, when they don''t even want the territory. So, it has to be about something else, and nobody really knows what. But should we really be worrying about that right now?"


    "Why not? It''s not like I''ve got anything else to do. Unless they''re going to let me take a team to go scout behind the lines, all we can do is gossip and specte while we sit here." Karl reminded her.


    Danaughed and poked him in the side. "You''re as bad as an old woman, looking for gossip."


    "Inquiring minds need to know."


    Tessa looked over at them from on top of Thor''s head. "Yeah, if we don''t get to do fun stuff, at least give us something to think about. Like, do you think that unique scent that Hill Giants have is natural, or is it some sort of soap? They kind of smell like dirt and nts, not sweaty like Ogres or Goblins, so I''ve been wondering."


    That was an excellent question.


    Everyone quietly pondered it for a while, and even Hawk began to wonder. None of them had never found signs of soap in their belongings, but they all smelled the same, so it was possible that it could go either way.


    Hawk had a small mountain of corpses in his space now, and then arge mountain built off to one side.


    [What''s with the segregated piles?] Karl asked as he inspected the rapidly filling space.


    [This is the really good stuff I want to keep, and that is the good enough to eat stuff that I''m willing to part with. We can put it in the Morgana''s trailer once it arrives.]


    Karlughed at how Hawk still didn''t get the concept of names. He treated everyone as a separate species. So it was The Dana Mage, The Morgana, and so on. Rae got names a bit better, but it was hit or miss who she considered worthy of a name. "What''s the good word?" Dana asked once Karl was paying full attention to his surroundings again.


    "Hawk has separated the piles into things he likes to eat, and things he thinks that humans will like to eat. So, he''s got a massive pile of beasts in stasis, waiting for the personnel to be avable to butcher them after the trailer arrives.


    But looking at it, we might need more trailers. There is a mountain of beasts in there, and that''s just the good tasting ones." Karl exined.


    Danaughed. "That sounds like Hawk. Let me guess, there are no pigs in the pile for the humans?"


    Karl looked at the pile and found a few of them that had been scorched and damaged in the mountain of donations.


    "I wouldn''t say that there are none, but none of the ones that died cleanly are in that pile. He''s got years worth of food in the other pile though, so once we start running low, I will have him start sorting it out. He''s not going to need most of that once he makes it to Royal Rank, so he will be able to part with the vast majority." Karl exined.


    Morgana gave Karl a curious look. "Sometimes I wonder just what all you have hidden in those spaces. You''ve pulled out all sorts of natural resources so far, and some truly rare ones as well. So what all can go in those spaces?"


    Karl shrugged. "Anything the beasts see as a resource. So food, shiny objects, broken magical weapons but not intact ones. However, they can take gems, nts, and those sorts of things."


    "So, the stones and feathers in your fort are all things that someone thought would be useful?" Morgana asked.


    "They were on bodies that Rae collected. She likes using them as decorations, but she will take them with her when we leave. The silk is free, her treasures are not." Karl exined.


    Morgana nodded. "And some of those stones are actually valuable magical resources. They''re just not useful to any of your beasts. If we could convince her to part with a few of them, we might actually be able to make some new resources for specific warriors."

 Chapter 360 Raes Treasures

    Chapter 360 Rae''s Treasures


    Rae gave Morgana a curious look that would have made most people recoil in fright, but Morgana just smiled. "If you have a few more of those glowing orange stones with the yellow streaks in them, and the perpetually cold bones that aren''t Giant bones, we could use both of them to make fire and ice potions for the Church Guards and regr soldiers. It makes them more attuned to Holy magic, but for some reason, it doesn''t work on the clerics who can actually use Holy Magic." The Witch Doctor exined.


    [Ask her how much she needs. They''re kind of bright, so I buried them in a hole.] Rae replied.


    "She is wondering how many you need. She has a few tucked away."


    Morgana considered that for a few seconds, counting on her fingers as she looked out at the infantry units as far as the eye could see.


    "To cover all of the soldiers here for the next three months, before the potion wears off, we would need at least twenty of the stones and a kilo of Ice Element monster bones that aren''t Frost Giants." She decided.


    Rae pulled the cover off her pit full of glowing rocks and began to sort out the ones that Morgana wanted. They were incrediblymon in Frost Giant jewellery, and every Commander Rank warrior usually had at least ten of them woven into their essories. So, she had quite the pit full of them, but she still carefully counted twenty of them before weighing the bones.


    Karl wasn''t certain how urate her guess of the weight was, but when she was ready, she retreated from her space to rest by Thor and left Karl to pass the loot over.


    "This should do it. This is what Rae found for you." Karl exined.


    She had moved arge wooden shield over the pit again, and covered it with stones that didn''t shine, so the glow didn''t mess with the ambience of her space, which was nearly dark, with a few glowing blue stones strung up high to imitate stars in the sky.


    Morgana took therge pile of materials from Karl into a spare bag, and happily patted Rae on her leg, being careful to touch only the side, and not risk her fingers on the sharp edges.


    "Thank you, Rae. It will take me all night to make enough potions, but the whole army will benefit from this."


    That was all the thanks that Rae needed. Someone needed her shiny loot, and that meant that they all owed her a favour. The Witch Doctor ran off from the lines and sent another teacher over to fill her space, leaving the newly arrived staff member thoroughly confused. "There is atrine right over there, where is she going?" He asked as he took Morgana''s spot next to Karl''s group.


    "We got her some loot to make holy magic attunement potions for the army. It shouldst them for ny days, so she''s in a hurry to get it made and distributed." Karl exined.


    "You found the orange sunstones? That is excellent news. I will dly take the extra shifts if she can get those potions made. I didn''t even know that we had someone here who knew how to make the potions. They''re a pretty obscure recipe, and the materials onlye from the Frost Giant nation.


    Ah, you all were stationed there, weren''t you?" He realized.


    Karl nodded. "Not those four, but the other six of us in this team were."


    The teacher pulled a spear from his inventory and stabbed the blunt end into the dirt so he could lean against it. "Well, there are always advantages to having veterans on the line with the students. I know most of you are still students, but the difference in experience has been far too obvious since we got here.


    If I had to say, sending students out more would actually be better for their development. The gains that everyone has made since they got here have been incredible. It feels like we''re about to have another Commander in our ranks as well. Possibly two."


    He was looking at Dana and Ophelia, who were both a bit nervous at his gaze. The status difference for Commander Rank would be huge, but they didn''t think that they were there yet. They weren''t close to Karl''s power, or even any of his beasts, except maybe Remi.


    But none of them had really considered the fact that Remi had advanced to Commander already, and they were still at least equal to her in maximum power. Most of the issue was just that Thor and Rae were throwing off the perception of what a Commander Rank beast meant.


    Thor''s [Refreshing Lightning] was such a versatile skill that it made him seem much more powerful than he was, and Rae had her Royal Rank Golems which just tore through everything that they touched.


    [They''reing.] Hawk informed Karl after another half hour of patiently waiting for something to happen.


    "We''ve got iing. Hawk is in the air, scouting. He says there are more threatsing. I will get more details in a second." Karl ryed.


    [About five big teamsing our way, then about the same for everyone else. Maybe a hundred big teams?] Hawk guessed.


    A big team was ten, so there were about a thousand Hill Giantsing for them.


    "Hawk says we''ve got a hundreding to our section, and there are about a thousand in total that he can see." Karl ryed.


    The teacher grabbed his radio and passed the message to the other units, which didn''t immediately get an attack rm sounded, as they were already on standby, but the artillery started only a minuteter, when they got positive confirmation on the Giants'' positions.


    That was enough to inform everyone that their day wasn''t over, but Karl didn''t get up from his resting spot, nor did Dana, who was leaned against his side, trying not to fall asleep as she meditated to regain her mana.


    The Hill Giants were already charging, despite being over ten kilometres away. It wouldn''t take them long to get to the human lines, but the attack rm was still waiting for them to get in sight so that the students could get a bit more rest before they were scrambled into position. n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om


    It was only after the Giants were in sight and everyone was getting to their feet that the troops were sent back to the line, preparing to engage the rapidly iing enemy lines. That barely gave them time to get half the mages in position before the Hill Giants'' bombardment began. But once they were in range, the Hill Giants didn''t keep advancing, they stopped and used Earth Magic to create barriers in front of their lines so they could bombard the lines and remain out of sight to the direct attacks from the students.


    Golems were charging across no-man''snd now, while being bombarded by boulders and sharp spikes of stone. But as fast as they were falling, they were being reformed, to charge from the caster''s maximum range again.


    "Karl, can you have Thor hurl my Sand Golems again? That worked really well, and they have short legs." Mick asked.


    "Happily. Rae, can you make a catapult basket for Thor''s tail?" Karl requested out loud.


    She made a quick mesh, and the first golem got inside, while curled into a ball.


    Thor hurled the small golem, which impacted with a boulder in the sky, sending both the stone and the remains of the golem to the ground.


    "Next! Fire!" Karl cheered as another Golem loaded itself.


    This one flew right over the Hill Giant lines, but it could attack from behind, and Mick gave him a thumbs up, signalling that the Golem had survived itsnding.


    One after another, they were hurled, with most of them dying in the process. In fact, it took so long to get them there alive that Rae had sent a second set of Spider Golems, with Dana''s Stone Golems on their backs, to the line before Mick finally had all six alive on the line.


    "Well, I can''t say that it''s more time effective, as they can dodge the artillery if they''re on foot, but it sure is more fun." Karl noted as Thor finished his work.


    "You never know until you try, right?" Mickughed.


    Even though they had made it to the line after much effort, they didn''tst long, and Mick sent the next group running across the battlefield with the other Golems and the Fire Elementals from Colonel Wilkes.


    If the Giants weren''t going to advance, this was going to be a very annoying fight.

 Chapter 361 Break The Stalemate

    Chapter 361 Break The Stalemate


    After half an hour of the stalemate, with the mages and Hill Giants exchanging ranged attacks, it was bing clear that this battle was not going to end any time soon, and all that the Hill Giants needed was one section with mages who were less capable at ranged attacks to make a breach.


    "Professor, should we go cause a bit of chaos on the nk? It will get them moving before our mages get exhausted." Karl suggested.


    "I seem to recall that you have done that here once before. How did that work out for you?" The Professor asked.


    "Well enough. The target ran away before we made it to him, but we managed to clear out the majority of the Commander Rank threats on this nk, and it effectively ended the battle for the day." Karl replied with a shrug. n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om


    "I will run it by the battle leaders and see what they think. If your team really can break the stalemate, or even get them motivated to move, it should be worth it." The warrior ss professor agreed.


    It only took a few seconds before the answer came back to them. [Ten person volunteer strike forces are approved to charge the lines in ten minutes. Last rites should be prepared before departure.]


    Karl looked at the teacher in shock. "It sounds like they''re not as optimistic about this mission as I am."


    Karl paused a second before raising his voice. "But with that in mind, I will need nine volunteers to go with me. Teams don''t matter, but Command says the odds are you''re noting back."


    It only took a second before Karl''s whole team was standing beside him, followed by Morgana, Colonel Wilkes and Tank.


    But then the influx stopped.


    Everyone heard the radio message. This was likely to be the end of the line for the volunteers who went to break the bnce and stop the Hill Giants from exhausting their mages beforeunching an assault.


    Karl was about to say something when two more men came jogging into the camp.


    "Good, we made it on time. We didn''t think that Karl would wait the whole ten minutes before leaving with a team." Doug Mackenzie''s smile was contagious, though Bob''s look was grim as he ran beside his brother.


    "Well, that makes ten. Time to go,dies and gentlemen. Let''s show the Hill Giants how it''s done." Karl announced.


    The slower moving team members loaded themselves on Thor, Rae and the Spider Golems, while the others moved to the front of the line.


    The sectionmander called after them. "But it hasn''t been ten minutes!"


    Doug gave him a thumbs up. "Clearly. Tell the others to wait an extra two, just to throw off the Hill Giants. Nobody expects a twelve-minute timer." The teacher didn''t know what to say as the group charged at the Hill Giants, he just motioned for the mages to keep a barrier over them for as long as they could, to save the group a bit of energy on the way in.


    "Are we really going to lose a high Cleric and so many Commanders just like that?" One of the students asked.


    Though the others weren''t as well known, Tank was a beloved figure at the school, despite his insistence that he was only a part-time teacher. Mick gave his ssmates a sad smile. "Don''t underestimate them. They''re all batshit crazy, but every person in that group is a monster inbat. Just watch what happens when they get close, it''s going to be an enlightening experience for us all."


    The other students looked at him like he was crazy. Thest thing they wanted was to watch what happened when that group reached the Hill Giants'' defensive fortification.


    As they ran, Karl moved to the front and took out his Maul. Thor would be right behind him, so as long as the Maul shattered the stone, they were good to go. When he was two steps from the wall, the Spider Golems vanished, leaving their riders in the dirt, while Lotus and Dana hopped down from Thor''s back.


    Karl''s hammer smashed into the wall, and the stone exploded as the effects of [Shatter] sent a shockwave through the construct, breaking a five-metre section of the barrier into small pieces. Then the resummoned Spider Golems were flying over his head at the Hill Giants, while Karl aimed at the knees, intending to cripple the nearest targets to establish a beachhead.


    But the majority of the Giants in the area were Ascended, and the Golems were tearing them apart even before Thor and Tessa made it through the wall with a shockwave of [Earthquake] that split around Karl and knocked a dozen Giants from their feet.


    Ophelia and Bob went right, with Morgana and Remi behind them. A massive [Thunderstorm] was forming over the area, punctuated by streaks of lightning and fireballs as Hawk attacked, surrounded in his often neglected [Wind Barrier] to keep his feathers dry.


    Remi was cing totems on the wall to attack the Giants from above, and spitting [Chain Lightning] into the crowd as she slithered along beside the Witch Doctor, who was surrounded in a dark cloud of magic that sent beams into the Hill Giants which seemed to corrupt and rot their flesh.


    Dana advanced away from the wall with Thor, nked by her Golems and aiming for the faces with her [Magic Missiles] to distract them, while the War Cleric and the Lightning Cerro stabbed and crushed.


    A stacked [ming Body] attack sent a Commander Rank Hill Giant flying as Karl moved to the left, blocking the reinforcements while his team dealt with the right side of the line.


    He switched to his bow as he advanced, shooting point-nk into the Hill Giants and impaling them with me coated arrows that made their bodies ripple as if they had been hit with the Maul and not a small arrowhead.


    [Shatter] didn''t care howrge the physical impact was, only that it happened, and the effect on Ascended Rank Giants was devastating.


    Karl heard the whistle behind him that said they had cleared thest few Giants at this end of the line, and he began to push faster, using the erratic movements of Rae and the Spider Golems to his advantage, taking out Giants who turned away from him to defend themselves.


    The Fire Elementals raced past him, engulfing their targets and burning them to ash in seconds, even with the Earth Shields that the Hill Giants tried to establish.


    They were a surprisingly brutal attack force, and nearly impossible to defend against, as they had no real physical form.


    Ophelia and Tank were raging alongside Thor, who didn''t seem to attract their ire the way that human teammates often did in battle, but Bob hade over to join Karl as they began the sweep. Dana retreated from the insanity that was two Berserkers and a rampaging Thor, bringing her Golems to nk Bob and protect the clerics from attacks.


    But Lotus and Doug weren''t cking either. Spiked vines shot up from the ground, tripping and entangling the Giants, as Karl shot them full of arrows and Bob hacked them apart.


    The strike force was moving at a walking pace through the Hill Giants for now, but more of the defenders were turning their way, realizing that the first group hadn''t stopped the attack.


    That was the primary goal of the Academy''s attack, to cause the Hill Giants to stop their attack and change tactics.


    But so far, the team was only attracting attention from those near them behind the wall, and none of the Giants was charging at the rest of the defenders where the students could more easily hack them apart.


    There were thirty kilometres of line in total under the purview of the Academy if you included the artillery section. There was no way that Karl''s team alone could shake up that much distance, but in a few more minutes, the other teams would charge as well, and the that might be enough to get the Giants moving.


    But in the immediate area, they had more than done their job. There was a huge breach in the wall, the end of the Hill Giant defence was obliterated, and the Elites were rapidly making their way across the line.


    At this rate, they might actually make it to the next team''s location before they even attacked. But Karl knew that was wishful thinking, there was no way that this force would be made up so heavily of Ascended Rank Giants.


    Not when they routinely reached Commander by the time they were in their prime.

 Chapter 362 Crush Them

    Chapter 362 Crush Them


    As Karl''s team advanced, the Hill Giants retreated, creating a proper defensive formation behind their barrier wall. It wasn''t going to matter for long, as the Spider Golems were headed for the side of the group furthest from the wall, with Thor between them and the Warriors. The chances that something was going to get past that moving steamroller were slim to none, especially with [Earthquake] and [Thorned Vines] pulling giants to the ground every second. The vines were spreading faster than Karl was walking, making it nearly impossible for the Hill Giants to move freely, and leaving them vulnerable to the attacks of the Golems and Karl''s arrows.


    The radio on Morgana''s coat was silent as they fought, with the leadership not wanting to miss a call for support due to unnecessary chatter.


    The Witch Doctor was reallying into her element as she advanced, and after she had Remi fill a bottle with venom, her curse turned from simply being necrotic to being venomous, leaving the affected Giants in convulsions or screaming in agony.


    Karl reminded himself not to get into any serious fights with that woman. Her magic was insidious, and if it made it past your barriers, even carried on the air, you were done for. n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om


    Over and over, the Hill Giants brought up stone barriers to slow the humans, but they were just as quickly shattered to gravel by the Golems, while Dana and Colonel Wilkes worked together to keep an umbre barrier up over the group to deflect thrown stones.


    Even if the [Refreshing Lightning] barrier held, it would be a mess if someone was knocked to the ground and off their rhythm.


    A horn sounded in the distance, and Karl sensed the shift in the Giants as they began to attack the advancing teams instead of focusing on moving toward his group. Doug''s voice echoed through the group, amplified by his magic. {Push faster. Double time, and we will break the defence in front of the next group.} He announced. His attunement to nature made it easier for him to tell where living things were, and nobody questioned his judgment as they focused on making progress and not just steadily pressuring the Hill Giants.


    {Attack the wall on your left. Shatter it with the Maul.} Doug called half a minuteter.


    Karl followed the instruction, and found that there was a group twenty metres away, running toward him. "Good to see you all. Take your positions." Karl called to the closest warrior.


    This team had no mages in it, only one druid that was in Owlbear form to run faster.


    Karl suspected that would be the case for many groups. The mages couldn''t keep up with the pace, so they wouldn''t have volunteered toe along and drag the group down.


    The Owlbear surged in size as he approached Karl, and [Brutality] was extended to epass his group.


    Unfortunately, none of them were animal type berserkers, so it was only the druid that was enhanced, but nine more warriors, all closebat sorts with heavy armour and shields, made the progress even faster.


    "The groups are staggered. If we can make the next spot in two minutes, we will be able to pick them up as well." One of the warriors shouted as he moved past the Golems to join the fight.


    "Got it. We will keep up the pace as much as we can." Bob called back, as Karl was focused on his archery.


    They were just passing the new gap in the wall when Karl heard more shouting from the human side of the lines, and Hawk ryed him an update.


    [It looks like there are Spelldes here. These ones are wearing Red. I wonder if that means they''re all Tessa?] He asked.


    [I think it''s just like the colours of our uniforms, not like the clerics.] Karl replied as he kept up his attack speed. More mages would be a wonderful addition to their group, but he had no idea when the Academy force had gotten Spelldes as reinforcements.


    Karl''s team wasn''t that far along the line now, barely up to even with the main camp, so they weren''ting from some remote location.


    The mages moved swiftly with their magic, and fell in behind the group, reinforcing the weakening barriers over the team before sending a few of their members forward to use ranged sword attacks from the second line, where Karl was firing his arrows.


    No words were spoken, just an increase in the volume of attacks and the pace of the fight, with each Hill Giant onlysting for a few strikes before the massed attacks cut them down.


    With thirty of them in the team, they were no longer struggling, even when the Hill Giants started to try to encircle the group. The Spelldes moved to intercept them, creating a defensive semicircle, with the wall on one side, while the vines surrounded the group and progress momentarily ground to a halt. The Giants were falling in record numbers, but they still hadn''t found the leadership group, so Karl began to check faces as he fought.


    Hopefully, these weren''t groups of clones, sent to cause chaos before they died.


    Karl could sense the worry from their lines as the group halted, and then the relief as they began to push forward again.


    The vampiric de waiting in the mental space where bonded gear went while not in use was thrumming with energy, so Karl took it out and slung it across his back with a loop of leather on his armour.


    It wasn''t properly secure, and it would swing about as he ran, but the energy began to flow from the de to him, flooding his space with power as the de shone with power.


    Finally, he couldn''t ignore the pull anymore, and Karl put away the bow, taking the de in his hands to charge into the Hill Giants.


    The de looked like it was better quality than Karl remembered, and the flood of power that it was absorbing was causing Karl''s body to sing with refreshing power.


    Water vortexes swirled through the Giants as Lotus activated the enchantment on her staff, and Karlughed as water ran down his face from Remi''s [Thunderstorm]. The whole area was turning into a swamp,plete with Thorned Vines, and the Giants were starting to sink in the mud as the earth softened.


    It had been churned by weeks of battle and artillery fire. There was no unturned dirt here, and the constant downpour was turning it all to a thick and sticky soup. Even the humans were having a hard time moving through it, while the Giants were barely mobile as they sunk to their shins.


    Then, it was suddenly easy to walk again as one of the Spelldes cast a movement spell on the team, allowing them to step lightly on the soft ground.


    More shouting wasing from the line, and it sounded like it was a little behind them.


    [Hawk, where is the next teaming from?] Karl asked.


    [Behind us a little. But they have a huge guy with a smashing tool as well.] That was good enough for Karl. There were no Giants behind them, so the team could make a breach and storm in to join the group at their own pace.


    The wall shook and rumbled as the warriors hammered it repeatedly, then it slowly crumbled, letting them through, but already thirty metres behind the advancing force, andte enough that the mages running behind them had caught up.


    Karl knew they were frustrated, and he decided to hammer a hole for the next group, no matter how much Hawk thought that they should be able to deal with it themselves.


    Fiveyers of Royal Rank ming Body was far more damage than most Ascended or Commander Rank warriors could do, even without the buffs or [Shatter].


    The next few kilometres of the Hill Giant lines were already in motion now, rearranging themselves and creating rows of defensive fortifications behind the main barrier wall between them and the human lines. It would slow the advance of Karl''s team, but if they weren''t going to sendrge numbers of reinforcements to the front, that was all it would do. Slow them and not stop them.


    The primary objective of the assault, to stop the Hill Giants from throwing boulders from their protected position, had beenrgely achieved. Now, they just needed to keep them from going back to it the moment that the human team retreated.


    A few minutes worth of dy wasn''t going to change the pressure of the advance, and the rest of the suicidal charge n had been altered to join the main force already pushing through the Hill Giant lines.


    With the holes in the wall, they could retreat and return to the main force any time that they wanted, leaving arge portion of the Hill Giant defences empty, or allowing a change of shifts, with new fightersing in to rece them.

 Chapter 363 Momentum

    Chapter 363 Momentum


    The charge into the Hill Giant lines had gathered enough momentum now that they were easily clearing the defenders, but the more that they eliminated, the more uneasy the attackers felt.


    They had to be missing something. The Hill Giants weren''t this stupid, they should have retreated when they realized that their tactic wasn''t working.


    But it was only when a stone barrier in front of them copsed that Karl and the others on the attacking team realized that the Hill Giants had brought a secret weapon.


    Traitors.


    Ten human men, all at the low side of Royal Rank, and looking unstable, with insane eyes ring back at the Elites above the distinctive tabards that Karl recognized as the uniforms of church guards, minus the white robes, which had been reced by ck ones.


    They must have been given a resource to boost their power, perhaps temporarily.


    Their leader pointed a de at Karl. "The Titan Gods demand his head. Bring it to me."


    Karl spun his de to a defensive position, ready for the iing attack, but from behind him, the Spelldes were even faster.


    The ten of them soared over his head, aiming for the traitors, and the fight was on.


    The Spelldes were unflinching in their attack, but they were outmatched, and as Karl sent the first [Chain Lightning] into the attackers, the Titan God followers quickly split apart, so each of them could hold off two of the Commander Rank Spelldes, leaving five to deal with Karl while the rest of the Elite group fought the Hill Giants.


    But Karl wasn''t alone either, and Rae sent her Spider Golems to his sides while the traitors carefully advanced, making preparations to deal with the added threat.


    "Too weak." Karlughed as the closest of the warriors'' de shattered as it failed its attempt to absorb [Chain Lightning.]


    He dropped the shattered de and pulled another from reserve, while two more moved to engage Karl and two moved to block the Spider Golems.


    Four quick strikes from the traitors shattered [Refreshing Lightning] but not [ming Body] and the attackers'' smiles turned to glee while they parried Karl''s furious counterattack.


    The man in the back took a moment to gloat before rejoining the fight. "Anyst words?" He sneered, wiping his soaked hair from his face as the [Thunderstorm] continued to rage overhead.


    [Blood for the Spider God.] A streak of distorted air shed by Karl as Rae moved to attack. Blood flew as her foreleg pierced the chest of her target, and the gloating man''s eyes turned wide in shock as the blood spray made the outline of Rae visible again.


    Skill Upgraded: [Perfect Adaptation] grants the user the ability to mimic their surroundings so perfectly that they be invisible to those with lesser senses. Royal Rank progression of [Camouge]. Rae had evolved another skill to Royal Rank, but it couldn''t deal with the blood spray on her, so she darted back into the swarm of Hill Giants while the man gasped and tried to staunch the blood flow, unaware that he had been hit with [Lacerate] or that the wound extended out his back.


    The two traitors fighting Karl renewed their attacks, hacking away at his defences faster than Karl could parry their blows and leaving him no chance to make an attack of his own.


    For a most of a minute, it seemed that there was nothing that Karl could do to gain the upper hand without having the Spider Golems cover for him, but they weren''t finished with their own targets yet.


    The melee was turning into a drawn out and losing battle as his barriers were repeatedly diminished, then refreshed, even with the effects of [Circle of Protection] active. Individually, the traitors weren''t much stronger than Karl was, but they had years of experience fighting together, and when Karl moved to defend against one, the other always seemed to get a hit in.


    Karl was forced back on the defensive, and [Refreshing Lightning] was taken down by a ncing blow to his face just after he got it reactivated for the fifth time.


    But the two traitors fighting the Spider Golems weren''t faring as well. They were no faster than the spiders, and they didn''t have eight sharp limbs, four of which the spiders typically used to attack their targets while bncing on their hind half.


    Then Rae shed across the battlefield again, and another traitor fell with a pair of forelimbs through his back, before being hurled across the battlefield.


    The Spelldes weren''t as outright powerful as their targets, but they were all exceptional fighters in their own right, and considered a battle against an average target above their own rank to be the minimum standard for their members.


    At the moment, they weren''t winning, but as Rae aimed at another target with his back to her, it was clear to Karl that wouldn''t be the case for long. This was Rae''s perfect battlefield, and assassination was in her very nature.


    Karl rolled backward to avoid the next attack, as his defences were failing and Refreshing Lightning wasn''t back up yet. The des whistled through the air where he had been standing, then two huge feet stomped down between Karl and the traitors as Thor intervened with an [Earthquake] that threw the attackers to the ground, while Tessa sent out a wave of Golden Light that empowered everyone on their side.


    Then the Cerro retreated to charge the Hill Giants who were trying to take advantage of the situation to get at the mages while Thor was out of position, and Karl hurled a [Chain Lightning] through the rain as he got back to his feet.


    One traitor backed away, using [Guard] to absorb the blow, while the other moved to attack, raising his de over his head.


    Then tragedy befell the aggressive traitor, and he lost his footing in the mud, sliding past Karl toward the mages as his strike was parried.


    Remi didn''t hesitate, and her fangs sunk deep into the man''s throat before she retreated to safety behind Ophelia, who simply kicked the man back away from the group, sending him flying out into the melee.


    The remaining traitors began to glow with a purple light, doubling in height as they fought, but bing thinner by the second, wasting away as they burned their life force to achieve their goals.


    Four of the Spelldes fell in the first seconds after the change, while the others regrouped into a defensive circle to reinforce each other''s magic and wait out the remaining life of the traitors.


    Traitors who were never truly interested in them.


    As one, they all turned to Karl, who braced for the worst, before a strike to the back sent him flying. Not just tumbling across the ground, flying through the air and over the Hill Giant defenders, out ofbat. n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om


    The berserk traitors turned to chase after him, and Karl felt Thor''s immense pleasure that his catapult trick worked.


    It might not have been the answer Karl was looking for, but the distraction cost the traitors three more of their members as Rae and her Spider Golems took advantage, leaving thest few traitors outnumbered and outmatched.


    Strategically, it was brilliant, and thest of the Titan God followers died with a bellow of rage. However, that left Karl on the wrong side of the battle, fifty metres from his team, with an army of Hill Giants between him and the others.


    He was getting that odd feeling that someone wasughing at him again, back in the back of his mind, but he couldn''t quite put his finger on where it wasing from. Not from one of his beasts, that was for certain. They wereughing at his situation, but it wasn''t the same feeling. Theirughter was more due to a sense of amusement that he made such a good projectile.


    Karl looked at his options, deciding what the best way to get back to the group would be.


    They had lost a total of six Commanders during thest fight. Four to the Royal Rank traitors, and two to the Hill Giants, but Karl couldn''t tell which two from Hawk''s updated headcount.


    But there were more mages and healers iing from the main line, now that the progression had stalled, and hopefully, they would get someone who could resurrect. The teachers had to have sent messages back by now, letting the others know the situation.


    Karl was about to move back intobat when he looked down at his gear, and noticed that his armour was absolutely shredded, cut in over a dozen different spots and soaked with his own blood from shallow wounds that had already healed under the effects of [Refreshing Lightning] as well as Lotus and Doug''s area healing abilities.


    If he was lucky, those with magical repair abilities might salvage that mess, but he might have to rece his gear after today.

 Chapter 364 Battered But Not Beaten

    Chapter 364 Battered But Not Beaten


    The demise of the traitors marked the end of the Hill Giant force''s ns, and they began to back away from the attacking force, disengaging frombat before those further down the line began to retreat out of artillery range.


    That was good enough to call it a win for Karl, so he just waited for the Hill Giants to run away as he did his best to absorb the massive influx of life force that his de was giving him. It merged smoothly with the power cores in the spaces, and they were quicklying to a peak again, but there was more powering in, so he was going to have to spread it through the spaces soon, and start reforming the cores once more to continue the process. They had to be getting close to peak Commander now, with Rae advancing her species traits to Royal Rank, but Karl couldn''t feel the bottleneck that he knew wasing when he reached the peak and had to learn how to adjust his power to Royal Rank.


    Once the Hill Giants were a safe distance away, Karl made his way back to the group and took out his Maul to open a new hole in the wall. They would have to do something about that eventually, as the next group of Hill Giants to arrive would also take shelter behind it.


    That wasn''t Karl''s problem, the Academy had Earth Mages as well, and they could disassemble the wall with ease once nothing was protecting it and the magic barriers had faded.


    With the battle over, Tessa and Thor began the work of looting the good bits, as did many of the others who were in suitable shape for some scavenging. Loot was loot, and the group was loading Thor''s bags with anything magical.


    By the time that Karl made it to the line, most of the fallen had been brought back to life, and only one body bag was being carried away on a stretcher. It wasn''t one of the team members that Karl knew, which was a small blessing, but a lot of the attack team were looking even worse than he was.


    They slowly made their way back to the line, moving at the speed of an exhausted mage. It was the only pace where nobody was left behind, as many of them were supporting each other while the healing spells worked their magic.


    Healing magic closed wounds quickly, healed muscles and bones more slowly, but the aches and pains usually lingered.


    If they really wanted, the clerics could heal a body full of broken bones in a second, but the mana requirement was extreme, and as Karl understood it, the healed body often suffered from lingering trauma and phantom pains that were more severe than if it were healed more slowly.


    So, it was sometimes necessary to save a life, but they did their best to avoid it.


    As they approached the Academy defensive line, all of the students and the reserve soldiers who had been called up stood to salute the returning Elites.


    Nobody had expected that fight to go even remotely well, but still, they had volunteered.


    The Headmaster himself came up to wee them back and check everyone for damage, to assure himself that they were fit to continue their duties.


    "Wee back, everyone. You have the rest of the day off, so go get something to eat and some rest to let those freshly healed wounds settle." He greeted them.


    "Thank you, Headmaster. We could use both. Plus an armourer with magical repair skills. I''m told that my gear can be fixed, even in this bad of shape." Karl replied.


    "Well, that bad of shape might be more than most can hope to fix, but we will get someone on it right away. All of you are in need of repairs, and bondable equipment is in short supply these days."


    As they were talking, Generals Stonewall and Jackson came jogging over, looking positively overjoyed at the oue.


    "Commanders, Ascended Elites, wonderful work out there. You have defied every expectation that we had for your abilities." General Jackson announced the moment he arrived.


    "General Jackson, it''s good to see you again. The Elites really did work wonders today, especially the healers. But we should get some food in us before we start answering your questions. I know that you must have a lot of them for us." Karl offered.


    The Generals paused as they took in the battered state of the Elites and nodded silently.


    "Please, forgive our enthusiasm. We are having a proper meal prepared now that the trailers have arrived, and the butchering is well underway."


    Karl nodded. "I had my beasts gather a huge amount of meat for the stockpile as well, multiple trailers worth, and all from the beasts that are considered fairly tasty." He didn''t stop walking, and just continued on to the mess hall, where they had a number ofrge pressure cookers making stew for dinner, and a new addition to the mess hall, dozens of baking sheets in the newly created smokers cooking what appeared to be fresh dinner rolls, so they didn''t have to eat the strange canned bread or hardtack.


    The armourers were waiting there for the strike team as well. They were not usually consideredbatants, and were mostly Awakened Rank soldiers who had gained crafting based sses, with a few clerics who had repair skills mixed in. "If everyone can change out of their armour and pass it over, we will have one of the armourers look it over. We will salvage as much as we can, but we will pass it all back to you when we''re finished, even if we can''t repair it back to perfect before tomorrow.


    We have plenty of supplies, but it looks like a lot of your gear ispletely demolished." One of the men with a Staff Sergeant''s chevrons on his arm announced.


    It didn''t take long for them to change, and the supply staff had sent as many armourers as there were team members. It might be the majority of their team, given how much gear was destroyedpared to an average day, but it shouldn''t be all of them.


    As much as they needed the gear fixed, they didn''t want to leave the others without a single repairman.


    Lotus and Tessa stepped forward, and Tessa addressed the armourers. "We will take care of our team''s gear if you provide the materials. We have the skill to fix everything that they have been using." "Of course, just let us know what you need. The whole armoury is avable to our Commander Rank members and High Priestesses." The Sergeant informed them.


    Tessa gave Karl a wink that said she would be taking advantage of that to fix absolutely everything to the best standard that she could, and Karl was eager to see it in action.


    It was a blessing of the War Goddess, but she hadn''t needed to use it since they met, as their armour had only gotten a little battered in that time, and it was mostly the cloth or leather items that needed mending.


    Those were Lotus'' specialty as a Nature Priestess, though Karl suspected that Doug could do it better now that he had advanced. n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om


    The staff brought out bowls of stew for the early dinner, along with a load of the fresh buns, which were much denser than they looked, more like a scone or breakfast biscuit.


    It made sense, they were line cooks, not a bakery, and they needed to make thousands of them per meal, so there was no time to let a nice fluffy bun rise.


    But the stew was just fresh meat, plus potatoes, onions and carrots. All of which tasted right when they were prepared for storage. It was simple, but nutritious and filling, and everyone prepared to head back to their bunks well-fed and ready for sleep.


    Of course, that wouldn''t be happening quite so soon for any of Karl''s team. Morgana was still limping from a leg injury, Lotus and Tessa were going to repair the gear, while Ophelia was too wound up from her Berserker Rage and Dana needed to meditate.


    One of the Mage ss teachers spoke up as the Elites began to rise from their tables. "Before you go, we have the books prepared for anyone who can use them. Terrorize and Brutality. We''re told they work best for those with animal aspects, so the Clerics are all trying them, with variable results."


    The Druid who had been an Owlbear for most of the battle looked stoked at the news, as he could go fully animalistic, but most of the others dismissed thement as unlikely to help them.


    "You might need to be in animal form, even if it''s just a bit of scale or an eye transformation, to get the books to work. They were designed for beasts and are only crosspatible with humans." Karl added, so nobody would miss out.

 Chapter 365 Owlbears Speak Hawk

    Chapter 365 Owlbears Speak Hawk


    Tessa held out her hand for the books and quickly flipped the first one open. Her eyes shone red as they transformed to the slotted eyes of a Dragon, and an oppressive feeling filled the air. That would be [Terrorize] working for her, but no matter how she tried, the [Brutality] book would not open for her.


    The next to try was Lotus, who had high hopes as a Nature Priestess who really loved animals. But no matter what she tried, including putting Remi on her shoulders, she couldn''t get either book to open for her.


    The same went for Doug, who was unable to get either of the spells to work. But the moment that the Druid touched them in Owlbear form, he instantly erged and keened a proud cry that was eerily simr to Hawk.


    [He says, ''fuck yes, it worked.''] Hawk ryed.


    [Tell him congrattions.] Karl instructed, and Hawk screeched a reply that startled the Druid.


    He pointed at Hawk in shock, and then the two had a brief conversation of shrieks that would have annoyed anyone with ears if it weren''t so funny to see.


    "Now that we have established that Owlbears really do speak the samenguage as Dragonhawks, let''s move on." The Inscriptionist announced with a pained look.


    All around the room they tried, even having the Berserkers Rage to try to get the skill, but only those with an animalistic transformation managed to get the [Berserk Terror] transformation that Ophelia, Tank and the Druid had aplished.


    "Well, at least it isn''t as bad as the other one. We are going to pass these out all down the lines today, and hopefully, we can get another dozen or so Berserkers and Druids educated." Karl chuckled at his optimism, but Doug thought it might be possible. "You should also look for the clerics who have transformations, especially the white robes and the nature priests. Many of them have an animal based sensory spell that will partially transform them, but neither of us here have learned that sort of blessing."


    General Stonewall looked at Wolfe before he could turn to leave, and raised an eyebrow in a curious expression.


    "What was your n if there had been Royal Rank attackers hidden among the Hill Giants." He asked.


    "Have you ever stepped on a ketchup packet?" Karl replied. "It would go something like that."


    The Berserkersughed as Karl turned to leave, but he could swear he actually felt Morgana rolling her eyes at him. n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om


    He walked out to get the clerics to fix his gear in the fort, but as Karl left the mess hall, he heard the General ask the real question. "But for which side?"


    The fort was quiet as everyone sorted out their armour after putting it into storage to remove the filth and then taking it back out, but not equipped.


    "Do you think that Rae really did advance? She vanished in the middle of the fight, and we could hardly see her. It was like she became a screen projecting the surrounding scenery, and she just vanished until you touched her." Lotus asked as she started to mend the leather on Dana''s armour.


    Karl shook his head. "Not yet, but very soon. She''s already advanced at least one of her Innate Skills, so it won''t be far. I think she just needs a bit of time to finish adapting, and she will be there."


    "What about the others?" Lotus asked.


    "Well, Hawk and Thor are both close, but I''m not certain how easy their potential is going to make the process. Remi still needs some time to grow. Royal Rank is likely going to be an evolutionary bottleneck for her, so she might get stuck for a moment." Karl shrugged as hey thest of his armour t to assess the damage.


    It looked even worse now,id out on the floor, than it had when he was wearing it.


    Tessa sighed as she looked at the torn chain links and steel tes torn into pieces.


    "You really did a number on this suit, didn''t you? How did you manage to get through a battle without any major injuries when your entire armour set is Swiss cheese?" She asked as she started to work.


    "I''ve been thinking about that, and I''ve realized that it''s an issue with my technique. You see, [ming Body] prefers to keep tight to my skin, except where it''s extended over my weapon. But that means that it''s under my armour and only [Refreshing Lightning] is over the top.


    So Thor''s barrier takes the first round of damage, the armour takes the second, and the ming Body barrier is the third. So I didn''t take too many serious wounds, but the armour took a beating.


    It''s just how the spell wants to work, so I didn''t think much of it, as I normally use it more for offence than defence." Karl exined.


    "How does your weapon look?" Tessa asked.


    Karl took it out, and noticed that the broad de looked much better polished and with fewer imperfections than he remembered it. The de''s inscription said it was intended to absorb the life force of defeated opponents to grow the power of its wielder, to make them a Champion of their people, but it appeared that the de itself grew with them, so they didn''t discard it along the way.


    Not that it would let Karl easily discard it, with the way that it kept rejecting every other ded weapon he touched.


    "It looks pristine to me. The weapon is a bit special, so I don''t think that I need to worry much about pitting in the edge or cracks." Karl noted.


    Tessa gave it a cursory look, then nodded and gave it back.


    "Yeah, it looks like it survived the battle much better than your armour did. This will take a bit, and there is a leather backing, so I will have to pass it to Lotus once she''s finished."


    "Well, I had Thor drop a load of gear at the base of the trees, so if mine is too messed up I can try to bond something from the Hill Giants. The Gauntlets have a particrly good strength enchantment, though, if we can fix those." Karl offered.


    "Right, there is loot and spare parts below the tree. Go look for a chest te that will bond to you, and I should be able to get the rest done in the next hour or two. Nobody else''s gear is this mangled, and I barely even took damage, so mine is all still serviceable. I will fix itst, so we have everyone operational at the very least." Tessa replied.


    Karl climbed down thedder to check the piles that Thor had ced at the bottom of the trees. They would have someonee clean them upter, but for now there was a lot to pick through. The Hill Giants also wore better equipment than the Frost Giants did, as they used Earth Magic, and could easily make their own metal te armour. Not much of it was actually enchanted, but the pieces that were enchanted tended to be fairly good quality, even if most of them were sorge that it was a pain for even Thor to bring them back here.

 Chapter 366 Spare Gear

    Chapter 366 Spare Gear


    Karl looked through the pile, looking for chest tes. There were only a few to choose from, as the ones worn by the Hill Giants were toorge to be easily brought back.


    But there was a decent one without any visible damage that Karl matched with its backte and tried.


    Unfortunately, It didn''t bond with him.


    So, Karl kept digging through the pile until he found a human sized one that was made of light blue metal chain with a shining steel or silver chest te over it.


    Karl knew this one, it had a single hole over the heart both front and back. That made it the first one that Rae had ambushed after her skill advanced, the guy who had died while trash talking.


    It wasn''t undamaged, but it was in better shape than what he had been wearing, and the materials looked both powerful and exotic.


    There was no actual restriction on having spare armour, as far as Karl knew, so he tried to bond it, and the armour easily slid into ce under his shirt and jacket.


    It was lightweight,fortable, and once the holes were fixed, it should be good protection that could be somewhat stealthily worn at all times, not like the heavy leather and tebo he had before.


    That might also mean that it wasn''t actually great armour, but it was bonded now, and he could get Tessa to fix it quickly while the mangled pieces waited.


    "What you up to down there?" Bob Mackenzie called from somewhere in the distance.


    "Sorting through armour pieces for something that won''t make Tessa cry when she sees the condition." Karl called back, then heard the Clericugh from above him.


    Bob came over and looked at the loot pile. "Mind if I look as well? My gear was pretty beat by the end of the fight, and we loaded a literal tonne of stuff into Thor''s bags."


    "Have at. I''ve got a new chest te the bonded. It''s this, and only a little damaged." Karl exined as he took it off to show the warrior.


    Bob whistled. "Now that''s pretty. It looks like a Commander Rank piece, but the Clerics will be able to tell you better if it''s any good."


    "Throw it up here, and I''ll tell you." Tessa called as she extended her hand out the entrance.


    Karl tossed it up to her and heard the cleric curse.


    "This has to be Rae''s work. Or is that your sword that went through and through? It had to suck to be whoever was wearing thisst. But it''s an easy fix with the proper application of repair magic.


    It''s Commander Rank, and it''s actually very sturdy armour, despite being designed to be worn under cleric robes without adding visible bulk." She announced.


    So, it was a church created piece that the traitors had taken with them. n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om


    Karl saw simr blue metal in the pile. "Oh, there are the matching pants here as well. Check these out."


    He equipped them to ensure they would bond with him, then removed them and tossed them up to Tessa.


    "Yeah, this is the matching half of the set. Help Bob find what he wants, and if you see more of those pieces, save them. They''re good for the other clerics and mages." Tessa replied happily.


    The pants weren''t damaged at all, so she could fix the chest and put Karl''s original set of armour on the back burner, to be done when she had the othersbat ready again.


    She was quite familiar with the pattern of the clergy produced armour set, though the quality was higher than she was used to having ess to. Commander Rank armour was normally reserved for High Priests, and they had their own armourers at the Cathedral, so she hadn''t had the opportunity to test her skills on their equipment.


    She could likely take a set for herself to be less conspicuous than the chain and te set that she wore now, whichyered around her robes, to leave shining golden tes on the outside, and dull metal chain under her robes, making her look only partially armoured.


    Bob stopped as he reached the pile, and immediately picked up the te set that Karl had set aside as ipatible with him.


    It vanished as soon as he picked it up, and a freshly polished steel te,plete with arm guards, which hadn''t been part of the original set, appeared on the warrior.


    "Now pants. I need to find some new pants. One leg is totally mangled on mine, and the repair team won''t have that ready for days.


    They say that we can take a few shifts off if our gear is still too damaged, but I would rather be back in battle." He exined.


    "Here are some undamaged ones, but they''re smaller, so they''re likely Ascended, possibly even Awakened." Karl exined.


    Bob looked the gear over and shrugged. "Ascended is good enough until I get my own armour back. Having a spare set will be a huge improvement, even if it''s not as good as my primary gear."


    Tessa stuck her head out to see what they were talking about.


    "No, that''s Commander Rank as well, but made for a younger Ascended, or Awakened Giant. Likely some young master of the n." She announced.


    Bob put it on, and the armourpleted his look, making him look like a proper knight, covered in shiny steel armour.


    "Did you break anything else?" Karl asked as they both began to sort through the pile for the cleric pieces that Tessa wanted.


    It appeared that the scavengers had managed to save most of the traitors'' armour, minus the set from one that had been yeeted off into the distance somewhere orpletely mangled.


    Bob was not answering, but he was still digging after Karl was sure that they had all the repairable pieces of gear from the traitors that they were going to find. He was intent on something, so Karl just waited patiently as he hunted.


    Then he came up with a helmet that had a beaked front, like the gue doctors wore to keep the smell from reaching them as they worked, but made of polished steel, with two ck horns on the sides.


    He equipped it on his head, and Karl couldn''t help butugh. "That hat is glorious. Absolutely ridiculous, but glorious." He joked.


    "Right? I saw it going into the bag and knew that I had to try to get it when none of the teachers were watching. You know that they would all want it for themselves once they saw its glory."


    Their conversation drew curious looks from above, and Morganaughed as she saw Bob all dressed for work.


    "What in the world were you thinking? That hat is ridiculous." Sheughed.


    "Come down here and help me find a matching shield. I''ve got a ck tabard and cloak to go with the look." Bob demanded.


    Morgana rolled her eyes and pointed to the far side of the pile. "There is a ck oak one over there. Try that first."


    It was round, with a metal central dome and banding. Simple, but effective enough, and hopefully a reasonable size once it was equipped. It had better shrink when equipped because right now, it could double as a dinner table.


    Bob slid his arm through the straps to slide the pile of armour off the huge wooden tform, while Karl wondered what possessed Thor to bring that back with them. Unless he was using it as a tform to hold more bags of loot.


    The final look of the recement armour set was simple, and once Bob equipped his tabard over the top, it was a good blend of steel and ck. Other than the helmet, he looked like a proper knight, and the shield wasrge enough to keep using in his role as a defensive warrior.

 Chapter 367 Repair Party

    Chapter 367 Repair Party


    Karl climbed back up into the fort, followed by Bob, and found Doug already rxing next to Lotus as he wove spells over Dana''s robes.


    The mage was looking at the armour that had been recovered from the traitors with great interest.


    "You know, this looks like it would be easy to move in, and wouldn''t interfere with my casting. Do you suppose that I could start wearing normal clothes for a change, instead of enchanted mage robes, if I had something like this for defence?" She asked.


    Doug shrugged. "I don''t see why not. What did you have in mind?"


    "I would appreciate it if I could just wear pants and a hoodie like a normal human being. Mage robes feel far too much like a dress, and I''m worried that I''m bing too used to the skirts." Dana replied.


    "Why is that bad? I kind of like the breeze." Doug asked.


    "I''m not a Nature Priestess. I am actually fond of wearing pants."


    Doug shrugged. "That''s a bit weird, but I can make you a normal outfit to go over your armour if you like? Pants and a hoodie."


    Lotus bonked him on the head with the side of her fist. "I will do it. I have seen your fashion sense, and it''s better that I pick out her outfit. We both use the same spell to weave cloth anyhow."


    They bickered as they finished repairing the armour, and then Dana changed out of her robes to reveal that she had imed one of the traitors'' armour sets for herself.


    Lotus booed her as she removed her spare robes, and Dana poked the cleric in the forehead.


    "I''m changing into my armour so you can make normal clothes to go over it, not giving everyone a strip show."


    Lotus shrugged. She was already bored, sitting here repairing armour for over an hour, and she needed entertainment.


    Dana had changed from the fur boots of the Frost Giant campaign back to the ckbat boots that the Academy issued students for missions, So, Lotus was about to make a matching ck hoodie for the mage, but Rae was faster.


    Dana was rapidly engulfed in a cocoon of silk as the Bloodbath Spider wove her magic from the exterior wall of the fort, aiming through the door. "What is Rae doing?" Lotus whispered to Karl as the mage vanished.


    "Decorating her Dana, I guess." Doug tried and failed to stop hisughter, while Lotus rolled her eyes. n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om


    "Aren''t you supposed to be a good father, raising them with values and morals?" Ophelia asked.


    Doug tried and failed to stop hisughter, while Lotus rolled her eyes.


    "Aren''t you supposed to be a good father, raising them with values and morals?" Ophelia asked.


    Karl shook his head. "I don''t think that''s how it works. They already have morals and values, I just teach them the human rules."


    "Have you taught them about bodily autonomy and the value of consent?" Lotus asked.


    "I mean, they''re a bit young for that..."


    Now it was Karl''s turn to get thumped on the head. "Not like that. You''re supposed to teach them to ask before doing things like wrapping people in a ball of web."


    Rae gave Lotus a look that said she definitely didn''t understand.


    [That''s not how gifts work.]


    [I know that, and you know that, but I don''t think Lotus understands that this is a gift yet.]


    "Rae says it''s a gift. You don''t ask before giving gifts, you just give them." Karl exined.


    "A gift? Alright, I suppose that makes sense." Lotus relented.


    She was actually excited to see what the mage was going toe out looking like, given Rae''s unique personality. For all that anyone knew, Dana mighte out looking like something out of a vampire romance novel.


    Officially, those were Vampire Species Propaganda, but they still managed to get a ratherrge following among the dark fantasy readers and goth girls.


    After most of a minute of manipting her webs, Rae gave the cocoon a slice with her foreleg, revealing Dana in all her newfound glory. She was wearing cargo pants and a hoodie as promised, both in jet ck, but the hoodie was short, showing the chain mail around her midriff, while the pants were loose, with plenty of pockets.


    Both were made of Commander Rank spider silk, woven thick, and in the case of the hoodies, loosely, to give it a soft surface, simr to fleece.


    Dana turned to inspect herself, and Karl noticed that there was a huge picture of Rae on the back of her hoodie in white thread.


    "I have pockets." Dana noted with pleasure, before stepping to the door to give Rae a hug.


    "Is that not normal?" Karl whispered to Doug.


    "Women''s clothing never has pockets for some reason. It''s one of the reasons that Priestesses like wearing their robes so much, there are proper pockets." The High Priest whispered back.


    Dana pulled her mass of curly hair up out of the hoodie and pushed the hood back.


    "Ah, that''s better, it''s too warm to have the hood up. But this outfit is wonderful. Oh, it even has a front zipper, sort of."


    It wasn''t actually a zipper, but aced front tie because Rae didn''t know how to make a zipper. But it did let her untie the hoodie a little for venttion when she wasn''t inbat.


    Dana focused, and the outfit vanished, reced by her school uniform, then returned. "That is incredible, it''s even bonded, so I can just change clothes. Thank you, Rae. This is a wonderful gift." Dana removed her armour and leaned back against the soft wall of the fort,pletely satisfied with her new look.


    "You know, before I came to the Academy, this was much more fancy than anything I got to wear. My dad had a hard time holding a job, and mom was home with the kids, so we never had new anything, and we always ended up with those horrid coveralls that the clergy pass out to impoverished kids." She reminisced.


    "I knew you lived in a small town, but I didn''t know it was that bad." Karl noted.


    "Sometimes it was, sometimes it wasn''t, but dad was always cheap, so he always went to the church for clothing donations. They were used to seeing us at every handout from the times he wasn''t working, so nobody asked questions.


    You know, I never expected to be the one to bepatible with the Serum. My older sister was always the one who was good at everything, the gifted child who could do no wrong. At least, she was until she ran off with her boyfriend a little over a year ago." Sheughed.


    Ophelia smiled at some memory and nodded in agreement. "You know, I always used to be so certain that I would be a powerful mage. I could see it, my whole future as an Idol, singing and showing off my magic. Imagine my shock when I was actually an Elite, but I became a Berserker."


    Danaughed. "Honestly, your dream is my nightmare. I hate being in the spotlight, or having people staring at me. But the moment that I got to the Academy, they decided that I had that ''girl next door look'' and a voice that they wanted for the next round of Idols, so I got shunted off into the idol training courses despite my protests."


    Ophelia frowned for a second. "You know, we don''t have many female bards at the Academy. Just Seamus and a bunch of horny bards, who want to use their music to pick up girls."

 Chapter 368 House Guests

    Chapter 368 House Guests


    The group sat and joked for most of the afternoon as the three clerics finished repairing everyone''s armour, including the mangled remains of Karl''s original suit. It had better buffs on it than the new gear did, but it didn''t have the advantage offort or being able to be worn under normal clothing. Eventually, the Clerics moved from fixing gear to cooking dinner. This was their horribly overworked day, and Karl hoped that they could at least get a day off afterwards.


    It was the great downfall of being indispensable. Everyone needed you for something, and on days like today, someone needed you for everything.


    But on the bright side, nobody came to bother them as they ate and rxed after dinner, until it started to get dark, and Morgana sighed while looking out the door.


    "If you would like to stay the night, we can hang extra hammocks for you. We have plenty, so you can stay here the night." Karl offered.


    They also had extra nkets from their time on the Frost Giant front, so they weren''t short on sleeping gear.


    Doug nodded happily and Bob shrugged.


    "We might as well, since we''re already here. I can make a cute fuzzy nket for our resident princess if she needs." Doug teased.


    Morgana''s hand glowed with ck magic, and the Nature Cleric justughed harder.


    "Alright, we need to hear this story. What is it between you three?" Karl insisted.


    Bob patted Doug on the shoulder, and gestured to Morgana. "She can tell the story, and we will fill in the gaps."


    Morgana sighed. "I can see that letting them tell it would be a mistake. It was my second mission, after a single day resource gathering trip. I got paired with these three idiots and two horny morons from my magicbat ss.


    I grew up in government employee housing in the Capital, I had never been in the wilderness before. I just loved nts and potions. But from the first hour, they were making fun of me."


    Doug cut in as she paused. "You should have seen her. She was smaller than Lotus, and she kept getting lost as she went to look at flowers."


    Morgana red at him, and Doug made a zipping motion over his lips to let her continue.


    "We were out for three days, and all four of them teased me relentlessly. I didn''t know how cold it was going to get in the forest, so I had packed my lucky nket from my room, a ck fuzzy nket. That''s what Doug was referring to.


    He called me Princess for the entire trip."


    She paused, likely intending to finish it there, but Doug wasn''t done.


    "Tell them about the next time as well."


    "Why do they need to know that?" She replied suspiciously.


    "Because if you don''t tell them, I''m going to."


    Morgana sighed. "Fine. The second time we went out, we deployed by train, and the train was attacked. It wasn''t major, but I lost my pack. In fact, all of the students did. We had put our packs in the baggage car while we went for lunch.


    Hey, I see that judging look. We didn''t know any better, and nobody warned us. Well, the baggage car took a direct hit from a Gryphon, and all of our gear was lost. So, the only ones who had any gear were Bob and Doug, while the rest of us had nothing.


    My ss basically relies on potions, especially in the early stages. I didn''t have a single attack spell that didn''t require a reagent of some sort, and now I didn''t have a tent or a ride home to the Academy.


    It sucked, and I didn''t want to be there.


    But we had to walk back to the Academy, as the tracks were damaged, and we were under a hundred kilometres away. But that part was alright, we even managed to find some of the resources we came for on our way back the first day.


    At dark, Doug made two tents with his magic. We drew lots to see who had watch, and I got first shift. At that point I didn''t have any of these tattoos, it was the catalyst that made me decide to do something permanent to improve my abilities as an Elite. I was exhausted by the time the shift ended, and we had been instructed to keep the fire low, but burning, so it didn''t go out before morning.


    At the time I wore thick sses, and I couldn''t see much of anything in the dark, but the ones on watch were all sleeping by the fire, so I woke my recement for his shift and then went to the girls'' tent to sleep."


    Dana facepalmed, and Opheliaughed, knowing exactly where this was going.


    "That''s right. She got the wrong tent, and because she was exhausted, she just climbed into the bed closest to the door and went to sleep." Doug interjected.


    "Which one of you?" Dana asked while Lotus turned away from the conversation.


    It couldn''t hide the shaking shoulders or faint sound of her stifledughter, though.


    "Me, of course. I always sleep next to the door, in case there is an attack and someone needs healing. But more importantly, did you know that our Princess prefers to sleep naked?" Doug replied.


    Morgana did actually attack him this time, a bolt of ck magic that Doug caught with a handkerchief that turned to ash instantly.


    "Then she pped Bob in the face when he tried to wake her up in the morning, and buried herself under my hassock for warmth." Doug continued with tears rolling down his face.


    Morgana gave a defeated sigh. "And now everyone knows the shameful reason I can''t stand these two lecherous brothers."


    And the reason she never wanted to leave her balcony room, Karl suspected. The boys in the group would not have quickly forgotten that story, and given their usual assumptions, it was likely to have given her a rather unfortunate reputation among her ssmates.


    "That is... unfortunate..." Ophelia stammered.


    "And that was before she cursed me with misfortune." Doug agreed.


    "Every day for a month. Until he came to the Academy to apologize to her in person, and the teachers made her stop." Bob added.


    Morgana red at Karl. "You are suspiciously silent."


    "There is nothing I can say at this moment that will not make the situation worse."


    "Oh? If you had to say something, what would it be?" She asked, and all the women turned to Karl to see what he coulde up with to calm the angry Witch Doctor. n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om


    "Well, Doug is kind of hairy, so at least you were warm, right?"


    Now, Morgana''s ebony skin didn''t really allow her to blush, but if Karl had to guess, she would be red from ear to ear if she were as pale as Dana.


    Doug puffed up his chest. "The only one here who can beat me in the chest hair department is Ophelia, and she has to transform to do it."


    Morgana snapped her attention to him. "You''re not supposed to be proud of that, you idiot."

 Chapter 369 Wayward Thoughts

    Chapter 369 Wayward Thoughts


    Tessa quickly changed the topic away from Doug''s prodigious copse of chest hair, and motioned for Rae to make more hammocks in the empty room. Everyone was gathered in the living room, with everyone but the clerics and Karl sitting in the swinging chairs, so there was no need to move as Rae got to work, making the expanded sleeping arrangements.


    Karl couldn''t help but notice that there were ck fuzzy nkets on all three hammocks, but he didn''t say anything as they all prepared for bed. The fort had a night light, but it was better not to stay up too much past dark, in case there was an attack first thing in the morning. Tessa gestured to the back, where the shower bag was set up in its own curtained room. "Men can shower first. Karl, who is on watch tonight?"


    Karl gestured upwards. "Hawk is in a nest in the tree, pondering the mysteries of the universe. He''s trying to understand something about the advancement to Royal Rank, and thought it was better to be outdoors."


    "Alright, say goodnight to everyone for me."


    Thor made a happy noise in his spot, knowing that she was talking about him, and then settled back into his pond to sleep.


    Karl meditated in his hammock for most of the evening, taking in all the new knowledge about hispanions, as well as the newfound understanding that half of the conflict between the Mackenzie brothers and Morgana was actually just embarrassment. It might have been sexual tension, but Karl was fairly certain that should have faded by now. It had been two years, after all.


    First thing the next morning, they were all headed for the mess hall for breakfast, and Karl noticed that Morgana was sneaking looks at Doug, who had theces at the neck of his robes a bit looser than usual to show off just a bit of chest.


    If this was flirting, perhaps Karl was doing it all wrong. Or maybe they were somehow worse at it than he was.


    The students in the mess hall all looked exhausted, though Karl didn''t recall most of them having gone to the line yesterday.


    "Long night?" He asked a boy at the next table as he sat down.


    The boy nodded grimly. "Yeah, nobody slept well until the walls were all disenchanted and torn down. There was some talk of making our own, but the Hill Giants have better Earth Magic than we do, so there was a chance they would turn it against us if we used their specialty as our fortifications."


    The boy beside him chuckled. "I guess your group didn''t have that issue. You all looked half dead when you returned past the lines. Did you manage to get all your gear repaired?" Karl shook his head. "Most of it is fixed, and at least the group of us here managed to find spares among the loot we grabbed from the Giants, but our primary gear still needs some work."


    From the next table over, an equally exhausted looking young man nodded. "We''ve got about eight hours worth of work before we will have everyone''s armour back to them after the battle yesterday. I''m just hoping that we won''t have another attack today because the repair teams can''t take that again. There were only three dozen of you, and there was so much work, and at a priority rush, plus what they turned over was mostly Commander Rank gear, which is so much harder to repair than the Awakened stuff that most of the army has."


    "I take it that the repair difficulty is based on how powerful the one doing the repair is?" Karl asked.


    The tech nodded. "Yeah, repairing above your rank takes about three times as long for every rank. It''s still possible, but you need to put a huge amount of work into it for the magical repairs to take, and there is a chance the ability will only be partially sessful. If it''s really bad, we send it to the forges first, and have them do most of the patches before we start with the abilities to blend it and fix the enchantments.


    That''s the downfall to getting good gear in advance. Even if you''ve got it, you usually need someone to repair it for you, and if you''re paying the shops, that gets expensive. At least here on the lines, it''s free."


    Everyone who filed in for breakfast after that looked simrly bedraggled, and it was obvious that his team were the only ones who didn''t take the warning about the dangers of the attacking force all that seriously.


    Now, part of that was Hawk''s scouting telling him what was actually there, but Karl could see that in the eyes of the other Elites, there was a somewhat concerning level of confidence behind his actions, and Karl was reminded of Tank telling him that his thinking was being influenced.


    [Don''t worry about it too much. Look at all the ones who weren''t brave enough to go, even when we won so easily. It''s not a loss to forget to be stupid and cowardly.] Rae reminded him helpfully.


    She made an excellent point. It was no loss to get rid of aspects of his personality that didn''t serve any purpose.


    Today was supposed to be Karl''s team''s off day anyhow, as they had the afternoon shift the day before, so they all ate slowly and chatted with the teams who wereing through to eat.


    There were no signs of the Hill Giantsing back yet, but that wasn''t too surprising given their recent patterns. n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om


    An hour after breakfast ended, they were still sitting around the camp, using an empty teaching tent as a meeting room. That was when the ten red robed Spelldes came in, clearly looking for them.


    "Ah, good. We were hoping to see you all before we left. Thank you for the assistance in dealing with the traitor forces. I''m sure you all know already, that this issue is confidential and shouldn''t make it into your official reports. At the very least, not the nature of the Titan Clerics that were defeated. If the public thinks that they were Hill Giants, that is fine." The leader of the group informed them.


    Karl nodded. "I suspected that might be the case. None of us have started our reports yet, so there won''t be any issues when we do turn them in."


    "Don''t worry too much about the reports. Keep them simple and the Defence Department will take care of the rest." The leader of the Spelldes shrugged.


    That made sense. All these reports were most likely going to vanish anyhow, in case someone let slip a detail that insinuated that someone from the Church had changed patrons and gone over to the Hill Giants to hunt their own people.


    "We might as well write those now. Did you all still need to write? There is paper on the shelf." Morgana offered.


    The Spellde shrugged. "We might as well. We talked to the others about the situation already, and they''ve all turned in their reports on the mission. They used Clerics of the Titan Gods as the code for the special team we encountered. That should be clear enough for everyone to understand."


    Simple, safe and efficient. There were plenty of Titan God clerics among the Giants. Oddly, they didn''t seem to specialize in healing, but in physical power enhancement and regeneration, as Karl understood it. But the Giants regenerated more like beasts than humans, so enhancing their natural abilities might be more effective.


    There was far too much that he didn''t actually understand about the Giants, even if he was getting pretty good at killing them.

 Chapter 370 Calling Cards

    Chapter 370 Calling Cards


    Once the reports were finished, the Spellde n gathered them and put them into a folder to turn over to the regional Command Group.


    "Alright, that is done. What time do you have to be on the line?" The head of the Spelldes asked.


    "We''re on our day off today. We just decided toe rx around the others, so we didn''t have as far to go if there was an rm. Our sleeping spot is outside the main camp by a few dozen metres." Karl exined.


    The Spellde nodded, and Karl heard his armour shift under his robes. "Did you have any connection to the Divine Beast Nation? I wouldn''t be shocked if they had taken some interest in an Elite with your particr skills." He asked.


    Karl shook his head. "I''ve never been out that way. Two of my beasts came from down south in the Wilds, though." "Now that is interesting. What made you choose to go south for beasts, instead of trying to appeal to the Divine Beast Nation for fast power? They might have been able to get you a cub of a powerful Divine Beast."


    Karl shook his head. "Bonding a beast above my Rank won''t work well. If I had gone there at the start, and gotten a beast like Remi, who was born Ascended when I was Common Grade, it might have killed us both. One Rank ahead of my own growth should be fine at this point, but two or three Ranks would be suicide. If I went there now, and they were to present a beast that is born Royal or Monarch Rank, I might be alright for a bit, but I don''t know if I could adapt fast enough for their growth rate.


    But more importantly, I would owe the Divine Beasts a favour. The Bureau of Elite Development took me south, and I believe that we''ve mostly squared up on debts these days."


    The Spellde almost choked when Karl finished speaking. "A beast born at the Royal Rank? If that''s your goal, you must be expecting your ss to carry you to the peak of Overlord along with them. But even most of the great Dragons aren''t born above Commander Rank, they grow into their power over an extended time." The mageughed.


    Karl shrugged. "A man can dream.


    But if you don''t mind, I have a question for you as well. When did you get here? I don''t recall there being any Spelldes in the Academy Camp during the days before the battle."


    The red robed leader chuckled. "And officially, we weren''t here at all. We arrived during the fight, after Military Intelligence gave us the location of our targets. We didn''t know that they had been forcibly advanced, though. That was an unpleasant surprise.


    But all is well that ends well. They were eliminated, and by tomorrow we will be off on another mission." n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om


    "So, Military Intelligence knew that they were here?" Morgana asked quietly.


    "For nearly two hours. They were sighted by a spy drone at high altitude.


    If they had been a bit more discrete, we would have only suspected, but they didn''t even bother to take off the Church''s defensive warded tabards, so the drone spotted them right away.


    Bunch of idiots."


    Karl looked down at the stack of papers. "Wait, shouldn''t we edit those? Because if that was ten Royal Rank Hill Giant Clerics, they would probably still be beating our faces for sport. Ten forcibly advanced humans doesn''t really measure up to the same number of well-trained Hill Giants."


    The Spellde shook his head. "No, it''s important that the number be correct because they are looking for it for verification of missionpletion. That''s how they will know that we actually eliminated them all.


    And I do hope that was all of them because if they had time to stabilize and learn some of the specialbat techniques of the Titan Gods, they would have been much more difficult to fight."


    The Spelldes headed out to do whatever they needed for the afternoon, perhaps to be relocated to another hot spot, and Karl''s team retreated to the tent, still up three more members, as Morgana and the Mackenzie brothers followed them.


    "What is the n for the afternoon? Meditation and spell study?" Morgana asked, as it was a day off from training.


    Karl nodded. "That''s the n for me. I think that with a bit more work, I can let Rae advance to Royal Rank. Once she makes it, it will only be a matter of time until the rest of us do."


    Rae was certain that she was already very close to breaking through, and she just needed a bit more time. The extra energy from the fight was enough for her toplete her change, it was just a matter of time now.


    [Is there something that you''re still working on before you advance?] Karl asked, wondering if there was something that he could do to help.


    [Nope. I''ve got the skills, I know what to do, now I''m just waiting for my body to adapt. What I really need is a better catchphrase.]


    [Why do you need a catchphrase at all?]


    [You can''t just kill people without a catchphrase. Otherwise, how would anyone know how great you are?]


    [The stab holes from your legs are already pretty distinctive. Even Tessa knew right away that it was you the moment that she saw one of your wounds on an armour te.


    If you want to leave a calling card, I would say that you already do, and anyone who knows you would know that those were your kills. But even if they don''t know that it is you, they would recognize your kills if they saw them again.]


    Rae considered that fact. Her legs weren''t really shaped like any sword she had ever seen. So the puncture wounds were pretty distinctive, even if the tearing wounds were just gruesome and indistinguishable.


    That was the secret, Rae decided. She was having too much fun tearing them apart, and she wasn''t leaving a distinctive stab mark, so people knew it was her kill. But if she went back after the battle and stabbed them all, it would feel like cheating.


    That was it, she could just step on the bodies as she passed by, and give them one distinct puncture wounds so that someone could keep count of the kills for her when they cleaned the battlefieldter.


    That was brilliant, and she wondered why she didn''t think of it earlier.


    It didn''t need to be a damaging wound, just something visible so that it would be recognized after the battle.


    That final mental distraction seemed to be thest thing holding her back, and Karl felt Rae''s power beginning to progress once her mind was at ease.


    Perhaps a sense of self, knowing who you were, and what your ce in the world was, might be essential to the breaking of the Royal Rank bottleneck.


    That would exin why it was easier for beasts. They knew their ce in the world, they didn''t have self-doubt about their own reality, their abilities or their future. They simply were, and that was enough for them.


    Hawkughed at Karl''s moment of introspection. [You''re overthinking it. Rae just wants people to know that she''s the greatest without actually having to interact with strangers in the daylight.]


    Even Rae couldn''t argue with that logic, but Karl suspected that they could both be right. After all, Rae didn''t doubt her ce in the world, only if anyone had noticed how glorious it was.


    Which led to thoughts on ways to ensure they appreciated her glorious carnage.

 Chapter 371 Raes Priorities

    Chapter 371 Rae''s Priorities


    Rae''s real concern was not how to make sure that everyone knew which kills were hers, that was already fairly obvious to everyone.


    What was really weighing on her mind was the fact that she was about to be Royal Rank, and she didn''t feel impressive enough. She was a goddess of the night, a divine blessinge to reap the tasty and unwary. But soon she would be a legitimate Princess, and her only real skills were stabbing, and making things that stabbed for her.


    How could a Princess of the Bloodbath Spider species only be good for assassination? Wasn''t that just too sad? If she couldn''t even do something cool, wouldn''t she be no better than a Giant? She had stabbed thousands of Giants to death, but Rae suspected that the humans didn''t fully appreciate how much of a difference existed between an elegant being such as her and some stupid Giant.


    She was so lost in despair that her abilities weren''t visually impressive that she almost missed the fact that she already had the answer.


    She had been watching the humans all her life, and there was no way that she couldn''t learn the basics of their skills. No human could be as smart as her. Not even her Karl was immune to her trickery.


    What she needed to do was focus on the learning skill and a person with a cool ability. There were countless cool abilities, and really shy ones. Remi had gotten an overdose of luck on that front, and all her abilities were shy. But none of them were really appealing to Rae.


    She wanted something that people would associate with her.


    Then she recalled a skill she kept seeing the Commander Rank Rogues using. They just vanished into a shadow and appeared somewhere else to attack. It didn''t seem to go far, but she could totally learn that. Shadows were her Element.


    So, Rae sneaked out to observe the Rogues practising, revelling in the fact that half the camp didn''t even see her passing by them. n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om


    Of course, a huge spider sitting at the edge of the training area in the middle of the afternoon wasn''t exactly stealthy, even if she blended with her surroundings exceptionally well. So, the most powerful Rogues knew that she was watching them, and wondered what she was doing.


    Then, when the sun shifted and moved her into the shadows, the Bloodbath Spider vanished, only to appear behind one of the Professors and rub a mandible against the back of his neck before making a quarter turn and vanishing again.


    "Did we just identally teach a Bloodbath Spider to Shadow Step?" One of the students asked as the teacher stood frozen in horror.


    "We totally did. Holy shit, that is terrifying. I''m d we''re not Professor Fingers right now." Another Rogue agreed.


    "She was terrifying enough before. Did you know that she can see in absolute darkness, track you by noise, and she has built in thermal imaging? It''s basically impossible to hide from her. Now, she can shadow step, so she can just appear anywhere and attack. That''s just disgustingly unfair." One of the boys that Rae had embarrassed in ss ranted.


    Rae, who was hiding in a tree nearby, waiting to see how long it took someone to find her, preened at the praise for her skills. That was what she wanted to hear. Her new skill was called "disgustingly unfair". That was perfect.


    With that settled, she returned to her space for the evening, and worked on adapting her shell so she could be a proper Royal Rank Bloodbath Spider.


    She had been neglecting her skincare routine, but tonight, she had brought out all the good stuff. She had a scrubber made from moss in Thor''s space, and a bath full of Royal Rank blood, both human and Giant. She had ground up a number of stones that seemed like they were beneficial to her to mix into her scrubber, and she was ready for a long night in for self-care.


    Thor approved to this method of advancement. His pool wasfortable and soaked him with Holy energy constantly. He would make it to Royal Rank eventually, he was certain. For now, he was more focused on his endurance. The more recent fights had been exhausting, trying to shield a whole bunch of people at one time, while fighting and working on his own defence, with Circle of Protection active.


    Normally, a Lightning Cerro Pack would all have their own barriers, so he wouldn''t need to extend them over everyone. But Karl was the only one who could do it, and he couldn''t extend it the way that Thor could.


    So, he had to work on his stamina if he was going to keep up his position in this growing pack.


    From what Thor instinctively knew, the stronger a leader, therger the pack. So, when Rae reached Royal Rank, and the rest of them began to advance, the humans would bring more people for their pack.


    When the herd was small and without a powerful leader, they needed as many bodies as they could get. Then as they grew up, they would start a small pack that they could protect. But as they started to get more powerful, they would attract more young members who needed safety to form a powerful herd.


    That''s the point in the cycle of pack growth that they were at now. Once they reached Royal Rank, everyone would know that Karl''s pack could protect them, so they would flock to him.


    It was inevitable in Thor''s mind, and he just needed to make sure that he could protect them all, since he was the pack''s defender.


    That made Thor wonder if he was second inmand. In a Cerro Pack, the Guardian was the strongest warrior other than the pack leader, and he defended the weak while the leader and the rest of the strong fighters chased off the threats.


    Some herd animals would just run and save as many as they could, while the predators picked off the weak and the young. But the Lightning Cerro didn''t operate like that. For one, they could heal broken bones in a day or two, they weren''t a crippling injury like they were to many animals. Secondly, they had powerful horns and tails. If they defended in a group, they could save more of their own than if they ran.


    If there was a Lightning Cerro who got too old and too injured to heal, and they were dragging the pack down, they would lead the charge during the next attack. That way, they could help the pack onest time, and the predator would get what it came for and leave the others.


    Only an insane predator continued the fight once it had its food.


    He didn''t think that humans operated like that. He had already met a number of useless human pack members and troublemakers that should have been left for a predator by their packs.


    Hawk considered putting in an opinion on the topic, but it was better to just watch Rae and take notes in case she came up with something that would help him. It wouldn''t be long before he was going to be advancing as well, so he needed to prepare in advance.

 Chapter 372 Blood Bath

    Chapter 372 Blood Bath


    All evening, Rae soaked in her bath, periodically scrubbing herself against the walls of the tub that she had lined with ground gems and moss. She was polishing off the outeryer of her chitin and sharpening her legs.


    That was general maintenance for a bloodbath spider, and she had been neglecting it for some time, but now that she was about to advance, she had to look her very best. She couldn''t have ws and imperfections marring her beauty when she made her first appearance as a Royal Rank beast.


    She was pulling in the blood from the pool and holding it in her mouth to let the nutrients soak through the membranes of her cheeks, pulling the energy and essence from it, then spitting the drained blood to the side of her pool so she didn''t have to swallow it and feel all bloated from overeating.


    The absorbed blood infusion was slowly transforming the energy in her body, following the instincts of a Bloodbath Spider, and while Karl was sleeping, she was making great progress.


    Her size wasn''t changing, she was already full-grown, but the density of her chitin had skyrocketed, and the energy of her body was taking on aspects of the primarily Hill Giant blood she had used. There wasn''t much of a choice, for Royal Rank, she only had blood from one Frost Giant and a bunch of humans other than what she had gotten from the Hill Giants. The humans didn''t hold much, and the Frost Giant blood was cold and blue. That did not sound like a pleasant bath at all, so she had skipped it.


    However, a Bloodbath Spider held significantly less blood than a Hill Giant did, so she had plenty left over even after her bath was done, and she had polished herself clean again, ready to present her advancement to the others.


    Karl''s mental spaces were shifting their power as he slept, spreading the focused energy from all the spaces into Rae''s on their own to adapt to the standard that her body now demanded.


    Nobody minded, Karl could fix it in the morning, and it was giving them all ideas on how their own advancement was supposed to go.


    Hawk was pretty certain that Rae had the right idea. Even if you feel the pull to advance, as he was beginning to, you needed to find a cool new skill to learn. Advancement made it much easier to learn a new ability, and he didn''t want to leave it to chance, he wanted the demoted Commander''s me Golem things, but as birds.


    That shouldn''t be hard. He already knew how to make fireballs of many kinds, and Rae could make golems, which he had been watching constantly. If hebined them, he should be able to have firebirds.


    But actually making Golems out of the mes was proving elusive. He should understand it, he had seen it so many times. But no matter what he was trying, they just weren''t sticking around as birds.


    He could make very effective self targeting bombs, but not proper Golems.


    So, Hawk changed his tactic. If his fiery creations didn''t want to stick around, he just needed to make them more effective while they were present.


    Instead of flying around the Elites looking for ideas, he headed to the artillery lines, looking for clues on how more effective explosions should work.


    That was all the Artillery did, it flew over and blew up. That was what he wanted out of his dive bombers, so Hawk spent most of the night watching them work. It proved mostly useless, as the artillery projectiles weren''t as impressive as his fire, but he did get some insights into the ways that the dive bombers should explode for maximum effect.


    The sense that something was wrong within his mind as Rae''s space tried to pull more than the other spaces had to spare woke Karl up before dawn.


    With few other options, he began to meditate, focusing on the me in the void of his mind to pull as much energy into his body as he could, feeding it all to Rae. While he drew energy from outside, the Vampiric de was donating some of its stored energy, though most of it had already been used to bolster the spaces during the past few days.


    The changing beast space was happily drawing everything that Karl could give it, and Rae''s sleeping form was beginning to shimmer with ck energy as her progression finished, and she fully integrated the power she had absorbed.


    Normally, she would have been in the equivalent of a fooda for a few days after her advancement, but with Karl''s help, she was beginning to stir before the sun was fully over the horizon.


    [How is your day going, Rae?] Karl asked as the spider began to move about, shaking her web to ensure everything was where she left it.


    [Did you realize that Hill Giants can make their own portable shadows?] She replied.


    Karl thought about that for a moment, but had no idea what she was talking about.


    [I will show everyone when they''re awake. We''ve got a shift on the line this morning, right?] Rae asked.


    [Yeah, right after breakfast. I''m sure they''ll all be super excited to see your new abilities. Congrattions on the advancement.]


    [You found out this fast?] Rae pouted.


    [It woke me up so that I could add energy, instead letting you sleep for days to finish the process.] Karl exined.


    Rae nodded her head. [It would never do to sleep for days. What if something happened? I could miss a chance to show off.


    But that Hill Giant blood was a great bath, we should find a Monarch Rank Hill Giant, so I can have one even better. I learned all sorts of things from advancing that way.]


    Karl wondered how much you could learn by bathing in blood, but given her name, there might actually be some connection between that and her ability to gain new skills.


    Karl was the first one up, so he changed into his Commander Rank suit with the new set of armour underneath, then headed to make the first pot of morning coffee and wait in the living room for the others.


    The first ones up were Doug and Morgana, who both stopped to stare at Karl as they entered the room.


    "There''s still most of a fresh pot on the counter." He greeted the early risers.


    "There''s something off about you this morning." Doug noted. n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om


    Morgana inspected Karl, and gave Doug a suspicious look when she couldn''t detect what it was that he was noticing.


    Doug poured two coffees and passed one to Morgana before lighting a smoke. "Have you figured out what it is yet? Is it bothering you that you don''t know?" He asked.


    "I swear you just like my annoyed expression. I will figure it out soon. There is something, but I just can''t tell what has changed about his presence. He''s still a Commander, so it''s not an advancement." Morgana replied as she sipped her coffee.


    One by one, the others filed in, and Doug shushed them when they wanted to ask what was going on, but he directed them all to the fresh pot of coffee brewing in the kitchen to rece the nearly empty one.


    Finally, Lotus couldn''t take it anymore.


    "Are we just going to wait for it, or can I just tell them now?" She pleaded.


    "Alright, you can tell them. We''ve had our fun."

 Chapter 373 Poof Giant Spider

    Chapter 373 Poof Giant Spider


    Lotus smirked at the group, sure that she was one of the few who could actually tell what had happened.


    "He''s got Royal Rank [Offensive Adaptation] active on him. Rae advanced, right? That means Rae advanced, it has to. Can we see her now? Did she get big? Is she shiny?" The little Cleric rambled.


    Karl held up his hand for a high five. "Right on the first try. But she is still the same size, and I''m not sure why you would think she became shiny. But she did do a fine job grooming her carapace, so her fur is in pristine condition, and her legs are an extra bloody red."


    [I want to do my grand reveal on the line.] Rae informed him.


    "Rae says she wants to show everyone at once, so she''s noting out until our shift starts. That way, everyone can see how glorious a full-grown Bloodbath Spider can be."


    Dougughed. "Well, at least she didn''t lose her sense of drama when she advanced. It would have been a shame if Rae became all boring and serious just because she was the only Royal Rank around at the moment."


    Bob snorted in amusement. "I''m just d to hear that she''s the same size. I''ve gotten used to that level of Giant Spider, I''m not sure my heart could take an evenrger version."


    That morning, they decided to eat in the fort and let the clerics cook for them so that they could surprise the others when they got to the line and brought Rae out.


    Everyone knew that Lotus was not built for keeping secrets, and if she had to sit all the way through breakfast, she would totally blurt it out.


    So, they left just in time to head to the line for their shifts, while doing their best to avoid attracting attention from those with sharper senses until they arrived.


    [Offensive Adaptation] was a passive skill that Rae shared with Karl, and he couldn''t really turn it off. But that meant that it was pretty obvious that he had a Royal Rank skill to anyone who was around him and paying attention.


    Heads turned as they approached the line, but Karl didn''t say anything as he walked to his spot and relieved the team on duty, who didn''t actually leave, they just stepped back a bit so he could take his spot.


    Only once they were in position and the whole section of the line was watching did Karl call Rae out for everyone to admire her beauty and glory.


    As soon as she appeared, the whole line went silent, before the Command Channel of the radio began to blow up with panickedments.


    [Who has eyes on the Royal Rank Threat?]


    [No Threat Detected.]


    [Nothing on the scope.]


    [Fuck, it has to be close, I can feel it. Right nk, do you see it?]


    [Right nk reports no iing threats.]


    [There is a Royal Rank beast here, we can all sense it.]


    [Copy that. Royal Rank Beast located. Currently, ying kickball with the clerics.]


    [Gods Dammit. KARL!]


    The absurdity of the radio confusion broke the tension, and everyone on the right nk turned to watch Rae ying with Lotus and Doug.


    Karl could see the teachers storming their way, intent on chewing him out for not informing them that he had advanced. But the joke was on them, he hadn''t advanced yet. Only Rae had.


    "Do you enjoy causing chaos on the lines?" One of the warrior ss teachers was shouting as he approached the spot where Rae was ying with the Nature Clerics.


    The Bloodbath Spider nodded emphatically, and the students burst intoughter.


    He hadn''t been speaking to her, but Rae was so clearly proud of her prank that nobody had the heart to tell her they should have at least warned the people in charge.


    The teachers had gathered around, trying to decide what the actual situation was, and if Karl could be considered to be Royal Rank, which would require a notification to the government, as he would need to be reassigned to lead a more powerful team, or join another team of Royal Rank and higherbatants.


    Most of the strike team who had faced thest assault hade running, in case there really was a Royal Rank threat here, and Karl could see that most of them were amused to see that it was actually just Rae.


    They had all suspected that she was halfway into the Royal Rank during thest battle, with some of her skills already advanced, but now they had clear evidence that there was a Royal Rank monster on Karl''s team.


    But that was the problem. The Elites were measured by their own power. Rae was Royal Rank, but that didn''t mean that Karl automatically was as well, unless he could exert that level of power without relying on her.


    "When were you nning to announce this advancement of the Academy?" One of the Professors demanded before Karl could reply to the first one.


    Karl shrugged. "I thought we just did announce it to the whole Academy at once. I mean, everyone knows, so mission aplished, right?"


    Doug and Lotus nodded in agreement, while Dana looked over at Morgana. "Remind me again, what was it that made you want to be a student advisor?"


    The Witch Doctor sighed. "I don''t recall students in my year being this problematic. They were kind of douchebags, and liked to form cliques, but I definitely don''t recall us giving teachers this many headaches."


    Tank looked back and forth between Rae and Karl. "It looks like you''ve got at least one of her skills. Did you gain ess to any more of them as she advanced?"


    That was an excellent question. [Status] [Name] Rae


    [Species] Bloodbath Spider


    [Rank] Royal


    [Shared Skills] ? [Offensive Adaptation] [Lacerate] [Earth Shield] "Rae, when did you learn Earth Shield?" Karl asked out loud, startled.


    [Watch this.]


    Rae encased herself in a dome of stone, then suddenly appeared right behind Tank, with her mandibles resting on top of his head.


    "Dammit, I knew the students weren''t just messing with me. She learned how to shadow step, and she learned to make her own shadows to step into." A Rogue ss Professor cussed. n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om


    The other Rogue in the areaughed. "Oh, that is priceless. I didn''t know that she learned to make her own shadows. I was teaching the ss yesterday when she vanished for the first time. She went from the edge of the training grounds up into the trees."


    [He saw me? Oh, he''s good. I totally thought he didn''t notice.] Rae informed Karl, then vanished again to reappear standing on top of her stone dome.


    Tank tapped his fingers on his chin. "Can someone exin in a way that a Berserker can understand why Rae is using Earth Magic? The vanishing act makes sense, but not that."


    Karl smiled at the huge man. "Her advancement process includes cycling a lot of higher rank blood through her body, a literal bloodbath. She used Hill Giant blood, and they can all use Earth Magic. So, she gained an ability from them during her advancement. If she had used something else, it would have been a different ability."


    "So, she learned to make stone shields? That''s impressive as a defensive ability, but she''s an assassin type attacker." One of the warriors asked, confused.


    Rae threw a stone baseball at him.

 Chapter 374 Earth To Rae

    Chapter 374 Earth To Rae


    Karlughed. "I gained ess to the Earth Shield. But she can use that and [Boulder Toss]."


    "How does that mesh with her other abilities?" Tank asked, not quite following how the ability was relevant to her.


    Rae summoned arge stone in the air, then hurled it into the distance. When it was a hundred metres away, she appeared underneath it.


    "Portable shade for her movement abilities. Plus, she had a spear ability before that she used at short range to apply [Lacerate]. Now she can throw big things at people. It might not be sharp, but I bet it will make them bleed." Karl guessed.


    [And now I can use Crushing Blows. That''s all the bonuses for me.] Rae added as she came back to her dome.


    [Smashing Posts.] Thor muttered reverently, staring out of his space at the dome.


    [I will make some for you after our shift.] Karl agreed.


    "How much do you think that her damage has increased?" Tank asked curiously.


    He had seen her up close inbat, and had a good idea what she could do two days ago, so he would be one of the best to judge how much her improvement was from the advancement.


    "Do we have high a Commander Rank barrier mage nearby?" Karl asked.


    One of the teachers stepped forward and created a solid wall of magic in front of the students.


    "Rae, if you would kindly stab that one time." Karl requested.


    Rae moved so fast that half the students couldn''t even follow her camouged form, and the barrier shattered as her stone covered leg shot forward. There wasn''t even any resistance, the barrier just shattered at the first hit.


    The teacher just stared at the spot where his barrier used to be. It hadn''t even held long enough to slow down Rae''s advance. That was the barrier they relied upon to defend against the attacks of the Hill Giants, and while it was supported by others, it hadn''t fallen often during the time they had been here.


    The teacher shook his head, clearing his thoughts. "That''s not low Royal Rank damage. I am guessing that Karl has a number of passive buffs active on his beasts, but I would say it is a little over twice the minimum standard for Royal Rank." He exined.


    Karl nodded. "Yeah, there are a number of abilities that are always active on them, but I can still increase their speed and damage a bit more."


    Tank blinked slowly as he did the mental math. "Does all of that apply to the Golems as well?"


    "Yes, but they were already advanced, so they might not have gotten as big of a jump as Rae did. Now that she''s caught up to the rank of her Golems, we will need to wait for the skill to advance them to the Monarch Rank before they are that far ahead of her again." Karl exined.


    A few of the students shuddered at the thought. Royal Rank was a dream for most of them. Monarch Rank Golems were the sort of thing that they made horror movies about. Well, they actually didn''t usually make horror movies about things that scary.Most movies used threats that were more rtable, but the idea was the same.


    All of the others were resting in their spaces as Karl worked to rebuild the energy focus that Rae''s advancement had depleted. It was taking longer than expected, as the energy kept leaking out as the spaces tried to bnce with Rae''s which wouldn''t reduce.


    It was already at a much higher energy level than theirs, so the energy just kept pouring from the transfer to the space itself, the same as had happened at the start before Karl had created the energy focus points in the first ce.


    "Well, if there is an attack, I daresay that this nk is now ready to repulse it. But I think we''re all eagerly awaiting the results of Commander Karl''s imminent advancement. His whole team is showing signs of advancing already, way ahead of schedule. Tell me, is there some secret to it? A hidden skill, a gift that you were given?" The barrier mage Professor asked.


    Karl shrugged, while Tessa waved her hand dismissively. "Nothing tangible. The oracles said that we had the World Dragon''s luck when we stuck together, so we signed a contract to spend a year working as a team. Ever since then, things have been both progressing well and bing increasingly dangerous for us." The teacher nodded in understanding. "The Oracles have a way of messing with us all. But if they said that it would help you, then it must have. But I could swear that you''ve got an untested High Priestess in the group."


    Thatstment was directed straight at Tessa, who smiled but didn''t confirm or deny anything.


    The students were a bit more eager to see what would happen next. The Hill Giants did have more Royal Rank Giants to send at them, but most of the time, they avoided the most dangerous spots along the line, and attacked the weak spots in the human defence. Now that there was a Royal Rank defender here, would they actually get even more days off between attacks?


    That felt like too much to ask for, but there were no signs of an attack today, so perhaps they were going to get a reprieve long enough for them all to recover from theck of sleep they suffered while the walls were being torn down.


    The Mage ss teacher turned to Karl. "Can you show me the Earth Barrier that you said you gained from Rae? I would like to see how strong it is."


    Karl brought up a wall of stone, cing it in front of the line so that the mages could attack it at will. It wasn''t quite as strong as he could make it, closer to eighty percent power, which wouldn''t strain his capabilities, but when the mages began to cast, their spells were only creating chips in the stone, hacking away at it dozens of times before the barrier actually broke.


    "That is truly impressive. How much energy were you adding to that to keep it active?" The teacher asked.


    "None. I just created it and left it there. I can put energy in it if you''d like, but I thought that we shouldn''t burn too much in case all this showing off attracts trouble." Karl exined.


    "Well, if you can create barriers like that without actively feeding them, I don''t think your group has much to fear at this point. Can you create them as an armouryer around someone?" Karl cast the spell on Tank, who flexed and struggled for a moment, before Raging and blowing the stone apart.


    "I will take that as a yes, but also no. It''s certainly not an Earth Armour spell, it''s just a static barrier." The mageughed.


    Karl had an idea, though. He created a shield out of the stone, and handed it to Tessa, then adjusted the back slots to fit her arm over her armour.


    "If I''m right, a magical stone barrier doesn''t have to weigh anything." Karl exined.


    Tessa nodded. "I can feel it on my arm, but it can''t weigh more than a quarter kilo. If I was using this as a shield inbat, it would really reduce arm fatigue, and it''s renewable, so I wouldn''t have to extend a barrier over it to protect my gear."


    Or Karl could cast it over her shield when he had a moment, so she would have a shield in her hand no matter what.


    Bob was thinking the same, as he was a defensive warrior, and having ayer that durable over his shield would save him a ton of mana on [Guard], which was not nearly as mana efficient as higher Rank skills like that.


    From what everyone could tell, the Earth Shield was a Tier 2 ability, with the added benefit of being an innately Royal Rank skill, with the mana efficiency and durability to match.


    It was far superior to a Common Tier 1 ability used at Royal Rank, as most Elites would do unless they happened to learn an upgraded version.


    "We will have to add it to the tactics for the team. Perhaps you could even make a new helmet for Thor, so he wouldn''t have to risk his Lightning to headbutt people." Bob suggested. N?v(el)B\\jnn


    That sounded great to Thor. Everyone loved a good hat. Bob had a very good hat, it even had nice long horns on it. He had to be an expert, in Thor''s mind.

 Chapter 375 The Way Of The Monsters

    Chapter 375 The Way Of The Monsters


    The shift was a quiet one, with no attackers in sight, but the moment that Karl and his team left the line, things began to get chaotic. Every teacher wanted to know if there were more spell books that Karl could write for them to copy, or if he could teach the skills that Rae had learned directly to other students, the way that the teachers at the Academy did for the basics. n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om


    Karl checked the [Skill Book] description for [Earth Shield] and frowned. [Book of Earth Shield] Usable by (Monster) (Giant) (Earth Element) recipients. Requires 1 Earth Element Gem at Commander Rank or higher, ground to dust, mixed with powdered gold and Commander Rank or higher Hill Giant Blood.


    That was far more detail than he had ever gotten from the ability before, but the book looked like it was far more restrictive as well. Or perhaps it wasn''t as he didn''t know the restrictions on the book of [Refreshing Lightning]. But needing all three of those keywords essentially narrowed it down to Rae, who was a giant monster, and had gained the Earth Element when she advanced to Royal Rank using Hill Giant blood.


    "I can make it, if we have a powdered Commander Rank Earth Element Gem, and powdered gold to mix with Commander Rank Hill Giant blood, which I have in reserve. But it can exclusively be used by those who are giant monsters with the Earth Element." Karl exined.


    Someone behind Tank began to curse, and Karl distinctly heard the words "I''m not going through that again" before the man stomped away.


    "Well, that gives us the answer we need. You can wait on the book until you really don''t have anything better to do. But if there are other members of your group who can use it, we can get you the supplies." The big Berserker suggested.


    "The closest would be Ophelia, but I don''t know if she would count as a Giant, or if she has any Earth Element skills, much less an Earth Element aspect." Karl sighed.


    Ophelia shook her head. "I''m average sized for a Werebear, and that''s a Nature Element transformation, not Earth Element. The number of people who can use that book will be really limited.


    I would guess that not even Thor could use it, and he''s considered a Giant Monster, by reptile standards. He''s more Lightning and Holy Element than Earth."


    It was a shame that they wouldn''t be able to share more skills right now, but in the future, Karl would certainly have to donate a copy to the Inscriptionists. If someone else got his ss, it would be wonderful for them to start with something, even a few skills that were tailored to beasts, so they could get started on the right track.


    The students from the line sat down to dinner, and the teachers began to filter over to talk to Karl.


    The same thought was on everyone''s mind. "How long would it be before the Academy had a Royal Rank student?"


    The government had only ordered the students and faculty from Ascended and Commander Ranks toe here to the Hill Giant border, so there was a chance that someone might try to steal him away the moment that word spread, but there was also the factor of actually getting to have a Royal Rank defender on their lines for some time. It would give everyone so much more peace of mind that they might actually start sleeping properly between shifts.


    Far too many of the students were overtired and strung out fromck of sleep, but too nervous to allow themselves to fall into a deep slumber when there could be an attack at any minute.


    Even if they were off-duty.


    The Royal Rank aura seemed to make many of the Ascended Rank students nervous, so Karl didn''t hang around the dining hall for long. Instead, he led the teachers to one of the ssroom tents, where they could ask questions to their heart''s content.


    "Let''s start with the important topics. How is Rae''s role inbat going to change with her new abilities?" One of the Professors, whose voice Karl recognized as the zone Commander on the radio, asked.


    "It won''t change much. We will have some extra defensive power, and Rae will have more ranged attacks, but her primary duty is usually the defence of the casters, while her Golems go forward to fight. Now, if she''s not pressed to defend, she will be able to offer more fire support to the team, but her essential role hasn''t changed." Karl exined.


    "Will your team need to change tactics to properly work with the new Earth Shields?"


    "Most of the time, no. We can have Rae create barriers with gaps for them to attack out of, while still being shielded from hostiles. Or, she can grant it to an actual shield, if we''re going to do a shield wall formation for them in arger battle."


    The zone Commander made a quick note and nodded. "So, you''re thinking of having her create either portable shields or a simple structure with a roof to block attacks from above? That should work, and it would keep the mages safe enough while they fought."


    Lotus giggled. "It would also cut down on sunburn."


    Bob nodded. "She''s got a point. They could fight in the shade. Maybe we could get Rae to make them some benches as well, so they could sit and rx as they fired off their spells."


    A few of the magesughed, while others just rolled their eyes. "Is that how you think of the casters in the back, just lounging around in the shade, firing off spells in support?" Morgana asked.


    "Of course not. Right now, you have neither chairs nor shade. But if you did... no, that wouldn''t work, would it? You need to make gestures and movements while you cast. It wouldn''t be as effective from one of thosefy swinging chairs." Bob realized.


    Doug shrugged. "The swinging chairs would be great for other activities, though. I will have to get Rae to let me have one of them before we change stations."


    "So, we can expect simr tactics from your group, but with some additional defensive capability, and more attack power? That is wonderful. Is there any hint as to when the others might advance?" The zone Commander asked, bringing them back on topic.


    "It should be soon, likely within a month. It might even be within the next few days, but I don''t have the experience to say for certain." Karl shrugged.


    "That should be good enough for the evening. We will be in contact tomorrow before your shift, in case we need to bnce the forces along the line." The zone Commander informed them, then got up and left the room.


    "Forget about that. What''s more important is that you can make Royal Rank defences for the front line. How many shields do you think that you can do at once? Is there a time limit on the spell?" One of the warriors asked.


    "I honestly don''t know yet. I haven''t had an opportunity to do any experimentation at all, since we got all distracted and just watched Rae show off for our entire shift. It doesn''t look like it expires, as Rae''s dome of stone is still standing out there in front of the line. But it might be gone by morning, and I don''t know how many separate spells I can keep active." Karl exined.


    "Well, we will have to test that tomorrow. The sooner, the better. Preferably before the Hill Giants show up again."

 Chapter 376 Flag Set

    Chapter 376 g Set


    Someone''s red gment the night before had definitely been at fault for this morning, Karl decided.


    He hadn''t even gotten to have a morning coffee, much less breakfast, when the rm sounded with the additional urgent tone that said Hill Giants were attacking and closing quickly.


    Everyone was headed out at the same moment, running across the camp, or riding on the beasts to save time.


    A lot of time in the case of Lotus and Rae, who had just realized that she could continually shadow step with an attached cleric, as long as Lotus didn''t fall off. The basic requirement for Shadow Step was that at least half of your body had to be in the shadows. Most Rogues aplished that with a swirl of their cloak, Rae aplished it either with Earth Magic or with Lotus'' cloak billowing across her back.


    It worked out splendidly for them, and they were in ce within seconds, shocking the Elites who were already in ce.


    Only, it wasn''t the same group they were used to. Their shift was mostly there, but both of the other shifts had been cut by over half and reced with regr infantry, guided by White Robes from the church.


    Lotus realized immediately why that would be. They had Rae here now, and Karl was getting very close to advancing. So, they didn''t need as many strong Elites on the right nk anymore. They did get Bob and Doug as permanent additions, as far as Lotus could tell, as they were still headed in her direction, and Morgana wasing as well. But there were far more white robes in the pike line than she remembered.


    Lotus waved happily at the nervous soldiers, who calmed a bit upon seeing the strange duo behind their ranks.


    Everyone had heard the rumours, and if they had a Royal Rank beast with them, then they should be fine, no matter what wasing.


    Karl arrived thirty secondster, to a smug smile from Rae and Lotus, and a warm wee from the other Elites, who were eager to see the new and improved Rae in action.


    Karl jogged in front of the line and turned back to address the new arrivals.


    "I see plenty of fresh faces in the line today, so this should be easy. I need everyone to raise their shields." Karl called out.


    Those who could hear him responded immediately, and Karl split [Earth Shield] over fifty tall metal kite shields, giving them all ayer of Royal Rank Earth Magic. Then he repeated the task as he jogged down the line to the end of their sector, where another team''s defensive magic took over.


    "Perfect. That should take the first few hits for you, just trust in your shields and keep your pikes up to halt the charge." He shouted.


    "Sir, yes Sir." The soldiers responded in unison.


    Tessa and the others on Thor arrived soon after. The War Cleric assessed the enhanced shields with a trained eye and then cast herbat buffs, bringing the telltale golden glow to the pikes and the armour of the soldiers and Elites on the front line.


    It was only a small change from the usual routine, adding Karl enhancing the shields, easilypleted before the Hill Giants were in range. n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om


    Hawk could see them, though. They were charging forward, and there was arge group of Commandersing toward the right nk, the same sort of tactic that Karl and his team used to take down Royal Rank Giants in the past.


    If they were as good at assassination techniques as the humans were, Karl would be concerned, but an extra twenty Commanders wasn''t a huge deal.


    They were more than a little short on teachers as well, Karl noticed. The three with his team were the only ones assigned to this whole section, when normally there would be at least six or seven.


    Then onest team came jogging their way, gunblue armour highlighting the white of their church robes. Like Bob, they were all heavily armoured warriors, and like Bob, they all had magnificently ridiculous helmets on.


    "Princess Rae, Commanders. We have been sent here by the clergy to ensure your safety. Special Forces Team 808 reporting." The man in the lead position announced.


    There were three men and two women in the team, all nearly identically dressed. Or perhaps one was an exceptionally slender male? It was hard to tell with the robes and the practical armour. But one was clearly female, as her chest te''s curve made it very evident that she required additional clearance.


    "What is your specialty? We will get you ced." Karl replied while Rae strutted about in joy.


    They had addressed her first. Not only that, but they had called her Princess. These were obviously the Elite of the Elite, with their impable judgment and refined tastes.


    "We are all Magical Knights. Commander Rank Mages trained in heavybat." The team leader informed them.


    Dana gave them a curious look, and the woman on the right nk lifted her visor to give her a wink.


    "Why would you train mages in heavybat?" Dana asked curiously.


    "We''ve got the best barriers, we''ve got offensive magic, but what is the weakness of the average mage? They''re squishy and don''t do well in closebat. Our training negates that disadvantage. Would you like to learn it? I read in your file that you have a nullification barrier, and an advanced barrier skill is one of the application requirements to be considered for a cement." The special forces woman replied.


    "Hey, no stealing my Dana Mage. But I do agree, it could be useful to her to learn your techniques." Karl replied, half jokingly.


    "Then watch and learn. The first thing will be learning the sword, which takes time, but we have a cheat for that if you''re serious about learning. You can decide after the battle whether you want to try." The woman replied, ignoring Karl to talk to Dana.


    The sound of Hill Giant war horns sounded in the distance, and Karl saw a group of thirty Commanders break off, moving further from the nk and separating themselves from the main charge.


    "That looks like they''re challenging you. One hundred percent." Bob noted.


    "Yeah, I suppose that we should go give them what for. Rae, why don''t you show off your stone throwing here while the Golemse with us. Small stones at high speed should either break or stop the iing boulders." Karl suggested.


    [Anti Aircraft Spider?] Rae replied confused.


    [Anti Aircraft Spider. Then you can stab whatever makes it to the lines.] Karl confirmed.


    Karl led the group out from the nk, apanied by the Special Forces team, to add some numbers to their eight-person squad.


    With the Golems, it was fifteen, which was a nice round number. Half of what the enemy had sent, and enough that they could hold a defensive formation.


    The Special Forces team moved to the front, and Karl watched as they extended their des into long-ded spears with a spell. That was a handy ability, and it gave them the additional reach that they needed to fight a target asrge as the Hill Giants. Karl brought up his full suite of buffs, causing Thor and the Golems to surge in size, while increasing in speed.


    "On my mark." Karl called as he prepared [Earth Shield] on thest few shields, as well as Thor''s head, and added fiveyers of ming Body to his maul.


    Using his enhanced strength, he lunged forward, over the heads of the Magical Knights, and shattered the club of his targeted Hill Giant. The Maul was still moving forward, and Karl reactivated the spell stack as he mmed the oversized hammer down on the Giant''s shoulder.


    The Hill Giant crumpled to his knees, and the Spider Golems leapt into action, starting toward the back nks of the attackers.


    Before Karl had evennded, the Knights were inbat. They had used a movement skill much like the Spelldes did topensate for theirck of supernatural strength, and their des were a blur as the spears tore into the Giants.


    Thor charged beside Karl as he rode the wounded Giant to the ground before using [Rend] to slice its neck open with a wave of his hand.


    Then it was on to the next one as the warriors pushed forward, and Dana''s spells whistled overhead.


    The Knights were using mage spells, Karl could see, but they were using them at point-nk range, as a counterpoint to their weapon attacks. It was an incredibly aggressive fighting style for a defensive warrior, but their enhanced speed was making it work.

 Chapter 377 Fighting Blind

    Chapter 377 Fighting Blind


    Morgana''s corruption spell was rotting away the attackers and slowing their movements, while a sudden blizzard turned everything more than twenty metres away to a wall of white. That might be a lot for humans, but for the Hill Giants, who were all over five metres tall, it made actually fighting more than a little problematic.


    They could only see what was happening to the fighters closest to them, and those further away were blurry, making it hard to pick out the targets.


    Karl caught on quickly and equipped his furry white cloak, causing the outline of his form to appear blurry in the snow as he continued his assault.


    The Special Forces team were already in white, but the change made Bob stand out even more in his silver and ck attire.


    Fireballs shot up from totems ced on the ground to the side of the group, where the Giants would have to expose their nks or backs to get rid of them, and Remi slithered out to wait between Lotus and Dana while she fired her [Chain Lightning] and alternated locations for her Totems.


    "Surge attack." The Knights'' leader announced as they moved in unison to retreat within the team''s formation.


    Karl wasn''t sure what that meant, but he brought up attice of [Earth Shield] as a dome over the Elites anyhow. A barrage of boulders mmed into the stone, which shimmered with magic as the Knights added their shields to the mix, and then the stone crumbled, allowing the boulders to bounce off the magical shields. Karl didn''t wait for the barrage to finish. He switched to his de and moved back into the fray, slicing into the Giants as the Golems kept up their attack speed. They were so nimble that the Hill Giants hadn''t managed to actually kill them or even seriously injure them yet, despite trying to surround them.


    The increase inbat power shouldn''t have been all thatrge, Karl thought, but Rae had gained a level, and that increased the bonus from the buffs she got from Karl. Those buffs passed along to the Golems, and it was definitely noticeable.


    They also seemed to be a bit smarter than they were before, and their techniques were evolving. They were not just attacking, but they were also darting between legs, climbing up armour to jump between targets, and generally acting more like spiders. They were not just a menace, but a nuisance, frustrating the Hill Giants with their erratic movements and their tactics that seemed to have no rhyme or reason.


    A spider''s primary goal was not to deal maximum damage at all times, as the Golems had been doing before. A spider''s primary goal was to not get squished while they were hunting. n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om


    A spider''s primary goal was not to deal maximum damage at all times, as the Golems had been doing before. A spider''s primary goal was to not get squished while they were hunting.


    Don''t put your webs where they will get directly rained on, and don''t get squished on your way to the food. That was the spider way.


    So, they crawled from target to another, stabbing, biting, and asionally even killing.


    Karl thought that the total damage they were doing wasn''t any lower, but the chaos that they caused among the Hill Giants was much higher now.


    He couldn''t even me them. A giant spider with razor des for legs running under your groin or crawling up your back had to be nerve wracking.


    "Isn''t he afraid of anything?" Karl heard one of the Knights asking as they rejoined the battle.


    "Certainly not the Hill Giants, that is for certain." Danaughed.


    The Knightsughed as they surged forward around Karl to engage the Hill Giants. Most of the Giants were already wounded and bleeding profusely from the [Lacerate] enhanced wounds inflicted by the Spider Golems.


    Fighting against the unconventional tactics of the Elites was forcing the Hill Giants to get creative with their magic. Just like Karl had done on the pike line''s shields, they were reinforcing their armour with barriers. That forced everyone to aim for the joints, which couldn''t be armoured over with an inflexibleyer of stone.


    It was slowing the casualties, but the Hill Giants were slowing with pain and blood loss that was faster than they could heal.


    Karl switched back to his maul. If they were going to put up barriers to frustrate the arrows, he would just have to use his handy dandy barrier removal tool.


    A Giant went flying off into the blizzard as Karl''s hit struck the centre of a Giant''s chest, shattering the Commander Rank barrier and the armour ting behind it with a stacked [Chain Lightning] attack that spread through the remnants of the force.


    The Blizzard tore at every barrier and bit of exposed flesh, slowing the Giants even as the Lightning burned through their nerves. The Hill Giants were losing the battle, and they hadn''t even realized yet that they were being corralled. The Spider Golems had moved to the back while the Knights went left, and Ophelia joined Bob on the right. None of them could see far enough to realize that they no longer had any way out, and their instructions to each other were directly contradictory, as every Giant was facing a different direction.


    Dana and Morgana cut down the two in front of Karl, and when he advanced, he found himself in the middle of the Giants'' circle, with every back to him.


    A maul strike to the back of a skull set him up to leap across to another unprotected head, then a third swing down onto a shoulder, causing a third Giant''s axe to fall to the ground and leaving it defenseless.


    "Remi, you can end the snow storm, they''re all dead." Karl announced once nothing was moving, and he could see all of his team''s melee fighters.


    The blizzard faded, and they were treated to the spectacle of Rae in full anti-projectile mode, shooting down every boulder within a hundred metres of her position. Not even the anti-aircraft guns were that effective, and her small stones were hitting therger stones hard enough to drop them to the ground short of the pike line, while the Ascended Rank boulders shattered outright.


    She was standing on top of a plinth of stone, clear for everyone to see, and taunting the Hill Giants, whose ranged offensive had beenpletely nullified on this nk.


    "Has she always been that dramatic?" One of the Knights asked.


    Lotus giggled and Doug rolled his eyes. "You haven''t seen anything yet. Just wait until she really gets rolling. Right now is like the preview to Rae being dramatic."


    Tessa nodded. "You weren''t here for the day that she strung up and crucified a Royal Rank Hill Giant to taunt the rest of the army into attacking, were you? That was dramatic.


    Or the day that she sent the Spider Golems through the Ascended Rank Giants, maiming hundreds of them in fifteen minutes without killing anyone."


    The male Knight nodded. "Got it. Rae likes to make a statement. Are any of the others quite so fond of attention?"


    Karl looked back at where Thor was getting his head ridge scratched by Tessa and Doug.


    "Yes and no. Thor loves attention. All the attention, all the time. But not in a dramatic way, he''s just a people person."


    Lotus nodded in agreement. "A Lightning Cerro is a pack animal, and he doesn''t like being separated from his makeshift pack. Thor is definitely the cuddliest personality in the group."

 Chapter 378 Are You Done Showing Off?

    Chapter 378 Are You Done Showing Off?


    Karl turned the group toward the rest of the Hill Giants, which were forming up for a charge on the humans now that Rae had blocked their boulder barrage. They weren''t going to sit and wait for the humans topile a full attack force like thest time they were here. So, they charged, but so did Karl, which forced the end of the line to turn and face him instead of the pike line.


    He could feel the power building in the air as he attacked, but Karl dismissed it as something that the Hill Giants were working on. If he could kill enough of them, the group spell would copse, and that would be the end of it.


    With [Haste] activated, Karl left the rest of the group behind, except for the Spider Golems, which apanied him into the Hill Giant lines. The trio hacked limbs off the Ascended Giants and left them wounded as they headed for the Commanders.


    It was the same tactic that the Spider Golems had used, but plus Karl, and the Hill Giants still had no good answer for it.


    They threw up spikes of stone, but they moved too slowly, and Karl either stepped around them or cut them down as he passed by. They threw stones, but Ascended Rank attacks only bounced off his barriers if they even hit their target.


    The rest of the group was shouting something, but Karl couldn''t make it out over the sound ofbat. They were close, and his peripheral vision said they were holding their own with nobody injured. He would just slow down a bit and let them regroup.


    Then Rae was beside Karl, adding a fourth member to their team, and making him jog to keep up with the tide of casualties caused by the trio of spiders.


    [You couldn''t hold back any more, could you?] Karlughed.


    [They stopped throwing rocks.]


    In the distance, the Hill Giants broke and ran as another group charged forward of the line. It looked like Karl''s aggressive tactics were rubbing off on some of the other Commanders, and the Hill Giants were not happy about it.


    But even though the Hill Giants were retreating, the sense of growing power around Karl wasn''t subsiding.


    "Karl, stay exactly where you are and don''t move." One of the Magic Knights warned.


    Karl stopped, wondering if he had triggered some sort of magical trap, maybe andmine.


    But when he did, he saw what the others had been trying to warn him about while he was fighting.


    There was a swirling in the air, a distortion caused by some sort of magic, and it wasn''t anything that he recognized.


    The effect was beginning to condense, making it impossible to see out of the distortion, but from Hawk''s information he knew that there was a small group of Commander Rank Giants rushing their way.


    Even if he was trapped in this spot for a second, the Golems could handle that in under a minute.


    Then, reality seemed to twist, and Karl felt like he was falling, being thrown through a void that none of his enhanced senses could prate, a space where even time didn''t seem to exist.


    Then it all stopped, and he found himself looking at his own image standing in front of him, perfectly lifelike, but frozen in time.


    [Wee to the First Advancement Trial. Please select your desired reward.] Appeared in the air over the mannequin of himself.


    It was creepy. The image even had the small tear in his white cloak and the fresh blood that he had gotten during the fight.


    Six boxes appeared on the ground around his image. Three of them silver with diamonds, tworger golden boxes studded with rubies, and one tiny closed chest made of rich purple crystal. That one was wrapped in ck chains that gave off a soft shadow, as if actively restraining the contents of the chest.


    Karl circled the ring of chests to see his options.


    The three silver chests all contained simply bound skill books sitting face down on stacks of coins.


    The golden chests both had multiple ornate skill books with their spines up, so Karl could read them.


    [Divine Nullification Barrier] [Titanic Wrath] [Tectonic Shift] [Rebirth]


    Each of the spell books was an upgraded version of a spell that either one of his beasts or someone in the group specialized in.


    Under the books were bundles wrapped in cloth, and hints of golden coins and gems.


    There had to be a catch. Nobody would choose a lower reward without an excellent reason, so why give the choice?


    Karl got the sense that he was being watched as he stepped up to thest box. It was pretty, but tiny. What could it contain that needed to be chained up like that? N?v(el)B\\jnn


    He definitely shouldn''t want that reward. He didn''t even know what was in the box.


    But if he didn''t know what was in the box, it could be anything, right?


    The announcement overhead said that this was called the First Advancement Trial.So, the rewards should be rted to improving the power of the System, and advancing his skills.


    Which made it seem a bit odd that the rewards didn''t seem to be for him. They were mostly for his group members. Perhaps he was choosing for everyone on the team? Trials and Dungeons were supposed to be grand group adventures, where everyone got rewards, but they were done as a team.


    Karl had never heard of them listing rewards in advance, but most of the real information was ssified, and what was spread was rumours and bard stories.


    If he was choosing for the whole group, then none of the chests was perfect as an option. Five of them didn''t contain enough for everyone to get an equal share, while thest one had unknown contents.


    "Is there some sort of guide? Can I learn if I''m picking for everyone or just for myself?" Karl asked, speaking aloud in the strange staging area, but nothing answered. Well, there wasn''t anything else to go on in here, so Karl closed his eyes and focused on the mental me in the void, as Brother Chen had taught him to meditate and clear his mind. Once he was certain he was thinking clearly, Karl opened his eyes again and examined the boxes once more before rubbing his dragon scale pendant for luck and touching the purple crystal chest.


    [Choose Tier 3 Difficulty for Epic Rank Reward?] Y/N


    The words in the air helped set Karl''s mind at ease. Perhaps the rewards weren''t a direct choice, but a representation of what you might get uponpletion.


    That meant that there were three difficulty levels to the test, and this should be the highest.


    "Yes."


    [Beginning Stage 1: Epic Rank Individual Trial]


    The scene changed again, and Karl was standing on what looked like the battlefield that he had just left, only both armies were gone, and it was just him plus his beasts.


    Thor stomped around the battlefield, happy to be returned to Karl''s side after an extended stay in the void, while Rae quickly summoned her Golems and prepared for a fight.


    Randomly showing up in new ces had to mean a fight. It wasn''t like she needed to be rescued, so it must be a reward for being the killiest.


    [I don''t think that is a word.] Karl informed her.


    [It should be.]

 Chapter 379 First Advancement Trial

    Chapter 379 First Advancement Trial


    [Trial starts in 5 seconds]


    In the distance, the battlefield began to change, and a horde of violet skinned Demons formed, with one massive four-armed leader standing among them. n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om


    [I wonder if they taste good.] Hawk wondered. [The small ones are kind of skinny, I might be able to eat them in one piece.] Remi agreed.


    They were only a metre and a half tall, half her length, so in theory it might be possible, but even then, that would be a huge object for a snake her size to try to get in their mouth.


    The demons were already in motion, and they were insanely fast, nearly twice as fast as the [Haste] enhanced Spider Golems.


    Karl quietly cursed and wondered why he had picked the Epic difficulty. That trial announcement wasn''t kidding. If he defeated this group, it was going to be Epic, and it was only stage one.


    Karl was about to issue orders when suddenly thergest Demon appeared in front of him, all four arms swinging des at him. He brought up [Earth Shield] as a wall of stone and jumped backwards as the des cut deep into the obstacle.


    A kick from the Demon shattered the damaged barrier, and it came after him again.


    [Rae, send the Golems to assist me while the rest of you take care of the little things.] Karl instructed.


    Remi climbed up on Thor''s back to take Tessa''s usual spot and began to hurl [Chain Lightning] into the crowd.


    The small demons scorched ck with the damage, and when Hawk sent his fireballs after the Lightning, multiple Demons died, stumbling and falling face down as their momentum carried them forward.


    [We''ve got this.] Thor dered, confident that they could keep therge numbers away from the leader.


    [Yeah Boss. We will fry the purple food, while you argue with the guy who thinks he can be as Stabby as Rae.] Remi agreed.


    Karl spun his de, parrying a round of attacks as the Spider Golems attacked.


    Onended a solid hit on a shoulder, but the other took a de across a leg for minor damage.


    Then, pain seared through Karl''s arm, and Hawk screeched in annoyance.


    [The damage spreads. If it hits one of us, it hits everyone.] The birdined.


    That was the most brutally overpowered skill that Karl had ever heard of. Area attacks were bad enough, but they usually spread their damage across arge area, doing a little to many targets.


    This skill appeared to deal full damage from a sword strike to everything nearby.


    The big demon smiled as it realized that Karl understood the effect of its skill, thenunched a flurry of attacks at him, just aiming to do a little damage with every de, not tond a single hit kill.


    It didn''t have to. If it wounded him a little bit every time, it would wear the whole team down. The Demon was double-jointed, and it could attack behind its back nearly as well as towards its front, leaving it with a minimal blind spot and no real defenseless side for the Golems to take advantage of.


    But [Refreshing Lightning] helped Karl''s team heal, and the damage was already fading.


    Four more strikes made their way past Karl''s defence in the next two seconds, and he realized that [Refreshing Lightning] wouldn''t be enough for long.


    [Skill Points] 11


    That was enough to get something, Karl hoped. There were attack skills, but that wouldn''t help much in the race to defeat this insane Demon, and they might be too expensive.


    {Defensive Skills}


    {10 Points} [Barrier] Erects a barrier over the caster or targeted beast


    {10 Points} [Bestial Regeneration] Increases the target''s healing rate to the level of a Tier 1 regenerating beast.


    {10 Points} [Refresh] constantly restores stamina


    That was better than nothing.


    {10 Points Spent} [Bestial Regeneration] acquired


    Karl quickly cast the spell on every member of his team as he retreated, and the Spider Golems did their best not to take additional damage.


    {Tier 3 Defensive Skill Avable: Trollish Regeneration} 20 Points


    [Tier 3 skills activate on Beast Master and all active Beasts]


    If only he had the points avable for that right now.


    Karl missed another parry and a de cut through both barriers to sink into his side, but the wound closed within seconds, and the pain vanished.


    That was much better, but Tessa was going to murder him when she saw his armour after this fight.


    The Spider Golems attacked low, aiming for the leg joints, and the Demonic Boss stumbled. That was Karl''s opportunity. He let his de vanish into his mind, and leapt forward to pin the Demon''s upper arms under his own as he wrapped his legs around its chest.


    The creature''s face showed pure shock, and then something that was almost rage, but with a heavy dose of admiration as Spider Golems hammered deep holes into his back.


    It spat up purple blood, then tossed Karl across the battlefield with its lower arms before dropping its des and turning on the Golems.


    It was faster with its ws than it had been with the des, and even if the scratches mostly weren''t getting through the [Earth Shield] on the golems'' limbs, it was still doing fairly steady amounts of damage.


    But it was also bleeding heavily from its back, and [Lacerate] was preventing it from healing normally.


    Karl used every bit of his enhanced strength as heunched himself back into battle with his Maul in his hands. It might be impossible tond a proper hit with the oversized weapon, but he didn''t need to. Any contact would activate theyered skills, so he just needed the Demon to catch the head of the weapon.


    Karl made his first swing, which the Demon easily dodged, then he kicked the haft of the maul, changing its direction and sending it toward the target.


    The Demonughed as it caught the slow-moving weapon with a ck barrier over its hand.


    The barrier shattered as mes spread out from the maul, burning the arm to a charred husk, burned nearly down to the bone.


    It howled in rage as it retreated, arm hanging limp, but slowly regenerating.


    The Demon was slowing down, but Karl didn''t trust that. It had intelligence in its eyes, it could be cing a trap, looking for a sudden reversal.


    The Golems circled behind it again, forcing the target to watch three directions at once, then they all attacked in unison.


    This time, it took three of its des out so it didn''t have to block Karl''s weapon with its hands, but Karl stopped the strike short and hit it in the face with a cast [Chain Lightning] instead.


    The change startled the monster so much that it turned its head away, causing its block to miss a round of attacks from the Golems. That distraction cost it another arm, plus a deep slice across its throat.


    It was now pouring blood from both new wounds, and the Demon stumbled a little as it turned to fend off the Golems.


    That put its back to Karl, who pounded the maul into its spine, leaving a deeply burnt crater in its back and causing the Demon to copse into a pile of motionless limbs.


    As Rae had trained them, the Golems relieved the Demon of its head, which immediately vanished as the scenario ended, leaving Karl standing in an empty field again.

 Chapter 380 Stage Two

    Chapter 380 Stage Two


    [First Advancement Trial] Stage 1 Complete


    [Stage 2 Begins In 10 Seconds]


    "Seriously?" Karl muttered as he saw the notification.


    But the notification seemed to be serious, as the world around them was changing, morphing into arge cavern, simr to the one where the Dark Elven City had been located, except that it was filled with glowing green pools of what Karl could only assume was toxic goo.


    [This ce does not look fun. Not even being green makes it look better.] Thor noted.


    At first, there didn''t seem to be any opponents here at all, they were just standing in a toxic field.


    Then the monsters began to appear, walking up out of the glowing pools, a shambling wave of toxic sludge covered zombies.


    Hawk immediately began pelting them with fireballs, while Remi brought up a [Blizzard] hoping to freeze them so they would stop advancing.


    For a moment, it seemed like it was going to work, and the zombies ground to a halt before a new boss appeared in the centre of thergest puddle and began to cast spells, causing the downed zombies to regenerate while summoning more of them.


    The boss didn''t look all that impressive, just a sludge covered zombie woman in a ck dress, but the shining ck eyes weren''t vacant, and everyone in the group could feel the power of its magic.


    [Those pools will be an issue. Rae, can you send the Golems to deal with the boss? Either kill it or lure it out into the open where we can fight it properly.] Karl instructed.


    Ice didn''t seem to kill the zombies, they just froze for a bit and then started moving again. Setting them on fire was much more effective, whether it was fire or lightning that burned them.


    Once their head was destroyed, they would die, Karl noticed, right before Rae came up with a zombie hunting strategy.


    Firing small stones, half the size of their heads, caused the skulls to burst like melons, and killed the zombies reliably in a single shot.


    They were weak, but it was beginning to look like they were endless, and they just kepting out of the pools as the old bodies vanished.


    The Golems reached the boss, lunging forward with their forelimbs, but the creature simply dove into a pool, and appeared from another.


    For a split second, the Golems were confused, then they began to chase the boss around, hunting it relentlessly as it continued to run away.


    For a while the game of whack a zombie seemed pointless, then one of the golem''s limbs managed to catch on the zombie queen''s dress and throw her away from the pools.


    The panic was immediate, as the zombie forces turned to rush at the Golems, and the zombie queen tried to make it to another pool.


    Rae [Shadow Stepped] closer and surrounded the boss with a circr wall of stone, then repeatedly smashed the contents with a boulder from the top.


    [Well, that''s a bit messy.] Remi noted when she realized that the Spider was essentially mashing the zombie queen.


    [Hawk, go light the remains on fire, just to be sure.] Karl added.


    The tube was engulfed in an inferno as Hawk burned the remains, and the zombies lost their guiding force, returning to a shambling horde that was more interested in the living things at Karl''s end of the instance than defending anything.


    [First Advancement Trial] Stage 2 Complete


    Karl sighed in relief as he realized that this instance had actually favoured his team. If he was a warrior who had to chase the boss through the toxic sludge, or a mage who had to dodge the Zombies, it would have been a nightmare. But being able to control the zombies while the Golems hunted the boss made it a rtively painless experience.


    For some time, the instance didn''t change, and Karl just waited. A bit of time to recover between fights seemed like the reasonable thing for a trial to provide, but it was unlikely to give him long.


    Five minutes was what it granted this time, and then Karl found himself standing in a sand floor coliseum.


    This time he was not alone, the rest of his team was standing with him, including the five Special Forces Knights.


    Only, they were all transparent, as if they were the mannequins that he had seen at the start of the trial.


    Two minutester, Tessa''s ceholder turned solid, then became rather battered and covered in green blood before there was a sh of golden light, and it began to move.


    "Dragons, what the hell are we going to have to do now?" She muttered.


    "I''m not certain, but it''s good to see that you made it." Karl replied. n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om


    "Oh, is that really you? Why are you here first?" Karl shrugged. "I guess I finished the first two trials fastest. What did you get?" "A massive ck skeletal knight and a horde of Orcs. I picked one of the silver chests, what did you pick? Let me guess, you kept closing the Gold Chests until you got a set of skills you liked?" She replied.


    "Closing them to get a new set of rewards was an option? I picked the purple one."


    Tessa rolled her eyes. "Do you not remember thest trials we were in? Picking the easiest option is the safest way forward. But how did it never ur to you that you could close the chests?"


    "The first one I touched was the purple one, and it asked me if I wanted to start an Epic trial."


    Tessa nodded. "That must have been a Tier 3 Trial, with a random set of rewards. Of course you couldn''t resist the urge to touch the box that was clearly and obviously not meant to be safe to handle."


    One after another, the others arrived, none of them looking too badly injured, and in Dana''s case, she even had [Refreshing Lightning] still active.


    The only one missing was Lotus, and Karl began to wonder if something had happened to the little Nature Priestess.


    For half an hour, they waited, with no sign of her hologram changing.


    Then, it suddenly shifted, and a startled Lotus was in front of them, sitting cross-legged on the ground.


    "Oh, hey guys. What''s going on?" She asked.


    "We''ve been waiting on you to finish your trials." Karl reminded her.


    "Trials? Oh, they''re starting already? I was ying with the box. Did you know that the contents change if you close the lid?"


    Tessa stared at her for a few seconds before anyone spoke.


    "Are you saying that you''ve been ying with the box for thest hour, and you never did the first trials?" The War Cleric asked her lifelong friend.


    Lotus just shrugged.


    "Well, that''s one way to do it. I guess there is a time limit. But the rest of us are on trial number three." Tessa exined.


    "Oh, sorry. I didn''t realize it was a group thingy. Alright, what are we doing? Is it a diator tournament?"


    Karl shrugged. "It looks like it, but I don''t know yet. Nothing was happening while we waited for everyone to arrive. There were just those transparent mannequins holding our ces until we all finished our trials."


    [Team Trial Three Begins In 10 seconds]


    [Modified Difficulty Increased For Iplete Trials]


    [Epic Difficulty Chosen]

 Chapter 381 Epic Team Challenge

    Chapter 381 Epic Team Challenge


    "Who picked Epic?" The leader of the Knights asked.


    Dana gestured toward Karl. "Isn''t it obvious? Karl did the Epic version of the first two trials, now we all get to do the Epic version of the team trial." "In my defence, I didn''t know that there was going to be a team event at the end." Karl responded. It was toote to change anything about it now, even though they were going to have to face extra enemies at Epic difficulty because he had let the intrusive thoughts win and Lotus spent an hour just ying with the boxes.


    Across the arena from them, a four-armed Giant with shining Golden armour over ck robes appeared. The monstrous creature stood nearly ten metres tall, and Karl wondered how exactly they were expected to deal real damage to that.


    Its lower legs were heavily armoured, and that was all that they could conveniently reach, while the rest of it was not showing any bare skin at all. Even its face was covered by a golden helmet.


    "It looks like a mage special to me." Tessa noted. There were soft joints, where the armour appeared to be leather, but none of those were in easy reach of the team, except for the mages, who had better rangedbat abilities.


    "So this is what a modified difficulty Epic boss looks like." Lotus announced, enthralled with the appearance of a creature that she had never seen before.


    "Now, we just need to find a way to defeat it because the fight is starting." Karl reminded her as the timer ran out.


    When the timer ended, the Giant began to move, and the group scattered. Bob and Ophelia were headed forward, looking for an opening they could reach, while the Magic Knights were stepping through the sky to hurl de attacks at the massive target.


    Rae created a web to pull herself up into the bleachers, away from the main fight, and then hurled a boulder the size of a medicine ball at the four-armed Giant. The impact left a deep dent in the golden armour, and Karl smiled as he realized that while it was a deadly opponent, it was still Commander Rank.


    It also wasn''t double-jointed, and when the Spider Golems got on its back, it had to sweep up with a club to knock them free, which wasn''t nearly as deadly for them as the fast purple demon had been.


    [Rae, make a web all around the arena for the Knights and Golems to fight from.] Karl instructed as he realized what the most effective tactic was likely to be.


    If they couldn''t reach from the ground, they wouldn''t fight from the ground.


    Rae worked fast, and made a loose all around the arena out of super stretchy Royal Rank silk rope.


    The fighters couldnd on that, grab it with a free hand, and then use it as a springboard to jump at the Giant when they saw an opening. Bob had superhuman strength, the same as Karl, and the Knights could walk on air, so it was an easy way for them to rest between attacks, and blows from the Titan''s clubs wouldn''t easily ruin it.


    Karl tested the theory by taking a run toward the wall and jumping up on apleted section, then leaping off as he rebounded.


    Itunched him toward the Giant''s lower-right arm, which was hastily withdrawn to let Karl''s de crash into an enormous club.


    The [Chain Lightning] still spread through the creature''s body as Karl fell to the ground, thrown well clear of the stomping feet by the impact.


    Not exactly optimal for Karl, who had plenty of his own ranged attacks, but good enough that everyone else saw what he was going for without having to announce it out loud.


    Once they all knew, Karl switched back to his bow and began aiming for the vulnerable joints.


    That was surprisingly easy on a target thisrge, especially when it was being swarmed by fighters who wanted to attack from close range, and tortured by spells from their mages.


    One massive target against a team of thirteen wasn''t much of a fair fight, but the first time that one of the Giant''s clubs made contact, Karl realized it might not be as lopsided as he had thought.


    A flick of the wrist caught one of the knights across the chest, caving in his armour and sending him rocketing across the arena.


    If it was not for the stretchy that Rae had created, his journey would have ended with a st against the stone seating, but instead he bounced off and fell to the ground, coughing blood before falling unconscious.


    Doug was at his side within seconds, engulfing him in a wave of green healing magic and peeling his armour open, so the chest cavity could be healed.


    With the dented te in ce, the repairs couldn''t be made, and the Knight wasn''t conscious to remove it himself.


    Doug gave a thumbs up to the group as he finished the emergency work and dragged the Knight into an alcove along the arena''s wall, where he was unlikely to be hit by any more attacks. Bob was their next casualty, when a club shattered his arm and destroyed his shield, sending him into the right above his brother, who caught him on the way down and ced him gently on the ground.


    The target was bleeding profusely from what looked like a hundred different wounds, but they were still closing, despite the effects of [Lacerate] and the battle was grinding on, with the human team slowly losing energy.


    Thor wasn''t certain what to do. He couldn''t charge, the Giant was too big. He just had to stand there with Tessa on his back and keep the buffs up on everyone.


    Being the support was important, proud work, but he did like it so much better when he could smash things.


    Karl aimed high, trying to distract the Giant with [Chain Lightning] to the face, but with pure dumb luck, the first arrow flew straight through the gap in the visor, impaling one of the Giant''s eyes and sending electricity crackling across the helmet.


    It iled wildly, now blind on one side, and the Knights moved to take advantage. N?v(el)B\\jnn


    A flurry of spells hit the Giant''s blind side, crippling two of its limbs, and tearing great chunks from its armour.


    From there, the end was clear, or so they thought.


    The Giant surged with power, and a wave of force erupted from its body, throwing everyone away and shattering most of their barriers.


    The shockwave raced toward Karl, who was between the Giant and Doug, who was still working on Bob''s arm. Karl brought up [Earth Shield] as a wall, hoping to deflect the worst of the damage and keep the healer safe, but it didn''tst long, shattered to rubble by the force of the st.


    Everyone was at ground level now, and the Giant looked like it would copse at any second, but the power was surging again.


    [Golems, remove the head. It''s trying to self-destruct.] Karl instructed.


    Rae summoned a new pair and began building little stone domes over the groups of Elites on the ground, as Karl retreated to Doug''s side to do the same for the wounded.


    The air trembled with power as the next eruption peaked, and then it was gone, as were all the stone barriers and other spell effects, leaving the group standing in an empty coliseum.


    [First Advancement Trial Complete. Calcting Rewards.]

 Chapter 382 Challenge Complete

    Chapter 382 Challenge Complete


    Many of the group members had assumed that they would get the reward they had chosen at the start, the one in the chest, so they wondered what there was to calcte, unless it was an additional reward for the team effort.j


    But that thought was secondary to most of them, as their armour was heavily damaged, and every bone in their body was either broken or aching after that area attack. It was a good thing that the battles were over because they were going to need more than a few minutes to recover, even with the two healing specialty Clerics on hand to assist Thor''s [Refreshing Lightning]


    [Reward Calcted. Enhanced Epic Rank Team Trial Sessful.]


    [10 Percent Bonus added to all rewards.]


    Everyone stared at the reward announcement, visible in the air above the arena''s sand.


    "A ten percent bonus for a third trial? Somehow, I feel a bit cheated." Bob sighed as he gingerly flexed the fingers on his freshly repaired arm.


    Then, the awards appeared.


    In front of each of the members, except Lotus, sat two silver chests, one small purple box and a leather bag. Lotus only had the purple box and a smaller bag.


    "Oh, it''s ten percent on top of the Epic reward for the third trial. I take back any and all criticisms I might have been thinking." Bob amended.


    Lotus giggled. "I don''t think it counts if you only take it back after you got the reward."


    The silver chests were quickly opened, and Lotus sighed as she realized that her fun ying with the boxes meant that she didn''t actually get them in the end.


    But she did get a pretty purple one, and that was the one that she hadn''t dared to mess with in the waiting room.


    Now, there was no chain around it, but she waited with Karl while the others opened their chests and removed a pair of skill books plus a load of coins and gems.


    There were no magical rings or other items in there, only precious metals and gems, but the skill books were the real treasures.


    There was one in each silver chest, and both were different skills. Only, there didn''t seem to be any organization as to who got what skill, as Karl could see that Dana had a de skill and abat form, while Ophelia had a druid type Dire Bear Transformation spell and a toxic w skill.


    On second thought, a [Berserk Terror] enhanced Dire Bear was a terrifying thought. They made Warbears look like they were half grown to start with, and with the additional size from the skill, she would be nearly asrge as Thor''s regr size.


    Two of the Knights looked at the books in their stack, and then reached out to trade them, but the moment that someone else''s hand touched them, they reappeared in their original chest.


    "That is unusual. Does that mean we''re intended to learn what we were given?" Morgana asked as she looked at the [Toxic Swamp] and [Painful Gaze] spells that she had been given.


    None of the skills were extremely rare or powerful, as expected from the silver chest, which had disyed only books with simple covers. However, none of them were skills that the user already had.


    Dana activated her two books, and they vanished as she grinned like a madwoman.


    "Now, I just need to learn some movement skills, and I will be able to fight like the Knights. Learningbat forms from a book is so much better than doing it the conventional way." She dered.


    When he looked at it that way, Karl realized that it was not giving them skills that should help with their current talents, but ones that would help shape them in the future. It seemed that Dana would be more of a Battlemage, while Ophelia was treading the path of the Druid, with a transformation that was bing even more bestial.


    "Open your first two boxes, and let''s see what the Epic Trials granted you as a bonus." Tessa demanded.


    That made sense, as everyone would be able to open theirst box at the same time, so Lotus wouldn''t be left out at the end.


    Karl carefully flipped open the lid on the first small box as Doug made a drumroll on the metal tes of Bob''s armour.


    Karl opened the first chest, and the amethyst box vanished in a burst of golden Holy Light, leaving behind an ornate skill book.


    [Book of Evolution] Permanently causes any bonded pet to evolve into a form one Rank Higher than when the skill is used. Usable once per beast, some materials may be required.


    That was a skill that was in Karl''s Skill Tree, for a whopping fifty points, five times what it had cost him to get [Bestial Regeneration]. He had been intending to work toward it for some time, as it would be the most important possible skill to allow his beasts to break their limits and reach levels above Royal, but the price was ridiculous.


    "That skill... Holy crap." Bob muttered.


    "Right? If it wasn''t once per beast, it would be world breaking, but even this will be huge. This is a skill that I saw as avable to my ss in another trial, but I hadn''t managed to obtain it." Karl exined, not wanting to get sidetracked with an in-depth discussion of how the system appeared to him.


    Karl opened the book, and it vanished, leaving him with a new skill, and real options to keep his beasts advancing, even if their power stalled.


    "Alright, so the silver chest is one skill and some loot, the Epic chest is an overpowered skill. It looks like we''re all in luck today." Tessa noted as Karl prepared to open the next chest.


    The same golden light shed from the chest when Karl opened the second Epic Rank reward, and again, there was a skill book. The book vanished in Karl''s hands the moment he thought of opening it, and a second skill appeared in his mind.


    [Bestial Raiment] grants the user armour suitable to their current environment. The armour will be of Epic Quality and of their current Rank.


    "I wonder what sort of standard Epic Quality is?" He asked.


    "What do you mean?" Doug asked.


    "The skill is [Bestial Raiment], or Beast Armour for us less fancy folk. It creates armour at my Rank of Epic Quality." Karl exined, then switched armour from his battered main gear to the suit provided by the spell.


    What he got was a mostly ck scale bodysuit, with hard chitin tes over all the vital areas, and a ck and white tabard hanging over the top, the colours split vertically.


    As he recalled, Prince Corbin had said in the dungeon that those tabards were the mark of the Darklight Host. The ancient cult, or religious organization, depending on who you asked, that followed the World Dragon.


    Karl shifted and found that the scales moved like the softest of silk, flowing with his body, while the tes were as secure as if they were attached to him, not shifting or bouncing at all as he moved.


    "It''sfortable, I will give it that much." He exined as he examined the armour itself to see the bonuses that it would grant him.


    There were unfamiliar stats among them, number bonuses to strength, constitution and agility instead of percentages. Then percentage-based bonuses to various types of elemental and magic damage, life steal on hit, and a durability percentage for the armour that was currently at one hundred percent.


    "I wish you could cast that on everyone. It would save me so much work." Tessa sighed as she took in the state of everyone''s armour after thest fight. n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om


    "Well, at least it''s one less suit to do. Because mine is trashed again. The repair teams in the camp are not going to be happy with us when we get back." Karlughed.


    "So, do we just open thest one all at once and see who gets the best loot from the final boss? They should all be from the same fight, except maybe Karl''s, since we don''t know what order they were in." Lotus asked eagerly.


    "That sounds like a n. Everyone, prepare to open the boxes on the count of three."

 Chapter 383 Group Accomplishment

    Chapter 383 Group Aplishment


    All thirteen of the Elite Reward boxes were opened at once, and the golden light rose to a level that blinded everyone''s senses. Even Karl''s thermal vision couldn''t see anything.


    Then, they were in a new setting, all of them together, sitting on the ground in front of a massive golden chest.


    "Well, that is new. Perhaps it''s a group prize for the group fight?" Karl suggested.


    "That''s not the most insane thought that I had when I saw it." Lotus agreed.


    The beasts had been forcibly relocated back into their spaces, and were currently trapped, as Remi found out when she tried to leave to go explore the huge metal box.


    Lotus was practically vibrating with excitement, far beyond even the curiosity of Remi, so Tessa pushed her forward, letting the Nature Priestess be the one to open the giant box.


    Of course, she had to climb it first, as she couldn''t reach the lid, but anyone else in the group would have had to do the same.


    Once she got near the top, she found a good foothold on arger decoration, and wedged the bottom of her staff into the joint to pry the lid up. However, it was not a multi-ton solid gold box, but a magic reward chest, and it opened with the slightest of effort, sending Lotus tumbling down into Tessa''s waiting arms.


    "I knew you were going to fall off the box." The War Clericughed.


    They backed away, and the box unfolded into arge golden tform with a spinning prize wheel in the centre.


    All of the sectors had question marks on them, making the Knights and most of Karl''s team re at the random reward mechanism in annoyance. Couldn''t it just tell them what they were getting? Or was there some sort of luck involved? Luck was a very real factor, and they all carried Holy Stones and charms to increase their own, but it really came down to who had the most favour of the World Dragon.


    "Is one of you particrly favoured among the Gods? I would guess one of the High Clerics?" The female Knight asked.


    "Actually, the one with the World Dragon''s Luck is Karl. The rest of us were drawn into his nonsense." Tessa exined.


    The Knight nodded her head. "I can see how that would happen. He''s certainly not the average Elite, so there was bound to be something else favouring him."


    "It also means I get to take the me when they don''t approve of the oues, so I guess I will be the one spinning the wheel." Karl agreed.


    The othersughed and motioned him forward, even Lotus, who Karl knew secretly really wanted to spin the wheel.


    He didn''t torture the little cleric any longer, heading straight for the wheel, which felt warm in his hand when he grabbed one of the pegs to give it a spin.


    There was an arrow shaped ticker at the bottom, marking the location of the winning prize, while the wheel itself extended far above Karl''s head.


    "Alright, here we go."


    Karl gave the wheel a spin, and the ticker began rapidly clicking away as the pegs flew by. The bearings must have been well greased, Karl thought, as the wheel just kept spinning for most of a minute before slowing to a stop.


    The clicking got slower and slower, headed for one of many anonymous spots on the wheel. Then Lotus darted forward, and grabbed the wheel in an attempt to drag it to a stop. But that wasn''t happening, and the wheel simply carried her up into the air beforeing to rest on a prize with one final click.


    Lotus looked down, confused. That wasn''t how wheels worked. If you made them heavy on one side, the heavy side ended up on the bottom. She was one hundred percent certain of that.


    [Prize Confirmed] appeared in the air between Karl and the rest of the group as he gently removed the cleric from the wheel and returned to the others.


    [Shared Prize Awarded] Three Months'' Peak Rate Growth


    There was a pause as everyone tried to understand what they were being given. What sort of reward was that? How did one even measure what three months worth of growth would be, and how would it even be awarded?


    New knowledge of how to use his skills entered Karl''s mind as golden light began to glow from the box. It engulfed the group for a few seconds, and then faded again, but left everyone feeling energized and enlightened.


    As the reward bonus settled in, a surprising realization came to Karl''s mind. He had what he needed to advance. He had a Royal Rank skill of his own, a Royal Rank pet, and more than enough stored energy to make the conversion. He even knew how to break the bottleneck smoothly.


    How much of the three months that would have taken him on his own was a mystery, but one thing that he knew for certain was that Hawk was not happy.


    He wasn''t far from advancing, and Karl had stolen his spot in line because the rewards only went to him and not to all of them.


    They would get their share after Karl advanced, both in excess energy and in the improved spaces that woulde as a result of his advancement, but those were minor details in the mind of Hawk.


    Karl wasn''t the only one that was enjoying an advancement, though. Dana and Ophelia were both surging with power, and Lotus was glowing with a happy green light that had to mean she had made it to Commander Rank.


    The Clergy were going to freak out when they met High Priestess Lotus, and it was going to be spectacr. The effects slowly faded, and the group began to pay attention to more than what was going on with themselves. n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om


    "Dammit, I''m so close I can taste it." Bob muttered as thest of the glowing light faded to nothingness.


    "I take it you got caught at the bottleneck?" Karl asked.


    Bob nodded and sighed. "I am missing something, and I can feel the lingering buildup of energy, but I don''t have something that I need to break the bottleneck and move on to Royal Rank.


    I think it might just be practical experience with my new skills that will let me move on. Or perhaps I just don''t have a skill that''s quite good enough yet, and I need to master one of my stronger ones. But either way, I think it''s just a matter of practice now."


    The five Knights all nodded in agreement. "We''re not quite that far yet, but I''m certainly close to the bottleneck, and about to start looking for a way to break it. With this sort of bump, we might not need to use the resource stack to break through."


    Karl was familiar with that. It was abination that burnt out the Elite''s potential to get them past the bottleneck. Either they would be Royal Rank forever, or they might even shoot into the Monarch or Overlord Ranks and then stay there.


    It would be a shame for Elites as talented as these ones to take that way out. They didn''t seem like the sorts that had built their foundation on resource abuse, so they should have the potential to get through the bottleneck on their own.

 Chapter 384 Royal Return

    Chapter 384 Royal Return


    The familiar text of the announcements appeared below the prize notification.


    [Speak the word Depart to leave the First Advancement Trial.]


    "Before we leave, we should prepare to be attacked. There was still a battle going on when we entered, so there are likely Hill Giants nearby, and we don''t know which side will be holding the area around the exit." Karl reminded them as everyone prepared to get moving.


    Once they were in formation, Karl tapped Lotus on the shoulder, and she spoke the magic words.


    "We would like to depart, please."


    [So polite.]


    The notice appeared in the air below the other notices, and then they were standing on the battlefield, next to the portal, and in the middle of a fight between the teachers who were guarding the entrance and the Hill Giants who were determined to break through.


    [Time to work everyone, show them what you''ve got.] Karl instructed. n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om


    There was arge group of Ascended Rank Hill Giants to Karl''s left, until he hit them with a Royal Rank [Shred]yered with [Lacerate].


    Those that it didn''t kill outright were severely maimed and bleeding heavily, even missing limbs from the brutal arc of energy.


    The Hill Giants scattered as they realized that there was a Royal Rank Elite on this portion of the line, doing their best to get out of his line of sight while they fought their way to the Trial entrance.


    "What''s the situation?" Karl asked as he moved next to one of the Mage ss teachers who hade to reinforce the portal area.


    "The Hill Giants knew that the portal would open. We don''t know how they knew, but it sounds like that was the reason they were attacking. One group of Hill Giants made it into the Trial, but they haven''te out yet, and we''ve got the rest of them pushed back now." The teacher exined.


    "How did we find out that they knew?" Karl asked. That seemed like important intelligence that should have been shared in advance if they had it.


    "The Giants Celebrated that they were the first ones to open a Trial. A number of us among the Academy speak Hill Giant." He exined.


    "Crap. If that is why they''re attacking the border, to create a conflict that will open a trial, this war just got a lot more chaotic.


    The rewards in there were powerful.


    Very powerful.


    "If the Hill Giants get control of a few of those trials, theirbat power is going to skyrocket. I rmend that we send a team of students so we can build up our total number of Commanders, and once we can, send another team of Commanders in, ones as close to the bottleneck as possible. If my team had been closer to the bottleneck, we might have had more Royal Rank fightersing out just now, instead of a team of strong Commanders." Karl exined.


    "We sent a team of Ascended Rank students with a pair of Commander Rank leaders from the defensive lines near the anomaly in as soon as your team came out. It wouldn''t let anyone else in until then. Either the limit is two teams, or one team from each species." The mage exined.


    From overhead, Karl heard Hawk mentallyughing as he formed ming bird - shaped fireballs and hurled them into the Hill Giant ranks.


    They exploded in grand style, sending out a spherical shaped [Rend] attack instead of shrapnel, and they were tearing holes in the offensive line.


    [That''s quite thebination.] Karlmended him.


    [They make beautiful explosions after I added Rend to them. Just fire was alright, but it was a bitcking. Now, they''re perfect.]


    It was a bit like a shotgun, as the Rend effect wasn''t quite solid, and seemed to y everything it hit with hundreds of light wounds. There was no deep pration, just the shredded surface and the burns from the actual fireball explosion.


    Karl heard swearing behind him, and saw that there was a whole team of Commander Rank Hill Giants pushing out from the Trial, while another team ran in between them, headed inside.


    It had happened too suddenly to stop them, and the newly advanced team was retreating to consolidate their gains.


    As soon as they were in, the entrance seemed to change, turning from a solid distortion to something much more transparent, the way it had looked before Karl and his team had entered.


    The teachers pushed forward to check, sending a team to walk through it, and out the other side.


    As soon as the Hill Giants saw that, they retreated a little, no longer trying to im the portal, but staying close enough to allow their participants to rejoin their team safely.


    "Professor, we should form lines on our side of the portal for now and hold. I think it will reduce casualties." Karl offered.


    The Professor shot Karl a dirty look, but Karl just shrugged and continued to pick vulnerable targets for his arrows. He was only aiming for Giants attacking Elites who were in trouble, doing his best to minimize losses and strain on the Clerics. But keeping this offensive up when they couldn''t even send another team into the portal was a waste. If they went to their own side, the Giants most likely would not follow until their team wasing out.


    The teachers conferred on battle strategy for a half a minute, then began sounding the retreat, to bring the lines back to their side of the portal.


    Immediately, a tense ceasefire began, with both sides easily in attacking range for their ranged abilities, but nobody doing anything as they waited for their teams toe back out of the Trial.


    Karl had to admit, if the Hill Giants knew that they could trigger this First Advancement Trial by fighting with the humans along the border, it was a brilliant strategy to try to push a few more of their numbers over the breakpoint and into Royal Rank.


    It was a shame that the human side wouldn''t manage to get many more Royal Rank fighters, but none of them had expected the trial to close so quickly.


    From what the teachers were saying, most instances were either firste, first served, or they were open for exact days. Whether that was one day, seven days or twenty-eight days was a mystery the first time, but it was almost always precise.


    So, this four team limit didn''t make sense to anyone on either side, and now they were left wondering what to do about it.


    The next team out was the human team, who raced back to the lines, quietly celebrating their sess while the Academy forces retreated.


    If the Hill Giants got a Royal Rank advancement out of the trial, they didn''t want to be too close to the action. Worse, they might have prepared a whole team right at the advancement point, and although they had only sent a five-person team instead of the ten that the humans did, it would still be a massacre if all five of them came out at Royal Rank.


    The tension continued to rise until the Hill Giant team exited the Trial and made their way back to their own lines. They were up by one Royal Rank Hill Giant, an even gainpared to the humans, and apparently not as good as they were hoping for, as the force immediately began to retreat.

 Chapter 385 Formalities

    Chapter 385 Formalities


    Once the chaos of the battle had subsided, Karl realized that a significant amount of time had passed while they were inside the trials, and the night shift was about to start their rotation on the line.


    It was strange to think that so much time had psed since the start of the trial, when the second group had only taken a few hours at the most, but the sun''s position didn''t lie.


    Karl was waiting and watching, to ensure that the Hill Giants didn''t try to push their luck and return, when a friendly hand patted him on the shoulder. "You can return to camp for dinner. The next shift is here. I think that the Administration Staff are going to want to talk to you as well after that incident with the trial. It appears that your team got some pretty serious rewards, and they are all excited." The soldier informed him. n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om


    Karl chuckled at the man''s gift for understatement, and nodded his head. "I will return to the line once I have upgraded shields for the pike line. As soon as they switch, I will give them ayer of Earth Shield, then call it a night." Karl exined.


    The soldiers lined up and raised therge rectangr shields of the shield wall, which remained on the line until they were damaged. "Earth Shield Iing." Karl shouted as he cast the spell, then moved down the line again, as he had earlier in the day.


    That should keep them through the night, or at least through the first few hits of an engagement if there was something happening during the night shift.


    The Hill Giants didn''t normally attack at night, but they had been particrly upset today with the abbreviated Trial, where both sides had only gotten two teams through. The Giants were going to want to punish the humans for taking two of the avable four slots and not even using half of them to try for a Royal Rank fighter, but instead stacking their number of Commanders instead.


    But what the Academy knew was that the faster you progressed while you were young, the further an Elite could go before they hit the limits of their potential. It seemed to decline with time, and readministering the serum didn''t help refresh it.


    So, pushing students to Commander still made it more likely that they would get to Royal Rank, and it was a better deal for the Academy if those opportunities were given to students than to teachers, whose peak growth years had already passed.


    But they had another issue today, and that was that one of the students really did make it to Royal Rank. Namely, Karl.


    They should have known better than to think that the news of Rae advancing wouldn''t bring an immediate response from the higher powers. The Academy, the Bureau of Elite Development, the Church and the Army all had ranking members stationed here, but that wasn''t enough for this unprecedented situation.


    Rumours were already flying that his assigned group had produced two other unregistered Commanders plus two High Priestesses, but the power that Morgana and Bob were showing when they returned to the lines after the Trial had everyone wondering how long it would be before they also made Royal Rank.


    So, more influential members had been sent from every possible facet of Golden Dragon Nation society, including reporters and a government Press Officer. They had all arrived in thest hour, while the second team was in the trials, with the hope that they would have an entire team of Commanders added to the Academy''s poption, in addition to the confused reports of Karl and Rae''s advancement.


    Karl followed the camp workers'' directions to a secondary dining hall, where he found his expanded group, along with the other ten Elites who had been sent as the second group.


    "I would like to say that nobody expects the Holy Inquisition, but this time their presence was entirely predictable." Karl greeted the group at the table beside his as he took a seat.


    "Brother Karl, it''s good to see you advanced again." A Royal Rank Inquisitor replied with a smile.


    Karl nodded politely, then looked around the room to see if there were any familiar faces among the guests.


    There was a High Priestess of the Nature God who he remembered from when they signed the contract to work as a team. She giggled at him and waved as he looked her way, which made Karlugh along with her.


    The Nature Clerics had to think that it was hrious that Lotus was now a High Priestess, even if the thought of her in charge of anything horrified the rest of the clergy.


    Other than that, some of the politicians looked vaguely familiar. They might have been part of the groups trying to recruit him at Commander Rank a few months back. It made sense that some of them would be the same, as they were originally sent to try to talk to Prince Corbin when he had reached the Academy.


    One of the politicians in an expensive looking suit stood to address the room. "Now that we''re all here, I would like to congratte you all on your advancements. Today we recognize fourteen new Commanders, four of which are from the Church''s ranks, and twelve of which are still students." He began.


    Karl looked over at the other group and realized that there was a white robed Priest and an annoyed looking blue dragon cleric with them. Why they had a cleric from the god of Knowledge seemed fairly obvious to Karl, as everyone wanted to know what the anomaly was, but they normally didn''t specialize in healing or group buffs, so they were rarely sent tobat.


    They could do it, but their skills might be rusty, as they spent all their time in the library and inscription rooms.


    At least she should have had [Refreshing Lightning] for her solo trials.


    "We also recognize a new Prince of the Nation, and as is tradition, we would like for the Prince to choose one cause to assist with his influence." The politician continued.


    Karl could see that most of the other factions'' representatives were rolling their eyes, but Karl smiled politely back at him and rose to his feet. "I have been thinking about that issue since I advanced to Commander Rank, and I believe that I have an answer already. I would like to devote my time to increasing the individualbat power of the Elites. I believe everyone here has the clearance to know that I have already donated a number of skill books to the Inscriptionists, and I have assisted a number of our barbarians in gaining a powerful new Rage type skill. That is what I n to continue. I will spend my leisure time looking for signs of relics or other methods that can be spread among the Elites to give us an advantage over those who would seek to harm us." Karl announced.


    That would almost certainly have a dozen groups pushing for some of his time, but it didn''t devote all of his efforts to one faction.


    But as he had advanced and had been force-fed information from the final trial reward, many things had be clear to Karl. One of them was that he simplycked the skills to share all of his skills.


    What if he could teach someone else to have a beast space? Wouldn''t that make for even more overpowered Elites? If it didn''t work on other Elites, maybe it would work on some of the soldiers.


    Or if he could teach more people the higher ranked skills that he was sure to learn in the future? Even just finding time to make books for the new skills he could use would be huge for the Clergy Library. Not even Lacerate had a proper skill book for it yet, and Rae had learned that from an Elite.


    "Did you have more that you could teach the Elites?" One of the Inquisitors asked.


    "I believe that with a bit of time I can create a book of Lacerate. That should be useful to dozens of warriors and rogues. After that, I will have to see if there are any other abilities that can be easily shared." Karl exined.


    That was enough to get most of the people in the room excited. Everyone loved a chance to make the Elites more powerful, and that one skill book would be enough to ensure that Karl was not a name that was easily forgotten among his peers.

 Chapter 386 Heroes Need Capes

    Chapter 386 Heroes Need Capes


    The politician continued once Karl returned to his seat. "There will be formal testing at ater date, should there be any doubts about your advancements, but as of today, all of the advancements have been certified through informal testing by the Clergy and Government authorities. New uniforms will be avable to all of our new Commanders, and if Prince Karl will rise, the Inquisition has won the lottery to present your Royal Cape."


    Karl stood, and the Royal Rank member of the Inquisition rose with him, holding a box he had taken out from under the table. It was a simple ck robe with gold trim that went well with the Commander Rank ck suit, and it attached across his chest with a heavy golden chain, bearing the twin dragon symbol of the Golden Dragon Nation on every link.


    The cape bonded to Karl the moment that the sp was fastened, and the badge on his uniform changed slightly to include a crown at the top, marking him as Royal Rank, should anyone doubt his word.


    "Thank you, Inquisitor." Karl responded once the man stepped back.


    "It is an honour, Prince Karl. Just try not to taunt the others too much with your rank, no matter how tempting it is."


    [Behave, Your Highness.] Dana whispered in his ear using a tone that had his little Karl at full attention.


    Karl gave her a wink and made ns for her uing birthday. He was going to have to give her a special present this year.


    "I am certain that I can mostly resist the temptation. Besides, after spending months fighting along the Frost Giant border, the novelty of wearing a cape has already worn off. They''re just too practical for cold weather." Karl joked.


    The staff brought out a meal for everyone, the fancy sort that they usually reserved for visiting guests on the line, and Karl smiled at their efforts to make rice and beans fancy by putting long slices of pickled vegetables on top, then surrounding it with sliced meat.


    The meal made it easy to see who was used to being out of the city and who was used to all of the fine dining establishments of either the Capital or one of the otherrge cities. The Inquisition members were pleasantly surprised to find that they had spiced the meat, while most of the politicians just looked like they were doing their best to ignore what they were eating.


    The new Commanders from the other group were being swarmed by dignitaries, wishing them well and not so subtly pushing for them tomit to some project or another, the same as they had done to Karl when he advanced. Only, these ones were all in their final year at the Academy, and they knew all about the tricks to expect when they eventually advanced.


    A few had approached Ophelia, but she seemed to know the ultimate trick to scare them away. She was normally a quiet sort, and rather gentle in her human form, but when they approached her to try to get her to join their projects, she was obnoxious, crude and affected a heavy ent that had them all politely excusing themselves within seconds. n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om


    They would eventually learn that they had been tricked ande back trying to get her to join their causes, but that tactic should work well enough for today, and then Ophelia would have some time to make a decision on her own.


    Oddly, as Karl sat with his hand on Dana''s thigh, nobody tried toe over and pitch her for their cause. It seemed that his im was enough to keep them away, with the assumption that her time was already spoken for by the new Prince.


    Once they had eaten, the teachers came in with new badges for everyone who had advanced to Commander Rank, as well as their new suits, while the Nature Priestess came over to give new robes to the four clerics who had advanced.


    The Blue Dragon Cleric''s were quite fancy and trimmed with gold embroidery, simr to the ones worn by the cleric in white except for the base colour. Lotus got simple green robes, but with beads and leatherces all along the edges and more natural ornaments instead of embroidery. They were fancier than the ones the older High Priestess was wearing, and Karl realized that unlike the other factions, the Nature Clerics rarely wore their formal robes.


    Tessa''s, were red with ck trim, and Karl noticed that the robes actually contained a mesh of metallic thread through them, as part of their enchanted defences.


    They looked simple, but they were actually a rather powerful magical armour piece.


    "I believe that we''ve crushed the previous record for the maximum number of Commanders enrolled in the Academy at one time." Karlughed as thest of the new advancements put on their new outfits.


    A number of the politiciansughed, and the Lead Inquisitor shook his head. "Before this mission, it wouldn''t have just been a daily record, but a record number of Commanders as students. As it is, the Academy has doubled the number in a single day.


    That advancement trial was a huge benefit to the Academy, and now that they''ve got a Royal Rank student on the lines, the Academy has little to fear from the Hill Giants."


    The politicians looked nervous as he finished that sentence. They had been fully intending to pull Karl from the area to have him do something else that served their department''s imperatives, but arguing with the Inquisition was a losing cause.


    The best that they could hope for was to try to get his whole team moved to the Mountain Giant front, which was closer to the Capital, and easier to get to when they wanted them to do something.


    The spokesman for the politicians stood to address the group. "Now that we''ve all eaten, why don''t we get the interviews underway? We can do them outdoors, where the battlefield will make a proper backdrop for the footage of the new Commanders? It''s a big day for the Golden Dragon Nation, after all." That was the part that nobody, except the news people, were looking forward to. They would have to do multiple interviews, so that all of the dignitaries could be seen with more than one of the new Commanders, and to fill time for the TV stations.


    Worse for Karl, he couldn''t even bring out Thor as a distraction this time, as it was likely to be more of an informal style, and he would be expected to interact with the officials who hade to congratte them.


    The spokesman for the politicians gestured at one of the ssroom tents. "Prince Karl, if you woulde this way, please. We would like to do a group interview with you while the Commanders are with the reporters. It won''t take long, and it won''t air with the other news, so we will be setting up a fake stage for your footage." "Ah, I suppose that it makes sense that they don''t want anyone to know where exactly I am, now that I have advanced." Karl noted.


    "Exactly. Your footage will be held until there is a need for it. The next time that the news cycle needs a positive story, it will be released so that the people have something to cheer about, and they don''t have to focus on whatever had happened in the previous days." The politician agreed.

 Chapter 387 Do I Have To?

    Chapter 387 Do I Have To?


    The tent had been set up like the inside of a luxury hotel room, right down to a television screen ying a fake city street view behind closed curtains. It would only be in the edge of the view, but it gave a directionality to the lighting in the room, which Karl assumed would make it feel more natural for the viewers at home. To him, it was just too obviously unnatural.


    For one, his vision was as sharp as Hawk''s. Secondly, he had gotten so used to the echolocation and thermal imaging being oveid on everything he looked at, that it was very obvious there was a television behind the curtains.


    But then they turned on all the professional lighting, and it didn''t matter anymore. The lighting would be perfect in the video, not natural, so the screen was only there to make it look like a real window.


    "If you can take a seat there, that would be just right. And can you get your Hawk to stand on the end table? Or is the bond not like that?" The producer asked.


    "I can have Hawk stand on the end table, that shouldn''t be a problem. But his talons will almost certainly damage it unless you''ve got a stand that he can perch on. Hawks aren''t meant to stand on t surfaces. He''s not a duck."


    One of the workers ran out, and then came back in with an extra microphone stand.


    "What about this? Will this work well enough as a perch?" He asked.


    He set it up next to the chair and adjusted the height, so Hawk would be just below Karl''s shoulder level.


    Hawk left his space andnded on the perch, grabbing it gently, so he didn''t damage the paint. Fortunately, it was a bit rough on the surface, so his feet didn''t slip around and force him to use his ws.


    "That is perfect. I don''t know if you''ve heard, but some bard made up a song about you two while you were in the Frost Giant Nation, and it''s climbing the charts. That''s why we wanted Hawk with you today, so that even though people might not recognize you, they will associate you and your reputation with the song as soon as the interview starts." The producer exined.


    "Hawk the Giant yer." Karlughed.


    "How close is that to the truth? We''re not going to have a bunch of other Elitesing out to refute your actions, are we?" One of the politicians asked.


    "Honestly, the song doesn''t do our experience along the Frost Giant border justice. We went on a rampage even before the fight with the Royal Rank leader.


    I can only say that it''s a shame that we weren''t at our current strength for that one. We lost a team member during that fight, but now it would be a rtively even match. One on one, Rae could take that Frost Giant in a matter of minutes." Karl exined.


    "Are there any questions that we should avoid? Things that might not be suitable for television?" The producer asked.


    Karl didn''t see any issues at first, but then one came to him. "You should likely not ask about my own musical taste. I grew up in the mines, so all my favourite songs are miners'' working tunes."


    "That doesn''t sound so bad." The producer replied.


    Karl whistled the first few bars of ''Give the Working Man A Chance'' and the producer paled as he recognized the tune.


    "I take that back. The average citizen might not appreciate a miner''s dark sense of humour. Or worse, they probably would." He replied, retracting his statement so he didn''t have to edit out footage of the new Prince subtly advocating for the death of ipetent leaders.


    But while the Producer and the Politician were both incredibly nervous about what Karl would say next, the Inquisitor thought it was hrious.


    "Brother Karl is definitely best suited to be one of us. With that kind of thinking, he might be the next Commander Hirsch." The Inquisitorughed.


    "Who is that? I didn''t watch the news much growing up, and they don''t y it here." Karl asked.


    "Oh, it might not have even made news where you were. Hirsch was one of the first batch of Elite test subjects, years before the program went full scale. He was Minister of Justice for a while, until a corrupt politician tried to lie his way out of trouble, and the Commander killed him on the parliament floor." The Inquisitor exined.


    "I would have paid money to see that."


    The Inquisitor dabbedughing tears from the corners of his eyes as he smiled at Karl. "And that''s why it wasn''t on the news."


    "But did it work? That seems like the sort of thing that was meant to make a statement about ending corruption. Did it work?" Karl asked.


    The Inquisitor whistled innocently while everyone else in the room looked away. n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om


    They were definitely not asking Karl about politics in his interviews.


    As the cameras were adjusted for the size of the Inquisitor, who would be the first host, a note was handed to Karl, to remind him of all the things that were ssified.


    "You know, I''m beginning to understand why press releases don''t ever actually say anything. So much of what we''ve done and are doing is ssified that I couldn''t even tell most of the good stories." Karl sighed.


    "Good stories, like what?" The politician asked.


    The Inquisitor nodded, meaning everyone here had clearance to hear what he might say, so Karl thought of a few things.


    "Well, like that time that we picked a fight with two hundred Frost Giants and shattered a Frost Stone that blew up like a nuke.


    Or that time that we hung out in an old Dwarven city for two weeks before we realized that the Magma Dragon had chased away all the Giants, and we weren''t even in front of the line anymore, we were somewhere off to the side, and the shift had put us out of radio range, so we hadn''t heard anything."


    Karl heard giggling from the door and Lotus poked her head in. "Tell them about the time that Thor yeeted a Titan Cleric so far that we didn''t even find the body."


    The Inquisitor frowned at her. "Definitely do not tell anyone the details of that incident, High Priestess. Was there something that we could do for you?"


    "They said that I had two hours before my interview and I wanted to ride Rae."


    In her space, Raeughed. Going for a run in the woods sounded like fun.


    She appeared outside the door, and the little cleric nimbly hopped on top, then they both simply vanished as Rae Shadow Stepped.


    "Well, that was bloody terrifying. I think I peed a little." The camera operator muttered.


    "You get used to her. Even Bob Mackenzie, who was seriously arachnophobic when we met, has gotten mostly used to Rae now. He just prefers to deploy himself to the other side of the group, so they''re not side by side." Karlughed.


    "Do you have fun stories about those two?" The producer asked hopefully.


    "Like how they like to go for runs in the woods together? Or how High Priestess Lotus will ride her intobat so that they can stop to look for magical resources or shiny stones? Oh, we could send someone to take footage. I bet Rae wouldn''t mind, she loves when people appreciate her greatness."


    The cameraman raised his hand. "Maybe no fun giant murder spider stories. I don''t care how you phrase it, I''m still going to have nightmares."


    Karl chuckled. "Did you know that it takes her under three seconds to tear apart an Ascended Rank Armoured Car to get to a treat left inside?"

 Chapter 388 Interview with Israel

    Chapter 388 Interview with Israel


    At that point, the crew all realized that Karl was just cherry-picking stories to mess with them, but none of them doubted that Rae could mutte an armoured vehicle.


    "Which one of your pets is the friendliest?" The producer asked hopefully.


    "Thor, followed by Remi. Hawk isn''t really a people person, he just likes to watch them doing dumb stuff from above."


    Hawk nodded in agreement. People were always doing dumb things. That was why you had to watch your fireballs all the way down. Because they might run right into them.


    The producer nodded, then gestured for the Inquisitor to start the interview. "Good evening parishioners. I am High Priest Israel, here with a special bit of good news for you all. It is my pleasure to let you all know that we have independently verified that this young man sitting next to me has reached a major milestone. This is Prince Karl, born and raised in the Lithium Mines, and now the newest member of the Royal Rank Elites. Beside him is his Dragonhawk, who answers to the name Hawk. They are the subject of the recent hit song, Hawk the Giant yer.


    Why don''t we start there? The hawk is a majestic example of the species, and more powerful than I think any of use would have expected. Is he like a Parrot? Can he speak and understand humannguage?" The Inquisitor asked.


    Hawk shook his head and Karl answered for him. "He can understand us just fine, but he can''t speak. However, our bond allows us tomunicate, so I can ry answers for him."


    "That sounds like an incredibly useful ability. Is that why you rely upon him to do most of the scouting for your group?" Karl nodded. "Indeed. Being able to look down on a situation from above gives us a much better idea of what is going on, and reveals many hidden traps and potential ambushes that would have been hidden when scouted from ground level.


    Combined with the extremely well refined eyesight and enhanced range of colours that he can see, and it is an incredibly potentbination."


    "We are told that there is a song about you two, have you had a chance to hear it?" Israel asked.


    "We did, actually. The bards in camp were ying it, and we got a good chuckle out of their rendition of our activities. They are truly a gifted ss of Elites." Karl agreed.


    Inquisitor Israel gave a professional smile to the camera, paused for a few seconds, giving them time to insert footage of the music, then continued. "How does it feel to be the youngest Royal Rank Elite in the decade that the program has been running? It has to be exciting for you."


    Karl nodded. "It''s a crazy feeling, and I can''t really wrap my head around it. Royal Rank is just so far beyond anything that I thought I could achieve, that it is taking a while to truly sink in."


    The interview went on for another half an hour and switched interviewers twice. They were both from the team of reporters, and only asked simple questions while avoiding anything that might need to be heavily edited orpletely scrapped.


    When they were finally finished, the final reporter got out of his seat, and he was reced by a young woman in a wizard themed idol dress that wasn''t hiding much of anything from Karl''s point of view. It was knee-length and ruffled, but there was a slit up the thigh clear to the hip, and deep cleavage, despite the somewhat modest looking wide sleeves and high cor.


    Karl was briefly mesmerized by her personality, but then he realized that this woman was also Royal Rank.


    "Prince Karl, meet the Archmage." Israel introduced them.


    "A pleasure." She responded, sounding like it was nothing of the sort.


    "If we''re dressing up for this, should I put on my fancy armour?" Karl asked.


    The Inquisitor looked confused for a second until Karl changed into [Beast Armour] with the white fur cloak from the Frost Giants and no helmet. This time, the Chitin appeared as white with gold trim over the ck scales, and Karl swept out the cloak, letting it pool behind him as he perched forward on the chair.


    An assistant rushed forward, rearranging his cloak and his position, then gave him a thumbs up.


    The Archmage looked startled at his armour, and leaned forward to inspect it, giving Karl a view down her ample cleavage.


    "Is that an Epic Grade quest reward?" She asked.


    "An Epic Grade skill as a Trial Reward, actually. The armour isn''t physical armour, but created by a skill book. It still has the same sort of powerful enchantments, though. The bonuses on it are far beyond anything I''ve seen before." Karl agreed.


    "What luck that must have been. Is it a new skill, or is that how you have had such sess here on the front lines?" She asked curiously, with a flirty smile that Karl recognized as being for the cameras Karl had forgotten were rolling.


    "It came to me during my Royal Rank advancement. I haven''t even had a chance to properly test it yet."


    The Archmage giggled in an endearing tone that didn''t show in her eyes to Karl''s sharp vision. She was good at this, ying it up for the cameras and doing interviews that she despised, but still making sure that her idol image didn''t slip.


    "There has been a lot of spection among the other Ranking Elites on what your next beast will be. Have you made a choice, or received any sort of sign as to what it will be?" She asked.


    "Not yet. I have a very well-rounded team, and they have done an excellent job so far. So, I''ve been holding off on making a decision until I have a better grasp on what we might be missing."


    "That sounds like quite the luxury. On behalf of mages everywhere, I must say that I wish it could be so easy to learn new abilities."


    Karl smiled and tried to remember what she specialized in. "Well, I''ve got a few new skill books to gift to the Blue Dragon Clerics, perhaps we can talk after and see if one of them might suit you." Karl replied with what he hoped looked like a shy smile and not a murderous snarl.


    He had been reminded in the past that he was somewhat scary even when he didn''t mean to be, which could be a mistake during an interview.


    "Is that your intention as a Prince? To collect and distribute skills?" She asked, startled. Karl had assumed that they had warned her in advance, as it hadn''te up in his past interview, but he just nodded.


    "Yes. It is a particr advantage that I have. It is my hope that with the contributions, it will make the early stages a bit easier for those who start withpatible sses. The Elites benefit from every new skill that we can gather, and I have a particr talent for finding new skills to share."


    "That would be wonderful. But first, I have been asked to perform a short segment for the audience. Don''t go too far."


    "Cut." The producer called.


    "We will film the actual bit to use an uing single when this is about to air. Thank you both for your assistance. You are finished with the interview process."


    Karl sighed and let Hawk return to his space, while the Archmage got up out of her chair and grabbed him by the edges of his cloak.


    "You had better not have been fucking with me about the new skill. Do you really have a skill book?" She demanded.


    "Rx. I have a talent to make skill books out of the skills that I know. What is your specialty as a mage?" He replied.


    "Lightning with a secondary in Ice Magic."


    Karl checked what he needed to make the [Chain Lightning] book, and found that he had the herb that he needed, but if he had a Lightning Element stone, it was hidden in Rae''s hole of shiny stones.


    "Do you have [Chain Lightning]?" He asked.


    "Do you think it''s so easy to get advanced skills like that? I''ve got shock, stun, Lightning Bolt and Lightning Mine, plus Ice st and Icicle forbat skills. Then a few just for show."


    "Do you have a Lightning Element stone, Commander Rank or higher? I need to grind it for the ink for the book, and I will make you Chain Lightning. Or I can make you [Blizzard] with what I have on hand." [Blizzard] [Not Blizzard] Remi and Hawk responded at the same time.n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

 Chapter 389 The Archmage

    Chapter 389 The Archmage


    "You, assistant man. Get my bag. I have the stone we need in there." She demanded of one of the staffers who hade in with her. n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om


    "You can likely change back now that the interviews are done." Karl reminded her.


    The Archmage sighed. "Do you think this frilly whore costume is bonded? It takes two hours to get into this and do all my makeup, then half as long to get it back off again."


    Perhaps she had a lot inmon with Dana. Not her temper ornguage, but she certainly didn''t seem to be enjoying the idol life, though the rumour was that she had chosen it for herself after she advanced to Commander.


    Instead, she donned a light silk dressing gown over her outfit and sat back down on the chair from the interview while they waited.


    "Can you make me both of those skills, or is there a limit?" She asked.


    "There is a limit, but two books in a day is possible. The [Lacerate] books for the clerics can wait, and I will make you both today. Do you know where they''re sending you next?" Karl replied.


    "Right here. I have shows all down the Hill Giant border this week, Military Inspiration Shows, as they call them. If there are attacks while I''m here, I help out. If there aren''t I just go around doing Idol shows." The Archmage exined.


    The assistant returned with a High Cleric from the Blue Dragon, and three Inscriptionists, letting Karl know that hisments would not be allowed to slide. They expected books, and they wanted them now.


    "Did you bring the materials?" Karl asked. The Cleric nodded and put a pile of paper and a handful of Lightning Element stones at Commander Rank in front of him.


    "Alright, let''s get started."


    It didn''t take long to make either book, as he could use both skills and didn''t have to refer to Remi. He just needed some of the grass from her space to mix with the base ink for the Blizzard spell.


    Everyone sat silently as he made two copies of the [Chain Lightning] spell, and then two more of [Blizzard].


    "Alright. Now, hopefully, this will work. It says that Mages with Expert or higher affinity in the element should be able to use it, as well as shamans and suitable element beasts." Karl exined.


    "Mages and Shamans can both use the spells? Now we''re talking." The Blue Dragon High Priest sighed. He had been fully prepared to be ridiculed for the obnoxiously restrictive books that Karl produced. They weren''t broken or wed, they just had such stringent requirements that they might as well be quest rewards of their own.


    Karl felt Hawk''s suspicion. [You''re teaching more mages to use evil magic.]


    [No, to use Blizzard, they already need a strong ability with Ice magic.]


    [It''s still evil magic.]


    The Archmage reverently picked up the [Chain Lightning] book and flipped the cover open.


    It seemed to hesitate for a split second, then the book vanished, and she jumped on Karl''sp, wrapping him in a hug.


    "Thank you, thank you so much. That is a fantastic spell. How did you obtain it?"


    "Ites from Remi, my Spirit Snake. Both of these are skills that she was born knowing, and since she''s a Shaman, they were more transferrable than the other skills."


    "And you didn''t teach your group?" The High Priest asked.


    "None of them are Ice or Lightning Element mages or Shamans. They couldn''t use them without high enough proficiency in the Element.


    But now your team can make copies of the books for every mage and shaman that is of those elements, and the Archmage can do her next photoshoot with two new spells. In fact, if you tone down Blizzard, it might be cool as a stage effect."


    She looked confused, so Karl pointed at the cameraman and surrounded him with a very reduced Blizzard, but with high winds and thick snow, which sparkled in the light as it swirled around him.


    "Just be careful of the distance. The wind can cause wardrobe malfunctions." Karl added.


    The Archmage shifted on Karl''sp to pick up the [Blizzard] book, which vanished without as much hesitation, suggesting that her affinity with ice was actually higher than Lightning. She sighed in satisfaction, and got back to her feet. "They are going to want me to do more appearances before thete night show. Good luck, Prince Karl. You will need it once those bloodhounds from the special interests get to you."


    She was turning to leave when Israelughed. "I don''t think he needs to worry about it. He terrified half of them and chased the other half away with a veiled threat to join the Inquisition. I don''t know who taught him to y the game, but his angry hillbilly face doesn''t match his craftiness."


    "Hey, I will have you know that I was considered a handsome young man."


    The idolughed and shook her head. "You still are, but that aura you give off will scare the tar out of the non-Elites."


    Then she was gone from the tent, and Karl just shrugged at Israel. He didn''t recall threatening to join the Inquisition at all, but that might be how the politicians would have taken him, addressing the Royal Rank Inquisitor more familiarly than anyone else.


    "Was there more that you wanted to share with the Church today, or do you need to hold off on the other skills that you might be able to copy?" Inquisitor Israel asked.


    He hadn''t missed how Karl had said that two books in a day should be possible, but he had actually made four of them.


    "I''m mentally beat on that front. I was already pushing my luck with the fourth. But I should be able to make another tomorrow after a good night''s rest. The problem is that most of the skills just aren''t well suited to humans.


    If I could make a book for Remi''s Poison me Totems, that would be great, but even if I could learn the skill, it''s a Spirit Snake exclusive skill."


    The Inquisitor frowned. "There are so many restrictions on your skill."


    Karl shrugged. "If I was making them for other Beast Masters, it would be fine. All they would need was a petpatible with mine, and they would be able to use all of these picky books.


    I''m hoping that one day I will find a way to transfer my core skills to others. Right now, it''s not an option for the Skill Books, but I think that one day I might be able to create a book that will contract a beast. Then we can try making budget version Beast Masters out of people who don''t have system ess. If they could get even one space and grow with a beast, they could be maybe not on par with all Elites, but still stronger than the average soldier now."


    The Inquisitor smiled. "Now that is a goal that I can get behind. I can see it now, a whole line of soldiers with their bonded beasts. They wouldn''t even need to bebat beasts, just something with a good skill to share, and our army would be on par with any of the other magical or monster nations."


    Karl sighed. "I''m not even sure that it will ever be possible. I''ve never heard of a way to transfer ss skills to someone without the Blessing, but I''ve got a feeling that it should actually be possible if we can find a way to form the contract."

 Chapter 390 Final Photos

    Chapter 390 Final Photos


    As Karl finished his exnation, a whole new group of reporters came in with some of the other newly advanced Commanders from the Academy, and Karl was chased out along with Inquisitor Israel.


    "As you might have noticed, the Prince title can get you many things, but getting in the way of people with things to do usually doesn''t work, unless they''re also Elites under your leadership and have to listen to you." The Inquisitorughed.


    Karl chuckled. "Why don''t we go get some coffee and rx? We have time to kill until they''re done with all the other interviews, and I don''t think that they will appreciate it if wepletely vanish."


    "Can I meet your other team members? Have they all advanced to Royal Rank with you?" Israel asked.


    Karl shook his head. "No. Rae advanced already, and Hawk is very close, but Remi and Thor are still solidly Commanders for at least a few more days. I can''t say for certain when they will advance, but they''re being pulled upward now that I have."


    "Then let''s go to the edge of the camp, but not too far, and you can show me the others. I briefly saw Rae before she ran away with High Priestess Lotus, and Hawk is a fine specimen of the Dragonhawk species, but I am curious about the others." Israel suggested.


    "Oh, there''s no need to leave. Thor is gentle, and everyone loves him, while Remi is small enough to not cause a traffic jam."


    Remi came out and draped herself over Karl''s shoulder, then stuck her upper body forward to get a better look at the Inquisitor.


    He reached out and stroked the top of her head, making the Spirit Snake sway happily.


    "She is venomous, isn''t she?" He asked.


    "Yeah. When she res her hood, it is quite obvious that she''s a Naga Spirit Snake, but when she''s rxed, she looks much less threatening. Just a big boop noodle."


    "Tell me you don''t let her boop people." Remiughed, and the Inquisitor gave her a suspicious look. "She tried it, didn''t she? Are they alright?"


    Karl nodded. "They might have embarrassed themselves a little, but Remi only booped them on the nose with hers, there was no physical damage."


    Karl called Thor out, and the Lightning Cerro immediately attracted attention from students who were living in the area near them on the right nk.


    They all came over to pat his head or rub his scales, ignoring the fact that there might be a reason his was out in the middle of camp.


    "It looks like the Lightning Cerro isn''t far from Royal Rank either, but he''s a bit odd, isn''t he? I sense a lot of Holy magic from him." Israel asked.


    "He''s been training his Holy Magic in hopes of bing a better support asset for the team. He has already learned Circle of Protection, and that''s quite the feat for a Lightning Cerro. If he keeps it up, I think that he might actually manage to evolve on his own into some sort of Holy Cerro." Karl agreed.


    "I heard that Hawk evolved, but that was due to resource consumption. Is it possible that your ss could cause such a mutation on its own?"


    Remiughed, a sporadic hissing noise that sounded more like a hup, but left her mouth open.


    "Did I say something funny?" Inquisitor Israel asked.


    "Thor actually does have a resource, and a rather potent one. There is a pool of blessed water, imbued with the essence of Holy Stones in his resting space, and he regrly soaks there during his downtime." Karl exined. n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om


    Remi nodded in agreement, while the Inquisitor stared at Thor. "You have done very well for your beasts. The rare resources that I have learned that you found for them, and have apparently nted in their spaces, piqued my curiosity. That''s why I volunteered toe out, when it could have been any of the Royal Rank High Priests." He informed Karl with a sly wink.


    "You would be startled how much they have advanced since we met. Even Rae, who still looks very much like a Bloodbath Spider, has skills that I''ve never heard of a wild beast having.


    She learned the Golems by watching mages use them, and now they''re her most powerful attack ability, nearly tripling herbat power, or doubling it while she gains the ability to attack with Earth Magic from a distance and protect our casters." Karl agreed.


    "So, would you say that Rae is nearly on par with a Golem Mage at the Royal Rank?" Israel asked.


    "I would say that it''s not even close if she''s within range to summon her Golems.


    Her other skills lean more toward assassination, so it''s hard topare them, but her Golems might beparable to a whole mage on their own. The fact that they are imbued with her [Offensive Adaptation] and can use [Lacerate] might actually make them significantly more dangerous than the average Golem Mage."


    "That is a good point. Most golems are good for absorbing damage and crowd control, but it takes a secondary skill to make them truly dangerous. Something like Durable Constructs, as your teammate Dana has, or a shared attack skill.


    I suppose the most important thing that you can be doing tonight is actually focusing on trying to get the other beasts on your team to advance. Two Royal Rank threats is good, but five of them together is enough that there wouldn''t be many who would dare threaten you along this border." Karl noticed that he amended it with ''along this border'' as the Mountain Giants were even stronger, and willing to take on even the Overlords that the humans had sent to stop their advance. It was probably better not to mention that the Golems Rae summoned also benefitted from Durable Constructs. It hadn''t taken her long to learn that skill.


    Rae was much better than the average beast or Elite, but if he went further out, to thends west of the Mountain Giants or into the Divine Beast Nation to their north and northwest, he would find an incredibly diverse range of threats that made magical skills a basic survival necessity.


    In a way, being surrounded by enemies actually protected the Golden Dragon Nation, as it created a buffer between them and the other threats that popted this continent, but that was very little constion to the humans of the one survivingrgely nonmagical society.


    Their neighbours weren''t friendly, but at least they were mostly predictable. The mixed threats of the other nations were worse from a security standpoint.


    As they talked, a reporter came up with a clipboard and an impatient look. "If Your Highnesses could spare us a few moments, the officials from the government would like to do a group photo shoot with all of the students who have advanced recently, as well as the other dignitaries present." She announced.


    That meant that they both definitely needed to be there, as two of the highest-ranking Elites on the border couldn''t simply be absent from the photo shoots that were meant to show unity and strength, as well as interdepartmental cooperation.


    "Lead the way. We''re ready for the rest of the interviews." Inquisitor Israel agreed.


    "Oh, it''s not interviews now, just a series of photo shoots. You know, posing, smile for the camera and all that." She exined.


    The Inquisitor sighed and gave Karl a frown that made his face look much older than the mid-twenties that he likely was. "Let''s get this over with, then. Fortunately for me, nobody expects the Inquisition to smile pretty for the camera. We''ve got a reputation to uphold and all."

 Chapter 391 Photo Shoot

    Chapter 391 Photo Shoot


    "I suppose that I should call Lotus and Rae back if there is a big group meeting." Karl realized as they started to walk back toward the centre of camp.


    Inquisitor Israelughed. "I think everyone in the media and government would be happier if they forgot that High Priestess Lotus was a thing. But yes, call them back, I am looking forward to the ufortable looks they give her when they have to address her as High Priestess for formal introductions.


    I don''t even think they had her do a short, cameo length interview. She said they asked her to wait two hours, and it hasn''t been that long yet, but they''re wrapping up the press duties.


    They almost definitely lied to her about how long everything would take and then sent her away so that she didn''t notice she was being excluded until everything was done." Karlughed as he realized that the Inquisitor was right, so he called Rae and Lotus back to do the final meet and greet.


    Rae appeared in front of them, and Israel instinctively drew his sword before he saw theughing High Priestess on her back.


    "Hey guys, are we ahead of schedule?" Lotus asked.


    "They tried to trick you because the world wasn''t ready for High Priestess Lotus. But we''re about to do the group photo shoot, so I called you back. I wouldn''t want you to miss out on all the fun just because they weren''t going to do a full interview." Karl exined.


    Lotus frowned. "I have half a mind to show up on Rae''s back just to punish them for not interviewing me.


    I''m a High Priestess, I should get some respect.


    It was fun ying in the woods, though."


    Rae returned to her space as Lotus hopped down to apany Karl and the others to the meeting. The frustration and annoyance on the face of the reporter who hade to fetch them was obvious, but that was only making it more fun to escort Rae back with them.


    "Wait for it." Israel whispered as they reached the edge of the lights around the photo op mingle. They had set it up to appear to be some sort of military base, with ballistic walls that were made ofposite armour and then decorated on the inside to look like a garden pavilion. The cameras wouldn''t be looking up, they just wanted to make certain that the location wouldn''t be obvious to anyone who wasn''t here when they saw the footage.


    "Announcing Prince Karl, Lord Inquisitor Israel, and... High Priestess Lotus." The staffer dered as they entered so that the ones keeping track of the photos would know who had arrived.


    They hadn''t seen most of these Elites before, as they were almost all students, but everyone needed some shots of them meeting with the visiting dignitaries and politicians. Mostly so that the visitors weren''t used of ying favourites with the Elites, but it was also a valuable way towork and make new connections that would help youter in life.


    Karl knew the theory, but he had never actually tried to make those sorts of connections. He should likely start now, he realized as he saw how easily some of the students got along with the wealthy businessmen and policymakers. The problem was that they were all so smarmy and obviously lying through their teeth that he couldn''t blend as smoothly as he would like.


    He could see the change in their skin temperature when they flushed as they were embarrassed or nervous. He could track every little fidget and tell when they lied. His enhanced senses were making it nearly impossible for Karl to deal with people who weren''tpletely honest.


    So he naturally gravitated to the ones who were the most honest with themselves, and that was the few Elites among the businessmen, and the Clergy.


    "Prince Karl, I am Awakened Warrior Nathan Roth, head of the Roth Savings and Loan Corporation. We finance homes and businesses all over the nation." One of the men introduced himself when he noticed that Karl didn''t have that signature disapproving look for him.


    "You look like you don''t care for these functions." He added.


    Karlughed quietly. "I have thermal vision, and Hawk eyes. I can literally see them lying, and it''s disturbing." n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om


    The banker looked confused, so Karl continued.


    "See the way he clenches his thumb and forefinger? His skin temperature increases at the same time. He''s nervous, but only at those certain moments." Karl exined.


    "Crap, you really can see them lying. How long did it take you to learn that skill?" Karl smiled. "I have been around people who don''t see any good reason to lie, or they make it very obvious that they''re not going to tell you the truth. So, when I see people trying to fake it, their actions just look unnatural, and it''s creeping me out."


    "That skill would make me a fortune at the poker table, but what about that man in the gold tie? Does he have a tell?" Nathan asked.


    "A businesspetitor? Hmm, let''s see. He''s confident, I don''t actually see any strange reactions from him. Either he''s not lying or he''s very good at it." Karl replied.


    "That''s what I was worried about. He''s pitching a newmercial development to anyone who will listen, and he''s self financed it. If he was running a scam, it should have been obvious to you, as it''s his own money backing it.


    Did you have any ns for a namesake development? Royal Rank Elites tend to make obscene amounts of money after a while, so if you want to build amunity, or a high rise somewhere, it won''t be long before it''s in your budget, and we can help you with not only the financing, but the permits and legal blockades that often dy development." He suggested.


    "I will have to think about it. I haven''t actually spent much time in the cities to know what sort of development would be best suited both to the area, and to myself. I am a Beast Master, after all, so something more attuned to nature might be best. But if you happen to see more news about meter, my ns for my work might make the choice more obvious. I just don''t know where that''s going to lead me next."


    The banker nodded and adjusted his expensive suit coat. "You want to do something that is associated with your work, or the people you were working with, then. That makes sense, not everyone wants andmark building in the Capital in their name.


    I am told that you met Prince Corbin already, and he made that Sectpound for the Spelldes. They used to be in an ancient monastery near the border, but it was bing too dangerous for new students, so he relocated all his people."


    "That''s actually a great idea. Perhaps if there are more Beast Masters in the future, I can set them up with a ce that raises tamed beasts, so they don''t have to head out into the wilderness looking for rare monsters or make a random guess as to what their first beast''s skills will be." Karl suggested.


    "Do you really think that there will be more like your mark in the future?" Someone asked from behind Karl.


    "I do. Now that there is one, there are likely to be others. But there are also simr sses, like the Rangers, that bond a living partner. Most of them end up bonding with amon animal. But what if they could bond with a rtively docile monster instead? They would get the benefits of something like a Warbear instead of a hunting dog. It might make a noticeable difference to their progression if they were able to find monsters that weren''t wild and territorial when they first entered the Academy." He exined.


    "You are quite dedicated to assisting the growth of the Elites, are you nning to apply to the Bureau of Elite Development?" The man asked.


    "Colonel Valerie is a good friend of mine, and Commander Morgana, who might be Princess Morgana soon if I''m judging her power correctly, is an agent, and a member of my team. But as for officially joining the Bureau, that isn''t in my immediate ns."


    The visitors didn''t seem to know what to do with Karl''s independent stance, and the man just nodded vaguely as he failed to determine Karl''s current alliances.


    "I''m afraid I missed your name." Karl added when the man didn''t say anything else.


    "Oh, my apologies. I am Director Jones of the Military Finance Committee. We''re part of the Department of Defence, and in charge of ensuring that money is being properly allocated for the needs of those defending the nation." He exined.


    "It''s a valuable job, Director. From what I can tell, yourmittee has been doing an outstanding job. Nobody expects money to be endless, but none of the locations I have been stationed at were desperately short of supplies."

 Chapter 392 Impress The Money Men

    Chapter 392 Impress The Money Men


    Once the Director of Military Finance broke the ice and showed them the way to interact with a ranking Elite who wasn''t picking factions, more of the politicians began toe over with simr ideas. They didn''t try to sell him on joining them, or push their particr niche. Instead, they just discussed current events, which Karl was missing out on at the front lines. Or they praised the work that others were doing if it rted to the topic at hand, and made sure that Karl would at least recognize their faces if he saw them again.


    "You know, I''ve had a question for a while now. Why did they call these ranks Prince, King and Overlord? Isn''t that a bit too presumptuous? It''s not like I''m going to be King of the Golden Dragon Nation the next time I advance." Karlmented.


    One of the reporters spit out his drink as he began tough, while the government ministers managed a bit more decorum.


    "It''s actually borrowed from older times, and not created for the Elites. You see, in the magical kingdoms, as well as most of the beast nations, a King Rank Beast or Mage can hold a territory. Normally, that''s only a few square kilometres, but it is their undisputed territory. n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om


    A Prince is not quite there, but they lord it over the other beasts in their territory if it doesn''t have a stronger leader.


    But the Overlords are the ones with the power to force Kings to work together. It''s been tranted through a fewnguages, so it might not be perfect, but it works well enough for the time being.


    There is a whole progression for the Divine Beasts, but we don''t have most of them on this continent. There isn''t enough food here to support them, they need the continents with more magic, so we rarely see anything above Overlord.


    But if you are more widely travelled, you will find territories controlled by or even popted by stronger beasts.


    You won''t see many humans there, we''re just not a powerful enough species to survive that, but Overlord is only halfway through the rankings in this world." Director Jones exined.


    "I recall that the Archbishop was above the Overlords, at the Totem Rank." Karl replied.


    An aging mage at the Ascended Rank, who Karl recognized as one of the producers for the news station, nodded politely as he approached.


    "Yes, he''s a Totem Rank Cleric. A rank above the Overlords. The Mountain Giants also have Totem Rank leaders, while the Divine Beast Nation goes one rank further and has a Mythical Rank ck Dragon leading them.


    That''s why they rarely attack us. It might be a servant of the God of Death, but the ck Dragons understand that you need to keep a healthy poption if you want the deaths to continue at a steady rate into the future."


    That was both depressing and remarkably pragmatic. Karl hadn''t realized that the ck Dragons were into things like sustainable poptions.


    Of course, they were also known to decimate entire regions, indiscriminately killing one in ten and then moving on. So, perhaps he had just misunderstood their nature.


    It didn''t take the others long to get back to their favourite topic of the day, though.


    "So, is there any sign of when the rest of your beasts will advance?" One of the businessmen asked.


    "I would say that a second one should be at Royal Rank within the week, but the other two aren''t giving any clear signs." Karl exined, for about the tenth time that night.


    The man smiled. "This ss of yours is like dropping a nuke inbat. You''re one Elite, but when you show up, it will be five Royal Rank threats at once.


    The Giants can prepare for a single strong Elite, the same way that we prepare for a Royal Rank Giant. But when the beastse out, it''s just an overwhelming change in the state of the battle."


    Karl nodded. "There are advantages to sending a particrly strong Royal Rank leader with a team of Commanders to deal with a threat. We''re not exactly overloaded with strong Elites, so it''s better not to take risks when we don''t have to."


    Director Jones looked excited, as this was getting back to his area of expertise, though he was only actually in charge of supplies, not troop deployments.


    "You have ideas on how best to send out the teams?" He asked.


    "It''s just a thought that I had about the ability to deal with threats. You see, if you send a leader at the high end of a Rank along with a team one rank below them, you have the best chance of dealing with a surprise threat above the estimated level.


    So, if you send a strong Ascended leader with an Awakened team, they''re safer overall without changing theposition. Then, when they reach Ascended, send them with a strong Commander until they''re further up the Rank and take over a team of a rank below them, or they have formed a solid team of their own.


    Teams that know each other are still the best, but for random groups, leaders at the top, and not the bottom, of their Rank makes the most sense. If we keep doing it that way, they will all have experience fighting at their own rank with a stronger leader, so when they take up a team leadership position, they will already be trained for the threats that they are there to protect the team against." Karl detailed his thought, while the few Elites and Mages among them looked impressed.


    The Producer tapped his chin as he thought. "You know, that''s how most stable groups are already. Either the leader is at the peak of their Rank, or they''ve got skills that make them surprisingly effective inbat, like the Spelldes, Magical Knights, or Elites with rare sses like your Beast Master."


    Karl nodded. His team was mostly made of people who would be well suited to leadership positions, but they were better together. They had been working together for quite a while now, or like Morgana, they just fit so naturally into their role that there was no friction or ovep in what their skills should be doing.


    With her new skills, Karl couldn''t think of an Ascended team that wouldn''t happily steal his Dana away to lead them. Once she had mastered a movement skill like the other Knights were using, she would be incredibly deadly inbat, supporting her Golems.


    There was a chance that she already knew one. The skills she had gotten were [Disruption de] and [Windwalker Combat Style], which was a bit ambiguous. It might include movement skills as well asbat skills, given the name. They hadn''t needed to actually test the new skills yet, and even with the book, it might take a few days to get used to thinking differently, so you could fight in closebat as a mage.


    The others had all gotten skills that were more simr to their existing abilities. Except maybe Ophelia. Her new transformation was a Dire Bear, which was basically an overgrown Warbear. Karl was looking forward to seeing how that thing looked inbat while enraged. In his mind, it would be like the cartoon superhero Smash, a nerdy gamer kid who got huge and blue when he was angry. Only she would be massive and furry when she raged.

 Chapter 393 Doug And Hawk Showdown

    Chapter 393 Doug And Hawk Showdown


    The gathering broke up after another hour of camera people running around to take shots of everyone mingling.


    Karl''s reluctance to mingle actually made their life easy, as he was with a group in the background of many shots, and he just had to move between them for individual photos. They didn''t need a photo with everyone, just enough that they could fill multiple articles with whatever fit.


    In contrast, the hyperactive ones like Lotus were harder to properly photograph because they kept disappearing, or appearing with the same people over and over, so you could never get a shot with the people you wanted.


    They talked to a hundred people in the evening, but every time the camera caught them, they were with the same ones. That would just cause scandals if they posted too many.


    The bored poption wouldn''t see a hyper nature priestess talking to all the fun people, they would see a married politician with a much younger woman in multiple photos, as if they were a couple.


    Lotus wasn''t helping that situation, as she had no qualms about hanging off people, and there were multiple pictures with her in either Bob or Tank''s arms, gaining elevation so she could see what was going on.


    Karl almost felt sorry for the reporters who had to do damage control so they didn''t cause rumours that would get them yelled at by ranking Elites or their bosses. n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om


    "Prince Karl, could we get onest photo?" One of the reporters asked as Karl left with his group.


    "Of course."


    They all turned as a group, and Karl put an arm over Dana''s shoulder as she leaned against him.


    Doug had done the same with Morgana, who was currently tipsy enough that she wasn''t yelling at him, while the others arrayed themselves around the couples.


    "Thank you all. Have a splendid evening. Will you be at the general mess hall in the morning?" The reporter asked.


    "Perhaps. We may be busy again tomorrow with the aftermath of today''s advancements." Karl exined.


    The reporters left them, and Karl''s expanded group, including the Mackenzie brothers and Morgana, returned to the Fort for the evening. Now that they had hammocks there, the trio hadn''t returned to the teachers'' dorms for an evening since, and Karl didn''t me them. They were in the same dorm tent as Tank, and Karl could hear him snoring from the mess hall if the big berserker had a morning off.


    Anyone with enhanced hearing had to be suffering or using earplugs to sleep in camp.


    They had the next day off, and Karl was looking forward to sleeping in, but first thing in the morning, the sound of loud celebrations woke him up from a deep sleep.


    "What is going on out there." He muttered to himself as he equipped his suit and rolled out of his hammock.


    Oddly, there was nobody in the fort, they were all outside, gathered in a circle on the ground while Hawk and Doug stared each other down.


    There were vines in between them, being blocked by a wall of fire, and both of them were surging with power as theypeted.


    Why they felt the need for a power game before six in the morning was a mystery, but they were dedicated to it, and Hawk was so focused on his work that Karl wasn''t even picking up any stray thoughts from him.


    Karl sat down in the entryway and watched the challenge while the other beasts slept. Both Hawk and Doug were right at the boundary to the Royal Rank advancement, and their contest seemed to be to keep up with each other.


    The vines erged and contracted, while the mes shifted in colour, adapting to each other and maintaining the stalemate. mes would burst from a new location, headed for Doug, only to be intercepted by a new vine, or a new vine would be intercepted by a ball of fire, increasing the density of the conflict every time one of them had a slight advancement.


    It looked like any progress that they were making were bncing each other out, at least for the first few minutes.


    Then Hawk''s body began to erge, and his feathers started to turn transparent with mes. The wall of fire was pushing back the Thorned Vines now, and Doug''s forehead was rolling with sweat as he worked to increase his peak power output.


    Then Hawk''s me body went from a red-orange to a deep vermilion, and his power surged as his body expanded from condor sized to nearly five metres in wingspan as his wings spread in a majestic sweep of fire.


    Doug''s power was growing as well, and a soft green light surrounded his vines, which had been burning away. Now, they were slowly repairing themselves, but not fast enough, and in only a few seconds, Hawk had ovee him and the mes hit the barrier Dana had ced over the Cleric.


    The two of them grinned at each other, pleased with their sess, and Karl wondered if Doug had managed to make it to Royal Rank. Hawk clearly had made the advancement, as his feathers had changed. It was a particr characteristic of most monstrous Hawk species, in that they were visually identifiable not by size but by coloration. It had been true of him as a Windspeed Hawk, and now as a Dragonhawk. But the new feathers were fantastic. They were literally made of solid fire, as far as Karl could tell. They still looked like feathers, but the opaque portion was paper thin, and the rest of the feather was rich vermilion red mes.


    Lotus climbed on Doug, sitting on his crossed legs with her nose centimetres from his chin, as if a shorter distance between them would help her understand better.


    "Did you learn a new skill? I got a new skill when I made High Priestess, do we get another at Royal?" She demanded.


    Doug poked her and Lotus glowed with green light before looking confused. "What did it do?"


    "It''s a regeneration spell. It applies to me and my living targets. That naturally includes my summoned vines, and that''s what you saw.


    But more importantly, you didn''t mention that you got a spell at Commander Rank. What did you get?"


    Lotus ignored his question and went over to carefully attempt to pet Hawk. She didn''t know if he was actually on fire or just looked like he was, and there was one easy way to find out.


    "Not going to answer?" Doug asked.


    "Later. There is a Royal Rank feathered friend here, and I have to know." She replied.


    She stretched out her hand and Dougughed. The mes dimmed under her hand as Hawk adjusted them to not scorch the priestess, and Lotus beamed in pride, then smacked out the smouldering sections of her sleeve before repairing them.


    "So, they can burn, but they can also not burn. That is fascinating. You are a beautiful Hawk." She cooed while the bird straightened in pride and spread his wings to show off his erged size and majesty.


    [The Lotus appreciates me.] [Oh, you think because I''m not interrupting them that I''m not proud of you? I will preen your feathers all you wantter, let them have their fun.] Karl replied with a softugh.


    Their little experiment this morning had not gone unnoticed, and Karl saw that there were dozens of teachers hanging out in the background, along with a few news cameras and Director Jones of the Military Finance Committee.


    It was still nearly dark out, the sun wasn''t even over the horizon yet, so most of the camp was still asleep, but the energy had caught the attention of someone in charge, and they had sent over cameras.


    [Hawk, make a loop over the camp. The cameras are running, and this is your chance to really show off your majestic feathers for the world.] Karl suggested.


    Hawk gave Lotus a friendly headbutt, and then took to the sky.


    The glowing mes of his feathers lit up the sky as Hawk used [ming Body] to enhance his appearance and make himself easier to see.


    With a five-metre wingspan, Karl estimated that Hawk had to weigh over fifteen kilograms now, truly prodigious for an evolved Windspeed Hawk, and the trail of fire that he left behind him as he swooped through the morning twilight made beautiful patterns for the cameras to follow.


    Doug smiled at Lotus. "I see now. You didn''t want to step on Hawk''s moment. We can discuss your new spellter, don''t think I will forget."


    "You never forget about things. Even when you should forget about the little things." Lotus pouted.


    Doug and Tessa bothughed, knowing she was referring to something from her training years.


    "Hawk is glorious, though. Not even the Rocs will dare to challenge us from the sky now." Doug agreed.

 Chapter 394 Bags and Skills

    Chapter 394 Bags and Skills


    Karl focused on his mental spaces, which seemed to have settled a little now that Hawk had advanced. They were all at the same Royal Rank standard, and he could feel the possibility of adding another, but as he focused on all of the things that made up his mindscape, he found something new.


    There was a simple white cloth bag there.


    Karl stared at it for a moment, wondering where it hade from. He didn''t recall getting a bound storage bag.


    "Hey, does anyone else have a bag in their bound items? Like a piece of gear, but just a white cloth bag?" Karl asked. n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om


    There was a moment of silence as everyone checked, and then Dana''s surprised gasp. "Where did thate from?" "That''s why I asked you, I don''t remember getting a bound bag. Was it from the trial?"


    Morgana sighed and shook her head. "Was nobody else paying attention? There were three chests and a bag for everyone. We opened the chests, then got distracted by the big shiny box, and the bags vanished into our bonded items. I''ve already moved my backpack and spare essentials into it, the bag holds much more than it looks like it should."


    Karl went back to his hammock and grabbed his backpack, then focused on tossing it into the bag he was bonded to. The whole pack vanished, despite being three times the size of the white bag when it was outside his mind, and Karl could see from the top that he still had nearly half the space left.


    "That bag is brilliant." He called to the crowd on the ground as he realized that no longer would they have to lug around backpacks when on patrol, or risk the packs getting damaged during a fight, or trampled as they were forced to move after taking them off for a battle.


    Plus, Karl could now store his own personal items, and not just things that were useful to one of the beasts. He would be able to actually carry useful everyday items without worrying about the weight or pack space.


    Well, with half his bag already taken by the essentials in the backpack, he would still have to worry about space, but not to the same extent.


    The outsiders were still distracted by Hawk as Karl slid down thedder to rejoin the others in congratting Doug on his advancement.


    Hawk came back as the sun climbed higher in the sky, and Karl realized that they had caused too much of a spectacle to have a quiet breakfast alone in the fort. They were going to have to join the guests for breakfast, but they could y the guessing game, and see how long it took for someone to realize that Doug''s aura had changed, and he was now a Royal Rank Priest of the Green Dragon, the Nature God.


    The camp was busy by the time that they came back, as everyone had realized that Hawk had advanced, and it was the talk of the Academy that morning. He was their eyes in the sky, and everyone knew that Karl was rying scouting information from him to the rest of the students. So, the fact that he was now Royal Rank, and most likely even more capable than he had been at detecting enemy movements in advance, was bound to get the students excited.


    The soldiers were just happy to have anything Royal Rank along the line. They didn''t care if it was an Elite, a foreign mage, or a friendly monster. It just had to be on their team.


    Most of the visitors were already packed up, with their bags sitting beside them, and the cargo crews were loading the equipment into buses for the ride back to the closest safe helipad. Even with the extra confidence in the safety of the area, they still weren''t going to risk public figures flying this close to the border conflicts when they could safely send them by bus for thest hour of their journey.


    The dining hall was packed with Elites about to go on shift, and everyone was too engrossed in stories of yesterday to be paying any attention to other groups outside their table, so Karl was reasonably certain he would have to wait for someone to notice.


    And wait, they did. By the time that the meal was over, nobody had noticed, and then the group was off to one of the training tents with Morgana while Bob went off to teach a ss and Doug went to help with the healing corps. There were always ongoing injuries, so all of the clerics who had downtime went to help out, and Doug had just gotten a new regeneration ability that seemed like it would be quite powerful.


    Lotus followed behind him, ready to take notes, while Karl prepared to take his geography lessons, and Dana was dragged away by the Magical Knights to practice their new skills.


    "You don''t need to practice your new skills, do you?" Morgana asked as she brought out the textbooks.


    "I''m good enough with the armour already, and the other skill is once per beast. I am not going to use it on them until they hit an absolute dead end. If they get to a bottleneck, and they simply can''t get past it, even after the others have, then I will use the skill to let them evolve and advance, to hopefully move them far enough forward that they can rejoin the main group." Karl exined.


    Morgana nodded. "Good, then you can continue lessons on schedule. Now, we just need to actually get through a lesson once the rest of the students arrive with questions for you." "It''s not easy being famous. Just wait, you''re about to find out. I can feel that you''re at the bottleneck already, so you''re almost certainly going to make Royal Rank now that you have new skills."


    Morgana looked curious. "What do skills have to do with it?"


    "It''s a theory that the beasts and I devised. One of the things that all Royal Rank creatures have inmon is that they have a skill that is notmon to their race. The same seems true of the Elites I have met at Royal Rank or higher. They all have a skill that is not part of their basic kit. So, now that you''ve gained some new skills from the Trial, it should be much easier for you to make the transition through the bottleneck."


    The students came in as they were talking, and remained silent so they didn''t interrupt this vitally important discussion. Everyone wanted to know what it took to make the Royal Rank, and Karl had just dropped the equivalent of a nuclear bomb on their understanding of Rank Advancement. Most of the mages in the ss had assumed that it was just a matter of potential. That most of the Elites got stuck at Commander Rank because that was as good as they were. But what if it was a matter ofcking a skill that waspatible with their new Rank? If what they needed to advance was a Skill that could move to the Royal Rank, then the whole strategy behind their training would have to change. Or perhaps not for all of them. One of them was a Lightning Element Mage, and he now had [Chain Lightning], thanks to Karl donating it to the Inscriptionists.

 Chapter 395 Danas Training Day

    Chapter 395 Dana''s Training Day


    While Karl was in history ss, Dana was working hard to master the new skills that she had learned.


    [Disruption de] was a simple one, as it operated the same way that she had seen Karl extend his barriers over his sword, except that it didn''t need a de to begin with. All she had to do was focus on the shape of the weapon that she wanted, and the spell would create one out of shimmering purple and silver energy.


    It was as beautiful as it was deadly, and it seemed to just cause anything that it hit to fall into separate pieces with no real resistance.


    Only when it hit a magical barrier did it provide resistance, acting as a solid de in her hand.


    But the movements of the [Windwalker Combat Style] were a much different story. She knew exactly how they were supposed to be performed, but her body had never moved that way before. She hadn''t taken martial arts, done any sort of strength training, or even self-defence courses. The closest she hade to being in a fistfight was ying with the neighbourhood kids when she was little.


    She had done dance sses, far too many of them, since she had entered the Academy, but at the moment she was wishing that they had included gymnastics in those courses.


    The Combat style wasn''t just a sword fighting style, there were movement skills and even kicks involved, and after half an hour, her whole body ached in muscles she didn''t know that she had.


    "Perhaps I can get Thor to cast [Refreshing Lightning] on me?" She suggested as she slumped down to take a breather with the Magical Knights.


    "Save that for when you are inbat. You need to train all your muscles to fight the way you want without external assistance, so that if your group changes, or you have to fight separately, you are not reliant upon a skill that isn''t avable." The lone female among the Knights, whose name she hade to know was Ruth, informed her.


    "How long did you train to learn to fight like that?" Dana asked, hoping that the answer wouldn''t be too long.


    Ruth smiled, and Dana heard the other Knightsugh under their helmets.


    "The Magical Knights are chosen from among the students who are picked for advanced training from early childhood in the orphanages. The ones who like to train, to fight, or who show a natural aptitude for magic without the Divine Injection awakening them.


    We all came from the Red Dragon Orphanages, and we''ve all been training to be soldiers since before we started school.


    It was only a twist of fate that we all ended up as mages, and then proved ourselves worthy to join the Magical Knights." She exined.


    "Did you all grow up together, then?" Dana asked. Ruth shook her head. "No, we all came from different locations. Those two are war orphans from the south, near the coast. That one lost his parents in a workce ident, while this idiot and I were both turned in by our parents when they decided they couldn''t afford us."


    Dana nodded. She had often seen it as a possibility that her own family would abandon her, if they one day decided that it wouldn''t hurt their public image too badly. It was hard enough for her father to hold down a job as it was, he didn''t need a worse reputation that might put his ess to charity in danger.


    "Why don''t you use your names?" She asked hesitantly.


    "It''s a tradition of the Magical Knights. We are supposed to be anonymous, as we often enforce penalties and hunt criminals. Giving out our names or routinely showing our faces defeats the purpose. But you''re working with us for a while, and it would just be too awkward not to have one person among us that you could properly talk to, so I chose to give up that anonymity."


    Dana nodded. "That won''te back to harm you, will it?"


    The Knightsughed. "Only if you end up on the wanted criminals list. You already know who I am, so I won''t be among the ones to hunt you. The Church would never allow the possibility that I might go easy on you or let you escape justice."


    "Oh, that makes a lot of sense. I thought that you were more elite soldier sorts, I didn''t realize that you didw enforcement as well. It''s not really something that gets described in detail for most of us. We hear the horror stories of someonemitting a crime so bad that the Inquisition has toe and take them away, but I had only seen the Inquisitors a few times in my life, and the Clerics at our local church didn''t really go into details." Dana exined.


    "That''s understandable. Nobody wants to think too hard about how the Inquisition or Church Law Enforcement works. I would guess that a lot of they priests who do the day-to-day work of the church don''t even know the details. It''s not part of the curriculum, as it doesn''t really matter what division of Inquisitorses for the criminals, or what their specialty is. Most of the time, when we show up, we just sh our identification and no more questions are asked.


    It''s only the Elites who need to know our skills when they''re going to be fighting alongside us as allies." Ruth exined.


    The other knights got to their feet, and Ruth helped Dana up before giving her a warning.


    "Stretch after you rest. Your muscles aren''t used to proper training yet, and if you let them stiffen and cramp, you''re likely to injure yourself and undo weeks or months of muscle memory training."


    Dana didn''t have weeks or months worth of training to undo, but she got the point. If you injured yourself during training, or tried to learn new skills while you had cramps, you would be learning it wrong, and your muscles would remember how to do it as if you always had a cramp or an injury.


    "The next exercise is one that I think you will like. As a practice of our movement skills, we will be ying tag. Only, if you touch the ground, you''re out. I will go first, you all have a three-second head start." Ruth announced. n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om


    Dana activated the [Wind Walk] core skill of her newbat style to move up and away from the Magical Knight.


    Out of mercy, Ruth didn''te after her first, and Dana managed to get a bit of distance beyond the three seconds. But she quickly realized that the dy was a trap. She didn''t have all the practice that they did in maintaining the skill, and after fifteen seconds, she began to stumble and nearly fell out of the sky as Ruth drove one of herpanions to the ground, eliminating him by ground contact as he tried to dodge.


    Then one of the others moved so she was between him and Ruth, and Dana focused on her movement to get out of the way again as the Knight charged in her direction.


    She made it three steps, just enough to get out of the way, but then lost her focus and went tumbling to the ground. Her shield red as she hit the grass and the wind was knocked from her lungs.


    Dana knew she wouldn''t have any injuries, as the barrier would protect her, but being winded by the rapid stop was never fun. It was also far from the first orst time that day when she would experience it.

 Chapter 396 You Can Try

    Chapter 396 You Can Try


    In a nest atop the tallest tree in his space, Hawk was working frantically to improve his skills. He was almost stronger than Rae, he could feel it. He just needed to push himself a bit harder to get his body to ept more mana, and he would be there.


    Rae watched with smug amusement as the Dragonhawk pushed himself to the limits, trying to ovee the racial disparity between the two of them.


    At Royal Rank, herbat power had skyrocketed, while his primary ability [ming Body] had already been at Royal Rank, and it was just his body that underwent a minor transformation toward bing a Vermilion Bird. He was almost there, or perhaps he was a very juvenile Vermilion Bird, but Rae''s racial memory said that they should be five times the size of his current five-metre wingspan.


    Until he started packing on the kilograms, there was no way that his body was going to support a power level higher than what she could show. Even her stones were on par with his mes.


    Thor thought it was all quite amusing as he floated in his pond, napping the afternoon away as he soaked up Holy Power, but Remi was doing her best to try to catch up to her senior siblings.


    They had the head start, and she was just a small snake. Well, not so small anymore at Commander Rank, but not nearly as big as Thor or sister Rae.


    Remi sung happily to herself as she worked. She had been generously donated a whole new book of spells from the libraryst night, and she was eager to learn what all these new magics were.


    Of course, the Library didn''t know yet that they had loaned any books to Remi, but she was confident that they would understand, since she didn''t have hands to hold a pen and sign them out.


    [Introduction to Shamanistic Magic] sat open in front of her, turned to the first page.


    [Natural Phenomenon are the domain of the shaman, from blinding rain and crashing lightning, to the howling winds of a snowstorm. From the fieryva of a volcanic eruption to the crushing waves of the ocean depths, all are within the domain of a Shaman.]


    That sounded pretty awesome. She only had basic water control, which couldn''t really do much. But being able to control huge waves sounded fun.


    Big brother Hawk would freak out and it would be hrious.


    But it was the next paragraph that really caught her attention.


    [Shamans are far more than a force of destruction. While the might of a lightning bolt can burn an enemy to cinders, a smaller jolt can restart a stopped heart. Under massive pressure, the normally gentle water can cut through solid steel, but water can also be a revitalizing force, refreshing the body and carrying healing magic through the veins.


    The druids and nature clerics might be the masters of the living beings, but the Shaman is the master of the living world, and their healing skills should never be underestimated.]


    Brother Thor wanted to be a healer, healing was a noble profession. But Remi thought that he was more suited to protecting and regenerating. That was the way of the Cerro. You could hurt them, but the wounds just closed. But she might be able to do more than just her simple healing ssh.


    With her nose, Remi flipped the pages, looking for the healing spells.


    There was a whole chapter in this book dedicated to Shaman Healing, and she wanted to see what it said.


    However, she only made it halfway through, past the ice and lightning and fire attacks, when she found something even cooler than a healing spell.


    [Chapter 7: Totems]


    [Defensive Totem]


    [Mana Totem]


    [Healing Totem] n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om


    There was a healing totem? Why did nobody ever tell her that was a thing?


    But what was a mana totem? You used mana to make totems, but what did it do?


    Remi flipped the page with her snout and stared at the diagram in front of her. [Healing Totem] Provides a constant stream of healing to all targets in range.


    That sounded a lot like what Sister Lotus could do, and that spell was one of her favourites, so it had to be good. Remi looked at what the totem needed, and began to build one out of the bits and pieces that were in her space.


    When she sent out totems, she didn''t send the real ones, just a projection of the ones that she had made in here. So, they were never really smashed, and they could just be summoned over and over.


    The book talked about making them and transferring them to your mental space, but that was formon humans. She was a Spirit Snake, and she had a space of her very own to work in.


    This sure was easier when she had a textbook. Thest book had been all ancient mumbo jumbo, but this one was just gibberish letters for her to ignore, and then very detailed diagrams with step-by-step instructions.


    Remi couldn''t read themonnguage very well. She was much better with the ancient Runic Language that was used for spells, so she had no idea that theplex words were actually more instructions.


    Step by step, she made her new totem while Rae watched Hawk struggle to catch up to her.


    The bloodbath spider wasn''t actually cking, she was working on improving her silk as she sat in her web. It was better already now that she was at Royal Rank, but the new advancement had opened up new possibilities. Like Fire Retardant silk.


    So, none of them noticed that Remi was actually the one making real progress that day, or that she nearly had a healing totem functional by the time that Karl returned to the fort that night.


    By the next morning, she was reasonably certain that she had a working prototype.


    Her happy singing woke Thor, who actually lifted his head out of his pond so that he could see into her space more easily.


    [What are you making, little snake?] He asked curiously.


    [I made a healing totem, from the information in this book. It''s pretty cool, or it will be if it works like I think it will. ording to the book, it''s supposed to send out pulses of healing energy every second. So, your magic protects them and makes them regenerate, and then the waves of healing will patch up the parts that are left over.] Remi dered proudly.


    [Oh, you thought it all out. So, you will do the extra healing while I do the extra protecting?] Thor asked, intrigued by her logic.


    [Well, you are much bigger, I''m just a small snake.] Remi replied confidently.


    [But when you reach Royal Rank, you evolve, right?] Thor asked.


    [Yeah, but I don''t know what it will be yet. Probably a Shaman, maybe? Do snake shamans look different? Or will I be an actual Naga Shaman next? I don''t feel like I''m growing arms, but perhaps.]


    Thor shrugged, sshing water about.


    [I don''t know how snakes work. I''m not even certain I know how birds work anymore. I thought that they stayed the same colour, but Hawk doesn''t.


    But I think that if you want to be a Naga and have arms to hold your own totems, you could be one.


    Or you could stay a small and cute snake and just put the totems on the ground. They work well on the ground, and silly monsters like to chase them.]

 Chapter 397 Opinions

    Chapter 397 Opinions


    The beasts had a lot to think about now that two of them were at the Royal Rank. Remi and Thor still had to advance, but their major concern was that there would be another space opening soon.


    A new space meant a new brother or sister, and none of them knew what sort of sibling they would like to have.


    [We should get another one for the front with Thor. Thor and Ophelia aren''t enough to block the whole front.] Remi suggested.


    Rae thought about that. If there was another, she could send her Golems off on adventures more often.


    [Yes, another one at the front would be good. Then we would have a person on each side of Thor.] She agreed.


    [I think we need another scout so I don''t have to do it every time. I could be an extra mage and throw fireballs at things all day.] Hawk thought.


    [But Ophelia can be a bear now, does that mean she gets her own spot?] Thor asked.


    None of them knew the answer to that.


    [I think Ophelia is like Dana, you can''t pull her into the space because she''s already an Elite.] Karl suggested.


    [Oh, that makes sense. A human who wasn''t an Elite would be useless, though. So, what we need is a front fighter to apany Thor and Ophelia, who can also fly and scout when they need to.] Rae announced.


    Karlughed. [Well, I will keep that in mind, but usually flying things don''t want to fight up close. That''s why they fly.]


    [Why are they making it hard for us?] Remiined.


    [If we could find a way for Rae to grow wings...] Thor began.


    [Rae is pretty big to be learning to fly. But Remi is still waiting to evolve, right? Maybe she can learn to fly.] Hawk offered. n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om


    Remi thought about that. Maybe she could develop wings. Were there winged snakes? She hadn''t seen them in her borrowed books, but there might be.


    Or, perhaps she could work on a wind magic spell that would let her fly like Dana Mage and the Knights did.


    That still seemed like a lot of work when she could just catch a ride on someone to get where she wanted to be. Plus, if she wasn''t touching the ground, how was she supposed to know where things were?


    [Remi has a point. She relies too much on her tongue and ground vibrations, she would be a lousy flying scout. We will have to find Karl a better new member.]


    While the beasts argued about who their new sibling should be, Karl rxed along the line for his shift. He had decided that not calling them all out was the best course of action so that he didn''t scare the Hill Giants away or make them think that there was an increased military force here.


    They already knew about him, but it was better not to let them believe there were more Royal Rankbatants here.


    Karl listened to them argue about the next team member all shift, but as they were returning to camp for dinner, Karl''s group was intercepted by a military messenger with documents for them.


    "Prince Karl, your extended group is needed for an emergency. Please bring them all to the bus, and we will go straight to thending pad." The messenger informed them.


    "All of us, including the Knights?" Karl asked.


    "Yes, sir. All of you, including the High Priest, Agent Morgana, Commander Mackenzie and the Knights."


    They all headed for the line, but the messenger stopped them. "You should get your packs and other personal belongings, this could take more than a day. I am not privy to the details, but you should bring your belongings."


    Karl smiled. "We all received a reward that allows us to store our belongings. We should be ready to go, unless someone left something behind?" Everyone shook their heads, and they continued to the bus parking area.


    The driver started moving as soon as they were loaded, racing down the battered dirt road as fast as he safely could in therge vehicle.


    If they had a smaller vehicle that could carry a dozen passengers, it would have been better, but the smaller off-road vehicles were only suited to a maximum of five or six Elites.


    The driver didn''t say anything, and Karl didn''t expect him to know anything, except that it was urgent that this group was brought back to the helicopters.


    What was normally an hour-long drive took them under thirty minutes at his breakneck pace, with the passengers bouncing around in their seats, but their ride was waiting for them, and there were other Elite teams already in the helicopter that Karl was being waved into.


    "Good, they didn''t have to search too long for you. Sorry about the short notice and what will be a long night. There is a monster outbreak that we need an additional Prince to deal with." The crewman weed them as he shut the door behind Karl''s team.


    "What happened, give me the abridged version if necessary." He insisted.


    "We noticed an anomaly within the southeastern region, near the Magma Dragon''s territory, one hour and forty minutes ago.


    It was then determined that the threat level of the monsters leaving the anomaly included high Commander Rank monsters of the Ogre varieties.


    The usual response teams for the southeastern region are currently deployed to the Mountain Giant border, which put you at the top of the response list."


    Karl nodded. "I understand. Howrge of an area has the threat spread to?"


    "Less than one square Kilometre, but the monster density suggests that the Ogres are preparing to defend the area."


    Karl sighed. Attacking a fortified position with an unknown enemy force was going to be a headache, but if there was an anomaly at the core of it, they might actually get some benefit out of this situation.


    "How long is the flight?" Doug asked.


    "One hour fifteen."


    "Alright, wake me up when we''re five minutes out. We just came off a shift on the line, and it would be better if we got a bit of sleep before fighting all night." He insisted.


    "Of course, High Priest."


    Karl closed his eyes to get some rest while they made their way to the target, headed straight south so they didn''t approach the Frost Giant border too closely before they reached their destination.


    It had been mostly quiet along that front, but there was no need to stir them up with powerful auras from a group of Elites in transit.


    A change in the pitch of the helicopter''s noise brought Karl out of his meditative trance, and he saw the groups who were there before his team preparing to depart.


    "Everyone is going down close together. It''s a few minutes early, but you can wake your team." The crewman announced.


    There was no need, they were already all awake. "There are no teams in the area at this point. You are the first. Group One will be on the North Side, Group Two is on the West." Karl nodded, and epted a map of the area from him.


    The area was t and lightly forested, without any nearbyndmarks. It was safe to say that they would probably not be sneaking up on the Ogre camp, even if they were dropped five or ten kilometres out.

 Chapter 398 Ogre Anomaly

    Chapter 398 Ogre Anomaly


    They had circled to approach from the west, which would put Karl''s team down first.


    "Team Two, get ready to deploy. How far out do you want to be?" The pilot shouted over the inte.


    Karl looked at his team, and Doug gestured downward then closed his fist.


    "Drop us right on top of them, as close as you can get." Karl informed the pilot.


    That sounded like crazy talk to the other team, but for Karl''s group, it wouldn''t be so bad.


    He would summon the beasts right intobat, while the Magical Knights could fly. The rest of them would form up on the edge of the Ogre defences, allowing them no time to shift their formations, and the fight would be on.


    The helicopter dropped fast a hundred metres from the Ogres, as close as the pilot felt wasn''t suicidal on his end, and Karl charged out at the head of his team, sending Hawk into the sky while Rae and Thor fell into position with the group. Remi found herself momentarily homeless, as she usually stood next to Dana, who was now with the Magical Knights, but she soon found a spot between Morgana and Doug to cast from.


    Karl fired three arrows with [Blizzard] on them from left to right across the visible monsters, blinding and damaging the weaker Ogres as his team advanced, while Hawk began his bombardment from above.


    Ophelia shifted into her new [Dire Bear] Form, and Karl realized that he had greatly underestimated howrge she was going to be.


    Ophelia in Werebear form and buffed was three metres tall and must have weighed close to three hundred kilos.


    Ophelia in Dire Bear Form was over four metres tall while standing on all four feet. There was noparison, the new form was massive, though she might not appreciate it if someone mentioned she was roughly the size of a delivery truck.


    Ophelia and Thor alone were enough to hold the front line, it was hardly necessary to send Bob forward, much less the Magical Knights, who had stepped up into the sky with Dana and tore into the Ogres with their spells.


    Attacking from so close gave them all the advantages, and Dana''s Golems appeared deep within the enemy ranks, sowing chaos as they fought back to back.


    Then Rae lobbed a boulder in the air and [Shadow Stepped] to it so she could do the same with her golems before hurling the boulder at the Ogres.


    Then she retreated to her defensive position and began firing stone bullets at the enemy, keeping them from nking the group.


    The Ogres were mostly Ascended, and with the Royal Rank [Chain Lightning] spreading from Karl''s arrows, they were falling like crops being harvested.


    Even the [Blizzard] wasn''t going to take long to kill them, and Karl was prepared to fire more of the enhanced arrows into the deeper ranks near the anomaly.


    The Ogres were preparing to charge at the invaders, but what Karl was waiting for was word from Hawk or Rae''s Golems that they had found the Royal Rank Ogre variant that the army suspected was here.


    Cutting down the weak ones was a simple task when they had gathered like this, but if they couldn''t find the leader fast enough, it might escape.


    A Royal Rank Ogre loose in the wilderness was a catastrophe waiting to happen. n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om


    [Hawk, make sure that none of them run away. We don''t want them causing problems somewhere else.]


    From his vantage point, Hawk could see the whole formation, but from what he was rying to Karl, it seemed that the Ogres were gathering Commanders for a counterattack.


    [There are iing two headed Ogres.] Hawk warned.


    Those should be the Ogre Mages. Ettin, Karl thought they were called. They couldn''t use too much magic, but their fireballs would be much more effective than anything that the other Ogres had managed to aplish so far.


    [The other team will be down soon.]


    Ophelia seemed to greatly enjoy her new form, and her [Toxic ws] left the Ogres twitching and shivering with the slightest scratch, as ck poison spread from the wound.


    Commander Rank lethal poisons were no joke, and even if they were only slightly wounded, the Ogres would be dead within minutes unless they were healed.


    The fact that she was bigger than the Ogres didn''t help their chances, and a swat of her massive paw was enough to throw them off their feet and shatter bones. With Thor and so many mages, there was no danger of her losing her defensive barriers, but the group''s spell casters were mostly focused on dealing damage.


    Dana gracefully stepped down as an Ogre turned its back and severed its head with her new [Disruption de] before stepping back up into the sky.


    Karl almost felt sorry for Bob. Everyone else had gotten so many ridiculous new powers, while his new skills were much less shy.


    He had gotten a new [m] skill that sent out a shockwave in front of his shield when he attacked with it, and the blow was hard enough to send three rows of Ogres staggering backward, but Karl couldn''t tell what his second skill was, or if he was even using it.


    Thor cleared a path with [Earthquake], then charged forward into it, gaining more ground and trampling the surviving Ogres underfoot.


    Karl moved up, waiting for the Ettin group to get a bit closer before he focused on them. However, the moment that Hawk hit the first of them with a Rend Explosion, Rae moved her Golems to tear into them, racing the Dragonhawk to see who could kill more of the real threats.


    They hated losing to each other, especially in cases where Hawk didn''t have to do any real scouting duties.


    "Are they even intending on letting the rest of us do anything?" Morgana asked as she watched the Ogres fall.


    Doug chuckled. "Probably not. I forget that your magic doesn''t have a very long range, and we''ve got so many ranged fighters right now, without the threats of giant stonesing our way, that not much is getting close."


    The Witch Doctor''s magic was much like [Blizzard] or Ophelia''s [Toxic ws]. It took a few seconds or a minute to deal its maximum damage. But nothing was living that long.


    [The other group ising our way, chasing the Ogres. I don''t think the Ogres care.] Hawk updated them.


    [Any sign of a Royal Rank Ogre in the group?]


    [Nothing so far. Not even many Commanders, just some strong ones.]


    The response to this appearance might have been overkill, Karl decided. But after a few seconds to look at the map, he realized that there were two coal mines within ten kilometres of this point. The loss of production would be a national security concern, so it was better to divert extra resources for the day.


    The emergency response fights were supposed to be a sure thing, not a hard fight, after all.


    [Yes, they''re starting to run. This is my time to shine.] Hawk cheered as he flew off to bomb the deserters.


    [He''s just running away early so that he can say he didn''t lose.] Rae joked.


    That might be true, but it was Karl''s orders to make certain that nothing escaped.


    [That''s his job, don''t give him a hard time and make him consider abandoning it. I don''t want to be chasing Ogres through the woods all night.]

 Chapter 399 Meet In The Middle

    Chapter 399 Meet In The Middle


    The two groups began to converge, and Karl could see the fear in the other group leader''s face as he saw the Spider Golems putting in work to shred their way through the Ogres who hade from the other side of the anomaly to try to remove the threat.


    The Golems weren''t interested in the humans, though. Once the two groups got close enough that Team One was bing concerned about how controlled that carnage actually was, the Golems turned to fight off in a different direction, leaving thest few dozen Ogres between Karl''s group and theirs alone.


    Karl noticed Hawk diving into the field of bodies, and assumed he must have seen something that looked tasty, or possibly a survivor that was hidden from his explosions, but the bird came back up with a sword clutched in its ws, and made arge loop before dive-bombing the Ogres, using the de as a projectile.


    [Unsatisfying.] Hawk informed him with great sadness as he followed the de with a barrage of fireballs across the heads of the Ogres.


    [Very unsatisfying fight. Everything is too big to eat again.] Remi agreed with great sadness.


    Hawkughed and threw a Rend attack at the ground, then dipped beneath the tall grass to pick something up. [Here, try this, it might be tasty.] He suggested.


    The bird tossed arge Common Grade ferret monster over the heads of the defenders, and Remi instinctively struck at it, dosing it with venom before giving it a squeeze to make sure it was finished.


    [Oh, not bad. It''s got a good texture. We should go out and do this more often.]


    Karl sighed as the two beasts got distracted. [If you''re done with your mid-battle snack, we''ve still got work to do.] He reminded the wayward pair.


    Remi shrugged off his concern. Arge part of her damage output was her totems and Blizzard spell, and both of those were still active. She had even given Lotus and Doug one of her Healing Totems to hold on to until they expired.


    She wanted to test them, and it looked like the targeting runes worked, since they were not healing the Ogres, but nobody was injured, so she couldn''t be certain that they were properly healing anyone at all.


    Maybe once the other group got here. They didn''t have [Refreshing Lightning] so they might be taking some damage for the totems to heal.


    The two groups reached each other, and Remi immediately rushed over to put her healing totems in the middle of the other group.


    They also hadn''t taken much damage, but one warrior had a scrape on his arm, which healed on the first pulse of the Totems.


    [Victory! I have proof that the healing totems work.] Remi dered.


    Closing a scratch wasn''t exactly a high standard of healing, but it was what they had to work with, and the healers in the other group didn''t specialize in long duration healing like Lotus did. They would do an area heal at the end of the fight for all those little scratches and scrapes, as they didn''t affect thebat abilities of the group.


    "Did the snake just cast a healing totem in the middle of our group?" The other team''s Royal Rank warrior asked.


    "Yeah, she just learned the spell, but we''ve all got a Lightning Barrier on us, so nobody took any damage to test it. One of your guys had a scrape, so she put out the totems to prove that they worked properly." Karl exined.


    The team leader took a moment to make sure that he didn''t hear Karl incorrectly. It was rare that anyone just learned a new skill without extensive training or some sort of special resource.


    Most of them had only learned a few since they started their second year at the Academy, so to hear that a snake had just learned to make healing totems was mind-boggling.


    "We will circle the anomaly back in the direction we arrived from, and we will meet you in the middle. It looks like most of the threat is cleared, but we will need to do a full sweep to ensure none of them fled." He responded instead of getting side tracked by the shaman snake.


    "I have a Royal Rank Dragonhawk hunting deserters and ensuring that nothing fled the area already, I will update you if we find anything." Karl agreed, then led his team toward the trail of carnage that the Spider Golems had left.


    There wasn''t going to be much left to kill by the time that they double-checked all the Ogres to ensure they were dead and didn''t have any magical items on them. But it was important that they did not leave survivors, and Rae had discovered that many of them had new types of rocks and magical nts. n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om


    The nts could go to Thor, for a bit of variety in his diet, but these special rocks didn''t shine or glow, so Rae was collecting all that she could.


    As magical resources, many of them had purposes beyond simply decoration, including a few Fire Elemental stones that Karl saw could be used to make concoctions to help Hawk, and a Water Element Stone to help Remi.


    He really had to put more work into finding all the ingredients that went into these concoctions. There was a very real chance that he might be able to bring the team to the peak of Royal Rank in record time if he could find the identified ingredients.


    The problem was that none of the names it gave were themon ones in use for the items that he needed, so when he asked about them, there was only a slim chance that a Librarian of the Blue Dragon, or some other researcher might recognize the ancient name for the resource.


    None of the stones or resources in the spaces could make a resource that he hadn''t tried yet. There was a chance that some of them could be used twice, but from what he knew of growth resources, they usually didn''t have the same level of effect the second time.


    The others were picking up random items as they progressed, mostly stuffing them into the silk bags on Thor''s sides, so they could donate them to the armoury for credits.


    The Spider Golems made their way to the other team, then doubled back, looting what they could understand from the instructions Rae gave them.


    Mostly it wasrger magic items that the Ogres had, which baffled the other team.


    "Where are you even going to put all that? You can''t possibly need a load of Awakened and Ascended Rank weapons and jewellery." He asked.


    "We put it in bags on Thor, and then we load it in the helicopter when we leave. It keeps the main lines stocked with random stuff, and sometimes there is an actual treasure."


    The team leader looked around at the mess, and then at the anomaly. "Should we check that? It might still be allowing monsters out." He asked.


    "Rae, send a golem in and see what happens." Karl instructed.


    The Golems jumped into the anomaly, spiked forelimbs first, and the group anxiously waited for a few seconds until Rae gave her update.


    [It''s empty, no treats.]

 Chapter 400 Anomaly Stable

    Chapter 400 Anomaly Stable


    Karl shook his head at the other group leader. "The Golems report that it is empty, no targets."


    Then random items began flying out of the entrance to the anomaly.


    "Hey Charles, is it a lottery machine? Just paying out after we beat the defenders?" One of the other team members called to their leader.


    "How the hell should I know. Just look for valuables." Prince Charlesughed.


    It was actually just the Golems throwing anything that looked valuable out of the anomaly. None of the team members wanted to risk going in, as Anomalies were known to close unexpectedly, and you could well be trapped inside indefinitely, but the Golems could just be dismissed if it started to close.


    Everyone had to be attentive if they were going to sort the loot, though. The Golems were just throwing stuff out without looking at the exit, so if the next item out was a weapon or a chest of coins, you could take some real damage if it hit you.


    There was a surprising amount of stuffing flying out of that Anomaly, and Karl began to wonder what in the world was going on when the Golems reappeared, holding arge box between them and dragging a massive ogre corpse.


    [Rae, I thought that there were no enemies inside.]


    [No treats inside, just a smelly guy. He doesn''t look tasty at all. They killed it once all the good stuff was gone.]


    That sounded an awful lot like the final boss of a dungeon instance.


    But it was a Commander Rank Ogre Lord, and he was wearing the mangled remains of a very fancy set of te armour.


    The other team began to strip him down, hoping that something could be salvaged, while Karl''s team did their best not tough at Rae''s attempt to look innocent.


    Karl hadn''t said anything out loud, but it was pretty clear that she had lied to him about what was inside the Anomaly.


    While they were looting the Ogre Lord, the Anomaly shimmered, and turned red, then blue, before stabilizing into an oval portal.


    "Did it just stabilize into a Dungeon entrance?" Prince Charles asked.


    Karl turned to the clerics. If anyone knew, it would be them.


    Both of the clerics with the other team were in white with gold trim, High Priests of the main branch, the healing specialists. They began to cast a spell, creating some sort of glowing barrier over the portal as they chanted and prayed.


    It took about ten minutes before they were finished, and then the Clerics stood and smiled at them.


    "It is now a stable low Commander Rank dungeon. There should be four Commander Rank bosses in the dungeon, while two thirds of the ogres are still Ascended. It should be stabilized now, and if it is, then the Ogres would be trapped inside. That also means that we got all of the ones that escaped after it formed. If there were any of them still wandering around, the Anomaly wouldn''t have stabilized." One of the clerics, a man in histe twenties with his head shaved to hide a severely receding hairline, exined.


    "Who do we call first?" Karl asked. This was the first time that he had been on a mission like this, but thest time he had found a system rted thing, he contacted the Inquisition, who handled it all for him.


    The Cleric pointed behind Karl, and the Magical Knightsughed.


    Ruth nodded before replying. "He has a point. Normally, you call the Inquisition, and they send a team to secure the area, or one of the Elite security teams if we don''t have an Inquisitor nearby. But we''re already here.


    I will call it in, and then we can let the Church''s asset management teams move in." "That makes sense. I wonder how long it takes to reset after a team goes through?" Karl suggested.


    "That''s part of what the next teams to arrive will determine so that they can maximize the benefit. Of course, we already got all the loot from going through once, split between the two teams, with some extra Ogres from the respawn." Prince Charles noted.


    Karl sighed, and Rae gave the entrance a longing look.


    "As efficient as it might be to send your beasts through the dungeon, protocol is to leave it respawned so that they can make a proper investigation. Some dungeons respawn on a timer after death, and not all at once, so it might only be partially respawned if we clear it now." He exined.


    Bob and Doug both nodded in agreement. They had been through this before. "Alright, I guess we just call in and wait. I will let Hawk scout until our ride arrives."


    Hawk was happy toply, and he took off to go see if there was anything interesting in the area. The two nearby coal mines would be close enough for him to scout, but he didn''t want to scare them, so he would stay out of sight.


    Chances are, he wouldn''t see anything more than some Common Monsters, but some of those were tasty, like the boars. If there were wild boars, he might grab one just for old times'' sake.


    Unfortunately, as a Royal Rank beast, everything fled the moment that they sensed him, and the only creatures he could find were the ones that hoped that going to ground or freezing in ce would be less likely to attract attention.


    The humans might have no idea that he was here, but the other beasts knew, and they were terrified.


    The inhabited areas of the nation were regrly patrolled to clear out stronger monsters, and even an Awakened Rank Monster could live like a King in many areas, so they were not at all prepared for a Royal Rank bird monster to show up this far from the wild territories.


    [Oh, there is a helicopter. No, three of them, all from different directions. Did we do something to annoy them?] Hawk asked.


    [I don''t think so. They''re just excited that the Anomaly stabilized into a Dungeon.]


    Hawk returned to the group now that there were helicopters, and people who might not understand that they were on the same team. Humans were slow like that.


    All of the beasts except Thor retreated into their spaces as the teams approached. Thor had Tessa sitting on his back, so it should be pretty immediately obvious that he wasn''t a threat. But the others didn''t trust strangers quite that much.


    The first thing that Karl noticed was that while they were all green, the three aircraft all had different logos on them. One was a Church group, one had an official government logo on it, and a third had a symbol that Karl didn''t recognize.


    Only when it got within a kilometre could Karl read the logo for the Bureau of Elite Development.


    That should be a sufficiently varied group to make all the decisions that needed to be made here. The emergency had been solved, now it was just up to the teams to gather the data that they needed.


    The sun was beginning to set as the Bureau team was the first tond next to the gathered Elites. The side door swung open, and Colonel Valerie stepped out onto the trampled grass. Seeing that it was the big boss, Karl, Morgana and Prince Charles all came forward to greet her.


    "Colonel, good to see you again. The area has been scouted and verified secure. There is nothing above Common Rank within a two-kilometre radius." Karl greeted her. n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om


    "Look at you, all professional. I like the new armour, by the way, that had to have cost a pretty penny." She replied with her usual business scowl firmly in ce.


    "It''s a skill, actually. Free repairs, I just need to summon it again."


    More familiar faces followed her out. Jodi, Anise, Dave and Jill led six more unfamiliar faces out of the helicopter, all carryingrge crates of gear for whatever they were doing here.


    "I hope that you weren''t in a hurry to go anywhere. There is a lot of work to be done, and we are going to need both of your teams to remain in ce for security and testing purposes." Colonel Valerie announced as the Bureau members disembarked and prepared to set camp.


    "Understood Colonel. Let me know what you require, and I''m certain we can sort it out." Karl agreed, while Charles simply nodded and walked away.


    The government and church teamsnded on the opposite side of the battlefield, and two security teams charged out to make sure that the monsters were truly dead.


    They would realize soon enough that there was no need. Rae had already done that when she was looking for pretty rocks and loot for Thor''s bags.

 Chapter 401 Cleanup Crew

    Chapter 401 Cleanup Crew


    As the other teams spread out and checked the corpses, they began to pile the Ogres into great mounds, preparing for either burial or cremation, so that the rotting Ogre flesh didn''t attract swarms of scavengers.


    They might not be brave enough toe too close to the Elites, but they would pick away at the edges of the battlefield, and gorging themselves on Commander Rank Ogres might be enough to increase a few of the lowest Common Grade monsters strength to the point that they might be a real threat to the viges and mines.


    It didn''t really take much for the average vige to be threatened. An Awakened Rank boar would be a nuisance to outlying farms, but a Swarm of Awakened Rank rodents would be a nightmare to try to purge from the vige.


    The problem was that it was beginning to get dark already, which would make it difficult for the teams to work on the cleanup, and far too easy to miss valuables as they worked. Part of their job was to collect the magical items off the bodies and ensure that valuables from the anomaly were not left on the ground to be collected by other monsters, which the presence of multiple magical items would attract.


    Karl watched the annoyed and dejected faces of the newly arrived teams, who were making a strategy to deal with the mess.


    "Why don''t I send my beasts to take care of it? They can sense magical items more easily than any of us, and they''re strong enough to pile the bodies." Karl suggested.


    [Oh, he''s thinking ahead. We can take the really good bits and give them the rest.] Hawk replied greedily.


    [Don''t you have enough? Let the little ones get something. It''s not like you actually need anything here. Rae already got the best stuff off them.] Karl sighed.


    [Why don''t we have Hawk and Rae loot, while Thor and Ophelia stack the bodies? Then, when we''re done, Hawk can set them all on fire.] Remi suggested helpfully.


    [Thor and Ophelia?] Karl asked. n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om


    [They''re the two biggest.] Remi replied, dipping her head in the Remi equivalent of a shrug.


    [I notice that you didn''t include yourself in that deployment.]


    Remi pouted at him. [I don''t have hands, how am I supposed to loot anything?]


    [You have water control. You can strip them of armour, rings and weapons as well as anyone else.]


    Thor chuckled. [Oh, you got called out. Time to join the cleanup team, little sister. You three go ahead, and I will get the bear to help me pack the trash.]


    The Cerro wandered over and gently headbutted Ophelia, who was talking to Bob, then looked at the Ogres, and motioned for her to follow.


    "Did I just get drafted to help clean up?" She asked incredulously.


    "Your bear form is second biggest on the team. Plus, now that you''re fully bear, I can erge you without you having to rage." Karlughed.


    Ophelia frowned. "Why do I get the feeling that I just became an honorary member of the beast squad?"


    "I mean, you are a four-metre bear in disguise. Thor thinks you''re a big cuddly new friend."


    Thor nodded happily and bumped Ophelia again, encouraging her toe clean with him.


    "Fine, but I will have you know that I''m not a maid." She informed the Cerro, who promptly began tossing Ogre bodies on a pile.


    She transformed and Karl cast [Brutality] on everyone, so they could toss about the Ogre corpses more easily.


    The new arrivals seemed shocked to see them already at work while they were still making ns, but thest bits of daylight were already fading and Karl didn''t know if anyone knew a good light spell.


    The border forces would use them for night raids, but Karl had never seen anyone on his team actually cast one beyond the minor one they taught mages.


    "Are they doing the work for us?" One of the government security guards asked.


    "Yeah. They will load the bags on the Lightning Cerro with magical items, as they can sense them from a distance. Then they will stack the bodies and the Dragonhawk will light them on fire." Karl exined.


    "Oh, that''s a Dragonhawk? I thought it was a baby Vermilion Bird," the security guard replied, while giving Hawk a suspicious look.


    "He has been evolving as he gained power. He just reached Royal Rank, and the change in coloration happened then."


    The security team shook their heads at the thought of a Royal Rank Dragonhawk loose in the area, but he seemed to be quite tame, and wasn''t getting aggressive even when he got close to the strange humans.


    As they got into it, Ophelia was beginning to enjoy herself, scooping the bodies up with her ws and tossing them across the battlefield onto the nearest pile. She could see why Thor was so into it, and why he was using both his upper horns and his tail to swat bodies.


    The answer to Karl''s question about light came from the Bureau team. Jill cast a bright light above the battlefield to supplement the lighting from the newly formed dungeon entrance.


    The work was going quickly, and Thor had already dropped off two sets of bags at the camp so he could continue to get loaded down with loot from the Ogres. Now that they weren''t nning to keep or carry any of it, they were just taking anything magical and putting it in the bags. The others could sort it out and load it in a vehicle to take it away.


    That was somehow satisfying even to Ophelia, who was doing her best not tough as the corpses piled up and Thor''s loot bags filled again.


    [Hey Boss, that''s all the loot. Now, we just need to move thest bodies, and big brother Hawk can light them on fire.] Remi informed them a few minutester, right before she came slithering into the camp, terrifying the workers who hadn''t known she was here.


    The squeals of terrified humans made the other beasts and the Nature Priestsugh, while Remi just slithered up Karl''s back to look around with her head a metre above his.


    "A little warning would be appreciated, man. You can''t just surprise us with a venomous snake." One of the church''s workersined.


    "There is a giant spider out there as well, kindly don''t attack them as they''reing off shift, they put in significant effort to gather all that loot before they stacked the Ogres." Karl reminded them.


    Colonel Valerie gestured toward the piles. "You can have Hawk light them up now. Just ask him to make sure they''re burning hot and not billowing smoke. This is going to smell bad no matter what, and roast Ogre doesn''t smell much better than day old dead Ogre in the sun."


    One of the clerics chuckled, and a golden barrier surrounded the camp area, which was just outside the battlefield, where Karl''s team had finished the fight. Anything closer would have been soaked with blood, so they had chosen to camp further from the Anomaly, instead of setting up a defensive perimeter around it.


    The Cleric''s spell took effect, and Karl noticed that the smell of sweaty bodies instantly vanished. That was a valuable skill for anyone to have in the field, removing scents from a camp. That was the easiest way for monsters to track you down while you were sleeping, but today, it was more important to keep the smell of burning Ogres out.

 Chapter 402 Artwork In The Wild

    Chapter 402 Artwork In The Wild


    It didn''t take long for Hawk to have the piles cheerfully burning, with massive mes licking at the sky as the Dragonhawk swooped back and forth, adding fire to the ones that were beginning to smoke.


    Despite the amount of fat on their bodies, they didn''t actually burn all that well, and without Hawk or a Fire Mage, they would have had to dig a massive hole to bury them all.


    The teams were setting up their tents, and the other response team was pulling a massive canvas construct out of a bag that the Church Team had brought. But Karl and his team had no intentions of sleeping on cheap cots or putting in all that work to erect a tent.


    [Rae, would you like to make us a temporary fort?] Karl asked.


    [Just us?]


    [The Magic Knights as well. One fort big enough for us all. At ground level, but you can suspend hammocks for everyone in it.]


    Rae got to work, using a number of downed trees as the base for hertest work of art and spinning a new fort that Karl could tell would top all that came before it.


    At first, it looked fairly normal. Straight walls and a steeply sloped roof, then she began to add fake windows to the walls, and arge spire at the front.


    She was recreating the Capital Cathedral out of silk, at the scale for a twelve-person tent.


    She even went as far as to grab a crate with a camp stove from the supplies to put in the firece hearth she had designed at the base of the Cathedral''s iconic chimney, which in reality led to the kitchens.


    "You have got to be kidding me." Someone muttered from the far side of the group as Rae was putting the finishing touches on her masterpiece.


    Rae had learned to make her silk quite stiff when needed, so the structure was most likely self-supporting, but she had still used a half dozen trees shaped into posts for the foundation, quickly carving them to the dimensions she needed with her limbs.


    Karl heard Lotus giggle. "It''s a masterpiece, a true work of art by Princess Rae. Now, it might seem a bit odd to have it ced out here in the middle of nowhere, but we can probably leave it for future visitors. They normally build a building over the Dungeon entrances, right?"


    One of the government agents sighed. "While that is true, the construction normally doesn''t include a scale replica of the Capital Cathedral made of Royal Rank silk. First off, do you have any idea what that tent is worth in raw materials alone? Second, why? Just why?"


    Lotus'' giggle turned to full outughter from most of Karl''s group, leaving Bob to answer.


    "Rae likes to make a statement. There are new people here, and you didn''t show her enough respect as a Princess, so she decided to show off a little and help you appreciate her." He exined.


    The government workers needed a moment to process that bit of information. "We don''t have an official protocol for that, do we? Are beasts bonded to an Elite considered an extension of their rank? Do we treat them the same? Is it based on their intelligence and species?" One of them asked his supervisor.


    The man got a contemtive look on his face. "There is no unified policy, but I would say that when it''s a Royal Rank Spider the size of a small car, it probably wouldn''t hurt to be a bit more respectful."


    The Magic Knightsughed as Rae put the final touches on her masterpiece and came to stand out front. n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om


    The ps of the front wall fell closed around her, creating the false image of the front of the Cathedral, then she vanished into her space, ready for a nap after all that work cleaning and setting camp.


    Dana stuck her head in the door, then turned back to the group,ughing.


    "She even set it up like the Cathedral, the hammocks are upstairs, while the main floor is open with the stove. Plenty of room to set up tables for breakfast or hold meetings." She exined.


    The upper floor also had a curtain at the back for a shower room, though the shower spell wasn''t a Rae specialty.


    The clerics could take care of that in the morning. Or, one of the mages. But as Karl thought about it, Remi had a Thunderstorm spell, so she could make it rain onmand as well. There was no reason that his group would ever have to go without good hygiene.


    "What is the watch schedule for the evening?" Prince Charles, the leader of Team One, asked as everyone gathered inside the glowing dome that was protected from the smell of burning Ogre.


    "The night watches will be taken by the security teams. They have the rotation already nned, and stations set." One of the government representatives exined with a gesture to the edge of the camp, where men in ck uniforms were stationed.


    Karl wasn''t certain that was going to be sufficient, but unless there was an attack by something stronger than what Hawk had detected in the area, it was as good as any other night watch.


    [I will make sure they don''t miss anything.] Rae added, as she prepared to head to the bell tower of her new fort. There were windows on all sides, so she could scout the whole area without moving much, and she would blend in perfectly with her own silk, so there was a good chance that nobody would ever know that she was up there, resting and watching for a chance to dice something into snack sized bits.


    She was destined to be greatly disappointed, and even Rae knew it, but that didn''t mean that she wasn''t going to keep a diligent watch until the sun started toe above the horizon, and she switched spots with Hawk so she could get her morning nap in.


    It was good to be outside in her web on watch again. In the army camp, there were so many people around that she wasn''t really on watch, she was just observing the humans. Here, there was a chance, however miniscule, that something might actually stumble into the traps that she had quietly set around the fort as she built it.


    For the Elites in the fort, it was a surprisingly peaceful morning, but the silence was such a stark contrast to the constant sounds of artillery, either nearby or distant, that they all found themselves unable to remain in bed.


    Doug adjusted his robes as he stretched the morning stiffness from his muscles. "We will start on breakfast downstairs. I brought in tables and benchesst night, so we can eat in the fort. Did you want me to grab something from the supply tent to add to it?" Karl shook his head, as did most of the others, but Lotus smirked. "I have found a good thing in their supplies. I will bring some over as long as it''s not mibelled." She announced.


    The little cleric jumped out the window and slid down the sloping roof, then onto the ground, while Tessaughed.


    "You know, she did the same thing from her room in the dorms when we were in school? Nearlynded on High Priest Gerald one day, only centimetres from stomping his head." Sheughed.

 Chapter 403 Breakfast Of Champions

    Chapter 403 Breakfast Of Champions


    Lotus returned only a few secondster with arge carton of liquid eggs. That was a true luxury in the field, as they had to be kept refrigerated or frozen, so they weren''t sent to army units. Instead, you got powdered eggs, which wereter rehydrated, and not nearly as good.


    "Oh, Lotus found the good stuff. I''m sure that the government officials will miss that, but it''s going to make for a great breakfast." Dougughed as he started to cast nature magic to produce fresh ingredients.


    Tessa brought in tworge, t rocks that were ced on a small metal table and gestured at Karl.


    [Hawk, you''re up. Just a bit of ming Body on the stones to get the breakfast started.] Hawk rolled his eyes. He did this nearly every morning, he didn''t need instructions from Karl on how to prepare a stone to make breakfast. Having it up on a tform like that was different, though. Normally, they set it between two branches and he only heated the middle.


    The tabletop was stainless steel, and Tessa knew that while it wasn''t perfect, it wouldn''t be injured by the heat from the stone. But the only folding chairs that anyone had brought were stic, so they weren''t an option, and she didn''t feel like going to get branches for a stand or having the nature clerics grow some.


    Hawk heated their griddle stone, and the clerics got to work, while the rest of the team rxed for a few minutes. Hawk even volunteered some of his precious stash of meats, though Karl noted that they were some of thest Awakened Rank stockpile, which didn''t keep up with his nutritional needs anymore. They were a great help when he was young, but now they were essentially junk food. That was one of the drawbacks of a carnivorous beast, they needed meat to survive, and powerful monsters generally weren''t a sustainable resource.


    As they moved up the ranks, findingrge amounts of food for growing high rank beasts would be increasingly difficult no matter what, but keeping the meat eaters fed would be much more difficult if they were the size of Thor.


    The space made up much of their needs, but not all, and they needed the intake to help their growth.


    That would be a consideration for Karl in the future. If he could find omnivorous monsters, it would make his life easier. Or perhaps he could find something esoteric, like a monster that ate rocks or something. No, that could be a pain as well, as finding magical resources was even more limited than monsters.


    While Karl was distracted by his thoughts, Colonel Valerie came in with the heads of the other two teams who hade to secure and study the Anomaly.


    A man in a suit that looked extremely out of ce in a room with cloth walls and a grass floor started the meeting. "Good morning, Team Two. It is good to see you all up and cooking so early. We have a lot to do today, but the primary goal for now is to test the difficulty of the trial, and to check the nature of its rules.


    Many of these trials have an entry limit, either a number of teams at once, or on the size of the teams, or the time between entries for specific people.


    Those all need to be tested and catalogued, but the first on the list is team size. The mostmon limits are five, ten or twenty people, however twenty - person dungeons normally have a very distinctive entrance.


    So, we will start you with a ten-person team, eight of which will be Elites, and two of whom will be researchers from the agencies."


    Karl considered that for a moment. "Is it a matter of trust for the results, or a matter of specialized knowledge for the recording?" Karl asked.


    "Specialized knowledge and recording equipment, I''m afraid." The man sighed, then smoothed his freshly ironed coat in a nervous gesture.


    "That''s alright, Now that I know that, we can arrange the members in a proper order to enter. If it splits the team in half, we should still be able to make two groups who can efficiently collect the data that you need." Karl exined.


    "Oh, how is that?"


    Karl gestured out the door in the direction of the anomaly.


    "If that thing will only allow groups of five, it should split the team after the fifth member enters, correct?


    So, we will put four of our people in front, with a proper groupposition and power, and then the two researchers in the middle, followed by another four Elites.


    We might have to draw straws on who gets left behind, but it''s easy enough to arrange the teams for the highest likelihood that we will have a safe journey." n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om


    The overdressed man nodded. "Oh, yes, I suppose that does work. We were going to rmend justing back out if the team was split by the dungeon."


    Karl shrugged. "Well, that would tell us how long it would be before we could enter again, but not much else. If the wait is excessive, for example, an entire day, we would be wasting time."


    Colonel Valerie looked at the man in his expensive suit like he was an idiot who didn''t need to be here, but that really wasn''t much different from her usual re, so Karl wasn''t certain how many of the others could really tell what was on her mind as she allowed him to continue.


    "Right. So, if the teams are viable once you enter, we will ask that you gather all the data you can about locations, vegetation, resources, monster power levels and equipment, as well as the environment inside the dungeon.


    The researchers with you arebat - trained professionals, but they are not Elites, so don''t expect too much of them. Other than that, can you create two teams of four that will be capable of defeating a low Commander Rank dungeon if you should get separated?"


    Karl considered it, then nodded. "I think if we send the Mackenzie brothers with Morgana and a Magic Knight who can use Golems, they shouldn''t have many problems. Commander Bob Mackenzie is very close to the Royal Rank as well, and he is a defence type warrior.


    The second team would be me plus Dana as our Mage, Ophelia the Dire Bear Totem Berserker, and whoever wins rock paper scissors between the remaining pair of clerics."


    Tessa and Lotus turned to re at each other in challenge. If they were going to be one team member over the limit, there was going to be somepetition for that spot.


    Especially if Lotus wasn''t going to be able to ck off and ride Rae around the woods while everyone else worked.


    Karl turned to Bob. "Does that work for you? I know you won''t have a Royal Rank attacker on your team, but Doug does have regenerating vines that are a pretty good crowd control spell."


    Not to mention that the vines had thorns, and he was at Royal Rank, so they would likely do as much damage as either of the spell casters.


    Ruth shook her head. "None of the Knights werepatible with the Golem Spell."


    "Alright, then Dana with Bob, and I will take both clerics while the Knights have leisure time to take care of their other duties."


    Ruth nodded. "That would be appreciated. There is always paperwork to do after this sort of mission."


    Karl nodded happily, and the rest of his team tried not tough.


    "Better you than us, Sister. We thank you for your sacrifice." Doug informed the Magic Knight with a glowing smile, while the Knights began to realize that they''d been duped.

 Chapter 404 Honest Jobs

    Chapter 404 Honest Jobs


    The government man took out a binder full of carefully typed pages, and checked down the list before speaking again.


    "Right, that should work. The researchers are ready now, so we should get started as soon as you have eaten." He announced.


    "Would you like to join us? We made plenty." Doug asked.


    The man shook his head, while Colonel Valerie took a seat at one of the tables across from the silent church representative.


    "We won''t be more than fifteen minutes, if you would like to let the researchers know of the updated n and the order for our entry."


    They finished breakfast quickly, and found the two security guards at the entry to the dungeon, both equipped with some sort of fancy equipment in a backpack and clipboards.


    With a nod, they fell into position, and the team entered.


    Karl was thest to enter, and as he stepped through, he found himself with a much smaller group. The dungeon had split them into teams of five, as the government man had said was possible.


    "Ew, it smells so bad in here. Like theundry room of the boys dorms mixed with an overflowingtrine." Lotusined before covering her face with a bandana.


    "Thank you for that vivid mental image. But you''re not wrong. The smell of an Ogre camp will not be at the top of my list of favourite memories." Karl chuckled.


    Their researcher was already making notes and a light on the backpack was blinking, showing that it was doing ... something.


    Karl had no idea what it recorded, but if the specialists said it was important, he would believe them.


    "Do we have the manpower to clear this dungeon?" The researcher asked as he counted the five of them, which included two Clerics.


    That was not usually the recipe for a powerful team when it was this small, but once Karl called out the beasts, things changed dramatically.


    Thor bugled a challenge that had the nearest group of Ogresing their way, Rae called out her Golems, and Remi crawled up the pole on the researcher''s backpack, nearly toppling him over backwards.


    "He''s not an Elite. Regr humans have bnce issues." Karl joked as he lifted the confused snake off the terrified researcher.


    [He''s bigger than Sister Morgana. Why can''t I climb him?] Remi asked.


    [Because regr humans are weak, and his backpack is heavy. Your weight was going to make him fall over on his back.]


    Tessa ran up Thor''s back and settled into position after Rae spun a quick web saddle for her.


    The researcher looked shocked at the dramatic change in circumstances, and it was obvious that nobody had thought to inform him of the abilities of the team that he had been sent with.


    To the researchers, it likely didn''t matter. The Elites were here to gather data for them, and that was the extent of what they thought of the matter.


    Karl watched as the metre in the man''s hand went crazy and peaked out for a moment, before settling down again.


    "What is the meter reading?" Karl asked.


    "Energy signatures. It''s like the testing device, it measures maximum energy output, but in a wider area. It''s how we officially categorize the monsters."


    "Then that first peak was from my team?" Karl asked.


    The researcher nodded. "It''s not designed for Royal Rank battles. I will have to sort out the data from the monsterster, but if you can try not to have your team use long duration spells, it will help my readings."


    "Remi, avoid [Blizzard] and [Thunderstorm]. Thor, unfortunately, we will have to avoid [Circle Of Protection]." Karl instructed.


    The Golems moved forward, and the Ogres shouted as they attacked, causing the metre to move up a bit over halfway. Then the Golems attacked, and the metre pegged the needle wildly for a few seconds before the Ogres were dead.


    "What the hell?" The researcher mumbled.


    "Oh, they''re imbued with [Offensive Adaptation]. The skill must activate when they attack, and that will be what you''re reading." Karl exined.


    "I see. This could be difficult. I need to see every Ogre attack so that I can record individual power, but I''m not sure they all got a chance." He exined.


    Karl considered the answer for a moment. "I can have the Golems hold back, so we can get data before they murder the Ogres."


    "If possible, that would be wonderful. Also, the fewer team members attacking, the better. It makes it easier to sort the data. I know that sounds a bit insane, even to my ears, but I''ve never worked with a Prince or a spider who can solo entire teams of Ogres before." n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om


    He finished his notes about the area, and then nodded politely to Rae, who sent her Golems over to taunt the next group, who put up a valiant fight for about ten seconds before Rae decided they had waited long enough and had them attack.


    There was only one Commander Rank Ogre in that group, and there were none in the next two groups, though the second one had a mage, who carried a long staff and repeatedly hit the Golems with [Fireballs].


    There was some damage, which Lotus quickly repaired with a pair of healing spells, which seemed to work just fine, even though the Golems weren''t actually living things.


    Perhaps it was because they were made of a ntlike material, and she was a nature priest? Karl wasn''t all that clear on how holy magic worked. Perhaps they were healed just because the gods agreed.


    When they got to the first boss, a peak Commander Rank Ogre Lord with two massive des in his hands, Rae gave Karl a look that said she had better be receiving some help for this one.


    Karl knew that the Golems could and would kill it. They had already eliminated one of the bosses on their own when the teams first arrived, but Rae was bing suspicious that they were just using her as their workhorse while everyone else cked.


    Karl turned to the researcher. "Will you be able to get readings if all of us go to deal with that?"


    Reluctantly, the man nodded. "Yeah, that''s usually how it goes, we have to pick out their data from the attacks of a whole group. This has been so much better that I wouldn''t want to if I didn''t have to, but against the dungeon bosses, it''s inevitable. Plus, Only a few of your beasts will be simr in power output to the boss, so it shouldn''t be too bad if they don''t use channelled spells."


    The Golems let the Ogre Lord get the first swing, and then he got one more in on Thor, before he was hurled onto his back and mangled by abination of Golems, Fire and Lightning Magic.


    Three on one, the Rank advantage made the fight short and brutal, but just long enough that their researcher could get some data.


    Karl smiled as the Ogre Lord''s body vanished, and arge chest appeared in its ce.


    "Now for the fun part, let''s see what the dungeon rewarded us with for defeating the first boss." He joked as the furious scratching of a pen on paper reced the sounds of battle.

 Chapter 405 Points Of Reference

    Chapter 405 Points Of Reference


    As Karl opened the reward chest from the boss, something flickered in his vision, almost like the notifications that appeared inside dungeons and trails, but obviously in his vision, and not in the air in front of him.


    It was almost like the information was on a pair of goggles in front of him, but it vanished after a few seconds, and never got clear enough that he could properly read it. The lid on the chest flipped open, and a small pile of items were found inside. [Gained 1 Skill Point] appeared in Karl''s vision, making him pause.


    "Did anyone else see that?" He asked.


    "See what?" Lotus asked,ing to stand beside him as Remi slid up his back to see what was in the box.


    Karl looked through the items but didn''t touch anything yet. There was a chance that it would bond to him if he picked it up, and this was a Commander Rank dungeon, and he had Royal Rank Armour as a skill. It would be better to let the others make up for any items that they might be missing.


    There was a pile of cloth, some chain armour, a collection of Gems that Karl''s [Identify] skill said would have no particr benefit to the beasts, but they were magical, and not just pretty.


    Then there was a dagger, a wand and a square item wrapped in cloth that looked like a book.


    Karl liked books.


    So did Remi.


    He carefully lifted it out of the treasure box and opened the cloth wrapping.


    It was a book, bound in red leather, with a dragon head on the front. That was promising, even if it didn''t have any words on the cover.


    [Usable by Clerics, Red Dragons]


    The words appeared in Karl''s vision again. The strange goggle effect when this effect appeared was a bit disorienting, but the message was clear enough. He couldn''t use it.


    "Hey Tessa, I think this one is for you." Karl called as he held out the book.


    Tessa leaned over, using the rough surface of Thor''s scales to keep from sliding off, and grabbed the book before sitting back upright.


    She flipped the book open and smiled. That wasn''t the response that Karl was expecting, as the book didn''t vanish.


    "It''s not a skill book, it is a hymn book. The pages are full of Red Dragon Cleric battle hymns, and keeping it equipped adds bonuses to my Holy Magic." She exined.


    She let go of it, and it appeared in a smaller form, hanging by a chain from her belt. It was locked shut, but if it was just a hymn book, she didn''t actually need to open it. She already knew the songs, and she wasn''t a bard that needed to sing inbat.


    Not that she didn''t sing inbat on asion, but that was more to keep Thor amused while they waited than because it helped with anything inbat.


    The other items were removed one at a time, and none of them particrly appealed to the members of the group, but once thest item was removed, the box disappeared.


    "None of us n to keep this stuff, so we will put it in storage forter." Karl exined.


    The researcher nodded. "That is fine. Anything you get from the dungeon is yours to keep, I''m just here to observe and record."


    Karl scooped the spare items up and put them in the spider silk bags that Thor wore as part of his ''work uniform'' that included Tessa''s saddle.


    They moved out to take on the next groups, this time sending Ophelia first, so she could practice her fighting skills in Dire Bear form.


    Her toxic ws easily tore apart the Ogres, and even the de wielded by the Commander rank leader of the group was no match for the [Refreshing Lightning] shielded ws of the Dire Bear.


    Ophelia shifted back for a moment between groups. "Hey, that''s pretty cool. In this form, it still counts my weapons as equipped, and I get the life steal from them when I kill things with my ws." She exined.


    "That will be hugeter. The more damage that you do, the more you will heal, and if you have poisoned multiple targets, you should get a steady stream of healing in return from the life steal." Karl replied, impressed by the utility of her new form.


    Ophelia smiled as she transformed back and charged another group, testing that theory. Instead of focusing on one target, she used [Swipe] an innate skill of her new form that worked with [Toxic ws], and ck poison began spreading from the wounds on all four Ogres in the group.


    They weren''t breaking Thor''s [Refreshing Lightning], as the massive bear was surprisingly agile, but Karl could see the pulses of magic flowing from them to Ophelia every second or so.


    "That bear is a menace." Their observer noted.


    "Yeah, Bear Totem Berserkers are beasts inbat, and that new transformation she got the other day is definitely not a Rank One skill." Karl agreed.


    "Might I ask where she got it?"


    Karl winked at him. "There was an advancement trial on the Hill Giant border, but you didn''t hear that from me. I don''t know whether it''s ssified or not."


    The observer nodded. "It''s been ranked as need to know, and I already knew about it. I just didn''t know that it was your team. Was Team One the other one to enter?"


    Karl shook his head. "No, they arrived in the helicopter for this response. I don''t know where they were stationed."


    "Still, two dungeons for your group so close together is huge. Not many Elites get that lucky with their assignments."


    That made Tessaugh as she looked down from Thor''s back. "The World Dragon favours him. Everywhere that we go, things are destined to go wrong in all the right ways. Everyone who has been in his group has advanced as much in thest few months as they did in the earlier parts of their lives. None of us were Commanders when the war broke out, and now look at what Ophelia can do to a whole team of Ogres."


    Just as she spoke, one massive paw crushed an Ogre''s face, shattering bone before the ws tore the flesh apart.


    "You have a point. That''s not low Commander Rankbat power."


    The next boss was carrying a staff with arge jewel on top, and Remi was eyeing it with greed.


    [I need the shiny stick. I can have the stick when we kill it, right?] She asked.


    [If it doesn''t vanish when he dies, you can have it.] Karlughed. The bodies in the dungeon simply vanished after a few seconds, leaving piles of stuff on the ground now and then. Mostly it was just coins, but they had picked up a few pieces of cloth and leather armour and a few crude magical weapons as well. n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om


    The observer nodded, and the attack started, with Remi instantly going for the Ogre''s neck from behind to poison him while she slid down his arm to attempt to steal the staff. One way or another, she was determined to have it, even if she had to bite his hand clean off with only two teeth to get it.


    Unfortunately, Karl''s attempt to be helpful was a bit too much, and the [Stun] enhanced maul strike crushed its skull, which made the body vanish a half second after Remi gained control of the staff. With the boss dead, the staff was also gone.

 Chapter 406 Loot Goblins

    Chapter 406 Loot Goblins


    The loot chest appeared again, and the system information flickered in front of Karl''s eyes a bit more clearly.


    [Gained 1 Skill Point] First Dungeon Clearance bonus.


    So, he wouldn''t be able to farm as many skill points as he wanted by simply returning here every time he was able. That was a bit sad, but he supposed that Skill Points shouldn''t be too easy to get if they were a reward.


    Inside the chest was a simr assortment of items to the first boss, but no book, and unfortunately no staff either.


    However, there was a gem of Elemental Power that Remi was quite excited about when she took it in her mouth and sent it to her space.


    [I need that for making a new Totem], she exined.


    [Well, we won''t refuse you the loot. You''re the one most suited to it.]


    None of the other items were something that they needed, so they were loaded into Thor''s bags, and the Golems took over again as Ophelia transformed to talk to Karl.


    "I think I''m really getting the hang of fighting on four feet. At first, it was strange, as I''m used to being upright in Werebear form, but with a bit of practice, I think this will be just as effective. I''m going to need to learn a few more ranged skills, though. Everything I specialized in applies to my weapons or body. But if I''m mostly using one paw at a time, it would be better to have some range when things try to run." She exined.


    Karl nodded. "I will make you a [Rend] bookter. As a bear, you are almost guaranteed to be able to use that. But you have [Rake] now, right? That''s got a bit of range."


    "Yeah, about three metres. It''s good enough in meleebat, but chasing things that are running away is annoying." Raeughed in Karl''s mind. She also hated it when enemies ran away on her. Thor liked to chase them, and Hawk didn''t have to, but she disliked all the extra effort when the target was just going to die anyhow.


    It should at least have some dignity and not annoy her in the process.


    Rend was a simple skill to make, as he knew it well enough. So, Karl made the book as they walked along after the Golems, who were showing off for the data man. Their enthusiasm brought the group to the final boss, a massive Ogre Lord in tarnished golden armour, the one that the Golems had brought outst night.


    "Wait, Rae, don''t send the Golems after that. The other group was hoping to recover the armour. I don''t know if the body will stay, as this is now a dungeon. It likely won''t, but some of it might be in the reward pile if we don''t destroy it." Karl cautioned.


    "You''re going to deal with it personally?" The researcher asked as he prepared his recording devices.


    "Yeah, I will sort it out." Karl agreed as he hefted his maul onto his shoulder.


    The Ogre Lord sneered at Karl and hurled a boulder at him as Karl approached, but it simply shattered on [Refreshing Lightning], and Karl darted forward, swinging upward with five stacks of [ming Body] set to project out from his weapon.


    The strikended squarely between the beast''s legs, and Karl saw the others flinch in sympathy as the Ogre Lord was lifted off the ground.


    Then the mes of the ability came jetting out of his mouth as his body was cored by the skill.


    The remains and the armour fell to the ground in a heap, then vanished to be reced by arge golden chest, nearly a metre tall and three metres wide.


    That was muchrger than the others, but not so ridiculous as the reward chest in the trial.


    [Gained 2 Skill Points] First Dungeon Clearance Bonus.


    Karl had been looking forward to that, but the image in front of his eyes slowly cleared.


    [System Rebooting. Interface Temporarily Unavable.]


    Karl took that as a good thing. Maybe he would be able to get additional information, or even more benefits, once the System was rebooted. If the system was fully active for him and the other Elites, the Golden Dragon Nation would gain the sort of benefit that hadn''t been seen in generations.


    Words appeared in the air above the boss. [Calcting Rewards.]


    The researcher stared at them in shock. "Do you see that? What the hell is that? I''ve never seen anything like it."


    Karl gave him a confused look for a moment before realizing that he wasn''t an Elite.


    "That is normal for Trials and other Instances. It''s how the System informed people of important events and rewards. Give it a moment, and everyone here should get something." He exined.


    [Updating rewards. Level 0 member detected.]


    "Ooh, I can pick a random reward." The researcher mumbled, and before anyone could stop him, his uniform was gone, and he was standing in front of them in tight ck leather pants and a pink floral shirt.


    "What the ever-loving fuck?" He shouted, dropping his backpack full of expensive diagnostic equipment to check himself.


    "Hey, calm down, it''s a system reward. What did it say, and what did you pick?"


    The researcher was clearly in shock as Karl grabbed him and shook him.


    "Get yourself together. What did it say and what did you pick?"


    The man blinked slowly as his brain stopped rattling in his head.


    "It said ''would you like to randomize''? And I picked yes, and now it tells me that I am a Grand Sage, and I gain bonus starting power for every day that I remained a virgin."


    The Clerics did their very best not tough, and Karl stared deep into the man''s eyes, just to make sure that he wasn''t joking.


    "Thirty years, one day sixteen hours. Apparently, I''m Supposed to be an Awakened Rank Grand Sage?" The researcher continued.


    Lotus burst intoughter. "It''sreal! Boys really can be a Sage if they remain a virgin to thirty."


    "This is not funny, High Priestess." The Sage insisted.


    "It is a little bit funny. I like the outfit, though. It''s very... stylish." The little priestess added, not bothering to hide her amusement.


    "What about the rest of you?" He demanded, unwilling to ept that he had been punked by the dungeon, but nobody else had.


    Karl pointed to the message in the air.


    [Level 0 Member condition solved. Calcting.]


    [Reward Granted.]


    Karl saw words appear in his vision again, the Interface he believed that the System called it.


    Then there was a simple scroll in his hand.


    Karl unrolled it and smiled at the fancy lettering on what appeared to be a coupon.


    [Skill Master Rank 3 Single Use Token] Allows one bonded beast''s skill to immediately evolve to a skill one Tier higher than their current Tier.


    The full skill was in his ss Skills.


    [Skill Master Rank 3 Avable] 100 Points. Allows all bonded beasts'' skills to evolve to a skill one tier higher than their current tier with practice. It might have been too much to ask for a hundred point skill from a Dungeon reward, but picking one skill to be a better version of itself was a huge bonus.


    [Ooh, that is a good thing. Whose turn is it?] Rae asked as she sensed what Karl was reading.


    [I just got a new book, so it''s not my turn.] Remi sighed.


    [I just advanced, and so did you, so I think it''s Thor''s turn.] Hawk reluctantly agreed. He really wanted to know what [ming Body] would evolve into, but Thor put in great effort every day without getting any special benefits. He deserved this one.


    [Alright, big guy, are you ready?] Karl asked Thor, who hade over with Tessa still on his back.


    She was also holding a scroll in her hand.


    "What did you get?" Karl asked. She unrolled the scroll and smiled. "One Epic Grade, Commander Rank armour piece of my choice."


    Tessa unrolled hers and then cheered and began a happy dance.


    "We will get back to her. What did you get, Ophelia?" Karlughed.


    "I got [Toxic ws] damage over time changed from one second per application to half a second."


    They all turned to the researcher, who was looking grimly at the scroll in his hand. "I don''t know if I even want to open this." He muttered.


    Lotus stopped dancing and went to pat him on the shoulder. "Rx, these rewards are always good things. It''s the random rewards that are more exciting."


    "What did you get?" The newly promoted Sage demanded.


    Lotus turned her scroll around with a huge smile.


    [Skill Advance 1 Tier] Shock Heal ? Revive


    "Are you telling me that you can now bring the dead back to life?" The researcher demanded. "Yup. I am the perfect healing specialist now. I can do everything. Heal, area heal, long duration heal, revive."


    Now Thor was excited. A Tier for a skill was a confusing concept, but it could be beyond anything he had been thinking. All you had to do was let Lotus pet someone, and they woulde back to life now.


    [I think she''s got to cast a spell. She''s not a healing ointment.] Rae corrected him.


    [It''s not a magic pat? That''s sad.]


    Remi giggled. [I think she can still pat you while she does it, she just doesn''t need to.]


    [Are you ready, Thor? I''m going to use the scroll.] Karl warned him.


    [Do it. All my skills are worthy.]


    [Skill Advance 1 Tier] Refreshing Lightning ? Eternal Lightning [Eternal Lightning] Barrier type skill. Shields the target while increasing Defensive skill effectiveness. Regenerates health and stamina for affected targets.


    The blue barrier of [Refreshing Lightning] changed blue to gold, and Karl felt the stress in his muscles fade away, as if he had just gotten up from a long night''s rest.n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om

 Chapter 407 Thor The Eternal

    Chapter 407 Thor The Eternal


    "Did you give your reward to Thor?" Tessa asked as she examined the upgraded barrier.


    "Yes, it''s an upgrade of one Tier for [Refreshing Lightning]. [Eternal Lightning] is the new name, and while I don''t have solid data on it, I can already tell that the stamina refreshing effect is much stronger than the original."


    Tessa and the others nodded. "It is incredible. I feel like I just had a good nap, and we''ve been through a whole dungeon."


    Opheliaughed. "That''s because you didn''t even walk through it. You''ve been sitting on Thor all morning."


    The researcher picked up his pack and settled it back in ce. "I don''t suppose that I can lie about my ss, can I?" Karlughed. "There should be a mark on your arm. If it''s somewhat ambiguous, you don''t need to give them the actual name that the System told you, just your skills and anything that you know about it.


    If you try focusing on the words Interface, Status, or Skills, you might get a bit more knowledge."


    "Interface!" Lotus cheered, then began swatting at the air in front of her.


    "Did we damage her? She seems a bit offtely." Karl whispered to Tessa.


    "I don''t know. I will have to monitor her snacks for a while. She might have started taking hallucinogens to cope. Lotus isn''t exactly the best suited person to high-stress situations, or the most mentally stable, you know?" n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om


    Karl raised an eyebrow, questioning that statement. "I seem to recall that she loves to pick fights, a little battle against Ogres shouldn''t be an issue."


    Tessa sighed. "Ones that don''t involve real violence. But she''s a nature priestess, they''re almost always stoned anyhow."


    If there was a chance that she was going to start screwing up because she was too high to function, they would have to deal with her. Doug was known to smoke a lot, but alwaysafter work. Not before.


    "Interface." Tessa mumbled, then blinked in surprise. "You know, I''ve tried that many times before, but it never worked. I wonder if thesest few instances have helped stabilize or unlock the System''s features?" She asked.


    "I think that is right. I was seeing the interface flicker on and off when we were doing the dungeon. I don''t think we have everything that it used to have unlocked, but I think we''re very close to having a fully functional version of the system."


    The researcher was staring at the mark on his arm, which looked like an old man pondering his orb. Sage was a good name for it, but there was at least no negative connotation to the mark itself.


    "When we get out, we should ask the Colonel if she knows about a mark like that. She might be able to tell you more." Karl suggested.


    "When I said skills, I saw that I have spells avable, and they seem like normal mage spells." The Sage whispered, just loud enough for Karl to hear.


    "Good, then you''re a mage ss. That''s easy. Now, you just need to know how to get points to buy the spells." The Sage frowned. "I''m afraid to learn how this ss gets points. But I have fourteen right now, and that''s not quite enough to get three additional skills."


    Karl shrugged. "They normallye from aplishments and feats. The more you challenge yourself, the faster you get them. I suspect that Lotus should have an awful lot of them. Nature Clerics tend to do crazy things. But Tessa should have a bunch as well."


    Tessa shrugged. "Nothing happens when I try skill as amand. Clerics might just get what their Gods give them."


    Ophelia came over with a frown. "It says that feature isn''t unlocked when I try. All I can get from the interface is a bunch of stat numbers that mean nothing to me. Except health and mana. Those show as a percentage."


    Karl hadn''t been paying any attention to those. He could see them as a pair of globes, red and blue, at the edge of his vision when he had the interface active, but they were just full, so he didn''t think about them.


    Besides, it was usually pretty obvious when you got stabbed or beat with a club. Health was a rtive thing. He didn''t need a globe to tell him when he''d been getting his ass kicked.


    But more interestingly, there were greyed out functions. There was some sort of money counter that was translucent and unavable, and another function that had nobel.


    Karl focused on pressing the button, and found that he was in his own mental space, the one where he had formed the focus to meditate when he was working on improving the beast spaces.


    That was pretty cool. Useless, as it was faster to ess it directly, but cool as a feature.


    There were more locked features in the Interface, but none of them hadbels, so Karl didn''t actually know what he was missing out on. He had the important parts now, though. He could bring up a list of his skills and skill tree, he could see a bunch of numbers for his stats, which he was slowly learning to interpret, and he could see the contents of his storage bag. He could even pull things out of the pocket of his backpack without taking the whole pack out, and he could put things back into the pockets. That was a huge improvement over essing the bag directly in his mind.


    "Should we head out and give our reports? They''re going to wonder what we''re doing if we linger in here too long." Ophelia suggested.


    The researcher sighed and looked at his new outfit.


    "Alright, let''s get this over with. Please don''t tell them any other details about my ss." He pleaded.


    "Don''t worry. We can tell them that you''re a Sage without any other connotations. But look at it this way, you have a more functional system interface than most Elites do, and you just awakened." Karl replied.


    Ophelia smirked. "Yeah, and it''s not like they didn''t know you were a virgin until the weekend after your thirtieth birthday anyhow."


    He sighed, and led the group out of the dungeon, where he nearly ran into a man in simple grey mage robes.


    "Greg? Why are you dressed like a homeless mage?" The Sage asked.


    "Dude, what the Dragon are you wearing? You don''t get to criticize my outfit when you look like a sleazy pickup artist. I will have you know that as a reward for being the first group to clear the dungeon, I was granted a ss marking. I am now a Sorcerer."


    Karl''s researcherughed and turned his arm to show his friend. "Like this? I''m a Sage."


    The other soldiers and researchers from the three study teams gathered around to hear the stories, and the rest of Karl''s team gathered to share their reports.


    Bob smirked. "I will go first. I believe we got identical dungeons, so I will just detail the loot. The first boss had nothing much of interest, but the second dropped a spellbook for Dana. It''s hanging on her waist now. Apparently, it adds even more damage to her spells, when she already has [Destruction] as a skill boosting her output.


    Then on the final boss, we all got scrolls, and the System Interface unlocked."


    Karl chuckled. "On our first boss, Tessa got a hymn book that boosts Holy Magic. Then on the final boss we got scrolls. I got one that advanced a skill by a Tier. So, Thor''s Refreshing Lightning is now Eternal Lightning."


    Bob visibly lost much of his enthusiasm. "Dammit, and I thought I had gotten the greatest skill. I got [Titanic sh] from the same sort of scroll. sh upgraded one Rank, and now it creates a massive sword up to twenty metres long for the attack."


    Ophelia smirked as she patted him on the shoulder. "Oh, he''s not bragging. The best gains in our group were for Lotus, who had a healing skill upgraded to [Revive]."


    The other group, and all the Magic Knights, went silent as they stared at the little Priestess, who had been doing her very best not to just blurt out her good news.


    Doug sighed. "You''ve got to be kidding me. The little troublemaker was blessed with [Revive]? She''s going to bepletely insufferable once she gets back to the Cathedral."


    "What did you get?" Karl asked.


    Doug''s face seemed to grow scales over the next half a second, and he pulled up his sleeves to show that they went all the way up his arms as well.


    [Green Dragon Armour]

 Chapter 408 Reports To Write

    Chapter 408 Reports To Write


    Karl''s team sat down to write their reports on the trip into the dungeon, while the two researchers were intensely questioned about their experiences during the awakening, and the remainder of the research teams analyzed the data to confirm the power levels and create a basic guidebook for future visitors to the dungeon.


    The actual report wasn''t hard, they just repeated what they had seen and done in the dungeon, and most of them were just observers, as they hadn''t fought anything but the boss.


    "I hate that I''m actually starting to get good at these." Karl sighed as he finished the report only a few minutester.


    The recollection of the dungeon hadn''t taken long, and Thor happily reminded him if he forgot anything or got an ogre''s positioning wrong.


    With that done, all that they had to do was wait,


    Or, in Karl''s case, wait and try toe up with a good n for Dana''s birthday. He hadn''t expected them to get shipped off to the middle of nowhere in thest few days, and here he couldn''t even bribe supply staff to help him with something fancy.


    Instead, he was going to have to turn to alternate sources for help.


    [Ladies and Gentlemen, we have an urgent problem. Dana''s birthday ising up very soon, and I did not prepare before we left the base. Now, we need to get her a gift, something that she will appreciate, and that she doesn''t already have.]


    [What''s a birthday?] Remi asked.


    [It''s an annual celebration of the day you were born. Normally, your friends try to get you your favourite thing to eat, and then they give you a present.] Karl exined. n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om


    [Ooh, I can make her new robes.] Rae suggested.


    [That''s not a bad idea. Do you remember her size and what she likes from when you made thest outfit?] Karl asked.


    [Yeah, I remember. I think I can do better this time. The other ones are good, but with some practice, I think that I can make a special outfit for her.]


    Remi slid through her swamp for a while and then picked a nt. [Give this to Sister Morgana, and she can make a special potion for her. I saw it in one of the Witch Doctor''s books.]


    Thor made an annoyed noise. He had no idea about a tradition like giving gifts. He didn''t collect things for giving away. [Don''t worry about it, buddy. One good thing from all of us is enough, and we''ve alreadye up with two. But I bet that when it''s Tessa or Lotus'' birthday, you might be able to do something for them.]


    Remi looked up at him from her space. [If you can spare a bit of that purple flower, that would be good. It also goes in the potion.]


    Hawk chirped happily. [Then I will find a good thing to cook. You said special food was part of the day. We''ve got lots of food, even Thor has many good things to eat.]


    Thor nodded happily. He might not collect as much shiny stuff as the others, but he had more types of good nts than Hawk had types of good meat. He grabbed them every time he saw them, and some of them would even grow for him.


    Karl looked over at Morgana, who was arguing with Doug about something, and got up to hand her the ingredients.


    "Morgana, I have a couple of nts here that Remi says would be useful in a potion. I didn''t catch the name, so I''m hoping that you know which one it is." He exined as he handed the two items over.


    "Ghostleaf and Magebloom? Did she say why she thinks I can make it?" Morgana asked.


    "She said that she saw it in your book." Karl exined, then lowered his voice.


    "As a present for Dana, on her birthday."


    Morgana thought about it for a second and then took out a book from her storage and began to flip. "Oh, I see what it is. That''s not a potion, at least not exactly. This book is for beneficial hexes, a specialty of the Witch Doctor ss. The one she is thinking of is body butter. It removes the wearer''s scent and gives wless skin. It will even remove most scarring. I wonder why Remi would have picked that."


    [Because Ogres smell bad, and nobody wants to smell bad.]


    Karlughed as he ryed the message, making most of the room look over to see what he was joking about.


    Morgana smirked and nodded. "I can make that. The other ingredients are all simple things that I can actually get right here. Those are the two active ingredients, and then they get mixed with water and some mundane oils for the base."


    "Thanks. You''re a lifesaver."


    Morgana patted him on the shoulder. "Don''t forget that she isn''t the only one with a birthdaying up."


    That was true. Lotus, Ophelia and Tessa were all in the next month or two. He didn''t know the rest, but surely, he coulde up with a gift for everyone. Or maybe he could enlist Lotus'' help, and he could be that friend who always gifts clothes.


    It was Royal Rank silk, it would actually be a very valuable gift, even if it didn''t cost him anything.


    Of course, for people who had all sorts of valuables, giving expensive gifts meant much less, and it would be the good meal that was likely to be the best remembered. He had grown up in the mines, and they didn''t give gifts often either. But that was just because they couldn''t afford it. The mostmon gift for kids in the Lithium Mines Vige was for someone to cover their shift and clock in as them, so they didn''t get a ck mark for missing work and got a day off on their birthday. By the time they were adults, the tradition changed to putting them on the good jobs for the day.


    Hawk flew out of his space to make a scouting patrol and look for good things to eat, while Rae started making ns for decorating her Dana.


    They had been rxing for most of the afternoon when the man in the expensive suit came over with a notepad. "Can we get a volunteer team to see if they can go back into the Dungeon? Six hours is normally the shortest time period, with one day being moremon." He exined.


    "Yeah, that''s not a problem. Did you need a whole team?" Karl asked.


    "Full enough to efficiently clear the dungeon and reset the timer if it does let you inside." He exined.


    The Magic Knightsughed, and the bureaucrat gave them a confused look.


    "He is a Royal Rank Beast Master. He could go in alone and clear out the dungeon. I guess you haven''t gotten a chance to read the reports yet." Ruth exined.


    "I normally don''t. It''s not like I will be able to make use of the information in them, and it''s not my department to prepare the Elites. My team is here to arrange the infrastructure for the protection of the asset, and to deal with the scheduling.


    For a Commander Rank resource that has stabilized, it is of critical importance to the nation that we allow ess in as efficient a manner as possible."


    That made sense. Sending Ascended Rank students and soldiers through here would be huge for them, as it gave Commander Rank rewards, and it would really help their growth rate. The difficulty wasn''t high, and the bosses hadn''t shown any particrly nasty tricks.


    They might have if he didn''t kill them so fast, but they all looked straightforward.


    "Alright, let''s get to work." Karl agreed as he got to his feet.


    Dana and Ruth stood to join him, then Ophelia and Tessa. Karl had expected Lotus to be excited about a chance to y, but she must have worn herself out earlier.


    Karl leaned over to speak with Doug. "Can you check up on Lotus? She''s been a bit off, and we''re not sure if it''s something that she has been taking, or if the stress is getting to her. As a fellow nature cleric, we thought that you should be the best qualified to be able to help."


    Doug nodded back. "I think I have an idea of what''s going on. I will talk to her while you''re all out. It''s best that we talk in private."


    Karl patted him on the back and led his team out of the tent.


    Two runs a day wouldn''t be all that bad.

 Chapter 409 Dumplings

    Chapter 409 Dumplings


    Karl led the team to the entrance of the Dungeon, where the members of Team Two had just exited, along with their researchers.


    "Anything good?" Karl called as he led his team toward the entrance.


    "Nothing like what you guys pulled out on the first run. We got armour and a skill book, though, so we can''tin about that. It would be nice if the book was a bit more rare than [Fireball], but you take what you get, and fireball is a pretty decent spell." Prince Charles called back.


    Well, you couldn''t get the sort of first clearance bonuses that they had found on every single run, it would just be ridiculously overpowered as a resource.


    "Are we all ready?" Karl asked as he reached the portal.


    "As long as you didn''t leave the beasts behind, we''re good to go." Tessaughed.


    Karl stretched out a hand, and felt it stop as it touched the surface, as if it was solid, and not just a portal to the dungeon.


    "It looks like we can''t enter yet. The portal surface is solid." Karl exined to the government minister, who was still tagging along behind them.


    "Well, that is unfortunate, but not entirely unexpected. We will try again with team one at the twenty-four-hour mark. Your team is free for the remainder of the day as long as there is no emergency."


    "Thank you, we will be around if you need us, and I have team members scouting the area to ensure it remains monster free." Karl agreed.


    Hawk was actually looking for something that was more tasty than an Irontusk Boar, but there wasn''t going to be anything too close, and everything in the dungeon was no good for eating.


    Even the Giants tasted like a delicacypared to the Ogres. [I think I found what we need. It doesn''t belong in this area, but it looks tasty.] Hawk informed Karl a few seconds after he turned away from the portal. N?v(el)B\\jnn


    [Oh, what did you find?]


    [Um, a deer thing with wings and a weird tail, like a dog.] Karl had no idea what that should be called either. [What is it doing now ?] [Picking a fight with farmers. Can I hunt it? It''s only Awakened Rank, but it looks tasty.]


    [Alright, bring it back here, and we will see what we can do about getting it butchered and roasted.]


    Karl could only imagine how terrified the farmers were when what looked like a baby Vermilion Bird swooped down to kill the monster attacking them, and then flew away with it, but he could tell that it only took a few seconds before Hawk had his prize.


    He happily dropped the beast next to the cathedral fort for the others to prepare, and Morgana came out to see what themotion was.


    "That is the strangest looking Peryton that I have ever seen. Normally, they look like giant birds with antlers, but this one is almost all stag. Or perhaps it''s not a Peryton at all. It is rather weak for one of their species. Where did Hawk find this?" She asked.


    "A few minutes flight away, harassing some farmers. He said that it looks good to eat, so we were going to ask the Clerics to make up something good. A special celebration dinner of sorts." Karl exined as he ced an arm over Dana''s shoulder.


    "There''s one more day." Dana reminded him with a smile. "It will take time to get a full deer ready and roasted. But don''t worry, I have asked our resident Princesses to assist with the procurement of proper gifts."


    "Princesses?"


    "Well, technically Remi isn''t a Princess yet, and neither is Morgana, but they''re both cooperating on a most wonderful birthday gift for you."


    Dana smiled. "And here I thought that you would go straight to Rae to make something."


    Hawkughed, a keening shriek that startled the workers and made the other team membersugh along with him.


    "Oh, you did, but you thought it would be a surprise. I get it now."


    "I guess I''m a bit too transparent. But Rae is really looking forward to giving you your gift, and we can''t let her down."


    Rae was very proud of what she had managed toe up with. She had based it on a blend of all of the fighters that she had seen so far, and made what she thought would be the very best outfit for her Dana.


    It was turning out to be a masterpiece of fashion, in Rae''s opinion, and it would give Dana an extrayer of light armour over her metal armour.


    "Why don''t we make a shredded meat roast? The sort so tender that it just falls apart with a fork? I can convince Doug to make fresh bread on the tent stove, and we can do a fancy dinner."


    "I don''t suppose that we have options to make chicken and dumplings, do we?" Dana asked.


    Hawk searched his inventory for a while. There weren''t any beasts that really tasted like chicken, and the Rocs were the only bird, but they weren''t good.


    "I can ask the teams if they have chicken. We haven''t hunted anything like that so far. Or I could head to town and get a fresh one." Karl offered.


    Dana nodded. "If you''re going to go that far, get a turkey instead, if they have one. Turkey and dumpling stew is great."


    "Alright, let the teams know that I will be back in an hour. I''m just going to head out and get some fresh ingredients."


    Dana and Doug walked in as he was making ns, both looking much more rxed and happy than they had for a while.


    "Is there anything else you need me to get for dinner?"


    Lotus nodded happily. "If you can get us some heavy cream, I want to make a cake. It doesn''t work right with powdered milk."


    "Get more butter as well. The stocks here are margarine, and it''s not the same." Doug added.


    Karl knew that the general store at the mines should have everything that they needed, but as he wanted both cream and butter, it would be best to stop at a farm, if there was one near the mines.


    [Yes, the whole kilometre before the mines is farms. There were cows there and more animals I didn''t care about. You might get a meat bird.] Hawk informed him.


    It wouldn''t have the nutritional value of the deer monster, but the nostalgia factor of a childhood favourite recipe couldn''t be beat.


    Now that he had all their requests, Karl took off through the woods, headed for the mines in the direction that Hawk had informed him he would find a farm. They likely wouldn''t have a credit exchange machine, but he could give them coins and gems from the dungeon with an exchange note to take to the bank in town.


    The exchange rate might be a bit hard to judge, but he had so much loot in his storage bag right now that it wasn''t even funny. They had intended to split it as they did the items, but Karl had never gotten around to dropping it off for the agents to sort today, so he had half a chest full of loot.

 Chapter 410 And Cake

    Chapter 410 And Cake


    Karl slowed to a stop at the edge of the farm to approach at a more human looking jog. He wasn''t trying to terrify the people or their animals, and running across the field faster than anyone would dare to drive a car was likely to do exactly that.


    As he jogged down the driveway toward the house, an older man, likely the father or grandfather of the current generation of farmers, came out to greet him.


    "That''s some mighty fine stamina you have, young man." He announced once Karl hade to a stop.


    "Thanks. A long jog is good for the lungs. I came toward town looking for a few things to make a special birthday dinner for one of my team members. It''s her birthday, and we''re stationed in the wilderness some distance off, ensuring an Anomaly is dealt with." The man nodded. "If you need tomandeer some items, we will spare you what we can. There is more variety at the store in town."


    Karl smiled and took a pair of gold coins out of his bag. "They might be from the monsters, but they''re pure gold. The bank should take them in trade without an issue. All I need is a turkey, fresh heavy cream, butter, and some cake mix if you have it. It would be easier than making one from scratch."


    The old man was looking at the two gold coins in shock. Sure, they were from the monsters, but that was still four ounces of gold.


    A young man and woman came from around the corner of the house, likely from the barn, and Karl nodded to them, alerting the old man to their presence.


    "Ah, meet my boy Gerald, and his bride to be, Roxanne."


    Karl smiled. "Congrattions on your uing nuptials. Let me see here, I do believe that I have just the thing for a wedding present."


    Karl pulled two items out, a simple gold chain with thick links in the style most men preferred, and a ruby pendant. Working men didn''t wear a ring, instead they would put their wedding ring on a ne, so it didn''t get damaged. If tragedy or the gue hit and nobody was left to take care of arrangements, the chain holding his ring was supposed to be enough to pay for both of their funerals, so that a married couple always knew they would be taken care of and could be buried with their wedding rings.


    The farmers stared at him in shock. "Sir, we cannot ept a gift like this. It is too much."


    Karlughed. "It''s only right. I am a Royal Rank Elite, how could I give a wedding gift like I still worked the mines? Besides, I''m here on business. I need a turkey, heavy cream, butter, and cake mix."


    "A Prince? Sir, we apologize, we didn''t know." They all bowed in unison and Karlughed. "Stand, stand. You didn''t know because I didn''t tell you. I''m not here to flex my rank, just to get ingredients for a birthday dinner. A specialdy to me wants turkey and dumplings for dinner, and our Cleric wants to make her a cake."


    The young woman ran inside, and came back out with arge wicker basket full of goods only a minuteter. The pantry and the freezer must have been right at the door because she was fast, and there was a frozen turkey in that basket.


    Karl added one more gold coin when he saw that there was not only cake mix, but also a bag of confectioner''s sugar and a bottle of vani extract to make icing in there.


    Those weren''t items that most farmers kept on hand unless there was a celebrationing, so they were likely bought for the wedding.


    "Here, take these straight to the bank and get them traded in." Karl exined as he passed the old man the money, then took out his notebook and wrote down some basic information.


    [Prince Karl, 95988. Coins traded for luxury foodstuffs.] He wrote. N?v(el)B\\jnn


    "That should be enough for you to trade them to the bank for a fair rate without being used of anything. Now, I should get going back to camp. Good luck with the wedding, and I wish you all the best."


    He turned and jogged back the way he came, but he could hear the family celebrating, along with a few other voices from the house, before the pping of feet headed for town marked someone''s departure.


    By the time that he made it back to the camp, Karl could hear the confirmation on the radio that there was really a Prince Rank Elite in the area, and Karl''s identity code. They must have taken his words seriously, and ran directly to the bank to trade in the coins before anything could happen to them.


    Three gold coins wasn''t a huge hit to Karl, not when he had a thousand or more of them in his bag. But it was likely to convert to an entire summer''s earnings for the old man, far more than the food was worth.


    "I''ve got everything that you requested, plus confectioner''s sugar, vani, and premade cake mix." Karl announced as he reached the camp.


    Then he took the basket out of his storage and ced it on the table in the kitchen area of the fort.


    "You''re back already, with a frozen turkey and everything else we asked for?" Doug asked, startled by the speed.


    "Yeah, I stopped at a farm just before town and they had everything. That would be the bank in the mine vige that we were hearing on the radio, verifying the Monster Gold that I traded was legitimate.


    Nobody will miss a coin or two." Karlughed.


    Dougughed. "Well, we were just going to turn them all in for credit anyhow, so I don''t see any reason we shouldn''t use them to barter. Clerics take a vow of poverty and charity, so giving it away every time we interact with others seems like the right thing to do. A few extra coins on a farm won''t hurt the economy, but it will help the farmer."


    While Doug talked, Lotus dug through the supplies to see what they had.


    "Oh, you got really good stuff. This is even top quality sugar. Alright, we should be good to go for the birthday dinner. Now, are we starting first thing in the morning? Or did we have to work?" Lotus asked.


    "I think we will have to do a dungeon run in the morning unless it rejects us again. They were saying the most likely scenario is one full day, so that means morning tomorrow we should be able to enter for a second time." Karl exined.


    "Perfect, then we can do the birthday dinner after that, and then have some girl time. It''s a thing that we used to do at the Seminary Academy. We would either make or acquire some makeup, and then we would give the birthday girl a makeover." Tessaughed. "Oh, and some of them were terrible when we were in the early years. But we''re pretty good at them now."


    Karl could only imagine what a bunch of teen girls who had been raised by the church, who didn''t advocate or even normally stock makeup, would have done in their first attempts at a makeover.

 Chapter 411 Private Fort

    Chapter 411 Private Fort


    [Rae, can you make a smaller fort far enough back in the trees that people in the camp won''t hear us? I would like to take Dana for an evening alone.] Karl requested.


    [I can do that. I will get everything set up for you, and I know the perfect spot.] Rae replied instantly, suggesting that she had already been thinking about this topic.


    Rae exited her space in the distance and darted off to a spot near a river that Hawk had scouted on his way back from hunting for good food.


    It was over a kilometre from camp, far enough that sensitive ears shouldn''t hear what they were up to, and in nice strong trees, so they could be up in the air, like a proper fort should be.


    [I will get everything set up for the evening. Trust in the spider, I know about these things.]


    Well, Karl couldn''t say that he had more experience with women than Rae did, so he wasn''t going to argue with her logic.


    Now, he just needed a smooth way to get Dana away from camp. Really, it shouldn''t be too hard. Hawk was in the tower of the fort, and if he stayed there all night, Karl would have his early warning system in ce in case something went wrong.


    Fifteen minutester, Rae was confident that she had everything that she needed ready.


    [There is a fort, the birthday gift for my Dana, a change of clothes for the evening, and everything you might need.] She informed Karl as she settled into her security office web a few dozen metres away.


    The other crews at the dungeon had brought pressure cookers, so the clerics teamed up to make a proper stew with the deer creature that evening. Bob had made fresh bread for them, and the smellsing from the fort were incredible.


    But the rest of the camp was cooking dinner as well, and the bureaucrats weren''t the sort that skimped out on their meals when they were in the field.


    So his team likely could have made something fancy just by pilfering the three groups for some specialties. The government researchers had brought plenty of supplies for the Elites that they were holding on station, but Karl''s team had always preferred to cook for themselves.


    "What is the n for the evening? I am guessing that Karl is going to steal the birthday girl for the evening." Bob asked as they finished dinner.


    Karl winked. "Rae has already set it all up. But Hawk will stay here all night, so if something happens, we can be back in only a minute or two."


    "Then shoo. Have a good night, and we will prepare for the birthday celebration when you get back in the morning."


    Karl held out a hand to Dana, who blushed and epted the help to her feet, before Karl swept her up into his arms and jogged off into the woods.


    "Where are we going? We''re supposed to be protecting the civilians." She asked as Karl ran through long grass in an open field on the way to the river.


    "We will only be a kilometre from camp. Close enough to be back before most of the humans have even noticed anything is wrong. Trust me, it will be worth it."


    Karl spotted the fort right where Rae said it was supposed to be, with the Bloodbath Spider waiting in a nearby tree. She had made it a simple design, spacious, with a fully suspended floor, so that it would all be stretchy and soft, with no hard spots where branches passed underneath.


    [There is a change of clothes inside. Have fun.]


    "Rae says she made us an outfit for the night. I don''t know what she made, but there is a present in there for you to open in the morning as well." Karl exined.


    "You know, my family could never afford birthday gifts when I was growing up. This is a whole new experience for me, and a private fort overlooking the river in the moonlight is like something out of a fairy tale." She whispered.


    Dana got excited about the idea of a fairy tale birthday and hopped out of his arms to run up thedder and check out the view and the gift that Rae had left for her.


    Karl jumped up from ground level, and found Dana holding up a bit of thin ck silk with a deep blush on her cheeks as she stared out into the fading twilight through the open window.


    "I think it will look fantastic on you." Karl whispered as he stepped through the entry.


    "There are clothes for you as well." Dana smirked with a gesture toward a pile of cloth beside the door.


    Karl picked up a matching ck set of silk pyjama pants with his name embroidered on them in white thread, though his were a bit thicker and less detailed than what Rae had made for Dana. He suspected that the spider had an innate bias, but she was giving them as much privacy as she could with her mind linked to Karl''s.


    Dana licked her lips as she saw Karl strip down and change into the thin silk, then steeled her resolve and changed into the nightie that Rae had left for her.


    The silk fell to her knees, but as thin as it was, it wasn''t actually hiding anything.


    "Absolutely stunning." Karl stammered as he took a step in her direction.


    He barely registered her nails digging into his back as he pulled Dana into his arms and pushed her bouncing curls away from her face.


    Dana closed her eyes in pleasure at the feeling of his fingers massaging her scalp and gasped at the feeling of soft lips on her neck as Karl kissed his way down to her corbone. She instinctively leaned forward into his body as he pulled back, longing for more contact, but as his hands slid up her hips under the silk of her night gown, her back arched in pleasure.


    There was something strange about tonight. Her skin was far too sensitive, every touch was like lightning through her body, and she couldn''t get enough.


    She found herself straddling Karl''sp as he fell back into a swinging chair, and when his lips found hers, all thoughts of anything outside the fort faded away.


    ----------------------


    Dana blinked her eyes in the early morning light, and shes ofst night came crashing down on her brain, along with a soreness in her body like she had never felt before.


    She recalled the intense urge to taste him, and falling out of the chair when she tore his pants off. There was no silk between their bodies now, and Dana desperately hoped that her gift from Rae had survived the evening. It was definitely the sexiest piece of clothing that she had owned in her life, but it was so soft that she would happily wear it to bed every night.


    More memories of the evening returned to her mind, and she buried her face in Karl''s chest in embarrassment.


    "I think it''s a bitte to be body shy." He whispered in her ear.


    "Do we have to get up?" Karl kissed her forehead. "We can stay here a little longer. Remi set up a shower in the corner of the fort, and we''re going to need it before we leave, but we don''t need to hurry."n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om

 Chapter 412 Birthday Morning

    Chapter 412 Birthday Morning


    An hourter, Dana was intimately familiar with the benefits of sharing a shower, and they were finally clean and ready to go back to the camp.


    Dana had found her new nightgown sitting in a pile under the window, hastily discarded and thrown across the room. She picked it up and blushed as she realized that it would need an intense cleaning before it could be worn again. However, when she thought about wearing it again, it bonded with her, vanishing into her mental space as clean as the moment it was made and ready for its next use.


    She would have to thank the spider for putting in so much work to make gifts that could be safely reused, no matter how much they were mistreated. The silk was nearly indestructible, and if you were bonded to it, it would alwayse back clean.


    Dirt and stains were not brought into the mental space with a bonded item, though it wouldn''t repair any damages they managed to do to the thin silk.


    "Rae left your present by the hammock." Karl reminded her as a gentle smile came over Dana''s face.


    Dana leaned over to pick up the present and rolled her eyes when she felt Karl''s hand on her backside. She had thought that the novelty would have worn off by now, but no. Karl was fairly certain that he would never get enough of that view.


    [The present goes over armour.] Rae reminded them, bringing Karl''s thoughts back on course and away from activities that would lead to needing another shower.


    "Rae says it''s fitted to go over your armour, the set you got from the traitors." Karl ryed.


    Dana put on the armour, then took out therge box with a pink ribbon on it. It was beautiful, and the box had been stiffened with stronger spider silk to give it the semi-rigid texture of cardboard.


    Rae had really improved her versatility with the silk once she had advanced to Royal Rank.


    Inside the box was a ckbat outfit, loose pants that tucked into calf high boots, with a waist scarf, a tunic style shirt and a long grey coat that split up the back with ties to attach the lower section to your legs for mobility. It also had a hood with a detachable face mask that would only leave the eyes and forehead visible.


    The style was halfway between the Spelldes and the Assassin ns that the Rogue ss teachers belonged to, and the more that Dana stared at it, the more that she loved it. She would be able to fight easily with a sword, reach any reagents or potions she needed for magicalbat, and it was all Royal Rank silk, so most des wouldn''t easily cut through it.


    The outfit bonded once she took it from the box, and Dana equipped it with the hood and mask up.


    "Rae, it''s beautiful." Dana gasped as she examined herself.


    Karl untied the wide ck sash at her waist and retied it over the coat so that everything was held close to her body and all the storage pockets were essible without shifting her clothing.


    "There we go. That''s how Rae meant for it to look." He exined before stealing one more kiss.


    "Now I really look like an Assassin." She noted, impressed with the improvement in functionality with the outfit rearranged.


    [Tell her to put mana in the coat.]


    "The coat should be enchanted, or magical somehow." Karl exined.


    Dana tried it, and found that it began to blend into her surroundings. Rae had managed to keep a little bit of her upgraded stealth ability on the silk after it was woven, so it blended with the colour of the fort''s silk. It wasn''t as good as when Rae was doing it herself, but when she was attacking in limited visibility, Dana would be extremely hard to track.


    "Alright, we should head back. Breakfast will be ready soon, and then they will want us to go through the dungeon again before we take the rest of the day off." Karl sighed.


    "I will race you back."


    [And I will call Hawk here to burn the remains of the fort. That ce is a biohazard.]


    [Thanks, Rae.]


    [Ooh, that was sarcasm, right Sister Rae?]


    Karl ignored the ongoing banter between Rae and Remi as he brought up [Eternal Lightning] over both of them, both for the energy refreshing and the healing effects. Both effects were much stronger than when it was [Refreshing Lightning], and by the time that they were back in camp, their limited sleepst night didn''t matter, and they were in peak shape, ready for the big bosses of the three departments toe call them for a dungeon run.


    If Karl had to guess, the healing rate of the [Eternal Lightning] skill didn''t match up to what Lotus'' area healing had aplished at Ascended Rank, but it might have been a match for a constant stream of Awakened Rank healing. When it wasbined with Remi''s new healing totems, they should be more than the area healing had done at Ascended. That was enough that the two beasts would actually be considered a proper healer in most groups, as the effect was on everyone and not just one target.


    "Oh yes, I forgot one thing." Karl informed her as they walked into the fort for breakfast.


    "What''s that?" "Happy Birthday."


    His announcement got everyone''s attention, and they all turned to see Dana enter the tent in her new outfit.


    "Is that what you made her? I like it. Full coverage for anonymity, functional, flexible, and durable." Ruthplimented Rae''s handiwork. n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om


    Dana took her hood down and everyone noticed that her ponytail was tied with the pink silk ribbon from the parcel, giving her new look a bit of a girlish softness, even though it was blended in neutral tones that matched the ground and furniture in the tent.


    Tessa and Morgana jumped up out of their chairs to grab her and turn her side to side, admiring the new outfit that Dana had gotten for her birthday. "That is incredible. I think that half of the Rogues in the Academy would kill for that, and that''s before you consider that it''s a Royal Rank stab proof outfit." Ruth noted from her chair at the back of the room.


    Tessa examined Dana''s legs and nodded in satisfaction. "It''s got Commander Rank leather as soles on the boots, and a wide heel. If you''re riding in a saddle, like I do on Thor, it would make for a much more stable position than a t sole."


    She gestured to her own boots, which had a simr heel, and Rae clicked her mandibles together happily.


    Everyone was praising her design features, and nobody had found a w in it yet. That had to mean that she had made a nearly perfect outfit. She was slowly bing the greatest Bloodbath Spider in history. If she kept it up, maybe they would rename the species after her. The Rae Spider had a very nice ring to it, and it would remind people that she could do so much more than turn them into a bloodstain.


    Not that she didn''t enjoy turning things into bloodstains, but it was far too limiting for a creature as majestic as she was.

 Chapter 413 Morning Run

    Chapter 413 Morning Run


    As if the sound of utensils drew them to the tent, Colonel Valerie arrived with the head of the church research team as soon as the food was served, and happily sat for a meal.


    "We will need a team to go check to see if they can enter yet. The other team did the twelve-hour check, and they couldn''t enter, so we are hoping that it is only one day of waiting and not a full week or something even longer." The Colonel exined as she cut her eggs to let the yolk run out over her potatoes.


    "Once a day does sound like a rather good deal. The amount of gear and loot that could be brought out by multiple teams farming a dungeon every day is rather impressive." Karl agreed.


    "Eventually, it won''t be worth it for the team anymore. Some dungeons will let you enter indefinitely, and they are the primary source for our lower level equipment, but that is very rarely true about one as powerful as a Commander Rank dungeon. If we could just farm equipment drops from a dungeon at this level, we would be able to provide much better gear for our soldiers." Colonel Valerieughed.


    "So, what is stopping it? Is there an entry limit beyond the timer?" Karl asked, unsure how this worked.


    "Normally, yes. Each person will only be allowed to enter so many times, after which the dungeon won''t provide them any more rewards if they continue."


    "So, you can keep going in, but you won''t get any loot? What if it were one out of five, with a fresh team? We could keep someone here from the Inquisition to lead weaker teams through so they could get the benefits." Valerie shook her head. "Just like with the members without a ss, a fully formed dungeon considers all members. Now, we expected that they would just be excluded from the rewards as they didn''t have a ss, and actually giving them one was a shock, but the principle still applies."


    "So, we''re likely going to be here until the dungeon stops giving us rewards?" Karl asked carefully.


    There were sure to be limits on what she was allowed to tell them, and this had been an emergency deployment, after which the response teams would normally be sent to a new location. That meant either back to fight the Hill Giants, or off to a new battlefield.


    Colonel Valerie nodded. "That''s right. Team One will be reassignedter today, off to another emergency call, while your team will remain here until the construction of the new facility isplete and the long-term staff have arrived. Construction will start today, after we have determined that the dungeon is indeed repeatable. That isn''t expected to be an issue, there are rarely cases where an instance stabilizes and can''t be repeated. Normally, the single entry versions vanish after the first use or fail to fully stabilize, like the First Advancement Trial that you underwent."


    Karl nodded in understanding. It made sense that a stabilized dungeon wouldn''t have the same sort of restrictions on it as an unstable instance. It would have been much better if they could just assign someone to farm them for equipment, though. They were at war on too many sides, and being able to send Elites out to train in a predictable dungeon before going to the front would probably reduce some of the trauma when they faced Giants in realbat.


    "Are we at our timer yet?" Bob asked as they finished eating.


    "Ten minutes ago. We start the timer when you leave the dungeon, as that seems to be the most reliable version of what the dungeons consider twenty-four hours to be."


    Karl''s core team, Tessa, Dana, Lotus and Ophelia, stood to join him in the mission to the dungeon, and the two clerics winked as they prepared to head out.


    "Oh no, you don''t. Lotus is staying here, we''ve got work to do. You can take one of the others." Doug reprimanded them.


    They were the two Nature Clerics, and there was a birthday dinner to prepare. Doug wasn''t about to let the second chef escape for hours to go y in a dungeon if he didn''t get toe with her.


    Lotus sighed, and Bob patted her on the head as he got to his feet. "I will take her spot today. We will let the Nature Clerics do their thing, and then we will be back for lunch."


    Karl noticed that Morgana and Colonel Valerie shared a secret smile as they were headed out, so he was certain that the Colonel knew what they were up to today, and likely had something nned for the evening, as Doug was intent on making lunch and not dinner. n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om


    Fortunately, Dana was facing the other way, adjusting her face mask and hood, which were attached to each other, and she wasn''t fully ustomed to yet.


    The cloth armour might not prevent broken bones from the impact force, but it would keep her from being cut or hit with particrly nasty sprays. Now that she was learning abat style that mixed des and spells, often in close quarters, getting sprayed with blood or something worse was bing a concern.


    Karl led the team to the dungeon entrance, and extended his hand, so he didn''t walk face-first into the portal if it was still closed. Luck was on their side, and the team passed smoothly through, with Bob moving to the front to take his usual position as Tank, while Karl called out the beasts.


    "I''m almost to Royal Rank, I can feel it. I was so closest time I was in here that I could feel the barrier trembling, and I think that now I will be able to advance. I''ve got a good feeling about this time." Bob exined.


    "In that case, lead the way. The Golems will support you, but a bit more practice with your new skill might be just the thing that you need to push you to the next level." Karl agreed.


    The others weren''t going to argue. There was no observer in here with them, so they could move as fast as they pleased, or take breaks between the bosses so they didn''te back out too early, before the food was ready.


    The others would definitely know if they were cking, but there wasn''t much that could actually be done about it even if they were aware.


    Bob led the way, knocking the Ogres to the ground with his [Shield m], and then chopping them with[Titanic Cleave]. It was a pair of mana intensive skills, but it severely wounded all of the Ogres, and the golems finished them off before any of them could even defend themselves.


    They didn''t even slow when they made it to the first boss, everyone just attacked, hacking it apart in seconds to see what would be in the box.


    [Boss Defeated]


    This time the announcement wasn''t in the air above the chest, but in Karl''s view, as if he had the interface active. He didn''t keep it up all the time, as it was just distracting, especially with his highly enhanced vision, but seeing the announcement was enough to remind him that he was gaining more System functions by the day.


    Bob opened the chest, and inside was a small assortment of armour, along with arge number of coins.


    [Split Coins or im?] Karl saw from his interface.


    [Split] he chose.


    [73 Gold Coins gained]


    Karl checked his interface quickly, and saw that the money function was now active, while everyone else looked around, confused as the money vanished.


    "It gave me the option to split it. Check your interface and your bag, it should be there." Karl exined.


    "Oh, there it is, right in the bottom of my bag. Well, that''s a fun new function. Auto-splitting the money makes things much less difficult, especially when you have a berserker in the team. You know how they feel about math." Bob joked.


    "Me? Excuse you very much. Your math is worse than mine." Opheliaughed.


    They tossed the armour pieces into Thor''s bags, and Tessa checked the ring that was left in the bottom of the chest.


    "A ring of [Fireball Enhancement]. It only works on the Fireball spell, but it increases damage by fifteen percent." She exined.


    "Might as well put it in the bag. None of us use the actual [Fireball] spell, but the two new mages might."

 Chapter 414 Cleared

    Chapter 414 Cleared


    The second boss went very much the same as the first. Swarmed and beaten within seconds, with nothing they needed in the chest, but this time the coins just auto-split the first time that someone touched one.


    "Oh, now it seems to be the default setting for the dungeon. The others whoe in will love this if the setting doesn''t just apply to us. Though, if they don''t have a storage bag, I wonder what will happen?" Ophelia noted as they finished adding the items from the second boss to Thor''s bags.


    They moved on to the third boss, letting Bob lead the team, but the closer they got, the more that his frustration was growing. He was stuck at the bottleneck, and there was a missing ingredient for him to advance.


    But there was hope that thest boss would help him break that, and judging by the look on his face, Karl was certain that Bob wanted to fight it alone.


    "Alright, give it a go. Thedies will keep you healed." Karl agreed before Bob could ask out loud.


    The warrior prepared himself, and Thor refreshed [Eternal Lightning] on him while bringing up [Circle of Protection] on the boss''s tform.


    If Bob was going to fight alone, that was about as much as they could do for him, and [Eternal Lightning] was a much more potent skill than any defensive ability the warrior had. It would also improve the reduced damage effect from the circle of protection, and he should be able to hold off the boss with minimal healing.


    The Ogre Lord''s club crashed down on Bob''s shield, which glowed with golden Holy light as [Eternal Lightning] activated, then [Titanic sh] crashed down on the beast''s shoulder, carving a deep furrow in the armour and causing a spray of blood.


    But between two Peak Commander Rank opponents, the battle was incredibly evenly matched, and only the extra abilities from Thor were keeping Bob in the fight.


    The two warriors circled as they tested each other with quick strikes, then a flurry of harder attacks intended to put each other off bnce.


    Karl had never noticed before how simr the fighting style of an Ogre Lord and a Warrior ss Elite was. But other than their weapons, even their skills were simr.


    However, Bob was quickly gaining the upper edge with superior sword skills, and the Ogre Lord was taking repeated strikes whenever a strike was blocked or parried well enough that he was left out of position.


    It was clear to Karl what Bob was missing, though.


    He wasn''t understanding the change in energy patterns between Commanders and Royals, and Karl wasn''t certain that fighting Commander Rank ogres would help him in that regard.


    It might actually be better for him to spar with Karl, so he could experience the feeling of Royal Rank power repeatedly without needing to risk his life.


    It wasn''t really something that most Elites did when they were in the field. There were plenty of other targets to fight, so Karl hadn''t thought about it. But for someone like Bob who was stuck at the bottleneck, it might be just the thing.


    After a particrly brutal exchange, Bob stepped back and gave a nod to the Golems. He had realized it as well. The answer to breaking the bottleneck wasn''t the Ogre Lord.


    The Golems were on the wounded dungeon boss in under a second, and three secondster it was falling dead to the ground, while the final chest of the Dungeon appeared.


    [Cooldown Timer 24:00:00]


    The Golems were on the wounded dungeon boss in under a second, and three secondster it was falling dead to the ground, while the final chest of the Dungeon appeared.


    [Cooldown Timer 24:00:00]


    Bob sighed as the reality that he hadn''t made the advancement sunk in, and Karl went over to give him a conciliatory pat on the shoulder.


    "Don''t worry too much. I''ll spar with you while we''re here, and you might find what you''re looking for. I can tell that you''re so close to understanding, but there is no way to exin it until you already understand." Karl informed him softly.


    "Thanks. I''m sure it''s something small that I''m missing, but I just can''t seem to get it."


    With a somewhat defeated sigh, Bob opened the final reward chest, and then smiled down at the interior. "I think this one is for both of us. Check this out." Bobughed, motioning for Karl toe inspect the loot.


    On the top of the pile of armour pieces and weapons sat a single skill book. [Bone Crusher] was a budget version of [Shatter] that caused extra damage that bypassed armour.


    Karl called it a budget version because it didn''t stack on top of another attack, it was an attack skill of its own. It also didn''t do as much damage, Karl guessed, as the book was only the mildly decorated Tier 2 book, and not one of the fancy ones that skills like Shatter would create.


    "Oh, that does look good. Any warrior ss can use it, so I should be able to, I think. And then I can make a copy for you, one for Ophelia, and a copy for the Church library." Karl agreed.


    "Should we wait in here while you do that? Or will they take a long time?" Ophelia asked.


    Karl shrugged. "I will find out once I''ve learned the skill, I guess."


    He picked up the book and opened the cover, letting it teach him the new skill.


    Then he checked with [Skill Book] to see what it would take to make the copies.


    "I need Commander Rank blood and bone dust. That''s easy enough, I can borrow some from Rae or Hawk." Tessa provided a pen and paper, and Karl sighed.


    "I''m really going to need to start carrying writing tools with me, so I don''t always have to borrow a pen and paper when someone wants a skill book. Alright, this should be fairly short. Most warrior ss books are."


    Karl began to write out the skill, and finished the first book in under ten minutes, which made Opheliaugh.


    "The KISS principle holds true for all warrior skills, I guess." She joked.


    "KISS principle?" Tessa asked. n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om


    "Keep it simple, stupid." The berserker replied, snorting withughter.


    "Berserker friendly books is what we called them when I was in the Academy." Bob added.


    Karl finished the second book and then handed both over to the group''s warriors. "Alright, let me know if you can''t use them, and we will give the spare to the church."


    Opheliaughed at the hope in his voice as she opened the book and learned [Bone Crusher] at the same time Bob did. "Sorry about your luck, you''ll need to make another er. But tomorrow, I think. We''ve got a birthday lunch to get to today. They should be almost done with the cooking by now." The berserker reminded him.


    Karl wrapped his arm around Dana''s shoulders as Bob sorted through the rest of the chest, and Thorughed in Karl''s mind.


    [What''s so funny?]


    [You don''t need to rub on her, she still smells like you.] Thorughed.


    Rae joined in. [Only humans would think that a shower would wash away the scent of skin to skin contact. She will smell like you for days.]


    Karl took off a glove and let his hand brush the back of Dana''s neck as he moved to help load the loot into Thor''s bags, which made all of the beastsugh.


    Now the scent wouldn''t fade until at least the end of the day.

 Chapter 415 Cookies

    Chapter 415 Cookies


    They made their way out of the dungeon, and found Colonel Valerie, along with arge number of researchers, waiting for them.


    "How did the run go?" She demanded, notepad at the ready.


    "The twenty-four-hour cooldown is confirmed, it notified me as we finished. So the timer starts after thest boss dies. Mostly we got armour and some essories that we all have better versions of, but we also got one skill book. I will make a copy of itter." Karl exined.


    "You used the book right away instead of passing it to the Inscriptionists?" A portly researcher asked in horror.


    "I have a skill for making copies of the skills I already know. It''s a bit odd, but I have already given the skill to Bob and Ophelia, and that used up my creation attempts for the day." Karl exined.


    Colonel Valerie smirked, as she knew that was an outright lie. He could make more than just two books a day, she had the reports from his interview with the Archmage.


    "Alright, we will let you get to the birthday celebration that your team is preparing. There will be arge team arriving this evening to build the structure over the dungeon entrance, and we will be holding a small social event to wee them." She exined.


    Bob chuckled. "That sounds an awful lot like more important people areing, and we need to keep them entertained while the news cameras hound you and the other team leaders for information." "I am not going to say that you''re wrong. But what I will say is that attendance ispulsory, so put on your very best outfit, and maybe trim your beard."


    Bob scratched at his stubble and shrugged. "I will see what I can do. You''re wee toe over for lunch. Dana wanted turkey and dumplings, so the other half of the team has been working on it all morning while we were in the dungeon."


    "So that is why you''re with them and not Lotus. They needed someone else who could cook. Alright, they''ve been over to steal enough ingredients from us this morning, I will have toe visit to see how it turned out." That startled Karl. He had brought everything that they requested for the birthday meal that was nned, so if they were looking for more, they must have added more to the menu that the two Nature Clerics couldn''t create on their own.


    When they entered the fort, it looked like someone had been prepping for a church bake sale.


    There were fourrge pizza ovens lined up along one wall, three long griddles with pressure cookers, or possibly steam pots, on top set along the other, with two massive mixers in the middle next to dozens of tubs full of baked goods.


    Doug waved as Karl entered the tent. "You''re just in time. Help unload the small cakes from the steam pots, and get them out on the cooling racks. We''ve got another batch ready to go. Happy birthday, Miss Dana. Here, have a cookie."


    Doug gestured to what looked like a three gallon bucket full of gingersnap cookies, and Danaughed, pulling one still warm cookie from the top of the pile.


    "Oh, these are amazing, but how did you even get so many of them made, we were only gone an hour or so." Dana asked.


    "Magic." Doug deadpanned.


    Lotus nodded, and loaded fresh cupcakes into the steam pots that Karl was emptying. They had threeyers of racks and a bit of water in the bottom, so the contents steamed to perfection, which was a bit different from a baked cupcake, but they looked delicious.


    Then she cast a spell over the pot as she put it on the grill and went to load the next.


    With that as a reminder, Karl noticed that the cookies in the ovens were ttening suspiciously quickly, and realized that the clerics must know some spell for rapid baking.


    Doug gestured to one of the ovens. "We need more hands. Everyone but the birthday girl, hop to it, keep the line moving, and we will have sweets for weeks.


    Dana, enjoy your cookies. Lunch will be ready in a half hour."


    The procession of baked goods in and out of the ovens and steam pots was a smooth process for the next hour, until Doug decided that they had enough now to feed a small army, as well as provide snacks for the arriving guests and construction workers.


    Then the item they had all been waiting for, the turkey and dumplings, was ready to be served.


    "There are cornbread mini loaves in one of those bins. Grab some to go with the stew. We have far too much for just us here, so we can eat it all day." Doug announced.


    Lotus scooped up arge bowl for Dana and then decorated it with onion greens and ced a small loaf of cornbread, shaped like a bread loaf instead of a biscuit, which was a bit odd to Karl, next to it with a pat of honey butter.


    "Perfection. Happy Birthday!" The little High Priestess announced. n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om


    Thedies moved out of the tent, where the tables to eat at had been relocated, and Karl went to Doug to get some answers about Lotus'' strange behaviourtely.


    "Did you manage to find out what is up with Lotus?" He whispered.


    Doug smiled and nodded. "It''s part of bing a High Priestess. We all develop a closer bond with the Dragons, normally with one in particr, or with the Goddess herself.


    Lotus just happened to bond with a newborn Green Dragon who hasn''t seen anything before, so its voice is constantly in her head, demanding to see new things and experience new settings.


    We''ve been working on toning down her voice, so Lotus doesn''t get as distracted. I got a more normal connection with the Goddess Directly. She is less chatty unless there is something that she needs to happen.


    It might take a while, but eventually, she will return to as normal as Lotus gets."


    Karlughed. "Well, that''s good news. I thought that there might be a major issue, but she just gained a newborn Lotus Dragon. So, it''s a bit like getting a kitten, you just need to let them explore until they learn everything they''re interested in."


    Dougughed and shook his head. "The Green Dragons might be upset to bepared to curious kittens, but I can see where you would get the impression. Newborns of all species are simrly inquisitive."


    They both grabbed lunch and headed outside as the ovens were still hot and the interior of the fort was a bit stifling with so little venttion, even with the door open.


    Dana went for seconds, then thirds, until she was leaned up against Karl''s side in a fooda. None of them were in any hurry to do anything, they were just rxing in the sunshine until the sound of helicopters alerted them to new arrivals.


    Ten of the double ded transport helicopters, and two that carried arge metal container beneath them, wereing into sight, presumably with the construction crew and materials.


    [I can see why helicopters are afraid of Hill Giants. I could take those out from here.] Rae noted idly as she lounged in the bell tower of the fort.


    The first helicopternded, and a whole crew of workers piled out and began to spread around the site, setting stakes and lights for the other helicopters tond at for unloading.


    "I think it''s safer that we just wait here until they''re all done with the unloading. They don''t look like they''re going to have time for cookies untilter." Lotus noted.


    "Muchter. They''re very energetic about the prep work, aren''t they?" Karl agreed.


    Even more workers came out of the following helicopters, and Karl began to wonder just how many people it actually took to build the structure over the dungeon portal.


    Some of them would likely be the long-term caretakers of the location, but there had to be fifty new people here, and the area they had staked out for the building was not muchrger than an average house.


    If that was asrge as the building was going to be, they had far too many workers. Did they n to just give everyone one piece to assemble? That would be the most unique strategy Karl had ever heard of for a construction team, so they had to have something else in mind.

 Chapter 416 Honored Guests

    Chapter 416 Honored Guests


    Once the helicopters were all on the ground, the workers started to stake out other building locations, as if they were making a small vige around the dungeon.


    Now it made a bit more sense. If they were going to make a dozen permanent buildings at the same time, they might actually have a use for all these people.


    Bob looked around at the work in progress. "This is chaos. It looks like they''re going with metal frame and sheeting buildings for most of the structures, but they''re going to need to build a wall around the wholeplex if they''re not going to make something more sturdy. They don''t usually keep Elites on station at these things, or at least not strong ones. So, they need some sort of protective barrier that will keep the wild beasts out of theplex." Doug brought out a cake, sliced for the whole group, and they turned people watching into their afternoon entertainment. The important people weren''t here yet, or at least they weren''ting over to talk to the Elites, so nobody was in a hurry to get up from their seats.


    Late in the afternoon, a feeling of approaching power drew Karl and the beasts'' attention to the west. "Do you see something?" Doug asked as he noticed that Karl was distracted.


    "There is more than one Overlording. By the speed, I am guessing that they''re in a helicopter. It''s too fast to be a car, even if there was a road that came to this spot." Karl exined.


    "You can tell that from this distance?" Ruth asked.


    "Yeah. Or one of the beasts can, which is the same thing because when they are alerted, I am alerted." Karl replied with a shrug.


    [It''s not Overlord Drake.] Rae noted.


    [And there are three of them, I am pretty sure.] Hawk agreed.


    "Three Overlords, Hawk thinks. None of them are Overlord Drake, who I have often crossed paths with in the past." Karl exined.


    Bobughed. "It seems like every time we run into someone famous, you''re already friends with them. Even the Colonel is an old friend of yours already, and you''re only just about to finish your first year at the Academy."


    Karl shrugged and waited for the helicopter toe in sight.


    "I have met a rather extraordinary selection of people so far, I can''t deny that. I even met the Archbishop for a few seconds."


    Bob looked like he was going to ask, then realized that the incident was almost certainly ssified, and while they were pretty rxed in their assignment to apany Karl, there was still a whole team of Magic Knights from the Inquisition sitting right next to them.


    Karl saw Colonel Valerie in the distance, motioning for them to change. "Alright, it looks like it''s showtime. Everyone get into your formal best, the important people are on their way in."


    He was about to change to his suit with the Royal Rank cape when Jodi, one of the familiar Bureau of Elite Development''s Agents under Colonel Valerie, came jogging over.


    "Stay in your armour. The fancier, the better. They have a cameraperson with them, and that means they''ll be expecting staged photos. Most of you should be fine as is, just Karl and Bob will need to change." He exined. n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om


    Morgana was in her usual ck dress, the clerics were in their robes, and the Magic Knights never changed out of their armour in public. So it was really just Karl, Bob and Ophelia who were in casual wear.


    Karl changed into his armour with the fur trimmed Ice Giant cloak, but without his helmet, while Bob changed back to his shining Knight outfit with the most glorious horned helmet equipped.


    Ophelia giggled as she checked her armour. "It feels weird to be wandering around in armour, but as a human. All my fighting is done in Werebear or Dire Bear form, so I''m never really wearing armour in human form."


    Jodi smiled at her reluctance, and then examined the group. "Karl, what''s up with the Darklight Host tabard?" He asked.


    "It is part of the armour created by the skill. It adapts to the situation, and today, it thinks that I need a tabard." Karl replied with a gesture of defeat.


    "So, it doesn''t always have a tabard?"


    Karl shook his head. "I have seen it without the tabard, but normally, it does have it. Sometimes it creates a tunic and puts that under the chest te. I think it''s formal enough, and it''s still a symbol of the World Dragon, so it shouldn''t cause any issues with photos."


    "Good enough for me."


    Jodi led them over to the main camp area, where the small helicopter was about tond with the three Overlords in it, plus three other Elites and the two pilots.


    "We should all be there to greet them, especially the Royals." Jodi muttered as he hurried them along toward thending zone.


    Karl and Doug got there just in time to take spots in the front row with Prince Charles and the team leaders of the response teams.


    The first man out was an Overlord in shining silver armour with a golden tabard and close-cropped blonde hair. He had the look of the perfect noble gentleman from a romance story, and Karl could see that there were more than a few of the women giving him admiring nces.


    Not Colonel Valerie, he noted. Perhaps they were on bad terms?


    The next out was a man in a ck hooded outfit that was somewhat simr to Dana''s, but without the coat. It was themon stealth outfit for a Rogue ss Elite, but Karl thought it was a bit extra to be wearing it here with his face covered in the middle of the day.


    It wasn''t like a ck outfit actually helped him blend in with anything here.


    That man noticed Dana right away, and then did a double take when he realized that she was a mage, and that the coat was a Royal Rank item. The quality was clear in the construction, and the adaptive coloration made it even more valuable.


    Thest man out was a mage in deep blue robes that seemed to sparkle with an entire gxy of stars, as if you were looking at an eternal void, and not a piece of clothing.


    [That is spectacr. I need to learn how to do that.] Rae sighed as she admired his outfit from her space.


    She had created her own fake stars all over, but if she could make something that realistic, she couldpletely redecorate her home. She could even make it look like her favourite trophies were floating in the void.


    Their assistants stepped out behind them, with the copilot serving as photographer, and began the formal introductions. "Overlord Johann, The shining Knight, representing the first military fast response battalion. Overlord Niall of the Inquisition, and Overlord Ahmad the Legionary Golem Lord." The man informed them simply.


    Colonel Valerie stepped forward. "I am Colonel Valerie of the Bureau of Elite Development. This is Lord Inquisitor Mable, then Minister Davies of National Treasures, followed by Prince Charles, Royal Priest Doug Mackenzie, and Prince Karl the Beast Master."


    Karl was more than a little startled that he was introduced with a title when the others weren''t, but when he saw the eyes of the Overlords light up, he knew that the Colonel had done it on purpose.

 Chapter 417 Overlord Upgraded

    Chapter 417 Overlord Upgraded


    Overlord Johann strode directly to Karl with a smile on his face. "It is a pleasure to meet you, young Prince. We have heard much about your talents and exploitstely."


    Karl took his outstretched hand with a smile. "It''s an honour to meet you as well. It isn''t often that we are graced with the presence of Overlords out here in the wilderness."


    The Shining Knightughed and nodded. "That is true. But this is a unique situation. There are only a few repeatable dungeons active in the nation, and only one other is at the Commander Rank. The fact that this one is entirely Ogres and far enough from the border that it won''t be easily contested is enough to pull us out here for the day to take a look."


    Overlord Niall was more interested in Dana''s outfit, and he was silently inspecting her, turning Dana side to side to get a better look.


    "Was that a reward from this Dungeon? It seems too high level for that." He asked in a low voice that was clearly altered with some sort of voice changer.


    Dana shook her head. "It was a gift from Prince Karl, made by his Royal Rank Bloodbath Spider."


    Dana looked shocked that she had said that out loud, and Karl began to suspect that the Overlord from the Inquisition had a skill that made people tell him the truth. n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om


    The final Overlord made his way across the rest of the group before settling on Karl.


    "I am told that you can make skill books. Do you suppose that you could make me one of the Fire Element?" He asked, though the tone suggested that the request was merely a courtesy and declining was not an option.


    "Certainly. I have an excellent Fire Element skill if you arepatible. Tell me, do you have any sort of bestial affinity? The skill was designed for use by a beast, so it can be considered a prerequisite to using the skill book directly. I believe you can still learn by studying the book, but you know how that goes." Karl agreed.


    The mage lifted his hood upward slightly, and Karl caught a glimpse of fluffy blonde ears on the top of his head.


    "That should work wonderfully. I can make it for you before you go, or whenever we get time this afternoon."


    [Finally, not an evil magician.] Hawk cheered.


    Then Ahmad the mage paused and sniffed the air. "Was there a celebration already nned? I smell all sorts of fancy baking."


    Karl nodded and gestured behind him. "It is Commander Dana''s birthday today, and our Nature Clerics were kind enough to make a remarkable number of baked goods to celebrate. Would you care to join us?"


    "Once we finish with the rest of the weing. But do save me some of those cupcakes that I can smell, if you would."


    That shouldn''t be a problem, there were hundreds of them made. One case full reserved for the Overlord wouldn''t be a hardship to anyone else. The Overlords moved on, saying hello to everyone, or in the case of Overlord Niall, saying hello to his fellow Inquisitors and the Magic Knights, then standing back, so people didn''t bother him.


    He wasn''t really the talkative sort, but that wasn''t all too surprising for a member of the Inquisition.


    While everyone else was busy, Karl walked over to Overlord Niall and lowered his voice. "I don''t suppose we get to know what happened that you all came here today? It''s a monumental asion, but you are an emergency response team, and there are still two Princes here and only one man with a camera, no reporters."


    Karl saw the thermal outline behind the mask change as the man smiled. "I suspect that we will find out sooner rather thanter. But that is ssified above your pay grade."


    "Shit, I didn''t know they were paying me." Karl joked, making the Inquisitorugh and pat him on the back.


    "Let your Spider know that if she is willing to make another of those fantastic outfits, I will pay her full asking price."


    Karl nodded. "Rae is a simple and sweet character. She really only wants one thing. Blood from a King Rank or higher beast, enough to fill a bathtub."


    Overlord Niall blinked slowly as he processed that. "What in the world would she want with that? Is she short on food?"


    Karl shook his head. "No, we''ve got plenty. But when she is getting close to advancement, she will literally bathe in the blood of her enemies and absorb their power to help her grow. It prevents bottlenecking."


    "So, as fresh as possible? I can arrange that, but it might take some time."


    [I will make it on credit. Thor says it''s good for people to owe you favours.] Rae suggested.


    "She says that she can make it on credit, and you can repay her." Karl ryed.


    "So they actually speak in your mind? Interesting. Alright, I will make that deal."


    Rae started to work in her space as Karl and Niall shook on the deal. She couldn''te out and y without terrifying all the workers, and the strange Overlords were a bit scary, so keeping them happy seemed like a good idea.


    The two waited silently as all of the aspiring politicians and bureaucrats from the government group chatted up the other Overlords and their assistants, who Karl assumed were assigned to them by the military, as they were only Ascended Rank Elites, and couldn''t possibly be part of the actual response team.


    "Alright, everyone back to work. Overlords, if you would like to inspect the design, you are wee to." Colonel Valerie informed them all in a stern voice that said they had wasted enough time already.


    The crews split up, and the original three response teams went to supervise them, while the three Overlords grabbed the members of Team One and dragged them along to the fort, following Karl''s team.


    "Did you make a tent out of... Wait, that really is Royal Rank Spider Silk, designed to mimic the Capital Cathedral. Bloody brilliant. How do you even pack it, though?" Overlord Johannughed.


    "It was actually created on the spot. Rae, the Bloodbath Spider, is quite the artist, and she likes to build art exhibitions to show off her skills everywhere that we''re going to be stopped for a while." Karl exined.


    Ruthughed. "Look upstairs, it gets even better. It''s got dividing curtains and hammocks for two expanded groups, plus a shower room. The main floor is currently set up as the kitchen to do all the baking for Commander Dana''s birthday."


    Overlord Ahmad stepped inside, and Doug gestured toward the sealed containers full of baking. "Take your pick. We will be passing them around the campter, but everything is made fresh today."


    The Catman Golem Mage happily grabbed a cupcake in each hand, and Karl could have sworn he saw the mage''s eyes glow in victory as he obtained his prize.


    Overlord Johannughed. "Well, Ahmad got what he came here for. I swear, that man shouldn''t have any teeth left with a sweet tooth like that. But we don''t have much else to do but sit here and watch the construction teams work for now."


    That made it even more obvious that the meet and greet wasn''t the reason they hade, but they certainly weren''t going to discuss it.

 Chapter 418 More Fire

    Chapter 418 More Fire


    The presence of additional people didn''t slow them down, though.


    "So, I hear that you agreed to try to make Ahmad a new skill. Do you think that it will be able to adapt to his level? Finding skills that don''t cap out at Royal Rank or lower has been one of the hardest parts of trying to advance." Overlord Johann asked in a jovial voice.


    "This one is somewhat special. I think it should be able to adapt enough to match up with an Overlord Rank mage, but it was a bit of a nightmare attempting to find one who could actually use it. The chances of just stumbling across one, and such a powerful one, are crazy." Karl joked.


    Hawk had all the materials that he would need already prepared and waiting for Karl, and he dropped them on the table as he was speaking, so that Karl couldn''t back out now.


    One way or another, he was going to make that book.


    Karl smiled at the angry bird''s insistence on spreading fire skills, and started to work. The [ming Body] skill took much longer than the warrior skills to write out, but there was a whole table full of baked goods in front of him, and Karl only needed one hand to write with.


    "The Inscriptionists would cry if they saw your skill book creation process." Overlord Ahmadughed.


    "Yeah, I don''t usually snack while working, as I don''t want to get crumbs on the book, but it''s too good to miss out on."


    The mage shook his head. "No, I meant that they need intense focus, constant mana transfer and multiple reagents to create the book."


    "Oh, that makes sense. I can do the mana transfer easily enough, but Hawk made the ink for the book before he put it on the table. There are five different Fire Elemental ingredients mixed in there, blended with his Royal Rank fire and my spiritual energy.


    I might not be an Inscriptionist type ss, but I am still a Royal." Karl slowly finished the text, and with a final surge of mana, it formed into a deep red tome that seemed to flicker with mes under the surface. It was locked with a golden strap, and the design was absolutely exquisite.


    "This is a thing of beauty. Does the Library have one yet?" Overlord Ahmad asked.


    "No, they said to hold off for now, as the restrictions on the book are so extreme. Hopefully, you will be able to use it, I think that you meet all the requirements."


    The Mage crossed his fingers for luck and carefully opened thetch on the book. "So far, so good. It let me look at it." He breathed.


    Then he flipped open the cover, and a surge of red light flooded from the book and surrounded his body as the book slowly vanished.


    It looked like it was working properly, Karl thought. At least for the first few seconds.


    Then a gust of magic blew back Ahmad''s hood, allowing fluffy cat ears to poke free as the fur changed to a deep ming orange and red along with his hair.


    Power poured from the Overlord as the [ming Body] spell took effect, and his eyes glowed bright crimson, then a deep red shine settled in over him, and Ahmad smiled.


    "It works. Overlord Rank Defensive Skill, ming Body." He gasped, still shocked, even though he was the one using it.


    "It''s not just defensive. You can use it to coat weapons to attack, and with practice, you should be able to use it to enhance your fire attacks." Karl exined.


    The Overlord smiled and created a me in his hand, then focused and let the power of the ming Body spell flow into it. n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om


    "I think that will take some time, but for now, it will be a huge benefit for me because I can do this."


    As he finished speaking, Overlord Ahmad summoned four golems that looked like overgrown hoplite legionaries, with their banded golden chest tes, small round shields and short swords.


    Then, the mes surrounded them, and they gained an extrayer of protection, as well as a damage enhancement to their weapons.


    Johann whistled in appreciation. "Now we''re talking. Overlord Golems with an extra barrier. Is that stronger than the regr barrier spell?"


    Danaughed, and Ahmad smiled.


    "It''s the primary defensive ability of Vermilion Birds. It''s on an entirely different level than a basic barrier spell." Karl exined while the mages struggled to stopughing.


    Overlord Ahmad nodded. "While the barrier spell can be used with Overlord Rank strength, it''s still a Tier 1 ability. The ming Body skill is a Tier 3 or possibly a Tier 4 ability. I can''t use it to its fullest capability yet, as it''s an adapted species ability, but it would take you three or four shes to break the barrier on the Golems."


    "Does your Hawk use it as a primary attack ability?" Johann asked Karl as he considered the versatility of the skill.


    "Indeed. He likes to fire explosive fireballs at the groundced with [Rend] for the extra shredding damage when they explode."


    The Knight looked confused. "You''re saying that he uses a warrior''s Rend ability, mixed with a mage''s fireball that is derived from the ming Body ability, as his primary attack?"


    Karl shrugged. "They''re innate skills to his species. It only made sense to blend them, and having a sphere of Rend attacks burst out is much more effective than just a fireball on its own."


    "I will have to get you to show me thatter. I have never seen such an odd thing. Many monsters at the higher Ranks use creative and deadly skills, but that particrbination sounds like it would be a mass casualty level terror." Overlord Ahmad insisted.


    He then dismissed the golems and ended the [ming Body] spell, which returned his hair and ears to their natural honey blonde colour, and his eyes to green.


    Karl briefly wondered if constantly using a racial ability from another species could make a beastkin evolve, but that seemed a bit farfetched. Hawk had evolved as he learned new skills and gained power, but that was more likely to be because of the bond, and not just because he learned a new skill. Beastkin were at least half human, and Karl had never heard of a human evolving.


    Well, other than the ones who had randomized themselves with the system stones.


    Maybe it wasn''t so oundish to think that gaining new skills might have a physical impact on the user. Most skills were pretty humanpatible, but ones like [Refreshing Lightning] and [ming Body] were made specifically for beasts.


    "I don''t suppose that you have other useful sorts of skills, do you? You know how limited the Library is. There''s only like ten skill books avable, not counting the Blue Dragon Barrier." Overlord Niall, the Inquisition Rogue, asked.


    "For ones that you could use, I would say either Rend or Bone Crusher. I''m not sure whether you can use the second one, though. The original said it was for warrior sses, and Rogues aren''t really warriors, are they?" Karl asked.


    Niall shook his head. "No, we have entirely different skills than the warriors. No warrior could use Shadow Step, and no Rogue can use Cleave."


    Lotus giggled. "Rae, the Bloodbath Spider, can use Shadow Step, and it is hrious."


    [Just wait. Soon, I will teach the Golems to Shadow Step.]

 Chapter 419 Late Night Visitors

    Chapter 419 Late Night Visitors


    There were a few more photos taken as they sat and ate, watching the work.


    The crews were really hammering through the construction, and though the buildings were simple, Karl saw that there was a logic to the design. What they were building here didn''t look like a fancy rural temple or a holy spot of any sort. It looked like a storage warehouse in the middle of nowhere, which could have belonged to a defunct mine or even to the furthest branches of the nearby coal mines.


    Making it look like an unimportant industrial facility as a disguise was a much better safety measure than just keeping someone powerful enough to deter intruders on staff.


    The work was going much faster than Karl had expected, and the set of warehouses were nearly finished by the time that it got dark.


    By then, Rae was finished as well, and she had made a simple ck version of the outfit that Dana was wearing for Overlord Niall, with the same adaptive ability for the coloration. It was a beautiful set, and it would allow his stealth skills to be even more effective.


    "Gentlemen, would you care to join us for dinner?" The Minister of National Treasures asked just before the sun set.


    The overlords were still with Karl''s group, sitting around eating baked goods and telling jokes. They had met with everyone who was on the site, but only because everyone came to them. At no point since they had taken a seat had any of them gone more than five metres from the containers full of baked goods.


    But there was a full feast prepared for the workers, and Doug had called someone over to bring out the desserts for everyone to share, now that it was looking unlikely that Dana could eat even one more cookie, and he had hidden a full container of his favourites in his storage bag.


    He wasn''t the only one. Karl suspected that everyone had at least a small container of sweets in their storage bags now, but there were still entire piles of containers full of them.


    The cameraman was there again, doing short meet and greet style photos with the Elites and the workers. Normally, those always made Karlugh when they came out in the newspaper because they looked so forced, but the workers were enthusiastically greeting them all, and profusely thanking them for the help in obtaining tables full of sweets. The cameraman wasn''t making videos, so it didn''t matter what they were talking about, and a joking conversation between a Royal Rank Elite and a steelworker about their favourite type of cake made for great photos.


    Once dinner was finished, Team One made their way to one of the supply helicopters, and left on whatever mission they had been assigned to next.


    That was thest order of business for the evening, and everyone retired to their tents as twilight turned to full dark.


    Karl had thought that the Overlords would be leaving with Team One as soon as their business was finished, as their helicopter was still waiting for them, but they set up camp in one of the new buildings to stay the night.


    Karl woke in the middle of the night to the feeling that something was wrong. Rae was awake, and she didn''t see anything, but she was uneasy about something.


    He waited in his hammock, ready to equip his armour the moment there was something solid to go on.


    [Iing] Rae reported, and Karl silently got out of bed, not wanting to wake the others until he knew what the situation was. He waited in his hammock, ready to equip his armour the moment there was something solid to go on.


    [Iing] Rae reported, and Karl silently got out of bed, not wanting to wake the others until he knew what the situation was. His team wasn''t on watch, so it wasn''t his job to respond right now. He just wanted to make sure that whoever was on watch had noticed the threat.


    [What do we haveing?] Karl asked.


    [Big flying things. Probably Drakes. It''s hard to tell from this distance.] She replied. n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om


    Karl crept out of the tent to see what was going on with his own eyes, and easily spotted the flight ofrge winged things near the horizon.


    Their body temperatures were high, making them easy to spot in the cool evening air, but they were still close to ten kilometres away.


    "Something caught your attention?" Overlord Johann asked as he walked up beside Karl.


    "There is a flight of what looks like drakes headed this way. I can''t pick out the numbers yet, but at least six. Rae informed me of the intrusion into her sensory range." Karl exined quietly.


    Johann nodded, then tossed a ck coat on over his shining armour.


    "They will know which Overlords are here soon enough, we don''t need to give them more time to n. Just keep calm and don''t do anything rash. There is a sort of ritual and protocol to this, if it really is Drake Riders, or other humans on flying mounts," the Knight exined.


    Karl shrugged. "Thest time I met with Drake Riders, they attacked on sight."


    Johann chuckled. "That might fly at Awakened, or even Ascended Rank, but a battle between Overlords with our movement skills and area attacks can cover dozens of kilometres, and rage on for hours, causing massive coteral damage.


    If they came and indiscriminately attacked us at that power level, we would do the same to them, and our nation is muchrger. Theirs is a highly popted ind."


    There was a short pause, and then from behind Karl, Niall''s voice spoke softly.


    "Commanders lead with valour, Princes can be headstrong. But Kings maintain their dignity and Overlords keep the peace. Those are the customs when dealing with other humans. Dealing with beasts is much more simple. If they left their territory, there is a reason. Find out what it is. If you''re invading their territory, then might makes right. If you don''t have the power, you have no right to be there."


    That made sense to Karl. Humans might not be able to unite or even really get along, but when it came down to it, they were still the same species, so they did show each other some consideration.


    If this was an iing flight of Drake Riders here to try to im or get a shot at the dungeon to advance some of their members, then it was likely possible that they coulde to a peaceful agreement.


    The flight wasing closer now, and it was clear that there were twelve of them in total, and there were two Overlords with the group. The others didn''t seem to be as strong, but their auras could have been hidden by the two leaders of the group. "So, do I just wait here behind you while you talk to the leaders of their flight?" Karl asked.


    Niall nodded. "Just wait behind me, and keep your beasts in their hiding spot. If they think they''re going to be jumped by monsters, they might attack before they realize that they are with us, and that will turn this whole area into a war zone."


    None of them was likely to fare well if there was arge-scale fight between Overlords here in the camp, and the workers wouldn''t take a single hit. With that in mind, Karl called Rae back before the Drakes were close enough that they were likely to be able to identify her.


    When the drakes were a kilometre out, Overlord Johann set a light spell over the area outside the camp, signalling the visitors in, but none of the Overlords'' mannerisms said they were confident that this would not end in violence.

 Chapter 420 Nice

    Chapter 420 Nice


    As the drakes approached, Karl realized that it was a pair of Overlords with ten Ascended Rank Drake Riders and mounts. They were all on the brink of reaching Commander Rank, and it seemed obvious why they were here. The question that Karl had was, how did they even know? They must have found out nearly immediately if they had flown all this way on Drakes. Their nation didn''t border Golden Dragon Nation, they had to fly halfway across the continent to get here. So, they hadn''t left this morning, that was certain.


    Theynded in an organized formation, and the Ascended Riders remained on their drakes while the two Overlords dismounted.


    "Johann, Ahmad." The leader of the Drake Riders greeted them.


    "Kenichi. You''re a long way from home. Don''t you think the youngsters are a bit too new for such a long flight?" Johann replied.


    The man known as Kenichiughed, his long ck hair fluttering in the wind as he turned back to his wing of drakes.


    "Oh, I think they''re just about the right age for this vacation, don''t you?


    Why don''t we sit down and have a drink while the children y? For old times sake." The drake rider suggested with a sly wink.


    That confirmed it. They knew that it was a stable, low Commander Rank dungeon. They had brought two full groups of Drake Riders who were about to reach Commander Rank, and just needed onest push to advance.


    "This might go better than expected. They don''t know that the dungeon is stable." Niall whispered in Karl''s ear.


    Karl wasn''t sure how Niall knew that they weren''t aware, but most likely it was by their reaction. If they had known that it was stable and repeatable, they would likely have taken a different approach, he assumed.


    Johann looked like he was considering something, then smiled. "How about a small trade. This is a valuable resource, after all." Johann offered.


    The other Overlord came forward with a chest in his hands and set it on the ground in front of Ahmad.


    The mage opened the lid with a gust of wind, and nodded with a small smile on his face.


    "We can let both groups of five go through while we have an early breakfast. There are still some fresh baked goods and stew, I believe. Would you like to join us for breakfast?" Ahmad questioned, gesturing toward the Fort, where there were still a half dozen sealed containers of baked goods.


    "I think it would be better if we ate near the beasts, they can be fickle." Overlord Kenichi informed them.


    Karl gave a low chuckle at the mention of fickle beasts, and the Dragon Rider gave him a curious look.


    "The young Prince looks quite rxed around the drakes. Is he perhaps an immigrant from our lovely ind home?" Kenichi asked.


    Johann shook his head. "Nope, a local. But the World Dragon blessed him with an affinity for beasts. Perhaps he could calm your drakes if they are feeling finicky?"


    The Overlordughed as his drake growled and sent a fireball into the sky.


    [He''s just hungry.] Hawk informed Karl, rolling his eyes in annoyance.


    [What do drakes like?] Karl asked.


    [How should I know. Feed it a Giant leg or something.]


    Karlughed at the sleepy Hawk. That wasn''t actually a bad idea.


    [Drakes like cold things. They overheat when they fly long distances because they use their fire magic to fly faster.] Remi added.


    [How did you know that?]


    [It''s in this book on beasts with Elemental Magic.] She replied proudly.


    [Just how many library books did you borrow?]


    [The sign said you could take up to four at a time.]


    Karl thought about it, and then separated both legs from the knee down on a Commander Rank Ice Giant corpse and walked over to the hungry drakes.


    "Here you go, friends. A nice cold treat after a long trip."


    Karl tossed the two Royal Rank drakes that the Overlords had flown in on each a leg, which they caught in their mouths before making a happy keening noise that was sure to wake the entire camp.


    The rider known as Kenichi gave Karl a suspicious look, but Karl just smiled at the drakes and returned to his spot by Niall.


    Ahmad cast a spell, and a container of mixed cookies floated out of the fort, along with a pressure cooker full of chicken and dumplings that was beginning to steam as it moved.


    "Did you bring a table? If not, we can fetch one." He suggested.


    The second Overlord of the drake riders brought out arge nket from his pack and spread it on the ground between them.


    Ahmad put down the food, and the silent Overlord brought out dishes. The four Overlords took seats, then Kenichi motioned for Karl and Niall to join them.


    "No need to stand guard during breakfast. Come and join us. One of the Commanders can show our children to the trial." Kenichi insisted.


    Karl turned his head slightly so he could see Colonel Valerieing.


    "It''s the Colonel. Or at least, she will get here first." Karl spoke softly to Niall, so he didn''t interrupt their conversation.


    "You can tell that?" The formerly silent Overlord asked, startled by Karl''s senses.


    "Even if the wind wasn''t blowing her perfume my way, I can see her. My night vision is quite a bit better than before I awakened." Karl joked.


    "You do have a rather bestial affinity. To be able to see into nearly absolute darkness with a light in your eyes is an umon trait."


    Karl suspected that he might have given too much away, but the Overlord hadn''t mentioned that she was at the very edge of his peripheral vision and didn''t seem all that worked up about it. More like he was attempting to put Karl at ease with his presence by showing that he wasn''t a fan of simple tricks, being open and honest.


    The Colonel stopped a few metres behind them, just into the light spell, and waited for someone to acknowledge her presence.


    "Gentlemen, this is Colonel Valerie. As per our agreement, she will escort your two teams of Ascended Riders into the anomaly for one attempt each. I trust that they have brought sufficient healing potions if they don''t have a cleric with them? It is a five-person limit, so two healers for the group would be best." Johann informed them.


    Kenichi nodded, then pushed his hair back out of his face in annoyance. He must have lost his hair tie at some point because it was obvious that he didn''t prefer to have it loose.


    "Yes, we have clerics of the Dragon Gods with the trainees. Thank you for your assistance, Commander. We will be looking forward to good news."


    The ten young riders dismounted and followed Colonel Valerie into the building where the dungeon portal was. It was inevitable that they would find out that it was a stable dungeon portal, but with a bit of luck, there wouldn''t be a fight over it. n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om


    They had gotten what they came for, a trip for their trainees into the dungeon, and now they were about to gorge themselves on sweets.


    That reminded Karl. "Be careful with the brownies. They''re made by the Nature Clerics."


    That made the two visitorsugh, though Karl did notice that Kenichi''s hand passed over the brownies. Technically, they were in hostile territory, and it wouldn''t be a good idea for the Drake Riders to get stoned right now.


    No matter how funny the Green Dragon might find it.

 Chapter 421 Overlord Kenichi

    Chapter 421 Overlord Kenichi


    The entire camp was on edge as the two visiting foreign Overlords sat and ate breakfast with the local group.


    Now that the Drake Riders were here, it was clear why the Overlords had stuck around, and why it was so important that the extra group of Elites be sent away. If they could see that there were twenty or more Elites who were qualified to be training in this dungeon, they would have realized that the instance had stabilized and was repeatable before they had made the deal, and they likely wouldn''t have offered whatever it was that Overlord Ahmad was so happy to see.


    Instead, they would have gone with a less valuable offer from the start. The fact that nobody tried to argue for more likely told them fairly quickly that they had misjudged the situation, but the deal was made, and everything was peaceful for the moment, so they would have to take the markup, and call it the price of training their Mages.


    Well, Karl assumed they were mages. They had powers, but as far as Karl knew, they weren''t awakened with a serum or System Stone the way that the Elites of the Golden Dragon Nation were.


    "These cookies are wonderful. You have a truly talented cook among your Nature Clerics. We have one in charge of the kitchen at the weyr as well, but I must say, the baked goods are somewhatcking." Overlord Kenichi sighed.


    "I am not sure which of the two here is responsible for the cookie recipe, but they''re both very talented bakers. It makes deployment much more pleasant." Karl agreed.


    "Oh, you get to travel with a Nature Cleric? That is truly fortunate. Surely, you don''t take them to battle. The Nature Clerics are not known for being reliablebat partners, or particrly fond ofbat. We do not force our clerics to go against their aspect''s nature in the Drake Isles."


    Karl smiled. "The Nature God''s High Priestess that travels with me is a healing specialist with excellent cooking skills and an intense fondness for exploration. She mightin if we wake her up early, but I don''t think anything we have asked is contrary to her Goddess."


    "I don''t suppose that the giant spider monster has anything to it? I''ve never met a Green Dragon who could resist that." The other Drake Rider Overlord joked.


    "It might have a small amount to do with it."


    Rae had been in her space since just after the riders were spotted, so unless the quiet man had senses that were better than hers, he must have known something about Karl before he arrived.


    It had been most of an hour, and the teams were due to exit the dungeon soon. Karl could see the tension of the Overlords as each additional minute passed. The longer they took, they more they must have struggled. Unlike Karl''s team, which was on friendly ground when they went in, the purpose ofing with the Overlords was to secure their exit after they had finished, and had hopefully made it to Commander Rank.


    Karl could see that Overlord Kenichi was itching to do something, and was about to get up when a portal opened and a group of shouting soldiers rushed out fifty metres from the camp. n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om


    The Overlords were all on their feet instantly, and it was only after they were standing that they realized the new arrivals didn''t belong to either side''s nation.


    "Did we put up a ''Grand Opening, Everyone Wee'' billboard or something?" Karl muttered, and the pair of Drake Riders burst intoughter, shattering the tension of the situation.


    Overlord Kenichi spat on the ground. "Witry, what are you doing here?"


    "The Most Glorious Oracle Foresaw that there would be a great opportunity for the Fourth Grade Mages at this ce and time. I can sense the dungeon entrance from here, Dragon ve." The man in front of the group of Mages, another Overlord, snarled back.


    A significant portion of the top fighters of three nations were now gathered in a hostile standoff in the middle of nowhere, and Karl began to worry that the young Drake Riders were going toe out to the middle of a massacre.


    The Mage gave everyone a disgusted look, then his eyesnded on Karl.


    "Is this your dungeon challenge champion? He doesn''t look like much." The mage continued.


    Karl winked and blew him a kiss, which made Kenichiugh even harder.


    Karl had no idea what a dungeon champion was, but they had shown up with ten Commander Rank mages, and if it was a battle between champions, nobody but the group''s leader could beat him one on one. But if it were the leader challenging, he would be fighting one of the three Overlords at his own Rank.


    Overlord Niall smiled under his mask. "Are you certain that you want to make an over Rank challenge? You might not have anyone left to challenge the dungeon after. I am certain you will find our entry fee eminently reasonable."


    Karl couldn''t tell how powerful the attack magic of a foreign mage might be at the Commander Rank, but Niall was right, none of them would be able to touch him inbat.


    The mage red at him, and Karl saw the thermal image of the ten Drake Riders exiting the dungeon. Colonel Valerie was holding them in ce while the argument continued outside the camp, but nobody in the other groups seemed to have noticed they had returned yet.


    Karl did a quick headcount, verifying that all ten of them had made it out of the dungeon.


    The mages sneered at Karl and quietly began to encourage their leader to take the challenge instead of paying the bribe.


    So that was how it worked. The Drake Riders had just paid up and sent their teams in without a fuss. It was fast and efficient, so they were already finished their run, and once Karl could get a better read on them, he would find out if their payment had earned them any advancements to Commander.


    The mage turned back to his team and silenced them with one raised hand. "We have conditions. No deliberate lethal blows, no enchanted des, and a full charge format." The Mage demanded.


    Overlord Johann smiled. "No summons, no supporters." He countered.


    "On either side." The mage insisted.


    That could be a bit of a mess for Karl, if he couldn''t call out his beasts to support.


    [Humans are stupid. We can fight from in here. We just can''t call the Golems.] Rae informed him.


    That was likely a rule vition, but how would they prove it? When the beasts cast a spell from their space, you would have to be able to see into the spaces to know that they were helping at all.


    The mages nodded in encouragement, and their leader extended a hand for Johann to shake.


    "Set the arena boundary and we can get started." The mage announced.


    Niall leaned over to whisper to Karl, low enough the others shouldn''t hear. "No aiming for the head and don''t let your beastse out.


    As long as you don''t aim for the heart or the head, you shouldn''t be used of trying for killing blows. Do you have a weapon that isn''t ded?"


    Karl took out his maul and ced it on the ground between his feet.


    "Oh, that should do just fine. Potions aren''t prohibited, so if you have some, you can use them to buff for the fight. Outside assistance is prohibited in general, so no support spells from your team." The Rogue added.


    "I just wish that I could use Rae''s Shadow Step ability. This could get much more fun." Karl whispered back.


    The mage leader was now ring at Kenichi, who was stillughing.


    "What in the seven gods is so funny?" He demanded.


    "You should have paid the bribe. He''s going to beat the ever-loving hell out of your boys."


    The mage spat at Kenichi''s feet and turned away, sending his team to therge circle that Overlord Johann had inscribed with an attack spell.


    They might be neighbours, but they were obviously not any closer friends than the Drake Riders and the Golden Dragon Nation were. Or perhaps it was personal.


    It was about fifty metres across, plenty of room to fight. Normally, that should favour the mages, but it was also a small enough space that Remi could cover it with a Thunderstorm while Karl added a Blizzard.


    "Do you need preparation time?" Johann asked. "I''m good. I''ve already eaten breakfast, as I do despise fighting on an empty stomach."


    The Knight patted Karl on the back and gestured to the marked arena.


    "If they can''t get up for twenty seconds, they''re eliminated. I rmend aiming for legs. Easy to heal after, and it doesn''t leave them with a grudge."

 Chapter 422 Witry Mages

    Chapter 422 Witry Mages


    The ten mages were quietly joking with each other as Karl entered the arena space.


    "A warrior? They think that a Royal Rank warrior can take the ten of us? We might as well have made a pair''s challenge." One of the boys joked.


    "He sure is confident for a little herbivore of a man." The girl beside him added.


    [Make that one a smashing post.] Thor insisted, offended by the insult to his food choices.


    "Are we ready?" The Mage team leader asked. Karl had initially thought his name was Witry, but that was also the name of a country north of the Hill Giant Nation, next to the Drake Riders'' ind. So, it was most likely addressing him by origin nation, not name.


    Karl slung the maul over his shoulder and nodded. The mages began casting their spells as he brought up [Eternal Lightning] [ming Body] and [Circle of Protection] all at once, then cast [Blizzard] at Royal Rank, while Remi started a [Thunderstorm].


    [Don''t use Totems, they will ask too many questions.] Karl insisted as heunched himself forward.


    The closest mages were caught off guard, and the girl who had insulted Thor''s love of nts was sent flying with a sickening crunch as Karl''s shoulder mmed into her chest. n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om


    The Lightning shock from his barrier shattered her defensive spells, and her robes didn''t even slow his momentum. The maul, with only a coating of [ming Body], shattered the thigh of the boy beside her, and he crumpled to the ground as the caustic rain began to fall and thunder echoed through the arena.


    Karl tossed out [Chain Lightning], stunning the mages closest to him, before he moved toward the back of the arena, where the majority of the mages had gathered.


    He raised his hand to aim Chain Lightning, an unnecessary little mental trick, but Rae used it as a cue to be dramatic, and began firing bullet - sized stones from near the palm of Karl''s hand, spraying them into the remaining mages, who struggled to keep their barriers up.


    A [Fireball] came flying at Karl, and Hawk blocked it with a [Wind Barrier], stopping it half a metre away.


    "Shit, it''s not a warrior. He''s a Shaman with a hammer." One of the mages was cursing.


    Karl could see the frustration of his teammates. They all knew that already, but there was nothing they could do about it as Karl deactivated the spells on his maul and cricket swatted one of the mages who had hit the ground to avoid the rocks.


    The hammer hit him in the stomach, broke his barrier, and sent him flying across the arena.


    Karl put his head down and charged another mage, while Thor cheered in his mind. The mighty smash was the true best attack. Now, if only Karl had proper horns.


    "Enough!" The leader of the mage team shouted, right as Karl found himself wrapped in a barrier.


    Five stacks of [ming Body] surged from the maul as Karl moved the few centimetres he could, but the barrier only shimmered and fluctuated for a second before stabilizing.


    Then it was gone, and Niall had a hand on his shoulder.


    "That''s good enough, son. They got the message." The Inquisitor insisted.


    Karl ended the Blizzard and Remi ended her Thunderstorm, returning the area to a neutral state, though much more muddy than it had been.


    Now the mage Overlord was no longer sneering at Karl, but staring at him with what looked like envy.


    Even Johann looked impressed, going by how he was standing, as he had his helmet on now.


    There must have been some tension during the fight, as they were all on edge and barrier spells were activated.


    "What was that? What sort of barrier spell just shrugs off a half dozen barrages of Arcane Missile at once?" The mage demanded.


    Everyone turned to Karl for answers.


    "That would be an [Eternal Lightning] barrier with a [Circle of Protection] stacked over it. I didn''t even notice the Arcane Missiles. I saw the Fireball, though." Karl replied.


    The rest of Karl''s team hade out in themotion, and they were giving him odd looks.


    "What do you need beasts for if you can fight like that?" Overlord Kenichi asked.


    "Beasts?" The Mage Overlord Demanded.


    "He''s a Beast Master. The first report we had of him, he had a bird of some sort, and a Bloodbath Spider fighting on his side. Neither of them were called for this fight, as Johann banned summons. Not that I think a dozen Commander Rank Golems would have changed the situation all that much. A Royal Rank Bloodbath Spider would have annihted them before they could touch him."


    Niall sighed in frustration as all of thebat power intelligence the Drake Riders had gathered on Karl was shared with another country, but the Golden Dragon Nation and the Drake Riders were not friends. They were just ying by the rules to avoid an Overlord Rank fight.


    Something back in the arena area caught the attention of the Witry Mage, and he turned back, with his eyes wide in shock.


    Karl couldn''t tell what he was looking at until he traced the man''s attention to the first woman he had shoulder checked. She had an empty potion bottle in her hand, but she was also casting some sort of spell that didn''t have a visible effect. A spell that was at the Royal Rank.


    The pair of Drake Ridersughed. "What was it the Oracle said? A great opportunity today for the Commander Rank, right? Well, there you have it. That makes two, no three now, that have advanced to the Royal Rank after understanding the difference between Ranks and breaking the bottleneck."


    Karl had heard that sometimes losing a fight could be a greater learning experience than years of practice without a grave challenge, but he hadn''t expected that they would send Commanders so close to advancing that watching their friends get beat up would be enough to trigger their advancement.


    They weren''t the only ones who were using the fight as a learning experience, though. The Magic Knights and Dana wereparing notes on the fight, and how it might have been improved or adapted to their skills.


    They also used primarily magic and not physical strength, and while he used mostly magical attacks, Karl had gone for closebat to use the bodies as a shield instead of trying to dodge their attacks while throwing spells from a distance.


    The Witry Overlord opened a portal, and silently gestured to his mages, who filed through, mostly limping or nursing injuries, with a few still unconscious and being carried by their teammates.


    Nobody was going to die, so it was a win for everyone, in a way. He got to stretch his legs, the mages learned that the Royal Rank bottleneck wasn''t just a small step, and the civilians at the camp didn''t have to deal with arge-scale fight.


    Politics were honestly a giant pain in the ass, but with all of the young Drake Ridersing back out now, Karl had some hope that the day''s drama was mostly over. Over for him, anyhow. The Overlords and the politicians behind the scenes would certainly be busy dealing with other nations finding out about their new dungeon instance.


    There was a good chance that someone was in real trouble for whatever leak had brought people here only days after it stabilized, and before the locals could make good use of it, but that was also not his problem.

 Chapter 423 High Traffic Area

    Chapter 423 High Traffic Area


    Once the mages from Witry were gone, the young Drake Riders came out from the building with excited smiles on their faces. Six of the ten had made it to Commander Rank, and Karl knew that they would all have at least one or two new pieces of equipment going back with them.


    The dungeon was an excellent source of resources for the Commander Rank, with some Ascended items being possible from the Ogres on the way to the bosses, along with the coins.


    That was the tradeoff. They had to pay to enter, but they got something in return that may or may not have been worth more than what they paid. Realistically, the experience alone was worth quite a bit, as the dungeon was a controlled environment, where you could send specific fighters without surprises.


    The Drake Rider Overlords made a sharp whistle, and the younger Riders gave Johann and the other Overlords a sharp salute. Then they ran to their mounts, and in one smooth movement, they were aloft, soaring up into the sky on the wave of warmer air blowing over the tree line.


    "It''s always creepy when they do that." Johannined.


    "Do what?" Karl asked.


    That mount and takeoff had been textbook perfect. It was like they were doing a synchronized gymnastics routine. Karl didn''t see anything creepy about it at all.


    The Knight gave Karl a confused look. "Vanish. It''s creepy when they vanish like that."


    Karl turned and watched them fly away for a few seconds before he realized that it was just echolocation and thermal imaging that still saw them.


    "Oh. Sorry, I can still see them, so I didn''t realize they did a thing."


    Niall smiled and shook his head. "Your senses really are insane. But to think that you could see through invisibility cast at the Overlord Rank."


    Karl shrugged. "It hides the visual image of them, but not the thermal image, or their radar signature, forck of a better word. The echolocation that Rae uses to see in perfect darkness, along with her heat sight."


    Ahmad sighed. "Lazy bastard. It''s not invisibility. He cast lesser concealment, assuming that we wouldn''t be able to track him either way. A proper invisibility spell would hide him from thermal imaging and radar, at least conventional radar."


    [Tell him I want that spell.]


    "I don''t suppose that you could spare a copy of that spell for a particr Princess who thinks Shadow Step isn''t sneaky enough for her." Karl suggested.


    "If I could turn that into a spell book, every mage in the nation would be trying to learn it right now. Unfortunately, I cannot. But she really does dream of bing a nightmare for other species, doesn''t she?"


    Karl smiled and nodded. "You should see it, it is adorable. Her legs make happy little chasing motions when she''s dreaming of hunting them down."


    "Because that''s not terrifying at all." Bob mumbled from somewhere behind Karl.


    Johann gave him a curious look, and Karl chuckled. "Bob here isn''t the biggest fan of arachnids. Even when they''re huge and furry and cuddly with razor legs and definitely not venomous mandibles."


    "You''re not helping."


    "Well, that''s two nations now that know for certain that Karl is a beast master, not counting the Giants. I suppose it''s not too big of an issue, as they''re used to strange things from our Elites, just keep an eye out for strangers trying to cut a deal. It might be foreigners trying to poach your talents, and both the government and the Church feel a certain sort of way about that." Johann cautioned.


    "That is understandable. They have put a fair bit of effort into helping me along the way, and they''ve even agreed to my unreasonable demands to have a specific group with me, to the point they agreed to let us sign a magical contract." Karl replied.


    Johann chuckled. "Yes, so I heard. The High Priests say that you have an exceptional affinity for the World Dragon''s energy, so they wanted to see if your good fortune would rub off on those around you."


    The rest of Karl''s team smirked when they heard those words. It certainly seemed like it had rubbed off on them. "Do you think that we''re going to have more visitors?" Morgana asked as she walked up with Doug.


    "Almost certainly. There is a chance that they will want to do either individual challenges against a Commander Rank Elite, or group challenges against a Royal Rank Elite. Some might have all Ascended fighters, and they''ll want a group fight against a Commander, so if one of you is suitable for the task, be ready to volunteer."


    The team members nodded, and wondered which one of them would be the best suited to actually taking on a group of ten Ascended mages.


    Not everyone was Karl, who had definitely cheated by allowing his beasts to assist without summoning them.


    "What if they send a Royal Rank fighter to lead their team? Are we certain that we can win the challenge?" The familiar voice of the politician from the National Treasures Department asked.


    "Yes. If it''s a proper duel, we won''t restrict the beasts. I didn''t want the foreign forces to learn any more than necessary about hisbat power, but as long as the opponent isn''t a peak Royal Rank Divine Beast, it shouldn''t be an issue." Overlord Niall replied with utter confidence.


    "Is our champion that strong?" The politician asked hopefully.


    "On a good day, one in ten Royal Rank Elites could take on Rae. Add in Karl and the other three beasts, and few things short of a full-blooded Dragon or a Divine Beast would stand a chance."


    The politician sighed in relief, but all of the Overlords turned to the field where thest duel was fought.


    Another portal opened, and Karl prepared himself for another challenge. But the first person to exit was an elderly man in the robes of the World Dragon Clerics. He took down his hood and revealed a wrinkled face with long fox ears and sharp eyes that didn''t match the aging joints of his body.


    He was an Overlord, and out of instinct, Karl nodded politely to him, while Niall, the Magic Knights and all the Clerics all bowed.


    "Ah, I found the right spot on the first try. I knew that if I just followed the sensation of beasts fighting, I would find it." The World Dragon Bishop muttered to himself, then gestured for others toe through the portal.


    Ten beastkin, including one Worgen wolf girl that looked quite familiar to Karl, came through the portal, all at the peak of Ascended Rank.


    The Worgen stopped and pointed at Karl. "It''s you! How did you make it to the Royal Rank so fast? It''s only been half a year since we met." The old man smiled. "Good, you''re all already friends. I do love emotional reunions. n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om


    Now, the Archbishop said that there was a dungeon around here somewhere. Would you care to guide an old man in the right direction?"


    Karl smiled and stepped forward with his arm bent for the old man to use as a crutch.


    "Of course, High Priest, it''s just over this way. Did you have other business with the Overlords first?"


    "Oh, they can sort that out between themselves. I am more interested in the portal itself."


    Ruth came up and tapped Karl on the shoulder. "I will take the Elder to see the portal. I have magic to make the walk easier on him."

 Chapter 424 Newbon

    Chapter 424 Newbon


    The new arrivals looked nervous now that they had been abandoned, but the formerly human Worgen Rogue took charge.


    "We havee to request ess to the dungeon, on behalf of the Whiton Temple branch of the Church. The ten of us are all trainees in their care." She announced.


    Niall sighed. If they were appealing on behalf of the church, it didn''t matter that they weren''t from the Golden Dragon Nation. They would be allowed ess. Dungeons were considered Holy Relics, which gave the Church primary rights over them. So, it didn''t matter what nation they hailed from, if they were Clerics of the World Dragon, or sent by them, they would be amodated.


    "Alright. The Magic Knights will lead you in. The Dungeon separates entrants into groups of five by order of entry, so sort your groups in advance." The Inquisitor exined.


    "What is the challenge level?" She asked.


    "Overall, low Commander. A mix of Commander and Ascended Rank Ogres, with Commander Rank bosses. There is minimal magic use, but some of the battle skills of the Ogre Lords are no joke."


    The Knights led them into the building, and Johann sighed. "It looks like the discovery is alreadymon knowledge. This can''t be something on our end, it must have been a leak on the other side, either in procurement, or in the initial reporting, before your team was sent to clear the area. I''m tempted to say after you arrived. The Witry Mages didn''t show up to try to im it before it stabilized, so they would have found outter, likely from the Drake Riders'' movements triggering their Oracle.


    But if the word has already spread all through the Clergy, it should be considered an open secret.


    That means we''re going to have to deal with at least the Newbon Spelldes or demihumans showing up to challenge for a discount on ess.


    Nobody else would have the guts, I think. The Mage Towers east of the Frost Giants don''t need much from us, as they have their own training methods, and the items thate from a dungeon are not usually of much use to Mages who can make their own equipment." The Shining Knight looked significantly more haggard than he had only a day ago, but it was emotional wear. "I don''t know much about Newbon. Is it likely to get messy when they arrive?" Karl asked.


    "That really depends on the day. Newbon is a majority human magical nation, thergest on the continent, but they have a considerable demihuman poption. Every species you can think of, from Elves to Minotaur and Lamia coexists there.


    So, when they show up here, their response will greatly depend on the attitude of the group they sent. If it''s demihumans, some get along well with humans, some do not. But they respect the human interaction standards, for the most part. So, once a challenge has been decided, the following groups will respect the oue for a while.


    That makes it vitally important that we win the challenges, or they''ll send anyone they please to fight in the dungeon, and they won''t be polite about it." Johann exined.


    Another portal opened, and a smiling Minotaur woman in an undyed leather dress covered in bead work stepped out. "Were you talking about me? My ears are burning, you must have been talking about me." She announced.


    "Funny, it''s like you had a listening spell active." Ahmad replied, and the nearly three metre tall woman gave him a bright white toothy grin. "Hello again Ahmad. I don''t suppose you will reconsider that marriage proposal? I know you''re still single."


    "And quite content with the situation, thank you, Morrisa."


    She actually looked a bit sad at that reply. Perhaps the big woman had a thing for clean cut Catman mages.


    "How are we doing this today? Are you going to let my people through, or do we need to beat someone up to make our point?" She asked.


    "Or you can just pay the entry fee." Ahmad suggested.


    The Minotaur burst intoughter. "I see you haven''t lost your sense of humour. Now, should we do this champion on champion, or will you let my people pass?"


    "Champions. Do you want conditions?"


    "This is a young adult sort of fight, so we can''t just let the children go wild. No lethal blows, no cheap shots. One on one."


    "With summons." Ahmad countered. "Do I look stupid to you? Don''t answer that, humans are too stupid to tell that Minotaurs are all smarter than them. No summons, or that champion of yours is just going to try to assassinate my champion with his beasts."


    [She''s not as dumb as she looks. But how are you supposed to tell that with those vacant bovine eyes?] Rae asked.


    [I think she''s actually not as smart as she thinks. She''s just a prey species, and she instinctively knows to avoid us.] Hawk added.


    [Why won''t they let us out? Everyone keeps insulting us and I can''t even go out and bite them.] Remiined.


    [Our little snake is getting bloodthirsty. We will have to find you some peaceful reading materials or keep you away from Sister Rae.] Thor joked as Ahmad considered his answer. n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om


    Before he could speak, Morrisa turned to Karl. "I am right, am I not? No matter who I send against you, you would have one of your beasts assassinate them while you restrained them."


    "Not in a lethal way. We agreed no lethal blows." Karl agreed.


    Ahmad reluctantly nodded as he made a decision. "Alright. One on one, no additional attackers. But no flying species on your side."


    Karl hadn''t considered the fact that they might send a flying opponent against him to try to attack from further than he could cast spells.


    "Why don''t we make this one fun? Unarmed, melee range only?" The Minotaur Shaman suggested.


    "Do you think we''re crazy?" Johannughed.


    Karl chuckled. "Actually, I think she might be on to something. We''ve all seen the shy skills, maybe a ssic knock - down, drag out is just what we need."


    "I don''t think that you know what you''re suggesting." Niall whispered.


    "No, the boy has a point. How about this. No more than twice his weight, so my champion doesn''t get taken out with a crotch punch. No weapons, no lethal blows, melee range only. No flying." Karl smiled at Johann and the Knight sighed. "Fine, we ept the terms."


    Overlord Ahmadughed. "Well, at least Karl isn''t a particrlyrge guy. He''s only about a hundred kilos, so the opponent won''t be someone huge."


    Morrisa reached back through the portal she had entered through, and grabbed someone, dragging them forward.


    He appeared to be a turtle, standing on his back feet, with human shaped legs, but also with a full shell, and armoured ting on top of his head.


    "Dammit, I should have expected that. If you want to forfeit, let us know. A Torton will not be an easy fight unarmed." Johann sighed.


    Karl pped him on the shoulder. "Don''t worry too much. I can throw a punch."


    The actual punch wasn''t the point of a melee range fight with what was almost certain to be a naturally armoured Monk. Their skills granted them extreme defence, enhanced by their high base durability. Then they had a wide range of attack skills intended for closebat.


    But Karl had Brutality to increase his size. Then there were Haste and Terrorize to increase his speed and damage. Bone Crusher was an effective melee attack skill that ignored armour, Shatter added internal damage, and Crushing Blows would add damage to blunt attacks, like fists and Bone Crusher.


    If anything, he was at least on even footing with a Monk when he had his barriers up.

 Chapter 425 Donald The Monk

    Chapter 425 Donald The Monk


    The Torton smiled at Karl, his mouth extending all the way across his head.


    "I am Donald, what might your name be, human warrior?" He asked.


    "My name is Karl. It''s a pleasure to meet you, Donald."


    The Tortonughed. "You might not be saying that in a minute."


    Karl shrugged. "We will see. I just hope that a cracked shell won''t leave you in too bad of a condition. From what I remember, snapping turtles don''t have a skeleton inside their shell."


    The Torton looked vaguely insulted at beingpared to amon snapping turtle, but he didn''t dignify Karl''s taunt with a response.


    Johann led them to the arena ring, and Morrisa called ten peak Ascended fighters through. "If my man loses, I will pay the customary double fee. If not, there is no point in dying." She insisted.


    Johann nodded. "Fine by me. They might as well get started. This fight might take a few minutes."


    Karl and Donald squared off, with the Minotaur Overlord as a referee.


    "Fighters ready? Bring up your defences and we will start." Karl activated ming Body, Eternal Lightning, Haste, Terrorize and Brutality at the same time, then nodded.


    The two beastkin both looked shocked when Karl expanded to be close to the same size as his opponent, but Donald didn''t look concerned. Torton expressions didn''t change much, but his bodynguage said that he thought the size expansion was just a trick to give Karl longer reach.


    "Begin."


    The twobatantsunched toward each other, neither trying to dodge, and two mighty blowsnded. Eternal Lightning red as it was nearly shattered by a blow to Karl''s left shoulder, but Karl''s fistnded in the centre of the Torton''s chest, and the stout beast was lifted off his feet and tossed backward into the grass, sliding on his back shell for five metres before tucking his head inside his shell and flipping onto to his feet with a pale white barrier flickering around him.


    He was a bit more cautious as he advanced, shifting positions, so Karl''s darting jabs couldn''t hit him squarely again.


    "What did he hit him with? I''ve never seen a Torton put on his back with one punch." Niall asked as the two Royal Rank fighters gauged each other''s skills.


    Ophelia considered it for a few seconds. "Likely [Bone Crusher], increased by the same buffs that he uses on his beasts, since he''s expanded his own size like he does for me in bear form."


    "Ah, armour bypass. That makes sense. A Weretiger likely would have been a worse matchup for him. That''s what I was expecting her to pick."


    The Minotaur gave them an annoyed look as Karl shifted targets at thest instant and met Donald''s punch with his own fist, sending shockwaves out from the two fighters before the Torton staggered back, clutching his shattered hand.


    It was quickly healing as Donald dodged and focused his energy on the injured limb.


    Monk ss internal healing wasn''t as good as a cleric spell, but it appeared to be as good as Bestial Regeneration, just more energy intensive.


    Donald was breathing heavily by the time his fist was healed, and a quick jab from Karl made his barrier flickerpletely out of existence for over a second.


    Monk ss internal healing wasn''t as good as a cleric spell, but it appeared to be as good as Bestial Regeneration, just more energy intensive.


    Donald was breathing heavily by the time his fist was healed, and a quick jab from Karl made his barrier flickerpletely out of existence for over a second.


    But the Monk was deceptively fast, and he managed to dodge enough hits to keep Karl from following it up to finish the fight. N?v(el)B\\jnn


    His breathing evened out, and his barrier came back as Donald focused on defence while he looked for an opening that wouldn''t let Karl sacrifice his own body to counterattack.


    That double barrier over Karl made it a losing proposition to trade punches like that.


    Karl took advantage of his need to focus on defence, and chased the Torton around the ring, shocking him with Chain Lightning every time they made even the slightest bit of contact.


    Most of the effect was being blocked by the barrier, but Karl could see that Donald''s muscles were beginning to twitch with every hit as his defences weakened, and the Torton slowly became exhausted.


    With [Eternal Lightning] Karl was still feeling as fresh as when he started the fight, though a bit hungry.


    Karl hadn''t realized how much time had passed until he spun behind his opponent to rain a flurry of attacks down on Donald''s shell, letting [Bone Crusher] and [Shatter] with the [Crushing Blows] enhancement do their work on his internal organs. That was when he noticed that there were ten freshly advanced Commanders waiting for the fight to end.


    The internal shockwaves sent Donald to his shell, limbs pulled inside and spitting blood, as Karl backed away.


    Twenty seconds on the ground was out of the fight, and with the lingering tremors in his body, Karl could tell that his opponent was doing the best that he could just to keep his organs from liquifying.


    Marissa sighed and signalled the end of the fight. As Karl retreated, she used healing ssh to coat the monk in power, and he copsed on the ground, resting on his back shell as he could finally begin to recover and not curl up with his limbs retracted in pain.


    The Overlord Rank Minotaur stared at Karl for a few seconds before nodding. "You are more crafty than you look, human. To think that you wouldn''t try to break the shell, but to attack through it to the softer parts of the body. I will be certain to add this lesson to our training." She announced, then easily picked the two hundred kilo turtle man up in her arms and passed him through the portal to someone on the other side.


    "Now, the matter of payment." She reluctantly sighed, before producing onerge box and a small one, no bigger than the palm of Karl''s hand.


    The first she handed to Johann, who opened it and nodded in satisfaction, but the second she held out to Ahmad. "Don''t deny yourself any longer, little mage. Come home with me." She announced, then opened the small box to reveal an absolutely stunning wedding ring, with arge central diamond surrounded by seven smaller coloured gems.


    The mage sighed and shook his head. "My answer hasn''t changed. I am quite happily single, and intend to remain that way."


    The Minotaur snorted in annoyance and stomped back through the portal, followed by her team.


    As it closed, it was clear that the other two Overlords were doing their very best not tough at Ahmad. "Laugh it up. Next time, it might be you with a crazy Minotaur stalker," the mage grumbled.


    Johann gave him a sympathetic look. "Why do you think that I wear this helmet whenever we''re meeting with new people? I can''t have my handsome face making them fall for me."


    Not even Colonel Valerie could resistughing a little at that. The Overlord known as the Shining Knight was nearly the picture perfect handsome warrior stereotype, and he knew it. It might have made him arrogant, but he was also an Overlord, and that was bound to affect the Ego of anyone who managed to make it to that level of power.


    Niall snapped his fingers to get everyone''s attention. "Alright, let''s hope that is thest of our visitors for the day. Morrisa will inform the rest of her countrymen and their allies about the oue, and the details of the dungeon, in the next few hours.


    After that, we will see what happens. They might send a few more teams with payment, as it is arge nation. But they might hold off for a few more days."


    Just what Karl needed. More practice. If only he could send the rest of the team out. Thor and Remi both had ideas that might help them advance, but nobody wanted to let them fight.

 Chapter 426 Emergency At The Mines

    Chapter 426 Emergency At The Mines


    "Do you need healing?" Overlord Johann asked Karl as he settled down on the grass by the trail zone to rx for a bit, in case there was another challenge.


    Karl shook his head. "No, I''m good. He didn''t manage to break the second barrier, and Eternal Lighting refreshes stamina. So, I should be fine after a quick snack. I am just rxing to see who shows up next."


    The Knightughed and joined Karl on the grass. "I don''t think that there will be too many more nations that will be willing to challenge you. Those were some pretty decisive victories, especially unarmed against a Torton Monk after proving yourself in a magical battle.


    If anyone does challenge for free entry, they will at least take a day or two to try to n before theye for you." "Well, that''s a start. I guess we''re going to be hanging around here for a while then. How long are the trials open before they just have to pay to enter?" Karl asked.


    "One week. We''re already nearly halfway through the trial period. Normally, it is only a day or two of trials after the other nations find out about the dungeon. Not that they open all that often. Moremonly, it''s only one round of trials before the portal destabilizes and the event is over.


    Having one open full-time is going to drive the clerics insane. They are the ones who arrange the formal visits to keep the nations who don''t get along from having a conflicting schedule and starting fights at holy sites. This one will be busier than most, as Commander Rank resources are so rare on this continent.


    The only ones that might still show up are the beasts, and that could be somewhat difficult for you, as we don''t know how they will respond to your ss bonding with actual beasts. They aren''t the biggest fans of Rangers, and they only bond with regr animals.


    You''ve got Royal Rank Magical Beasts on your side." Johann exined.


    Karl nodded. "Yeah, I can see how that might be an issue if they object to the situation. But I think that once they talk to each other, they will understand."


    After an hour, Lotus and Doug brought out food for everyone awaiting the next challenge. But no challengers wereing. By now it was fairly certain that every human nation would have been informed of the situation by their spies, so if they were nning a challenge, they were dying for some reason. More likely, they simply didn''t care. Most nations had their own training resources, and paying toe here and use another nation''s dungeon was unnecessary.


    Some woulde to train hereter, likely from the smaller factions among the Newbon Empire. Not all of them had ess to the resources in that nation''s territory if they didn''t belong to arge faction. But very few of the small factions would have five peak Ascended or Commander Rank trainees to make up a team. It was the same in the east, the Mage Towers were too small to assemble a team without working together.


    That was a chore on its own, and might not be worth the effort when a traditionally trained mage could advance peacefully in their tower.


    It was just getting dark when Karl sensed a new presence in the distance, staring directly at him. N?v(el)B\\jnn


    He turned, trying to discretely determine what was watching him, but he didn''t see anything. He didn''t stop scanning, though, and after a few seconds, he spotted a massive body in the trees, barely visible from a kilometre away.


    [Oh, the human can see me?] A deep voice asked in Karl''s mind.


    [Not easily. But the trees don''t fully hide your silhouette.]


    [Interesting. We will meet again soon.]


    Then the creature was gone, and Karl was left wondering just what sort of beast it had been. From this distance, and with the leaves in the way, he could only really spot it by the distinctive shape of its eyes, and the outline of its body was too broken up to say for certain what he was speaking with.


    But if that was the visit from the Divine Beast Empire, and they were just curious, it meant he could rx a little.


    So, when Karl went to sleep that night, it was with an easy mind. Rae was on night watch in the bell tower, and there were guards on patrol around the camp for the smaller threats. Karl woke with a jolt as an rm was sounded in the camp, pulling everyone out of bed.


    [What''s going on, Rae?]


    [I have no idea. I don''t think the rm is about something that is happening here.]


    Karl put on his armour and stepped to the end of the aisle to jump out the window.


    The Overlords were rubbing sleep from their eyes, and the military officer on duty had a portable radio brought out to them.


    "Overlords, what is going on?" Karl asked. "Good, you''re here already. There is an emergency near the Lithium Mines. Some sort of Anomaly has appeared. We are the closest response team to them right now, with so many of the response teams currently deployed to the borders. They already sent two Awakened Rank locals, who are currently missing in action. The nature of the issue is unknown, but it is likely to be at the Commander Rank or higher. Your team will be going with Niall, while the rest of us remain here with the Magic Knights to deal with resource challenges." Johann exined.


    The Knights nodded in understanding, while Morgana gave the fort a longing look. It was far too early in the morning for an emergency.


    Karl gestured to the helicopter that was beginning to spin up its rotors.


    "Should we get loaded?"


    "Go ahead, if you''ve got everything you need."


    Lotus ran back to the fort to grab another container of muffins, and Rae gathered her shiny stones that she had been decorating with. Whoever took over the fort could provide their own shiny stones.


    They loaded into the helicopter, making a nine-person response team, from Commander to Overlord Rank. No matter what the issue was, they should be able to take care of it, even if they were mostly just buffing Niall. A [Circle of Protection] would go a long way to keeping the Overlord Rank Rogue safe, and as an Inquisitor, he would be one of the finest fighters among the Overlords to begin with.


    The floor shuddered as they took off, and then tilted slightly as the pilot raced toward their destination.


    "Get as much rest as you can. We don''t know what''sing, but it could be a long day." Niall warned them as he leaned back against the wall and closed his eyes.


    It might not be actual sleep, but a bit of meditation helped prepare everyone for the fights ahead.


    But for Karl, this was somewhat personal. The destination was just outside his hometown, and if the situation got out of control, his parents would be in danger. They had moved to a nicer house near the centre of town, but there was still only one Elite in the Lithium Mine town. Well, he wasn''t much of an Elite. He was more of a prototype, having taken a test version of the Divine Serum in advance.


    But while he had plenty ofbat experience, he was starting to get older now, and he was slowing down with the soft life of a Mayor.

 Chapter 427 Anomaly Zone

    Chapter 427 Anomaly Zone


    While the emergency response team raced toward the Anomaly, those left behind at the dungeon began to worry that there might be more to the situation than they had been led to believe. There were too many Anomaliestely, and they were at war on every side, except for the border with the beastkin. The Giants had to know something more than they were saying, and the Magical Knights couldn''t shake the feeling that they had missed a critical memo.


    But in the helicopter, things were more rxed, as everyone meditated and prepared for the uing mission.


    "Five minutes to the edge of the Anomaly zone," the pilot informed them.


    Karl stood and stretched, getting ready for whatever they found when they disembarked.


    [Thor, be ready with the barriers.]


    Eternal Lightning came up on everyone as Thor got hisst few minutes of beauty sleep, and the other beasts followed Karl in stretching, so they didn''t strain anything or have stiff muscles when it was time toe out.


    [Descending through heavy cloud cover with extremely limited visibility.] The Pilot announced.


    Karl moved to look out the window, keeping an eye out for anything that might have been missed by the helicopter''s sensor suite.


    There was nothing, just white. That didn''t seem right. He should be able to see the ground through cloud cover, unless there was heavy rain beneath them, but these were white puffy clouds, not the dark storm clouds that would bring that sort of rain.


    Rae thought the same thing, something wasn''t right.


    Then the sound of rending steel shattered the drone of the helicopter des, and Karl found himself flying through open air.


    As he rotated, he could see the massive hole torn in the side of the helicopter, which was being violently molested by a pale white dragon that seemed to be made of clouds, not quite corporeal.


    The others were beginning to bail out with hastily donned parachutes, and Karl noted with pleasure that all of them had their barriers active still.


    With Eternal Lightning active, they should be fine. He was the only one likely to have a roughnding. n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om


    Karl felt the air around him suddenly condense, as if he were below water, then it was thin again, the sort of high altitude atmosphere that left the lungs struggling to breathe.


    It had to be an Air Element Dragon. That was fine, once he figured out how to track it, he would be able to take it out.


    Beneath him, the clouds were thinning, and Karl looked around for the others to make sure they hadn''t pulled their parachutes too early.


    But there was nobody nearby. Not even the crippled helicopter.


    Then, the clouds parted beneath him, and Karl found himself plummeting towards a massiveke.


    The onlyke thatrge in the Golden Dragon Nation was Lake Chiptonrith, and that should be hundreds of kilometres away. Karl was reasonably confident in his pathfinding abilities, but moreover, the direct route to the Lithium mines took them away from theke, not towards it.


    As he approached theke''s surface, Karl crossed his ankles and his arms, as he had learned to dive off the cliffs into the intake water pond for the mine as a kid.


    He hit the water at an incredible speed, but even after the [Eternal Lightning] barrier broke on impact, the ming Body kept him safe and uninjured. The water was wrong, very wrong. It was bath water warm, and even ten metres deep after his emergency entry, the water was still crystal clear, and he could clearly see the surface. So, he removed his armour for mobility, but kept the barriers active for safety, and made his way to the surface.


    He was still a few hundred metres from the shore, but that wouldn''t be too bad of a swim, especially in this nice warm water, but Karl was beginning to wonder where he was.


    I could be possible that he had been knocked into an instance, as he wouldn''t have been able to see the entrance through the thick cloud cover. Karl stepped out onto the shore, and he was absolutely certain that he was not in the Golden Dragon Nation anymore. None of the nts were familiar, and the sun was just about to set, despite the fact it had just beening up when he was knocked from the helicopter.


    [It''s in the wrong spot in the sky as well. If we were close to home, the sun should be south of overhead. But it''s not.] Hawk added.


    [Alright, then the question is: What do we need to do to get out of the instance? There don''t seem to be any enemies, and I haven''t seen a message from the system.] Karl sighed.


    [Forget that. They stole my Dana and my Lotus.] Rae reminded him.


    Karlughed a little. [I think that they stole us, and and Dana was left behind with everyone else. Or did you see something I didn''t?]


    That was a great dilemma for Rae. Could someone have been brave enough to abduct her? It made sense, in a way. They were in a new ce, and the girls weren''t here with her.


    [I think the others are all still together. The Dragon killed the helicopter, but it didn''t hurt the others who had my barriers. Even if theynded on the ground, they should be alright, and they had the Rogue man Niall with them.] Thor suggested.


    [Does this mean we get to explore?] Remi asked hopefully.


    "I think that''s our only choice." Karl agreed, forgetting to speak internally.


    [I will go fly up and see if there is anything we missed on the way down.] Hawk suggested. The others came out and spread out for a bit, getting used to this new ce, which felt different from home.


    [I found a vige. It looks like humans, you can go northeast.] Hawk advised before returning.


    That was a good sign. If there were humans, he might be able to find out what was going on, and perhaps even where he was, assuming that they weren''t also lost.


    So, With Hawk scouting overhead, Karl began to make his way toward the vige full of humans.


    [Everyone, please return to your spots when we get close. I don''t want anyone getting injured on a misunderstanding.] Karl reminded the team.


    Thor returned right away, eager to watch the proceedings from his pond full of holy water, while Remi hung herself around Karl''s shoulders for the next few minutes, reluctant to return to boredom, but also not enthusiastic about being attacked by random weirdos.


    Hopefully, random weirdos were the worst sort of people that he found. For all Karl knew, they could be some sort of humanoid monster trapped in this ce, or coded to be aggressive but maintain their position like the dungeon monsters.


    He would have to be cautious, but if there was a chance that they were just a random vige full of humans who might have answers for him, he would have to take it.


    The [Silent Movement] skill let him creep up on the vige easily enough, and Karl dropped into a shallow ditch just beyond the edge of the fields, so that he could observe the vigers in peace for a few minutes while he tried to determine whether they were hostile or not.


    They looked peaceful enough, going about their daily chores, and there were children. There were never children in the dungeon, onlybatants. That was good enough for him, so Karl made his way to the road to approach like any normal traveller would.

 Chapter 428 Long Walk

    Chapter 428 Long Walk


    Karl walked down the road past the first few fields, nodding politely toward the farmers working in the fields.


    There was an old man sitting along the roadside with a table full of fruit, and he made a wide armed weing gesture as he saw Karl approaching.


    "Wee traveller. You look to be a long way from home." The old man called in a strange ent that Karl struggled to understand.


    "I do believe I am. I was travelling from just outside Whiton, and encountered a strange cloud. When it cleared, I was here." Karl hoped that the man would know Whiton Temple, which had been there with the same name since time immemorial.


    "Whiton, you say? Never heard of it. But a Darklight Host Outreach Worker is a friend anywhere in the world."


    That sorted it. He was either inside a trial, or he had been tossed onto another continent.


    "I don''t suppose you could tell me where I have ended up?" Karl asked, then tossed the man a silver coin from his bag and took one of the peaches off the table.


    They were two for a copper, which seemed a bit steep, but when Karl bit into it, he realized that the peach had a rejuvenating property, and wasn''t just a in fruit. He would have to ensure that Thor nted the seed and got it to grow in the space. It would be a real treat for Lotus if he could give her magical fruits for her breakfast dishes.


    "You''re in Maria, just outside the Port City of Kanyigi, on the West Coast. If you follow this road another hour, you''ll be there. I will warn you, anyone who hasn''t made it past the first advancement shouldn''te anywhere near that cesspool. Kanyigi is a Fee Port, and it can get a bit rowdy.


    If you turn around and go a couple of days down the road the other way, you''ll get to Bunga, and it''s a much better ce to be. The only problem is that you''ll have to deal with the wild beasts on the way there.


    If you''ve got abat ss, it should be alright. As I recall, all the Outreach Workers should have reached the First Advancement before they''re sent out alone, but then I suppose you weren''t nning to travel alone, were you?" The old man asked.


    Karl shook his head. "No, I was leading a group, but they weren''t sent here with me. I don''t know if they ended up somewhere else, or managed to avoid whatever sent me here."


    The old man made a protective gesture, wishing them well, and sighed. "If they were sent here, I hope they weren''t sent too far ind.


    Here near the coasts, it''s rtively safe for those at the first advancement, but if you get further in, you''ll need to be at least past the second advancement, and there are spots near the borders where you''ll need to be Mythic Awakened just to survive."


    Karl had gone through the first Advancement Trial, so he at least had an idea what the man meant, but Mythic Awakened? If he recalled right, it should be the Totem Rank after Overlord, would Mythic be the one after that?


    If that was the case, he really had to keep himself near the coast because it meant that the Second Advancement should be somewhere around Overlord Rank.


    "Is there an outpost or temple near here? Somewhere that might have maps and some clue about what happened to me?" Karl asked


    "Aye, there is one in Bunga. A healing temple operated by the Darklight Host. They should have maps of all of the outposts on the continent, and that should get you home." The old farmer offered.


    "Thanks for the advice. It looks like I will turn around and head back toward Bunga. I haven''t any coppers, but here, for a few more fruits." Karl replied as he used one of the small bags on the table to pick up six of the peaches.


    The old man quickly pocketed the second silver coin with a glowing smile and then dug in the bag beside him, which Karl had taken to be his lunch.


    "Wear this on your left arm if you''re suspecting trouble with humans. They won''t normally mess with an Outreach Worker, but even if they''re feeling frisky, they won''t touch anyone wearing that."


    Karl chuckled and tucked the red bandana into his storage. "Enthusiastic negotiators are an upational hazard, I''m afraid. But I''vee across more than a few in my time. Thank you for the advice and the assistance."


    Karl put five of the peaches in his bag and passed thest one to Thor, along with the pit from the one that he ate. [Oh, those are good. I will work on growing the peach trees.] Thor agreed once he had a taste.


    The actual benefits meant very little to him, as Thor had all sorts of refreshing and rejuvenating nts in his home, but beneficial nts that were juicy and sweet were much more difficult to obtain.


    Karl turned away from the vige and began to make his way back to Bunga, following the old man''s advice.


    He made it all the way to the edge of thest farm, and was headed into the treed area when he came across a woodcutter leaning against his mule. The animal was hooked to arge log, and ready to go back to their sawmill, but the man kept it in ce for a moment while he talked to Karl.


    "Did the old man tell you that the Port isn''t safe and to head to Bunga?" He asked.


    Karl nodded, waiting to see what the woodcutter would say.


    "Well, that''s not a lie. But there are bandits all along the road to Bunga. It''s a dangerous route, and they have no respect for anyone. Even that Darklight Host tabard isn''t going to save you from them. I rmend that you don''t follow the road, or you take a detour southeast through the woods and take the path south from Homa and then east to Bunga at the fork in the road by Kapchor."


    Karl nodded. "I take it that way is closer to the coast, and generally considered safer, but longer?"


    The woodcutter lit a pipe full of tobo and smirked at Karl.


    "Half right. It''s closer to the coast, but it''s a wagon path that''s overrun with monsters. Nobody would call it a safer route on a regr day, but for a solo traveller, it''s safer than dealing with bandits."


    "Do you have any details on the bandits? If it''s reasonable, I should probably take care of that problem." Karl suggested, ying the part of the Darklight Host Outreach Worker as well as he could.


    "There are about thirty of them in total, but they spread out down the road, depending on where they think they''ll have the most luck. There are a number of viges between here and Bunga, but none of them more than about twenty people. Nothing that can stand up to them, so don''t be surprised if you stop overnight, and they turn you in for a reward from the bandits."


    With his piece said, the woodcutter spurred his mule into motion and started heading back to the vige.n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om

 Chapter 429 Eastward Bound

    Chapter 429 Eastward Bound


    Karl kept walking, so that anyone who might have been alerted of his presence wouldn''t be tipped off that the woodcutter had talked to him, and consulted the team.


    [What do you think? It appears that the others didn''t get sent here, so we''re on our own for a minute. Should we head through the woods for safety, or take our chances on the road, where we know we won''t get lost?] [How tough could they be? There are five of us.] Rae replied, not concerned.


    She had a good point. He wasn''t alone, and that seemed to be the real concern of the woodcutter.


    Karl activated [ming Body], then changed to his much more battered set of armour, with the green tunic, and began making his way down the road.


    [Wait, I have a better idea.] Rae informed him, and Karl paused at the side of the road.


    She made him a rough woven duffel bag that looked like cheap canvas, then left her space to chop up a log and stuff it inside before rolling the bag in dirt.


    [There, now you look like a hobo.] Raeughed.


    Karlughed and slung the duffle across his back as he walked down the road at a steady pace, not quite jogging, but afortable fast walk for a warrior type Elite.


    It was already getting dark, and he didn''t want to be too close to the vige when the sun went down. He still had plenty of energy, and the ability to see in the dark, so there was no real reason for him to stop moving. The bandits would have a harder time attacking at night without him detecting them first, and they might not even be set up.


    If it was anything like home, then few people travelled at night if they could avoid it. Karl didn''t know if this ce had cars, as he didn''t see any in the vige, and the woodcutter was using a mule. But woodcutters used mules or horses at home as well, it was just more efficient than trying to move machinery through the woods.


    Rae got to work and made him a new coat with a hood, and a low hem that almost dragged on the ground. It was the adaptive coloration silk, and would make him nearly invisible in the dark as he jogged along the road. But when there was no mana in it, the coat would be five different shades of green brown and ck patches.


    Karl activated the coat and put the duffle back over his shoulder. Every little bit would help as the night got darker, and clouds rolled in. With no moon up and the stars obscured, it was incredibly dark out, and nothing was moving within earshot as Karl began to jog with [Silent Movement] activated. N?v(el)B\\jnn


    He brought up [Eternal Lightning] to keep his stamina up, and settled in for a long night of running through the woods, until his normal day would have been up.


    He didn''t know what pace the old farmer had intended when he said that Bunga was two days away, so it would be better to make up time today, and then find a good camp during the daylight hours.


    Just after midnight, Karl saw the first signs of life along the road. There were two people high in trees on either side of the road, and arge group gathered around a campfire, looking like they were asleep.


    They might just be resting, but thermal vision showed themying down.


    [I will move to the left of the road, far enough that the humans shouldn''t see me. If they do, then Rae will send her Golems against the archers in the trees first. Try to take them out before they can send out a warning.] Karl cautioned


    [They''re hiding their power. That''s a neat trick. I wonder if it''s a spell? I can tell that they''re powerful, but not how powerful.] Rae pondered.


    Karl thought about it and realized it wasn''t actually a difficult trick. If he had no active spells, he could just focus his energy inward, and most of his power signature would be masked. That would make it harder to detect him if he was hiding in a tree, but it would also leave him open to attack.


    [Are we not going to do anything?] Hawkined.


    [Only if we have to. We have ces to be, and I don''t know how strong those thieves are with their power shielded. The vigers did warn us that there are much more powerful things in this country.] Karl reminded him.


    [Still, wouldn''t the Red Dragon be happy if we eliminated bandits? Bandits make Orphans.] Hawk suggested.


    That was a bit of a stretch, but Karl could see how enthusiastic the beasts were.


    [Fine, we test them. Rae, take out the scouts in the trees with golems.]


    If they had misjudged the situation and the Golems couldn''t make a clean job of it, he would run before the others realized what was going on.


    The Golems appeared in the trees, and the guards reacted instantly,shing out with attacks that did serious damage to the barriers on the constructs, and then shing three more times as they fell from the tree to the ground.


    But that was the end of them. The sharpened limbs of the Golems had punched holes in their chests through the flimsy leather armour they were wearing, and they drowned in their own blood in a matter of seconds, even asrge red pools were forming under them as their hearts struggled for a few more beats.


    Themotion had alerted the rest of the bandit team, and Karl called the others out, but kept Thor in reserve, as he would be too easy to spot along the road, and the trees were too close together for him to move between them without knocking them over.


    Karl hefted his maul and moved into the trees, watching the groggy bandits run for the road. Five charges of [Chain Lightning] on his maul were prepared, and one of the bandits instantly turned to him, alerted by the ability use.


    Karl swung the oversized hammer, catching the man in the chest, and a barrier red before shattering, along with an amulet around his neck.


    The Lightning arced between the Bandits, whose movements were slowed by the effect. Then three ming totems appeared halfway up the trees around them, firing inwards, right before [Rend] infused fireballs began to rain from the sky.


    The bandits had no idea how to deal with the attacks from every direction at once. They were well practised in attacks against merchants and other ground-based targets, but the art of ambush from above was what they specialized in, not what was normally used against them.


    The majority of the bandits were quickly annihted, but one man was justughing off everything that they were throwing at him until the Golems hit him from behind, and tore huge gashes in his flesh.


    That got his attention.


    [I think he has a skill that prevents smaller damage. We need to hit him harder.] Remi noted as she examined the battlefield.


    That sounded good to Rae. She knew just how to do that.


    So did Karl.


    When the bandit leader turned to deal with the Golems, Karl charged fiveyers of [Bone Crusher] on his maul and buffed himself all the way up.


    When the bandit leader''s dended on a Golem, nearly tearing it in half, Karl''s maul smashed into his back.


    The bandit leader went limp, and Karl backed away, suspecting a trap, and let the Golems at him.


    They stabbed at the body for a few minutes before deciding that he was dead enough and not just paralyzed from the chest down. Given the skills that many Elites had, if he was just paralyzed, he might have healed.


    [There are still heat signatures in the camp, but they''re just wiggling. Do you think they''re treats the bandits were saving?] Rae asked.


    [Possibly, but no eating them. We will go see what they left for us.] Karl reminded her.


    [How can I even call them treats if I can''t eat them? Oh, never mind, they are treats of the toy variety. I can y with these ones.]


    That had Karl concerned as he went to see what the spider had found.


    What he found were ten children, bruised and dressed in filthy rags, tied up and immobile around the campfire, so they didn''t freeze to death at night.


    Elven children in specific, going by the long and pointy ears. They must have been taken from a caravan because there were no Elves among the dead on the road.


    [Everyone, I need a cleanup. Get rid of the bodies and remove any signs of a battle from the road. Actually, put the bodies in someone''s space, in case there is a bounty on them. We might be able to trade them for good things.] Now, he just needed to decide how to transport the kids.

 Chapter 430 Bag Of Treats

    Chapter 430 Bag Of Treats


    As Rae made baskets to carry the children on Thor''s back, Remi and Hawk looted the battlefield. It wasn''t a dungeon, that was for certain, as the bodies didn''t disappear, and they didn''t just get the loot. But they did find the bracelet that the leader of the bandit group was wearing, and it looked like it was something excellent.


    [Bracelet of Combat Fortune] Reduces damage taken by 150 points per second.


    [That item is evil. You can''t Blizzard them, you can''t poison them, you can''t even just slowly bleed them out.] Remiined.


    Karl put the bracelet on, and Remi giggled. [Yes, now we are team evil. It''s a shame that doesn''t apply to all of us, though. We need to get more of those bracelets.] She added.


    [You''ve always been on team evil magic.] Hawk muttered, thinking about her primary attack skill being Blizzard with a side of Thunderstorm.


    She had redeemed herself somewhat with the Poison Fire Totems, but then learned Thunderstorm to offset all the respectability that she had gained the Hawk''s eyes.


    His little sister was shameless.


    Once the harness on Thor was ready, Rae began to use her webbing to load the children into the pouches, before carefully cutting the restraints on their hands.


    The children were so terrified by the aura and presence of giant monsters that they didn''t dare to move, they just sat silently in the pouches, not even removing their blindfolds and gags after their hands were freed.


    "Hello everyone, I do hope that you can understand me. My name is Karl, and I will be your tour guide tonight. There has been a slight change of ns, and now that I have killed the bandit group, I will be delivering you to the city of Bunga. There is a Darklight Host outpost there, I am told, and they will know what to do with you all." Karl announced.


    Most of the Elven children just seemed confused and terrified, but one boy carefully pulled his blindfold down, and then realized that he was staring directly at Rae and promptly fainted.


    A few secondster, a girl pulled her blindfold down and turned to face Karl. She was cautiously scanning the area for her captors, but there were none left.


    The beasts had already finished the cleanup, and other than some scuffed dirt around the campfire that indicated either a caravan stopped for the evening or that there was a fight, there was nothing left to indicate that this had been the chosen ambush site for a bandit group.


    The Elf girl slowly removed the cloth tied around her mouth and began to whisper.


    "You rescued us?"


    Karl nodded. "We killed the bandits, and you were left behind, so we''re going to take you with us to the city of Bunga."


    The little Elf nodded reluctantly, and Karl began to worry that the town might not be a good one.


    "Is there a spot that you would rather be taken to?" He asked.


    The girl shook her head. "We were headed to the vige of tt to visit family, but that was months ago.


    I didn''t realize we had travelled so far. Even if you went straight through the forest, it would be over a thousand kilometres to bring us home.


    Bunga will have to be good enough, and then we can beg for money to get the Darklight Host to send us closer to home."


    Karl smiled and patted her head. "Don''t worry about that. I will talk to them and see if I can get them to escort you all safely back. I am guessing that the rest of your caravan didn''t survive?"


    That seemed a bit insensitive the moment that it left his mouth, but it was toote to take it back.


    The girl gave a tight smile that was anything but happy.


    "When we passed through the vige of Senau in the Thearchy of Rovil just a few days after our capture, all of the adults were sold off to a ver caravan. They wouldn''t pay as much for the children as the bandits wanted, so they were going to take us to Kanyigi once their contact made it back into the port.


    They would likely send us to Akelia. The Khan has a fondness for Elven servants. They pretend that there are no ves there, but it''s illegal to run away from a work contract before your debt is paid. That''s what the bandit leader was saying. Elves live a long time, and the Khan demands a third of your wages for life, up front as a tax debt."


    That was pure extortion to get around a very prohibition, Karl was certain of it. But they were likely afraid of some outside force cracking down on them for keeping ves, so they found a technicality.


    "Everyone, please remove your bindings, so you don''t be sick from the motion of the Cerro. We will be moving quickly along the road to get to the city sometime hopefully during the day. I don''t intend on stopping, but we do have some food avable. Is there anything you don''t eat?" Karl asked.


    "Elves are vegan." The girl whispered.


    "Alright, that''s easy enough. We have some foods that fit that requirement. Like these hard tack biscuits. They''rebelled as vegan friendly. Oh, and there are fresh vegetables here. That should get you through the night."


    Karl passed out the biscuits from one of the ration packs that he never actually used, and then sighed as he realized he had no clerics for food spells anymore. But Thor had nted various edible leafy greens, along with some magical tubers that vaguely tasted like potatoes. He could roast thoseter and they would grow back.


    He motioned to Thor as the kids began to remove their blindfolds and gags, then untie their feet while huddled in the pouches slung over Thor''s back.


    "Now, once we''re moving, I need you all to keep as silent as possible. We will be moving fast, so we get to the city before it gets dark again, and hopefully, we don''t run into any more bandits." n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om


    Karl led the way, with Rae darting through the trees and Hawk overhead, while Remi retreated to her space, as she was not as fast moving over long distances.


    Thor''s plodding behind them could easily be mistaken for a wagon or other animal drawn transport, which seemed to be the normal method here, going by the narrow ruts in the dirt road.


    He didn''t see any rubber tire marks, no sign of tread. Justpacted ruts where hard narrow wheels had passed. The mining carts used those same wheels, the ones that the mules pulled. It was cheaper than fuel for the trucks, so they were still in regr use at the mine back home.


    Thor returned to the road, and the kids resisted the urge to cry out in joy that they had been at least temporarily rescued, and that someone was bringing them to safety.


    Or, hopefully bringing them to safety. For all they knew, he might be lying and bringing them to a different group of vers. But Karl with his monsters seemed trustworthy enough. Thor seemed so happy to be bringing them down the road that the Elves, who were deeply attuned to nature, couldn''t see Karl as a bad person if he was Thor''s friend.

 Chapter 431 Last Leg

    Chapter 431 Last Leg


    Karl jogged down the road in front of Thor, who was nearly prancing with joy to have passengers. Especially passengers who were gratefully petting the rough scales around the carrier bags on his back.


    Karl noted that they seemed to be bing more smooth with age, or perhaps he was keeping his barrier up over them, as the sandpaper texture of the scales was not harming the Elves at all.


    He wasn''t a dragon, but his scales were simr to Dragon scales, and the Elves had a ritual for polishing Nature Dragon scales in their home viges. The Green Dragons apparently liked to visit the Elves when they were young, as the Elves lived long enough for the Dragons to get to know them. So, the Elves viewed them as an extension of the Nature Goddess, which in a way they were. All Dragons who came from the lineage of a Chromatic Dragon God could hear instructions from their species'' patron.


    [There are more bandits. They have a wagon surrounded.] Rae informed Karl just as the sun wasing up.


    [Remi, stay here with Thor. Hawk, keep an eye on the kids while I go with Rae and eliminate the bandits. If we can save a few people from the wagon team, we can have them smooth our entrance to the city.] Karl instructed.


    Remi exited her space to appear on Thor''s back in a coil, where she could see everything going on around them.


    [I will do my best to stay out of sight, you pretend the Golems are yours.] Rae insisted as she raced off into the distance with Karl chasing behind her.


    The wagon, as Hawk called it, was actually a carriage with a very fancy sigil on the visible side, made of what appeared to be genuine solid gold.


    There were a dozen guards around the carriage, all of whom seemed to be in the high Ascended power range, while the five bandits that were toying with them were all on the strong side of Commander Rank.


    Karl noticed that the bandits all had the same red bandana that the fruit merchant had given him tied to their left arms, making them easily identifiable, even if they weren''t facing a force in uniforms. But they were also well-trained as a group, and they fought well together, despite not having a single mage in their group.


    In fact, there were no mages in either group that was fighting, it was all warriors and rogues.


    Karl whistled to catch the attention of the carriage guards, who looked immensely relieved to see Karl, despite him still being in his shabby armour disguise.


    It didn''t seem wise to change back and look like a Darklight Host member when he was close to one of their bastions without any idea how their organization functioned.


    One of the bandits broke off to deal with Karl, and Rae called the Golems in between them.


    The man screamed in terror as they appeared, and then the screams cut off with a rasping gurgle as the Golems pinned him to the ground and began to shred his body.


    Everyone was so horrified that theypletely stopped fighting for a whole ten seconds, just staring at the massacre as the wounded man begged for death.


    Then the blood soaked golems turned to face the battle, and the bandits'' morale broke.


    They didn''t even say anything, they just ran.


    Rae recalled the Golems and started the hunt. It wasn''t her style, but Hawk enjoyed it, so there had to be something to it.


    [Like this. Watch.] Hawk informed her as he swooped down, his five-metre wingspan barely avoiding the trees as he grabbed a warrior in his ws and pulled him into the air.


    The man shrieked in pain, but Hawk''s ws had pierced his shoulder joints, and he couldn''t raise his arms to attack his captor.


    Then Hawk doubled back and dove, hurling the body at another of the bandit''srades.


    The two collided, tumbling to the ground in a tangled heap as Rae sent her Golems against the furthest two, who were now well out of sight of the battle.


    Hawk hit the downed bandits with a [Rending Fireball] as he called his new signature bomb, and the bodies turned to a puddle of goo.


    Karl whistled, calling Hawk over tond on his arm.


    [Let Rae clean up the rest and gather the loot. These guys will never see through her disguise.] He instructed.


    Hawknded on Karl''s outstretched arm, then moved to his shoulder as Karl approached the carriage guards.


    "Gentlemen, is everyone alright? I can ask a healingpanion to join us if someone needs urgent assistance." He announced as the guards stared at him.


    There were a few guards still on the ground, but the others were more guarded against Karl than concerned about their coworkers.


    "We will be alright, sir. Thank you for your assistance, we have a Cleric ss acolyte of the Darklight Host with us." The leader of the guard team announced.


    "Oh? That makes my life easier. You see, I gathered a number of Elven children from another bandit camp closer to Kanyigist night.


    They areing this way with one of my bestialpanions, and I was hoping that the Darklight Host might be able to arrange for them to be brought home, as they were kidnapped to be sold to vers." Karl exined.


    "You managed to steal from the bandits?" The guard captain asked in shock. "I suppose that is urate. But I killed everyone in their camp first, so it''s not really stealing, I would call it looting."


    The guard looked terrified of Karl, but when the acolyte Cleric, as they had called her, stepped out, Karl saw that she was just a young teen girl, likely younger than Karl was, and soft, as if she had never seenbat.


    After months on the front line, Karl knew that he had a slightly gaunt face and a thousand-metre stare that made him look as predatory as his partners.


    [I got the good stuff. No overpowered bracelet this time. I will give the loot to Thor, he''s almost there.] Rae informed Karl as she finished her work and cleaned up the bodies.


    Nobody was saying anything, and the cleric acolyte was casting her spells on the injured, who were beginning to get back on their feet, despite her magic only being that of an Awakened Rank Cleric.


    As they approached, Remi returned to her space, so she didn''t terrify anyone. The Elven children looked confused that the snake had suddenly disappeared, but when they saw Karl, they rxed. Rae returned a few secondster, after dropping the loot off with Thor, using an empty pouch on his harness.


    The Cerro stopped next to Karl, who gathered the loot into his storage, and gave him a head ridge rub as Thor made happy rumbling noises that had the kids giggling.


    Hawk returned to his space, leaving only Karl and Thor outside, but the guards weren''t rxing.


    "Where are the children?" The guard leader asked.


    "In the pouches. It''s the best way to carry children on a fast journey. They''re all mostly unharmed, as Thor here is a Lightning Cerro, and his barrier has a regenerative effect that will have helped them heal from their injuries."


    They still looked rough, but the bruises had faded, and the few broken bones they had suffered were all repaired.


    "You wanted to take them to the Darklight Host?" The young Cleric asked.


    "Yes. I was told that they were the right ce to bring kidnapping victims." Karl shrugged.


    "You would side with the Darklight Host against the Demon Guild Alliance?" The Cleric asked.


    "Miss, I don''t see any symbols of allegiance on him. It could be a trick." The carriage guard leader whispered.


    "We should get going, those bandits will regroup with their friends and be back soon." She whispered back.


    But Karl''s hearing was far too sensitive to miss that conversation.


    "They won''t be regrouping with anyone. I killed them all. The Golems hunted them down in the woods." Karl informed the pair.


    "What sort of monster are you? You don''t even let surrendered enemies flee?" The guard asked.


    "Sure I do. If they''re in custody. If they''re fleeing, they didn''t really surrender, they''re just retreating. Don''t count that one on the ground in front of me, that was an object lesson.


    I really do sound like the bad guy here, don''t I? I swear, I''m actually a rather kind fellow."


    The kids on Thor''s back allughed as Karl stumbled over his words, while the guards stared at him suspiciously.


    "I''ll tell you what, why don''t I lead the way into town, so I''m not at your backs, and then when we get there, you can help me get these kids to someone who can help and won''t sell them to vers?" Karl offered.


    The guard leader nodded. "That works for me. But first, I need to know what your ss is. I can''t see your information on the status screen."


    You can see information about others on the status screen? That was news to Karl.n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om

 Chapter 432 Bunga City

    Chapter 432 Bunga City


    "I am a Beast Master." Karl exined.


    "Then those beasts are summoned?"


    Karl shook his head. "No, they are real beasts, bonded to me as allies. Thor is as alive as anyone else, and he''s been with me since he was an egg."


    That seemed like a good enough answer for the guard, and he motioned for Karl to move in front of the carriage, which had taken some damage, but looked mobile.


    "What pace are you keeping? I''ve been jogging along with Thor." Karl asked, looking back at them.


    "We will match with you as well as we can. I don''t want to be out here any longer than necessary." Karl began to jog, then grabbed a few tubers from Thor''s space to roast with [ming Body] in his hand, and then passed them to the children. The skill was able to pass heat through the whole object, cooking them in a matter of seconds.


    "Be careful, they''re hot." He warned as he passed the tubers to the Elves.


    They smiled and bounced them between their hands to cool them, then carefully bit into them.


    "Oh, these are good, Mister." Thest of the girls to get her lunch dered.


    "I''m d you like them. I wasn''t sure what Elves liked to eat." The little girl smirked at Karl. "You''re losing the carriage, though. Horses aren''t as fast as a Cerro. Especially when they''re hooked to a carriage."


    Karl slowed down as he realized that the horses were already panting, and looked back with an apologetic gesture.


    "Sorry, I forgot that your horses were just horses and not monsters."


    He took up a loping trot, which was a morefortable pace for the carriage, while the Guards on their horses red at him.


    "Do you think he''s feral? One of the sses that is born in the woods and never sees civilization? His armour has been patched more than once, and it''s damaged again. It looks like he was in a fight with something nasty, possibly even second advancement. But he''s not at all concerned about the dangers of the road." One of the guards was telling the upants of the carriage.


    "I think his ss made him feral. Did you see how he looked at that poor man being torn apart? He has forgotten what it is to be human or feel empathy. He''s as much a monster as his partners are." A new, musical voice replied.


    [Do you think that''s true? Am I bing a monster?] Karl asked.


    [Nah, they''re just scared and weak willed.] Hawk assured him. n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om


    [Maybe they don''t enjoy ying with their food?] Rae suggested.


    [I think that Sister Rae is right. They seem to have some rule against just killing things that are dangerous. They must like to torture and humiliate each other instead. Humans here are weird.] Remi agreed.


    Thor snorted in amusement, and subtly shook his head. [They''re a herd prey species. Not like Elites. They only fight enough to defend themselves and then let the predators leave with their spoils so they don''t lose any more than they have to.]


    That made sense.


    They approached the city walls, and Karl saw that most of the visitors in line were nobles with guards, fancy carriages, and visible wealth.


    So, he changed into is only, and best, suit. The concealed armour underneath gave him a bit of extra bulk, but nothing too excessive, and he had his weapons put away. That should keep the city guards happy, he hoped. He was still rtively clean-shaven from yesterday, and with a quick brush of his hair and a bit of luck, he should look respectable enough.


    Karl walked up to the line, and had just gotten settled into his spot when a group of guards with spears came running up.


    "NO MONSTERS!" The captain shouted.


    "Fine, calm your tits. I will send him away. Kids, you''ll have to walk from here. Thor needs to rest."


    Thor returned to his space, and the little Elves tumbled to the ground, giggling as they dusted themselves off and got to their feet.


    "Where did you hire those servants?" The guard demanded, poking his spear at Karl.


    "I rescued them from bandits. I was bringing them here to make arrangements for them to get home safely."


    "I don''t see a System Status for you." The guard used.


    [Status] Karl thought.


    Suddenly, there was information everywhere. Most of the people had names over their head, and they were in a bunch of colours, but predominantly in a boring brown that Karl assumed marked them as a Warrior type.


    The city guard looked startled, then suspicious. "How did you hide your status?"


    "Stealth skill. Handy when you''re in the wilderness and avoiding bandits." Karl shrugged.


    "You need toe with us. Bring the little ones as well, we want to talk to them." The guard insisted.


    As they passed by, one of the Noblemen reached down toward one of the Elf girls, but when Karl turned to watch him, he recoiled in terror.


    From behind them, Karl heard the carriage guardsughing quietly as the Elves moved to put Karl between them and the people in line. He was the scariest person in line, but he was their scary person.


    They were led into arge office evidently intended to interrogate an entire guard team for a carriage at once, and the children pressed against the back wall, putting Karl between them and the guards who were waiting for them.


    "Alright, traveller. We have some questions for you. The system says your name is Karl, but we can''t see any more information about you. That shade of red doesn''t match any ss we''re familiar with, either." The guard Captain insisted.


    "Is that a particr problem? I haven''t memorized every colour either, and it doesn''t cause me any trouble." Karl replied easily.


    The guard did not think he was funny.


    "When I focus on you, I should see your general power level and ss. But I don''t. That is a safety risk." The guard insisted.


    "In that case, I just reached the First Advancement, and I am a Beast Master. If you ask the gentlemen guarding the carriage behind me, they will confirm that. They were in a scuffle with bandits when I happened upon them." Karl replied.


    "So, they can verify your power level is at or above First Advancement?"


    Karl nodded. "I would say that they can confirm the basic details. They''re not as strong as I am, but they should be able to tell that much."


    That seemed to put the guards more on edge instead offorting them.


    "And the bandits that they fought, where are the bodies?"


    Karl shrugged. "I brought them with me, stored away in case there was a bounty on them. They were all somewhere around the First Advancement point, and robbing carriages, so there might be a bounty."


    "You say that as if you single-handedly took out more than one." The guard replied.


    The Elf girlughed. "Six, he took out six. He even hunted them down through the woods so they couldn''t get reinforcements. He''s awesome." "Put them in the back room and I will check them against the bounty posts."


    Karl summoned them out of Rae''s space into the next room, and immediately heard a man dry heaving.


    "Oh, yeah. Sorry about that. Some of them are in bad shape, but all the heads are intact."

 Chapter 433 Blood Blade Gang Returned

    Chapter 433 Blood de Gang Returned


    The guard in the next room collected himself, and quickly verified the identity of the corpses. "Sir, it''s the Blood de Gang. Six of their senior members. Their identities are confirmed." The voice from the other room announced.


    "He has more of them too. From when he rescued us." The little girl dered.


    Karl patted her on the head, so she felt that she was appreciated for being helpful. If he had to exin that he had hunted more of them, he would just terrify the guards even more.


    "Send them all in, I''m ready." The man in the other room announced.


    Karl sent the bodies over, and the man began to swear.


    "What in the Dragon did you use as a weapon? A bloody railroad tie? These wounds look like you drove a club through their chest." Heined.


    "Oh, those would be the puncture wounds from my golems. They''re patterned after a Bloodbath Spider. Thick, sharp legs. Very effective in closebat."


    "I am going to pretend that I know what a Bloodbath Spider is. But this will need my supervisor." The guard Captain insisted.


    Karl shrugged, and the kids began to tug at the back of his pants leg.


    "Do you have more tubers?" They whispered.


    The guards looked suspicious. "Have you not fed the children?"


    "I fed them what I could. I wasn''t exactly packed for ten people. But the tubers are a magical resource, and they''re pretty tasty."


    Karl took out another hand and heated them with [ming Body].


    A red light began to sh, and an rm sounded, which had all the guards drawing their weapons.


    "Whoa, calm down, what''s everyone freaking out about?" Karl asked.


    "You used an attack skill in the city!" The guard Captain shouted.


    "To heat potatoes." Karl reminded him as the kids grabbed the hot tubers from his hands.


    "Have you never been in a city before?" The guard screamed, obviously not happy with the situation, as he tapped buttons to get the rm to end.


    The Elves were all giggling as they ate, reassured by Karl''sck of concern about rules and consequences. Of course, they had no idea that he simply didn''t know the rules, so he couldn''t worry about breaking them.


    The rms were shut off, and more guards came running into the room, where Karl was casually leaning against the wall as the kids ate.


    "What happened. Are there casualties?" The most powerful of the new entrants demanded.


    Karl would put him somewhere in the Royal Rank, possibly into the Monarch Rank. "This... fine gentleman... was unaware of the restriction onbat skills in the city and used a fire attack to heat food for the rescued Elven children. It appears that he has nearly eliminated the Blood de Gang in thest twelve hours. The bodies are in the back room, but don''t enter if you have recently eaten."


    The supervisor scoffed, and the Elvesughed as he walked into the back room, cursed, gagged and came back out, closing the door behind him.


    "He tried to warn you." One of the boys crowed as the supervisor came back out.


    "And who are the rugrats?" The supervisor demanded.


    "Recovered from the bandits. They were going to sell them to a ver, apparently." The Captain exined, with a hint of genuine sadness in his expression.


    "Well, I suppose that we could ask either the Guild Alliance or the Darklight Host to arrange to send them with a caravan." The Captain''s boss reluctantly agreed.


    "Do you have an allegiance?" The Captain asked.


    Karl changed to his [Bestial Raiment] skill armour to see what it created.


    The armour came out all ck with a gold trimmed Darklight Host tabard over the top.


    That seemed like an obvious enough answer. It had even blinged up his tabard for the day.


    The Captain blinked slowly as he stared at Karl''s armour until he changed back. n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om


    "You are a Darklight Host War Champion? Fuck, fuck, fuck." He muttered to himself.


    The supervisor stepped in front of Karl. "Are you here to trigger a Guild War? If you are, tell me right now, and we will take care of the kids, so they''re not caught in the middle of the battle. But you should know that you''re here to make the announcement, we can''t let you leave this office without an escort."


    Karl shook his head. "I wasn''t intended to be here at all. I was relocated through an anomaly and dumped along the road to Kanyigi. Everything that happened after was simply because I was making my way here to find out what happened."


    There was a scuffle outside the doors, and Karl leaned over to see what was going on. There was arge group picking a fight with the guards around the carriage for the Acolyte Cleric.


    "Are you going to deal with that, or should I?" Karl asked.


    If they were going to make everyone pick factions toe into the city, it was probably better not to be viewed as immediately betraying his side.


    Before they could do anything, a loud horn was blown, and echoed by horns all through the city.


    "Toote. The Guild War has begun. We will keep the kids safe, but the guards will be locked inside the dorms until the battles end."


    "Seriously? You don''t even protect the civilians?" Karl asked.


    "And take sides? Thanks, but no thanks." The supervisor replied.


    The Elves waved to Karl. "Don''t worry about us, Monster Man. We will be right here when they stop fighting."


    Maybe this sort of thing wasn''t as umon as he had thought.


    Karl stepped out into the street, and everyone froze. The people who had been in line were now fleeing out of the city, along with hundreds of others. But they were all leaving through the smaller doors, or downdders over the walls.


    If this happened enough that they had an evacuation n for the city, it must be a rough life that they lived here.


    "Dere your Allegiance or be attacked." A man in a bright blue tabard yelled.


    The guards around the carriage looked hopeful that Karl might choose them, as he had intended to take the Elves to their people.


    Karl smiled as he changed his armour and called out the beasts, with Remi coiled up on Thor''s back so she could see to fight.


    The man in the blue tabard went pale as he saw Karl''s armour.


    "Get him!" He shouted at hispanions. [Good news Rae.] Raeughed in his mind as she darted forward and tore the man, who was still at the Ascended Rank, apart.


    Karl noticed a notification in the corner of his Status ovey.


    [Demon Guild Alliance has dered War on the Darklight Host Alliance]


    Once he focused on that, Karl noticed that he could see red crossed swords over the heads of arge portion of the town.


    He was bing more convinced that this was one of the strangest Anomaly Instances that he had heard of, but at least he knew what he was supposed to be doing now. They had literal targets on their heads, and he just had to eliminate them while keeping his team safe.


    Once that was done, he should be able to return. Hopefully, nothing bad had happened to the Lithium Mines.


    [These people are real, not dungeon constructs.] A gentle voice whispered in his mind.


    It wasn''t any of his pets, but Karl couldn''t see who it might have been.


    But if that was the case, then his next order, which would have been to have Hawk bombard the city from high altitude, would have to be reconsidered.

 Chapter 434 The Real MVP Of The Guild War

    Chapter 434 The Real MVP Of The Guild War


    The blue tabard wearing Demon Guild Alliance members quickly rallied as Karl brought up all his buffs.


    This time there was no rm, possibly because there was already a Guild War going on. But the members of the blue faction were looking terrified to see Karl standing there.


    "How about you run away and go fetch your Champion?" Karl suggested.


    A young woman, dressed in ck leather armour that Karl associated with a Rogue, nodded numbly, then threw a smoke bomb on the ground and fled with a movement skill.


    Most likely Shadow Step.


    "Sir, you''re with us? Why didn''t you identify yourself on the road? We would have greeted you with full honours." The Acolyte whispered as she got out of the carriage to heal the wounded guards.


    "I am not from here. I''m not even certain where this is. So, I had no intentions of getting in the middle of anything, until the war notification came up." They waited at the gates, with Rae on the wall above the gates, crafting afortable web to wait in, while Hawk scouted the city overhead.


    One of the guards from the carriage looked at Karl with concern. "Are you really going to wait right here for their champion to arrive with his bodyguards? We should be headed for the safe house."


    Karl waved. "Go, get to the safe house and I will wait for their Champion. It''s not like any of you are ready to get in the middle of whates next."


    The guard nodded, and they abandoned the carriage to run off through the city, headed for whatever safe house they had prepared.


    A few minutester, a warrior in ck te armour and a demonic mask jogged into Karl''s sight. He stopped five metres away and red down at Karl.


    He was a solid 250 centimetres tall, and built a lot like Professor Tank, huge in every direction.


    He was also definitely a Monarch Rank warrior.


    "Does this ce have a warrior fetish? Did you not think that maybe a mage or two might be useful?" Karl asked.


    A few of the bodyguards with himughed, but the Champion simply continued to re at Karl.


    "The Darklight Host thinks that some little kid with his pet lizard can take the city from me?" He eventually demanded.


    "I will have you know that he is the goodest of good boys. And I didn''te here to take the city from you, your boys dered war while I was bringing refugees to the guard station. But now that it is started, we might as well get things settled. It would have been a shame if I had to tten the city to find you."


    [I can still do it.] Hawk reminded him. The buildings weren''t reinforced, a single barrage of fireballs would level half the city.


    The huge man suddenlyunched himself at Karl, who drew his two-handed sword to parry and activated all his buffs.


    Then he cast [Chain Lightning] to slow the Monarch Rank warrior''s reactions.


    The lightning hit an instant before the two des shed in a flurry of sparks as [ming Body] met a [ming de] ability.


    The two men were at a stalemate, and the majority of the bodyguards began to circle around Karl, looking for an opening, while four of them went to block Thor and Remi from joining the battle.


    But they quickly learned that Thor''s bags were the perfect tform for Totems, and that a Lightning Cerro was not easy to deal with when he was backed against a wall. Especially a wall that fronted a room full of children he wanted to protect.


    Karl broke away from the stalemate of locked des, and darted backwards beforeshing out with [Bone Crusher]. The warrior on his right took the strike on his shield, stopping the de with ease, but [Shatter] and [Sharpness] took effect, and the shield split clean in half. The man dropped to the ground, spitting blood and cradling a pulverized arm.


    "Oh, you''re a dirty little weasel, aren''t you, Darklight Scum?" The Champion snarled.


    "You have no idea." Karl replied as he stepped away from the guard station and put his back to the city, moving further into the gates.


    [Hawk, find where the blue tabard team is fighting the Darklight Host and bombard any reinforcements they try to send this way. Just distract their stronger fighters. Don''t hurt the city.]


    Karl fell into a defensive stance, and the warriors moved forward again. That was when Rae summoned her Golems behind the Champion, letting themsh out at his back.


    He responded almost faster than Karl could track, parrying the first four leg strikes as Karl switched to his maul and stacked [Chain Lightning] five times.


    But he didn''t go for the back of the champion as everyone expected him to. Instead, he went for a Rogue type fighter, crushing his chest, which let [Chain Lightning] spread through the whole group, and brought half the warriors to their knees as Karl moved to attack again.


    The Champion intercepted him, forcing Karl into a stalemate for a second time, before the Monarch''s superior speed let him break free andnd a hit on Karl''s barriers.


    But that meant he wasn''t stopping the Golems, who were tearing apart his stunned and electrocuted bodyguards.


    "You bastard. Fight me properly." Karlughed. "Now you want a proper duel, but you brought bodyguards? You didn''t think this one through."


    Karl stepped back and switched to his de, which was better for parrying attacks.


    The Monarch Rank warrior was close in physical strength to him, even with his buffs, but the enemy champion was faster than Karl was, so there was bound to be a lot of traded damage.


    Fortunately, the warrior sses didn''t have much for barriers, just [Guard], but this warrior wasn''t even using that. N?v(el)B\\jnn


    Three fast attacks were parried, and the return strike caused [ming Body] to waver for a moment before Karl stabilized it. The Champion was beginning to get frustrated, and Karl realized what was happening. Karl had taken a new bracelet from the bandit leader, and it reduced damage by a set amount. None of the smaller skills that the Champion was using were registering to Karl because they were all being negated.


    Because the smaller damage was being negated and not stacking, Karl''s barriers had time to recover between attacks.


    The Demon Guild Alliance Champion must have had a skill like [Shatter] that did damage which caused lingering damage to barriers and enemies on hit. But it wasn''t enough to ovee the damage reduction.


    [The big fight is almost over now. They''re too close together to attack.] Hawk informed Karl as he tried to find an opening to attack with something other than [Chain Lightning] which was doing very little to his opponent.


    [I get it. He''s not using Guard, because he has a better version. It''s on all the time.] Rae dered.


    Her study of the opponent with [Offensive Adaptation] had paid off, and she now understood why he wasn''t trying to use Guard against Karl''s attacks. His version was always active.


    That was why [Chain Lightning] wasn''t doing much. It wasn''t a physical attack, so it didn''t apply Shatter, meaning that there was no secondary damage passing through to the target.


    Karl''s attacks weren''t strong enough to break through a Monarch Rank [Guard] ability with a single spell.


    Karl added [Chain Lightning] to his de, intending to add damage to [ming Body].


    The Championughed, and his eyes turned a bit crazy.


    "So, you''ve realized it. But if you can''t hit me with that armour bypass, there is no way you can hurt me. It''s only a matter of time before you are exhausted and ground to dust." Heughed.


    "There is only one problem with that logic. You''re all out of bodyguards, and I still have Golems. Do you think that you can deal with all three of us at once?" Karl asked.


    From Karl''s left, power surged, and Thor''s scales began to turn gold.


    His body began to grow, not much, but enough to be noticeable. However, it was the greenish gold that his scales turned, while his horns changed to deep bronze, that made it obvious that he had advanced.


    At this point, he barely looked like a Lightning Cerro anymore, other than his general shape. The deep green lustre that they were famous for was gone, streaked through with thick veins of gold. The bone white horns that crackled with blue lightning were now a rich bronze, and the lightning was as golden as the streaks on his scales.


    He looked glorious and regal, but very little like amon Lightning Cerro.


    The building behind him was coated in [Eternal Lightning] as the Cerro had been protecting it from the area attacks that had been hurled at him. Ever loyal, Thor had not allowed the building to be damaged while the Elves were still inside, and it had triggered him to break through the Royal Rank bottleneck.


    With the advancement, both [Eternal Lightning] and [Circle of Protection] advanced to Royal Rank, and Karl felt a new space begin to form in his mind as the existing ones reached their limits.


    Remi was still at Commander Rank, and that was the limiting factor for the spaces right now, so a new one was formed to ept the overflow of energy from Thor''s breakthrough.


    The Champion got a sly look on his face, and made for the Cerro, aiming a blow for the back of Thor''s neck. The loss of what was obviously Karl''s support pet should cripple hisbat ability, and leave him vulnerable.


    But he wasn''t the only one that had realized that, and as he leapt forward, a wall of stone spikes formed in front of him, bringing him to a crashing stop before a streak of blue struck out and hit him in the face, then retreated.


    His scream of agony echoed through the city as blood poured down the demonic visor of his helmet. Remi had bitten his eyeball, blinding him on one side, and he had never even realized that she was on Thor''s back.


    The warrior ripped off his helmet and poured a vial on his face, then downed a potion as pain wracked his body.


    "Have you had enough?" Karl asked.


    The strange voice had warned Karl that these were real people, and while he had killed the bodyguards, and had most likely let Hawk ughter a small group of them to prevent reinforcements, he didn''t want to have to kill every member of their alliance to end the battle.


    "I forfeit. The Demon Guild Alliance forfeits the war." He moaned as he wed at the side of his face, where ck streaks were spreading from his eye.


    Whatever potion he had used had been ineffective on Remi''s poison.


    [Remi, heal his face, would you? Or at least neutralize the poison.]

 Chapter 435 Host City

    Chapter 435 Host City


    The Spirit Snake fired a [Healing Ssh] at the man. It looked exactly like she had spit on his face, but the ck streaks began to recede, and the blood-red eye stopped leaking as it slowly returned to normal.


    [By Trial Of Champions, The Darklight Host Alliance has won the Guild War.] n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om


    [Final Damage:]


    Demon Guild Alliance ? 31 dead


    Darklight Host Alliance ? 11 dead The Champion rolled to his knees and used his de to help him to his feet as the pain of the lingering poison wracked his body, along with the lingering effects of [Shatter], which had applied with the bite to the face.


    [Everyone to the space. Let''s not give them a chance to get revenge on you.] Karl insisted.


    "No wonder you''re a Champion. That ss of yours is absolutely broken. It''s like fighting an entire raid team at once." Hemended as the majority of Karl''s beasts vanished back to their spaces to n an advancement party for Thor. Remi was pretty sure that they could get the Elves to polish his scales, and there weren''t many better rewards for Thor than that.


    Karl wasn''t sure what to do now, but Hawk was rying the scene to them.


    [There are clerics pouring out of the buildings now, gathering bodies. I think they''ll revive them.] Hawk informed them.


    Then he paused, and Karl sensed his confusion.


    They hadn''t been dead long, so it should be possible to revive them, but they were starting the resurrection ritual.


    That would put them all in new bodies, which didn''t seem like what you wanted for powerful people like these.


    "Thirty one to eleven. What a ughter. Now, I''ll have to see what is left of the Alliance as we pack." The Champion sighed before tilting his head back and pouring another potion over his face.


    "The snake bite to the eyeball was unexpected, but damn does this hurt. Even after healing, the pain still isn''t fading." Heined.


    "I don''t have anything for strong healing, so you''ll likely need a cleric. Should we go inside and check on them?" Karl suggested, just in case someone was nning to cause trouble.


    "You might as well, but I''ll be leaving. It''s not like I can shamelessly show my face in the city again while my Alliance is packing up to leave their homes. If any of them ask, I''m on my way to Hoiringa, and I will wait for them at the Alliance House there."


    Karl nodded, and the warrior walked away as the door to the armoury opened and the guard supervisor stuck his head outside.


    "We''re alright? It''s over?" He asked hesitantly.


    "Yeah, it''s over. Decision by duel in favour of the Darklight Host." Karl exined.


    The Elves came pouring out and began to swarm Thor, cooing and praising his much more golden scales.


    Rae made them a bunch of polishing cloths, and the Elves giggled as they got to work, scrubbing him down and climbing all over the happy Cerro. The rags didn''t seem to be getting damaged, and the kids were sliding down Thor, which made Karl think that his scales were bing smooth again.


    "Are you sure you only knew them for one night?" The Guard Captain asked as he left the building to resume his station.


    "Yep. But he did keep them safe twice now. Both in battle against bandits and by protecting the guard building during the fight. Elves are quite in tune with animals, it seems."


    The Captain nodded. "They''re an odd bunch, but the Elves are good people. They seem to have really taken to your Cerro, though. I don''t think that I''ve seen a group of kids that happy in a long time. Now tell me, how were the casualties?"


    "Thirty one to eleven in our favour. They''re working on the resurrection ritual now." Karl replied, hoping to get some sort of response that would help him make sense of it.


    "Well, assuming that the Guild House is still standing, they should appear there in whatever new form they got. Guild Wars are such a waste.


    The number of skilled craftsmen who are forced to move after a Guild is forced out of the city really messes with the economy, and the winners never bring in anyone to rece them.


    But that''s not really your concern, I suppose. You were just passing through when they started the fight and ran into a brick wall of a War Champion.


    I might not have been able to see the fight, but it was pretty obvious that you won it on pure skill, and not raw power."


    Karl nodded. "That is true. The number of skills that I have avable to me is somewhat more than the average warrior. Plus, I have stronger defensive skills, though that constant guard skill he used was a tricky one."


    "Bulwark is what it''s called. A constantly refreshing Guard skill that coats his armour and shield. It made him nearly imprable to previous challengers. What did you use to get him to surrender?"


    Karl shrugged. "He might have been mostly immune to damage, but his skill didn''t prevent poison or properly protect his face. He forfeited from the pain of being poisoned."


    A small group of teenagers approached the gates, and Karl nodded politely while they red at him.


    "Your Champion was headed to the Guild House at Hoiringa." He informed them.


    "He''s alive?" The young woman leading the group asked, clearly shocked.


    Karl nodded. "Yes. I forced him to submit to end the duel, so there was no need to kill him. The resurrected members should appear at the Guild House here as well, if you want to leave as a group."


    They looked confused. "You haven''t imed the Guild House yet?"


    Karl looked at the messages in the corner of his vision, wondering if he was supposed to do something.


    [Challenge sessful. Reward Granted.]


    [im City for Darklight Host Alliance?] Y/N


    [11 Members Resurrected at Guild House.]


    [City will automatically transfer ownership in 24 hours.]


    Karl shook his head. "There are twenty-four hours to finish the process. So, I let them resurrect. They can gather their belongings and leave in peace. I will have the guard force inform the Darklight Host forces to let them go without trouble."


    The Guard Supervisor focused on something for a moment, his eyes going vacant as he paid more attention to what Karl assumed was his Status screen.


    "Done. They were letting them leave anyhow."


    The small group waited at the gate, trying not tough at the happy noises Thor was making as an army of tiny Elves polished his scales with scented oils that the Guards had provided for them.


    They clearly wanted to know what was going on, but Karl couldn''t be bothered to inform them, and the Guards were too busy heading to the outlying areas to inform the civilians who had fled the city that the Guild War had been won by Champion Challenge, and that the city was intact.


    That seemed to be the shocking part to everyone. The Guild War had ended with almost no property damage. Even if there was a challenge, at this level, it was normal that at least a few city blocks would be levelled by missed attacks.


    Karl could see that. If Thor had used an Earthquake or Rae had been firing boulders at the enemy, they would have destroyed everything in the surrounding area with dodged or deflected attacks.

 Chapter 436 Darklight House

    Chapter 436 Darklight House


    Karl changed to his Royal Rank suit as he waited for the chaos in the city to calm, and then turned to Thor.


    "Well buddy, I think you''ve enjoyed enough massage and scale polish for a moment. Why don''t we get the little ones set up with someone who can take care of them and get them home?" He informed the Cerro.


    The guards chuckled and helped the little ones down from Thor''s back, as he had already put his harness in storage in his space so they could reach the scales underneath.


    The Elves gathered around the city guard while Thor prepared to follow Hawk''s directions to the Darklight Host Guild Hall. It was arge building in the middle of the city, on the edge of themercial district, and set up much like a hotel, from outside appearances.


    It was a slow walk, as the little ones insisted on walking themselves and not being carried by guards. But the procession brought a smile to the face of everyone who passed by, as the Elves'' eagerness to actually see civilization again after months of captivity had the guards exining everything that they saw.


    "And here we are at the Darklight Host Guild Hall. This is your destination, and with some luck, you will find someone inside who can help you get reunited with your family." The Guard Captain informed them.


    That seemed unlikely to Karl, unless they had family at their destination. Because the ones they were travelling with had already been sold off in what sounded like another country.


    Karl led the group into the grounds, and the Guards returned to their duties, while a young girl in a maid outfit greeted him at the door.


    "Hello, sir. How can I help you today? Most of our officers are not in today, but we can arrange rooms for Alliance members." She informed them.


    "I have a group of rescued refugees with me, and they need to be sent to the vige of tt, but I don''t have the time to take them myself." Karl replied.


    "Oh, transport arrangements. Alright, I will see if anyone is in. Maybe they wille back after the war deration is over?" Karl chuckled. "The war is over. It was solved with a duel. Do you have a portal mage stationed here?" The maid nodded happily. "As long as they weren''t injured in the fighting, we do have a portal mage on our payroll. It might be costly, as the Elven vige of tt is in a Second Advancement region, and very remote, but it is in our avable destinations."


    The maid led them to a sitting room with a number of couches, where the children sprawled out to rest somewhere soft.


    They didn''t have to wait long before a number of people came storming into the house, looking for answers.


    "Beth, have you seen a visiting Guild Member?" One of the new arrivals demanded.


    "No, sir. But there is a visitor. He came with a group of Elven children, and they are waiting in the sitting room for Nathan toe back. The children are on their way to the vige of tt." She replied.


    That sounded like what they had heard from the guards, so the group rushed over to where Karl was waiting, and then stopped in confusion as they saw that his Status Screen information was all messed up.


    "You''re not a Guild member? The Guard seemed to think that you were an official War Champion." The leader of the group insisted.


    Karl shrugged. "It''s a bit of a long story. I arrived here through an anomaly, and I honestly have no idea where here is. I was hoping that you had a proper map, but I ran into some bandits, and they had these children captive. The bandits had intended to sell them as ves, so I took them, and I would like to arrange to have them sent to their original destination of tt."


    "Wait, back up. Did you say that you''re not from here? As in, not from this continent?" The man asked.


    "I''m not even certain that I am from this world. So, naturally, I would not be listed as a member of the local Darklight Host." Karl agreed.


    More people came into the house, talking excitedly as Karl finished his speech.


    "Hey, did you hear that there is a War Champion in town? He defeated the Demon Guild Alliance Champion and his entire entourage alone." A young woman yelled as she approached the door.


    "No need to shout it. He''s sitting right here, waiting for Nathan to send some Elven kids home to tt." A blonde girl at the back of the group replied.


    An older man pushed through the group, and Karl saw a slightly dishevelled man in mage robes. Finally, an actual mage. He was beginning to think that this world had opted out of having any.


    He pulled out a piece of paper and held it up, looking at the kids. "Well I''ll be. It really is them. There is quite the bounty out for their safe return, you know?" He exined. n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om


    "Well, as long as it involves getting them safely home, I''m happy to have helped." Karl replied with a smile as the kids sat silently, watching the new people.


    "You will have to take them directly home to collect the reward, as it was not set by the Guild, we only received a copy.


    However, there is a more pressing matter. Did you get the notification for the War Completion? We can''t tell who has control of the city right now, it''s still in limbo."


    Karl nodded. "I have it. I was waiting for them to resurrect at their Guild House, so they could leave in a group, and then I was going to verify it for the Darklight Host." The mage nodded. "That is kind of you. Many would have forced them to respawn at a random church or Guild site instead of letting theme back to their Guild House.


    They''re all on their way out of town now, and the Guild House is basically empty, so you canplete the process with a clear conscience."


    [Confirm Control of Bunga for the Darklight Host Alliance?] Y/N


    [Control Transferred.] The opposing Guild has 90 minutes to leave the city limits.


    [Reward Granted.]


    The group let out a collective sigh of relief.


    "We were worried that it might have given the notice to someone who was revived and didn''t return with an active ss. They wouldn''t be able to activate it, and then it would time out after a full day, which leaves the whole city in chaos, as the System collects taxes, fees and duties, as well as paying city employee wages, if you didn''t already know that.


    I heard that not every region does it that way, and some of them are centrally controlled, and not under the control of local Guilds."


    Karl nodded to indicate his limited but functional level of understanding. The fully active System could do wonderful things, and it was a bit of a shame that such a thing didn''t exist at home. If it did, so many problems could have been bypassed.


    "Well, it''s under Guild control now, so things can go back to normal. But tell me, are you Nathan? Nothing bad happened to the Portal Mage, did it?"


    The mage pointed behind him toward the other end of the house. "He''s here. But he''s a bit old, and he needed a break and a snack after so much running around today."

 Chapter 437 City Management

    Chapter 437 City Management


    For the next few minutes, everything was chaos in the house as the local branch of the Darklight Host began to arrange things to their liking, and sent out messages to all of the relevant town employees and authorities.


    Karl sat mostly forgotten with the children, so he took a moment to examine the reward message that he had received from the System Status screen.


    [Reward Gained] +2 inventory slots


    Karl thought that message was a bit odd. He didn''t have inventory, other than a storage bag that was bonded like any other piece of equipment.


    Only, that wasn''t true anymore. He did have storage spaces, two empty ones, and one that contained his storage bag.


    In his mind, they appeared as chests, norger than a backpack, but that tripled his avable space to store items. No longer would he have to rely on the beast spaces if he wanted to keep something, or the limited amount of room inside his one storage bag. He could put loads of items in the chests, and keep it there until he needed it.


    The first thing he was going to have to collect was food, other than baked goods. Travelling without a cleric was a massive annoyance, and not an experience that he would rmend to anyone.


    Eventually, the Darklight Host members finished their work in the aftermath of the battle, and the reports from the guards who had watched the duel began to flow in.


    The younger mage gave Karl an appreciative look, then called Nathan forward from his spot in the kitchen.


    "Alright, we understand that you have a quest toplete, returning these youngsters to their families. So, I will open the portal for you, and you can meet with the local Mayor, who is a friend of mine. He will see to it that everything is taken care of." The elderly man exined.


    Karl stood to shake his hand, and the mage gave him an odd look. "If you hadn''t said that you''re not from here, I would think that there is something seriously off about your fashion sense." He sighed, shaking his head.


    Karlughed, and changed back to his Royal Rank [Bestial Raiment] skill armour.


    "Better?"


    The old man nodded. "Now you don''t look like you were taking hallucinogens while letting a Nature Priest make you a Noble Lord cosy."


    In his mind, all of the beastsughed. The suit was actually quite normal for the Golden Dragon Nation, used for everything from business meetings to politics and news interviews.


    A few of the younger members were staring at Karl in admiration, or more correctly, at his tabard.


    "Wow, a gold trimmed tabard, with tassels. Just how many battles have you won?" One of the younger staff members asked.


    Karl shrugged, "Well, I haven''t lost one yet. But mostly I seem to have a knack for pleasing the World Dragon." n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om


    That made everyone in the roomugh. "I have a knack for pleasing the World Dragon, he says." Nathan, the portal mage,ughed.


    The room fell silent as another man walked in, Royal Ranked like Karl. He was shirtless and covered in scars, which was somewhat surprising, as this world clearly had healers and clerics, but his eyes were familiar to Karl.


    They had the same predatory look of abat veteran that Karl had gotten used to seeing on the faces of the Elites on the Hill Giant front.


    He had a Darklight Host sash around his waist that looked like Karl''s tabard, only the trim and tassels were silver.


    "Good work with the duel, Champion. I am surprised that you let him live, but perhaps that is the tradition where youe from. I am Orthos, leader of this detachment. Tell me, where did youe from?" "Not far from Whiton Temple there was an anomaly, a cloud that no senses could see through. I passed through it and ended up here." Karl exined.


    "Whiton Temple in the Great Central Desert?" He asked, clearly confused.


    It wasn''t a desert anymore, but thousands of years ago, that was what the region that was now Chiptonrith Lake was known as. Morgana had covered that in history ss, and Karl was now d that he had been paying attention.


    "Yes, that is the one. Toward the south of the continent, nearly centred from east to west. Sits on top of arge hill." Karl agreed.


    "Yes, that is Whiton Temple. You shouldn''t be here." Orthos announced.


    "Well, once I deliver these little ones, I intend to find a way back home. I don''t suppose that you know how to do that?"


    Orthos smiled. "Once you finish your quest, you should be returned to your home continent easily enough by the Elves. The location and the description of how you arrived here make sense when you put them together. If you give me a moment, I can ensure that you end up safely back home without doing anything drastic."


    Now he was just being cryptic for the sake of being cryptic.


    But if he could really send Karl home, it didn''t honestly matter if the description of why and how was satisfactory.


    Orthos gestured at Nathan, who opened a portal into what looked like a treehouse, with walls covered in bark.


    "There you go, the mayor''s office in tt. Good luck." Orthos informed him with a smile.


    Karl stood and shook his hand, then gathered his diminutive charges. "Alright, let''s get going. There should be people waiting for you there." He could hear the sound of someone moving about on the other side of the portal, then shouting in surprise as the kids began to move through into the Mayor''s office.


    "Eliza? How?" The voice was asking.


    "Looks like that''s my cue. Thank you all for the assistance. The map said it was a very long walk." Karl walked through the portal to join the kids, and Nathan closed it behind him.


    "Darklight Host? Did you rescue the children? Were you with the team that went after their parents as well?" The Mayor asked as Karl arrived.


    Karl shook his head. "They were separated before I found the children. I don''t know where the parents are now. I brought the little ones from Bunga, and they werest together in Senau, I believe."


    The small man nodded gravely, understanding what Karl meant. He was well aware of the less savoury practices of this ce, and he knew that Senau was a ve market. "Can you wait while we contact the rest of their families? I am certain that they will all want to thank you." The Mayor asked.


    "Of course. It''s not like I''m in a hurry to go somewhere."


    The kidsughed at Karl''s casual answer. He was lost on the road to Bunga when he found them, and now he was really lost, over a thousand kilometres to the northeast, and he wasn''t even from this continent.


    The young Elves had no idea where Whiton was, but the people in Bunga made it sound like it wasn''t anywhere even remotely close.


    Karl resisted the urge tough when the Mayor stepped out onto his balcony and began to shout names. No magic, no fancy device, just shouting across town for people toe to him.


    It made Karl wonder how small tt was. But his sensitive ears heard people rying the call, so it wasn''t small enough that a shout would be heard all over town.


    "Give them a minute or two, and they will be here."

 Chapter 438 Elves Reunited

    Chapter 438 Elves Reunited


    The Mayor remained on the balcony as many people could be heard jogging toward his office, not particrly concerned, as they didn''t sense any emergency.


    But the moment that the first woman came in the door and saw the children, the screaming and happy tears started.


    "Lieverd, kom nu hier binnen! De kinderen zijn gevonden en gered." She screamed out the door.


    Karl could only assume that was the Elvishnguage because the man who came in secondster was already smiling and crying when he arrived, and he picked up a boy to spin him in circles.


    That brought a flood of motion outside, as everyone rushed out of the homes and buildings to see what was going on, or to run to the Mayor''s office to get a firsthand view of the day''s newest highlight.


    When you lived in a small town, new and exciting was rare, so Karl wasn''t surprised that they would all want to be involved and not find out secondhand.


    More Elves began to gather in the office, hurrying to get to the children. Karl retreated to the balcony with the Mayor while there were many tearful family reunions, and just watched in silence for a while.


    Eventually, the Mayor whispered to him. "One of the merchant groups who trade with us saw the ver caravan, and recognized the locals, so he paid off a mercenary group to recover them. But the children weren''t with them, and we feared that they were already lost.


    It''s been months, more than enough time to sell them and have them shipped so far that we would never find them. I didn''t want to say anything at first, in case you were trying to ransom them back. But I should have known that a War Champion wouldn''t do that to his own Guild members." Karl nodded. "They were taking them to the West Coast for a better price, ording to the children. They were just waiting on their contact to arrive in port and robbing travellers when I came across their ambush and cleaned them out."


    "Did you get the entire group of vers?" The Mayor asked hopefully.


    "Probably not. I got all the ones that were at that camp, and all the ones at their ambush further toward the next town, but then we had a portal mage bring us here. There are likely more of them in the port city waiting for their contact, and some that just weren''t at the ambush where they were working as bandits." Karl replied in a quiet voice that wouldn''t interrupt the reunions.


    The Mayor looked tired, worn down by stress, but hopeful.


    "Well, at the very least, you got all the children back. There will be no tearful parents realizing that their baby isn''t among the ones who returned." He sighed.


    [Mission Completed: Calcting Rewards] Appeared in Karl''s vision.


    "Well, it looks like my work here is done. They can all go home to their families, who they weren''t expecting to see again. Especially after the adults were sold off during their journey."


    "We should reward you properly. What sort of ss do you have? I don''t recognize that shade of red." The Mayor asked.


    That was the second time that someone had said that. "My ss is Beast Master. I grow my power by helping my bonded monsters grow theirs." Karl exined.


    The Mayor looked a bit confused for a few seconds, then his eyes lit up in understanding.


    "Oh, you can get skills that aren''t part of the skill tree from the Monsters. That is a wonderful ss.


    If you want another, you havee to the right spot. There are many rare monsters in the forest with unique skills. Does it matter how powerful they are? Or does the skill adapt to your level?" He asked.


    "The beasts fight alongside me, so their abilities matter. If they couldn''t keep growing, they would end up restricted froming out inbat."


    "So, like a Ranger, you have a limited number of options, and you must choose well for them to apany you as you level up. That makes sense. There are still suitable options. For example, the Blink Cats. They are mellow enough to be house animals, but they can reach the second advancement if given enough time, and their ability to teleport makes them a deadly predator.


    Or the Wisp. They might not look like much, or really do much, but if you can bond one to you, their ability to boost magic damage is far beyond what most other species could offer.


    Many of the Elven Rangers like to bond wisps for the additional damage to their archery spells and movement abilities."


    Karl wasn''t even certain that a Wisp counted as a beast for him to tame, but he could see that the Elves were very fond of them. "So, the forests here have monsters that are in the Second Advancement already?" Karl asked, instead of pondering the intricacies of Wisps.


    "Not many, but there are a few to be wary of. The Moor Cats are Second Advancement, and if you''re really unlucky, the Moor Cat Matriarchs are an evolved version that can reach Totem Status, or even the Mythic Rank third advancement.


    You do not want to mess with a Mythic beast, no matter how cute they are. They take a tenth of the damage you expect them to, and they are far stronger than they look."


    Karlughed. "Well, when they''re that far ahead of me, I don''t think that the damage reduction will be my greatest concern. I likely couldn''t break their basic defences anyhow."


    The Mayor just shrugged. "I just thought that I would warn you because while the Moor Cats are four metres tall, the Moor Cat Matriarch is only a metre and a half tall, and the Nature Priests often have issues with them."


    "Because they forget that friend shaped doesn''t always mean friend." Karl agreed. n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om


    The Elf gave a low chuckle. "You have some experience with them, then? They''re not all thatmon outside the Elvennds, so most humans have never met an adherent of the Green Dragon."


    Karl smiled. "They''re missing out. Not only are the Green Dragon''s followers wonderful healers, they''re almost all aplished chefs.


    When ites to long months on the road, there is nothing moreforting than having a chef around that can make their own ingredients, even if they do have a penchant for the same rice and beans food creation spell every day."


    Someone joined in theirughter, and Karl turned to see that a young woman was waiting for them to finish talking.


    She had a familiar aura of crazy, but in a contained way, that made Karl think that she was one of the Nature Clerics. That was all but confirmed when she began to speak.


    "Well, we were hoping to introduce you to new foods in gratitude, but you might already know all our tricks. Will you stay for dinner anyhow?" She asked.


    "Of course. I never say no to a good meal."


    As she turned to address someone else in the room, Karl noticed the information above her head. Her name was in in white, but below it were the words "Darklight Host Guild Officer"

 Chapter 439 Concerned Parties

    Chapter 439 Concerned Parties


    Now that he was paying attention, Karl noticed that there were a lot of Darklight Host members among the crowd.


    "Does the Darklight Host control this vige, then?" Karl asked the Mayor as the parents and rtives of the children began to make ns for a grand dinner celebration.


    "Not exactly. We''re notrge enough to have a control stone like the cities do. But they are the only Guild in the area. The Outreach Workers are everywhere, and this spot started as an overnight rest stop along the road for travellers hunting magical beasts, used to get a decent night''s sleep.


    Naturally, the Elves took it over as soon as they heard about it, and now it''s more of an Elven vige than a waypoint."


    Karl nodded. "I suppose that makes sense with the rural location in the middle of the forest. Still, this ce is pretty impressive to have survived so long in the deep woods with the level of threats that I''m hearing about all around you."


    The mayorughed. "We deliberately don''t keep anyone who is too powerful in the vige. That way we can deal with the minor threats that attack us, but our presence doesn''t threaten the territory of the stronger monsters.


    In most regions, they avoid the roads and viges, because of dangerous travellers, but here we don''t get many visitors anymore.


    The nations to our North and East are both in the middle of civil wars right now, and with that level of chaos, there is very little trade. Only those with the skills and resources to run military blockades enter there now, and that means not the sort that transport goods down the road."


    "What about the other viges?" Karl asked.


    "There used to be one every day''s travel for a passenger carriage. Now they''re at one and three days distance from us, headed northeast. The Civil war spilled a bit across the border at the start, and they hunted a fugitive into the vige and wiped it out.


    Now, the other outposts mostly do like we do. They just live off thend.


    But if we get really desperate, there are edible nts in the stable instance where the children train. We will sometimes send them there to gather food."


    Right, the Elves were all vegan.


    A small hand tugged at the Mayor''s pant leg, and he looked down with a smile.


    "The Monster Man has wonderful purple tubers. Even better than the ones from the instance."


    The Mayor looked confused, so Karl took one out, which made the Elfugh. "Oh, you have a Rare Grade Violet Root nt. That exins why the kids all like you so much. What do those taste like to humans?"


    Karl shrugged, "Slightly sweet potatoes, simr to a yam."


    The Mayor nodded. "Our children don''t normally eat any refined sugar, but these roots are often used to make spiced cakes. Well, not usually ones this good, the Common Grade ones from the instance, but they taste the same."


    The only thing that came to Karl''s mind when he said that was spicy mashed potatoes, but if they had a way to make that into a cake, he might have to get his hands on an Elven cookbook.


    Lotus would love him forever if he found her an all vegan cookbook that could make mashed potatoes into cake.


    Far away, Lotus sneezed as she sat in the hotel restaurant in Lithium Mine Town.


    "Oh, someone is thinking about you." Danaughed.


    "It''s our Karl. The Goddess says he''s alive and ying with Elven children. Tiny, cuddly, adorable Elves." Lotus replied, sounding a bit like she was going to cry about being left out.


    Dana briefly wondered if that was the reason that the Goddess had seen fit to grant her the vision. It would calm everyone else''s mind, so they could continue their work. But it would also torture Lotus to know that there were apparently extra cuddly demihumans somewhere that she didn''t get to y with.


    She was already going into danger fluff withdrawals without Rae nearby, and the Mage was beginning to worry that the bored cleric would start befriending the Earth Mice that inhabited the town.


    Ophelia poked Lotus. "You saw a vision? Is he alright?"


    Lotus nodded. "He had his armour on, but he was indoors and surrounded by tiny Elves. I don''t know where they are, but it''s not anywhere near here. It didn''t look like our country, if that makes sense.


    I think that he''s in an instance, one of the sorts that you have to finish a quest to exit."


    Tessa sighed.


    "That would exin why my power red an hour ago. We weren''t doing anything, but someone pleased the Red Dragon. If he was finishing a battle rted mission objective, that could exin it."


    Morgana made notes of their conversation, while Bob Mackenzie smirked at the War Cleric. "Better him than us. I don''t care we''re all among the topbat talents below Royal Rank, when ites down to battle, I can''t help but feel like we''re the B team. Backup for his main team."


    Dougughed, then turned serious for a moment. "Do you think that Dragon that attacked the helicopter came from the Instance? Maybe he''s going toe back with some strange and powerful new beast.


    Things thate from eggs seems to be his theme, so I wouldn''t put it past him to bring back a Dragon Whelp."


    "This is bullying." Lotusined.


    She was a green dragon priestess, if anyone should be getting a baby dragon, it was her.


    But if Karl brought back a dragon, she could ride a spider and a dragon. That would be eptable as well. Perhaps she should be giving prayers to the goddess for him to bring back good things.


    Doug gave her a suspicious look, knowing that the little Priestess was up to something strange, but a nervous looking woman caught his attention.


    "Excuse me, High Priest. Do you happen to know an Elite named Karl? He has beasts with him. I thought I heard your team mention him." She asked hesitantly.


    Doug smiled at her. "Indeed we do. I heard he was born here, do you know him?" n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om


    The woman gave him a thin smile that said she was more nervous than she wanted him to know.


    "I do, actually. Very well. You see, I am his mother."


    Doug smiled. "You hear that, Dana? We found Prince Karl''s beloved mother."


    Danaughed and tapped the table across from her. "Why don''t you join us? I am his ssmate, as well as his teammate. We''ve known each other since the day we arrived at the Academy. He has told me a lot about you. However, I only recall him ever calling you mom."


    Karl''s mom smiled, her face leathery and wrinkled well before its time from a life of hard work and exposure to the elements. "You can just call me Ma. Everyone else here does." She insisted as she took a seat.


    An aging miner with tobo yellowed teeth at the table behind themughed. "Short for Mary Eleanor. But she''s been Ma since she was old enough to work at the mercantile store as a girl."


    Karl''s mom gave him a shooing gesture. "Drink your coffee. My son has told me all about this lovely youngdy, but I never thought I would get to meet her before my own son came home again.


    Nothing bad happened, did it? He''s not hurt, is he? They didn''t send a letter or a white robe like they did for Owen''s family."


    She clearly cared quite a bit about Karl, and the contrast to Dana''s own family was a painful memory. The mage smiled gently and flipped her curls back out of her face.


    "No, he''s fine. The Green Dragon herself saw fit to give us an update. He''s just on a solo mission at the moment, and we chose to wait in town for him to return."

 Chapter 440 To Finish A Quest

    Chapter 440 To Finish A Quest


    Karl had no idea that his mother and his Dana were getting along so well, or even that they had met.


    Instead, he was busy with a much more important matter, making sure that a horde of small Elven children made it home safely and that the people who came for them really were their parents.


    The chances that someone was trying to steal one of the kids seemed pretty low in a vige like this, where everyone knew everyone, but the risks were never zero, especially when there were likely to be people who had skills that allowed them to disguise their appearance.


    The obvious advantages of that sort of skill for persuasion and trickery were obvious, and he didn''t want to mess things up at thest minute by passing one of the kids off to the wrong person.


    So, he waited and watched as the Elves set up a feast in the forest below the Mayor''s office, and everyone from town began to gather to wee the kids back.


    It was a touching scene, proof that people here really did care for their little ones, even after they had gathered great power for themselves.


    Back home, politicians were better known for passing their kids to a nanny to raise, so they would rarely actually see each other, unless it was for a social event. But here, the kids were part of everything, and there were Elves from every age group present. From the ones that could barely walk, all the way to ones that could barely walk anymore.


    "Sir, if you would like toe down, the food is ready. I know how your people feel about all vegetable dinners, but I promise it will be good." The Mayor insisted.


    "I have no doubts about that. If I wanted meat, I could cook it myself. The beasts have a plentiful supply stored. But personally, I have gotten quite familiar with the food creation abilities of my Green Dragon Clericpanions back home." Karl exined.


    "Rice and Beans!" One of the kids shouted, before the rest burst intoughter.


    "Exactly. But she also has the advanced spells, so she can make other forms of food products with her magic. That gives us a wide variety of options, and we''re never wanting for vour."


    The elves all seemed to be delighted with those answers, and they had prepared a veritable feast to celebrate the return of the kids. Some were even still in mourning clothes, which they were hastily changing out of when they were reunited.


    They did it the same way that Karl did, just with a swap from their bonded items, so the system must have been a verymon thing here, not exclusive like it was in the Golden Dragon Nation with the Elites. The presence of so many people withbat skills would make for a well defended vige, even if they only had lower Ranks avable. Karl knew full well that one war cleric who could buff the group was worth dozens of soldiers when the monsters attacked, and the Elves had more than a few clerics with them, though they all appeared to worship Elven Gods, not the Dragons.


    Not that it made all that much difference to Karl. The Elven Gods seemed to have a gentle nature, as the clerics were all treated like parents among the vige. They also had a number of tamed beasts in the town limits, including a small blink cat, who was keenly interested in Karl from the moment that their eyes met.


    The version of Blink Cat that Karl was familiar with didn''t get powerful, so it wouldn''t be much of abat pet, but secondster, it was on Karl''s shoulder, snuggled against his neck and purring happily. N?v(el)B\\jnn


    Hawk mentally rolled his eyes at the cat''sck of self-preservation instinct, but Thor thought it made sense. Karl was the biggest predator around, and he looked vaguely like the Elves. So, cuddling up to him and making friends was the smartest idea that a small creature like the Blink Cat could have.


    They survived by being able to escape, not by being able to fight.


    Karl was just taking his seat when he got a message from the System. [Mission Complete: Reward calcting]


    [ss Quest Reward triggered: The Perfect Pet.]


    [Using the coordinates provided, find the perfect pet for your level and skillbination.]


    Karl stared at that for a few seconds as he tried to make sense of the reward he had gotten. It was a reward, but also a ss exclusive quest? Couldn''t it just give him the pet instead of making him hunt it down? Or was there a reason that he had to go look for it? There might be additional requirements along the way that he hadn''t encountered yet. Or perhaps the hunt itself was part of the requirement? He had found all of the others legitimately, they hadn''t been given to him.


    Well, Hawk nearly was, as his egg was among the monster resources that had been prepared for the newly injected Elites and their guards. But he had still picked it up himself, and nobody handed it to him with clear instructions.


    Perhaps that stage was vital to the development of the mental bond between partners?


    That made sense to the beasts. If it was already born, and noting from an egg in his space, wouldn''t he need to make friends before he kidnapped it? You couldn''t just steal people, they would never forgive you, and your team needed to be on your side and loyal.


    The thought made Karl smile.


    [Loyal, like not running off with my team members.] He sent to Rae.


    Thor snorted in amusement at the spider, but Remiughed at them both.


    [Thor isn''t innocent this time. How many times did he ignore deployment orders so that he could go charging through enemy lines with Tessa?] She asked, rhetorically.


    [Three.] Hawk added.


    [Not more than two. One of those times was after I got permission.] Thor countered.


    Karl shook his head. [I am d you understand the issue. Rae gets a bit more leeway since she can shadow step, and return instantly, but Thor has buffs centred on him, so he needs to be in position or other team members could be unexpectedly without circle of protection.]


    Karl sat at the table of honour with the Mayor and a few elderly clerics, while the children of the vige ran around and yed.


    "Hey, I''m almost grown now, you''re only eighteen, just a little kid." One of the young teens was shouting at another.


    Karl couldn''t resistughing, and the Mayor politely hid hisughter behind his hand, while the old woman to Karl''s left just smirked.


    "Don''t feel too bad about being youthful, son. I can''t even argue that I''m middle-aged anymore. I''ve been alive a hundred years for every one that you have." She whispered.


    Karl turned to face her. "I didn''t know that Elves lived that long."


    The old womanughed. "That depends on how powerful they are, now doesn''t it? As powerful as I am, I have bought myself an extra thousand years. Elves get more extra time than humans do as they get more powerful.


    So, when you''ve reached even my level, you get three times the lifespan instead of double. I would imagine that you''ll live a good long time if you aren''t cut down in your prime like so many of the violent humans are."


    Karl chuckled. That was a very real possibility.

 Chapter 441 Quest Objective

    Chapter 441 Quest Objective


    Karl took a moment to check the location of the quest objective, hoping that the System would give him some sort of hint. But it only gave a direction, with no distance.


    That wasn''t going to help much. All he could do was follow the general direction and hope that it wasn''t too far. There was no time limit on the quest, he just had to find the perfect pet. Karl wasn''t even certain that such a thing existed, but if it did, he would certainly go looking for it.


    Not just for the power, but because he wanted to know what the system thought was the absolute peak pet for him. It was likely something so impressive that he had never considered it on his own, but the method of taming it was unlikely to be an easy one.


    He was imagining what it would take to tame a dragon when the kids began to surround him, demanding that he bring Thor back out to be a climbing obstacle for them.


    The older Elves had no idea what a Thor was, but when Karl called him out, they seemed enthralled with the strange Cerro.


    "I have never seen anything like that before." The Mayor noted. N?v(el)B\\jnn


    "He has been evolving as he grows in power. A normal Lightning Cerro where I''m from doesn''t get this powerful. It''s my ss that is helping him grow. But he came across a holy resource and it helped him learn new skills.


    A Lightning Cerro that can use a Circle of Protection is unheard of, at least in my homnd. So, he''s one of a kind. Now that he''s begun to change, I think that he''s got even more advancement potential ahead of him, and he won''t get stuck at this level.


    Some of the others had more potential from the start, so I''m not too worried about them, but I''ve got a Naga Spirit Snake who is about to hit the advancement bottleneck."


    The Mayor nodded. "So, she will have to decide if she''s going to stunt her powers and remain a snake, or if she will evolve in a different direction. What is her ss now?"


    "Naga Spirit Snake Shaman Princess" A number of the Elves turned to stare at him.


    "Did you say that you have a Naga Princess with you? A Shaman Princess?" One of them asked.


    [Remi,e out and say hello.]


    She appeared on Karl''s shoulders, so nobody attacked her, and bobbed her head happily as the Elves smiled at her.


    "She''s beautiful. I''ve never seen one so young that they hadn''t evolved yet. How did you get her?"


    In Karl''s mind, Hawkughed, while beside him Remi turned to headbutt his cheek. [Don''t embarrass me. They think I''m cute.] Remi insisted.


    Karl smiled at the Elves. "I got her as an egg from a Dungeon. There was a Naga Shaman and a Naga King boss, and the egg was among the items piled around the boss tform. One of my other beasts rescued the egg, and shortly after, Remi hatched. She''s got a real gift for elemental magic." "So, she''s been with you her whole life? That exins her tame personality." One of the women realized.


    "No, Remi is just a friendly smol snake. She has always wanted to make friends who know new and interesting things, as opposed to Thor, who wants friends to y with. The ss doesn''t change their personality. They all still have their own minds, but they have someone who understands them and can trante, so they''re no longer left alone and misunderstood."


    The Elves had some doubts about the friendly small snake part of the exnation, as she was clearly a three-metre-long venomous spirit snake, and there were no truly friendly venomous species. But the rest they would ept as a quirk of the system.


    An aging Elven woman with bright silver hair stared at Remi and cradled her fingers under her chin.


    The two stared at each other, both trying to learn something about the other.


    The proximity was making the others nervous, but the kids weren''t scared of Remi, as she had been on Thor''s back early in their trip.


    "Well, she could go the storm snake route, but she would lose most of the powers she has now. Storm Snakes can''t be shamans, after all.


    But if she goes the Naga Shaman route, she won''t have as easy of a time doing the adorable act. Naga shamans are considerablyrger than average humans, and it is hard for them to act cutesy." She exined.


    Remi''s sad expression made a number of the Elves coo at her, like you would with a sad child. They understood her much better than humans did. Most humans didn''t even understand her basic mood, much less what she needed to feel better.


    "There is one more option. She could try to focus on her Royal Lineage. She could be a Naga Queen. They have many powers as well, and they''re slightly smaller than Shamans. But more importantly, a Naga Queen can change back into a Spirit Snake when she wants. They usually use it as an ambush technique, but if she wants to use it to be cute, that''s an option as well."


    Now all of the beasts wereughing at Remi''s expense. You couldn''t choose your progression path just because it let you be cute. The whole point of evolving was to be more powerful so that you could defeat the enemies that woulde your way.


    Remi was already behind the rest due to her youth and slow growth.


    Karl thought about the options. "I take it that the Queens are the most powerful, on a raw power level, but not among the usual group ofbatants?"


    The Elf nodded. "Most of them remain home with their broods, as they are the only ones that can make the whole variety of Naga Eggs that a clutch will need. The others can only make baby versions of themselves."


    [But does ite with a new hat?] Remi asked.


    She hadn''t made a new crown in a while, but she had good materials in her swamp for one.


    [I think it cane with a new hat. Or I can get you one.]


    "You seem distracted." The Mayor noted.


    "Remi was wondering if the Queen positiones with a new hat. She doesn''t alwayse out decorated, since it''s hard to make anything stay on a snake''s body, but she''s a big fan of bling." Karl exined.


    The nearby Elves chuckled at the exnation, and the eager look that Remi was giving them.


    "Well, I don''t know if a crown is part of their skills, as Naga Queens usually wear many gold nes instead. But if anyone had the right to wear a crown, it would be them." That settled it. Remi had to look into bing a Naga Queen. It would be the best of everything. New powers, still being a cute snake, and a crown.


    What more could a girl ask for?


    "I suppose that we just need to find her some information on the topic. She''s been with me her whole life, so we don''t have all the information that a regr Naga Queen would have grown up with." Karl sighed.


    "Why not ask the Nature Gods? Not the Green Dragon, the Storm Gods. They govern shamans, so they should know how to get a Shaman Princess to evolve." One of the Priests suggested.


    "Oh, that is a wonderful idea. There is a temple nearby. You can go pray there and ask them in person. They shouldn''t ignore a devoted Royal Adherent. Especially as they are Beast Gods."

 Chapter 442 The Lives Of Elves

    Chapter 442 The Lives Of Elves


    The meal was more conversation than it was actually eating, but that worked for everyone present. Karl was learning all about the beasts and the political situation in the region. The Elves were intimately familiar with both, as most of them had been watching them for hundreds of years already, all while living in this vige.


    The remote location made a lot of sense for the species. A city like the Golden Dragon Capital changed far too much for them to adapt to, and only one or two buildings in the entire city would outlive them.


    In a ce like that, there was no sense of permanence, everything would feel like it was in a constant state of flux.


    Karl knew the feeling from living in a camp during the war, and a life like that was no life at all in the long term. You needed somewhere to go home and rx, a familiar ce to centre yourself.


    "What is your next goal? Will you be going back to where you came from now that you have finished your quest here?" The Mayor asked.


    Karl shook his head. "No, I have one more quest left here. I need to find a new pet. It''s a quest reward, but it only gave me a general direction and no actual details."


    The Mayorughed and patted Karl on the shoulder. "Wee to the club. All the best quest rewards are just the Gods looking for amusement. So they''re never easy, but they''re always worth it in the end. Just put in the work, and you''ll find that what they give you will be one of the greatest finds that you could have managed.


    At your power level, it could be anything from a baby dragon or phoenix to an extra nar creature like a Reaper or an Oath Breaker. Though that one might not count as a beast, they''re more of a demihuman type demon. But if they rewarded you with a Tree of Life sapling or a Vorpal Bunny, that could be just as good."


    "Can you even count a tree sapling as a beast type pet?" Karl asked.


    "I don''t see why not. The Tree of Life can walk until it sets permanent roots, it has rudimentary intelligence, and it is from the wilderness. n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om


    I think that the Vorpal Bunny would be the best option behind your own dragon, though. They have the most ridiculous attack ever. It''s not much to look at, but their bite attack has barrier bypass, armour ignore and the Instant Death debuff. They can just kill anything that offends them."


    Karl''s eyes went wide at the Mayor''sment. He gained the core ability of his pets. If he could add [Instant Death] to his attacks, it wouldn''t even matter what they put him up against. If he could hit it, it would die.


    He was also significantly more durable than the average bunny.


    The question was: How did you catch a creature that ignored barriers and killed with a single hit?


    One of the young mothers rolled her eyes at the Mayor. "You know that isn''t realistic. The reward is always something that is matched to the recipient''s personality. If he was the sort that wanted to make an entire Blizzard spell a one hit kill, the gods wouldn''t have favoured him to start with."


    No, that sounded both horrific and incredibly useful. Perhaps she could revisit that topic, he wouldn''t mind that sort of skill.


    "More likely it would be something that smoothly pairs with his existing beasts. If he''scking in an area, he will likely get something that will fill that gap. Quite often these rewards give a holy beast of some sort, but he already has one. So, if he doesn''t need a Circle of Protection, or healing, or burst damage, I would think that he''s being led to some sort of unique support skill. If he''s favoured enough, he might even get an aspect reward from the World Dragon or the Old Gods." She suggested. "An aspect reward? I am not familiar with the phrase." Karl asked, wondering if it was an odd trantion from Elvish.


    "Oh, it means a skill that is simr to the ones that they are known for. A bargain bin version of a Divine Skill. You could get something like [Armament] from the war god that lets you just create weapons on demand, or you might get one of the food creation skills from a nature god. You might get something truly wild as well. I heard that a few thousand years ago, there was an Elf that got the [Companion] skill from the World Dragon."


    Karl tried to recall something about that from his history sses, but came up nk. It might be his nation''s patron deity, but he had no idea what the skill was.


    The Elf didn''t seem to notice, and just assumed that everyone knew what that skill did.


    The name was fairly self-exnatory, but Karl couldn''t see why it would be so special when there were Golems everywhere.


    One of the older Elves nodded. "If it gives you a skill, it''s guaranteed to be at least at the Epic Rank, and if it''s for a particrly difficult or deity aligned quest, it''s not unheard of for the reward to be a Legendary Skill."


    Karl''s Epic Ranked beast armour was already a massively overpowered skill. His armour was many times better than anything that he could buy at home. So what would a Legendary Rank skill be like?


    Or even more importantly, what would a beast that was obtained from a Legendary Rank quest reward be like?


    If it was a beast that had a legendary rank skill, it was certain to be an insanely powerful beast to begin with, but what sort of form would such a creature take? The school curriculum didn''t cover beasts with Legendary skills, just divine beasts and Legendary threats to humanity. For all he knew, it could be something as cute and non-threatening as Remi.


    "Well, maybe I will get lucky and receive a Legendary reward from the quest. With theck of details and just a direction to go by, they''re keeping me in suspense. But it is a beast, so perhaps the best one is rtive, and it can''t be so easily defined."


    One of the younger Elvesughed. "Have you tried befriending Aspen? She''s a Forest Dragon, that should be a pretty good pet."


    There was a growling from the edge of the gathering, and the boy went pale. "A good pet, you say." The young female voice roared, before a shaggy green dragon covered in leaves leapt into the sky.


    Karl patted the boy on the shoulder. "I suggest you run."


    The boy nodded and sprinted for the opening to what looked like a cer. But far too slowly to escape the wrath of a dragon that felt slighted.


    The boy''s mother looked panicked, but Karl sat her down with a gentle pressure. "Rx, she''s not going to seriously injure him. If she were actually mad, she wouldn''t have roared or flown up where he could see her."


    The woman didn''t look like she believed him, but a few secondster, the dragon came back out with a puppy in her arms. "See, no harm done. She just turned him into a pet for a few minutes so he knew what it was like.


    Apparently."


    The Elves in the area wereughing as the dragon berated the puppy, who she had tied a string cor to before cing him on the table so he couldn''t run away.


    The mother went to rescue her boy, and the Mayor sighed. "You say that now, but she holds a grudge like the trees hold the scars of the past. She likely wouldn''t turn him back at all if his mother didn''t plead his case."


    Karlughed and shrugged. "He''s an Elf, he''s got a long time for her to get over it. But can we take Miss Remi to the Storm God''s temple quickly? Perhaps she will get some insight."


    The Mayor smiled. "It''s right there, that cave. Just let Remi go say hello, and the Storm God will answer eventually. Like good thunderstorms, their answers take a few days to brew."


    Remi excitedly slithered off to check out the temple cave, and Karl turned to make sure that the kids weren''t taking advantage of Thor. The Cerro was too kind to say if they were being annoying.

 Chapter 443 Nice Scales Lady

    Chapter 443 Nice Scales Lady


    Thor was mostly ignoring the kids using him as a piece of y equipment as he watched the Forest Dragon berate the puppy.


    [Shaggy scales are pretty good too.] Thor noted as the Elf''s mother worked to calm down the dragon so she would turn the boy back to his natural form.


    [Now you''re aiming for dragons?] Karl asked.


    [All scales are good scales. Plus, those wings. Scales and wings are a goodbination.] Thor agreed.


    The dragon turned in their direction, and Karl felt a nudge at his mind. He focused on letting it in, and a gentle female voice entered his mind. [Remind your friend that I am a Forest Dragon, and I can hear him.] She demanded.


    Thor perked up. [I have grasses here that are very good for supple scales.] The dragon red at Karl, and he patted the eager Cerro on the head. [Sorry, buddy. You had your shot, but she''s not interested. You''ll have to try again another day on a different dragon.]


    Thor was a bit sad that his chance at romance wasn''ting to him from the dragon with the shaggy scales, but he understood. You couldn''t get every female that you found attractive, or there would be no avable females to find attractive in the first ce.


    The dragon smirked a little as she heard Thor''s thoughts, and dismissed him as a horny teenager who still saw his best chances at finding love to be simply trying for every single female he met.


    At least, every one of them with scales because Thor had standards. The kids were still climbing all over him, and that included the other Elven children from the vige now. So, it was clear to Karl that they wouldn''t be going anywhere soon, and he should likely start looking for a space to spend a night, as it would be rude to let Rae just make a random fort on the edge of an established town.


    "Well, it looks like we''re not in a hurry to leave. Do you still have the rooms for travellers that the waypoint was designed for? Or a hotel of some sort?" Karl asked.


    "Of course. I doubt that they will take your money, as you brought back the children, but there will definitely be a spot for you to stay the night. What direction is your quest sending you from here? West into the forests?" The Mayor replied.


    "East Southeast. I''m not sure what is in that direction, but that''s where it says that I will find what I''m looking for."


    The mayor looked concerned. "I hope that it''s not sending you too far. That region is dangerous, and it''s all controlled by wild beasts and the Monstrous Tribes.


    It''s technically part of the Miviascan Empire''s territory, but you won''t find a civilized vige in that direction all the way across the Empire. Even Southeast, you would be hard-pressed to find civilization. That''s why the road runs northeast of here before going east again.


    But you are searching for the perfect magical beast, so that might be precisely the sort of region that you''re looking for, no matter how dangerous it is. Just remember that it is their home territory, and try not to pick fights, or it will draw in every ally and every potential challenger in the region. It won''t matter who wins, they will want to attack when the victor is weakened."


    Karl nodded. "I hope it''s not too far as well. Being lost in the wilderness without my teammates to make dinner and help keep watch sounds like it won''t be much fun."


    The Elf nodded. Karl had said the same thing before, and it was clear that he was used to travelling with a group, and not solo. Perhaps this was the reason that the Gods had deemed that he needed to go on a quest for his reward instead of just receiving it. They liked independent champions, not ones who relied on the powers of others to support them. So, a nice long trip to get used to being alone and self-sufficient might be just the thing that he needed.


    The actual quest reward would be secondary to their goals.


    But the Mayor had seen many things in his centuries, and he wasn''t going to spoil it for the young human, who might actually have fewer years under his belt than the children that he had returned. The Elves of their tribe aged at half the rate that humans did in their youth, and then their appearance paused when they were grown. So it was possible this young human would only have been a child himself by their estimation if someone had been rude enough to ask and remind him of how very mortal he was.


    "How about I show you to a room at the inn for the evening. Is it safe to leave your beast unattended?" He asked instead. n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om


    "In a way, yes. He''s not hostile, and he doesn''t eat any form of meat. But he''s liable to flirt with the dragon if he thinks she might reconsider, and that could end in disaster."


    The Mayor''sughter drew the attention of half the vige. "She''s already in a bad mood. Perhaps we should send the kids away and let him rest. I assume that your ss grants him a separate space with the others?"


    Karl nodded, and the Mayor began to chase off the kids.


    Once they were off, Karl called Thor back into his space, and the Forest Dragon briefly looked confused, before she realized that the Cerro had disappeared. She could sense that he was an actual beast, not a summoned illusion or false creature. So, normally, his thoughts would only vanish if he died. But she quickly realized that it was just in a separate space so that the children would sleep at some point. If that friendly beast was left with them, they would still be ying in the morning after sneaking out of their homes the moment their parents went to bed.


    She didn''t say it out loud, but Karl was thinking the same thing. Elves and Lotus had too much inmon. It was not safe to leave unattended beasts around them if they needed to be ready to do thingster.


    The room actually turned out to be quite luxurious, despite the back to nature rustic look of the vige. It had been maintained at the standards that the Darklight Host kept for all its waypoints, and hadn''t been renovated to match the rest of the vige. It was also among the only buildings that were at ground level. There were a few workshops down here, but most of the town lived further up the trees, presumably as a defence against wandering beasts who couldn''t or didn''t climb trees.


    "We will see you in the morning, if you are staying around long enough for breakfast. I am usually here at the inn for morning tea, and many of the vigers like to drop in. We also have provisions if you need to stock for a trip. We have ess to the Darklight Host Guild Bank, so we can get you all the essentials."


    A Guild Bank? There was some sort of magical bank that had supplies in it, essible from here? Now Karl was beginning to envy the luxuries that these people enjoyed.


    "Thanks. I will arrange supplies for an extended trip in the morning. Sleep well, Mayor."

 Chapter 444 Lacking Common Sense

    Chapter 444 Lacking Common Sense


    Karl woke up with the dawn the next day, not because he set an rm or had anything urgent to do, but just out of habit.


    That was when the Giants usually started to scout for attacks, so that was when he needed to be ready, and he didn''t want to lose that routine when he might be finished this quest in a few days and back home to the rest of the team.


    He briefly wondered what they were up to, and if they had gotten to stop in at the Lithium Mines, where he was certain that they would be the stars of the town.


    Even the less famous and military Elites were like idols to the small-town youth, especially the ones not yet old enough to have gone through the serum injection.


    As he sat down for a morning tea, as they didn''t have any coffee in the dispensers set up along one wall for the hotel guests, Karl noticed that he was still the centre of attention.


    He looked up at a man who was trying to subtly observe him, enough to let the man know that he was caught, and that Karl was willing to talk to him. With that, the Elf switched seats to join him at the table.


    "You''re going east into monster territory for a quest, right? Now, I know it''s a quest, and it''s giving you directions, but that''s still a terrible idea. There isn''t anything in that direction that is weaker than you are. Even if you tag team them with your Lightning Cerro, it''s not going to be an easy fight. I am a woodcutter by trade, and even I don''t go east of town, much less across the border."


    Karl nodded. "I agree that it might be a terrible idea, but I am a Beast Master. Monsters are part of the deal."


    The woodcutter chuckled. "Well, do you at least have a portal scroll with you for an emergency escape?"


    Karl didn''t even know that was a thing, so he shook his head.


    "Yeah, that''s what I thought. I don''t know where you came from, but yourmon sense certainly didn''t grow up here. I will get you the supplies that you''re going to need. How much room do you have in your inventory?" "Two slots." The man looked confused. "You only have room for two more items?"


    Now it was Karl''s turn to be confused. "Perhaps there is something off with my inventory arrangement? Each slot is a metre cubed, roughly. I can just load them with stuff until they''re full." Karl exined.


    The woodcutter gestured out the window at someone, and the dragon came inside, looking suspiciously at Karl, as if he was going to try to match make her and Thor first thing in the morning.


    "Can you tell me about his System? There is something wrong with it. All his inventory space has merged into two slots the size of Guild Bank vault cubes." The man exined.


    The dragon stared deeply at Karl, then shrugged. "Yup, it''s broken. But I don''t know what to do about it. Maybe it''s supposed to be that way? It looks like it works just fine, and I can see his ss just fine. It might be a quirk of his ss, giving him bulk space for raw materials. You know, like how the crafter sses get a bag for reagents and materials."


    The woodcutter snapped his fingers. "Alright, now it all makes sense. The Beast Master must be some sort of hybrid crafting andbat ss. I will go get the travel supplies ready with the space limitations in mind."


    Then he left the room, leaving the dragon and Karl sitting at a table together.


    "Tea?" Karl asked, prepared to get up and pour another cup.


    "No, thank you. I already ate. I''m sure that they already warned you that your path would be dangerous, but I think that you might be alright. You don''t smell like a human. You smell like a strange beast. As long as the ruler of the territory doesn''t see you as a threat, you should be able to pass through with only minimalpetition. Just keep moving and try not to go snooping around nests or dens, unless you''re absolutely certain it''s the one you want."


    "Got it. That should be easy enough in theory. But we both know things never work out that way once you''re actually in the woods." The dragonughed at Karl''s joke. The woods were her element. Even if the beasts were much more powerful than she was, they wouldn''t attack a Forest Dragon in the forest. It just wasn''t in their nature. n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om


    The Mayor sat down to join them, and then a few men dressed as Rangers, one of which was holding a tiny blink cat.


    "Your bonded partner?" Karl asked.


    "Actually, no, my wife''s new best friend. But he insisted oning with me today to see you. They''re wicked smart, the Blink Cats are. My bonded partner is a timber wolf to grant me the increased eyesight and sense of smell that canines are famous for. He''s currently napping on my front porch.


    Bonded animals might not age and die like their unbonded counterparts, but they get just aszy in their old age."


    Karl could only imagine howzy and grumpy a hundred-year-old wolf would be.


    "So that''s how Rangers pick their partners. I gained the same from my first partner, a Windspeed Hawk. My eyesight is incredible for a human." Karl exined.


    "Lucky bugger. The rare sses always get all the good stuff for themselves, and the rest of us just get left feeling inferior." The second Rangerined.


    "Rangers do have some benefits, though. My only ss skills are for enhancing the damage that my beasts do. The attack skills I had to train separately, or gain from my beasts."


    All four at the tableughed that time, and the Dragon smirked at Karl.


    "You''re not making him feel better. Being able to gain skills from a whole group of magical beasts is practically a Ranger''s wet dream. I suspect that your ss might actually be an advanced version of their ss, or perhaps the druid or shaman ss. Sometimes it takes a crossover between them toe up with something new, but if it let a Ranger bond and gain skills from beasts in addition to their archery and woodcraft skills, it would bepletely worth it." She exined.


    "Do Rangers not get sword skills?" Karl asked.


    "Superb ones, actually. But their attitude is that if they have to draw their sword, things have already gone wrong."


    Karl chuckled. "I am the opposite. I start with the de if things are going right. If I have to use my bow, it''s normally because I was caught too early by something that can fight back."


    While they joked, the woodcutter gathered the items that Karl would need, and came back with tworge bags, nearly the size of the inventory spaces, along with an itemized receipt.


    "Now, this might be overkill, so I can return some of it if you''d like. Here is the list, and the total is seventeen gold pieces, four silver, eight copper."


    Karl focused on his Status screen and had it withdraw eighteen gold pieces. He could get used to that ability.


    "There you go. Keep the rest for your assistance."


    There was food, as predicted, but not in the way Karl expected. The bag contained a magical lunch box that could be activated to create a meal once a day.


    Most of the rest was filled with various potions, tinctures, lotions and scent blockers that will help him through the wilderness without drawing too much attention to himself, along with an enchanted water bottle, and a few enchanted repair kits for weapons and armour.


    Karl had never seen anything like them before, but they weren''t all that expensive, and he definitely wanted to bring them home with him.


    "I know that this might sound odd, but do you have a skill book library avable?" Karl asked.


    The Mayor shook his head. "We can get skill books, but they need to be custom-made and sent to us. It takes a week or two."


    "Yeah, I suspected that might be the answer. But it was worth a shot. Perhaps the next time I''m in a real city, I will have time to visit the library. I wanted to get a proper shaman healing spell for my partner, to go with her healing totems and ssh heal." Karl exined.


    If they didn''t have a full-time healer, that role was on [Regeneration], [Eternal Lightning] and Remi. Having a proper healing spell would have been nice.


    Bute to think of it, if he had more points, he could get [Trollish Regeneration], the upgraded version of Bestial Regeneration.

 Chapter 445 Miviascan Wilderness

    Chapter 445 Miviascan Wilderness


    Once they were finished with breakfast and Karl''s inventory was loaded with as much stuff as he could possibly hold, which appeared to be a normal situation for the locals when they headed out on an extended trip, he prepared to get on his way.


    He would be headed away from the road, following the directions from the quest reward. The fact that there were supposed to be no viges at all for the entire northern region of the nation next to them seemed very odd to Karl. Perhaps they meant no Elven or Human viges, but theplete absence just didn''t seem like the sort of thing that would normally happen.


    There wasn''t anything that Karl could do about that, though. The supposedly perfect beast was in that direction, and he wasn''t about to pass that up. He had a space ready, and they were just waiting on Remi to pick an evolution direction so she could break through to the Royal Rank. Then they would be able to continue progressing, hopefully with a powerful new friend.


    Everyone in the group was excited about that. They had be a close family, and the process of adopting a new family member was the greatest group activity that they could think of right now. They were all present, there was no particr pressure, and no restrictions on what they could look for. There might never be a better chance to find a new friend.


    The first few hours in the forest were calm ones. There weren''t many strong monsters near the vige, the dragon chased them away or convinced them not to bother her, but as Karl got further from civilization, he began to see signs that there were monsters in the area.


    The most obvious were the w marks five metres up the bark of a tree. It might have been a full-grown Dire Bear, or something the same shape, or it might have been a shorter creature that normally stood upright.


    Karl didn''t want to call anyone out and risk attracting more attention, so he just focused on not being ambushed with his aura turned inward, the way he had seen others do it to hide their power level.


    Thor would be ready instantly with the barriers, and Karl had Royal Rank armour on, so he wasn''t exactly vulnerable, but it was an extreme change from his usual "Always ready" travel method.


    [Watch your step and protect your neck.] Rae sang in his mind as they passed through a dark section of the forest where Karl could feel that something was watching them, waiting for an opportunity to strike.


    [You''re in a good mood today.] Karl noted. Rae nodded happily as she swung in a hammock in her space. [This ce feels like home. This is where a Bloodbath Spider belongs, not in those wimpy forests back home. These forests are ancient, and they''re just leaking power. It just feels like home.]


    Remi looked around. [It isn''t bad, but it''s too dry. These trees though, I like the trees.]


    As they continued, the sense that they were being stalked became undeniable.


    [Does anyone have eyes on the target?] Karl asked, knowing they could look out of their spaces directly and not just through his eyes.


    [Whatever it is, it is hidden too well.] Raeined.


    Then Karl saw a shimmer headed their way through the trees and turned to face it, hoping that just proving he could see it would scare it off.


    The creature seemed to pause for a few seconds, then Karl realized that it wasn''t alone. There were other shimmers in his peripheral vision.


    One of themunched itself at him, and Karl sidestepped, bringing up [Eternal Lightning]. The moment that he used a skill, the shimmers scattered, running off into the woods. But he could feel attention from something stronger in the distance.


    As a precaution, he stopped using the barrier and returned to as close to stealth as he could manage.


    That stopped the stronger creature from caring that he was nearby. [The beasts here feel strange. They''re not particrly powerful, not more powerful than me, but they don''t feel the same.] Rae exined.


    They would have to wait on that, as the arrow that led them towards their new partner hadn''t changed directions at all, so it probably wasn''t close yet.


    They could all feel when they passed between the territories of two powerful beasts, and the team began to realize what the difference in feeling was. Certain portions of the woods were imed by the beasts. They had imbued their power and essence all through them for years, and that gave the beasts'' territories a distinctive feeling.


    But now that they knew what it was, they could also use that feeling to skirt along the edges of a monster''s imed territory.


    That made things a little easier for Karl. The monsters that avoided the territories of other beasts were generally not strong, and would avoid him as well, thinking that he was a wandering predator. That allowed him to make decent progress during the daylight hours, but as the sky began to darken, Karl had to make a decision.


    Where would they sleep for the evening?


    The obvious answer was in a fort that Rae made, but the issue was finding a spot where they could put it that would actually be safe enough to let him sleep, and not attract monsters to his location.


    The best that Karl coulde up with was further up in the trees, but even that was a risk, as there were monsters that lived above the ground as well as on it. [Do we think it''s safer up high or down low?] Karl asked, hoping for useful input.


    [High is always better.] Hawk replied.


    Rae made an agreeable noise. [Smaller branches support smaller predators.]


    [Yeah, the good snack sized things should be in the small branches.] Remi added.


    That settled it. They would go all the way up a tree and deal with whatever they found up there, which hopefully wouldn''t be a whole flock of flying monsters. N?v(el)B\\jnn


    [There, that tree looks good. There is some noise, but no sense of strong monsters, so there shouldn''t be anything hiding in it. It''s outside a major territory, so we should be safe to settle in for the night.] Rae suggested.


    [Alright, lead the way. You can keep watch from in the fort, or in your space, if it is less likely to cause trouble. We will fight if we have to, but I don''t want to start something big.]


    Hawk and Rae both happily agreed to those terms. They wouldn''t start anything big, but there were new types of monsters in the area, ones that were much weaker than they were, and they might be tasty.


    It wasn''t much, but they hadn''t gotten a chance to properly hunt in quite a while, so they were looking forward to taking the chances that they could get and replenish their supplies.


    Even Remi sensed some possibilities, but it would be better if she had Hawk or Rae get the food for her. Biting and squishing it might ruin the vour and texture. Being a snake had serious downfalls. All the best food was ruined when you had to catch it yourself.

 Chapter 446 Unconcerned Beast

    Chapter 446 Unconcerned Beast


    Rae made a small fort at the top of a suitable tree, and Karl climbed up tot see what she had provided. It was just an enclosed hammock, little more than a cocoon of the sort she would create for prey, but it was enclosed, and there was sticky Royal Rank silk all around it to catch the unwary intruders.


    That would do the job. Most of what Karl wanted out of the sleeping arrangement was just to not be detected by monsters, and this would work wonderfully for the task, as it would hide his scent, keeping the wind from revealing his location, and it would keep enemies away for long enough that Karl could prepare himself and Rae coulde out.


    It was going to be a long trip through the wilderness, Karl was certain. Even with the beasts watching for threats, there was no way to safely get a deep sleep, so he would be mostly meditating and resting, which was good for a while, but he might have a significant distance to cover, and eventually, he would have to find a better solution, or a safer area.


    Not everywhere was going to be heavily popted with monsters, that just wouldn''t be feasible with the avable food, but when Karl woke up in the morning he was already looking forward to it.


    There were three small creatures on the web when Karl got up. They weremon grade monsters, not a threat, and not worth keeping for snacks, so Karl simply freed them once he was out of bed and settled on a branch for a breakfast of hard travel biscuits and soup.


    A light meal was all he needed, and Karl dunked his biscuit in the soup as he watched the squirrel that he freedst run away in terror, afraid that it would be on the menu if it remained.


    This morning, the area felt more rxed and natural than it had when he arrived, and Karl gently dropped to the ground to continue following the directions that were given to find the quest reward.


    That meant a casual walk through the woods all morning, as moving faster just attracted inordinate amounts of attention. Wild beasts didn''t run without a good reason, so Karl didn''t run either.


    At noon, he came to arge grasnd area that extended as far as he could see. That was a nice change, as he could actually see threats from a distance now, and make a bit better time without causing himself trouble.


    Karl moved up to a jog as the open ins extended in front of him, keeping to a pace that [Eternal Lightning] could regenerate his stamina for. That wasn''t quite a run, but it was definitely a fast pace, which would cover over twenty kilometres an hour with his strength lengthening his strides.


    [I want to stretch my wings.] Hawkined.


    [Go ahead, I don''t sense anything nearby, it should be safe toe outside.]


    Everyone but Remi took that invitation, and then after a few seconds, Remi also came out, settling onto Thor''s back to bask in the sun.


    Hawk soared high in the sky, looking for snacks, threats and signs of civilization.


    By the time that it got dark, there was nothing. They saw a few herds of buffalo sized Commander Rank herbivores, and Rae imed two of them, just in case they tasted good, but the day was deceptively calm.


    When Karl decided to call it a night at midnight, Hawk and Rae had both been in bed for a few hours already, but there were no signs of liferger than mice visible to Karl''s borrowed version of Rae''s thermal vision.


    This time, he didn''t wake her up, he just found a small stand of trees that didn''t have anything sleeping in it and slung his hammock before waking Rae to keep watch.


    The next morning, Hawk took to the air again, scouting for any sign that they might be close to their target, but it was just grass, hundreds of kilometres of open ins.


    Karl was jogging alongte that evening when suddenly the arrow made a hard right.


    [Recalibrating. Target lost.] The system reported. n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om


    "What in the world does that mean?" Karl muttered.


    [Do you think that something ate our potential cute little sister?] Remi asked.


    Karl frowned. That seemed far too likely.


    Rae nodded. [You may have a point. The best possible option should have been a Monarch Rank infant. So it might have been eaten, or perhaps it advanced and became an Overlord before we could get there to im it? Then it wouldn''t be the best anymore because it was too strong to be safely bonded.]


    [Oh, the new arrow is moving, I think that it is close.] Thor noted.


    It wasn''t much, but the arrow had moved just a fraction of a centimetre, and then another.


    Karl turned to face the new direction, and hoped that this time he would be able to reach his target before something happened to it.


    [There is something in the distance. Big green people are attacking something ck.] Hawk reported.


    [Do you think it might be our target?] Karl asked as the bird raced away into the distance.


    [I am pretty sure it is. I don''t know what it is yet, though. It''s surrounded in ck.]


    He sent a mental image of what he was seeing, and Karl couldn''t figure it out either. The Orcish children were just attacking a ball of ck energy that Hawk was unable to see through.


    It was slowly moving along, as if it was sluggish or unconcerned.


    No matter what they did, it kept moving. Then they swapped out the Commander Rank adolescents with one of their high Royal Rank warriors.


    Karl could see himing, then Hawk got distracted by something moving in the grass.


    It turned out to be no threat, but when he looked back, the warrior was simply gone, and there was ck ash floating on the wind.


    "Did it just one shot a Royal Rank Orcish warrior?" Karl asked himself.


    [Possibly. Maybe it teleported him, though? He''s definitely gone.] Hawk reported.


    Now that was interesting. If there was something that could one shot a Royal Rank Orc, it was definitely powerful. But whether or not it was going to be something that Karl could bond with was another matter.


    They hadn''t tried to pull a living thing other than Dana into the space, and that hadn''t worked. There wasn''t an extra space for her at the time, but Karl suspected that it was more that she wasn''t ssified as a valid beast to be brought into the system''s link.


    It took nearly an hour of fast jogging to get to the point where Hawk had tracked the ck ball to after the Orcs gave up on it, or maybe the Orcs had chased it away, though it didn''t seem to have cared all that much about their efforts, as it never changed course.


    It didn''t seem to care much about him, either. Karl made his way a few hundred metres ahead of the small ck half orb trundling along through the grass, and tried to see what was inside.


    The arrow from the quest log was tracking it, pointing down at the top of its head, but Karl had no idea how to get it into the space.


    He certainly wasn''t going to try to pick it up, at least not until he knew what it was and if that was safe. But for the moment, it wasn''t reacting to his presence at all.


    [Should we just follow it?] Rae suggested.


    [We might as well. But why don''t we try feeding it? Maybe it will drop the barrier if we give it something to eat.]

 Chapter 447 Cara

    Chapter 447 Cara


    Karl set a bit of Commander Rank monster meat on the ground in front of the beast, but slightly off to one side, so he could see if it was going to adjust course.


    For the first time since Hawk had spotted it, the beast paused, as if sniffing at the food, then continued along its way.


    But Karl had many tricks to lure beasts to him. He extended [ming Body] and roasted the piece of meat, to let the wind waft the scent toward the slowly moving creature.


    It immediately doubled back, leaping into the air to show that the barrier extended below it to make a full sphere, then opened slightly to allow the food to safely enter without being destroyed.


    Karl cut and roasted another piece, and tossed it between the beast and himself.


    This time it didn''t jump, but ran to the spot. [It must be a new friend for Hawk, the way it loves to eat.] Thor joked.


    Karl chuckled and prepared a few more pieces, tossing them progressively closer, but holding thest one in his hand.


    The creature elerated as it snapped up the food, then stopped right in front of Karl. It bounced a few times, as if demanding thest bite, before he dropped it toward what he assumed was a waiting mouth.


    The ck barrier dissipated as the food fell, revealing what looked like an average Honey Badger.


    That was not at all what Karl was expecting.


    But when he roasted another bit of meat in his hand, thin wings, a fleshy membrane like bat wings, extended from under the protective fur on its back, and with a p, it was snagging the food from Karl''s hand so fast it wasn''t even finished cooking yet.


    The beast gave a strange expression as itnded with the half roasted meat in its mouth, then swallowed and looked up at Karl.


    [Meat?] He heard a gentle girlish voice ask in his mind.


    Karl nodded. "You have to be patient, it takes a few seconds to cook."


    [What is a cook? MEAT!] It pleaded.


    Karl roasted the meat and handed a muchrger piece to the badger, which it promptly used its ck energy skill to cut into small cubes that it ate with a dainty w, now that there was enough food that it wasn''t worried about starvation.


    That must have been why it was unconcerned and sluggish before. It was just hungry and stumbling along looking for something to eat, or lost in daydreams of food.


    Orcs didn''t look tasty, and the creature seemed to prefer roasted meat to raw, but didn''t appear to have any fire skills of its own, as it didn''t know what cooked was.


    Once the food was finished, it established arge ck dome over both itself and Karl, and promptly went to sleep. Karl had the food, so he couldn''t be allowed to escape.


    Karl shook his head at the logic of the small creature, and stroked the top of her head, before focusing on the spare space and transferring her in.


    [Quest Complete: The Perfect Pet] [Calcting]


    Calcting what, Karl had no idea. He had finished the quest, he had his reward sleeping soundly in his newest beast space, and she was powerful.


    [Name] Cara


    [Species] Winged Void Badger


    [Juvenile]


    [Royal Rank]


    [Skills]


    {Disintegration} Monarch Rank: creates an area of pure destructive energy. {Nullify} A disintegration-based counterattack. Maypletely cancel skills of equal or lesser energy.


    {Rapid Flight} the Winged Void Badger is an agile flyer, even when fully grown


    {Limited Invulnerability} the Winged Void Badger ignores all attacks that deal under ten percent of its total health, and an equivalent amount of all attacks stronger than ten percent of its total health.


    Karl read the stats of his new partner with a sense of awe. It was no wonder that it didn''t care about anyone attacking it. Not only did it have a protective dome spell, it could simply ignore any weak attacks that were sent against it.


    Karl''s new bracelet was good, but not that good.


    [Maybe that was a normal skill for this ce, and the invulnerability isn''t the part that makes her a good partner?] Rae suggested, seeing a pattern in the loot they had gained.


    [I suppose it''s possible. The disintegration did seem to be powerful, the way it eliminated that Orc.]


    Karl waited patiently inside the dome for Cara to wake up. He could likely walk through it now that they were partners, but it did allow him to rest while she slept. From what he could tell, only the Orcs would dare to attack the dome, and that was just the kids who might not have known better.


    In a region where Monarch Rank was among the strongest residents, this impervious ck dome of nonchnce was a menace to society.


    It was only three hourster when Cara woke up in the mental space and began to look around in confusion.


    [Hey, where did everyone go? I swear I put the food vendor right here.] She mumbled to herself.


    [I moved you into a mental space for safety while you rested. We''re going to be very good friends.] Karl insisted.


    [Friends with a food vendor? That sounds alright. Oh, there are more people. Hello spiderdy, and snake, and bird, and giant puppy.]


    Karlughed at her description, then Hawk roasted an entire Ascended Rank boar and moved it to Cara''s space.


    [We''re having a pig for lunch? You know, you guys aren''t half bad.]


    The barrier over Karl vanished, and he rose to his feet. There was nothing in the immediate area, but in the distance, Karl could see that there was arge dust clouding his way. That sort of cloud meant either huge and fast moving, or arge group kicking up dust, like an army on the move.


    It was too wide to be from just one truck, even if there was a dirt road in the region, but there was no realistic way to hide and wait for the threat to pass by. n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om


    [Should I go scout?] Hawk asked. [No, wait here for a moment. I don''t know if they''re even trying to find us, but I don''t want to be easy to spot. I will just walk away from their path.]


    Karl began to jog, putting the current path of the dust cloud to his right side, and watched as it came close enough that he could begin to make out the cause of the dust cloud.


    It was a cavalry charge, but the riders were on some sort of two legged giant lizards.


    Thor recognized them as a predator, but not one that he was familiar with, and not one that was native to the Golden Dragon Nation.


    The fact that someone was riding them was surprising enough, but when Karl saw that it was actually Orcs riding the giant lizards, he was momentarily stunned.


    Since when did Orcs have a civilization that advanced? From what he recalled, they were barely considered sentient, much less civilized enough to be taming monsters.


    Whatever was going on in this ce, it was beginning to feel like Karl had missed some critical historical information about the world. It couldn''t even be that he was lied to this time because he had met Orcs before, and they were definitely primitivepared to these ones in quality armour and riding mounts withplex saddles.

 Chapter 448 Orcish Army

    Chapter 448 Orcish Army


    Just when Karl was getting his hopes up that the Orcs were going to bypass him entirely and head to the vige, the whole column turned in his direction.


    [Everyone ready, but don''te out until I give the signal.] He informed his partners.


    Rae was busily whispering details of their usual strategy to Cara, so the new team member knew what they would be doing. However, the Void Badger was not the least bit concerned about these cavalry fighters. Or, perhaps, she was simply born without a sense of fear.


    Karl stopped trying to hide his presence and brought up [ming Body] and [Eternal Lightning] while Thor cast a [Circle of Protection] over him.


    None of the skills were threatening ones, and he had no weapon in his hands, but it would alert the iing cavalry that he wasn''t a target they could just run through.


    The charge stopped fifty metres away, and one lone Orc dismounted and came jogging towards Karl with a sword in his hand.


    The Orc stopped five paces away and Karl waited to see if he was going to say something, or if he could even speak the humanmonnguage as the Elves had.


    "Human, dere your allegiance. Your kind has no part in this war." The Orc spoke in a surprisingly refined ent that hinted at higher education.


    "I have note to fight. I was sent here on a quest, to find a particr beast. Now that I have, I will be returning to the west to get a portal home." Karl exined.


    The Orcish General snorted in amusement. "I suppose that you would. But that does not answer the question of your allegiance. What side are you on?"


    Karl sighed. "I don''t even know who is fighting."


    That single statement caused the entire Orcish Army to burst into viciousughter.


    "The Orcish Tribes against the Miviascan vers, of course." The Champion chuckled.


    "Well, I just finished returning a group of Elven children taken by vers, so I must say, when ites to Orcs versus vers, I will side with the Orcs."


    The Orcsughed even louder, and Karl waited for them to get over whatever was so amusing.


    "You hear that? The teeny tiny human would stand up to the Giants and their allies in order to reim the ves. What do you think, boys? Will he manage to kill one or two before they eat him?" The Orcish Champion asked.


    Karl smirked, and Hawk tossed a Royal Rank Hill Giant body out on the ground.


    "I would start with at least two because I''ve got more trophies with me." Karl informed him.


    The air filled with noise as the Orcs bashed weapons against metal armour and whooped in pleasure.


    "He got you there, boss. I say we bring him with us." One of the men in the front rank shouted.


    "What do you say, human? Want to raid a vige with us?"


    Karl considered the Orc champion''s question for a few seconds. Telling the massive green man ''no'' didn''t seem like it was the sort of answer that would prolong his life. But the Champion was a Monarch Rank fighter, as were some of his officers, so anywhere they were going wouldn''t be an easy fight. Plus, he wouldn''t be able to bring the team out without risking them getting injured. He had already seen the Orcish children attacking Cara as she looked for something to eat earlier.


    Karl picked up the Giant body, and the Orcish Champion smiled. "Good answer. Join the infantry at the back and we will keep moving. The raid starts with the night as the Giants go blind."


    That made sense to Karl. The Giants never attacked at night because their night vision was terrible, so if you were on the offence, then attacking them at dark would be the best time, as you would have all night to fight before they could see properly.


    Though a few hours after dark would likely be better, when they were already settled into bed.


    Karl nodded at the Champion, who had taken his retrieval of the body as a sign that he was on board with the battle, and then moved to join the back of the line, where smaller and younger Orcs, along with many of the female warriors, were gathered.


    There were some women at the front, but these ones were smaller, the size of the juvenile males, and not massively muscr like the female warriors up front riding the giant lizards.


    "No mount? You''re an odd one for a human, aren''t you?" One of the younger Orcish men asked.


    "I have a mount, but running is good for the body. Besides, I was hunting, not in a rush to get somewhere." Karl exined.


    "What would you possibly be hunting here? This isn''t a ce for humans."


    Karlughed. "You''re the second one to tell me that in thest five minutes. But I was looking for a Winged Void Badger."


    "Well, then we showed up at just the right time. If you had found one, you wouldn''t be here to join us on this adventure." The young manughed.


    Cara rolled her eyes. [Stupid Orcs. It still hasn''t urred to them that if they would stop poking people with sticks, they would stop getting killed for being annoying.]


    Raeughed, and the little badger rolled on her back to stretch out in the grass. n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om


    [Is that how it works? You can just kill the annoying ones?] Remi asked. [I''m pretty sure. At least, some of them. Some of them are dangerous and annoying, or annoying, but also have food. I would have to ask the Elder how that works.] Cara replied.


    By Elder, she meant Thor. Karl fell under the category of friendly person with food, but the others all seemed a bit young and unreliable to be called Elders.


    [You only kill that ones that need killing. Otherwise, you end up wasting all your energy starting fights.] Thor informed them.


    Cara kind of liked starting fights, though. It was great entertainment when you were bored.


    Karl ran along with the Orcs, whose longer legs were still strained to keep up the pace behind the beasts. But that didn''t slow the meet and greet session between the beasts.


    [If you have wings, why do you walk everywhere?] Hawk asked. Flying was obviously the superior method of transport.


    [Oh, those? Wings are for getting high enough to punch things in the face and chase flying food. You can''t rx while you''re flying, you have to keep beating your wings. Walking is much more rxing.]


    [So, you like to just rx?] Thor asked hopefully. He liked floating in his pond.


    [Yep, rxing is good when there is nothing to eat or fight. But now there is food right here all the time, and it doesn''t even smell like it''s going bad.]


    Rae rubbed her mandibles happily. [Good, I had worried that you were thezy sort, and we''re always doing fun things. I don''t think that we''re going to get to go out and y tonight with all the strangers around, but you can attack things from inside here. It''s hrious, and I like to send my Golems out while I watch from my nest.]


    [Oh, I did that one time with Nullify. Some silly shaman kept trying to make a rain spell while I was enjoying the sun, so I cancelled it every time he got close to finishing.] Cara replied excitedly.


    [That''s the spirit. You''re going to fit in very well here.]

 Chapter 449 Village Raid

    Chapter 449 Vige Raid


    The Orcs had impable timing. The sun had just gone beneath the horizon when the vige full of Giants came in sight to Karl''s enhanced vision.


    "Is there a challenge or a goal to the raid other than just killing the Giants?" Karl asked the man running next to him.


    "For you, there are three. First, try to kill a Giant. Second, try to free at least one ve. Third, and most challenging, try to do better than at least one of the women." The woman beside himughed and smacked him on the head. "Shouldn''t that one be for you as well? Because I''m already crushing you in the kill count this campaign."


    Then she turned to Karl. "Do you even have proper attack skills, human? Something that can deal with the Giants?" "I have [Bone Crusher] and a big hammer." Karl offered.


    The Orcughed. "I don''t know if you mean that as abat appraisal or a pickup line, but I like it."


    Karlughed along with her. "Could be either. But we can save the pickup lines for after the fight."


    The front ranks spurred their mounts forward, roaring into the darkening skies as the Giants prepared their defences.


    [Oh, I see a good spot, just to the left of the front lines, see that tower with only one Giant in it?] Rae suggested.


    [Take me there.] Karl agreed.


    It was dark out now, meaning that there were few limits on [Shadow Step], but Rae dropped Karl five metres above the tower, where the torchlight didn''t properly reach.


    As he fell, Karl drew his Maul and put five stacks of [Bone Crusher] on it as he mmed it on the head of the guard.


    It was a glorious direct hit, and the giant had never seen iting. But he had overdone it. The Guard was only low Commander Rank, and the maul carried on through the head to hit the wooden tower, which crumbled under the force.


    Karl twisted tond on his feet as Caraughed in his mind.


    [You guys were right. Watching from in here is hrious. Oh, watch this. POOF, no more Champion barrier.]


    The Giant''s leader had a split second to be confused before the Orcish Champion''s spear buried itself through his chest. Even the Orc looked baffled, unable toprehend what had just happened, but he hopped down from his mount, which moved up to fight beside him as the Giant choked to death on his own blood with a spearpletely through his chest.


    Karl turned to the vige as Rae sent out her Golems, and Cara cheered.


    [CHAOS!] Karl shook his head in dismay, then mmed another Giant in the chest, tossing it back against the wall, spitting blood for a second before an Orc cut its head off.


    The Orc grunted in dismay as he realized that the Giant was already dying. "That one is yours. Good kill, human."


    Karl followed him and the Golems inside, quickly scaling the wooden wall to attack the defenders.


    There was a second wall between them and the vige itself. The Golems were currently upied fighting with a Monarch Rank Giant, and the fight was brutal enough that nothing wanted to get close to them.


    That gave Cara a chance to cast [Disintegration] over the Golems legs, increasing their damage. A spear bounced off Karl''s armour, hurled by a Commander Rank Giant. The return strike with [Chain Lightning] by Remi staggered the warrior, and Karl leapt forward with [ming Body]yered on his maul.


    The smell of burnt flesh filled the air as the Giant copsed, giving Karl an open path to the Golems and their target as he buffed himself.


    [He got big. How did he get big?] Cara asked.


    [A skill called Brutality. He has others too, ones that make us hit harder. The sharpness one should even work with your disintegration attack. You will be much more powerful with him around.] Rae informed her new friend.


    The Monarch Rank Giant swung both clubs, knocking the golems to the ground. Rae called forth a fresh pair, attacking it from behind and turning the Giant away from Karl, who was waiting for his moment.


    Karl charged forward between a burly Orc and a Royal Rank Giant, using them as a distraction so he could get close, and aimed the maul for the Monarch''s back.


    Instinct made the warrior turn and raise a barrier as Karl''s strike was about tond, but Karl was prepared for that. Five stacks of [ming Body] got through most barriers. However, today he had Cara putting her all into Nullify, and the barrier shattered like ss under thebined attack.


    The Giant''s armour dented with a shriek of abused steel, and the leather straps holding it in ce tore and popped, letting it drop to the ground. There was a deep purple bruise on the Giant''s chest, but more importantly, it was now unarmoured at the torso, and facing attacks from three directions.


    Karl saw a deing at his left as one came down at him from above. There wasn''t time to evade both, so Karl went for apromise and parried the first with his maul, letting the momentum throw him out of the way of the Giant''s other hand.


    He rolled through the dirt and skidded to a stop on his knees, then rushed forward again as the Golems attacked.


    The Giant turned to defend itself, but took a spiked leg to the shoulder right before Karl smashed his maul into its knee, sending the Giant to the ground on its stomach.


    Others came to rescue their fallenrade, and the Golems moved to intercept while Karl went for the kill.


    A stacked strike aimed at the back of the neck nearly took it out, before the giant rolled over and parried.


    It wasrge enough to finish the fight from a sitting position, and it intended to do exactly that.


    More Giants rushed towards Karl, and the beasts sprung into action. Rending Fireballs, Chain Lightning and ck Disintegration spheres rushed out to intercept the reinforcements, and the Golems glowed a little brighter as Thor activated [Circle of Protection].


    A small stone fired with Earth Magic bounced off Karl''s armour, and Caraughed. n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om


    [The Karl is invulnerable too? Oh, this will be funny.]


    Low powered stone attacks weren''t doing anything at all to Karl, but [Limited Invulnerability] didn''t fully negate the side effects of their momentum, so Karl was fighting to move forward as repeated stone attacks hit him and turned him back and forth.


    They didn''tst long, with the Orcs rushing in to im glory and the beasts casting constant spells from their spaces, while Karl focused on using Chain Lightning to keep the Monarch Rank Giant on the ground and injured while the Golems fought.


    It was beginning to smoke from the scorched areas where the Lightning wasnding, and the reinforcements no longer dared toe near their champion. The Lightning arcs were too dangerous.


    Karl approached as the ranged attacks faded, and the Monarch''s eyes narrowed in hatred. [3, 2, 1 Kill the Ugly Thing!] Cara cheered, leading the attack.


    Karlughed and struck the ground with his maul, sending all five Chain Lightning charges into the Monarch as a barrage of spells mmed into it from the others.


    Then the Golems were on its back, stabbing and tearing chunks out of its flesh.


    [That thing just doesn''t die.] Rae noted, impressed at its durability.


    [Its leg has already healed. It thinks we can''t tell.] Cara agreed.


    Sure enough, when Karl moved a bit closer, itunched forward, intending to choke the life out of him.


    But Karl was the faster of the two, and his maul slipped between the Giant''s hands, smashing into its face while [Eternal Lightning] kept the massive hands from crushing his body.


    The Monarch copsed with a rattling wheeze through its broken face as the Golems finished their work, but onest spasm sent Karl flying through the air.


    [I''ll catch you.] Raeughed as Karl felt himself floating. He had been thrown nearly straight up, and now he was motionless in the air for a moment as he began to fall.


    [Don''t bother, let''s use this time to find a path to the inner wall. We will see if we can free some ves as well.]


    [Straight ahead is best. The Orcs are everywhere now, and they outnumber the Giants by a lot.] Hawk informed him.


    But there was one strange sight as Karl fell. One Orc was not fighting. The scarred warrior was standing on the wall with a clipboard, taking notes.


    Orcs certainly took their score keeping seriously.


    The Golems jumped to slow Karl''s descent, though Cara''s shared skill would have prevented him from taking any injury, and the trio began to look for targets.

 Chapter 450 More Points

    Chapter 450 More Points


    Karl and the Golems began to run for the inner wall, shing at anything that came close enough to reach, but deliberately not killing targets that were already engaged, only tipping the bnce in favour of the Orcs.


    There was a defensive line on the inner wall, using [Boulder Toss] to knock the Orcs away from the vulnerable members of the vige. But that was where Karl needed to be. He didn''t care at all about the elderly and children of the Giant vige, he was there for the ves that he could smell, and that he had seen locked in cages along this side of the wall.


    The Giants seemed to know that as well, and they didn''t really care about the ves. They were just freebour until they were food, but they could always get more, and they had crops stockpiled.


    As long as they didn''t lose the vige entirely, they wouldn''t miss the ves.


    If the Orcs were willing to waste warriors to steal them, the Giants would only put up a token fight.


    So, when Karl swung at the wall, breaking logs and opening the back of the cage that held the prisoners, none of the Giants tried to stop him, or even kill the escaping ves.


    They would only slow down the Orcish attack, and keep powerful warriors distracted during the fight. If the Orcs wanted them, they should have taken them at the end of the battle, if they could actually win it.


    Karl got his first good look at the battered and downtrodden people inside the cage.


    They came from at least four different species, none of which were human. There were some weak Orcs, looking deliberately starved. There were Elves, a blue skinned species with hoofed feet and horns on their heads, and some sort of nt people, whose skin had vines growing up it.


    Those ones were nearly stationary, only ncing around a little.


    Karl realized that they had put down roots to gain nutrition from the soil, and thete night attack hade during their sleeping hours. It would take them a bit before they could move again, but the others were moving away from Karl, worried that the blood covered warrior might not care about their species or their status.


    With the smooth metal helmet covering his face, the ves had no idea what species Karl was, only that he was built like a male and too slender to be an Orc. His skills increased his size proportionally, and Orcish men were much more muscr than humans were.


    Karl flipped his visor up so they could see that he was a human, and gestured to the hole in the wall.


    "If you will kindly follow me out of the city limits, we require this space for the ongoing battle. Once you are outside, you are free to go." He exined. n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om


    One of the Orcish women, nearly starved with her ribs showing clearly through her skin,ughed at his exnation.


    "You heard him, time for us to move. We can''t be underfoot when the masters need this space to be ughtered in." She dered.


    The other ves gave weak cheers and jokes as they picked themselves up and helped the ones who were rooted to the ground be mobile again.


    That was when the Giants inside the wall decided to take action to prevent Karl from stealing their ves.


    The door of the cage was opened, and three teenaged Giants ran inside with clubs, swatting people aside to get to Karl.


    Most of them managed to dodge, but of the horned blue people had his head crushed.


    "Pathetic." The boy snarled as he advanced on Karl.


    That word seemed to trigger something in Cara, and suddenly, she was outside, attacking the boy''s face while Rae called her Golems to deal with the others, so Karl could hold the opening in the wall to secure their exit.


    [You like that? Huh? I''ll show you pathetic.] The enraged Void Badger was shouting.


    Karl looked back and saw that she had the Giant''s shirt in one front paw, while the other fed [Disintegration] coated punches into his rapidly evaporating face.


    When the young Giant copsed, Cara didn''t stop. She just opened her wings and started tearing apart the weaker Giants who were hiding in the city.


    [Everyone, go help her out. We can''t have our new friend injured.] Karl instructed.


    [I like this one. She''s pretty stabby.] Raeughed as Remi began to form a [Thunderstorm] over the inner city.


    [Not onto the ve cages.] Karl reminded her.


    [Got it boss.]


    As the storm started, a number of the Orcish Infantry raced through the gap Karl had made.


    "Is that you?" They asked, gesturing upwards.


    "Yeah, that''s my team. The beasts are with me." They looked around, and then paused at the ck ball of rage tearing apart a building that had offended her for being in the way.


    "You really did find a Void Badger. The others wereughing about it, and I thought you were joking with them."


    Then he turned to the ves.


    "Alright, let''s go. There are more Giantsing from the other viges, it''s time to leave. Gather as many ves as you can and get moving." Karl passed on the instructions, and Thor put his freedom n in motion.


    It was a simple n. Cages were made of smashing poles, so he just had to charge through them, and everyone could follow him out of the city.


    Once Thor had broken the cages all the way back to the breach in the walls, Karl called everyone back to their spaces.


    Cara and Rae wereughing, and the Void Badger was rolling happily in the grass, celebrating a lot like Thor did when he was happy.


    [Oh, you''re like that.] Rae joked with their new sister as sheughed and mimicked a punching motion.


    [She''s got a real temper.] Hawkughed as he recalled the scene.


    [I don''t like bullies.] Cara replied, rolling around on her back to scratch an itch she couldn''t reach.


    [You know, if you''re itchy, you can just have Karl groom you. He lets people polish Thor''s scales all the time.] Remi suggested.


    [After the fight. There are still stupid Giants around. Besides, I can see more from in here.]


    While they were talking, Remi was deep in thought.


    [What has you so distracted?] Thor asked quietly, so he didn''t derail her train of thought.


    [If I had arms, I could grab people too. Just wrap them up and punch their face, or pat their head, or spin them in circles. Or maybe eat them.] Remi replied.


    [Don''t let them make you another violent sister.] Thor pouted.


    Remi giggled and waggled her head. [No, not like that. I just don''t get to eat enough random creatures. I have no idea what most of them feel like in the mouth. But I have noticed that some of them are really annoying. Nobody would mind if I eat the annoying ones, right? But why are there always Giants? Nobody can eat them in one piece.] Now she was just ranting, but Thor could tell that she was actually thinking about all the things she could do with arms, and the rest was just her mind getting sidetracked.


    [Think how envious Lotus would be if you got to cuddle Elves before she did.] Thor suggested, doing his best to keep one nonviolent sister.


    [Oh, that is great. It would even make being big worth it. They could ride my back like they ride yours, and we could go on adventures.]

 Chapter 451 Raid Successful

    Chapter 451 Raid Sessful


    The Orcs assisted Karl with escorting the varied assortment of ves out of the inner city and through the nearly finished battle in the outer city, then past the gates to freedom.


    The Elder Orcs looked impressed at the performance as they held off the remainder of the Giants so that the younger fighters could make their retreat. The battle was a sess by any measure, and though they hadn''tpletely eliminated the defenders, they had inflicted severe injuries on them, including their most defended members, and they were going to have time to retreat from the battle before the other Giants could arrive to support them.


    That was the goal of the night raid, and the Giants'' terrible night vision was working in the Orcs'' favour, as the massive warriors wouldn''t be able to even see where the Orcs went. At best, they could follow the dust cloud, but Karl suspected that they were going to separate to create a massive dust cloud in multiple directions that would throw off pursuit.


    They had run close to five kilometres, with the freed ves loaded on the attack beasts as they were too weak to keep up with the pace, when the Orcish Champion jogged over to Karl, who was pacing the same pair that he had approached the battle with.


    "Human, you fight like a true Orc. We kept records of the battle, and you earned a distinction. Take this for your reward, and turn off in that direction. It will take you west to the vige of Baberg, just across the border. It is the closest vige outside the battle zone, but close to three hundred kilometres south of the Elves that sent you east."


    Karl shook his hand and smiled. "It was a pleasure picking on the Giants again. If we cross paths in the future, I look forward to having time to tell battle stories over drink."


    The Orcughed. "You are pretty good for a human. Your name will be remembered, and not just because your mother named you after the human god of magic."


    They parted ways and Karl began to jog towards the southwest, headed for the border. Now, he just needed to find a way back home and his mission should bepleted. The problem was that he didn''t know how he got here, and there was no sign of the Anomaly when he arrived, so he couldn''t even go back to where he started to try to leave.


    If it was out of sight thousands of metres in the sky above ake, going home was going to be a nearly impossible task.


    Karl ran for the rest of the evening, and began to look for a good spot to sleep as the sun came up.


    [That looks like a good spot.] Cara suggested. The target was arge sunny rock in the middle of the grasnds, next to arger pile of rocks.


    Karl adjusted his path towards Cara''s targeted sleeping location, and found that the rock was actually part of a destroyed temple.


    There were still paintings visible on some of the other stones, and part of a doorway intact, forming a cave that would put him out of sight.


    Cara wasn''t sold on sleeping in the dark. She liked to sleep on a warm stone in the sun, but both Rae and Remi were fans of dark caves for naps. Thor liked sunny spots as well, and Hawk preferred trees, so it was always going to be a split decision.


    [I am going to check the inside and see if it''s safe to sleep there. If it is, we can nap for a while then finish the trip back to Baberg.] Karl exined.


    Once Karl stepped through the copsed entryway, he found that it was a side door leading to a basement level of some sort that appeared to be intact. It was cavernous and empty, as well as fortunately bone dry.


    If it had been full of stagnant water, they would definitely have been sunning themselves on arge rock.


    [Hey, this ce feelsfortable. I think it was an animal-friendly temple.] Remi noted as she exited her space to explore.


    The space certainly did feel like it was inviting, and not hostile or filled with angry spirits of a maligned and forgotten god.


    The rest of the team came out and rxed in the forgotten temple, while Remi explored the ruins to see what she could find.


    There were a number of side rooms, all empty. But no fun stuff left behind, not even a new statue for her altar.


    Thest one was pretty good, and she still got inspiration from holding it, but two copies would be better than one. It worked that way with golems, so it should be the same for statues.


    But when she settled in to rest on the floor of the old temple, she could feel the energy of the patron deity imbued into every surface.


    Remi curled up on the old altar to contemte the nature of her existence as a Shaman Princess, and the rest of the team left her to it. This was a sacred ce to the beast gods, there was no better spot to understand what she had learned from the storm god''s temple. n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om


    Karl sensed that something was moving outside, but couldn''t sense a power signature, so he brought up his barriers and motioned for the team to remain in ce.


    [You should be safe inside. Just stay here for a bit while I go see what''s going on.] He informed them before using [Silent Movement] to creep up the stairs.


    Whatever was there would sense the barrier ability active, but it was safer than waiting until he''d walked into an ambush predator''s trap to activate his defences.


    Karl searched the area for whatever he had felt moving, but there didn''t seem to be anything. There was no sense of threat to him, no paw prints or w marks, and the long grass was still upright, so there shouldn''t have been anythingrge in the area.


    Karl was certain that there had been something here, though. He just couldn''t find it.


    In the distance, perhaps fifty kilometres away, he could sense two beasts at the Monarch or Overlord Rank fighting. In the grass closer to the temple, he could see a number of rodents at the Ascended Rank popping out of their burrows, but none of them would have made the sounds of movement that he had heard.


    Karl crouched so he wasn''t visible above the ruins and waited. Some creatures could turn invisible, but very few creatures who could be invisible were patient hunters. They didn''t have to be.


    If he just waited here while Remi did Remi things, he would find out soon enough what was hiding from him. He would much rather be sleeping, but that wasn''t an option until he was certain that the area was secure.


    Karl closed his eyes and whistled softly, using echolocation to try to find anything that might be hidden from his eyes.


    What he found was nothing like he had expected. It was ethereal, as if only half present, but Karl could sense the outline of the temple, still standing, with beasts moving through it as naturally as if they lived there.


    But perhaps they did. No gathering of beasts would contain that many species. Even with the intelligence of the higher species, they didn''t get along all that well. However, these ones were working together, and even changing in and out of human form to take down books from the shelves, so their ws didn''t damage them.


    Haunted. The temple was haunted, and what he had been hearing were the echoes of the former clerics who popted the location when it was still standing.


    [Rae, do you see what I see?] Karl asked.


    [There''s nothing down here. Maybe only the broken parts of the temple are weird? But Remi is doing strange stuff, and Hawk is getting mad at her.]


    [Did she surround herself in a water shell?] Karl asked, guessing what might have been going on during his absence.


    [Oh, you got it on the first try. I made it too easy. It''s nice down here, we will let you know when she''s finished.]


    Did he just get evicted from the basement while he was upstairs looking for intruders? This was a temple by beasts and for beasts, so whatever Remi was doing might work better when there were no humans inside. But he could also keep watch so that nothing interrupted Remi if she was really going to evolve today.

 Chapter 452 Patient Hunters

    Chapter 452 Patient Hunters


    Karl sat at the top of the steps and watched the spectral images of the beast clerics going about their daily business, as if the temple was still operating, and not thousands of years destroyed.


    At first, he had thought it was some sort of yback, a spectral image of theirst day that they were forced to relive over and over, but when the acolyte that was headed for the field identally brushed against him, the feline beastkin paused, looked around, then shuddered and continued about their day.


    Karl wondered if that meant that there was a duplicate of the temple somewhere else, that was supposed to be linked to this location, but couldn''t be because the temple itself was destroyed. n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om


    Karl had been watching them for over an hour by the time that he realized that this was a form of closed anomaly. He could see the beast temple and its upants, but it wasn''t actually this temple, and they were not haunted. At least not in the conventional sense.


    The templeyout didn''t quite match the floor n of the ruins here, though they were so close that it took him a while to figure it out.


    How they ended up connected by an anomaly was a mystery, but it didn''t seem to be harming anything, and neither Karl nor his beasts had any issues with it. Perhaps that meant the anomaly was on the other side, and that it couldn''t be essed from these ruins, but if they could pass through, there was no sign of it.


    However, there was a sign of power. A sign of a magical beast undergoing an advancement. Remi''s whatever she was doing downstairs was noticeably growing in power, and if she kept it up a little longer, Karl was fairly certain that thest of his teammates was finally going to make it to the Royal Rank.


    This was a momentous asion, but he got the feeling that he should remain outside the temple for the process to finish as smoothly as possible. But more importantly than that, the amount of power that was radiating from the basement of the ruins was going to be noticeable to beasts from dozens of kilometres away.


    Most of them wouldn''t mess with a Royal Rank monster, even during their advancement. But there might be some close enough that had enough power of their own that they wouldn''t fear a freshly advanced Royal Rank beast, and they might be willing to eliminate thepetition before Remi could finish her advancement.


    Of course, with the others in the basement with her, that wouldn''t be an easy concept. Even the average Monarch Rank beast would not survive a full minute in the tender loving care of Rae and Cara, while Thor wouldn''t let anyone hurt his sister.


    Karl settled in to meditate, trying to keep as fresh as he could for the inevitable moment when things went wrong.


    He could sense the powerful residents in the distance, but he didn''t sense theming closer yet, so there was hope that this could all end peacefully, but even thinking that gave Karl a sense that a g had been raised.


    That moment came as he felt the energy in the basement beginning to change. It was Royal Rank, and felt like Remi, but more. It should be the evolved energy of the Spirit Snake, in whatever form she had decided upon.


    That was when a portal opened roughly a kilometre away, and directly in Karl''s line of sight.


    "Stupid beasts, they still think that their gods can protect them as they advance. Let''s see what we''ve found." Karl heard the deep voiceughing, but the portal was blocking the view, and they had stepped out the other side of it.


    [Do you need help?] Rae asked.


    [No, I''ve got this. Take care of our small snake as she advances.]


    Karl stood and put his de tip down in the dirt, so he could rest easy, without having to carry the weapon.


    Arge group of what might have been Ogres, though they were more stone grey than fleshy looking, moved away from the portal, and turned to face Karl.


    They began tough as they saw Karl. "Well, look what we have here. Some idiot nature cleric thinks that he can keep us from taking our prize while it''s inca... incapashu... while it''s weak."


    Karl smiled over the distance separating them. Dozens more grey Ogres, along with a few dozen other demihumans that Karl didn''t have names for, left the portal with three huge cages on cart bases. They hade prepared to take prisoners, and they weren''t going to miss out, even if there was more than one beast trying to advance at the ruined temple today.


    They were almost all Commanders, but with a pair of Monarch Rank leaders. That seemed like something that Karl could handle, as long as he could take out the two leaders.


    When they got to a hundred metres from Karl, they began to spread out, leaving a few of their members at the back with the wagons.


    The wind shifted, and Karl smelled blood, as well as unwashed Ogres. His sharp vision picked out the mostly dried blood on the wagons, as well as the smell of humans and Elves. Neither species was here, so they must have been thest upants of the cages.


    "He looks like a capable enough fighter. Boss will pay good money for that one, so don''t kill him." One of the Monarchs instructed.


    They were not in the front rank, they were both nning to send their minions forward first.


    It was a simple strategy. Weaken and exhaust him, then they could bind him and im the beast downstairs in the middle of its advancement when it was utterly helpless.


    "Is this all that you could muster? You might as well turn around and go home." Karl informed them.


    The leadersughed, and two Commander Rank demihumans in the back, ones with deep mahogany skin and glowing violet eyes that matched the glowing horns at their temples, cast a barrier over the Ogres in the front.


    Karl shook his head in dismay. A low Commander Rank mage armour spell was not going tost long once this got started.


    [Well trusty de, are we ready?] He joked, but the de actually pulsed red in anticipation.


    "I asked the sword, and it says you all die here today." Karl joked.


    The Ogres in the frontughed, but Karl raced forward with [Chain Lightning] arcing from his fingertips.


    The first hit shattered their barriers, and Karl followed it up with a wide sweep of [Rend] as his de arced through the sky.


    The Ogres in front hit the ground to get under it, but the ones behind them had no idea what wasing for them until the skill bisected them.


    Karl took a deep breath as his de flooded him with stolen life energy. That attack at full output and over such arge area took a lot out of him, but half the enemy force was gone already, and the Mages were beginning to panic.


    Three more long steps brought him into melee range of the front row of Ogres. Karl ignored them, using them as a stepping stone to spread [Chain Lightning] as he went for the mages.


    Hastily erected barriers shattered like ss under the mes as the de descended, and the first mage fell.


    "Go for the beast, we will deal with the human." The Monarch who had spoken earlier instructed his vers.


    The back swing of Karl''s de eliminated the other mage in an arc of ck blood, leaving Karl free to face his real targets.


    "I warned you, didn''t I? You can still run away and live." He warned them.


    "Oh, a feisty human. The ve masters at the market will have a field day with you once we lock away your system skills." The Ogreughed.


    Karl spared a bit of attention for the entry of the cave to see if Rae was ready for the attack, but none of the Ogres had gotten up. Nothing had survived the lightning.


    "I think you might have misjudged your situation. You don''t have a team left." Karlughed as he felt Remi''s exultant cheering in his mind.


    She was finished with her advancement, and they were almost ready to start moving. She just had to get used to the changes in her body.

 Chapter 453 Ogre Overreached

    Chapter 453 Ogre Overreached


    Karl''s de twirled, creating a field of fire from [ming Body] that acted as a shield as the Ogresunched their first attacks.


    Two rapid steps to the side, and Karl used [Shred] tounch an attack at the nk of his closest opponent. The skill only cut a shallow line in the thick hide of the Ogre, but it stretched across its back, which would make every swing ache.


    The other Ogre hurled a spear at Karl too fast for him to dodge, but the obsidian head of the weapon mmed into his armour with a ng, while the outer shell of [ming Body] was pierced, but under that [Eternal Lightning] was only vibrating, and then the spear was tossed to the ground.


    Karl stomped on the spearhead, shattering the fragile stone so it couldn''t be reused, and let a cruelugh escape the confines of his helmet.


    Not because he was feeling enthusiastic. If they kept up those attacks, he was in real trouble, and he knew it. But to taunt the Ogre and make the dimwitted creature do something stupid.


    A stone de came crashing down where Karl had been standing as he charged his target, and the tip of his de met Ogre flesh, burning and searing it as the Monarch Rank monster''s defensive abilities kept it from being run clean through.


    Then Karl kicked at the back of the beast''s legs as hard as he could manage. The unexpected strike caught the Ogre off guard and threw it to the ground, where it rolled backwards across the grass to avoid a follow-up strike.


    The remaining Ogre snarled something in theirnguage as it summoned another spear to throw at Karl.


    The wounded member went running for the basement, so Karl stopped focusing on it.


    If that was where it really wanted to be, it was wee to try.


    But before either of them could make another attack, a deep blue bolt of lightning struck the Monarch Rank Ogre in front of Karl, killing it instantly.


    Next to the temple, a pair of Gryphons stepped out of nowhere, their elegant white feathered wings ring in rage as they threw their heads to the sky.


    The final Ogre turned and fled, leaving the cages and closing the portal behind it as it left.


    The battle was over, but the look that the two monsters were giving Karl was enough to encourage him not to take even a single step closer.


    They were, at the very minimum, strong Overlords. He was reasonably sure that even Thor''s formidable protection would not take one of those lightning bolts.


    Fortunately for Karl, he didn''t have to find out.


    From the basement steps, a gigantic serpentine form emerged. The hooded head of a Naga was decorated with a veil of shining rocks woven into a ck silk veil that nearly blended in with the patterns on Remi''s blue scales.


    As she stretched her newly evolved body upright, Karl saw that she now had a nearly humanoid, but serpentine scaled upper body. She kept the head of a snake, but had gained four arms. Four arms that now all held des and had enchanted jewellery on their wrists, while her chest was hidden by a golden armour te covered in ck chains.


    That was a familiar feeling outfit, Karl decided.


    Remi had learned how to use [Bestial Raiment], his armour spell, and she had used it to make her Queenly Attire.


    Three smaller Naga Warriors appeared around her, spears in hand. It was an innate skill of the Naga Queens to summon bodyguards, and Remi''s had taken on her coloration, but with all ck armour.


    [Congrattions, Naga Queen. It has been a long time since an adherent of the old gods has advanced here. I see you brought many friends with you.] The Gryphon''s voice boomed in Karl''s mind.


    Remi smiled happily. [Thank you foring to my assistance, I love this new body, but it took some time to get used to, and we were dyed ining to help our final pack member.]


    The Gryphons gave Karl suspicious looks, then seemed to shrug.


    [If you say that a human is trustworthy, we will believe you. The others will be excited to hear that a new Shaman Queen has been born today, and they will be certain to reward you in their own ways.]


    The Gryphons looked upward at something that Karl couldn''t see, then spread their wings.


    [Your time here is done for today. But we will see you again soon enough.] N?v(el)B\\jnn


    Karl wasn''t certain what they meant until the imprable white fog began to descend over them. The beasts were forced into their spaces, and the Bodyguards were dismissed along with Rae''s Golems. It was a shame that they hadn''t gotten a chance to fight. Karl was interested to see how Remi''s bodyguards stacked up against Rae''s Golems.


    [I wonder if we''re going skydiving again.] Rae pondered as the world seemed to vanish around them.


    [Skydiving sounds fun. What is it?] Cara asked.


    The two started on a profound discussion of the benefits of dropping indestructible objects from the sky on your opponents, but the world was alreadying back into focus.


    Only Karl still had no idea where he was.


    They were in a room made of white marble with a well-worn wooden floor, and they were surrounded by clerics. But it wasn''t the capital cathedral, and Karl could have sworn that he could see tails swishing out of many of the robes, and horns on heads.


    In a strange unison, the chatter in the room faded, and everyone turned to face Karl, who was covered in ck Ogre blood and still holding a massive ming sword.


    "Sorry." He muttered as he put the de away, but everyone was still staring at him.


    "Sir, do you need assistance? Where are you injured?" One of the clerics stammered.


    "Oh, sorry. Thank you for the healing, but I''m not injured. This isn''t my blood. I was trying to return home through an anomaly, and for some reason it brought me here. Wherever here is."


    The clerics were still staring at him, unsure if they were supposed to answer, run away in terror, possibly fight him, or douse him with holy water. A familiar voice came from Karl''s left.


    "Prince Karl of the Golden Dragon Nation?"


    Karl turned and nodded. "I am. Might I ask again where I happened to end up?"


    The priest smiled, and his eyes went fully bronze, and slotted like a dragon''s eyes.


    There were bronze horns on his head, and he was almost guaranteed to be in charge here, with his Overlord Rank power.


    "I suppose you don''t recognize me like this, as I have changed appearances since west met. I am Orthos. Formerly the Town Champion of the Darklight Host in Bunga, and a purebred Bronze Dragon. Wee to Bruse Temple."


    "Well fancy that. I didn''t think I would be seeing you again this week. I was on my way back to Baberg after a quest sent me east out of tt. Thest of my beasts reached Royal Rank, and it sent me here.


    I am impressed that you could hide your power that well. I could have sworn that I was the stronger of the two of us when west met." Karlughed.


    The dragon threw his head back and gave a full throated draconicugh that shook the walls of the temple.


    "You might have been close back then. But that was well over ten thousand years ago. However, a bronze dragon remembers every moment of their life as clearly as if it were yesterday, and I have not forgotten the Beast Master War Champion who epts duels over his Rank."


    "Wait, so Bunga is somewhere nearby?" Karl asked.


    "No, it''s on another continent. I''m not certain how much it has changed, I haven''t been there in thousands of years. Not since thest of the system copsed, and I moved to the Divine Beast Nation to be with my kinfolk."


    "It seems that we have a lot to talk about. Or at least, I have many questions for you. But first, where is Bruse Temple?"


    "In the Flokwar River region of the Divine Beast Nation. I do hope that you weren''t in a hurry to leave, human Beast Master. That could be problematic."


    Well, that did exin the room full of beastkin giving him strange looks.

 Chapter 454 Bruse Temple

    Chapter 454 Bruse Temple


    Karl sighed. The Divine Beast Nation had always sounded like an area that was just a monster wilderness, but it should have urred to Karl that Dragons, and most other powerful divine beasts, could shape-shift.


    It also made sense that they would wee the beastkin in their nation, as those species were at least half beast anyhow.


    Most of the ones here were fully furred, despite being humanoid. Not like Overlord Ahmad, who just had cat ears, most of these had animal shaped heads and fur or scales everywhere.


    They were actually rather adorable when they were nervous. From beside Karl, there was a soft chuckle, and an elderly Werebear woman smiled down at him.


    "You can all rx, the human isn''t going to attack. Though, with the way that he looks at swishing tails, he might be dangerous in an entirely different way." She dered.


    The Werebearughed at her own joke, and most of the clerics gave Karl a strange look, but he could see that a few of them were walking with extra sway in their hips.


    One of the male priests, a man with small round ears and ck streaks in the light-brown fur on his head, frowned at Karl.


    "Are we sure that it''s safe to have a foreign predator here? This ce is a safe spot for the clerics of the beast gods, not for hosting international guests." He suggested quietly.


    "Would it help if I brought out a friend who recently advanced with the help of the Beast Gods? She even did so in the old temple Northeast of Baberg. It might have been in ruins, but the link to the Gods was still there, as they sent a pair of Gryphons to defend her when the Miviascan vers attacked."


    Orthos the dragon looked skeptical. "You needed help to defend against a group of vers?"


    Karl shook his head. "No, but it''s the thought that counts. But that temple was an interesting one. I could sense the anomaly there that linked it to another temple, one that was very simr, but not quite the sameyout. If you go there and check with echolocation, you should find it."


    Orthos looked excited. "The temple was still linked after its destruction? That is wonderful news. I will have a team sent there immediately with at least one bat. They should find your anomaly if it''s still active."


    The squirrel cleric with the striped head frowned at the excited dragon. "You can''t think that there is a chance to link directly with the old gods again."


    Orthos shrugged, as if he didn''t care either way, but Karl had questions. "Why wouldn''t that be possible. I could swear that I have heard the Gods speak more than once. The most recent time was a warning that the people in Orthos'' town were real and not just instance mobs that I could ughter for loot and food. But the time before that, they were mocking me for making an odd choice inside a trial instance. Instead of trying to walk up or down the stairs, I jumped straight in the air to see what would happen." N?v(el)B\\jnn


    "What did happen?" Orthos asked.


    "Inded on the same step I jumped from and gotughed at. But I would like to think that it positively influenced their decision when it came time for the instance rewards."


    The squirrel man did not look convinced.


    "Can you bring out this favoured beast for us to meet?"


    [Remi, want toe and meet people?]


    Remi perked up and cast her armour spell, getting prepared in her finery for meeting new people. But Cara was much more excited.


    [Can Ie out and meet people too? I have never gotten to meet new people.]


    [Once they''ve gotten used to Remi, you cane out. This is a Divine Beast Nation, I would say that you''re likely more wee here than I am.]


    Remi exited her space once she was happy with the appearance of her armour, and the crown on her head.


    Her torso was a good bitrger than Karl''s now, nearly as big as Ophelia''s in Werebear form, but more slender. Her four arms were slightly offset, with the lower set being behind the upper, so they could all restfortably at her side, if she wasn''t so excited and waving to the new people.


    {Hello, I am Remi. Good to meet you all.} Her voice was a hissing that Karl recognized from the dungeon where she was found. The Clerics mostly nodded politely, and her enthusiasm began to fade.


    "She says her name is Remi, and she''s happy to meet everyone. I am sorry, young Shaman Queen, most of them don''t speak Naga." Orthos tranted.


    Some of the clerics called for others, and a few Lamia women came forward to meet Remi.


    The Naga were considered an uncivilized species. Somewhat intelligent, but still instinctive monsters, and even when transformed they were incapable of human speech. A Lamia, on the other hand, had a more human head and upper body, and they could speak themonnguages used in the temples, as well as the serpent tongues.


    {Princess Remi, or do we call you Queen Remi because of your species? Either way, wee to the temple of the Beast Gods.} One of them greeted in the samenguage Remi used out loud.


    The two began to talk rapidly enough that the others were having trouble following them, then they moved forward to hug each other before the Lamia began to give Remi a tour of the temple''s highlights.


    "Well, I think they will be busy for a few minutes. Is it alright if the otherse out? I know they''re not Divine Beasts with human forms, but they''re all eager to see the ce with their own eyes." Karl asked.


    "Of course. We would also like to know more about your team." Orthos replied.


    Karl paused. The dragon made a good point. At this time, he was not in a friendly nation, and most likely was not particrly safe.


    If they tried to do something to mess with the bonds, he could be in trouble.


    "Rx, young Beast Master. We''re not going to try to steal your friends. We just want to meet everyone and make a proper report. Many in our Nation have been curious about you since the war with the Giants broke out." Orthos exined.


    "On one condition. I have a question about how there were so many system users ten thousand years ago, when I was told that the system had faded over a hundred thousand years earlier." Karl replied, hoping to make a trade.


    Orthos smiled. "That is information that I can give you, and the answer is actually a simple one.


    You see, ten thousand years ago, there was a resurgence in the presence of the Dungeons. We don''t know for certain what caused it, perhaps the World Dragon testing us to see if we could meet some standard to get a new World Dragon Scale or set of System Stones.


    But for that thousand years or so while the dungeons were active, the continent had nearly as many System users as the old days. Then, the dungeons faded, and only a handful of long-lived creatures remained.


    There were Elves that lived a bit longer, and could help their children awaken, but their childrencked that ability. On this continent, it faded nearly as fast as it had appeared. You see, all of the dungeons that appeared here during that time were Common Grade. Nothing powerful managed to awaken the system bypleting a dungeon, they were too far beyond the level for it to reward them.


    So, the resurgence came and went, and the presence of system users became an urban legend, tales of heroes and champions of the churches and armies that faded into the founding myths of the nations that came after."


    Karl sighed. "It would have saved me so much research time if whoever wrote my textbooks had just asked you."


    The dragon rumbled withughter. "What makes you think I would have told them? I wouldn''t have told you, but you were there to see it, and I despise misinformation."


    Karl nodded in understanding. Once upon a time, the dragon had been aligned with the Darklight Host and thergely human poption of the area where Karl hadnded. But that was a long time ago, and he had no incentive to remind the humans now of the truth about the past.


    [Alright, everyone cane out and say hello. Thor, no flirting with the priestesses. Rae, no eating anyone.]


    Caraughed. [You people are way more fun than I expected. I''m going to go poke the dragon.]

 Chapter 455 Poke The Dragon

    Chapter 455 Poke The Dragon


    And poke the Dragon is precisely what she did. As soon as she left the space, Cara pped her wings and extended one ck w to poke Orthos in the nose, then she flew away across the room,ughing as the clerics tried to at least track the Chaos gremlin in Badger form as she explored.


    The ancient Dragon simply stared after her in shock, unable to process the fact that he had been booped by a juvenile Void Badger.


    "That creature is not afraid of anything, is she? I could eat her in one bite." Orthos growled as Cara dove through a slime monster priest as she evaded capture.


    They were making a valiant effort to capture her, but now that she was covered in slime, even when they could get a hand on her, they couldn''t get a grip, and she would just fly off to explore another room, leaving slippery blue footprints everywhere.


    It was utter chaos, but other than avoiding capture, Cara was pointedly ignoring the clerics.


    Rae made herself silk socks for the end of her legs so she didn''t destroy the floor, and then she also began to wander, but by using her silk to lift herself to the second floor, where the Acolytes were watching from.


    "They are under control, right?" Orthos asked nervously as he watched the nonsensical scene in his temple.


    This was a Beast God temple, but not all beasts were capable of rational thought. N?v(el)B\\jnn


    "Yeah, they won''t hurt anyone, they just want to explore. They spend too much time in their own spaces, and they need to stretch out now and then."


    "Well, most of them." Karl amended.


    Thor had settled onto the floor so that the Clerics could pat him and take measurements.


    A Commander Rank Lightning Cerro was rare, but a mutated Royal Rank Lightning Cerro that gave off holy energy was a unique find. However, the examination process came with Clerics stroking his scales, patting his head, feeding him snacks, and praising him. In short, Thor had no intentions of moving.


    "Does the Bloodbath Spider enjoy terrifying children?" Orthos asked as he looked up at the balcony.


    "Not just children, she just loves terrifying people in general. But I think she''s going to make them some sort of yground. At least that''s what it looks like. You can take it downter." Karl exined.


    The dragon smirked up at the balcony as Rae started to make a silk y area for the acolytes.


    "Fortunately for me, I am an Elder of the church. It is not my job to take down decorations or clean the upper floors of the temple. However, adding that just made it a lot more tempting to order them to thoroughly clean the fresco paintings." Orthos joked.


    Karl looked up and realized that the entire ceiling was covered in ancient murals that portrayed either religious or historical events. As he wasn''t familiar with either, it could be both. Damaging one was unthinkable, but every decade or so, they would need to be carefully cleaned so that the colours didn''t fade and a fresh coat of clear protectant could be applied to any spots that had ked.


    Like Karl, who hadn''t realized they were there, the clergy rarely looked up at them. They were more for visitors than the daily residents, but with the acolytes ying up there, someone was bound to notice that there were spots that could use some cleaning.


    After a few minutes of exploring, Cara was the first to call it quits. People kept bothering her, but now she had the perfect defence mechanism. She could just go back to her space and watch them while they couldn''t see her.


    For the solitude - loving badger, this was possibly the greatest thing that ever happened to her. She could now speak with nobody but family, while still watching everything that happened around her.


    "Did the Void Badger, Cara, I believe you named her, retreat to her space?" One of the clerics asked.


    "Yes, Cara is her name. Unlike the others, who I got as infants, she had already picked a name when we met." Karl exined.


    "So, your ss lets you capture older beasts as well?" Karl shook his head. "I can''t capture them at all. I brought the others in as eggs, and we bonded when they hatched. Cara stayed for the buffet."


    That made both the cleric and Caraugh. The bond was solid now, but when she had first awakened in the space, she could have chosen to leave and fight off the effects of the ss ability bonding her.


    "Is that how it works?" One of the younger acolytes asked.


    Karl reached into Cara''s space and cut a small strip of meat from the roast pig, then held it out for her.


    "Ooh meat. Thank you."


    The Acolyte gobbled down the snack, and Karl patted her head while the older clerics facepalmed.


    "Alright, I see your point. Sometimes our nature can be used against us."


    Once she finished eating, the Acolyte realized that was precisely how Karl had convinced Cara to stay, and that she had fallen for it as well.


    "You''re not going to try to take any of our clerics, are you?" An older woman asked suspiciously.


    "I have no idea where the cutoff is, but one of my beasts tried to im a human for the team, and it didn''t work. So, I suspect that most or all of these demihumans would not be considered beasts by the system, even if I wanted to try."


    Orthos'' eyes lit up with excitement. "Do you happen to have a piece of equipment that you obtained while you were sent back through time?" [Did anyone grab any loot while we were there? I don''t really want to give him my bracelet for whatever experiment he''s got going on.] Karl asked.


    [Oh, yeah. I''ve got lots, they''re tasty.] Cara announced.


    Karl had thought she was just gathering random bits from the battlefield, but she had been cutting limbs with magical items from the fallen Giants. All of the bits in the pile at the edge of her space had a magical item on them.


    [You can eat that?]


    Cara nodded happily. [Void Badgers have a strong stomach. Magical items are good for growth, but not really worth going to look for. Here, you can have this ring. I''ve got too many of that vour.]


    Karl took the Giant Strength ring and handed it to the dragon.


    "Yes, this is perfect. The system stats are still active on it." He dered, then slid it on his finger.


    He blinked a few times as a smile grew on his face.


    "Yes, that is perfect, the System Interface refreshed. Thank you for this. Do you mind if I hold on to it for a while?" Orthos asked.


    "Only if you tell me honestly what you want it for. It''s just a Giant Strength ring. They make new ones every year."


    Orthos tilted his chin toward where the children were ying with Rae.


    "System imbued items, like this one, have a chance of awakening the children, the same way that your Divine Injection does. If the children wear it, there is a chance for them to awaken a ss until the effect of the old times fades."


    Karl nodded. "So that is how you kept awakening more systems during the first generation or two after it couldn''t happen naturally. Then eventually the system energy must have only brought partial effects, or no effects at all."


    "I am d you catch on quickly. Your stay here might not be so bad."


    Karl frowned. "I have half a year left on a contract with the Red Dragon that requires me to stay near my teammates, and do something that pleases her every few months. We''ve already been separated for a while during the time that I was gone."


    Orthos was a Dragon, he had to understand. Or so Karl hoped.


    "We will work on something. The Beast Gods and the Dragon Clerics don''t always get along, but the Red Dragon should understand that you are unavoidably detained and not deliberately leaving them behind."


    "How did you know that was the terms of the contract?" Karl asked.


    "Bronze Dragon. It''s part of our thing."


    He was going to have to ept that as an answer for now because it didn''t seem like Orthos was going to give him more answers, or let him just walk out of here and into the Divine Beast Nation''s wilderness.

 Chapter 456 Beast Temple Friends?

    Chapter 456 Beast Temple Friends?


    Their conversation was interrupted when amotion at the other end of the temple turned into an argument in Serpent.


    Karl sighed and turned to see what was going on as Orthos hid hisughter behind his sleeve.


    Remi had a small, furry acolyte, and she had raised her body to keep the child out of the reach of the guardian clerics that were trying to take her back to whatever passed for daycare here.


    [What are you doing, Remi?]


    [This creature is fascinating. She''s half dragon and half catgirl.]


    [And why are you keeping her away from the clerics?]


    [Because it''s funny. Plus, I''m a Queen now, Queens get to do what they want, right?]


    [Your species is Queen, but you''re still a Princess. You should likely give them the child.]


    Instead of handing the child over, Remi used her lower arms and her elongated body to climb one of the pirs and escape to the upper floor, with a group of clerics chasing after her.


    "I will give her a time-out once she puts the child back in bed. Sorry, she had never seen whatever species that is before."


    "The father was a dragonkin from the western regions, and the mother is a Felian, one of the cat women. But a winged beastkin with fur is quite umon, especially when they''re not bats. The little one gets a lot of attention, and I do fear that we''re spoiling her without teaching her about stranger danger. If Remi hadn''t been friendly, she could have been injured or abducted by a visiting beast."


    A few secondster, the shouting turned toughing, and Remi came racing back down the hallway and around the spiral staircase, this time holding a full-grown priestess.


    It was awkward, but with four arms, Remi could hold her no problem, and the Naga Queen was surprisingly strong.


    Karl was used to thinking of her as a small snake, but she wasn''t anymore.


    Well, for another five seconds, before she put the cleric on the ground and turned back into a small Spirit Snake to escape up Karl''s side, seeking protection on his shoulders.


    "Your Naga friend is insane." The Priestess that Remi had been carrying insisted.


    "In her defence, she literally got arms a day ago. If they''re not for cuddling small furry creatures, what is the point of having arms?" Karl replied.


    Most of the clerics in the roomughed, and some sort ofrge beast outside rumbled in amusement.


    The cleric gave him a skeptical look, and Karl gently stroked Remi''s head.


    "Fine, point taken. Sometimes we forget how excited the youngsters are to see new things." The Priestess sighed.


    [Pat the head for good luck.]


    Karl didn''t question the voice in his mind as he patted the beastkin woman''s soft furred head. Even if it didn''t bring good luck, it was totally worth it, the long bunny ears were so soft.


    "Gah, he got me. I let my guard down because he was human, but he did it." Sheined.


    "Is that some sort of running thing? I heard a suggestion that it was good luck." Karl asked.


    The clerics went silent and Karl turned to Orthos.


    "Did I say something strange?"


    The Dragon shook his head. "No, but you might have really heard the voice of the gods. They have a particr fondness for messing with rabbit rted beasts and beastkin. Even in the time when you saw mest, there was a superstition that gently touching their ears brought good luck.


    But you see, their ears are very sensitive, and depending on how you touch them, it can be an erogenous zone."


    Karl bowed to the Priestess. "Sorry, I didn''t know it was sexual harassment. Patting as a form of friendly encouragement is prettymon for me. Thor loves it."


    Some of the other clerics who had been in charge of his measurements smiled at the memory. Thor aggressively loved head pats and most other forms of affection.


    He was currently outside having his scales polished and scrubbed with sand.


    Rae returned to her space to let the children y, and the clerics began to rx. Nobody could view Thor as a threat, and the only other outsiders around now were Remi and Karl, and Remi had the favour of the beast gods, even if she was troublesome. n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om


    "Princess Remi, can you tell us what god favoured you when you evolved?" Orthos asked.


    [Tell them lucky statuedy came to visit me.]


    "She has a statue of a pregnant giant that, I believe, is one of the titan shaman gods. She says the statuedy was the one." Karl gently removed the statue from her space and took it out to show the dragon.


    "Fascinating. So, a Shaman God helped her evolve, in a Beast God temple. That isn''t something that I had expected. But the primordial gods are supporters of both beasts and Titans, though they fell from favour when the new pantheons of Beast and Titan Gods were formed.


    So, it''s not inconceivable that she would favour a shaman who wasn''t of the Giant Tribes, but it is unexpected. Where did Remi get that statue from? Did she make it herself?" Orthos asked.


    Karl shook his head and put the statue away, while Remiughed.


    "No, it was attached to a spell to summon clones of Frost Giants, along with arge Frost Stone. We were aiming to break the spell, so we stole the focal object, which was that statue, and it caused the Frost Stone to shatter." Karl exined.


    "You didn''t stop the spell first?" One of the Clerics gasped in shock.


    "Wait, there was an off switch?"


    The Clerics looked at him as if he were crazy.


    "All you had to do was tip over the Frost Stone. It''s the power source, so the spell would have naturally ended when you removed it. I''m surprised that removing the statue or destroying the circle didn''t cause a massive explosion." The Priest on Karl''s right exined.


    Remi wasughing so hard she almost slid off Karl''s shoulder.


    "Oh, there was an explosion. A rather sizable one." Karl exined.


    One of the Priestesses in the back snapped her fingers. "I know where you got the statue. The spot along the border, just north of where the Magma Dragon appeared from. There was an explosion that sent a cloud of frost magic high into the sky. Our scouts saw it from Whiton Temple."


    Karl whistled in appreciation. "Now that''s a good range. We didn''t get a good view, being as close to the st as we were."


    "You were still nearby when it exploded?" The Priest asked.


    "We were still getting clear of the crater that the stone was in when it exploded. Even with Commander Rank barriers, there were injuries."


    The Priest and Orthos nodded in understanding. The explosion was huge, but not contained, so it was lower damage over a muchrger area than if it had been indoors.


    "Is it true that you challenged a Royal Rank Frost Giant at Commander Rank?" One of the Priestesses asked, sliding up beside Karl so he could pet her fluffy cat ears.


    That was clearly a bribe to trick him into giving away secrets, but it wasn''t really a secret that he had taken out a Royal Rank Frost Giant. It had been on the news.


    "Let me regale you with the tale of an investigation gone wrong, or sessfully failed, as you might say." Karl began.


    A well told story was as important as the actual details, and the clerics were all eager to hear all about the war between the Golden Dragon Nation and the Giants.

 Chapter 457 Story Time

    Chapter 457 Story Time


    Karl ended up seated on the ground by the altar, with a semicircle of acolytes in front of him, invested in his stories of the battle zones along the border, and of his adventures in the time regressed instance.


    That one was their favourite. Not only was there the story of saving Elven children, the Grand Priest Orthos could even confirm some parts of it personally, as he had been there for it.


    What was better than a hero story that you knew was true?


    "So, if you just stand there and don''t flinch, the Orcs will respect your bravery and not just run you over?" One of the Acolytes, a boy about four years old, asked.


    "That''s right. If you have the strength, Orcs will respect it. Then you just have to prove to them that you''re not bluffing. I hear that the clerics of the beasts gods are outstanding fighters, so if you grow up big and strong like Auntie Sslyth over there, you can make them respect you. Then you can join them to beat up the bad guys and rescue the prisoners." N?v(el)B\\jnn


    The reptilian clericsughed, as Sslyth, the way Karl had pronounced it, was just the word for Lamia in theirnguage. With a different inflection, it was Naga, and the clerics were surprised that Karl had gotten it right, despite not speaking thenguage.


    Karlunched into the story of defeating the Giants, and the kids became skeptical. "No way. The Monarch Giants are too strong." The protested.


    "Why don''t we go outside, and I will show you something amazing?" Karl offered.


    Everyone followed him outside to where Thor was basking in the sun with a number of Dragonkin clerics leaning against him.


    Karl took out two Monarch Rank bodies. One from the vige, and one from the vers. Rae had saved both of them for blood and personal use.


    "See, these are the bodies of the two that I defeated on that trip. Now, I will have Miss Rae put them back in storage, and we can put out a nket to tell stories here in the sun where it is warm."


    Orthos smiled at the High Priest next to him. "He''s actually a skilled babysitter. He might have made a proper bard if he had different luck with the System."


    "That ss of his is dangerous, though. See how the kids are drawn to him? He doesn''t feel like a human, they instinctively react to him as if he were a beast himself, even when they''re looking at him." The High Priest countered.


    Orthos shrugged. "We tend to trust our nose over our eyes, with so many shape-shifters in the church. He smells like a beast, not a human."


    "Can you show us how that skill works?" One of the kids was asking. The boy was a Fire Basilisk, and his species had ming Body as an innate skill, but he was still young, and Awakened Rank. He hadn''t mastered the advanced methods that Karl was describing.


    "Alright, pick up that stick. That should do. Now, focus on extending the ability over your hands and down the stick."


    The boy glowed in pride as he showed off that he had already mastered the weapon coating.


    "Now, when you spin it, focus on letting the edge of the mes stay right where they are."


    Karl waved his hand back and forth, leaving a shield of ming Body in the air.


    A little girl jumped to her feet next to the boy and grabbed another stick from the ground.


    "I''ve got that skill too, let me try." She demanded.


    "Alright. Start it here on my hand. Now move the stick and imagine that I''m holding it in ce, so you can spread it out."


    Karl grabbed the edge of the ability as she moved the stick with great effort. Then he did the same for the boy as the clerics stared at him.


    The High Priest turned back to Orthos. "There is something wrong with that human. Who grabs an attack skill with their bare hands? Humans aren''t immune to fire."


    Orthos chuckled. "I think he has damage reduction on his equipment. Their skills aren''t doing enough damage to hurt him."


    That changed the High Priest''s estimation of Karl''s threat level.


    "He is using a Royal Rank Epic Armour spell." Orthos added.


    "What are the gods thinking?" The High Priest muttered. "I think they want him to bring the System back. Everything he has described so far sounds like he''s being guided toward arger fate."


    An ancient Lamia woman slid up beside the Dragon. "Do you think that it''s possible that we are having another resurgence? Even if it''s only a thousand years, we might be able to make better use of it this time.There is that Commander Rank dungeon that opened. That sounds like things might be changing for the better."


    Orthos thought about it as Karl brought more kids with innate barrier skills up and showed them how to make shields with them away from their bodies.


    The teachers would show them eventually, but the kids were more eager to learn from Karl because he had cool stories about defeating bullies. Motivation was a major factor in beasts and beastkin expanding their skills.


    "Who went to investigate the dungeon. I don''t recall getting a report."


    "Bishop Misty went to investigate. You know how she is, she will file a report in her own time." The High Priest sighed.


    "Bishop Misty, the Temporal Dragon, is the one that investigated the Dungeon? I don''t suppose we have asked Prince Karl where he was before he went missing through time." Orthos sighed.


    The rest of the clerics paused. That was right. Misty was less reliable than the average Nature Cleric, and had zero sense of punctuality, as she saw time as a fluid function. But the fact that she might have met with an interesting human and interfered in the time flow hadn''t urred to them until now.


    She hadn''t done it in generations, as her kind hated to change the timeline and cause ripples in the natural order. But she was certainly capable.


    Orthos gestured to one of the Felian clerics who went over to stand beside Karl, who was happily teaching a young Gryphon to make a better wind barrier.


    "Where did you go between the battlefield and the Anomaly? Our scouts saw you leave weeks ago. Did you get to explore more before you were transferred?" She asked.


    Karl smiled and stroked her hears, making the Priestess purr. "Sorry, that part is confidential. I had to take care of some things away from the battle for a while, and then celebrate the birthday of one of my team members."


    Orthos sighed. That wasn''t a confirmation, but enough for them to suspect that he had been the one at the Dungeon when it first opened. But in the process, she had told him that they were watching the battlefield from a distance, when officially they didn''t have any spies within the Golden Dragon Nation.


    It wasn''t exactly a good trade of intelligence details. But once they found the Bishop, they would have confirmation of the timeline, even if she hadn''t been the one that had been messing with it.

 Chapter 458 Teaching Skills

    Chapter 458 Teaching Skills


    The Clerics went inside while Karl taught the children, leaving only a few junior Priestesses with him, as they were instinctively drawn to Thor, who was currently napping in the sun.


    So, when Karl went from hands-on training the young beasts to writing, nobody in charge noticed.


    [This will be great. I''m sure I can use Rend.] Cara wasughing as Karl finished the second copy of the book. N?v(el)B\\jnn


    He had been careful to make sure the kids were not paying attention as he worked, and they had thought he was just doing paperwork, so they hadn''t realized that he was doing anything special.


    Karl passed the book into her space, and the book vanished as soon as the Void Badger touched it.


    "Alright, does everyone understand the rules to the Thor challenge? You have to extend your barrier in front of yourself and charge at your training partner. Whoever''s shield fails first loses. Then the winners challenge each other. Thest one standing gets this Skill Book." Karl exined.


    This was likely a terrible idea, giving new skills to citizens of a hostile nation. But they were baby clerics in training, and they were all beasts or beastkin with ws. They should be able to use Rend, or they could trade it with the others for something they needed.


    Most beasts couldn''t innately use it, as they didn''t hunt like Hawk did. Instead, they would have [w] or [Shred], sometimes [sh].


    The Priestesses looked up when they heard the first collision, but the kids looked like they were ying, so they went back to sunning themselves with Thor.


    The Acolytes were really invested in the game, running full speed at each other, not caring that most of the effect was going to be from the two shields interacting with each other. If they could hit hard enough that their target lost their footing, they would also lose focus on the barrier, and most of them had only just learned to expand it, so they would lose.


    After a few minutes, the noise drew the elder clerics back outside. They paused for a moment as they saw what looked like the kids roughhousing, but the organization showed that it was some sort of unorthodox training exercise.


    There were only four left. The young Gryphon, a half dragon, the Fire Basilisk and a Felian who had learned an earth shield skill.


    They were all under six years old, and all Awakened, so the contest was a hard fought one, but they were all exhausted, and they were barely stumbling towards each other when the High Priests came back out.


    They weren''t known to push themselves this hard in training without a reason, so the Elders stopped to watch as the Felian lost to the Gryphon, and the half dragon continually shed with the Fire Basilisk until he actually passed out from exhaustion.


    Once they were out, Remi doused them with a healing ssh and Thor put Eternal Lightning over them to help recover their energy, but thetest few defeated acolytes would still be in no shape to watch the finals.


    Half Dragon and Gryphon squared off and pped their wings, crashing barriers together at a remarkable speed that made the clerics flinch.


    Someone could be seriously injured with this game, and they would have to ban it before the kids tried it unsupervised and someone broke their neck.


    Four times they collided and flew apart, then on the fifth, they collided with a shattering of shields, and crashed shoulders together.


    "That''s a draw. Congrattions to our two winners. Now, I only have one book for you, but I think that I cane up with another prize."


    [Give them a stone.] Thor suggested. He was very pleased with the game, enough that he was willing to part with one of his precious Holy Stones.


    "Alright, I have two rewards. Do you know the game of rock, paper, scissors?" Karl asked.


    The twoughed, and the half dragon stood up straighter, smirking at the Gryphon, who was sitting on its haunches, so its wed front feet were free to y the game.


    "1, 2, 3, GO"


    "1, 2, 3, GO Ha, I win. Scissors beat paper." The Half Dragon cheered.


    Karl held out his hands, the stone in one and the book in the other.


    "You won the showoff, so you pick first."


    The girl grabbed the book and held it over her head, cheering, before she opened it and the book vanished.


    Then the Gryphon gave a happy coo and plucked the stone from Karl''s hand.


    The half lion, half bird monster promptly ate the stone, leaving Karl staring at it in confusion.


    [It''s storing the stone in its gizzard. It won''t leave there, and it will be used to grind its food, imbuing everything it eats with a bit of Holy Energy from now on.] Thor exined.


    "Wait, NO!" The clerics were shouting as they ran over.


    "It''s alright. It''s just a Holy Stone, it won''t hurt anyone." Karl shouted back, thinking that they were concerned about him giving candy to the Gryphon.


    "Not that. The skill book. You let a child use a skill book." The Priestess sighed.


    "It''s only a [Rend] book, I can get more when I get home." Karl exined.


    "Still, skill books are incredibly valuable, you don''t give them as presents to children."


    One of the other kidsughed. "So are Holy Stones, and Emma ate one of those."


    The clerics sighed and red at Karl, while Thor and Remiughed.


    [Hey, all clerics use that same look. It''s not just a dragon cleric thing.] Remi noted.


    [I think it''s a special Karl thing.] Hawk suggested.


    [No, they give the same look to Lotus.] Thor reminded him.


    "You really don''t understand why we''re upset, do you?" One of the clerics demanded.


    "Rx, I promised them the Rend skill if they won, and I paid in full. It would be an insult to the gods to cheat their Acolytes." "How many of your beasts can use that skill?" The Felian catgirl who hade to get information from Karl earlier asked.


    "Just Hawk and Cara. The others don''t actually have ws, so they''re not well suited to it. They have other ways to attack."


    [Oh, I bet I can put Disintegration on Rend and throw the skill even further. This is a good skill.] Cara realized.


    [Rend flies much better than thrown balls.] Hawk agreed.


    Cara was going to be a menace the next time they got into battle. Disintegrate was dangerous enough on its own as a Monarch Rank skill.


    The Clerics sighed in frustration, and Orthos smirked at them. "Those are all important questions, but you''re asking the wrong questions. What you should be asking is how he taught the kids to use suchplex applications of their innate skills before they were even old enough for school." The Dragon suggested.


    Karl knew perfectly well what the reason was. [Skill Master] didn''t require the beasts to be bonded, and the ones that had done the best were all at least half beast.


    He hadpletely forgotten that he had the skill active constantly, as it was an essential for his team. But when he was focusing on teaching a skill, it was even more effective, as it was targeted.

 Chapter 459 Found Him

    Chapter 459 Found Him


    While Karl and the beasts were in the temple ying with children, a certain Nature Cleric was having horrific visions.


    "I swear I did something to make the Goddess mad. How is this fair?" Lotus cried.


    "What did you see?" Lotus asked. N?v(el)B\\jnn


    "He''s ying with a baby Gryphon. It''s not even part of his team, someone just gave him a baby Gryphon to y with." Lotusined, with tears of frustration in the corners of her eyes.


    "When did he get to a temple? Do you know what sort of temple it is?" Tessa asked, trying to keep the little cleric focused. Visions were usually intended to give them some sort of valuable information, not just to taunt a single bored priestess.


    They had been stuck here for an entire week now, waiting for some news or new orders. The issues had been dealt with the first day, and there were no known threats in the region anymore.


    Doug was at the mine''s cafeteria, helping them with lunch for the workers, apany provided meal for every shift, but the others were simply lounging around in the courtyard outside the only hotel in town.


    The sound of a helicopter let them know that something wasing, but there was no announcement over the radio to let them know to be prepared for a pickup. Normally, any pickup flight would give them an advanced warning so that they weren''t wasting time.


    That was the first helicopter they had heard since they had been dropped off, and after a few seconds, they saw that it was a Bureau of Elite Development helicopter, so it had to be here for them, even if there was no message.


    The pilot put it down outside the city limits in a field, and a ten agent mission team disembarked. That was not what any of them were expecting. Colonel Valerie led the team to the town wall as the helicopter''s rotors spun down, suggesting that they were expecting to be here for at least a few hours.


    "Ladies and Gentlemen. It''s good to see you all rested. Where is High Priest Doug?"


    "Cafeteria." Tessa replied with a gesture over her shoulder.


    "Would you mind going to get him? We need to have a discussion about some new intelligence that we have received."


    Tessa nodded. "I think that we have some for you as well. High Priestess Lotus has been having visions all day."


    Bob ran off to get Doug, while the Colonel led them to the Mayor''s offices, the only soundproofed area in town where secure meetings could be held.


    In minutes, everyone was gathered, along with the Mayor of the Lithium Mines vige.


    "I believe it goes without saying, but nothing said here leaves this room." Valerie began.


    The others nodded, and she continued. "We have confirmation that Prince Karl is alive. He was recently spotted at a Beast God Temple in the Divine Beast Nation. It is not currently safe to attempt to recover him by force, but we have been in contact with two of the Dragons at the Temple, and we believe that we can arrange to have him safely returned to the border."


    Lotus let out an annoyed grumble, and the Colonel turned her attention to the cleric.


    "I have been having visions all day of him ying with baby monsters. I think that he made a deal with the clerics to let him babysit, or maybe train the youngest Acolytes. It''s not fair."


    Colonel Valerie looked confused, so Tessa exined.


    "It''s a Lotus thing. She can see the visions as if she''s there, only she can''t touch anything. First it was visions of Karl with young Elves in an Elven vige, then today it is a vision of him with young monsters. It also appears that he has a new partner, a honey badger, and that Remi has evolved into a Naga Shaman, or possibly a Naga Queen."


    The Colonel looked shocked. "That couldplicate things. If he has that much amassed power, the Divine Beasts are not going to want to let him go so easily. He is a high-level threat that might be turned against them in the future, and his ss allows him to bond beasts.


    If the dragons agree to work with us and bring him back, there might be a price to pay for his return. But that is the Government''s problem.


    Our team is here to collect you all in preparation to meet with him, so that the contract with the Red Dragon isn''t broken."


    Doug tapped the table as he thought. "Do you think it is possible that he might make a break for it through the wilderness?


    If there is anyone who wouldn''t fear the wild areas of the Divine Beast Nation, it is him. In fact, they might not even realize that he''s not one of them. If he put his hood up, he could pass as one of the beastkin."


    Colonel Valerie sighed. "That''s what we''re afraid of. He''s at a temple right now, but they might not prevent him from leaving, and that would put him out of reach of both our spies and any sort of safety he might be enjoying. There are two dragons there, a Bronze Dragon Overlord, and a Commander Rank Green Dragon who is practising her healing skills at their temple."


    Lotus froze for a moment, then frowned.


    Her linked dragon was a Commander Rank juvenile Green Dragon. If it was not a vision, but an info dump from her patron who was usually so eager to see new things, it would make all sorts of sense. She never got to see things on her own, so now that she had seen them, she was just sharing everything with Lotus.


    But when she thought about it, her patron seemed naive and intrigued by the concept of getting to go apprentice at a temple. So, it wasn''t her Green Dragon, just another young one.


    That was a relief, somehow. Colonel Valerie continued her exnation. "Tonight, we are going to head to the border and make contact with the representatives of the Divine Beast Nation. We are not officially at war with them, but we are not on particrly good terms with them either, so I need everyone to be on their best behaviour.


    I don''t know who they will send to meet with us, but be extra respectful, and remember that they are the representatives of another nation. A neutral nation that we need to stay neutral in our conflict with the Giants.


    They are known to send a lower ranking beast as their representative, just to see if we will take it as an insult. That means no trying to treat the representative like a child or a wild animal. No talking down to them, in short, don''t do anything out of line if you want us to get Karl back without months of headaches."


    Danaughed. "You know, now that Thor is surrounded by Divine Beast Nation clerics, he might not want to leave. They''re extra friendly to beasts, right? So even if they don''t want Karl there, the rest of the team should be pretty popr."


    Opheliaughed. "There is no way that Thor is not popr. Everyone loves Thor."


    The visiting Bureau team members chuckled. They could only imagine the chaos that would happen if the Divine Beasts refused to assist in returning an Elite that had been brought there by an anomaly because his beasts were too likeable.


    The team smirked at the thought. They could definitely see it happening. But the good news was that they now had reliable intelligence on Karl''s safety and not just vague visions of him interacting with small animals.

 Chapter 460 Making A Deal

    Chapter 460 Making A Deal


    Four hourster, the helicopternded at the border of the Divine Beast Nation, not far from where the Flokwar river headwaters started at a natural spring. Assembled to meet them was an odd assortment of creatures. There was a Dire Bear, a dragonkin Priestess, and a trio of Moor Cats.


    Other than the Priestess, who was a Commander Rank High Priestess, the others were all strong Monarchs. The Colonel had been expecting the Divine Beast Nation to send a weak representative as an insult, but it appeared that they had sent an exceptionally powerful emergency response team to meet them. There was still a portal open behind the beasts, waiting for the meeting to end, and Ophelia began to suspect that this meeting might not go the way they were hoping.


    So, as they got out of the helicopter, she shifted into Werebear form, ensuring that there would be at least one Beastkin with their contingent. She had some hope that it would help alleviate the hostility she could feel, and unlike her Dire Bear Form, she could still speak as a Werebear.


    The two sides stopped a few metres apart, and the dragonkin High Priestess nodded at the newly arrived clerics while ignoring the others.


    "First, as a sign of good faith." She announced, then opened a viewing spell that showed Karl teaching abat ss to a group of five-year-olds.


    He was currently showing them the art of the side chokehold, where you could get close enough to a beast''s neck that they couldn''t bite you as you attacked.


    Thor was napping in the background, and Colonel Valerie prepared for the worst. Karl was clearly epted by the beasts if they were letting him be around the kids, and that was going to make it harder to get him back.


    [We should have warned him not to be so friendly to foreign nations.] Colonel Valerie''s assistant whispered to her.


    [But if he wasn''t what sort of condition would he be in now?] She whispered back.


    The dragonkin gestured for Tessa toe forward and speak with her, but the beasts growled when the Colonel tried to join her.


    "High Priestess. I have been informed that your team has a contract with the Dragon Gods." The dragonkin began.


    Tessa silently nodded and took out a copy of the contract.


    "So, the four of you?" She asked.


    "Normally, we travel as a group of eight. Ophelia is our fifth for most situations, while Morgana, Bob and Doug bolster our numbers for dangerous situations."


    That was a rather powerful group, with Bob and Doug both at Royal Rank, and Morgana right at the bottleneck. N?v(el)B\\jnn


    But the High Priestess had been informed of Karl''sbat power with his beasts, and he would still be the designated leader of the team even in the Divine Beast Nation, despite his youth.


    "I have been approved to bring his contracted team members to him. No more. I am willing to make an exception for the Werebear, but not the humans."


    "What are the chances that he could be returned to the group here? We do have duties to take care of as well." Tessa asked.


    The dragonkin High Priestess shook her head. "The Grand Priest says his skills are too valuable to let him go before his debt is cleared."


    "What debt?"


    The dragonkin shrugged. "I have no idea. It wasn''t exined to me, as it was considered non-negotiable."


    "Can you ask? Perhaps we can help settle the debt right now." Her eyes seemed to ze over as she used amunication spell.


    "He did not rify, and only said that they are still cleaning slimy footprints off the ceiling."


    That left Karl''s entire team confused. None of the beasts had slime type abilities, and the ones that could conceivably be on the ceiling were Rae and Hawk, neither of which would leave footprints.


    Had Karl done something that involved him fighting indoors with slimy feet?


    Hopefully, he hadn''t gotten into a fight with the Beast God Clerics.


    Tessa turned to Colonel Valerie for answers. Sending more Elites into the Divine Beast Nation defeated the purpose of trying to recover one. But they did have a contract that said they wouldn''t leave each other behind.


    He certainly seemed like he was on an adventure, and if they let him go alone now that they had the chance to join him, it might be a vition of the contract.


    "Can I have a moment to confer with the Bureau Agents?" Tessa asked.


    The High Priestess nodded and Tessa stepped back to talk to the others.


    "Where do I go from here? It''s pretty clear that they''re not going to let him go easily. We came here to get an Elite back, but with the contract, most of us will have to go to him if he won''t be brought to us." She whispered.


    Colonel Valerie sighed and nodded. "If ites down to that, try to get terms from them. Preferably a condition to return you all home once whatever debt he racked up has been paid. I suspect that it''s a made up charge, an excuse to keep him there. I just wish that I could confidently say that him leaving slimy footprints on the ceiling was a false usation."


    Dana smirked. "Yeah, we were all a bit startled at that, but I don''t think anyone would say it''s impossible, or even all that unlikely."


    In the distance, they heard the Dire Bear''s rumblingughter.


    "The bear has definitely met him. He wouldn''t beughing that hard if he didn''t know Karl." Doug noted.


    The Dire Bear nodded in agreement, letting everyone know his hearing was sensitive enough to hear their whispers.


    "Why are we pretending that any of this is a secret meeting? We can all hear each other." Dana asked.


    The Bear and the Moor Cats all made huffingughing noises at herment, and even the Dragonkin Priestess chuckled.


    Tessa stepped back toward the Divine Beast Nation group. "We would ask to join our partner until such time as we can all leave together. What we ask is that you guarantee our safety and our return together to the Golden Dragon Nation at the soonest opportunity."


    The High Priestess was silent for a minute as she considered the wording. "We can agree to bring you to him and assist you in fulfilling the terms of the contract with the Red Dragon until such time as you all leave together, at our earliest convenience," she suggested.


    That was not quite the same thing, as there were many exceptions to "earliest convenience", but it was not a bad agreement, as they had agreed to allow them to fulfill the terms of the contract. The contract stipted that they needed to please the Red Dragon, so it would be difficult to keep them there in a secure temple for an extended period, as the Divine Beasts were not at war with anyone. The ck Dragon who ruled their nation didn''t see the need, the deaths on the continent were bncing themselves.


    Colonel Valerie nodded and handed Tessa a small bag that she put in her storage. She could check the contentster, but it was most likely a method of contacting home from outside of regr radio range.


    That was all the signal that Tessa needed to know that they would be leaving.

 Chapter 461 Team Reunited

    Chapter 461 Team Reunited


    The team said their goodbyes to the Mackenzie brothers and Morgana, then prepared to follow the beasts to their destination.


    "Before we go, there are a few ground rules you should be aware of. This is not a human nation, so we expect you to be on your best behaviour. Your military and government ranks mean nothing to us. Beasts have our own ranking system.


    The only reason we have agreed to this is that we don''t want to offend the gods by refusing.


    Now, if you understand that, we should get along just fine. If you have abilities that let you travel more quickly, I suggest you use them now. We won''t open a portal directly to the destination." The High Priestess exined.


    Dana activated her movement skill, but neither cleric had anything that was going to help them much with that. However, as High Priestesses of the Dragon Gods, they did have some dragon features and solid stamina.


    However, when Ophelia transformed into her Dire Bear form, the big Monarch Rank Dire Rank bear made a rumbling noise that almost sounded friendly.


    "I think you have an admirer." Danaughed as Ophelia rolled her eyes at be Bear.


    "Calm down, big boy. She''s a Werebear, her default form is human, not Dire Bear, this is a skill she learned." Tessa teased.


    The High Priestess in the beast groupughed, then winked at her huge, furry friend.


    Then she led them through the portal, leaving the Bureau team behind.


    The beastkin on the other side of the portal didn''t seem impressed to see the group that hade through, but they should have heard most of the conversation, and they didn''t try to stop them from leaving the area, jogging down a well travelled dirt path.


    They could hearughing in the distance, and the Dire Bear huffed in amusement.


    "It seems your friends will be waiting for you. They''re back out again after dinner, working with the children." The High Priestess exined.


    "Is this some deal you''ve made with him?" Tessa asked.


    "Not exactly. You will understand when you see it."


    Karl had no idea that anyone wasing for him so soon, so he was overseeing a sparring match between the Acolytes and Cara, preparing them for when they might have to deal with a rampaging feral beast.


    The others were toorge to fight without skills, or in Remi''s case, too deadly in her smaller form. Remi''s only attack in snake form was a venomous bite, and at her rank that would instantly kill the Acolytes. Cara, on the other hand, could deactivate her skills and y with the kids as long as they wanted.


    She puffed up her back, like she was angry, and let the kids circle her. The older clericsughed. A Void Badger rarely got defensive and angry. They weren''t afraid of anything, they just attacked when they were angry. But she was fighting kids under seven years old.


    Once she was certain the kids were in position, Cara moved, grabbing a boy around the waist and spinning him around to body m him before nuzzling his belly to simte a bite attack.


    "What did we just go over? You can''t let her grab you like that. If you do that with a feral beast, they''ll eat you." Karl reminded the kids.


    "The one targeted should use their weapon to bash at her paws while the others move in to capture and restrain her." He exined.


    "Now go again."


    This time, the boy used his training sword to bat away Cara''s w as he retreated, and the Void Badger began to chase the others around as their n fell apart.


    "Gather around. Force her to the ground. You can hit her, it won''t hurt her." Karl encouraged.


    She swatted one a bit harder than intended, and Karl darted forward to catch the little acolyte before they hit the ground.


    "Keep your guard up. Fighters with shields to the front, keep her upied."


    That was how Dana led the group into the training grounds at the Temple to find Cara with a werewolf in a headlock, giving him a wet willy.


    "Karl, what are you teaching the children?" She called.


    "Dana! How did you get here? I didn''t expect to see you until I got back.


    Meet Cara, the winged void badger, and the newest member of the team."


    Cara let go of the boy to fly over to Dana and tackle her to the ground, where she could be properly examined.


    [Your friend is a human mage? They''re kind of squishy. Give her the bracelet, or I''m going to break her just trying to say hello.]


    [Kindly don''t break my team members. There are likely going to be two clerics and a berserkering, all human.]


    Dana looked up at the Void Badger, who was sniffing at her and pulling at her armour to inspect the equipment.


    [The robes smell like Rae. That''s good, they shouldn''t tear. Oh, more people.]


    Cara spread her wings andunched forwards, only to be intercepted and grabbed by Lotus.


    "You are adorable. I''m Lotus. Are you one of Karl''s friends?" She asked.


    [This one doesn''t listen well.]


    Cara spread her wings and pped hard, lifting both herself and Lotus into the air, so she could deposit the cleric on Ophelia''s back.


    Then she slid down to examine Tessa, leaving Lotus confused.


    "I swear I had a good grip on her. Badgers are hard to hold on to." Lotus noted.


    "Even with magic. They mostly do what they like. It''s good to see you all again, but how did you end up here? Unless my map reading skills are exceptionally poor, we are a long way from the border."


    Tessa chuckled at Karl''s question.


    "They brought us to you because of the contract. Apparently, you have things to do before you leave."


    Karl nodded. "That is true. I''m in the middle of teaching the kids to use their innate skills, and we learned some very interesting new things in thest day or so."


    "Oh, what did you learn?" Tessa asked, as she realized that Karl had be fully side tracked in a temple full of beasts. He was as bad as the Nature Priests, but he was focusing on expanding his System Skills, not just on the new experiences.


    Well, the first obvious one is that I''m quite good with children. But more importantly, I discovered that I can use skill books in a whole new way. We were just about to start, if you want to watch.


    They were confused, but when Karl called Remi out in her Naga Queen form, they were all shocked.


    "Oh, right. Remi advanced. She can only speak serpent so far, but we''re working on it.


    Now, for the part that we were about to test."


    Orthos came out with a freshly written book in his hands, and reluctantly handed it to Karl. If this went wrong, from the Dragon''s point of view, Karl would use the book and it would vanish. Their Inscriptionists had spent half the day on this. He didn''t want to lose it, but Karl was confident that his theory would work.


    Karl opened the skill book, and began to read it to Remi, while focusing on using [Skill Master] to transfer the knowledge to Remi. n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om


    It was a four-armedbat style, and the chanced of Karl being able to use it were very low. But if they gave the book to Remi, should be able to.


    The dragon wouldn''t agree to that, but he had agreed to lend it to Karl, with the condition that he reced it with something of equal value if this didn''t work.


    It took fifteen minutes of chanting the instructions before Karl was done, and Remi began to make her way through the movements of the skill.


    She still wasn''t quite there, but she had the basics, and with practice she was getting better by the minute.


    "Come back and I will try again. A second lesson might help." Karl offered.


    He was right, the second time around, Remi was much better.


    She still didn''t quite have the skill, but she was getting close.


    Karl closed the book and settled down on the grass. "That took way more energy than expected." He exined.


    Orthos took the book back before Karl got it dirty, but the ancient Dragon was beaming with joy.


    "It really works, you can teach a beast to use a skill from the book without destroying it. There are so many books that we can''t duplicate, but can''t afford to not have anyone know." He cheered.


    "So that is the thing that was so important that you couldn''t leave. They want you to teach a beast how to use a rare skill." Dana realized.


    Orthos nodded. "Not just a rare skill, I want him to teach one of our prodigies an Epic skill."

 Chapter 462 Sharing The Power

    Chapter 462 Sharing The Power


    "What skill did you want him to teach someone?" Tessa asked, suspicious of the Dragon''s intentions. "You don''t need to be so suspicious, War Cleric. I am a Bronze Dragon, a disciple of the God of Law and Order. I dislike disruption in the way things are supposed to be done, and I have little leniency for disrespect."


    [He''s totally talking about me.] Caraughed, recalling the way she had booped him on the nose.


    The newly arrived members were a bit wary of the Dragon''s temper, but Karl was smiling at Cara''s uncaring attitude.


    "Why don''t we try that now? It could be fun. I haven''t gotten to see an Epic skill in a while. Not since I learned [Bestial Raiment]." Karl suggested.


    "Alright. Please,e inside. We will provide refreshments for your friends, but you might want to restrain the Nature Priestess."


    "Nature High Priestess." Karl corrected, which made the Dragon roll his eyes.


    "Nature High Priestess." He reluctantly agreed.


    Tessa took control of Lotus, who was about to wander away, following the beastkin children.


    They had promised to be on their best behaviour, but the Void Badger had vanished, and Rae wasn''t out to distract her. Plus, the newborn Green Dragon in her mind wanted to know all the things.


    Orthos led Karl to a secured room with protective magic cast on everything.


    There was arge tome open on a desk, open to the first page, and locked under ss.


    "The tome is delicate, we can''t let you touch it. Can you teach from that?" Orthos asked.


    "I should be able to, I can read the tome. So, as long as someone can change the page, I should be able to use my skill to teach it. The question is if anyone is actuallypatible with the skill. Rare skills tend to be rare for an excellent reason." Karl reminded him.


    "We have a candidate." Orthos replied simply.


    He whistled and a Moor Cat,rger than any Karl had seen before, and at the peak of Monarch Rank, came in to sit next to the dragon.


    "Alright, you need to be in a rxed state for this to work as well as possible. Is there anything that would help?" He asked.


    The cat turned to Orthos, and they must have beenmuning mentally before Orthos shook his head. "No, he should be fine. Do you need him to move? You noted with the children that teaching works better with direct physical contact."


    "If you can shift here, so I can rest a hand on you while I read, that would be best."


    The Moor Cat shifted a little so he could see Karl, but had his tail draped over Karl''s shoulders.


    "Yes, that should work wonderfully. Now, Chapter One. The essentials of the [Ghost Beast] stealth skill."


    When they reached the end of a page, Orthos would flip them with magic, and Karl would continue, focusing the recently improved [Skill Master] ability on both the Moor Cat and Rae.


    She was resting in her space, but listening intently. She didn''t need to be outside, they were permanently linked, and this sounded like just the sort of skill that she would love.


    It was also the essential skill for a Moor Cat at the peak of the Monarch Rank to evolve into a Ghost Cat and break through the bottleneck to be an Overlord.


    Rae didn''t understand human politics, but she understood beasts, and this was a colossal favour to be asking of Karl. Advancing a beast to the Overlord Rank added to the nation''s topbat power. Even one or two more Overlords in a battle could be enough to tilt it in favour of one nation or another.


    There was no way that Cara leaving footprints all over the ceiling as she ran away from the clerics warranted this. Even teaching the children who would clean the mess should have been enough to pay their debt.


    But she knew that Karl was doing this as much for her as for the Moor Cat and the Bronze Dragon.


    This was an Epic Grade skill that was fully capable of taking her to the Overlord Rank, and it would most likely cause her to evolve instantly when she learned it.


    What form that evolution would take was unknown, but for her future, she would do her very best to learn every bit of this skill, no matter how long she had to practice.


    But this skill seemed to be attuned to her, a natural fit in the same way that her own innate skills were, even more natural than Golems, and she loved her golems.


    Perhaps this was a skill that she would have also naturally gained as she advanced?


    When he was finished with the book once, Karl realized that it was a good start, but neither beast had quite mastered the skill yet.


    The essence of it was something that was sopletely foreign to a living being that it could not be mastered so easily, even by the beasts that would call it an innate skill in their new form.


    [Ghost Beast] did not actually hide you, that was taken care of by other skills. Ghost Beast let you step halfway out of phase with reality to briefly move through an object, like a door or wall.


    ording to the text, it was incredibly draining, and few could hope to do it more than once a day. But for an assassin type beast, being able to step through a door or a solid wall to get to your target was an absolutely brutal advantage.


    The name fit the skill, and Karl was looking forward to the terror that Rae could cause once she had mastered the ability.


    The Moor Cat, now a Ghost Cat, or well on its way to bing one, was the first to master the ability, but Karl dutifully continued reading the skill book to let Rae finish learning.


    The Cat wasn''t moving yet, but Karl could sense the skill activation, so he was reasonably certain that it had mastered the ability. n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om


    He briefly considered the fact that a Ghost Cat didn''t actually pose a major threat to most humans at home, as they were toorge to it in the room unless they wereying down, but out in the wilderness, or in the bordering nations belonging to the Giants, there would be no such restrictions.


    Before they were through the incredibly long book the second time, Rae had managed to phase through one of the trees in her space.


    That might not count, as they weren''t real, but as far as Karl could tell, the skill was active.


    He finished the reading for the second time and nodded to Orthos. "I believe that the task is done. The skill should have been understood and transferred, so if it was the key to an advancement, that shoulde within the next day or two." He exined.


    The Bronze Dragon smiled. "You have no idea how much you have helped us today."


    "By allowing the Divine Beast Nation to gain a new Overlord Rank Beast that might be able to instruct others of his species in the skill he has just learned? Oh, I think I have a fairly decent grasp on just what I have done here today. I just hope that I don''t regret itter."

 Chapter 463 Bishop Misty

    Chapter 463 Bishop Misty


    Orthos smiled at Karl. "I do like smart people. But if you already knew what I was nning, why did you go along with it so effectively? You could have given just enough to give him hope every day for a week before anyone got impatient."


    Karl smiled at the ancient Dragon. "I think it''s better to have powerful friends, don''t you? Without this skill, there was no way that our friend was going to be a Ghost Cat. It''s not a skill that can easily be learned on your own, so the chances of a Moor Cat evolving in that direction are close to zero." N?v(el)B\\jnn


    The cat rumbled in amusement that vibrated through the tail he still had slung over Karl''s shoulder.


    "Perhaps you are right. It is hard to say that you are a threat to the nation when everyone here is beginning to consider you a friend. Even the Acolytes are fond of your lessons. They say that you are a more effective teacher than the clerics are, and that is saying something."


    They walked out of the library section with the rare books, and a white haired woman with white eyes joined them.


    "Oh, Prince Karl, it is good to see you back in your proper timeline. How was your journey?" She asked.


    "Quite productive, actually. If you would like a detailed version, you can ask the young ones, they had me tell the story at least three times. They should have it memorized by now." Karl replied politely.


    Orthos chuckled. Three times might be an understatement.


    "Bishop Misty, did you have a report for us?" The Bronze Dragon asked.


    "That depends on if the Beast Master has already told you everything or if he''s still holding out. The Golden Dragon Nation has a stable Commander Rank Dungeon, and I can confirm that it is awakening at least partiallyplete systems, with the ability to let the recipients randomly or directly select their ss.


    Um, what else was there? I saw in a vision that you''ve already met Cara and Remi, so I don''t need to go into that. Did the Cerro try to hit on the Forest Dragon here or before? Don''t worry about that, his game is smooth, but not that smooth."


    Karl stared in shock. He had no idea who this woman was, but she seemed to know an awful lot about him.


    "So it is confirmed to be a resurgence? Do you know what is causing it?"


    The white - eyed woman shook her head. "No, they''re as random as ever. But this human has excellent luck with being sent to where they appear. Perhaps that means your temple gets the next one, as he was sent here when he returned."


    Orthos sighed. "I hope not. That''s far too much trouble. But I''m d that you managed to find time toe and give a report, Bishop."


    The woman chuckled. "Yes, I found time. That''s a good one. Now, I have things to see, people to do. I will returnter."


    Then she turned into a thick white mist and simply vanished out the window.


    "Well, she''s an interesting one. Is she a form of oracle or prophet? I hear that they see the world in unique ways." Karl asked.


    "Well, I can''t say that her way of seeing the world is normal. But I wouldn''t call her an oracle or prophet in the usual sense."


    Which meant that she had other ways of finding out obscure information. Karl would have to remember that. Bishop Misty, he would remember that name.


    He could hear chaos in the next room over, and Karl smiled as he realized that Lotus had met the Acolytes unsupervised. She had almost certainly gotten a lecture in advance, but that wouldn''t keep her contained for long.


    As expected, she was sitting cross-legged on the floor, with a small Felian catgirl in herp, reading a story to the youngest Acolytes of the church.


    Dana came over to give Karl a hug, then blushed as she realized that Orthos was still standing on his far side.


    "I will let you get reacquainted with your team. We can speak tomorrow about other matters. The Acolytes will show you all to your rooms after dinner."


    The ancient Dragon walked away, leaving Karl with his team. Curiously, Ophelia was still in Werebear form, and wearing armour. In fact, they were all wearing armour.


    "You know, they''re not going to attack, you can rx." Karl reminded them.


    "You''re too rxed. We''re in a foreign nation with no official treaties with the Golden Dragon Nation or the Church. Armour is justmon sense. Though I see that you''refortable training children for them and helping their ranking beasts gain new skills." Tessa replied.


    Karl patted her on the shoulder. "It''s all under control. Well, almost all under control. But you just got here. There are a few things that I should exin."


    [Cara and Remi, can youe out and say hello?]


    Remi came out first and stole the Felian child from Lotus before the little cleric could react.


    Both Remi and the young acolyteughed as Remi lifted the girl in the air and spun her as she coiled herself in the middle of the floor.


    "Remi? You''re a Naga now?"


    Remi handed the child to Tessa, who seemed more reliable than the others to be holding a child, and nodded happily.


    Remi pointed to the crown on her head, where it was holding her veil down.


    "A Naga Queen?" Lotus guessed.


    Remi nodded again, and grabbed Lotus to hug her.


    "When did Remi get so affectionate?" Tessa asked. "As soon as she got arms. Now that she can hug people without them thinking she''s trying to kill them, she has been going all out. She even ran around the temple hugging children the first day."


    "When did you get here?" Tessa asked.


    "Last night. You got here much more quickly than I had expected. I might have trained an army of loyal children if you gave me an extra week."


    A few of the older clerics turned suspicious res at Karl as they realized that he was only half joking. He was doing very well at training the kids, and the young ones loved him.


    "We have a lot to talk about, but I think that we can do that over dinner. How about we get these little darlings to lead us to the dining hall?" Tessa suggested.


    The young Gryphon who had gotten the Holy Stone for his draw in the final round of the Thor Challenge pped his wings and circled the room before flying out toward the food.


    "Everyone, follow the Gryphon. There is one more surprise in store for you, and it might be better that you''re sitting down for this one." Karlughed.


    Lotus smirked. "I got a sneak preview, it''s a badger. A Honey Badger."


    Cara popped out of her space and spread her wings to fly around the room before tackling the Nature Priestess and licking her face.


    "Close, Cara is a winged Void Badger. And it looks like she likes you. Or at least the honey in the body lotion you use. But that isn''t the surprise that I meant. You met her on the way in, remember?


    Rae, why don''t youe out and show off?"

 Chapter 464 Separate Rooms

    Chapter 464 Separate Rooms


    Rae appeared in the middle of the room, looking very much like she always had. So, why she would be a surprise for anyone present was a mystery.


    However, after a quick check to make certain that nobody else was watching, she stepped forward, and through the table next to them, using [Ghost Beast] to pass through the solid stone table.


    "Did she just?" Tessa asked quietly.


    "She did." Karl agreed, before Rae returned to her nap. She was fairly certain that she still had a ways to go to master that skill, even if she could make it function right now. There was much more to an Epic Grade skill than simply being able to make it activate.


    Nobody else said anything about it out loud, as the acolytes were beginning to return with dinner now. But that didn''t mean that they were not all silently celebrating.


    Dana gave Karl a meaningful look, quietly asking him if this is what he had been up to since his arrival. It hadn''t been nned, at least not by him, but even a single skill for his beasts was a huge win, and Rae''s new skill was an incredible one.


    "So, are we here as substitute teachers for beastkin Acolytes? As adorable as they are, I suspect that will not be enough to keep the Red Dragon happy. It''s been a while since we fulfilled the terms of the contract now." Ophelia reminded them.


    Tessa declined to mention that whatever Karl had been up to while he was gone had been counted toward their timer. Anyone listening didn''t need to know that they had extra time. But she had an idea.


    "Maybe we can convince them to let us head back to the battlefield? It''s not that far from here to the back side of the Mountain Giant Nation. They shouldn''t hold it against the beasts if a few humans are let loose on them."


    From somewhere on Karl''s right, a derisive snort ofughter caught his attention.


    "While I don''t doubt that the Monster Man can take on a Monarch Rank Giant, you should realize that they send them out ten at a time in border patrol teams. Not even the Red Dragon would be impressed if youmitted suicide, human."


    Tessa turned to look at the speaker, and saw that it was arge and muscr Lion type beastkin, nearly asrge as Ophelia''s Werebear form.


    He was on the strong side of Commander, but he lived here, so he would be more of an expert on the situation at their border with the Mountain Giants than they were. But to think that they put border patrols that strong along the border with the Divine Beasts. That had to be cutting down on the strength they could put against the humans, even though they were at war.


    The Golden Dragon Nation didn''t have hundreds of Monarch Rank Elites to throw around, and if the Giants were using them as border patrol, they clearly did.


    Tessa smiled at him. "Don''t underestimate a War Priestess. But you have a point, we''re not up to that. I don''t suppose you have any suggestion on how to keep the Red Dragon happy while we''re waiting for what the representative called ''their earliest convenience'' to make sure we get back home?"


    The beastkin shrugged. "No idea. But the border is a bad idea." n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om


    The group finished their dinner and headed for bed, escorted by the Acolytes.


    "Um, we usually have two to a room, so Mister Karl will have to sleep alone, unless you want to share with an Acolyte." A small wolf kin boy exined as he led them to the visitor quarters.


    "Or I could share with Dana and High Priestess Lotus could share with an Acolyte." Karl offered.


    The boy looked horrified. "You can''t share a room with girls. They might have cooties."


    Karl did his best not tough at the panicked look on the boy''s face, while the others tried not tough.


    "Um, no offence. I''m sure you don''t really have cooties." He stammered when he remembered that everyone could hear him.


    Karl smiled at the others. "Well,dies, you heard the young Acolyte. It looks like you''re sharing, and I will have one of the Acolytes as a roommate."


    Lotus stuck out her tongue at Karl, even though he had tried to set her up with an Acolyte to bunk with. They probably wouldn''t get much sleep. Only Tessa could reliably make Lotus sleep before she wore herself out, but it would have helped the Nature Cleric''s mood.


    Karl didn''t actually expect them to transfer someone into his room, as the Acolytes should have all had their own rooms, but when he got inside, one of the beds was already taken by a dragonkin of some sort, with white hair and silver horns.


    "Good evening." Karl said softly as he prepared to climb into bed.


    The figure turned over, and familiar white eyes stared back at him.


    "Bishop Misty?" Karl asked.


    "Right on the first try. Very good. Now that everyone else is asleep, I do have a few questions for you about what you saw when you were in the past, and what you learned.


    I sent you there, but I didn''t have an opportunity to monitor everything that you were doing. Not when that annoying Archbishop was hounding me again."


    "You sent me? So it wasn''t an anomaly?" Karl asked, now on guard against this strange creature.


    "Of course I did. Someone needed to go. Who could be better than you? You have beasts to keep you alive, you have survival skills, the humans will believe what you tell them, and it was easy enough to ensure that you ended up back here where I could talk to you before you left." She announced proudly.


    "So, you wanted me to go back and find out something about the past?" Karl asked, not understanding.


    "Find out? Nonsense, I can see the past. Plus, Orthos was there. I wanted you to go there and experience it so that you could confirm whether the system version that is being awakened by the new Dungeons is the same for humans.


    Tell me, were there any new functions during that time that you didn''t have already after visiting the dungeon? I can borrow one of the newly awakened if we need."


    That could be a political nightmare.


    "Their inventory system was not the same as mine, and I don''t seem to have as much storage. They can see names and sses over everyone''s head as well. I couldn''t do that before, or perhaps I didn''t know how to activate it until I saw them do it. I can do it now, but I never think to do it, and only a few people actually have a tag. You do, now that I''m looking for it. My group members all do, and Orthos does, but I haven''t been looking to see if anyone else does.


    Other than that, they had a guild function, and I have no idea how that works." Karl exined.


    Misty nodded. "That is understandable. The ability to make new Guilds was lost even then. Everyone just joined one of the few surviving ones from the times before."


    Karl snapped his fingers. "The city control function. That might be part of the Guild functions, but the city was under control of the Guild, and it changed hands with a challenge."


    Misty smiled. "That is also lost. The city control stones were a magical item that was linked to the guilds, not part of the core System Functions.


    But if you maintained some of the upgrades that you gained there, and we now know that at least a few beastkin can be awakened by the item you brought back, it means that both our Nation and yours should be able to awaken more by having them equip gear from the dungeon."


    Karl smiled, and the Dragon nodded happily. "See, I won''t make you work for nothing. This is valuable information. But the important part is the next part. Simply wearing the item isn''t enough.


    You need to equip it.


    That can only be done if you''re already primed for the system. So, either have all the kids who have taken the injection also try to equip the item, or have someone with a fully functional system put the item on them and focus on equipping it to them.


    That is what Orthos did."


    Karl nodded and made a physical note to go with the mental note. "Why are you telling me all this? Wouldn''t it be better for your people if I didn''t know?"


    Misty shook her head. "No, it is better if everyone knows now because everyone will figure it out eventually on their own. But Orthos has another treasure for you tomorrow, and the Gods will demand that you have it.


    Now, you look rather warm, so slide over."


    Karl barely had time to react before the Dragon had slid under his nkets, and was curling up to go back to sleep.


    They could talk about this treasure Orthos had for him tomorrow.

 Chapter 465 Unfathomable Cheat

    Chapter 465 Unfathomable Cheat


    Karl didn''t notice that Misty had changed into the form of a dog - sized white dragon until the next morning, when he felt a small body trying to insert itself into his bed.


    The others hade to wake him up, but Lotus was hoping to steal his spot without waking the dragon.


    Of course, it didn''t work, but Misty had no intentions of getting out of bed, and Lotus wore pleasant smelling body lotion.


    Karl reached up and settled his fingertips into the stonework of the block wall to lift himself straight up out of bed, then pushed off the wall tond on the floor.


    "As impressive as that feat of physical strength is, you should put pants on before youe to breakfast. Lotus will miss the meal withoutints, but you should eat." Tessa whispered.


    Karl put his armour on to blend with the rest of the team and made his way to breakfast. Halfway down, the Acolytes were holding everyone''s hands, acting as their guides. "Are you going to be training us again today, Monster Man?" A half dragon girl asked.


    "Most likely. I hear that Grand Priest Orthos has something to tell me first, but there should be time to watch your training after that." Karl agreed.


    The Acolyte tilted their chin toward a corner of the room where a bunch of Elders were gathered. "They''ve been gathering here all night from the other temples in the area. I think that they want to tell you something important."


    By Karl''s guess, it must be a very important topic, given that he could sense at least three Overlord Rank beasts, and two of them were dragons. Adding in Misty, who was sleeping in this morning, that made three powerful dragons in one spot, plus the other Elders who hade to visit.


    Unlike the Golden Dragon Nation, there was a lot of meat at breakfast, served with oatmeal and honey. The Elders were kind enough to let them finish eating before they came over to address their concerns. But they appeared much more concerned than Karl had expected after his previous days here.


    "Prince Karl, Commanders. Wee to Bruse Temple. If you would please apany us to a meeting room, we have much to discuss." The Elder announced. He appeared to be human, but his temperature was off, and he smelled like seawater, so Karl assumed that it was a transformation ability or a disguise spell.


    The other Elders fell in beside them as they made their way to the meeting room, along with Orthos and Misty, who was walking hand in hand with Lotus.


    The Moor Cat on guard at the door closed it behind them, and everyone took seats around a huge circr table. The unfamiliar Dragon, a Monarch Rank beast whose human form had void ck eyes, started the meeting.


    "Let us get right to business. It is no secret that the Golden Dragon Nation has opened a Commander Rank Dungeon with a stable entrance on their territory. With that, they will be able to awaken new System Users up to the Commander Rank.


    Even though they will t line there without further opportunities, the dungeon has be a source of great envy for the other nations, both human and demihuman. But more importantly, it has be a source of concern for the Monster Nations.


    The Giants and Newbon Empire in particr.


    Now, that is primarily a concern for your leaders, but it is also a concern for us and the Beastkin Nation, who is our ally but does not share our border.


    In this case, we find ourselves in a simr situation to the Golden Dragon Nation in that we are beset on all sides by enemies. The Giants won''t allow the Newbon Empire passage through their mountains, so they will have to move armies through thends of the beastkin.


    The humans to our north will have toe through our territory to get to yours.


    Until there is another stabilized Dungeon, the threat of invasion on the intelligent beasts'' territories will not abate." Karl listened intently. Their problem made sense, but he didn''t see what it was that he could do about it.


    Karl remained silent, but nodded along, so the dragon knew that he understood the issue.


    "What we would like for you to do is take an enchanted stone we have created, and deposit it in an unstable anomaly that will open soon in the Newbon Empire.


    The humans would rather attack the monsters using their naval fleets than cross the entirety of two nations or more on the ground to send an army. If there is a stable anomaly in the Newbon Empire, the Golden Dragon Nation will be a lower priority target for everyone but the Giants. Safer for you, safer for us. Mutual benefit." The dragon finished.


    "And why don''t you send one of your own teams? You''ve got plenty of powerful residents just in this room that could do the job." Tessa asked.


    The Red Dragon didn''t like trickery, except for ambushes, and the War Dragon certainly didn''t approve of sending soldiers on suicide missions.


    "For one, we cannot open a portal near the anomaly. But more importantly, weck the ability to be subtle. We have beasts with great stealth skills. But stealth won''t be possible on this mission, as many groups will be gathered for the mission. Intelligent beasts do not live in Newbon Empire.


    However, they do have some monster blooded demihumans, and small pockets of humans. There are more than a dozen human nations on this continent, and only one with Divine Beasts. If they suspect you, there is usible deniability. They cannot pin the me directly on the Golden Dragon Nation."


    Karl nodded. "So, we will have to walk in, through territory controlled by monsters, on the vague promise of potential safety for the Golden Dragon Nation, who is not currently at war with Newbon Empire?"


    The Dragon smiled. "And then walk back out again. I will give you a writ of protection, so if you make it to our border or the Beastkin Nation, they will escort you safely home, upholding our agreement with your Bureau people." n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om


    Karl''s unimpressed look made the dragon smirk, and a few of the Elders chuckle.


    However, Misty had the answer. "I have a mission order for the closest team to investigate the anomaly. You''re the closest by over two thousand kilometres, and it''s all signed by the Chief of Staff of the Military and the Archbishop himself."


    Karl turned on the Temporal Dragon, who was back in her fully human form. "And just how did you get that?" He asked.


    "Easy, I went there after it was done and requested it, then brought it back. The goddess said it would be fine." Dana and Ophelia stared, overwhelmed by the unfathomable level of cheating that her abilities represented, while Karl sighed and Tessa rubbed her temples.


    Lotus frowned. "So, you went and got an order for us to stabilize the dungeon, after we had done it, and then brought it back here so that you could send us to stabilize the dungeon?"


    Misty patted her head. "Of course not. You didn''t go the first time, now, did you? Because we weren''t here to warn you of the danger, and there was no motivation for you to travel that far on your own when there were Acolytes to train with right here."


    Lotus red at the dragon. "I am quite sure that has to be against a rule somewhere. You''re a Temporal Dragon. Don''t you safeguard time?"


    Misty shrugged. "Of course I do. But this timeline is stable as well. There is no harm in sending you down it."

 Chapter 466 But Not For Free

    Chapter 466 But Not For Free


    Orthos smiled at the Elites. "I can see that even with the order, you are still skeptical. You can check the order, and see that it is a valid magical contract, created by your Archbishop. But we are willing to pay for your assistance to the Divine Beasts."


    Karl smiled. Now they might be on to something. The beasts had many good things that would be impossible to get for themselves.


    "To show our sincerity, we prepared five tokens of our leader''s favour. The magic will fade with use, but you should keep them, as they are also used to secure safe passage through ournds."


    He opened a chest, and revealed five exquisitely carved ck dragon scales from an Overlord Rank dragon, the faithful of the god of death.


    [Oh, those are cool. They tilt the scales of life and death in your favour. Enemies take more damage, friends take less when the token is near.] Cara informed Karl in an excited voice.


    [How do you know that?] [I licked a ck dragon one time, and this magic feels the same. It''s the good stuff.]


    What sort of circumstance had led to her licking a dragon was unclear, but Karl didn''t doubt that she had done it. The Void Badger had no fear of anything in this world or the next. Karl looked to his team for confirmation. Safe passage through the Divine Beast Nation was valuable, and as Misty had said, they did have the agreement of the Archbishop that this was the best course of action, even if he had given it after the fact, and possibly under duress when the other nations invaded to get to the Dungeon.


    There were no objections, so he passed out the tokens, and let everyone put them in their storage bags.


    "So, do you all have an active inventory? Or just a storage bag bonded?" Orthos asked.


    Lotus was practically bursting to answer, but held herself back until Karl spoke first. "I have an active inventory, but we all started out with storage bags from an instance reward." He exined.


    That way, if the others wanted, they could keep their power level a secret, and he wasn''t giving them anything that the nosy Temporal Dragon didn''t already know. What Misty knew, she would certainly tell the others if there was a need for them to know.


    "How do I know if I have an active inventory?" Lotus asked.


    "Just think the word status with the intention of bringing up system information." Orthos exined.


    The way Lotus'' eyes lit up made it clear that she had found something unexpected. The Nature Cleric would never be a good poker yer, but that was enough of an answer for the beasts.


    Dana nodded. "I have inventory as well. And the storage bag is in one of the spaces."


    "Can you see titles?" Orthos asked.


    Everyone looked confused for a second, then Ophelia did a double take. "Over your head in white, your name is Orthos. Why is it white, when Karl is Red and Dana is blue?"


    Orthos gestured over her head. "You are a very dark red, for Berserker. Karl is a blood-red for Beast Master, White is Cleric, light blue is Mage. When you see warriors with a fully active system, they are brown, Shamans are dark blue, warlocks are purple, and so on." "That is brilliant. To think that we were supposed to know all that about other people." Ophelia replied with an enthusiastic smile on her face.


    "Focus on me, and you can see more details when you have the Status view open. It will block much of your vision, so don''t try it inbat. But you should be able to see a few things." Orthos added.


    "Orthos, Bronze Dragon, Grand Priest of the Bronze Dragon God, Overlord Rank, Abbott of the Bruse Temple." She read.


    Orthos was obviously making a mental note of how much she could see, as Karl recalled that he used to have a Darklight Host Guild tag, which he didn''t see anymore. When the full function of the System had faded, the Guild must have disbanded, or there was something that he needed to do to bring his position back.


    Of course, it could be that he just chose to only show certain roles, but Karl didn''t know how to do that, or if it was even possible.


    Orthos took out one more item from his robes, a small bronze scroll case. "This is for Karl, a reward from the Gods for his previous assistance." Orthos exined.


    Karl ced a hand on the scroll tube, expecting Orthos to hand it over, but the Dragon kept a hold of it, and information began to sh in Karl''s vision.


    [Random ss Skill Acquired]


    [Core Skill Tree Selected]


    [Tier 3 Taming Ability: Skill Merger] The Beast Master Has a chance to create new skills bybining Shared Skills.


    "You look like you got something good." Orthosmented as he took the scroll case back and put it in his inventory.


    "Indeed. It upgraded one of my ss Skills. With some practice, I might be able to adapt some of the skills that I can already use, so they are more effective." Karl exined. n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om


    That was vague enough that it wouldn''t sidetrack the conversation, but it was also true, so they couldn''t use him of insulting the gift that the Beast Gods gave him.


    He already had a few ideas on how skills might be used together to make something truly brutal. Bone Crusher, with its armour bypass, and Chain Lightning, with its stun and spreading damage, would be great together. But if he could learn to use Cara''s Disintegration andbine it with Bone Crusher, the result would be nearly unstoppable.


    Caraughed in Karl''s mind as she thought about the potential of a [Disintegrate] attack that simply ignored armour and barriers. That would be the greatest skill ever. She would call it [p] and she would use it on every enemy she met.


    [Blend Eternal Lightning and Circle of Protection. That would be way better.] Thor suggested.


    [Circle of Protection] wasn''t a shared skill, but Thor thought that there should be a way around that. Maybe Karl just needed to upgrade his new Skill Merger ability.


    [We need to teach you to use new skills. If you could blend Bodyguards with Ghost Beast, we could just go straight after the good food and shiny stuff.] Remi suggested.


    [Or Golems with Bone Crusher.] Rae suggested. [Alright, I get the point, you all want me to learn new skills so that I can make overpoweredbinations. I will work on it. Maybe now that Skill Master upgraded, I will have an easier time learning more of your skills.] Karl agreed.


    Hawk nodded in agreement. [If you couldbine the extra beasts with all the attack skills, they could be real team members. We could teach Remi''s bodyguards to use proper magic, like fireballs.]


    Hawk was getting better at putting [ming Body] on other people, but he had a point. If the summoned Naga Warriors could hurl fireballs, or create extra totems, they would be even better.


    This gift was going to be a lot of work.

 Chapter 467 Sparring

    Chapter 467 Sparring


    Orthos cleared his throat to get Karl''s attention. "We will send you as close as possible to the destination tomorrow morning. There is still time before the anomaly opens, and you won''t want to be standing around waiting for it. Is there anything that you need to make your preparations for the trip?"


    Karl still had far too much prepared from thest time he had help preparing for a trip, and most of his inventory was filled with stuff he had gotten from the Elves. He had supplies for every conceivable situation already, so Karl shook his head.


    The others did as well, as they had been prepared at home for an extended mission, in case they were stuck along the border for weeks trying to make a deal.


    "Alright, then you have the day to yourselves. Do as you wish, just try not to cause trouble for others, they do have duties to attend to."


    Orthos clearly considered the conversation to be finished, but some of the other Elders were intrigued by Karl''s training skills, and eager to see what he was going to do next.


    "Why don''t we all go help the older students today? I worked with the young children yesterday, but there is still a group about to take up official duties that could use some practice with their skills."


    And, of course, Karl was hoping that he might pick up one or two of them if he tried hard enough.


    That wasn''t a possibility with the youngest ones, they barely understood the skills themselves. But the older ones were close to fully grown beasts, so they should have a good understanding of their skills, and they would be trying to advance it to speed their progress through the ranks.


    Like Thor and Rae, most Divine Beasts finished growing in body long before they stopped growing in power. The Dragons were an exception, as they never stopped growing, and some weaker species reached peak power before adulthood, but those were mostly considered wild beasts or monsters, not Divine Beasts with intelligence.


    The older trainees were mostly in beast form today when Karl reached the training field, though there were a few half-breeds whose natural form was demihuman. Transformation was a skill that he would love to teach the team, but he could feel that it was Holy Magic from their Beast God clerical symbols.


    Other than Remi, it was unlikely that any of the others would be able to use that right now, if ever, as they weren''t exactly devout followers, much less ordained clerics. But there was zero chance that Karl would be able to steal the skill and teach it to them.


    The bias between beasts and beastkin was eminently clear at this stage. The beastkin had mostly fallen behind in advancement and were relegated to the role of assistants, while the beasts were pushing to improve their power.


    A winged wolf turned to nod at Karl as he approached, then smirk at Lotus with his tongue out.


    "I thought that we would help you all with your skills today. You have gotten skilled at fighting each other, as you live and train together every day. So, today you can train with me and one of my teammates. We will give you pointers on improving your skills, as well any mistakes that you might be making in strategy." Karl exined, then turned to the team.


    "Who wants to volunteer to help?"


    Dana smiled and nodded. "I will. I have barriers, so I shouldn''t be injured too badly."


    Karl smiled and patted her on the shoulder, then took off the damage reduction bracelet he had gotten from the bandit leader. "Here, wear this. It will make training much safer." He whispered.


    All of the beasts here were in thete Awakened and early Ascended Ranks, so they shouldn''t ovee the base damage reduction of the amulet without going way overboard on their sparring. But learning to fight against a humanoid mage would be a change from a bunch of beast clerics fighting each other.


    Fighting Karl was more simr to sparring each other, but he could use skills to cheat and keep things interesting.


    There was a constant buzzing in his mind as Karl prepared to go to the sparring ring to find his first target, and he realized that Remi was meditating and chanting. She was trying to teach him how to use [Bodyguards]. When she said that she wanted to see what they could do with some enhancement, she wasn''t joking.


    Karl focused Skill Master between them, and he could actually feel the knowledge of how to call bodyguards flowing into his mind. It was a racial ability of the Naga Queen, and one of the easiest to learn to share. At least for Remi.


    Dana picked her opponent first, a Moor Cat whose shoulders were the same height as her own.


    For Moor Cats, it was still half grown. But it would be a good matchup, as they were both fast-movingbatants. The Cleric in charge put a golden barrier over them both, both for defence and to indicate who was the winner. The first barrier to break lost.


    Karl focused on learning [Bodyguards] as the fight began, and Dana flipped through the air to avoid a leap by the Moor Cat. Her de shed down, and the beast twisted to avoid having its back shed open, then leaped straight sideways to avoid a barrage of magic missiles. Dana was holding back on the power, to the same low Awakened standard that everyone was using, but if the cat didn''t figure something out quickly, it would be in trouble. N?v(el)B\\jnn


    It didn''t take long to realize that keeping a mage at a distance was a bad idea, and the Moor Cat used its Species Skill of [Silent Predator] to vanish from sight and silence its steps.


    Dana only had a limited amount of detection ability, but she knew how to deal with invisible attackers.


    She created a field of fog, which would let her see the disturbance as the Moor Cat moved, even if she couldn''t clearly see the beast.


    ws raked her [Nullification Barrier] as she moved toote, but her de caused a golden sh as she struck true before the Moor Cat could relocate.


    The Winged Wolf transformed into a young man nearly Karl''s age, wearing the in grey robes of the beast clerics. "Fighting mages is tricky. Even invisible, they can still find you. Plus, she can fly. I can see that she''s not using it as much to make the fight more fair, but she could be holding this entire fight from above and making N jump at her."


    Karl nodded. "We''re not here to discourage anyone, and flying targets are hard for anyone to deal with. Especially a Moor Cat cleric who doesn''t have ranged attacks."


    The wolf chuckled. "If I had ranged attacks, I would totally abuse them. But the flying species with ranged abilities train separately, and there is a whole ss on how to deal with that."


    "If you would like, I can convince Cara the Winged Void Badger to spar with you. If she doesn''t use her ranged attacks, it should be a good learning chance." The wolf barked augh and shook his head. "Thanks, but I don''t feel like getting beat up today. I can''t fly without magic, and a Void Badger can nullify that and send me crashing to the ground."

 Chapter 468 Bodyguards

    Chapter 468 Bodyguards


    The oue of the first match was set from the start. After only a few minutes of fighting in the fog, Dana managed to hit the Moor Cat with a barrage of magic missiles, breaking its barrier and ending the match.


    Dana ended her spells, and the cat transformed back to human form to pout.


    "Mages are too dangerous in a fair fight." Sheined.


    Another beast, some sort of chimera with a mostly feline body, but tentacles on the sides and six legs, stepped up to challenge Dana.


    They started off easy enough, with probing attacks. Then the beast seemed to split into three, and a surge of understanding flowed through Karl''s mind. That skill was a solid illusion, but it was the same as the essence of the Bodyguards. Now he understood how they were supposed to be formed. But on the battlefield, Dana was having trouble. The clones seemed to shimmer in and out of existence, vanishing only to reappear, and under the effects of the skill, she couldn''t tell which was the real one.


    Even using wide area de attacks wasn''t having luck, and the beast hadnded multiple hits on her shield already.


    But Dana wasn''t always missing. It only looked like it to her, thanks to the beast''s illusion. So when Dana sent a flurry of attacks out at where she predicted the beast to be, then jumped to avoid its retribution, she was as surprised as everyone else when the match was called.


    The illusions vanished, and the cat was revealed in a different spot than anyone had been seeing it, other than Karl, who could still see it with thermal imaging. Though, that might not be right. A few of the other beasts were looking smug, including one young dragon. Not many beasts saw heat, but those who did were much harder to fool with illusions.


    If the cat was at Karl''s level, it might have known how to hide fully, but this one was still young and mastering its skills.


    "Monster Man, how would you deal with that?" The Wolf asked.


    Karl smiled. "I can see her through the illusion."


    The cat motioned for Karl toe prove it. She wasn''t ready to ept that he could evade her skill.


    Dana left the sparring ring, and Karl stepped in to take her ce. He didn''t take out a weapon, only nodded at his opponent. There was a split second ofg in her short range teleport when she attacked, and it telegraphed her movements perfectly.


    The cat activated the illusion again without waiting for the clerics to bring up the barriers, and Karl smiled as it crept along the ground, looking to ambush him from the side as the three illusionary images approached and Karl remained perfectly still, as the cat hadn''t moved out of his peripheral vision. N?v(el)B\\jnn


    The illusions prepared to attack as the cat pounced, and Karl lifted a leg to spin himself horizontally to the ground, over the line of the strike. He caught the cat on the way by, then wrapped her back legs with his own and put an arm around her neck and forelegs to pet her head while she couldn''t escape.


    It took a second for her to release the illusion, she was so shocked at the turn of events.


    The problem was that if she transformed to find out how he did it, he would still have her, and that would be even more embarrassing. Karl let her up after a second, and she shook the dust out of her fur before transforming to shout at him.


    "How did you do that? It shouldn''t be possible. You can''t see a discer beast through her illusion." She demanded.


    "When you teleport, your butt wiggles, and it gives away both your timing and your target. That''s how I knew to move. Also, for some of us with enhanced vision, we can still see you. Your illusion doesn''t hide your heat signature."


    One of the other beasts transformed into a human girl with long fox ears. "She still wiggles her butt when she attacks? She totally did that as a kid. Like a blink cat preparing to attack. It was adorable." She giggled.


    "Shut up, I do not wiggle my butt. The Monster Man is messing with me." The discer beastined.


    "If we can''t beat him with illusions, maybe we can beat him with speed?" One of the others suggested.


    "Or strength. He is higher rank, but he''s still human." Another suggested.


    Karl motioned them forward. "Why don''t we test both theories? I should be able to keep track of two targets at once.


    Actually, I have a better idea, you can test against my summons. That way I can give pointers."


    The two beasts transformed. One into an Owlbear, and one into a massive scorpion nearly the size of Rae.


    Karl focused on the [Bodyguard] skill and called forth the summons.


    They weren''t quite what he expected. Remi got blue Naga Warriors with ck patterns simr to her own. Karl got a pair of Lamias with white scales, vibrant red hair and leather armour. They also only had two arms, not four as the Naga Warriors did. They were also smaller, not muscr warriors with thick chests, but slender females with an assassin''s grace.


    Of course, there was no such thing as a male Lamia, but some of them wererge and muscr.


    They were Commanders, which was startling to Karl. Remi''s was Royal Rank, but for some reason his was a Rank weaker. He was sure he did the skill correctly, but the bodyguards weren''t at the same standard.


    But when the match started, Karl realized that they were an entirely different beast than the warriors. On their own, they activated a Royal Rank [ming Body] and attacked with [Rend], though they did cut the power of the attack.


    [You screwed it up.] Remiined.


    [I have no idea how. I was certain that it was right, but it summoned Lamia instead of Naga.] Karl replied as he watched them fight the students.


    [Maybe because he''s human and it''s a Naga skill? He got halfway in between.] Hawk suggested.


    [You''re just smug because they can use fire.] Remi informed him.


    [Very much so, yes.]


    The Lamia swayed on their lower body, enabling them to attack from rapidly changing angles. That mobility was offsetting both the damage of the stronger opponent and the faster one.


    "Get closer. You''re giving them too much room to evade. If you''re nearly chest to chest, they can''t sway far enough before your strikesnd." Karl offered.


    He could sense them rolling their eyes at him. If it were that easy, they would have already done it. The Lamia had swords covered in fire, and almost all beasts were instinctively afraid of fire. It made them want to shy away, not get closer.


    But after some consideration, the trainees both came to the same conclusion. The body of a Lamia was more vulnerable than the chest. That was how theynded their first strikes. Just behind the ground contact point, where most of the bodyguard''s weight was bnced.


    Of course, they didn''t make it out unscathed. But they did manage tond a strike, which was better than anyone before them.


    The teacher stepped into the ring as they were about to retreat. "Try again. You''ve almost understood the concept."

 Chapter 469 Comparisons

    Chapter 469 Comparisons


    Karl watched the beasts fight with the two Lamia bodyguards, while Rae and Remipared them to the bodyguards and Golems that they had.


    It was hard to tell whose were the most deadly between Karl and Rae, as they both had [Offensive Optimization] avable, and the Lamia had to hold back against the student beast.


    But there was some argument over whether four arms with swords was better than eight legs, when only the front two were normally used to attack.


    They wanted to test the theory, but they didn''t want to give away their actual power level while they were still being observed by others. The beast clerics weren''t bad sorts, at least not in the mind of the beasts, but they weren''t part of the team.


    [They told us the first day that you should always have a secret reserve of power that nobody else knows about.] Hawk reminded them.


    Not So Evil Lady had said it very clearly.


    The students training against the Bodyguards changed, and the pair of white Lamia tested them to their limits, making them improve their strategies in ways that the clerics hadn''t thought of before, and use their skills and bodies in the most effective manners.


    The teacher was impressed that the training could go so smoothly, and with Karl using Skill Master on both the students and his own beasts, everyone was making progress.


    Most of the team couldn''t use the skills that they were seeing, but there was hope that it would give them inspiration to more easily learn other skills that they werepatible with.


    It was also valuable training for the team, as they had been fighting Giants for a while, and now they had the chance to watch battles with multiple body styles.


    The Bodyguards had somebat skills, but at first, theyckedbat instincts. Even after practice, they were stillckingpared to a trained Elite, but the same was true of Golems, so Karl put the spell on the same general level.


    Karl let them practice until lunch, when the older students went to their indoor training, which was more private, as it was church doctrine, and the humans weren''t followers of the beast gods.


    The cafeteria was busy at lunch, but Dana had many questions for Karl.


    "When did you learn to use Bodyguards? Or are those Remi''s? Plus, why can they use your skills?"


    "I honestly have no idea. Remi has never sent hers intobat yet, so I don''t know if they can also use some of her skills. If they can use even one or two of her skills, they will be very dangerous. But mine came out as Lamia, and hers are Naga Warriors. It might be the form that determined the abilities.


    But for the Lamia, their outfit looks more decorative, while for the Naga bodyguards, Bestial Raiment looks like it''s actually making Epic Grade armour on them."


    In his mind, Remi was trying not tough, which was making Hawk increasingly suspicious. [They can use Bestial Raiment and Tsunami.] Sheughed.


    Naga were a water element monster by nature, so it made sense that the warriors would be able to use one of her water type skills. Hawk sighed in resignation. He knew that wasing, and he was beginning to ept that his little sister didn''t fully appreciate the wonder that was fire magic.


    "So, now between you, you can have six summoned constructs? That''s a bit unfair." Dana sighed as she did the mental math of hisbat power.


    Karl shrugged. "Many things with the Elites are simply unfair. Even Morgana, who is incredibly capable now, had to extensively tattoo her own body to get to a point where she felt safe inbat. Speaking of which, I should see if she can help me out with some of those the next time we meet. But I learned something while I was back in time. The ss that you start with wasn''t always the one you had to stay with. When you gained enough power, you could try to modify your ss through advancement. We all went through the First Advancement Trail, but I don''t know if any of us managed to upgrade. We all got some good rewards, but as for actually upgrading our sses, I don''t think we can know if it happened until the System is active enough to give you your Skill Tree or a full Status report."


    The others nodded, and Karl saw them silently trying to bring up both, just to see what they found. They didn''t manage to pull up a skill list, but they all had a detailed status that described their abilities.


    Orthos sent a cleric to join them as they were finishing their meals. "I have a map for you and details of the mission.


    The anomaly will appear forty kilometres straight north of the town of Halsearing. Unfortunately, the monsters monitor for portal openings, in case of invasion. So, we will bring you to the human controlled port at Lutonade. I suggested Penbeck, which is held by tribal trolls, but it would add hundreds of kilometres to your journey. N?v(el)B\\jnn


    The issue is that Lutonade is a pirate port, known as a stopover for ve ships headed overseas. It is not a friendly ce, and travelling with any females, much less with so many young and healthy ones, makes you a target.


    The third safe option is to bring you to the wilderness at the Charham River Delta. It''s a safe spot for Portals, but it''s a swamp, and you would have to travel three hundred kilometres through the wilderness, or eighty kilometres north to get to the nearest vige outside the swamp where you could get on a road." He exined.


    He motioned to all the spots on the map, and other than the pirate and ver issue, Lutonade seemed like the best option.


    But tempting vers when they had a mission toplete didn''t seem like a great idea.


    The road from Penbeck was arge loop, skirting the swamp, and would be over seven hundred kilometres of travel to make the three hundred kilometres of direct travel.


    "Would vers actually attack Dragon Clerics?" Lotus asked.


    That was generally considered taboo among all the human nations on the continent. Kidnapping a dragon cleric brought nothing but bad luck.


    "The other continents don''t hold to that standard, so the vers from Newbon don''t care who they grab. They''ll just im that they''re randommoners when they auction them. We''ve even had them try to auction transformed beasts who were drugged so they couldn''t shift back."


    Karl could only imagine how much of a mess that would have been when the drugs wore off and the beast shifted back. Buying a docile human or beastkin ve was a very different level of risk than a pissed off dire bear in the living room.


    Dana pointed further up the road. "It says that there are docks at Hatbury. It''s also a bit further and the road runs past Lutonade, but that should be better than showing up in the city."


    The cleric looked at the reports. "Yes. That should be possible. That town is about half human, a trading camp between human fishermen and the Orc and Demon Tribes that live ind."

 Chapter 470 Maps and Geography

    Chapter 470 Maps and Geography


    Their n looked like it should be viable if they appeared at Hatbury, and the cleric was sure they could safely appear there. The only concern was that they would still have to cover over four hundred kilometres in three days with the added distance to Hatbury.


    Or, they could make it slightly shorter than the road route from Lutonade and go east through the wilderness. That was mostly Orc territory, with some nomadic demon tribes in the region. Both could be quite troublesome, but they didn''t usuallye near Halsearing, the closest town to the anomaly, as it wasrgely popted by Minotaurs, who were highly territorial.


    "I think that we might be best going down the road. At least we know that it is regrly travelled. We can bring out Thor and the Golems, and travel like a caravan. With the beasts, I don''t think that we will be anyone''s top targets to attack. N?v(el)B\\jnn


    The outfit that Rae made me also looks much like one for a Rogue or assassin, which blends with the magical fighters of the other human nations." Dana suggested.


    "Alright, so a rogue, a warrior, two clerics and myself with Thor and the Golems? That sounds like a reasonable group." Karl agreed.


    "Bring out the Bodyguards from Remi as well. They should be able to keep up with Thor at a jog, and Naga actually belongs here. Maybe not in that region, unless it''s swampy, but we can say that we came from the swamps or are going to them." Tessa suggested.


    The beast god cleric looked intrigued. "That could work. The swamp starts not far from the road, and runs from this river here to the Charham River. Most of your journey will be next to the swamp, so it wouldn''t be out of character for Naga Warriors to ept a guard contract.


    It''s a shame that you''re only bringing two of them, but your group has other guards. Most would think that you were escorting the clerics."


    "I don''t suppose that you have a wagon that we could purchase for the trip? Thor likes to pull wagons, and we could put thedies all inside, so it would be me plus monsters and golems visible." Karl suggested.


    "We can get one. There is a portal nearby, and they can bring one from the cities. It won''t be cheap, though."


    Karl took out ten Gold coins from his inventory.


    "Will this cover it?"


    The cleric pushed half of the money back. "Not that expensive."


    "Thank you for taking care of that for us. It will save us a lot of trouble to look more like average travellers. Well, as average as we can with Thor pulling the wagon."


    "I can arrange for some horses, if you would like." The beast god clerics offered.


    "No, the part about having Thor pull it is not negotiable. He would be too disappointed if we brought in new beasts just to prevent him from pulling the wagon."


    The transformed beast chuckled. Thor did seem like the sort that would enjoy pulling a cart all day.


    For a few minutes, everyone examined the map, trying to guess as much as they could about the route, and any detours that they might have to take in order to get to the anomaly on time.


    Karl gestured at the direct route across the rural areas. "From what it looks like, even if we have the open wilderness, we should be alright. None of this is mountainous or forest, at least not on the north side of the road, where we will be looking for the anomaly.


    We''ve got the coordinates, but once we get close, it will just be a guessing game until we actually see and activate the device to keep the anomaly stable.


    The only issue is that we have no idea what is actually there for the inhabitants. With nomadic tribes making up most of the monsters, I guess it makes sense that you can''t pin them down on a map." The cleric smiled at Karl''s frustration. "Well, we have some intelligence on the numbers of the Orc ns, but they have hundreds of camps over the thousand kilometres east of the coast, all the way north to our borders."


    "There are that many Orcs? Then why don''t they call it an Orcish Empire?" Dana asked.


    "Because the Orcs aren''t interested in being responsible for anything, or eliminating the other monster species. If they did that, they wouldn''t have anyone left to fight with. That would be a disaster for them.


    So, they''re happy to let the cities and even the viges full of other species live, while they nt random fields on their migration routes so that there is food everywhere that they go.


    They don''t even eliminate the Goblin tribes, and everyone finds the Goblins annoying, filthy scavengers. The Orcs get along well enough with the demons, since the species both love to fight and have a sense of honour. How much do you know about Orcish battle customs?" The cleric asked.


    "Enough to know that they like to assign someone to count kills so that nobody makes up fake kill counts to brag." Karl shrugged.


    The others turned to stare at him.


    "What? I met with some while I was out. They''re quite interesting. Or, they were ten thousand years ago."


    Bishop Misty came to join them at the table. "Things have changed for the Orcs since then. When the system copsed, so didrge parts of their culture that were based on it. They''re much less civilized now, but the basics are still intact.


    They love to fight for the smallest reasons, but they still have the same code, and they don''t attack children or nobatants."


    "Nobatants?" Lotus asked.


    "If you stand back of the fight and wait to heal your side after the fight finishes, they won''t attack you. The War Clerics wouldn''t get away with it, but Nature Clerics are notoriously ky."


    Lotus sighed. "How did we get such a horrible reputation even here? You follow the beast gods, the fans of all things feral."


    "You cuddled an immortal Temporal Dragon this morning instead of going to breakfast.


    Then, you had to snack during morning training because you were dizzy from hunger."


    The others nodded and Lotus shrugged. "That''s not ky, that''s just priorities. Time schedules are not part of nature. When you are safe, you should be able to sleep as much as you want and then eat, not rush off to training."


    While they were talking, the guards at the temple were already working to get the n in order to help them get to the anomaly. It was vital that it was stabilized, so they were doing their best to prepare whatever the team needed.


    That included some fake trade goods to load in the wagon because nobody travelled with an empty wagon, even if their primary goal was to move people.


    Orthos came in to meet with them when the wagon had arrived, and he was satisfied with it.


    The guards had loaded bolts of linen into the wagon, which were a trademark of one of the northern human nations, and only valuable within Newbon. Everywhere else, linen was among the cheapest options.


    The wagon was on the small side for a merchant wagon, but big enough to do the job, and there were side tforms for guards. They could put Golems or something on there, so that bandits knew the wagon was protected.

 Chapter 471 Travel Plans

    Chapter 471 Travel ns


    Karl looked over the wagon with satisfaction. "What is the n to get us there? Will you just open a portal at the edge of town? Or perhaps at the docks and pretend that we unloaded from one of the ships?" He asked.


    "We were going to deliver you just outside of town. You can act as if you came down through the beast nation, or used the trade port at Hitchbird and then had your crew deliver you to the beach. The docks at Hatbury are good for small fishing boats, but not for the sorts ofrge transport that could be moving a wagon. I would say that you could im to havee from ind then south from Picheap, but there is no road south of Picheap and both are fishing viges, so a cross-country trek to gather fish makes no sense. You would have taken the goods back ind.


    Picheap is a deepwater port, so you could have gotten the linen there, but the route still makes no sense, as Lutonade is right there." The Dragon exined.


    "So, we im to havee ashore on the beach for the safety of thedies, if we do have to answer questions, and then we get going?" Karl confirmed. n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om


    "Stop and grab dried fish in Hatbury. Having some of it visible at the top of your cargo will also make them less likely to attack as you pass Lutonade. They have plenty of fish of their own, even if the fish are cheaper in Hatbury.


    Bandits are resourceful, so don''t try too hard to hide your team members. They will think that you have something valuable tucked away. I would have thedies switch to their most tattered robes and get them dirty before leaving. Nobody washes clothes during a journey, the dirt helps inste against the cold night air." The guard who brought the wagon insisted.


    "That makes a lot of sense. We don''t want them to realize that it''s a pair of high priestesses. Two junior Priestesses with their guards, plus the wagon driver and the security Naga should be good enough."


    The guard nodded. "If you have more golems, have them run behind the wagon, to guard from the back. It''s standard practice.


    Plus your curly one will likely be mistaken for a Spellsword anyhow. They dress like rogues, but they''re much more dangerous. It''s safer for bandits to assume that the rogues might be using magic."


    Karl smiled as he realized that it wasn''t just his team that had problems with themon tongue when it came to people as individuals.


    "They wouldn''t be far from right. Dana did train with the Magic Knights so that she would have better closebat skills than the average mage."


    Of course, she also had received powerful de skills as well. But the beasts had already seen a bit of that during training and there was no reason to tell them that it was a System gifted set of bonuses.


    Orthos nodded in satisfaction. "That teamposition works out perfectly. Two clerics, two pretend bodyguards, and the wagon team. That makes it much more believable than one cleric with an overpowered bodyguard team.


    The church wouldn''t shell out the money to get a team that powerful, and they wouldn''t rely on a local trade wagon to be the guards for a travelling high cleric. More likely, they would open a portal close to the target and then deal with the response directly.


    We''re trying to avoid that this time, so neither of our nations is linked to the Anomaly bing stable."


    "Alright, then we have our n and cover story. Two Dragon Clerics with a merchant team. That should be enough to not start any strange rumours. The massive Cerro pulling the wagon will draw some attention, but they do have Cerro herds in the region, so it''s notpletely oundish, other than the fact that you tamed one." Orthos chuckled.


    "Should we head out early for the extra distance. Or is it better to go there just after dawn and push through the day to get as far as possible?" Karl asked.


    "I would go in the morning so that they don''t have time to send a runner to warn bandits and vers that you''reing. They might have magicalmunications, but you can''t prevent that. Staying overnight in hostile viges is dangerous."


    Staying in the wilderness was dangerous as well. But at least they had a chance that outsiders wouldn''t find their camp, and now they had multiple guards who could be up all night.


    With the Golems and the Naga in ce, the wagon should be safe enough for the evening, and Karl would have Rae remake the tarp cover for it so that they would have the luxury of arrow - resistant Royal Rank silk.


    It might not make a fully armoured wagon, but it would make ambushes less deadly, which would give the team members inside more time to react.


    There was one skill that Karl wished he had, and that was the ability to hide his active barriers.


    He wasn''t certain that was possible, but if he could make it look like they had no active skills, they would be harder to detect from a distance. He wouldn''t risk a team member for a bit of extra stealth, though. If they couldn''t hide, it was better to seem like a target that shouldn''t be attacked.


    From what he had managed to learn so far, the danger level here should be lower than it was during his trip to the past. If they had that many Monarch Rank monsters and that much territory, they could have taken over the continent.


    So, it was more likely that they woulde across Ascended and Commander Rank monsters in groups.


    That should be something that they could handle. Most monsters had limited magic, so there was little chance of them being ambushed with an area attack. But pure numbers could bring down even the mightiest.


    "Bishop Misty, what are the chances that other groups will be sending teams toward the Anomaly based on visions from their Oracles?" Karl asked.


    "Not until after it opens. That is why you must get there at just the right time. Anomalies are strange things, you can''t see them with predictive magic until they have already happened. So, as long as you arrive before anyone else discovers the exact location, or within the first few hours, you should be able to stabilize the anomaly without anyone seeing you do it.


    If that fails, I suggest that you go in and stabilize it from the other side. You will be separated from the others, and while it will be a fight to get in, once you do, there will be no way to prove that you were responsible, even if they do suspect that you had something to do with it.


    I suggest that you me the strongest magic user in the area. That is my favourite way of passing the me."


    The Temporal Dragon had a good point. Do what you could in secret, me someone else for the rest. Karl could do that. In fact, the more people who showed up near the same time that he did, the easier it would be to deflect the me when the Anomaly stabilized.


    It was just a shame that they would all be fighting to be the first to get inside. The restrictions on portals into foreign nations clearly went on vacation when it came to dungeon type anomalies.

 Chapter 472 Why That Order?

    Chapter 472 Why That Order?


    Karl finished writing out contingency ns, and making a duplicate of the map, along with some additional notes, in case they had issues along the way.


    Unfortunately, they didn''t have a topographical map of the area, which would make it easier to find their way byndmarks, but Bishop Misty had managed to describe the area where the Anomaly would appear with decent uracy, so Karl was reasonably certain he would recognize it even if they arrived early.


    "Alright, that should be everything that we need to be ready for the morning trip. What''s the time difference between here and there?" He asked.


    "About an hour. You have time for breakfast, and you''ll still arrive outside town as if you packed up camp at dawn."


    That was good enough. Now, they had a whole afternoon to kill, and all of the students were in proper sses.


    "Hey, why do you have them train in the morning and then do sses all afternoon? The Dragon Church does it the same way, but I never knew why." Lotus asked.


    "It''s because children are hyper, and you need to wear them out so they sit still for more than ten minutes at a time. Once they''ve finished training and all their muscles are sore, they''re happy to sit and listen to lectures before evening training after dinner." Orthos chuckled. n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om


    "Oh, that makes sense. Feed them, then make them sleepy." Lotus looked like she had just learned a truth of the universe, even if it were one that everyone else had figured out years earlier. Of course, she was so bad at keeping to a schedule that it might not have registered with her like it did for everyone else. One of the many side effects of being a nature cleric.


    So, after dinner, that was precisely what Karl and the others did. The evening training was shorter, more for physical fitness for the beasts than for training. It was great for burning energy, and turning the run into a game of tag and chase around the crude track through the area around the temple kept everyone running and not cking off.


    Keeping up with the beasts was impossible for most of Karl''s team. But in Dire Bear form, Ophelia could do it, and Dana had movement skills to make it a bit more even, while Karl relied on overwhelming strength to make up for theck of agility that the beasts had.


    "How is that fair? He can run through the trees just because his legs are too strong." One of the Fox type beastsined.


    They were still faster than Karl, but he was nearly impossible to catch because he would use trees as aunch pad and not hit the ground for dozens of metres at a time.


    Compared to that, Ophelia was much easier to catch, and she wasn''t as fast. But if she caught you, she was impossible to dodge. It was like someone threw a house at you, she was just toorge to avoid.


    The kids were quickly exhausted from the evening practice and off to the showers before bed, just as nned.


    The same was true of Karl and his group. They were ready to shower and sleep as soon as they were back in, despite the fact that it was only just getting dark.


    The natural cycle of the beasts was that of the sun and moon, so when it got dark, they slept, unless that was their time to hunt.


    Karl came out of the shower into his room and found Bishop Misty in the room again with a mischievous smile on her face.


    "I take it you liked the warmth?" Karl joked.


    "It''s not bad. I even got to sleep in with a small clericst time. But technically, I am your security guard. If it wasn''t me, it would be one of the other High Priests. The humans aren''t a real threat, but you could be." She replied with a shrug.


    "Ah, so instead of posting a guard outside the room, they just assigned one to share the dorm, in case I got ideas about doing something crazy like letting Remi run around with a toddler in her arms again."


    That made the Dragonugh. "I think the protocol is for situations more dangerous than an excited Naga Queen. Your ss makes you a lot more rxed around us than any other human I''ve met. Even your teammates are constantly on edge, and one of them is practically a beast herself. Being around this many predators should cause an instinctive defensive reaction, but you''re missing that. It is fascinating. Other than you and the suicidal insane sorts, only apex predators such as the Dragons and Gryphons are usually missing it."


    As she talked, her form shrunk from close to Karl''s height, to less than one hundred fifty centimetres. She was wearing robes the same colour as her white scales, and she climbed into her bed while staring at Karl.


    Karl smiled at the fascinated Bishop. "I wonder if it''s a side effect of having beast minds linked with mine? I have been informed a few times that I''m slowly bing more bestial. Considering the personalities of my team, and the way that I hear their voices, perhaps you could consider them a substitute for my conscience?" He suggested.


    "A Bloodbath Spider as the voice of reason in your mind? I can see how that would make you seem a bit less human."


    Raeughed. [If she thinks you''re bad now, just wait until Cara getsfortable.]


    The dragon smirked, and Karl gave her a suspicious look.


    "You can hear them, can''t you?" He asked.


    "Not exactly. I can''t hear them in their separate space, but I can hear your thoughts, which means that I hear when they talk to you."


    That made sense. Nobody else had been able to detect or interact with the separate spaces, and her powers were time-based, which shouldn''t be a hard counter to his system skills.


    "Alright. I will see you in the morning. But I do have one request, in case you''re too busy to tell you tomorrow. If you n to send me through time again, give me some warning, would you? That was supremely confusing."


    Mistyughed and gave him a thumbs up, before pretending to be asleep.


    Tomorrow was going to be a long day, so he should likely get as much sleep as he could.

 Chapter 473 Arriving in Hatbury

    Chapter 473 Arriving in Hatbury


    The next morning, Karl woke up much warmer than expected.


    Cara hade out to sleep in the open, draped across his chest, and Lotus was on Karl''s other side in the small single bed, doing her best to hug the Void Badger.


    The fact that she had not chosen the dragon was surprising, but perhaps new creatures won out over dragons in Lotus'' mind.


    It was a mystery how she had gotten in, as Tessa normally kept her from wandering, but at least she would be up on time today, and she wouldn''t try to keep sleeping if Karl moved Cara back into her space for breakfast.


    The sun was justing up, so it was almost time to start getting ready. Karl shifted so that Lotus was holding Cara, who sniffed delicately then opened one eye to see where Karl was going. He was the one with the food, he wasn''t allowed to escape while she was sleeping.


    She knew that she could just return to her space for food, but it was ingrained in her instincts not to let him get out of her sight.


    The cleric made food, but she made Thor''s favourite vours, not Cara''s. Cara could eat almost anything, from vegetables to magical items, but roasted meat tasted the best. n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om


    Once Karl was showered, Cara dragged Lotus out of bed, pulling the drowsy cleric into the shower before turning the water on.


    It was a warm tiny waterfall, and Cara greatly enjoyed the water, so she was startled when Lotus began to splutter and curse as she was soaked.


    [If she just took her clothes off, she would be fine.] Cara grumbled as she jumped and pped around the cramped confines of the shower stall.


    "What are you doing, crazy woman? I was sleeping." Lotusined.


    "Cara says it''s time to get up. Also, to take off your clothes while you are in the water." Karl informed them from the bedroom.


    From her bed, Mistyughed. "I see that you''ve found an assistant to get your most reluctant team member moving in the morning."


    Karl chuckled. "She''s not the most reluctant, it''s just that Ophelia understands that coffee will make everything better, so she powers through."


    Lotus and Cara came out a few minutester, both freshly towel dried and smelling like some sort of minty shampoo.


    Cara was very pleased with herself. Having someone to shampoo your fur was pure luxury on a level that she had never experienced. Lotus could even get to the spots that Cara couldn''t reach by herself.


    She was going to have to make this a regr thing.


    Unlike Rae, she wasn''t big enough to run around with her personal human on her back. She still had some growing left, but she wouldn''t even get to the size of a wolf with short legs, there was no way that she could carry a human on her back unless she got muchrger.


    It did sound fun, though. If she was big like Thor, but with wings, she could fly intobat with Karl and they could dive bomb enemies.


    That seemed like a pretty good goal to Cara. Even Rae approved, as she was learning to enjoy droppingrge rocks on things from above.


    Breakfast was a quick meal, and then the guards at the portal location south of the Temple were ready to send the group on their merry way.


    The wagon that the clergy had obtained had long steps on the side, so Remi called her bodyguards onto them, while Thor waited for Karl and Rae to get him hooked up to the wagon. Dana''s Golems were summoned to jog along behind the wagon, and everyone else took their seats inside, while Rae created a secondary tarp of strong silk for protection.


    "Alright, that looks like we''ve got everything that we need to get started. Where will the portal bring us?" Karl asked as he took the driver''s seat.


    "It will deposit you at an empty pull off five kilometres north of town. We have had our members monitoring it, and it was clear all night. Good luck, I hope you get the anomaly stabilized without anyone having to take drastic actions." The gate guard informed them in a dry voice.


    Karl nodded and led the team through the prepared portal, then turned Thor south down the road beside the camp site.


    "Dana, have the golems stomp around the area to make it look like someone stayed herest night. Then we will head out."


    The Golems quickly worked their way around the area with the assistance of the Lamia Warriors. That should be enough to make it appear that they actually stayed the night if someone came along behind them.


    Chances are it would never matter, but it was better to cover all the bases.


    Then Karl remembered that he had missed one important item on his checklist. He had forgotten to fully activate everyone''s system, the way that the old items did for Orthos.


    First, he focused on Dana''s wrist, where the bracelet was dangling. If it was properly equipped and not just worn, it would have adapted to her wrist size. Fortunately, it only took a moment of focus to get it to equip on her, and then Karl moved on to the others.


    "Ophelia, trade me your Giant Strength Ring. I have another for you that might be better, but should also activate more of your System abilities." He exined.


    They made the trade out of Cara''s collection, and then Karl went hunting for clericpatible items as Ophelia equipped the ring.


    Thor had the answer. Gold chains that had been soaking in his pond. They weren''t originally useful magical items, just decorative items that had been taken from the bodies of Bandits and Giants. But a quick inspection said that they gave a small bonus to Holy Magic now, in addition to the bonuses they originally had, so they should be equippable.


    "Ladies, try these on. Courtesy of Thor."


    The two clerics put on the ne, then muttered the word "Status".


    "Yes, that worked perfectly. I have all sorts of information about myself now. There are still a few greyed out buttons, but almost everything works." Tessa exined.


    "Wonderful. Items that were brought back from the past still have a strong dose of the System''s power on them, and they can finish awakening the System of people now. Or at least, as much of the System as can be resurrected." Karl exined.


    "We will see if there are more useful bits avable to us now. Hopefully, we can do something with this new ability. That must be why everyone was so excited about a stable dungeon." Tessa replied.


    "Exactly. Elites who awaken in the Dungeon apparently have their power capped to the level of the dungeon, at least if they''re human, but that might not apply to monsters and beasts who grow in power naturally. For them, the System is just bonus powers, a pure cheat when they were already powerful."


    Thedies considered what Karl had said as they got on the road, keeping to a pace that was a jog for the Golems so that they could overtake Thor if they needed. The Naga Warriors kept a close eye on the fields around them as the wagon left the trees, but the area looked clear, and they could see the ocean in the distance, along with a small vige.


    Hatbury wasn''t as small as Karl had expected. It held about a thousand people, and was built between two small bays, so they had docks on both sides of town. It wasn''t an impressive ce, made with simple field stone buildings, but they should be sturdy, and wouldn''t rot in the humidity from the ocean.


    The vige wasn''t built at the end of thendmass, instead they had a number of fields between them and the ocean, as a defensive measure against invasion from the ind side.


    That told Karl a fair bit about the region, if the lessons that Sergeant Rita had made him memorize were right. He might have only taken a crash course on tactics, but knowing nothing about the conventions and customs of war was working out well for him, as his first instinct about threats was usually right.


    Hawk took off into the sky to scout for them, and immediately started sending back annoyed messages. [Are they joking here? The town can see them there in the open grass, and they''re still going to try to set up a checkpoint? Hobgoblins don''t even taste good. But when did they get smart enough to operate a checkpoint? Oh, there is a pair of Ogres overseeing them.] The angry bird ryed.


    "It looks like we''ve got some monsters setting a checkpoint ahead. There is no actual cover, so we''re going to do this the quick and dirty way." Karl exined to the rest of the team.


    "Can we just go around? It''s not like we actually need the dried fish from the vige." Dana suggested.


    "That is a good point. Hawk says the strongest of them is a Commander, though. They might not bother us if I don''t drive right through them. They are just on the road, I can go around and still get to the vige." Karl agreed.


    Tessaughed. "You think they''re not going to do anything if you just drive twenty metres away from them through the grass?"


    Karl shrugged. "They might, or they might not. That depends on how smart they are."


    Ophelia smirked at him. "This sounds like an excuse to kill Goblins and Ogres with a clean conscience."


    "Oh, I don''t need an excuse for that."

 Chapter 474 Clear the Checkpoint

    Chapter 474 Clear the Checkpoint


    Karl directed Thor to move off into the grass, away from the road where the monsters had set up rocks and a fallen tree to block the way.


    There were no ditches to the dirt road, and it was in open grasnd. There was nothing stopping them from going around, but it didn''t bode well for the monsters'' intelligence.


    Fortunately, or perhaps unfortunately for them, the hobgoblins and their Ogre overseers were not stupid enough to miss the fact that Karl was driving a wagon past them only a hundred metres away in an open field.


    Theycked any sort of organization as they charged across the field, shouting and waving their weapons.


    In the distance, Hawk noted that the guards from town came out when the monsters had started shouting, then went back in when they realized that the monsters were headed away from town.


    So, either they didn''t have the manpower to deal with a small group of bandits, or they simply didn''t care, and assumed that travellers would handle it.


    "Real meat!" The Ogre shouted, brandishing his crude stone de at Thor.


    The craftsmanship was childish at best, but the edge was jagged and looked sharp enough, while the stone gave off an aura of magic from its monstrous wielder.


    "Well, it looks like they''re not just toll collectors. I suppose that we should do something about them." Karl joked as he instructed Thor to stop the wagon.


    [I''ll send the bodyguards.] Remi agreed, as the two Naga Warriors headed forward to meet the iing attackers.


    [Didn''t you make three of them the first time?] Rae asked as she watched the warriors rapidly moving through the grass.


    [Thest one is mine. My bodyguard.] Remi pouted.


    Karl chuckled at her attitude. If she wanted to keep one in reserve so it was close to her, that was her call. Now that she wasn''t just a small snake, she would being out to fight when there was real danger.


    They hadn''t even sent Dana''s golems, which were guarding the wagon, much less Rae''s. So nobody was too worried about the situation or theck of one bodyguard.


    The Ogres were only Commanders, while Remi''s bodyguards were Royal Rank, and the Hobgoblins were just Awakened Rank monsters.


    They started the fight from ten metres away with a [Tsunami] attack, which created a wall of water that raced forward toward the attackers, and sent the Hobgoblins tumbling along the ground as their bones were crushed by the tumbling water.


    The Ogres fared a little better, by meeting the wall of water with a counterattack that negated most of the power. But they were still hopelessly outmatched, and immediately turned to run off into the wilderness.


    "Let them run, they''re not going to bother us anymore." Karl loudly announced, as if the Naga needed verbalmands.


    The guards at the town wall were watching and listening. Karl didn''t want toe across as a ruthless mercenary to them.


    [Hawk, once they''re out of sight of the town, kill them.]


    Thor turned back to the road, on the other side of the barricade, and began to happily trot towards the town''s fish market.


    At the gate to their rather pathetic attempt at a town wall, which didn''t even reach all the way across town, the guards stopped the wagon to do their checks.


    "What''s your business here?" The guard demanded, his scarred face twisted in what might have been disgust, or possibly just nerve damage.


    "We havee to buy some dried fish for a buyer in Halsearing." Karl replied in a bored tone.


    "Not a big wagon you''ve got, with those passengers." The guard replied.


    "Big enough. I only need a hundred kilos of dried fish."


    The guard nodded and waved them through while ring suspiciously at the Naga on the side running boards.


    It looked like the swamp monsters weren''t particrly wee, even when they were apanying humans into town, but nobody tried to stop them.


    Karl stopped the wagon and climbed down in front of a stall that had arge amount of dried fish hung up and bundled. There were others, but most of the shops sold fresh or frozen fish, not dried. Drying changed the vour, and it was better for long-distance travel than general consumption.


    "How much for a hundred kilos?" Karl asked, getting straight to the point.


    If it was close to buying bulk dried meat at home, converted to the worth of gold coins, it should be about three of the dungeon coins.


    "Who are you? You want bulk prices, you should have a referral." The merchant replied, not even looking over his shoulder. n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om


    Karl put two gold coins and five silver ones down on the counter with a solid thump of jangling metal.


    "I''m just a man with money. A hundred kilos of dried salmon worth." Karl replied, taking note of the predominant fish in the drying racks.


    The merchant turned around, looking ready to tell Karl off. Then he saw the armour, and the money on the counter.


    "Well now, if you knew the King, you could have just said so." The old man replied, looking at the money.


    "But you don''t know him well enough."


    Karl put down five more silver coins, and the old man smiled. "I do believe I have a bundle weighed already."


    The merchant was surprisingly strong for an aging human with no magical abilities. He managed to get the hundred kilo bundle up on the scale on the second try, and the gross weight came out perfect. That meant the actual fish weight was a bit low, and thest kilo or two was the canvas wrap and rope, but it was close enough for Karl.


    The old man untied the bundle and Karl sniffed to make sure there was nothing else bundled in the middle of the salmon, then nodded in satisfaction.


    "That will do just fine." He agreed, allowing the old man to tie the bundle back into a brick.


    "Let me go get some helpers." The old man grumbled.


    Karl shook his head and gestured for the old man to stay where he was.


    "I''ve got them."


    A gesture brought one of the Naga Warriors forward, and he easily hefted the bundle into the back of the wagon.


    There was plenty of room with only four people in the wagon, and few other trade goods. Well, almost trade goods. What the beast clerics had procured for them was two kegs of cheap rum that had failed quality control at a local brewery. They were still strong alcohol, but notgood alcohol.


    "Are you selling goods here?" The merchant asked, with a nod toward the wagon.


    He couldn''t see in, but it was normal to both buy and sell at every stop.


    "Nah, thest deal fell through, so all I have is two barrels of discount rum. Hardly fit for fishermen. They''ll sell ind, though." Karl shrugged.


    The old man chuckled. "Well, you''re not a stupid one, stranger. I''ll give you that. No sailor deserves cheap rum. But if you get some good stuff, stop in the next time you''re through. Lutonade takes up most of the shipments, and it''s bing a right pain to get more than a pony keg here at a time."

 Chapter 475 Overnight Stop

    Chapter 475 Overnight Stop


    With the goods loaded, Karl was ready to leave for their next destination, but it seemed too fast to be in and out of town. They should at least look around at a few other spots, and not just stop in at one merchant and bolt like they were running from something.


    So Karl didn''t turn Thor directly around, he made a small loop through the surrounding streets to go by a fish and chips vendor and grab a bite to eat. They weren''t hungry yet, but it would be the usual thing for a travelling merchant to do, even if they were in a hurry.


    The vendor was happy to make an early morning sale just as he was getting the fryers heated for the day, and Karl left with plenty of food for the day, wrapped in crudely made straw paper.


    It smelled delicious, and they had two healers with them, so once Karl had taste tested it for poison, everyone started a second breakfast.


    The guards didn''t even give them a second look as they headed south out of town and headed toward Lutonade. The road was little more than a well-worn wagon track, and didn''t show much sign of improvement in thest few decades. The road north of town was better, so it was possible that the travellers in this area often split up to take other routes and avoid bandits.


    That seemed like a good idea to Karl. If they went a bit ind of the current road, they would eventually meet up with the main road heading east. It was harder for bandits to guess how far you would be from the road, and if they had toe to you, the ambush was ruined. Karl''s team was on the strong side for this continent, and even on the other one, he would be able to hold his own with a group like this. At the very least, they weren''t a soft target or tempting to bandits who didn''t have a death wish.


    Karl led Thor off into the open grasnds, and kept him at a cautious trot, both for the sake of the passengers and the wagon itself. It was a good one, but it was still just a regr wooden wagon. If they abused it too hard, they did risk damaging it before they got where they were going.


    That would be a nightmare for them all, and they would have to walk the rest of the way unless Lotus'' magic could fix a wagon. It was good for growing and altering wooden things, so it was possible, but Karl didn''t want to risk having to find out in the middle of nowhere with a broken wagon.


    Fortunately, the ground was open grasnds, with only a few stands of trees, and they were able to make good time. Even at this pace, it would take almost all day to get past Lutonade, and they would still be ufortably close if they didn''t detour further east.


    So, any time that there was an obstacle, Karl led Thor to the east of it, getting further from the road which stayed close to the coast.


    Just after the sun passed its zenith, marking midday, they found a pounded path that went southeast. There were no markers for where the tribal and nomadic viges were, but this looked like an entire army had passed by multiple times.


    It hadn''t crossed their path earlier, so at some point it must have turned, but it was going in generally the correct direction to avoid the pirate port. The only problem was that it might lead to an army camp, or a ver vige that wasn''t marked on the map.


    "Are we really going to follow the path of an army?" Dana asked as she realized what Karl was doing.


    "It doesn''t look fresh. See how the weeds are regrown? The path was used multiple times, but not in thest month or so. At least not by a full army. It might have been the path to and then from an attack." Tessa noted.


    If that was the case, there was a fifty-fifty chance that they wouldn''te across anything because the target would have been destroyed or moved by now. The tribes in the area were all nomadic, they wouldn''t stay in one spot that long during the summer, when they were mostly stocking food for the winter.


    The pounded ground made it easier for Thor to drag the wagon along, and the ride became smoother for the passengers as the afternoon began to fade into evening. That was when they found the main road and turned east toward their destination.


    Thor would do well enough in the twilight, and then Karl would stop for the night. It would not only be too suspicious to be moving at night, but it would put them too far ahead of schedule.


    As it was, they were making better time than expected, so they didn''t need to hurry tomorrow.


    They were still in open grasnd, without a hill in sight, when the sun finally went under the horizon. n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om


    "We will park beside the road tonight. We can start a fire if you''d like, and sleep in the wagon with the Naga and Golems on guard, with Rae watching the area. Chances are nothing will sneak up on us during the night, Hawk doesn''t see anything close to us at all.


    But if it does, we''ve got early warning covered."


    The others just shrugged. They had confidence in Rae and her ability to find anything that might sneak up on them in the dark. She was the monster that every other monster was terrified of in the dark.


    Karl parked, and the clerics went to gather what wood they could from a nearby stand of trees. They didn''t need much, just a small fire to give them light while they ate. Everyone would be sleeping with barriers up and in their armour, so there wasn''t much evening prep to be done.


    Then they would the extra wood to make a breakfast fire. That would be enough to get them all motivated.


    "Where is everyone sleeping? The wagon isn''t huge." Lotus asked.


    Dana gestured to the floor. "I will stay here with you, and one other."


    Ophelia gestured outside. "I am going to sleep in Dire Bear form. It''s actually the mostfortable for sleeping outside."


    Karl nodded. "That works, I will sleep under the wagon, as is customary for the driver. That means Tessa can stay with you and keep up our escort job appearances."


    Lotus sighed and pulled out her bedroll. They had been spoiled for too long. But the three of them would befortable together in the wagon once theybined all three nkets.


    Dinner was quick and silent, then the Naga Warriors took their ces on either side of the fire, watching for threatsing down the road, while Dana''s golems watched the back of the wagon, closest to the road, and Ophelia took a spot on the far side of the fire.


    Her massive ck form looked like a hill of fur when she was sleeping, and Karl could tell that Lotus was already regretting not volunteering to sleep on top of the bear.

 Chapter 476 Pirates and Rogues

    Chapter 476 Pirates and Rogues


    Karl set up his hammock between the wagon axles and stretched out for the evening. In his armour, he would be plenty warm enough, so there was no need for a nket that would hinder his response time if they were attacked.


    He had thought that they would have plenty of warning before anything reached them, but just before dawn, when a Portal suddenly opened in the camp, he only had a few seconds warning to roll out of bed and get his bearings before the first attackers wereing through, twenty metres away and creeping through the dark.


    They must have thought that the Naga couldn''t see them, even though Naga could see exceptionally well in the dark.


    The reason why they were so confident became obvious when they Shadow Stepped behind the Naga warriors and tried to slit their throats silently.


    If the Naga had been Ascended, or even regr Commanders, they would have died instantly. But they were Royal Rank, with Eternal Lightning barriers on them, and they were fast to respond.


    Karl''s whistle to bring everyone awake was followed by the sound of des meeting des, and the shouts of the rest of the fightersing through the portal.


    Ophelia was up within a second as she activated [Berserk Terror], her upgraded Rage skill, and charged at the pair of Minotaur that had juste through the portal.


    Whileplex thought might escape the rampaging Dire Bear, battle tactics did not, and that was all she needed as she transitioned from slumber to war mode.


    Karl took out his maul and swatted a wounded Rogue back through the portal with five stacks of [Bone Crusher]. If that wasn''t enough to convince them that they had picked the wrong target, he wasn''t certain that they were going to learn at all.


    He wasn''t certain what species was under that hood, but going by the sound the maul made, it wasn''t one that could take that hit.


    A small monster with long ws and neon green skin jumped at Karl, who caught it by the face and retaliated with [Chain Lightning], killing it instantly.


    The corpse was unceremoniously tossed through the portal after the shattered Rogue, and Karl heard cursing from the other side.


    That was Rae''s cue, and her golems mutted two targets instead of killing them, then threw them through the portal.


    [Garbage disposal hole. Brilliant.] Caraughed.


    Her skills weren''t well suited to leaving intact bodies, but she was happily helping Ophelia beat up Minotaurs.


    Cara jumped on their backs and pinned their arms wide, disintegrating the back of their heads, while Ophelia tore them into little bite sized chunks, perfect for Hawk to roast.


    [I like the beardy, she''s got thatanger in her.]


    The attackers still hadn''t gotten to the wagon, at least not as far as Karl could tell, and the ones closest to him were in full retreat.


    "You have five seconds to retreat before I put a Royal Rank Blizzard on the other side of that Portal and follow it up with a Meteor barrage." Karl shouted toward the portal, hoping that there was someone intelligent on the other side.


    In response, a massive Monarch Rank Troll in te armour under a long coat with a red sash crawled through the portal that was far too small for him to walk through.


    "Who are you to threaten innocents?" He demanded.


    "There are no innocents in a bandit camp. You made a mistake attacking my team. If you want any of your people to see tomorrow, I suggest you take the loss and go home."


    The trollughed and flexed his prodigious muscles. At four metres tall with skin like tree bark and a massive physique that said he didn''t miss many meals, the leader of this group was an impressive specimen. But he was rapidly running out of teammates.


    "Go back. I am going to teach this human a lesson about the pecking order." The troll demanded.


    Karl smiled. "Everyone stand back. I think our new Trollish friend needs a little sense beat into him."


    Karl stacked [ming Body] on his maul, set to explode on contact.


    Trolls didn''t do well with fire, and this one was about to have a very bad morning.


    [Use Disintegrate. You should be able to do that.] Cara suggested.


    It was the only Monarch Rank skill that they had at the moment, but Karl hadn''t tried it yet.


    The troll snorted in amusement as Karl switched out the fire for disintegration, and stacked it.


    "You think that you can take me on without even using fire? Humans are more foolish than expected." He chortled, sending a deep rumblingughter echoing through the area around the other side of the portal.


    "I don''t want to kill you. If you die too fast, you won''t learn anything." The troll stepped to the side, giving them room to fight, away from the portal. But when he did, three more Monarchs came through, all dressed as Pirates, and all walking with the characteristic gait of someone who spent too much time at sea. Karl had seen it on the TV before.


    They nodded to Karl, showing that they were here to watch, and weren''t going to interfere. At least not yet.


    Karl had the maul slung over his shoulder, but didn''t even make it to his opponent''s waist.


    Plus, the Troll was using what looked like an entire tree as a club.


    The monster made a "Come and get it" gesture, and Karlunched himself forward. The Troll must not have been expecting his speed because he was past its hand before the massive club hade around. His maul smashed into the Troll''s chest, disintegrating arge chunk of the Troll''s torso and dropping it to the ground, paralyzed.


    But Karl didn''t follow up, he just stepped back and recharged his maul as he waited.


    The clearing was silent for a whole minute as the Troll regenerated, then got to its feet, letting the tattered remains of its clothes fall to the ground.


    "Now, did you learn anything, or do I need to exin it to you one more time?" Karl asked.


    The Pirates chuckled grimly as the club came crashing down on Karl.


    He threw a punch up to block it, and the club shattered, along with Eternal Lightning. But Limited Invulnerability absorbed the rest of the damage, and Karl gave the maul a one-handed swing, taking one leg and most of the troll''s pelvis off.


    "Oi, old boy just Kraken Smacked a Forest Troll." One of the Pirates drawled with a mixture of shock and amusement. Karl couldn''t tell whether that was intended as a personal insult about his age or not, but the Troll didn''t think that they were funny.


    The troll was panting when he finished regenerating his obliterated leg, and Karl waited for him to say something.


    The healing was clearly taking a toll on his stamina, and the monster was in no fit shape to continue the fight.


    "Look, you can give up and bugger off, or I can start using fire. What do you say?" Karl asked.


    The troll red at him for a few more seconds, then stomped off through the portal, leaving the group of Monarch Rank captains behind.


    "Well done Boyo. Here, keep this with you, and the vers won''t touch you. Every Captain carries one, and I think that you''ve earned one, even if you didn''t kill Trevor." The Pirate Captain was some sort of Demon with a long braided beard and three eyes on his head. Karl had no idea what that should be called, but the others all respected his opinion and didn''t raise any arguments.


    "Thank you. I do despise dealing with troublesome sorts before it is properly morning."


    The Pirateughed. "I don''t know who hired you to escort the lovelydies across the country, but they made a good call. Next time you''re close to Lutonade Port, stop in and visit, we run supplies every few weeks. I''ll set you up with something that pays better than dried fish."


    Karl smiled. "Now we''re talking. Nothing wrong with a bit of high-paying cargo now and then."


    "And a Captain''s word is his life." The demon agreed, then turned and walked through the portal with the others. It closed quickly once they were through, but not before Karl smelled the scent of terrified trolls and demons as the wind shifted. His threat to send them a Blizzard must have gotten through loud and clear.


    Ophelia changed back into a Werebear and gave Karl a raised eyebrow look.


    "And what exactly was your n there? To just get in good with the Pirate Captains and let a murderous ver leave?" She asked.


    "We have things to do. It''s almost morning now, and if I''d offed the boss, the rest of his team would havee through. Then we''d be stuck fighting them all morning, and we''d bete for our next stop."


    "You''re too soft." She insisted.


    Karl turned to Cara and Rae for confirmation.


    [He didn''t look like he tasted good. Minotaurs taste good, but Trolls probably don''t.] Rae replied. n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om


    Not exactly a helpful answer this time.

 Chapter 477 Enemies At Your Back

    Chapter 477 Enemies At Your Back


    Ophelia wasn''t the only one unimpressed by Karl''s choice. Dana also sighed and shook her head. "Now we have an enemy at our back that can use portals. That''s going to make our whole trip dangerous."


    "The other side of that portal was downtown Lutonade. I don''t think that they have the luxury of following us around. Hawk can still see the city from high enough in the air. I think they just attacked because I made a mistake stopping this close."


    They were still looking mad, so Karl raised his hands in defeat.


    "If they attack again, I will leave no survivors." He relented.


    Lotus frowned at him. "Why do I feel like the bad guy now?"


    Tessaughed. "Because there is no good answer to that situation. Killing them all brings more powerful ones and subordinates to avenge them, but leaving them alive puts an enemy at your back. I suspect that none of us will sleep particrly well until this is all over. But if they could easily grab prisoners from anywhere in the country, they would have emptied every vige of its young girls by now. The ve trade is insatiable, and they want mostly women for breeding children that can be trained. They learned years ago that taking adult men is more trouble than it''s worth."


    [I want to smack more things with that hammer. Did you see how big of a hole it knocked in that Troll? That was awesome.] Cara added helpfully.


    Karl smiled and reached down to pat her before realizing that the Void Badger was covered in blood.


    [That''s easy to fix. I just go in and out of my space, and I''m all clean. But I don''t smell like soap anymore.] Cara replied, demonstrating as she spoke in Karl''s mind.


    Karl stroked her head and Cara made a happy noise before flying over to the cart. Lotus was good with a brush, and Cara wasn''t sure that Karl even owned one.


    "Well, we might as well get going. We''ve had enough trouble for one evening."


    Karl packed up his hammock, back into his backpack in the storage bag in his inventory, and helped everyone into the wagon before hooking up Thor and taking his seat.


    Thor got the wagon moving down the road, leaving behind a blood soaked patch of grass as a warning to others that the campsite was not a safe one. n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om


    Heading east to Halsearing would take them all day, but ording to the map, it should be safe enough. It wasn''t known for bandits, thieves, vers or really anything negative. It was just a decently sized city full of Monsters and Demons.


    That might be awkward for their team, but as long as everyone kept their hoods up and their helmets on in public, it would be fine.


    Tessa had it easiest, as she had [Dragon Armour] which made her look like a dragonkin with a healthy dose of dragon bloodline. They might technically be beasts, but not many species of monsters volunteered to mess with the dragons.


    With the mask and hood of her new outfit in ce, Dana could be from a half dozen different species, especially with sunsses on.


    Ophelia had no reason to be anything but a Werebear, even if that marked her as a foreigner, so it was just Lotus and Karl that would have the hardest time blending in.


    Lotus had supervision, and Karl wasn''t particrly concerned about himself. Even if they realized he was human, there were humans here. Not ones with the powers of Elites, but some were mages, and many were hybrids with monster blood.


    [There are bandits near the road, but they''re moving away.] Hawk noted as the hours rolled into afternoon, and Thor kept up his happy trot with the wagon.


    They were in a wooded area between two hills, impossible to see from a distance, unless you happened to be flying overhead.


    What Karl couldn''t see was their scout. They were pulling back from the road, which suggested that they could see someoneing that they didn''t want to fight, but they shouldn''t be able to see him yet.


    [Hawk, who else is on the road?]


    [I dunno. Pike people in Bob armour riding horses, and someone in a shiny carriage that I am surprised you can''t see from there. It must be the hill in the way.]


    That sounded a lot like armoured knights and a nobleman''s carriage.


    [Are they all wearing the same colours, or do they have someone carrying a g?] Karl asked.


    [They have six gs, and they all match. They''re all shiny and the horses are all green like the gs.]


    Karl made a mental note of where they were in Hawk''s mental image, and then the speed they were going. They should be on this side of the valley with the bandits before Karl reached it. That would make life easier, as they would be expecting him to move out of the way. Rich people always acted like they owned the road. Even the mine''s shift supervisor drove like a douchebag in thepany truck.


    Karl slowed Thor just a little, to give them a margin for error, in case he guessed wrong, or they slowed down through the trees.


    When they got close to the trees, it was clear that Karl didn''t have anything to worry about. The knights were already on the close side of the valley, banners pping in the wind as they trotted along the road.


    Karl moved Thor to the side of the road, giving them plenty of room to pass by.


    One of the lead guards peeled off to speak to him, and Karl brought Thor to a full stop.


    "Merchant. There are bandits in the woods ahead. I would rmend not bringing your precious cargo through there." The knight informed him.


    "What power level?"


    The Knight frowned. "At least four Commanders. But they have nearly fifty members in total. If you go thirty kilometres south, there is a bridge across the river that will get you around the valley."


    That would put them nearly five hours off course.


    "Are there rewards for them? A bounty perhaps?" Karl asked, perhaps a bit too eagerly.


    "You did hear me say that there are fifty of them, right? You''ve got passengers, and only two guards plus Golems."


    The knight obviously thought that he was an idiot.


    "They can wait here a minute. Fifty bandits below Commander Rank won''t take me more than an hour. But if there is no reward, I''m not putting in the work."


    The noble carriage had stopped beside him, and from inside someone wasughing.


    "You think that you can take out an entire bandit camp within an hour, alone? I would pay good money to see that." A delicate female voice announced.


    A Lamia stuck her head out of the window, though Karl would have thought she was human if he couldn''t see the heat signature inside. Her smile was warm and genuine, and her dress looked like it was made of thinyers of the finest silk. Even Rae was impressed with the quality.


    Karl turned back into the wagon. "Do you mind staying here for a few minutes? I will go make sure the road is clear, and we can earn a few extra coins."


    Opheliaughed. "I give you ten minutes, or you have to turn over the good sleeping spot for the night."

 Chapter 478 Leftovers\

    Chapter 478 Leftovers


    The Lamia was about to say something, but Karl was already gone. Rae used [Shadow Step] and a length of silk to drag him with her into the trees, then a second step to where Hawk had found the Bandits.


    The group turned to stare at Karl, who had appeared alone next to their camp, and began to slowly get to their feet, brandishing weapons.


    "I have some good news and some bad news for you." Karl informed them.


    "Oh, you think you have good news for us, do you?" An aging bandit informed him with a smirk.


    The man looked at least half Ogre, and smelled far worse, but that could have something to do with whatever it was that they were cooking. It smelled of rot and vomit, and Karl was bing certain that he was about to do these bandits a favour.


    Karl nodded at him. "The good news is that none of you have to go to work tomorrow."


    The bandits began tough and circle Karl, who still didn''t have a weapon in his hands.


    "And what is the bad news?" "I forgot to ask that lovely youngdy how much she was willing to pay for your stinking carcasses."


    Karl called the team out, and Remi got things started with a [Thunderstorm] that had Hawk immediatelyining about her poor decision-making skills.


    He had his [Wind Barrier] up to stay dry, but he didn''t love water magic any more just because it was his little sister using it.


    Remi''s lone bodyguard hit the leaders with a Tsunami, while Karl followed it with a flurry of [Chain Lightning] enhanced arrows.


    He hadn''t had his bow out in a while, but all the bandits were running as soon as Remi and Rae appeared. They didn''t even seem to see Cara until someone nearly stepped on her and the Void Badger flew into a rage, tearing everything apart.


    Not even the trees were safe from her wrath. Rae was herding bandits toward Cara with her webs and golems, while Remi and her bodyguard focused on the core area.


    Karl called out the two Lamia bodyguards, and let them loose on the camp.


    It was over in under a minute, leaving only one dome of silk, and a lot of blood after Rae picked up the bodies.


    "What is in there? Snacks forter?" Karl asked Rae.


    [Small creatures. They weren''t fighting, and I didn''t know what to do with them.]


    "Bring them back with us. Toss up a rock or two and we can shadow step." Karl suggested.


    Instead, Rae made him a nket and passed Karl the bag. With both on her back, she was covered enough to Shadow Step.


    Remi retreated to her space, and Cara sniffed around the camp for a minute before realizing there was nothing worth taking.


    Not even roast meat.


    She returned to her space empty-handed, and Karl hopped back toward the wagon, with Rae''s help.


    She returned to her space, and Karl jogged thest dozen metres to the waiting group with the bag full of children dragging behind him.


    That was a minor oversight. When they were on Rae''s back, it was fine, but he shouldn''t bump them along the ground like that.


    "I don''t suppose that you have an Orphan collection program, do you? I''ve got a bunch of them from the valley." Karl asked as he approached.


    "Pardon?" The closest guard asked, confused.


    "The bag, it''s full of the children from the bandit camp. They don''t really count as bandits because they didn''t even try to fight. I have the corpses of thebatants stored in a separate space."


    The Lamia and her guards were staring at Karl now, and Ophelia began tough. "Well, that was definitely less than ten minutes, you can keep your good sleeping spot."


    The guards came over to grab therge silk bag, and one of the others gestured for Karl to step aside.


    "Did you really kill them all and collect their bodies?" He whispered.


    Karl nodded. "You can have them if you like. Or I can put them in the ditch over there."


    The guard nodded. "We do need to verify their deaths, and if the bodies are gone from their camp, we need to see them."


    Karl led the guard away to a low spot, where he began to stack the bodies.


    The guard looked more horrified with every addition, and Karl realized that with the extensive use of [Rend] and [Disintegration] there weren''t all that many fully intact corpses.


    "How did you do that?" The Guard whispered. "I''m part troll." Karl joked.


    That didn''t really answer the man''s question, and Karl didn''t look part troll. But it was a good enough answer for his superiors. A rampaging Royal Rank troll would be the sort of natural disaster that a bandit group would not survive.


    "We should get rid of those." The guard sighed.


    "I''ve got this. Hawk, please do the honours."


    Hawk bombarded the pile with fireballs, roasting it all to ash in a matter of seconds.


    "A troll that isn''t afraid of fire?" The guard asked.


    "Find the one thing in the world that can kill you, and make it your friend. Dragon Hawks are a great and loyal partner once you earn their respect."


    The guard looked at Karl like he was insane, but didn''t say anything else before returning to his team.


    The bag was open, but the kids were still sitting in a terrified huddle, too afraid to even cry. There were demons, a young Minotaur, three half Ogres, and a few Karl couldn''t identify.


    Their eyes were locked on him, unwilling to look away from the danger, even when the guards were trying to talk to them.


    Karl smiled at them. "Why don''t you tell these nice people all about how you ended up in that valley? I think that they can help you find a much safer spot to be, with no monsters. I mean, maybe with monsters, but not the scary kind."


    The Lamia in the luxurious carriage giggled softly, and a few of the guards facepalmed.


    "You have a way with words, Merchant. We will have a team from the city escort the children back to town for cement. Were you heading for Halsearing?" She asked.


    Karl nodded. "We are. Then I head north tomorrow. There is a nomadic Orc tribe that should be in the area, and they wanted the dried fish." n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om


    The Lamia nodded, and Karl added a warning.


    "We were attacked this morning, between here and Lutonade, using a Portal. If you''re going to head west with a finedy, you should be careful. They had Pirate Captains with them."


    The Knights looked grim, but the Lamia looked calm as she nodded in understanding. "They shouldn''t bother us. Lutonade has an agreement with the Knight Orders. Would it be too much to ask you to wait here for the retrieval team toe get the children? They should make it here near dark.


    I would ask you to walk them to the city, but you wouldn''t make it before dark with their pace."


    Karl did the mental math. They would have to avoid the city to make the anomaly on time tomorrow night, but that might be better for them.


    "If I do the delivery first, thene back to the city to resupply, that should be fine." Karl agreed, while the children cowered in terror at the thought of being left with him any longer.

 Chapter 479 Retrieval Team

    Chapter 479 Retrieval Team


    Once the Lamia and her escort left, Ophelia turned to Karl to give him the updates on their situation.


    "The Knights aren''t worried about bandits on this trip, they are on their way to a wedding announcement and can''t bete. They did leave us with a whole bag full of coins for your trouble, so we''re good on spending money while we''re here. But how are we on time? Will we still make our meeting?"


    Karl nodded. "We will have to move the stop in the city to after we deliver the fish, but that''s not a big deal. We can resupply there, then we will make our way to the next stop."


    The children from the bandit group were listening intently to their conversation, and Karl didn''t want to give anything away. Nobody in this region seemed to mind the bandits all that much, so it was only the outsiders that would run into trouble with them.


    The kids would likely tell whoever came to pick them up what Karl and his team were nning, even if it wasn''t to set up another bandit attack.


    Letting the city know that they were meeting a nomadic tribe might lead to questionster, but they didn''t have anything to hide other than their identities, and having everyone looking for illicit goods took the attention off the actual group.


    The children didn''t seem to rx at all, and they were still huddled on the silk sheet when three wagons arrived to pick them up.


    "You''re the one that the Knightly Orders sent us to assist, I take it? We will take in the survivors of the bandit camp. But can we know what led to them beingpletely wiped out?"


    The kids looked up in unison and pointed at Karl.


    "The Knightly order made me a friendly wager about how long it would take to remove the bandit threat along the road. So, I went and eliminated it." Karl shrugged.


    "You?" The green skinned demon man with a single forehead horn asked.


    "Me. It wasn''t all that hard. I had a significant power advantage."


    The wagon driver just shrugged. "It''s fine. We don''t need the details, as long as there weren''t any escaped bandits who will be looking for their kids."


    Karl shook his head. "None that were around the camp. Hopefully, the little ones will be given a proper chance to live a decent life. I think that today might have scared them off the path of a bandit."


    The kids all nodded in agreement. No way were they going to let that madman and his monsters believe that they would ever consider going back to banditry.


    "I trust you don''t mind sharing a camp? The bandits might be gone, but with the nomads, it''s never truly safe out here." The leader of the recovery team asked.


    "Make yourselffortable. We will have a nice fire to keep the kids warm, and we can split watches." Karl agreed.


    Ophelia changed back into Dire Bear form with a longing nce at Karl''s hammock, while the otherdies rearranged the cargo so they could hang theirs in the wagon.


    They hadn''t thought of the method yesterday, but running lines between the metal hoops that held the tarp would support their weight, and they could have a better bed than a nket on the wooden wagon floor.


    "I will take first watch, who wants second?" Karl asked. n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om


    The leader of the caravan gave an annoyed grunt. "I will. I suspect that the little ones are just waiting for a chance to run off again and look for a hiding spot. We can''t have that when the Knightly Order only pays onpletion of an assignment."


    The made Karl chuckle. Of all the ways to keep a contractor motivated, guaranteed pay but only onpletion seemed like one of the most reliable.


    The night was quiet, and the children were all passed out from exhaustion as Karl took the first watch.


    After yesterday''s incident, there shouldn''t be more trouble. The Pirate Captains wouldn''t bother him now that he had their token, and the next city along the way was where the retrieval team came from.


    So, Karl actually managed to rx during his shift with Rae watching from her space, and then woke the team leader for his turn.


    A few hours of meditation would get Karl through the night, but they were only doing two watches, splitting the evening, so he had nearly five hours before he had to be awake again.


    He didn''t fall into a deep sleep, even with the beasts watching for him. Cara had escaped her space again to curl up with Ophelia, and she didn''t seem to require sleep at all. She just enjoyed doing nothing. That would be a good enough bodyguard. Nothing on this continent short of a dragon was likely to win a fist fight with a Void Badger.


    Just before the sun came up, the clerics started to make breakfast, much to the relief of the retrieval team and the children.


    "Dragon Clerics? What brings you all the way out here?" The team leader asked when he saw the breakfast meal.


    "The Gods willed it." Tessa replied with a shrug.


    That was a good enough answer for most. Clerics could end up anywhere, following the whims of the Gods, and only the Giants and a few istionist nations would stop them.


    Not that the feral monsters wouldn''t kill and eat them, but the civilized ones would let them be.


    The kids were beginning to rx as the retrieval team exined how the orphanage worked, how it sorted them into school years, and helped them find real work.


    It was when Karl got up that they began to huddle together again.


    "He won''t hurt you. I know what happened with your parents, but he won''t hurt you now." The group leader exined softly.


    "You don''t understand. That thing isn''t human. It looks like a human, but it''s not. It''s really not." One of the demon children exined.


    The team leader looked to Karl for an answer, and he just shrugged. "I don''t eat children if that helps? Besides, I already put this nice man in charge of bringing you back, and I wouldn''t want to make his job harder."


    Lotus poked Karl in the side and smiled at the kids. "He''s only scary inbat. Now, let me fill everyone''s water skins so you''re good for the trip to your new home."

 Chapter 480 Wilderness Detour

    Chapter 480 Wilderness Detour


    The kids were quickly packed up into the wagons, and Karl''s team prepared to head out.


    "Will you be following us to town?" The retrieval team leader asked.


    Karl shook his head. "No, we need to make a delivery to a nomadic tribe today, and if we go through the city we won''t make it on time after all this dy."


    The team and the bandit kids all looked concerned with that answer.


    "You''re going to make a trade deal with the nomads? The Yellow Tusk Orc Nomads? Are you insane?" The team leader asked, unconsciously checking his armour as if they might hear and attack.


    "It''s just a load of dried fish, it''s not like we''re trading weapons. Besides, I''m pretty good at getting along with Orcs."


    One of the wagon driversughed. "Is that even possible?"


    "Of course. When they challenge you, just tell them off and demand to talk to the boss."


    The wagon driver held his belly as heughed. "Oh, it''s like that. I suppose if you''re not averse to a fist fight with an Orc Champion, it''s a good method. Presuming that you don''t die of stupidity."


    Ophelia changed back to Werebear form and took a seat on the front of the wagon after everyone else was loaded. She had put Cara in the wagon to keep both Lotus and the Void Badger entertained, and they were ready to leave as soon as Karl finished chatting.


    "Alright, gentlemen. Good luck with your work. Perhaps I will see you again one day."


    Karl turned the wagon northeast across the road and into the open grasnd.


    He had a general idea where he was going thanks to Hawk''s scouting, and now he just had to wait for the bird to find the exact spot where the Anomaly was going to appear.


    Thor was making good time, as the grass was mostly untouched, and the dirt soft enough that the wheels weren''t taking jarring hits, except when they found a hidden stone.


    [There is arge group of people walking in the distance, near the hill with the three upright stones where the Anomaly should be.]


    [What species?] Karl asked.


    [Orcs, mostly. But they''ve got some others with them.]


    That sounded odd for Orcs, but Karl altered Thor''s course so they were all headed for the Anomaly location. Even if the meeting with the nomads went badly, it would be good cover for them interfering with the Anomaly.


    "There is an Orc tribe ahead. They''re near where the Anomaly will appear, so I will go meet them, and we can dy until the Anomaly opens. If what Bishop Misty told us is correct, it should be soon." He exined, so the others understood. n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om


    The Orcs sent a runner when Karl was still five kilometres from the stones. He turned to meet them, so the Orcs didn''t think he was running away. But he didn''t turn directly so that he would end up with a few hundred metres of the stones when they met each other. The Orcs were intending to pass by the stones, but they had stopped on the far side to see what the merchant who would keep driving a wagon toward them wanted.


    The Orcish runner straightened the tie around his neck, worn with nothing but a pair of tattered ck shorts that were once fashionable pants.


    "Yellow Tusk n Chieftain, World Smasher, wishes to im-choir what yer business is."


    He spoke slowly with a thick ent, as if unfamiliar with thenguage.


    That was a major change from thest time Karl had seen them, when the leader spoke with a posh ent, and wore fancy clothes that the n had made themselves, not looted from another species and altered.


    [Rae, make a pair of simple ck pants that will fit the leader of the n.] Karl instructed.


    [Why? Are we making friends?]


    [Yes. I am going to give them to the leader as a gift. Trust me, it will be fun.]


    Rae didn''t get what Karl was going for, but if he said it would lead to fun, she trusted him.


    She quickly made them, but left them a bit loose and with a rope at the waist so they could be cinched to stay up.


    "Please tell Chieftain World Smasher that we wish to trade a bundle of dried fish, fresh from the coast, for any trade goods he has that the cities will take. Here is a gift of good faith for him, to show my sincerity."


    Karl handed over the pants, and the Orc got a cunning look on his face that he tried to hide.


    "And what if the Chieftain says he doesn''t want your pants?"


    "Then tell him I will punch him in the face for disrespecting my gift. Go ahead and inform him that we will meet him at the standing stones to talk business."


    The Orc ran off back to his n, while Raeughed in Karl''s mind.


    [You''re right, this will be fun.]


    Karl stopped the wagon before the stones, so it was less likely to get caught up in the chaos, then double-checked on the item he had gotten to stabilize the Anomaly when it appeared.


    After a few minutes of shouting and swearing that Karl could hear from three hundred metres away, a massive Orc came over with freshly made ck pants on, and fourrge orcs carrying bags of something.


    Karl went to retrieve the fish and set the bundle on a rtively clean stone while he waited.


    The Orcs walked up until the leader was chest to chest with Karl, but towering over him by a full sixty centimetres. He had an intimidating scowl on his face, but he was wearing the gift, so Karl didn''t back down or make any aggressive moves.


    "These are good pants." He announced.


    "Of course they are. I wouldn''t give cheap pants to a Chieftain." Karl scoffed, and the big man smiled as he stepped back.


    "What kind of fish do you have? It''s not often someonees looking for us to trade."


    "One hundred kilos of dried salmon." Karl announced, then untied the top strings holding the cloth on the bundle.


    The Orcs took a deep breath and smiled. Orcs didn''t deep water fish, so they could only get salmon during spawning season, and that wasn''t prime salmon vour, as they were exhausted and had burnt most of their fat to get to the spawning grounds.


    These were prime specimens, carefully dried. The vour would be incredible, and just the smell was more appealing than the dried jerky that they had.


    Chieftain World Smasher motioned for his man at the back to bring a bag forward, then for the others to leave. Karl didn''t know what was in the other bags, but the Chieftain had made his choice, and he was digging through the bag for something.


    A few secondster, he started tossing armour pieces out, then boots and misceneous equipment that wasn''t fit for an Orc.


    He stopped and looked at the pile, then at the fish. Karl frowned as he mentally calcted the value. It should already be more than the fish was worth, by a factor of at least three, but the Chieftain went back in for one more set of bracers and added them to the pile.


    He nodded at Karl, who smiled and nodded back.


    "We have a deal, then. Boys, pick up the fish and spread it through the tribe. Today we celebrate." He announced.


    "Oh, are you holding a wrestlingpetition? I was once sent to the past, and I heard that was a favourite of the tribes."


    That was one hundred percent bullshit, but it would keep them all right here where the Anomaly should be opening within the next hour or two.

 Chapter 481 Wrestling

    Chapter 481 Wrestling


    "Would you like to watch the Orcs show off their fighting power, human? We don''t mind. There are no greater fighters in this world than the Orc tribes, and the Yellow Tusk are the greatest of tribes." The Chieftain who called himself World Smasher announced.


    "I think that my team would enjoy that. Perhaps we might even earn the favour of the gods with a pair of their clerics watching." Karl joked.


    The burly orcughed. "You might just be on to something. Bring your passengers out, and we will set up a wrestling ring."


    The others were more than a little skeptical of Karl''s n to keep the Orcs right next to the anomaly as a scapegoat, but after hearing that he thought they might be able to im it as a divine favour to the Orc tribes, even Dana had to do her best not tough.


    It sounded somewhat like sphemy, but it was a temple that sent them on this mission, and they had two clerics, plus a Naga Queen who had shown the favour of the Beast Gods in the past, so perhaps it really was the will of the gods that they stabilized this dungeon.


    On one hand, having an active dungeon in the monster kingdoms might be a bad idea. They didn''t need any more strength, as far as anyone else was concerned. So, providing them with ess to more power was a long-term negative, even if it would draw the attention of all the other nations away from attacking the Golden Dragon Nation.


    On the other hand, watching the Orcs wrestle sounded like a lot of fun. They were not as barbaric as everyone had feared, despite their appearance, and they seemed to be honestly excited about a chance to show off their muscles.


    The ring was quickly assembled, just arge circle of rope for the wrestling matches to take ce in. This was also one of the few Orcish hobbies that didn''t involve much bloodshed.


    They had frequent trials for rank, and some would likely follow this set of wrestling matches, but today, all would be peaceful until the anomaly opened.


    That was the part that Dana feared. They were far too close to where the Anomaly was going to open, and if they couldn''t get out of the way in time, they would end up fighting the Orcs for the chance to go inside the dungeon.


    Nobody would pass up that opportunity, and it would seem extremely suspicious if they did. So, the Orcs would most likely want to chase them off, and there was no spot further than their next life.


    The first few Orcs to volunteer for the wrestling matches were growing teenage boys, and the Orcs were very loudly enthusiastic about the chance to watch them go at it.


    They left space around the ring so that Karl and the others could watch, but other than that, they seemed to be ignoring the presence of outsiders in their midst, except for the asional nce to make sure they were still watching the glory of the Orcish children.


    Then, they moved on to the adults, starting with the smallest, so that the most powerful would have the honour of goingst, as if this were a ranked event or championship.


    Ophelia was feeding snacks to Cara, who was sitting in Lotus''p, as a new pair of contestants took the ring. It was a young Orcish woman with decorative scars all down her arms, and a young man who stood a full head taller than her, but clearly bore some sort of grudge against her.


    The woman moved to the centre of the ring and raised her hand to make an announcement.


    "The Dragon Gods have sent their clerics here to watch over our matches today. So today, in the sight of the Gods themselves, I will prove why you are unworthy of proposing marriage to me." The woman dered.


    Tessa smirked as she cast a softly glowing golden barrier around the arena. It was barely an Awakened Rank Holy protection spell, but it would serve as a deterrent to interference, and work as a wall so that the contestants couldn''t step out and have the match dered a draw.


    A few of the Orcs had already done that to let their opponent save face.


    The goal was toplete the match inside the ring, and stepping out was a failure to achieve that victory, so the match was considered a draw to the Orcs.


    But with the wall up, unless they put in the effort to break the spell first, there would be no idental departures.


    The two Orcs squared off, and the Chieftain whistled to start the match.


    The female darted forward and put her rejected suitor into a leg lock that sent him to the ground, but he quickly broke out of it with brute strength and went for an arm bar.


    She was a slippery one, and he couldn''t seem to get a proper grip on her before she had escaped back to her feet. They circled for a few minutes, grappling and releasing as they failed to get the advantage.


    Then, when he finally thought he had gotten her with a spear that would let him pin her, she twisted around and managed to get his back, with her arms locked around his neck.


    He wasn''t giving up, and mmed her repeatedly on the ground as he pried at her chokehold, but after fifteen seconds or so, he was out cold, and she let him go as the Chieftain whistled to mark the end of the match.


    That was when the Anomaly appeared, as if someone had been waiting for the perfect moment.


    Perhaps they had.


    "Oi! The gods have given you a second chance to get your girl. Get yourzy ass in there andplete the challenge!" The Chieftain shouted as the unfortunate Orc slowly blinked as he regained consciousness.


    "Boss?" He asked in confusion.


    The Chieftain picked him up and forcibly hurled him into the Anomaly.


    "Well, that''s one way to do it." Karlughed, right before the Orc was hurled back out.


    "What did I just tell you?" The Chieftain asked.


    "It''s not my fault, Boss. It said minimum group size ten people." The Orc replied, holding his hands up in a defensive posture.


    Chieftain World Smasher tapped his chin as he contemted the answer.


    "Send the humans and four more children. You''re all about the same size." He decided.


    Size was strength, strength was everything. Therefore, a small Orc was nothing. They just had to train him until he was big enough, and he would earn the right to propose to his intended bride.


    The female Orc stepped over beside him.


    "Chieftain, send me with him. It''s only fair if he''s trying to match me." She insisted.


    "Alright. Then you three as well. That''s better. The humans are still kind of puny, but it will do, they''re as grown as a human gets."


    The Orcs he had picked were all various stages of Ascended, with the strongest being mid Ascended. Sending them in with Karl''s group could be an interesting dungeon experience, depending on what the power level was set at.


    It could be a massacre or a massacre. With the victor being the difference.


    Karl patted the disgruntled pair of Orcs on the shoulder and led them into the dungeon.


    There was only one way to find out how this was going to go, and it didn''t involve waiting around outside.n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om

 Chapter 482 Dungeon

    Chapter 482 Dungeon


    The rest of his team followed close behind Karl and the two Orcs that he had dragged with them, leaving thest three chasing them to catch up.


    Inside, the area looked much like the underground dungeon that Karl had seen in the mountains near the frost giant border. It was full of ruined ck towers and strange fungi the size of trees, but there were no signs of Dark Elves, and instead some sort of shadow slime monsters had taken over.


    To Karl''s senses, they appeared to be at high Ascended and low Commander, simr to the dungeon in the Golden Dragon Nation, but this one required ten people to enter.


    As the Orcs considered their options, Karl took out the device and activated it, hopefully stabilizing the dungeon so that whoever showed up next would see it as a done deal. The device vanished as it was activated, so he could only hope that it worked properly, but that was not his responsibility. He had done what he agreed, and activated the device in the proper location.


    With his entire team inside the anomaly with the Orcs, there might be questions about what had happened to stabilize the dungeon. But that was a minor inconvenience, and the Chieftain already thought that it was a sign from the Gods, and not mortal tampering.


    "Do you know these creatures?" The defeated suitor asked, looking to Karl for answers.


    "No, but I know a few things about them. They''re stronger than you are, some of them by quite a bit. They are also going to be aggressive, but won''t be likely to swarm us unless we get too close to them. They will stay near their spots unless we antagonize them, other than the roaming patrols.


    Other than that, I know nothing about their skills, so be sure to remember how they fight so that you can tell the Chieftain. If he has to hear it from me, he will have your hide for a trophy."


    The Orcsughed as they realized that Karl was exactly right. The boss would not be happy if the human was the one with answers for him.


    "Alright, we should find out what they can do. What sort of fighters are your people?" The Orcish woman who had just beaten her potential suitor asked.


    Her voice was smooth, and her tone more eloquent than expected, closer to what Karl had heard from the older Orcs, and far from the tone andnguage she had used during the challenge.


    It seemed that she had been hiding her intelligence from her dimwitted friends, perhaps to avoid being called the Orcish equivalent of a nerd.


    "We can call some Golems, and we''ve got a mage and a berserker in addition to the clerics.


    Don''t worry, if you get injured, we will heal you. This ce is meant for ten people to work together, not for two groups of five to fight with each other and the mobs." Karl exined.


    "Thank you. That will make our lives much easier. We have shamans with the n, so we will treat your mage like that, fighting from the back. The Werebear looks like she can fight, so she cane up front with us. What sort of fighter are you?" She asked.


    "I''m somewhere between a mage and a warrior. But I usually rely on my beast friends to help out. They''re pretty tough. But we can do without them today, and let them rest."


    At least they could rest until the group ran into trouble, anyhow. It would be less difficult for the Orcs'' pride to ept.


    The woman nodded and motioned for herrades to join her as she advanced on the first group of the shadow slime monsters.


    The woman nodded and motioned for herrades to join her as she advanced on the first group of the shadow slime monsters. n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om


    Ophelia joined them, as she was the only Commander Rank fighter on the front lines, and sending Karl against Ascended Slimes was just rude.


    Even sending Cara or one of the other beasts would obliterate the threats in a matter of seconds. But for the rest of the group, it was a good fight.


    Thor extended [Eternal Lightning] over everyone, startling the Orcs. But they were happy to get defensive magic on their side for an unknown fight, and they happily charged into battle.


    The fact that they managed to do it without a war cry seemed like it required great effort for them, but they didn''t want to make so much noise that they would pull everything to them at the very start.


    The slimes turned to engage the Orcs as they approached, and their bodies shifted shape.


    They were using their innate ability to mimic what was sent at them, taking on the appearance of both the Orcish team and Ophelia in her Werebear form. It was quite the spectacle, and Karl was d that they hadn''t sent any of the spell casters closer to the group.


    There were only five slimes, and Karl assumed that they shouldn''t take too long for the melee attackers with Ophelia''s help, but the Orcs that had been chosen seemed to be having a particrly tough time doing any damage.


    "Dana, mind helping them out?" Karl asked.


    Everyone needed the experience, especially the young Orcs, but when Dana started to attack, it became clear that the issue was the opponents, not the attackers.


    Her spells weren''t doing much damage at all, only leaving small damaged craters, and the slimes were fighting on, undeterred.


    Curious, Karl hit one with a [Rend], and cut off an arm, but the creature kept fighting as ck ooze poured from the wound like blood.


    It wasn''t regenerating, and it fought like it was dying of slime loss. That was a good start, but the amount of damage that it took from attacks was ridiculously low.


    Not like him or Cara, who ignored a base amount, but as if they were three times as durable as they should be, at the same power level.


    "Ladies and gentlemen, we have found the perfect training ground for Orcs. They''re not too powerful, but they can really take a beating. Do you want me to start going all out, or should I hold back and let you fight?" Karl asked.


    "Let us fight. The wimps need the help." The Orcish womanughed.


    "Alright. We weren''t in a hurry anyhow."


    It was easier not to argue with the Orcs on that one, even if it was going to start getting dark soon.


    The rest of the Orcs chuckled, and Dana moved forward so that she could attack more effectively, while Karl threw attacks at the slimes that might have gotten around the Orcs defences and put them in a bad position.


    That way, Lotus and Tessa could mostly rx, though Tessa had cast a weapon blessing on everyone to increase their damage.


    By the time that the first group fell, they were beginning to all work well together in a group, and Karl was ready to start joining them in the fight. While he wasn''t in a particr hurry, they didn''t want to be here all night, and these slimes could take a beating, even if they didn''t do much to [Eternal Lightning].


    With that in mind, Karl led the way to the second group and began the attack as soon as the slimes started to change.


    They took on the appearances of the attackers, but they didn''t take on the skills. At least not as far as Karl could tell. At the very least, they didn''t take on the ones he got from his beasts, or he would have made the second encounter a very dangerous one for everyone involved.


    The second group did have a mage of sorts, though. It was a blue slime monster, and it cast water bolts at them that had Hawk nearly in a frenzy, wanting toe out and punish the creature for existing.


    [Rx, we will let you all out to fight the bosses if the Orcs aren''t doing a good job.] Karl consoled him.


    [Like that will happen. Once you and the Dana Mage start going all out, the boss won''t stand a chance.]


    Karl smiled inwardly at the petnt bird. Hawk wasn''t wrong, though. If he really went all out against a target two full Ranks below himself, even the boss monsters would onlyst a few seconds.


    As fun as it might be to get loot, the Orcs were here for a different reason.

 Chapter 483 Enraged

    Chapter 483 Enraged


    The second and third groups both had a mage with them, copying Dana in appearance, but they could only use a water bolt spell.


    That made them manageable, but they were still doing fairly impressive damage to the barriers.


    "Your barrier ability is too strong. They can''t hurt us at all. How are we supposed to be learning anything?" The female Orc asked.


    "Do Orcs learn best with pain and not practice?" Karl replied.


    They all nodded, as if that should have been obvious, and Karl had Thor take the barrier off them, while leaving it on Dana and Ophelia.


    There was no need to make his team suffer just because the Orcs were stubborn.


    The next group fight actually went better, as after they had taken a few hits, the Orcs began to adapt their tactics and deal damage more efficiently to the monsters.


    It was a fascinating change, even if it did start an argument between Cara and Rae as to whether an entire species could be masochists.


    The eventual consensus was that the evidence supported the hypothesis, and the Orcs might actually need the pain in order to function, which might be directly rted to the reason that they were constantly looking for a fight. Without it, they weren''t at their best, so casting a numbing spell, or using a numbing poison, on them might be the equivalent to torture in addition to crippling theirbat skills.


    Then, they were at the first boss, or what passed for it in this dungeon. It looked just like the other slimes, but when they stepped on the tform, a timer started.


    [Enrage in 1.00.00]


    [Enrage in 59.00]


    "One minute to burn the boss down." Karl exined, in case the Orcs couldn''t read.


    He finally took his maul out, and stacked [Disintegrate] on it to deal with the threat.


    The boss was mid-Commander Rank, and as durable as the monsters here had proven to be, there was a good chance that the thing might actually survive a regr hit with Bone Crusher or another ability that wasn''t stacked.


    Karl''s hit caused the boss to stter, and an announcement appeared above the tform.


    [Member Karl haspleted the challenge.]


    [9/10 members remaining]


    The Orcsughed and lined up for their turns to attack the boss. It was the most ridiculous thing that Karl had ever seen inside a dungeon, and he wondered if his attempt to help had broken something within the system.


    If the clerics had to deal with an enrage timer, they might have a very hard time defeating this creature. Well, maybe not Tessa, who could actually fight quite well, but Lotus wasn''t known for her offensive output.


    She did have a [Thorned Vines] spell, thanks to Karl, but she rarely used it, and he didn''t even know how much damage it did. The spell was primarily used for crowd control, to keep enemies from running around.


    The female Orc valiantly hacked at the beast for the full minute, while also needing to be healed four times, but didn''t beat the timer. The creature increased in strength and size by about a quarter, and now she was struggling to fight it alone.


    "Maybe we just need someone to get the killing blow on it?" Ophelia suggested as she realized that the boss had hardly taken any damage.


    "Good idea. Everyone help her out, and I will reset the timer if needed by killing the boss again." Karl offered.


    That seemed to work, and there was no penalty applied when fifty-eight secondster, the female Orc got the killing blow.


    The boss reformed secondster, back at original size, and Lotus wrapped it in vines.


    That did the first bit of damage, and the rest of the team, save for Karl, went back to work on it, killing it before the timer.


    [Member Ophelia haspleted the trial.]


    That settled it, they just needed everyone to get ast strike.


    So, they all rejoined the fight against the boss, then stopped just before it was defeated to take turns finishing it off.


    The only one who struggled was the youngest of the Orcs, who was having a terrible timending a strike once the others had backed off. The boss was faster than he was, and stronger. It even made it past the enrage timer before the unfortunate Orc finally managed to get thest strike in.


    "Good work everyone. Now we know how to do it, and we can warn the others about who to send in. You''re going to need a healer, but one that knows how to fight, or they''re not going to have an easy time of that one." Karl announced.


    "Who knew that it would make us work as a whole team? That''s not how a normal fight works." The Orcs''int made sense, logically. But in a dungeon, almost anything was possible, even if it was interspecies cooperation and doing things that were not the normal role of your ss.


    The boss'' body disappeared, and a chest formed in its ce, waiting for someone to open it.


    "You go ahead, human. You are strongest, you get the first choice." The Orcish woman announced.


    Karl flipped the lid open, and an announcement appeared both in the air over the chest, and in his System disy.


    [Loot has been auto-assigned to eligible members.]


    That left five weapons in the chest, and Karl''s whole team stepped back to see what they had gotten.


    "That''s all for the five of you. The rest of us have had experience with this sort of anomaly before, and it just gave us what it wanted us to have." Karl exined.


    "It can do that?" One of the Orcs asked. n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om


    "Apparently. I''ve never seen it do that before, but this sort of Anomaly isn''t a regr urrence. Have any of you been in one before?"


    They all shook their heads.


    "Then maybe next time youe in, it will for you as well."


    If they equipped a piece of gear, that was virtually guaranteed, but Karl couldn''t give away the fact that he knew for certain this ce could awaken at least some features of the System for them.


    The Orcs were sure to have some legends about it, and this could be a holy site to the tribe once they did realize. That would be amusing, but more amusing if he wasn''t around to see it firsthand.


    The Orcs were less eager to prove anything with the fights that came after the first boss, as it was clear that Karl was massively overpowered with that Maul in his hands. It made the Orcs more eager to work as a team and less eager to prove themselves.


    That alone was hopefully going to be enough that they could get out of here before dark, and before all hell broke loose outside.


    They moved on to the next groups, and Karl realized that this was actually a very small instance. There was only one more tform, and then they would be finished.


    "Let''s hope that the next one isn''t as annoying as this one was." Karl muttered as he led the group through the slime monsters. The groups were still the same, copying his own team, so there was no need to change tactics, just keep pushing and try to get out of here as soon as possible.


    Or at least before everyone was exhausted and ready to sleep.

 Chapter 484 Final Slime

    Chapter 484 Final Slime


    Thebined group hesitantly approached thest tform, where onerge slime monster stood. Unlike the previous boss, which had looked normal, while needing to be defeated ten times, once by each group member, this one was massive.


    Not even the Hill Giants could measure up in size, and its strength was on the low to middle side of the Commander Rank.


    For the mid Ascended Rank Orcs, this was not going to be an easy fight.


    "Everyone, be careful not to get killed with one hit, and let''s go find out what this boss can do." Karl joked as he led the team forward.


    The team spread out to encircle the boss, which was just standing still, apparently watching Karl.


    But if it wasn''t going to attack, they were. The rest of the teamunched their attacks, and the boss sprung into action, whipping out tentacles toward them and firing water bolts.


    This was what Karl expected of a slime monster. None of that silly mimic nonsense, but an amorphous blob, violently attacking everything in sight.


    Thor brought the barriers back up over the Orcs, but not at full strength because the Orcs fought better when they were taking damage. This way, when they took a direct hit, the barrier would break, and he would bring it back up, but they wouldn''t take so much damage that it was difficult for Tessa and Lotus to keep them healed.


    The beasts were following Karl''s direction to stay out of sight and let the Orcs think he was just some sort of warrior mage, so that news of his unique abilities didn''t spread through the tribe.


    He had given away too much already by letting the team eliminate the bandits, and there was a chance that the monster nation would put the puzzle pieces together and realize who he was before he could get out of the country.


    Having Thor out to pull the cart was a calcted risk, but Cerro were fairlymon creatures, and pulling a wagon didn''t show off his powers, only his unique coloration. One merchant with a tame Cerro wouldn''t be the strangest thing that they were likely to see along this trip.


    Karl smashed his maul into the core of the beast, which set all the tentacles iling as the body quivered and [Chain Lightning] burned arge chunk out of it.


    The Orcs cheered in victory at the spectacle, and the boss slime monster contracted, reforming in a much smaller body.


    "Cut chunks off. I don''t think that it will reform." Karl instructed.


    Of course, that was easier said than done. The tentacles were rubbery, and it was hard to get a good hit in on them when they just bounced away. But Ophelia had moved forward to attack the body while the beast was distracted, and Dana''s de style was having decent luck removing tentacles, which were lying around the boss but not being pulled back in.


    Each removed tentacle was making the boss smaller, and Lotus was slowly wrapping the core in Thorned Vines, which restrained its movement and tore deep grooves in the surface when it tried to move.


    "How long is this thing going to take to die?" The Orcish womanined as she hacked off yet another tentacle.


    "As long as you want it to. If you''re done with it, I will kill it." Karl replied.


    "You say that like it''s so easy," one of the other Orcsughed.


    Five stacks of [Disintegration] on the maul made the head vibrate with power, and Karl could have sworn that he heard the amorphous blob of a boss sigh in resignation even before he started to move.


    That feeling was confirmed as it contracted and ttened itself to the floor as he began the swing.


    Karl was almost certain that the boss defeated message came before he had hit the slime, but the stacks of [Disintegration] were gone, so he must have made contact at some point. While he was lost in thought, the Orcs were staring at him in shock.


    "What in the name of the Laughing God was that?" The rejected suitor shouted.


    "It''s called [Disintegration]. Pretty nifty, isn''t it?" Dana replied on Karl''s behalf.


    The female Orc smirked at the man she rejected. "All that big talk from you, and he could defeat the boss in one casual swing. You have a new bar to reach."


    "Oh,e on! How is that fair? Nobody but the Chieftain could kill that thing in one hit!"


    She gave him a vicious smirk. "Then you''ll just have to be Chieftain, won''t you?"


    The young man gave Karl an angry re before his shoulders slumped. At this rate, he would never get the girl of his dreams, the bar kept going up.


    Karl let his buffs expire as the fight ended, and the Orcs all pointed to him.


    "I knew you got big! You''ve been hiding your power level!" One of them gasped.


    At Royal Rank, [Brutality] increased his size by fifty percent, so he was bigger than any of the Orcs present. But they hadn''t noticed until now, when their brains tried to adjust their mental impression of his power level as it rted to size.


    Karl winked at them. "Well, I couldn''t just stay small with so many impressive Orc warriors around, could I?"


    The fact that everyone else had shrunk as well seemed to escape them, as they were all looking at Karl. But the boss chest had appeared, and that brought them out of their reverie.


    [Level 0 members detected. Compensating.] Appeared in the air above the crate.


    "What''s that mean, human?" "It means that you''ve never been exposed to the system, and now you have. It''s going to give you an extra reward for doing this with just your own power. We won''t get that bonus because we got it once before." Karl exined.


    The Orcs cheered and pped each other on the back in celebration as the Dungeon calcted their reward.


    Their eyes went vacant as they entered the system interface for the first time, and secondster, they were all back with smiles on their face.


    "I am officially a Warrior!" One of the men cheered.


    "Me too!"


    "And me!"


    Dana facepalmed as she realized that they likely all chose warrior without even looking at the other options that were presented to them.


    Then the lone female in the group blinked once and her outfit changed to a more primal fur and leather set, with ck metal tes.


    "Silly warriors. You didn''t even look at the rest of the menu, did you?" She asked. n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om


    They all shook their heads while staring at her.


    "There is a random option for a chance to make you a better warrior." She dered.


    Thedies in Karl''s group all looked at each other, trying hard to hide their horror, while Karl openlyughed.


    "That random option is dangerous. It can changeanything about you, including your species. Thest person I saw use it was turned into an Elven child.


    There are other sses, though. You could have picked Shaman, or Berserker instead and not risked turning into something other than an Orc." He exined.


    The woman''s eyes wentrge as she realized how close she hade to disaster.


    Karl nodded as he saw that she understood. "What did it give you?"


    "I am a Death Knight" She announced proudly.


    Karl didn''t know what that could do, but it should be a magic using warrior of some sort, with unique skills.


    "Alright, I will give you a bit of advice, from one champion to another. Focusing on the words ''Status, Inventory and Skill Tree'' will allow you to ess system functions.


    You might have a skill avable, as you''re all Ascended Rank already.


    Don''t forget those words, as you''ll need them in the future as you gain power." They all muttered the words and got distracted for a few minutes, then the female Orc''s armour turned to a full ck suit of te mail with a new Greatsword.


    "Death Knights get unholy equipment. This is pretty cool. I even got special attack skills." She exined.


    "Good, good. If you''ve got a few skills from your ss, and new gear that you can just summon back when it gets damaged, you should be a great champion of the tribe. Even if the others be warriors, few will be able topete with the powers of a Death Knight."


    The other Orcs were too busy celebrating their new powers to even notice her outfit changed.


    So, Ophelia used a w to flip open the reward crate.


    [All loot has been auto-assigned to eligible members.]


    The chest disappeared, and Karl smiled at the Orcs. "Check your inventory, there should be a reward there. You can show your friends or keep it a secret, the dungeon gave it just to you. There is likely money as well, but I don''t know how your tribe deals with that."


    The Orcsughed. "What do Orcs need coins for? Orcs share food, but the only other items we are allowed we must earn ourselves with our own effort, or make with our own hands."


    Lotus gave them a curious look. "So, you don''t trade for anything but food?"


    The Orcs nodded. "Getting strong by buying goods that the other species make is cheating. That''s not real strength. But these dungeon rewards, we earned that ourselves. Even if the hidden powers warrior helped.


    We get it now, why you didn''t just fight everything from the start. You wanted us to earn a reward, so we had more to go home with. You are a wise man, Warrior Karl."


    Behind Karl, four sets of eyes rolled at the same time. He wasn''t being brilliant, he was giving them time to practice their skills because the dungeon was the best ce to gain power.

 Chapter 485 Too Loud

    Chapter 485 Too Loud


    Karl led the group out of the dungeon, and immediately wished that he had put earplugs in.


    There were now dozens of monsters surrounding the Orcish tribe, which had encircled the dungeon entrance. It was a good thing that they had parked the wagon well out of the way, as it was still intact, but the others were trying to force their way in, and Chieftain World Smasher wasn''t going to let them do that.


    At least not before his team came back out, and perhaps not before his whole n had gone inside.


    Chieftain World Smasher smiled at Karl when he saw the teame out.


    "Was it worth it?"


    Karl nodded and moved to whisper to the Orc. "It will activate a system interface for everyone whopletes the dungeon, but you need at least one or two powerful Commanders and a healer to actually do it."


    The Chieftain nodded, then began shouting something in Orcish. Groups of ten began to back away from the defensive lines, running into the dungeon entrance, while the other forces howled in rage.


    "Should I talk to them? I think we can arrange for everyone to get a shot." Karl offered.


    "After the Yellow Tusk n. We earned this ce. If it is going to close, we will be the ones to use it." N?v(el)B\\jnn


    Karl nodded and took his ce beside the Chieftain with the others who had finished their run, then stepped forward to be in between the Orcs and the leaders of the other factions.


    "The Yellow Tusk Orcs received this anomaly as a Divine Blessing from the gods after an appeal for mercy. Once they have sent their warriors, the Dungeon will be free for anyone else to enter. Chieftain World Breaker gives his word that he won''t block ess after all his people have entered." Karl announced.


    The three Demons and an Ogre that were standing closest to him gave Karl a skeptical look, but the Orcs were already pouring into the dungeon portal ten at a time, giving the portal only a short break between entries.


    "That Anomaly won''tst forever, why should a tribe full of stupid Orcs get it. Let us in, or we will let ourselves in." The Ogre demanded.


    "If you could do that, you wouldn''t be here facing off with the Chieftain. One hour is all that it will take, and the Orcs will be back out."


    "Get out the way. We''re gonna kill anything between us and the dungeon." One of the Demons insisted.


    "Human, this is an Orc fight. If they want to try, let them try." Chieftain World Breaker insisted.


    "Alright. I will take my team back to our wagon, and we will be out of the way."


    That was perfect. Karl could retreat without it looking like he was abandoning the Orcs, and they had already sent most of their people inside, so it was only the Chieftain and a small group of warriors, including the ones that had juste out, that would be fighting.


    The battle would be long finished, one way or the other, by the time the otherspleted the dungeon run.


    The crowd parted to let Karl and his team out, and then began to form a circle around the Chieftain and his challengers.


    Unfortunately for World Breaker, he had missed one vital detail. With his warriors in a circle around the contest, and most of his n inside the Dungeon, there was no longer anyone guarding the portal, and sneaky groups of ten were beginning to make their way inside before the fight between champions had even started.


    Soon, the others would realize that the dungeon was not copsing, as the device appeared to have worked to stabilize its existence, and the entrance looked nearly identical to the one in the Golden Dragon Nation.


    The only question was if there was some sort of limit on daily use or number of people inside, as this dungeon had no problem with multiple groups entering.


    It was distracting enough that nobody tried to stop Karl as they went to the wagon, and nobody said a word as he hitched Thor back up and prepared to leave.


    In fact, by the time that he was ready, there were so few people outside that Karl wasn''t sure that anyone had even noticed. The few that were still outside were watching the duel between Chieftain World Smasher and one of the Demons, which was still apparently in its early stages, as the two were close to evenly matched when fighting without weapons.


    That couldn''t be a coincidence. If they had actually wanted to kill the Orcs and take over the Dungeon, they could have with the numbers they still had outside, but they were fighting an unarmed duel for the dungeon, while both of their forces were already inside it.


    The whole thing was a bit ridiculous, Karl thought as he turned Thor south towards the city. Once they made it to Halsearing, it would be unlikely that anyone would associate them with whatever was going on with the anomaly, if anyone even cared to look now that it was stable.


    They had a few hours of travel by wagon to make it back to the city limits, but already Hawk was seeing groups of monsters headed their way.


    A group of trolls turned their way, led by a massive Mountain Troll, four metres tall, with skin that looked like cracked granite. They all looked like they were from the same n, but some were much smaller, near human sized, and some were hardlyrger than Cara, but didn''t seem to be children.


    Perhaps they were, Karl wasn''t an expert on Troll biology, but the size didn''t scale with their strength. Some of the small ones were Commanders.


    A roughly human sized troll with the granite skin of this tribe stopped in front of Thor as Karl brought the wagon to a stop.


    Everyone was on edge, and they all had weapons out, but it was obvious that the trolls wanted to talk.


    "Did you see a Dungeon?" The troll asked, struggling with the human words.


    "No. But there is a big fight behind us. Follow our tracks and you will see it. That might be the dungeon, if there is one in the area." Karl suggested.


    The troll nodded once, then the whole group started running. They even picked up the little ones so they could make better time.


    That was a signal for the groups behind them, who took off running after the trolls, and the ones behind them, who thought those groups had discovered something.


    After an hour of follow the leader, another of the groups, made up of violet skinned demons, ran up to the wagon to talk to them.


    "Did you pass by the dungeon?" The Demon asked.


    "I assume so. There is a huge fight going on a couple of hours back. Everyone is going wild about whatever is there, and honestly, I want nothing to do with it. If it''s still there next week, I mighte back and take a look."


    The Demonughed. "If it''s still there next week, we can count ourselves fortunate, but I doubt that the situation will have gotten any better. Have you got anything to trade?"


    Karl shook his head. "Thest we had was a bunch of dried salmon that we traded to the Yellow Tusk Orcs. How much further to the city? With all this chaos, I don''t want to be out here tonight."


    "It''s a half hour away, but the sun has already set. The gates are locked for the night. There is a campground outside the city, but I would stay here. It''s safer."

 Chapter 486 Overnighter

    Chapter 486 Overnighter


    As they weren''t following a trail, there was no reason to pull off or move anywhere, except next to a stand of trees to block the wind and give them somewhere to hang hammocks.


    The weather was warm here in the afternoon, but it was getting cold quickly in the evening, and Karl realized that perhaps just setting up in the trees might not be the mostfortable option.


    He had [ming Body] to keep himself warm, but it was still better to create a tent and have a proper sleep.


    There was one in all the supplies that the Elves had gathered for him, and Karl considered taking it out, but Rae was already on her way to the trees to make them something.


    She wasn''t going all out today so that they could easily pack it up in the morning and not leave one of her glorious constructs for strangers she didn''t even like. So, what she came up with was a ring of silk wall around a group of trees and a hanging sheet over the top, with fresh hammocks hung inside around a fire pit.


    That would be more than enough, and they could have roast meat in the morning.


    Cara was right, it really was the best way to have it, and it wouldn''t take long. The wagon was left beside the clearing, and Thor returned to his space to nap in his pond and recharge for the high chance he would get to meet new people tomorrow. That left the others to gather firewood, while Rae set up a perch in the trees to observe anything that might attempt to approach them.


    She could still see that there were groups headed towards the dungeon, even now that the sun was down, and it was almost fully dark. There weren''t any more leaving the city as far as she could see, and the ones that were moving were already set on their path, so she had high hopes for a quiet night.


    There were a number of small creatures that she wasn''t familiar with, so she had also set up weak webs through the stand of trees to catch some for examination. Just a little something to help her pass the time as she waited for the sun toe back up and the clerics to make breakfast.


    However, impatience won out in the end, and when Karl woke up in the morning, there was a freshly stoked fire going, with skewers full of meat arranged around it, and an excited Cara running between them to rotate the sticks, so none of the sides got overcooked.


    Lotus smiled at the scene. "I guess that''s our cue to make the breakfast side dishes. Thank you, Cara, and whoever else helped with breakfast."


    [There are more trollsing our way. I think that they see the wagon.] Rae informed Karl as he stood to stretch his muscles.


    [How long do we have?] [Ten minutes or so. The meat should be ready before then.] Rae replied with an overtone of pleasure that nobody would be trying to steal her hard work.


    "We''ve got iing in ten minutes. It shouldn''t be any trouble, but be prepared." Karl warned the others.


    [Thor, you might as well make your way out of the trees to your wagon. We will hook you upter.]


    The Cerro had already eaten, but he grabbed the pile of magically created feed that Tessa had set aside for him and tossed it into the pile in his space as he went to wait by his wagon.


    He would have plenty of time to dump it on the ground and snack while he waited, and if he were right, it would help build the image of them being a normal merchant group, who actually had to set camp, carry feed for their Cerro, and worry about night attacks.


    Karl had just finished his oatmeal and roasted tree lizard, courtesy of Rae, when Thor gave him the two-minute warning, to make his way out to meet their guests.


    Most creatures would be able to see the iing monsters now, so Karl didn''t have to worry about giving away his abilities when he walked out to greet them.


    He noticed that the Trolls carried their weapons openly, perhaps because they didn''t have any sort of ess to the system to let the weapons bond. But like the others, the leader of the group drew his weapon even as he waved an otherwise friendly hello.


    It seemed that was some sort of tradition among the locals, so Karl took out his maul and slung it over his shoulder as he moved twenty metres toward them and waited.


    That was far enough that they wouldn''t easily be able to reach the others, who were still finishing their morning meal.


    "Greetings merchant. Do you know the way to the Dungeon? It should be in this direction." The leader of the group asked.


    "Go straight north, following the trails. There were dozens of groupsst night headed that way. When we went by, there was a huge fight at the three standing stones on a hill. That should be where the dungeon is.


    We kept moving, but when you get close, it should be impossible to miss that many people.


    Nobody hase back at all, so it has to still be active. If it wasn''t, they would have given up by now."


    The troll''s face twisted into a grim smile. "Or them they all dead."


    Karl chuckled. "At least one fast runner should havee byst night if that was the case. One sneaky sort always gets away."


    The troll shook his head. "Not like that. It could be that everyone goes in, and nobodyes out."


    Karl nodded in understanding. "That could be. But some groups had champions stronger than I am. If it''s that dangerous, then isn''t it a really good thing?"


    The troll made a genuineugh, as did his teammates. "Good things only count if you live long enough to enjoy them. If whatever is in the dungeon is strong enough to kill a Monarch Rank Champion, the big bosses will tear everything apart fighting over it.


    All them Overlords fighting over a dungeon? We won''t have a city left. It''s too close to the fight."


    It was nearly forty kilometres away, but the troll had a point. If it was an Overlord rank Dungeon, every nation on the continent would be here tearing the country apart to im it for themselves.


    The opportunity to have even a few trips through and load up on Overlord Rank equipment was far too valuable.


    Even being low Commander Rank, like the one in the Golden Dragon Nation, they would be going insane soon trying to get Commander Rank items and awaken system users.


    "You''re still going to go, even knowing that everyone will be fighting over it?" Karl asked.


    The group leader nodded and smiled. "Trolls work together. If there are more trolls, we will join them."


    "Oh, I should have thought of that. There was arge group of Granite Trolls, maybe? Rock Trolls of some sort, anyhow. They passed us near darkst night. They should be there now, assuming nothing happened to them."


    The Troll gave Karl a sloppy salute and then motioned for his team to get moving again.


    Tessa waited for them to leave, then came out of the camp. "You know, I expected monsters to be more... I don''t know. Monstrous, maybe?"


    Karl nodded. "I know what you mean. Perhaps it''s because we''ve been meeting Orcs and Trolls? The Ogres and Giants that we have such an issue with at home could just be that much more violent. Or perhaps there is something different here in their own territory?"n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

 Chapter 487 Last Leg

    Chapter 487 Last Leg


    The others quickly packed the camp and piled it in the wagon to useter. If nothing else, they could use the cloth as a prop to make it look like they were an average travelling group.


    It was obvious now that being able to store items in a separate space was a rare ability, and travelling withoutrge amounts of supplies made them stand out.


    That might change soon, with the Dungeon here. But for now, they would have to be careful.


    They also didn''t know who could be awakened by the Dungeon. They had heard from the Beast Clerics that thest time this happened, the continent was left behind because they only got Common Grade dungeons with the system active, and that wouldn''t awaken the system in anything powerful.


    This one could alsoe with caveats, even if it was Commander Rank. If it didn''t want to awaken every species that went in, there could be unintended side effects and a massive power struggle.


    But Tessa also remembered that the ones awakened by the Dungeons weren''t able to advance past that pointst time. There was a chance that species with higher potential might get very little out of it, if it didn''t give them anything more than an inventory and skills that were worse than what they had already.


    It would be insane to stick around and find out, though. "What are we going to do in Halsearing once we get there?" Tessa asked Karl as they watched the trolls run off into the distance.


    "I say that we pick up some trade goods and turn ourselves into proper merchants. We can im any destination that we want for you and Lotus, and if the wagon is loaded with trade goods, we have an excuse to go to any city we want." Karl suggested.


    "So, no hiding or borate schemes, just trading random goods until we get to a safe border?"


    Karl nodded. "I think it''s going to work. See how everyone has reacted to us so far? As long as they thought that we were merchants, they didn''t really care what we were doing." n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om


    "It would be better if we could actually disguise the rest of the team. Travelling with so many women in a nation that keeps ves is a dangerous proposition." She sighed.


    "Do you think that we should hire more guards? Like, actual hired guards." Karl asked.


    "And have to hide who we are and what we''re doing all the time? No, thanks. Hopefully, Remi''s bodyguards are enough. If yours hade out the same, it would have been better, but with you calling a pair ofmias, that''s just more females."


    There wasughter from behind them as Ophelia came out of the camp with an armload of cloth. "He''s got that sort of luck. I''m surprised that the bodyguards didn''te out as smaller copies of Remi, to be honest. We''ve got most of the camp packed now, so we can leave whenever. Do we have a n?"


    Karl nodded. "We''re going to sell the gear we got from the Orcs, then reload the wagon with trade goods and head out of town on one of the major roads. I don''t think that it matters much, one runs east, one goes northeast, and they both head near a safe border.


    We just need to trade where we stop to keep up the appearances, and we''re good to go."


    Ophelia nodded, then loaded the supplies in the wagon.


    "Alright, we will trust you. How long do you think that it will take to get out of the country that way?"


    Karl thought of the map, and the distances that they had managed to cover each day with Thor pulling the wagon.


    "A full week of travel, so likely close to two weeks with trade and rest days. It looks suspicious for a merchant group to be in too big of a hurry if the town is safe, so we will likely stop at a few of the towns along the way.


    If we go up to Berwickham, that''s two or maybe three days. Then we can go east into Northesia, which is human controlled. Then east across their territory to take a short ship ride to the south coast of home, sailing past the Wilds.


    Or we could take a bit of an ovend detour and go through the beastkin nation, headed for Whiton temple.


    There are no roads for that route, but with theke, it would be very hard to get lost."


    Ophelia frowned, and Tessa took out a small map as Karl described the routes. "The other option would be to head north after Berwickham, and go cross-country to the Divine Beast Nation, where we would have to circle around the Mountain Giants to go home.


    Or, I suppose that we could go to Lutonade and try to pay off a Captain to take us all the way home, but that is even more risky than walking across a nation of monsters."


    The look on everyone else''s faces said that was the veryst option that they were willing to try, and only after every other option had failed to get them out of the country. The Captains had already tried to capture them once, so just turning up at their home base didn''t seem like a great n.


    "Alright then. We''ve got cash from the bandit clearing, so we at least have local currency, and the items from the Orcs to trade. Does anyone want to stay here a day? Or do you want to get on the road as soon as we''ve finished our business?" Karl asked.


    "I think that we should get on the road today. We can take a bit of time for lunch, but we should get out of town before more nationse for the festivities. Orthos warned us that they would be there not long after the event, and they are likely to be looking for us on the description of those who were there. They might not know that we stabilized the dungeon, but they are likely to guess that we gained a treasure from being the first group through, especially if the Orcs are dead and no treasure was recovered." Tessa suggested.


    Dana frowned under her mask. She hadn''t thought about that. Dungeons usually gave a big reward for the first clearance, but they hadn''t seen anything notable.


    Or perhaps they had gotten it, but because it went straight into their inventory, they just hadn''t paid enough attention. She could almost guarantee that Karl hadn''t even looked at what was in his inventory after they left.


    Karl realized that everyone was looking at him, but he wasn''t sure why. They were all on the same page with the n, so why was he getting that look?


    It didn''t matter much. They were all loaded up now, and he just had to hook up Thor so that they could head out.


    "Alright, everyone on board and in position. Let''s get this show on the road."


    The Golems moved to the back, and the pair of bodyguards took their ce on the sideboards, while everyone else entered from the back as Karl and Rae finished the work with Thor''s harness.


    It was wagon time, and Thor hardly let Karl get on the wagon, much less seated, before he was on the move, headed for where Hawk said the road into the city was.

 Chapter 488 Halsearing

    Chapter 488 Halsearing


    The mood in Halsearing was clear even as they pulled up to the gates an hourter.


    It looked like the entire city was in the streets, and Karl''s sensitive ears could hear the dozens of species of monsters talking about a new anomaly outside of town. Word was that the town''s prophet has foreseen that the Nomadic Tribes would bring a war band to the location, which had put the whole city into a panic, thinking that the Nomadic Tribes were going to go to war against the region in order to im the dungeon for themselves.


    They might, but somehow, Karl couldn''t see the Orc tribes working well together, much less with other species of nomads. If he had to guess, what they had seen was most likely just Chieftain World Smasher and his n meeting with him at the dungeon.


    Karl pretended that the reins were actually for controlling, but actually used them to rub the Cerro''s back as they pulled to a stop in front of the gate guards.


    "Wee to Halsearing. What is your business?" The guard demanded.


    "I have armour to trade, purchased from the nomads. Then I need to supplies to take to Oakhamping." Karl replied, referring to a Troll controlled city about a day up the main road, headed northeast.


    "Alright. Be careful not to run anyone over. There are many children in the street today with all the chaos."


    "What chaos? News of war, or famine?" Karl asked.


    That was a rtively normal question for a merchant. It would change what they wanted to buy here, as the value of their trade goods would change based on where and when they sold them.


    "Something is going on north of town in the wilderness. The Big Troll''s office says that there might be a fight."


    So, this city was also troll controlled. That exined the number of them headed out toward the dungeon.


    They didn''t appear to be the majority of the poption, though. There were humans, demons, dozens of smaller species of monsters, and even a few beastkin visible in the crowd.


    Most of the misshapen bodies were impossible for Karl to identify, as there was no listing of them in the books he had read. But at least some of them were familiar.


    The lizard species made up nearly half of the monsters in town. Naga, Lamia, Lizard folk, Crocolisks. Those were all species that were in his textbooks when he did his familiarization with monster and beast species.


    There were some that preferred to be on two feet, some on four or more, and a few human headed chimeras that everyone was giving a wide berth.


    Karl led Thor through the street at a slow walk, giving everyone time to get out of the way.


    It wasn''t working well.


    The kids kept running up to pat the Cerro before being grabbed by parents to avoid being trampled, and the Naga Warriors had been propositioned at least a dozen times in the first two minutes.


    Karl was not an expert in Naga physiology, and he didn''t speak serpent, but apparently the warriors were considered the peak of their species.


    In his mind, Remi wasughing hysterically. The bodyguards were intelligent, and could answer back, but they were mission-driven just as much as the Golems were. They wouldn''t even consider leaving their post, and it was breaking hearts left and right. n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om


    [The four armed Naga are the Royals and the most powerful of warriors. Having a child with one of them would strengthen the bloodline of lesser lineages for a dozen generations.] Remi exined after a few minutes of watching the locals hit on her guards.


    Karl eventually found an armourer with a hot forge and mostly empty shelves. That seemed like a good spot to start trying to make a sale.


    "Wait here, I will go talk with the armour smith." He exined as he moved Thor to the side of the road.


    Dana and Ophelia moved to stand on the front corners of the wagon with their weapons at the ready, hung from their hips. Only the asional local gave them more than a single look. Guards protecting a merchant wagon was possibly the most normal thing that they had seen or heard today. It was a relief to everyone, and almost made them forget that this was a city full of monsters that were far from being on friendly terms with their home.


    The armourer was a Lizardman, and Karl realized that he might have made a mistake. He didn''t know if that species could speak themonnguage.


    "I have a number of armour items for sale, traded by the Yellow Tusk Orcs. Are you interested?" Karl asked.


    The lizardman hissed in response.


    [He says he doesn''t give a damn where you got them, it won''t improve the price.]


    "Fine, do you want to buy armour? All awakened and Ascended Rank magic items." Karl replied.


    The armourer looked shocked that Karl had understood him and gestured for him to bring it in.


    Karl stepped back out and grabbed the loot, which he dropped on the counter.


    The lizardman''s eyes lit up with excitement, a faint glow of magic as excess power flowed to them as the monster focused.


    He spoke and Remi tranted. [He wants to know what you want for them.]


    "I will take coins, or trade items that the Trolls of Oakhamping need. What do you have in stock?" The armourer nodded, then vanished into a back room.


    He came back out with a bundle of tools and crystals that Rae was instantly interested in.


    [He says they''re the favourites of the trolls. The crystals help them use magic, and the trolls aren''t good at tool making.]


    "Three more of the earth type crystals, and we have a deal." Karl offered.


    The lizardman frowned and held up two fingers.


    "Fine, two more."


    He brought out two more, and greedily scooped up the armour to take back to his forge to alter for use by other species.


    Karl scooped the gems into his inventory, then picked up the bundle of tools.


    "It''s been a pleasure doing business with you." The tools took up most of the centre of the wagon, making them look like proper merchants again. Karl hopped up into the driver''s seat, and Ophelia returned to the wagon, taking a seat at the back, while Dana sat beside Karl in the morning sun.


    "What do you think? With all this chaos, should we get lunch before we go, or should we grab something to eat outside the city limits?" Karl asked.


    "There is a street market between us and the other exit from town. We should drive through there and pick up a few things. It might be a security risk to get out of the wagon, but it should be worth it to spend a bit of time shopping." Dana suggested.


    "Alright, let''s head over. I will wait with the wagon, you all take the security with you. Hawk and I should be plenty to guard the goods."


    Karl called Hawk out, so the sudden appearance of the bird didn''t startle people at the market. The addition of the Royal Rank Dragonhawk should be enough to discourage all but the boldest of thieves, even if they weren''t afraid of Karl and Thor.


    The monsters should be able to sense general power level the way that Karl did, even if most of them discounted him as human and attributed the power they felt to one of the others.

 Chapter 489 Market Stop

    Chapter 489 Market Stop


    The entrance to the market was a wide street, enough for six wagons to pass, or four with two rows of them parked near the buildings.


    That was where Karl stopped Thor, at the edge of the market, in a quieter section close to a small group of clothing vendors surrounded by baked goods. That would distract thedies for a while, and they wouldn''t have to go too far from the wagon, so if either group got in trouble, they could send reinforcements.


    If Karl sent over Remi with herst bodyguard, the two Lamia and Rae''s Golems, they shouldn''t have any trouble at all dealing with whatever was bothering thedies. Thor was too nervous to let them out of his sight without a barrier anyhow. [You say that like I''m being paranoid. But what if they get tired, or sprain an ankle, or the straps from the shopping bags dig into their hands?] Thor countered.


    [You have a point. It''s better to be safe than sorry. Just keep the barrier at a low level so they don''t rm people with a powerful active skill while they''re shopping.]


    The Cerro needn''t have worried about the shopping because only a few minutester, one of the Naga Warriors was headed back with a whole load of baked goods. It just silently dropped the goods on the seat beside Karl and rushed back to its position, clearly unhappy about having been made a messenger.


    It did rx the clothing vendors that were closest to Karl. Sending back loads of shopping before going on a long trip was expected. With a group like theirs, they would go through a lot of food, and a merchant had enough money not to have to survive on base travel rations and jerky.


    They had been gone half an hour when sudden movement caught Karl''s attention, and a plume of fire burst from the back of the wagon as a cursing homeless man went running down the street with singed gloves. N?v(el)B\\jnn


    He must have reached into the back of the wagon to steal the pies and earned Hawk''s ire.


    Karl heard theughter from the merchants closest to his wagon, and the jeweller who had stepped out of his shop to have a smoke.


    A merchant wagon stopped on the street beside Karl, and a small group of guards got off to do their shopping while the wagon blocked a bit more of the road, as the curb was all full already.


    "Morning." Karl greeted the wingless green demon.


    "Morning. I don''t suppose you have a buyer for an entire barrel of cooking oil. Decent quality, but not premium. My buyer rejected it." He asked.


    "I will trade you a barrel of low-quality Rum for it. It was supposed to go to the coast, but they turned it down as well."


    Karl actually had a few barrels left, but nobody in his group really drank alcohol.


    "I will make that deal. Barrel for barrel. Where are you headed next?"


    "To go see the Trolls." The other merchant nodded in understanding, and nodded at the barrel in his open wagon.


    "Once the guards get back, they can give us a hand."


    Karl chuckled and grabbed the rum barrel. "Here. I''ll trade you."


    He handed it over and grabbed the oil to take its ce.


    Who would need fifty gallons of cooking oil, he didn''t know. But it seemed like the sort of thing that he should be able to sell.


    The demon looked suspicious as he grabbed the barrel, then confused as he failed to lift it.


    "Yeah, it''s a bit hefty. But I''m stronger than I look. You can sample a bit if you''d like. The rum isn''t terrible, but it''s not fit for a sailor." Karl suggested.


    The Demon smiled, and pulled the top bung to dip a long handled spoon inside and take a sip, then wheeze a little as his eyes watered.


    "Well, it''s not too weak for a sailor. The vour also isn''t the worst I''ve tasted. I could likely sell that to the Naga. They aren''t as picky about liquor as long as it''s strong. Pleasure doing business with you."


    The scent that it gave off was harsh, and Karl wondered if it was actually intended to be paint stripper, not an ingested liquid. But if he had a buyer for it, that was fine.


    Thedies came back with full arms and two very annoyed looking Naga Warriors, who were still attractingdies from all the lizard species. "One more stop to look at new clothes, and we will be ready to go. We''ve got all the supplies we need for the week." Tessa exined as they unloaded.


    "Why does it smell like burnt hair?" Ophelia asked as they moved goods to the back of the wagon.


    "Hawk caught someone trying to steal the pie."


    The merchantdiesughed at Karl''s deadpan answer, and ryed the story to the shoppers who were currently at their stalls, with a much more entertaining plot than the original.


    In their version, it was nearly dragon fire erupting from the wagon, scaring away the other wagon animals and lighting the jeweller''s pipe for him. The thief had also been an evil looking man with his hair on fire, not a middle-aged homeless guy with his gloves scorched.


    Tessa and Lotus both picked out a few items, and Ophelia found a long coat that she could wear in Werebear form. Staying in that form had to be annoying, as she was hiding her true self, but it was safer. She looked good in the coat though, like a proper bodyguard, and the merchants were very impressed with the look.


    "You are a long way from home, why don''t you try these as well? If you''re going to be in the south, you should try everything the south has to offer, right?" One of the clothing merchants suggested.


    They must think that she was from the north side of the country near the Divine Beast Nation, which would put her over a thousand kilometres from home, which was a rare thing in a nation without motor vehicles.


    By the time that they made it back to the carriage, Tessa and Lotus both had multiple new outfits, and Ophelia had a new coat, pants and an ornately tooled weapon belt with bears worked into the surface, made of some sort of Commander Rank hide.


    She almost looked like one of the Pirate Captains, minus the hat. But it suited her, and she blended in with the locals much better now that she had most of her armour hidden under cloth.


    Karl just hoped that the items bonded, or they would notst through the first battle. A berserker was hard on clothes at the best of times, and she wouldn''t always have time to strip her decorative clothes off before fighting.


    Rae was thinking the same thing, and already making ns to decorate Opheliater.


    This outfit looked good, and if it was made of her silk, it could be equipped over her armour, so it would vanish into her storage with a thought. Regr clothes had to be taken off before they could be stored, and that was far too much of a hassle.


    Come to think of it, she could decorate Karl as well. Maybe everyone could have matching coats to show that they belonged to Rae.


    That would be good. Her Dana liked her outfit.

 Chapter 490 Leave Town

    Chapter 490 Leave Town


    Rae started to n her next round of creations as the rest of the team got ready to move out. The wagon was nearly full now, with just enough room tofortably sit as Karl got Thor moving, so the other wagon could take their spot along the curb.


    "This is a different keg. Did you buy something?" Dana asked as she settled in to watch the road ahead.


    "Yeah. I traded Rum for cooking Oil. Apparently, the Naga will drink what the beasts sent us. The trolls should need cooking oil, and if not them, someone along the way will need cooking oil."


    Dana shrugged in eptance. The deal was made, and it didn''t actually matter what the goods were worth, as they were only trading as a cover to get across the country.


    The guards didn''t even look at them as they left the city gates, headed northeast. It would bring them rather close to the site of the battle, within ten kilometres. But they would be on a well travelled main road, and at least this portion was an actual stone roadway.


    That shouldn''t raise any suspicions.


    The clerics changed into new dresses, colourful ones in the local style, but still predominantly in their god''s colours. Now the rest of the team blended in, but Karl was wearing the armour from [Bestial Raiment] which cameplete with a Darklight Host tabard.


    That wasn''t exactly subtle or nondescript.


    Everyone that they met would probably be able to describe him and Thor, so if they didn''t want anyone to be able to track them back to the incident, it would be much better if they could disguise him somehow.


    "Hey, I have an idea. Why don''t we disguise Thor and Karl? There should be a good way to make Thor less noticeable, and Karl is easy." Lotus suggested.


    "Oh, how do you n to disguise me?" "We will have Rae make you a coat, and then you can keep Brutality active to make you big. You''re bigger with that skill active than Ophelia is as a Werebear without it. You have to be two and a half metres tall with it. Nobody would question you if you said you were half troll if you hid your face."


    Remi had just the thing for that. [I can make you a mask, and Hawk can cure the y and melt metal over it. Then with one side of your face hidden, and your beard growing, you should look more like a monster.]


    "Remi thinks that we can do something about hiding the face. If I have a coat to go over my armour, it should be enough to hide my identity from casual nces. But how will we disguise Thor? He''s a Lightning Cerro." Karl reminded them.


    [I can do that too. I have all the ingredients.] Remi announced proudly.


    "Never mind. Remi thinks she can disguise him as well, somehow." Karlughed. n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om


    Dana giggled, "I''m looking forward to finding out what she thinks will hide Thor."


    Karl thought about the abilities that he had, wondering what he could use to disguise his usual fighting style.


    He didn''t want anyone linking their presence to the Royal Rank Elite named Karl from the Golden Dragon Nation, even if he hadn''t been thinking far enough ahead to make up a road name.


    Disintegration would only be well known to the Pirates, so that should be fine. But he hadn''t done much fighting here, so even the Orcs wouldn''t know much.


    As long as he avoided the Chain Lightning and Blizzardbo that him and Remi were famous for, or made it look like it was all Remi, even most of the government sorts wouldn''t put it together, as everyone had her recorded as a Spirit Snake, not a Naga Queen.


    "Oh, we can make you look like our group''s tank! I think I have a shield in here, and you can use that Maul one-handed, or a sword." Ophelia added.


    "You all seem to be enjoying this a lot." Karl chuckled.


    [I have a coat for you.] Rae agreed.


    It was ck silk, woven to be rough like leather, and full length like a duster, but double-breasted like the Pirate Captain coats, split up the back for mobility, and she had even woven wind element shiny stones into it to emte the silver buttons on the Captain coats.


    Karl put the coat on, and his armour immediately adjusted. It gave him a visage mask for his helmet that looked like a ck demon face, and Karl found that he could remove the helmet and keep the mask.


    "That skill is so handy, always adjusting to the appearance it thinks I need." [Now I don''t get to make you a mask, though. That''s fine, I will start on makeup for Thor.]


    That was a disturbing thought, but Remi was really into it, mixing ground nts, y, some dirt and crushed magical stones into a paste.


    It was turning into a consistency that looked like boot polish, but Remi kept referring back to one of her books, and she looked incredibly proud of herself.


    [Ha, I did it. This should work. Shadowbranch paste. Take some of that and draw war paint on Thor''s face.]


    Karl stopped the wagon and did as instructed, drawing wide fingered stripes down Thor''s ridge and across the side of his face. Then he stepped back to admire his handiwork, as Thor now had war paint.


    Then the effect spread until Thor waspletely ck, not glossy but t ck and non-reflective.


    "That''s impressive. Where did thate from?" Dana asked.


    "Apparently it''s something that Remi can make. I can see the instructions when I examine Shadowbranch nts in her space. It should make him look like this until he washes it off, or until he returns to his space, as it is unlikely to go with him if he doesn''t want it to." Karl exined.


    He had the [Identification] skill, but there were so many nts that he had never bothered to go through them all, looking for possiblebinations that might make something useful. Remi was better with his skill than Karl was, he was quite certain.


    But it was just a Common Grade disguise spell, not some powerful mixture to help them advance, which was what Karl had been trying to find every time that he had gone through their stuff before.


    It was possible that he had missed all sorts of little things because he simply didn''t know to look for them. When they got back, he would leave Remi with Morgana for a while to see if she had a knack for Alchemy. She did like making things, and it wasn''t just sculptures for her totems.


    Rae wasn''t particrly impressed with the versatility of the paste, her adaptive silk could hide you much more effectively. But being able to just turn Thor ck was a great disguise. Now he didn''t look like a Lightning Cerro at all, just some sort of regr Cerro.


    "Alright, now we''re mostly disguised. This should be good enough for now, though I''m not certain that I can get the same mask back again after I dismiss the armour to wash." Karl informed the group.


    [So I do get to make a mask. Hawk, find some metal, I will make something out of y for you to coat.] Remi cheered.


    [Alright. You could likely just paint it, though.] Hawk reminded her.


    [Maybe. We will see when I''m done. But I want you to bake it with fire.]

 Chapter 491 Traffic Jam

    Chapter 491 Traffic Jam


    The road was bing busier by the minute, to the point that by noon, it almost felt like they were back in the city, with a wagon caravan passing every minute or two. There shouldn''t be that many people in the cities nearby, ording to the maps that Bruse Temple had shown them. They had seen hundreds of merchants just this morning, and there should have only been a few thousand people in the fifty-kilometre radius around the city. Certainly, not enough to need this many merchants. N?v(el)B\\jnn


    In fact, there shouldn''t be that many people with merchant as a trade in the entire region.


    Then, suddenly, there were no more merchant wagonsing.


    [Hawk, what is going on out there? Was it just a morning rush?] Karl asked.


    If it was some sort of regional event, like a major market day, it might exin all the people on the road.


    [There are more stopped in the distance. I don''t know what they''re up to. Oh, I see it now. There are Orcsing from the east. If you keep going, we should meet up with them.]


    Hawk didn''t see any reason to fear Orcs. They had been quite pleasant every time he had seen them, and they didn''t use water magic at all. Not even one little bit.


    Karl kept the wagon rolling. If they were going to get dyed, it might as well be chatting with the Orcs, not waiting for an entire tribe to pass by. They were nearly in front of the Orcish tribe when their scouts reached the road.


    "You''re a merchant?" The young Orcish man asked.


    Karl nodded. "We have mostly tools for the Trolls, farming tools. We''ve got a bit of cleric made food as well, if your tribe wants a trade." "Wait here. Chief Nantucket will speak with you."


    Karl nodded, and behind him, he felt the surge of power as the clerics started to make the promised food.


    They were creating dry rice and beans, which would keep for a long time, along with some fresh vegetables and a single pie. They had hidden the rest, but they left out one of the sweet potato pies from the market and even heated it so it would still seem fresh, even after being in the wagon all morning.


    The Chief and his group were already running their way as Karl stopped the wagon and climbed down to greet them.


    "Chief Nantucket. I am Karl." He extended his hand, and the Chieftain shook it with a smile on his face.


    "The scout says that you had a Dragon Cleric make you food to trade. How much do you have?" The Orc asked.


    Karl took out the rough bup sack to set on the ground, then carefully took the pie and handed it to Nantucket. "That is a first meeting gift from me to you. Fresh from the markets in Halsearing."


    The Chieftain smiled. "Still warm. You know about Orcs."


    His tone was approving, and Karl chuckled softly.


    "That''s the same thing that Chieftain World Smasher said yesterday. His n is just west of here. The Gods granted them a dungeon trial for one of their boys who wasn''t strong enough to im his mate."


    Nantucketughed. "How can an Orc be too weak to im his mate?"


    Karl smiled and leaned in to stage whisper, as if it was a secret. "He had earned his spot as a warrior, but she very publicly called him out and then beat his ass in a wrestling trial. Quite the woman, he set his sights high."


    The Orcs that came with the Chieftain''s group were roaring withughter, and the big Orc pped Karl on the shoulder.


    "I''ve got to see that. You say he''s just west of here?"


    Karl nodded. "About fifteen kilometres, mostly west, maybe a bit southwest. I went south to the city after I traded him a hundred kilos of salmon. There will be a lot of fighters there if the dungeon is still open."


    "A big fight and an old friend? Now I do have to go. How much do you want for the food?"


    Karl heard Tessa clear her throat in the wagon. The church didn''t charge for their food.


    "It''s for you. You know how the clerics are, they share their food."


    The Orcsughed at the subtle reference to the simrity with their own customs. One of the warriors picked up the bag, while another handed Karl a folded lump of bup, presumably a recement bag.


    "It was a pleasure to meet you. May good weather and better fights be in your future." Karl added as the assistants ran back to the tribe.


    "Same to you, Merchant Karl. If our tribes cross paths again, we will drink together."


    What sort of liquor the Orcs made was a mystery to Karl, but he had visions of something almost toxic levels of potent.


    The Orcish tribe altered their path to run behind Karl, and he got Thor moving again.


    "Don''t you think that was too easy? The nomadic tribes are supposed to be feral and dangerous, but they''re even easier to get along with than the cities." Ophelia asked.


    "I think that the issue might be local, not generalized. The Orcish tribes must have an issue with either the Trolls or the other monster factions." He replied after a moment''s thought.


    "Could it be something about our group instead?" Dana asked.


    "It could be, but I don''t think that we have a way to test that."


    Karl saw a wagon caravan in the distance, and began to rx. They must be clear of the area that the locals had identified as dangerous.


    Thor moved to the side as he rolled past them, and Karl noticed that a few of the monsters guarding the wagon sniffed at the air.


    They tensed as if they were going to attack, but backed down when the Naga Warrior red at them. Karl remained silent until they were well past the stopped merchant group, then looked back at the others.


    "I think I have an idea. We might be having better luck with the Orcs because they don''t consider us food orpetition. Orcs view humans as weak, so we''re notpetitors, and they don''t want to eat us. It''s the Ogres and a few others that are most likely to be an issue for us." He exined.


    There were more wagons parked a few hundred metres behind the first group, and the driver of the lead wagon gged Karl down as they approached.


    "Did you see the nomads on your way through?" A blue skinned slender troll asked.


    "Yeah, an Orc tribe. They''re west of the road now, and headed west looking for the big fight that was the talk of the city this morning. What''s with all the traffic today?" Karl replied.


    "Dunno. Messengers called for every farmer and merchant we know to bring everything to Halsearing. It might be preparation for a siege. Are you trading with the Trolls up north?" He asked.


    Karl nodded. "I''ve got tools for them, quality ones."


    "Good call. If there is a siege, they''ll need everything they can get to keep the armies fed. It doesn''t take a genius to know that armies get hungry, and it''s easier to feed them than to fight them."

 Chapter 492 Not All Friendly

    Chapter 492 Not All Friendly


    The next few groups of Trollish farmers and merchants were simrly eager to get any news that they could, but when Karl got to a group of Ogres using oxen to pullrge carts, things began to take a turn for the worse.


    At first, it was just the same sort of posturing as thest hostile merchant group. But these ones didn''t look like sessful merchants. They were filthier than usual, even for Ogres, and looked half starved.


    When the wind shifted and blew from Karl''s wagon to theirs, bringing the scent of humans to them, they snapped and began to charge.


    "Rae, Golems." Karl called as he jumped down to meet the charge.


    Both bodyguards joined him, as well as Dana''s Golems. That should be enough to deal with the threat, and that was their n to not blow their cover as merchants. However, that n was entirely too boring for Cara, and the Void Badger was headed forbat before Karl could even tell her off.


    "Meat!" The Ogres roared as they charged toward Karl''s wagon, not even focused on him.


    The other merchants nearby, groups that had been waiting for the signal that the danger had passed, began to scatter. They didn''t want to be implicated in the fight between the Ogres and Karl''s group. Karl took out his de and hacked the first Ascended Rank Ogre clean in half, from the shoulder across the chest. But even as the two halves fell to the ground, the others didn''t stop. They were fully focused on the smell of humans, and running blindly into the des and forelimbs of the defenders.


    The battle was over in under thirty seconds, nothing more than a flurry of steel and blood. In fact, thest one fighting was Cara, who had taken offence to the existence of their cart oxen.


    "They''re dead, you can stop now." Karl reminded her.


    Cara paused and looked around. [So they are. I thought that we were going to fight?]


    Karl patted the badger on the head after shended on the Ogres'' wagon. "Not a real fight, just defending the wagon against attack. You got too excited."


    Cara sighed, then vanished into her space to get clean beforeing back out to sit with thedies in the wagon.


    [Disappointing. One out of Ten, do not rmend.]


    Rae did grab one of the oxen, though. Just in case it tasted good.


    Karl got back on the wagon and started to move again, which startled the other merchants who could see him. His team only had a few members, the fight should not have been over that quickly, but his wagon was moving again, and nothing else was.


    Just to be safe, the next one in line continued to make their detour well around the incident as Karl rolled past them.


    The merchants who were parked behind them were unconcerned. Fights between groups of monsters were amon urrence, and if you started a fight that you couldn''t win, that was your own fault.


    Groups of Ogres seemed to be rare in the region, but trolls of various sorts, as well as lizardmen and something that looked like a featherless bird walking upright, were plentiful.


    Thest one gave Hawk the creeps because they had grown weird fingers out of what used to be wing bones, unnaturally long for hands. Between that and the beaked heads with no feathers, Hawk was d that no such thing existed at home. He might have to reconsider water as his greatest enemy if someonepared him to one of those things. n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om


    Remi had a very different opinion. They looked like pre plucked chickens, and she was pretty sure they didn''t need any prep at all to eat. Thor walked past the line of merchant wagons, which were starting to move now, following the lead of those in front of them. Karl wondered how long they would have been sitting there if he hadn''t been the first one to move through. Would they have sat there all day, waiting to see who went first? Or was there some sort of estimate on how long it would take the Orcs to move past?


    Karl didn''t see any scouts, and neither did Hawk. But even with the dys, they were going to make it to the next town before dinner.


    They weren''t anywhere near the city of Oakhamping, but this appeared to be theyover point, as the town hadrge amounts of parking for merchant caravans, as well as taverns, motels and cksmiths advertising wagon repairs.


    "We will camp here for the evening. They have guards on patrol, and there are others around to help keep watch, so we won''t have to worry as much about opportunistic thieves as we might alongside the road." Karl exined.


    "That makes sense. We might be going the opposite way to everyone else, but there is safety in numbers." Dana agreed.


    That didn''t actually make much sense when everything around you could be considered an enemy, but nothing recognized Karl as a human, and they had the Naga Warriors on guard to blend in with the other Monsters.


    Most of the wagons weren''t setting up much of a camp. At best, it was a small fire for the guards to sleep around, while one of them kept watch. That was about what Karl''s team would do as well, with most of the team sleeping in the wagon, and the summons on guard. Lotus grew a small collection of firewood from the boards of the wagon using her magic, and they prepared to heat dinner. The new arrivals and their fire caught some attention from the farmers in the next group, who were sitting in the rapidly fading twilight, leaned against their wagon.


    "Would you like to join us? The heat is free, but the dinner needs a good story." Karl offered.


    The troll smiled and brought two boys over with him.


    "I think that we cane up with a story or two. Good evening, everyone. Might youdies by Dragon Clerics? You don''t smell like beast clerics, and you''re certainly not Giants."


    The troll gave them a toothy smile as the firelight flickered off the silver band on his lone remaining lower tusk. The other had been broken at some point, leaving a jagged stump a quarter of its full length that hadn''t regrown yet.


    Trolls normally regenerated quickly, but the tusks needed to be pulled to regrow, much like hair, which grew at a normal rate unless it was pulled out.


    That led to a strange phenomenon that Karl could see at another camp. One of the older trolls was actually growing a beard by shaving with a dull razor that pulled the hair out.


    Then he trimmed it to shape with a pair of scissors, except for a portion in the centre, which he braided. It was one of the strangest grooming routines that Karl had ever seen, and it made him think of the [Trollish Regeneration] skill in his skill tree.


    He could afford to get it now, or he could keep saving for some of the offensive abilities. He hadn''t been able to see them until Skill Master evolved to Rank 2. It seemed to be an oddity of the skill tree, he had to finish a tier of his core abilities before he could use more advanced secondary skills.


    He might have done better in the short term by picking the offensive tree, as he would have all those abilities by now. However, that would have left him without ess to Evolution and Skill Master.


    Those two skills were going to be essential to his team very soon.

 Chapter 493 Tier 4 Skills

    Chapter 493 Tier 4 Skills


    Tier 4 Offensive Skills ? Only One May Be Chosen


    {50pts} [Devastate] Strikes dealing more than ten percent of the target''s health do double damage.


    {50pts} [Overwhelming Presence] Causes a {Terror} type debuff that causes affected targets to be paralyzed for 5 seconds, plus 10 seconds per Rank difference between caster and target.


    {50pts} [Rampage] Every time an enemy is damaged by the Beast Master or a bonded beast, increase the damage done by the Beast Master or the bonded beast for one minute.


    There were over a dozen greyed out attack skills, which were only avable to an attack specialist Beast master, but there were three core skills that Karl could use. n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om


    [Rampage] Cara and Remi demanded at the same time.


    [Devastate] Rae insisted. She hit hard, and double damage stabbing sounded better than slowly stacking damage.


    [I want to see them pee themselves when they see us.] Hawk rmended.


    That did have a certain appeal to it. Making them too terrified to even move as they were ughtered could be interesting.


    The real problem was that they could only choose one, and it was fifty points. Karl probably didn''t have that many.


    They could most likely get [Trollish Regeneration] from the defence skills tree, though. That would be a fun skill to have.


    Bodyguards and Golems with Trollish Regeneration seemed like it would be a most excellent prank to y on people. Even after the barriers broke, and the enemy hacked a limb off, they could just pick it up and let it reattach itself.


    It would be hrious.


    Karl did his best not tough at their antics as they settled in for dinner with the Trollish farmers telling stories of mundane events on the farm. It actually made the trolls feel much more rtable, with the same concerns he had at home. Earth Mice getting into the cupboards, stoves that didn''t heat evenly, long hours and insufficient pay. Even if you were a troll, a worker was a worker. They didn''t have any of the technological items that Karl was used to, but it wasn''t all that different in lived experience.


    The older man had his boys seated slightly behind him, a precaution in case Karl''s group wasn''t actually friendly, and the trio smiled as Lotus and Tessa began adding chunks of meat and cheese from their inventory into the rice and bean stew.


    The pot would normally be too much for just the eight of them, but Trolls should have a big appetite after a long day of travelling.


    The pot that Tessa had chosen was a pressure cooker with a locking lid, and while the whistling was a bit annoying, to the trolls it was the sound of good things toe.


    Cheesy rice and beans didn''t sound all that great, Karl thought. But Lotus was happy to add spices to anything, and it came out much better than anticipated. It made a moderately spicy gumbo style stew, short on meat but thick and filling.


    The church kitchen would never serve something like that, but it proved to be a huge hit with the trolls, and Karl could see the wistful looks that those further away were giving them.


    With the stone pile around the fire pit and the Naga Warriors on guard, everyone settled in to sleep near the heat.


    Trolls were rather mmable, but they were also fond of being warm. It was a tradeoff that had to be made forfort.


    Karl''s team paired up for warmth, with Ophelia and Tessa sharing, while Lotus and Cara shared a sleeping bag.


    If anyone had noticed Cara leaving her space to join the little cleric, they hadn''t said anything about it. It would solve their wandering Lotus issues, as even if Lotus was eager to explore, Cara didn''t like moving until morning, and she would keep the inquisitive one locked in ce.


    There were dozens of merchant wagon caravans outside this small farming town, one of many along the main road, all with new cultures, stories and experiences to share. But sleep was more important, and everyone was more interested in being well rested for tomorrow''s long day than staying up all night telling stories. Amotion just before dawn caused the Naga Warriors to wake Karl and the others. They weren''t at the edge of the camp, and it didn''t sound like an imminent fight, but Karl got up and dressed anyhow, just to be safe.


    Themotion seemed to be a handful of humans with lizardmen in tattered armour who had staggered into the camp covered in blood and fading fast.


    "Tessa,e lend a hand. I think something attacked the merchants along the road." Karl whispered.


    By Tessa''s estimation, attacked was an understatement. These few survivors were merchant''s guards, and they were all horribly maimed and barely hanging on to their lives when she began her healing work.


    It was more difficult than she was used to, as some were monsters out of favour with the Dragon Gods, but that was more in the nature of her not receiving the bonuses she was used to than the Gods actively preventing her from healing them.


    The spells closed their wounds, and stopped the internal bleeding, but most of these men would never work as caravan guards again. Some were missing limbs, one most of a hand and both eyes. But that didn''t answer the question of what happened to them.


    "They should be stable now. They might not be able to tell us much until they have calmed down, but there is a troll among them, and he will be fine in a few minutes, as long as his eyes heal properly." She exined.


    The half troll gave them a weak thumbs up, and blinked his newly regenerated eyes.


    "They will be fine now. I had to scoop them out so they would heal right, and that takes time to grow back naturally. Everything was going well, and we had cut around the city to bypass all the traffic and the road pirates exacting tolls to get to the gates.


    But there was some sort of massive battle going on in the middle of nowhere, and they just attacked us without warning.


    Some massive Orc calling himself Dora The Destroyer annihted our entire caravan. We fled, and we were over five kilometres from the main battle, but they still chased us down." He exined.


    "So, it was the nomadic Orc tribes fighting?" One of the farmers asked.


    The merchant shook his head. "They were there, but there are Orcs, trolls, dragons, Minotaur herds, and I swear I saw an entire Spellde n. It''s hell, they''re going to tear the whole region apart at that rate, and it''s still spreading. I saw five more portals open as I crawled to safety."


    One of the humansying near himughed.


    "You got lucky. We weren''t even trying to get near the city. We were going cross-country from the coast and got ambushed by a Demon n. Same thing, they just came out of nowhere and started killing everyone."


    Karl nodded. "Whatever is going on there must have riled them up. I heard rumours in the city that it was a Dungeon opening, but both Orc tribes that I have met with this week were pretty reasonable."

 Chapter 494 Farmers Breakfast

    Chapter 494 Farmer''s Breakfast


    The survivors and the farmers all looked at Karl like he was insane. "You met, as in stopped and spoke with, the Orc Tribes, and you didn''t get attacked?" Karl nodded. "Yeah. We traded fish with the Yellow Tusk Orcs, and then greeted the ones south of here as they passed by the highway. Neither one of those tribes was just randomly violent."


    "Once, I can see. But twice in a week, and you''re still here to tell us about it? Are you part Orc or something?" The troll asked, sniffing the air to try to determine what Karl was.


    "They just admire his brand of insanity. He threatened to punch Chieftain World Smasher in the face if the Orc didn''t like his gift." Tessa joked.


    The farmers blinked slowly as they stared at Karl. "You should have been the one telling the evening stories, it sounds like yours are far more wild than ours. How did you even find out his name in the first ce?"


    Karl shrugged. "The scout told us. Then we had a chat, and I exined that I had trade goods. It was all quite normal as far as trades with nomadic tribes goes."


    The farmers shook their heads in dismay. "These few are what most viges look like when the nomadic tribes pass by. But then, most of them don''t have a good rtionship with the Trolls or the Demon Tribes.


    I just hope that nothinges back this way tomorrow so that we can get our supplies to the city and go back home."


    Themotion had roused the closest few groups from their beds, despite the early hour, and some of them were preparing to start on breakfast, so they could eat a hot meal and still be among the first on the road when the sun was up enough for the oxen to see.


    "Do we have a big pot? I think that our two clerics might be able to help you out with some Dragon Cleric oatmeal for breakfast." Karl offered.


    "There is one in town for the poor. I will go get it. You don''t mind, do you, Priestess?" One of the farmers asked.


    "Not at all. Feeding travellers is always good for the church, even if it''s not the faithful."


    The troll chuckled. "Well, we might not be the most faithful, but we''re not Giants to call the World Dragon and his Pantheon of allies our enemy."


    That made a number of the farmersugh, and even the Demons among the farmers smiled at his response. The Lizard folk were somewhat torn between factions, as they weren''t quite dragon descended, but they also didn''t consider themselves to be evolved frommon beasts. Their history was somewhat murky, so they normally only followed the shamanistic gods. Either the Shaman God of the Titans and Beasts, or the Green Dragon, who wasn''t actually a Shaman God, but was in tune with the elements.


    It only took a few minutes before a troll wasing back with a pot nearly a metre round, as well as a number of friends carrying firewood.


    Corded muscles under blue Trollish skin shed with ivory tusks and silver essories in the morning twilight as the trolls got to work setting up the breakfast pot.


    Cara had chased Lotus out of bed so that she could help Tessa with breakfast, and the little cleric was already hard at work rolling dough to make fresh tbread to go with the oatmeal.


    The Trolls had a wide variety of toppings for bread, apparently, as that was their usual morning travel ration on the road. So, fresh baked, instead of dried and then soaked in tea or oatmeal to make them edible would be more like home.


    Tessa casually filled the pot with oats and hot water, as it had legs on the bottom, so the fire could be built under it to bring everything to a boil.


    The bread was the hard part, but both Lotus and the farmers knew a great trick for breakfast. If you greased and heated a cast iron pan first, you could leave it sitting by the fire, on the ring of fire pit rocks, and just toss the ttened dough on it to let it cook much faster than a regr loaf in an oven. With this many groups, they had a dozen suitable pans all around the pot by the time that Karl set fire to the first batch of wood and got the heat started.


    While they were happy to stack the firewood, everyone had been reluctant to actually light the fire, an instinctive aversion to the potential of a wound they couldn''t properly regenerate. So, Karl had taken care of it with [ming Body] and the wood was crackling under the pot before an aging troll in a leather apron could even get in ce to begin stirring the oatmeal.


    Karl was a bit concerned with what it would end up tasting like, as each farmer came by to add a small handful of berries or crushed nuts to the mix. There was no method to it other than they each added a bit of what they had.


    Then, Lotus added ground cinnamon and nutmeg to the pot to give breakfast an inviting scent that drew all the remaining farmers and merchants out of bed to see who was torturing them so early in the morning.


    "There is enough to go around, and we''ve got tbread cooking as well." Tessa informed the farmers, who were giving the pot curious nces.


    From what Dana and the others could discern, this was their grand n for making it safely out of the Monster controlled territories. They were going to pretend to be merchants, and make friends across the country, if possible. There would be no reason to hide if nobody was after them.


    There was a rapidly growing stack of tbread on a small table by the pot, but with the magical assistance, and the water already hot when Tessa created it, the oatmeal wasn''t going to take long even in a cauldron thatrge.


    They were already developing a lineup, and Tessa was bing concerned that they might not have a big enough pot for everyone, but they would have to make due with what they had, or boil another pot once this one ran low.


    They didn''t have to hurry out this morning, they were going the opposite direction to everyone else. But if they did have toe back this way, a little goodwill would go a long way in ensuring that they could pass without trouble. n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om


    If they were lucky, it might even start to build them a positive reputation if they did happen toe here again.


    They were still young and fast-growing Elites, so there was a chance that more official missions might send them outside the Golden Dragon Nation, with the possibility that they might end up somewhere here in the Newbon Empire again.


    Karl was thinking that it might eventually be an official thing, as they did have good luck with foreign trips. But the others had a very different opinion on this particr side effect of hanging out with the man who had gathered too much attention from the Gods.


    As a few of the Monsters had mentioned, it was not only the World Dragon that might have taken an interest in current events.


    There had been far too many strange coincidences, and the Archbishop himself had said that the System Stones they had encountered early in their travels might have been linked to the Laughing God, and not the World Dragon.


    That ancient Deity was a curious one. Nobody really knew what he was supposed to be the God of, but every ancient legend mentioned him as a trickster, a deity that granted your wildest desires in a way that you could never have anticipated.


    He was neither good nor evil. Unlike the World Dragon, whose very existence brought stability and magic, the Laughing God simply existed for his own amusement. That alone was enough to make his attention a dangerous thing.


    Even worse, there were rumours that the Laughing God was not one of the Dragon Gods at all, but an ancient god lingering from the time of creation, even after the memory of most other primordial gods had faded. Something like the God of Magic that Karl had been named after.

 Chapter 495 Change In The Air

    Chapter 495 Change In The Air


    The increase in traffic and resultant danger along the road caused the towns to send out their guards to patrol the main road that day. They were patrolling in groups of three, all heavily armed and armoured, butpared to what the average merchant caravan had with them, it wasn''t much security.


    For one, most of the merchants had strong Commanders on guard, and for two, this was a nation full of monster species. Even the average farmer was Ascended Rank.


    The threat of bandit groups wasn''t the only danger along the road. The merchants fought with the farmers, the farmers fought the merchants, the guards extorted the weak, and everyone was on edge from the moment that Thor pulled the wagon out of town after breakfast.


    "Compared to yesterday, this is a mess." Ophelia muttered as they moved to avoid a fight between farmers who were both hauling the same root vegetables.


    "I wonder what changed? Are they afraid that the price is going to go down, and that they''re being ordered to bring crops to the city at a massive discount?" Karl pondered.


    "That might be it. I think that some of it is just an excuse to air old grievances and take out their frustrations on people that they didn''t like to begin with. They''re not attacking everyone, it''s targeted." Ophelia noted as she took a seat beside Karl on the front bench of the wagon.


    Dana was watching the back with her Golems while the two clerics rested and yed cards.


    There wasn''t much else to do when you were in a wagon all day.


    With the traffic and the rough roads, they were unlikely to cover more than a hundred kilometres a day. It was faster than walking, but not by as much as they had hoped. However, heading off into the wilderness would blow their cover, so they just had to bear with it until they got to the open roads.


    They could see the next vige in sight when a group of locals in ill-fitting guard uniforms stepped out in front of them and motioned for Karl to pull off the road.


    "There''s a road tax to pay. Twenty percent of cargo if you want to pass." The leader of the group demanded.


    Karl smiled back. "How about you turn over the contents of your money pouch there, and I let you live?"


    The fake guards nervously gripped their weapons, and Karl nudged the reins. "Thor, Earthquake please."


    The ground trembled, causing the farmer who was closest to their group to pull his wagon to a stop as the guards lost their bnce and fell to the ground.


    "Keep it moving, Thor. I don''t think that they''re dumb enough to try anything."


    The farmerughed as Thor simply trampled the fake guards and kept walking. "Well. That''s one way to deal with them. How did you know they weren''t real town guards?" The next wagon driver along the road asked.


    "Mostly by the fact their uniforms didn''t fit. Even a vige should be able toe up with clothes that fit. But mostly, I just wasn''t going to give them twenty percent of my cargo. This vige is like thirty people, including the children. I can give them a discount, but it would take titan sized brass cojones to demand my freight."


    The merchantughed, and his whiplike tail thumped the seat beside him in amusement.


    "Have a safe trip north. There isn''t much behind me but more farmers. The number that they called to the city is insane. It''s good that you got out when you did. If I didn''t have a purchase contract for this load, I wouldn''t even consider going there this week, or perhaps for the rest of this year."


    Karl gave him a sloppy salute, fingers to forehead, not the fist to chest Golden Dragon Nation military salute.


    The driver nodded and made a hand gesture meant to resemble the head of the Fox God, one of the Demon Gods of trickery and merchants.


    They continued on past the vige, after which the traffic began to slow. With a day of warning, most of those who were going to travel were already on the road, and those closer to Oakhamping wouldn''t havee south at all, as it was a major city and presumably also preparing for whatever was going on, including the dungeon opening. n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om


    If the issue was the dungeon, or more correctly, all the new arrivals that wereing to check it out, they would also be in danger.


    Once there was no more trafficing south, Thor picked up the pace a little. They would still not cover much more than a hundred kilometres in a day, but the wagon ride was too bumpy to be travelling much faster.


    The only real advantage was that they didn''t have to be worried about being bogged down in the mud if it started to rain. Even if they were dragging the belly of the wagon like a sled, Thor would still be able to keep up the same walking pace.


    Most of the farmers used oxen to pull the wagon, and while they were powerful beasts, they were a quarter of Thor''s size. The Cerro was nearly asrge as the wagon he was pulling, and that was withoutbat buffs.


    But the roads were dry, even if they were heavily rutted from the trafficst time it had rained.


    The area around the road was slowly changing as they went north, Karl could feel it, even if it didn''t look any different. There was a scent in the air, a feeling that wasn''t the same as it was further south.


    It wasn''t something that could easily be ced, but as they continued to travel, Karl began to understand what was happening.


    Monsters left a scent on their territory, a lingering something that marked thend as theirs.


    Beasts could sense another beast''s territory by the scent of its patrol routes, but this was different, more of a lingering feeling of magic simr to what a Temple or Cathedral had, but primal and somewhat sinister.


    The lizardmen became more scarce as the day wore on, reced by an increase in the trolls and the presence of Minotaurs, which had been nearly nonexistent to the south.


    That change helped Karl understand the change. It was not so much a physical thing, but a change in the poption. Even more than the territories of the beasts, the territories of the monsters had a feel to them, and Karl could tell that he wasn''t the only one that had noticed so far. Dana and the clerics hadn''t, but Thor had, and Ophelia might have, as she looked a bit more uneasy than the situation called for.


    But as unweing as the territory itself felt, the Minotaur locals that they passed were no more hostile than the trolls, and mostly just watched the merchant caravan to ensure that Karl''s team didn''t intend to attack them or swerve in front of their carts.


    However, with the change in species, the power level of the region was growing as well, and it wasn''t umon to see Commanders among themon workers.


    That could turn out to be a problemter because Commander Rank farmers meant they would most likely have Monarch Rank Guard Captains and enforcers in the next city.

 Chapter 496 Minotaurs and Trolls

    Chapter 496 Minotaurs and Trolls


    The Minotaur tribes reminded Karl a lot of the Orcs, in a way. He was using [Brutality] to increase his size and keeping his face covered with a bandana, which was mostly to keep the dust down. Between that and the hood of the coat that Rae had made him, it was good enough that he didn''t need to wear a mask while travelling, and he wouldn''t risk being identified.


    He wasn''t all that worried about being called a human, he had realized that was unlikely to be an issue with the group that they had. But being personally identified was still an issue, if there was someone looking into the dungeon opening.


    The increased size actually seemed to set the monsters more at ease than his normal, human size had. It was as if by being visibly inhuman in some way, he was more like them.


    Now, if he took the mask off, and they mistook him for a Giant or an Ogre, there might be issues, as the Giant ns did not get along well with the rest of the monsters. Unfortunately, they didn''t have a disguise spell that could help him with that.


    [If I had more materials, we could dye you a new colour too. I don''t think that an ash ck like Thor would work. I am pretty sure that both humans and giantse in that colour. But if we could make you blue or green, that would work. The Trolls and Orcs are both good people, and it wouldn''t be bad to look like them.] Remi suggested.


    [Well, if you happen toe across the rest of the ingredients, I will consider it. For now, I will just keep the bandana up.]


    Remi had made him a half dozen mask prototypes so far, but she wasn''t happy with any of them, so they had all been scrapped, and now she was trying to get inspiration for another, while she looked for the ingredients to make a different coloured version of the Shadowbranch paste.


    Evening still hadn''t taken them to Oakhamping, but it did take them to another small farming vige full of Trolls and Minotaur.


    [Do you think that you can milk a Minotaur? How far down are they bull? Do you think that you can polish their horns like Troll tusks and make them shiny? I have so many questions.] Cara was rambling in Karl''s mind as they settled in for the evening.


    [I don''t know any of those questions, and I don''t want to know most of them. But I''m pretty sure that you could polish the horns to be shiny. See that one on the left of the gate? There is a bit of damage on the horn where it hit something, and it''s slightly shiny. So if you polish them, they should buff up.]


    That was enough to sate her curiosity as the clerics got ready for the evening''s public rtions work. They had made an entire bulk bag full of rice and beans, and now it was up to Karl to find out if anyone wanted to join them.


    He parked Thor between the few other merchant wagons and the vige''s low stone wall. The guards watched him, but didn''t really care, as his group wasn''t doing anything threatening. It was only when he approached that they were on alert.


    "Gates are closed for the night." The guard informed him brusquely.


    "That''s alright. I have a Dragon Cleric with me who is making an evening stew, and it is their custom to invite anyone who is hungry to join them. So if there are other guards or someone else in town who could use a meal, let me know. I will leave you to it and go talk to the other merchants now." Karl replied with a shrug.


    He made a loop, quietly informing them that the Dragon Priestess would have dinner if they wanted some. The merchants had all eaten already, as Karl stoppedter in the day than most, but they came over to socialize anyhow. It was good to hear the stories of the road from fellow merchants, and these were actual merchants, far from home, not farmers called in to supply the city. n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om


    "The road has been rough thesest few days. All the big bosses are off to do something important, and the stupid ones are trying to test their luck while the Overlords are away." One of the Minotaur merchants began as his assistant poured a potent smelling cream liquor into a mug.


    A few of the others nodded. "The entire town council in Oakhamping is gone. They used the portal array in the city to go somewhere, but they didn''t tell anyone where.They just grabbed a bunch of city guards and left right in the middle of market day." "Are you all headed south?" Karl asked.


    "Yeah. You came from that way, is it the same at Halsearing?"


    Karl shook his head. "It''s much stranger. They''ve called for every farmer they can get in contact with to stock the city with food. But there was also a huge battle west of the highway, and talk of a possible dungeon.


    I don''t know how much of the rumours are true, but there is definitely a big fight going on, we saw that much ourselves, and there are at least two Orc Tribes, plus everybat capable Troll from Halsearing."


    "That doesn''t sound good at all. It might be all over before we get there, but if they''ve called so many people to the city, how are we going to make a profit? We''ve had some of these goods too long already. It might not be food, but we can''t just lug them around the country all spring without a n." The Minotaur with the strange liquor sighed.


    Tessa smiled as she looked at the city walls and saw a number of small faces hiding behind the stones. She added more of the mix to herrgest pot and topped it off with hot water, preparing for guests.


    The merchants chuckled. "Every vige is filled with urchins, the dregs who have lost their families in battle, or to the wild. I suppose having a Dragon Cleric around might actually make things safer."


    Karl smiled as he realized what they meant. The street kids would steal food or coins if you weren''t careful, but Tessa was going to feed them tonight, so they would be a bit less desperate and hungry.


    They might still try, but they wouldn''t be driven by that life or death instinct when their belly was full.


    They just had to sneak past the guards, whose job it was to keep them from wandering out and causing trouble.


    That was easy enough, there were only two on guard at the gate, and they were pretending that they didn''t see anything. So, when the food was ready a half hourter, nearly a dozen kids and two off-duty guards came out to join the circle of merchants around the campfire.


    They had all brought bowls and spoons with them, understanding the process. This pot wasn''t as huge as the one that thest night''s stop had brought out, but for their travel group, it was already hugely oversized.


    There were a few servings left when thest of the bowls were filled, and Tessa smiled in satisfaction as she moved the pot off the heat.


    "Have there been many attacks north of here? We''re near the edge of Minotaur territory here, and I haven''t been this way recently." Karl asked.


    The Minotaur looked startled when Karl said that, but he just shrugged.


    "Nothing too close, but once you get past Oakhamping, things are never all that good. The towns are getting smaller every year, with the people all moving to the city unless they''re farming. But I hear that there have been strange appearances away from the highway. Monsters that don''t belong, ones that attack anyone they see." The Minotaur exined, taking on a storytelling tone.


    One of the others scoffed. "It''s not just a tale. We ran into a group of Hill Giants. Damned Hill Giants, two thousand kilometres from their territory, just two weeks ago northwest of here. Something strange is going on.


    They didn''t even answer when we tried to talk to them, they just attacked."


    That sounded familiar to Karl and the others, but apparently it wasn''t a thing that normally happened here.

 Chapter 497 Combined Skills

    Chapter 497 Combined Skills


    Once everyone had returned to their homes or beds for the evening, Karl settled in to meditate and work onbining skills. If he could get [Skill Master] to Rank 3, he would be able to upgrade monster skills by a tier, making more powerful versions of the base skills. So, if he hadbined skills that were already more powerful than what the monsters had begun with, the upgrade to Skill Master would be even more impressive.


    There was also hope that one of the others would get a skill to Monarch Rank soon as well. Cara had begun with Disintegrate a Rank above herself, but Rae and Hawk had skills advanced well before their body did. If they could do the same again, it would give everyone an extra level of safety against attacks.


    So, dealing with stronger attackers became Karl''s priority for the evening. An effectivebat skill that would allow the beasts to eliminate threats at the Monarch Rank before they made it there themselves.


    The problem was that they all used different skills. Unless one of them advanced a skill on their own, he would have to choose who would be the one that got the attention. Cara understood that she was at the bottom of that list, as she was not only the youngest sister, but she was also the only one that already had a Monarch Rank skill, so she could somewhat take care of herself.


    Oldest to youngest would be the way that Karl tried this time.


    Hawk and Thor hadn''t had new skills in a while, and Thor had gained most of his through hard work and not a deliberately concocted resource.


    But that was the easiest way to gain new skills, assuming that Karl could find the materials.


    [Is there anything in particr that you want?] Karl asked Hawk as he tried to uncover some secret tobining skills.


    [We haven''t seen cool new skills in a while. We need to look for new creatures to fight.] Hawk sighed.


    That might not be an option for some time, as they were trying to avoid fighting as they pretended to be merchants, and they had already gone through the dungeon that they hade here to find.


    It hadn''t given them any new ideas, as the slimes were just mimicking their appearance.


    [What if you learned Trollish Regeneration from your Skill Tree andbined that with Eternal Lightning?] Hawk suggested.


    [For faster regeneration while the barrier is up? That''s not a terrible idea. They''ll both be skills that I can use, so I''ll at least have the chance.]


    [Do that then. You have enough points, right?]


    Karl checked his status


    [Skill Points] 31


    He had enough. In fact, if he had to, he had enough to get [Barrier] or [Refresh] as well. He had skipped almost all of the defensive tree because he had Thor and the Clerics with him, but at some point in the future, those core skills might be the basis for new abilities.


    He also wouldn''t be able to see what the Tier 4 defensive options were until he unlocked them, and following the logic that it would include a skill that was better than [Trollish Regeneration], it would make Thor a very happy Cerro.


    [Trollish Regeneration] learned.


    He also wouldn''t be able to see what the Tier 4 defensive options were until he unlocked them, and following the logic that it would include a skill that was better than [Trollish Regeneration], it would make Thor a very happy Cerro.


    [Trollish Regeneration] learned.


    [Remaining Skill Points] 11


    [Merger Avable] Sess Rate 100%


    [Proceed?]


    Karl stared at the information on his status screen. He hadn''t expected that there would be something that was guaranteed to mix with [Trollish Regeneration].


    [Details?] Karl tried, unsure what themand was, to look at the option before he chose yes or no.


    [Merged Skill: Void Body] Limited Invulnerability and Trollish Regeneration may bebined to create the Epic Ranked skill [Void Body].


    [Void Body] Ignores all attacks under ten percent of total health and regenerates five percent of total health per second. Severed body parts may be transformed to void energy that may be merged with the main body to speed regeneration.


    So, it was basically the same effect as the two skills individually, but if he lost an arm again, it would just turn to energy and grow back. No need for Lotus to practice her embroidery skills on him again.


    Karl rubbed his forearm where it had been reattached. That arm still felt slightly different from the other one, even if the doctors had assured him that it was all in his head, and the cleansing spells had purged the taint of Frost Giant blood from his body.


    [Skill: Void Body] learned n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om


    [Shared Skill: Void Body] gained by Cara


    [Additional Group Members Able To Learn Void Body] Dana, Ophelia


    Karl smiled as he read through the message. Perhaps tomorrow, while they were driving, he would try to make them a book to learn the skill. That wouldn''t be too hard.


    [Materials needed] 1ml Totem Rank void element blood, 3 Void Stones over 6 grams each, ground onyx sand, 10ml Overlord Rank Troll blood


    Or maybe it would.


    Why was that skill so much more ridiculously difficult to turn into a book than anything else that he had made? First off, a Totem Rank Void Element beast probably didn''t exist on this continent, and secondly, Void Stones, and most other Elemental stones were normally tiny. Finding ones over six grams was ridiculous, like asking for a thirty-carat diamond.


    Hawkughed. [I guess that you won''t be making that book for anyone else. But can you use it on us?]


    Karl focused on spreading the passive skill and mentally frowned at the bird.


    [No, it will only work for myself and Cara. At least for now. I can use the passive skill of Trollish Regeneration on you all, but not the new skill, and not Limited Invulnerability.]


    Hawk shrugged and pulled a feather that was bothering him. It immediately grew back in its proper position, and he chirped happily.


    Trollish regeneration was going to be a true pleasure for preening, as he could pluck any feather he was dissatisfied with, and get a new one instantly.


    [Can our clerics have Trollish Regeneration?] Cara asked curiously.


    Karl quickly checked the requirements for the Trollish Regeneration skill.


    [Nope, just the beasts. Two of them might be able to learn the new skill, but Trollish Regeneration is just for us so far. Like with Refreshing Lightning, I might have to learn how to share it with the whole group.]


    [Ooh, ooh, when you learn to use it on them, will it make all their hair grow back? I know that they like to cut it off with a de.] Cara giggled.


    Karl didn''t have the answer to that. If the trolls cut their hair short, it grew normally, but if they ripped it out, it returned at a much longer length.


    Applying it now shouldn''t cause their hair to rapidly grow. It hadn''t changed Karl''s as far as he could tell.


    [I think that they will be fine. If we do learn to share the skill, we might want to warn them before they shave, though. If they shave everything and it immediately grows to full length, they will not be happy.] Karl replied, trying not tough out loud while everyone was in bed.


    Dana had just fallen asleep, and as eager as he was to tell everyone about the new skill, there was no need to do it right now.


    So, Karl double-checked that the Naga Warriors and the Golems were on duty and let his mind go nk, much to Cara''s dismay.


    There were new developments, and she needed answers. But Karl was ignoring her, so she would have to wait.

 Chapter 498 Oakhamping

    Chapter 498 Oakhamping


    After they got up in the morning, the road began to take them northeast along the bank of arge river. Oakhamping, the next major city on the route, was built along the banks so that they could have plenty of fresh water, but Karl did wonder if they had problems with spring floods.


    The road itself was in rough shape, but it showed signs of having been groomed. There were drag marks where somethingrge, perhaps a group of logs, had been pulled along the muddy road surface to tten it.


    The traffic was light, and the fields were busier, with more livestock and fewer pulse crops. It made the area feel more alive, even if the ambience still felt somewhat unweing to Karl.


    There was no good reason for it that he could tell. The people were kind enough and happy to see him, but he got the feeling that thend itself was rejecting him.


    The city of Oakhamping was impossible to miss. Unlike Halsearing, it was a stone-walled fortress city, designed as an eight pointed star fort, on a hill beside the river. Being twenty metres over the riverbank, plus ten metre walls, Karl could see it from a dozen kilometres away, and Hawk had been giving him updates all morning, while avoiding getting too close, as the town had huge crossbows on the walls equipped with magical bolts.


    When they got a few kilometres away, Hawk returned to his space and Karl led Thor into the lineup to get into the gates.


    There was a massive Rock Troll in an ornate guard uniform filling water skins for travellers and asking questions.


    "What are you importing?" He asked, ready to make a note on the sheet attached to his clipboard.


    "We''ve got an assortment of tools from Halsearing." N?v(el)B\\jnn


    The Troll nodded. "Anything else in the wagon?"


    "A barrel of Rum and one of cooking oil. That''s also going to be up for sale if we find a buyer."


    The Troll whistled and raised his hand, which brought over a smaller troll with deep red skin and highly polished tusks that had golden bells hung from them.


    Karl almost mistook him for a jester, then he realized that it was the Troll version of a nobleman''s outfit.


    "Yes, Guard Captain?" The Troll asked.


    "Check this wagon, they''ve got good stuff to sell." The big Troll exined.


    The Troll Noble gave Karl an appraising nce, estimating his power level and wealth. His outfit was naturally mostly made with an Epic Grade skill, but the coat was Royal Rank silk.


    That caught the Noble''s attention, then he noticed the inner lining of the wagon''s cover, which had also been made by Rae.


    That was enough for his trained nce to know that Karl was no average merchant, no matter how cheap the good he was selling were. In fact, with the two Royal Rank Naga Warriors guarding the clerics and their personal guards, it didn''t take a genius to know that Karl was more likely to be a mercenary than a merchant.


    That didn''t matter to him, what mattered was that they might have items that the city was short on, which could be sold at an unusual markup.


    Tessa pulled back the cover on the tools for the Troll to check, and he smiled in satisfaction.


    "The tools all appear to be good quality. How is the oil and liquor?" He asked.


    Lotus grew a pair of sticks with a small scoop on the end and popped the bungs on the kegs to dip a small sample.


    The Noble appraised the oil carefully. By smell, taste, and then by shining a glowing stone through it. Karl wasn''t sure what that tested, but he seemed satisfied. The sip of Rum made him wheeze, and the Guardughed.


    "It must be the good stuff." He joked.


    The Noble gasped and handed back the spoon, which Lotus dipped for him.


    The Troll sipped the Rum and smiled. "I don''t think this is quite fit for the average Nobleman''s palette. But I will buy the whole barrel from you right now. I can give you twelve silver coins and a trusted merchant trade token for it."


    Karl saw at the edge of his vision that the merchants in line on either side of him looked envious, so the price was either above average, or the trade token was worth the loss.


    "Alright, I will take that deal. Let me know when you''ve got someone to grab it." Karl agreed.


    The Troll just smiled and handed Karl a fistful of coins and a wooden token on a leather ne. The Nobleman was wearing an identical token, so it wasn''t something that was traded, but one that you kept with you to signify that you were trustworthy to trade with.


    The gaudily dressed Noble finally caught his breath as the big guard grabbed the barrel of rum and slung it over his shoulder.


    The Guard Captain motioned for someone toe take over his water distribution and questioning duty before opening the bung and pouring himself a whole mouthful of rum directly from the barrel.


    He was a big troll, but it was stillical to see him drink directly from a barrel.


    The recement just shook his head as the Guard walked away, and checked the notes that had been left behind.


    "You have tools to sell, and Mister James is here to purchase them? Alright. If you finish the sale, let me know. If you don''t need a sales spot in the market, you can skip the line." He exined.


    The Troll Noble that had been identified as Mister James took out a notepad and made marks as he counted the tools. "I will give you four Gold, six silver. That''s as high as I can go, even with your new trusted trader token."


    That was more than they had paid, Karl was fairly certain. "You have a deal. Did you want a ride back into town? We can drop these goods at your shop before I go looking to restock for the next leg of the trip."


    "That would be excellent. My shop is near the gates, the James Mercantile Store."


    Karl pulled out of line and gestured to the Guard that they were headed in. He just waved for them to go, and Karl made his way to the front of the line, with the merchant on the other side of the driver''s bench at the front of the wagon.


    The Naga Warriors were getting strange looks again, but at least it wasn''t lustful lizard folk this time, just curious trolls wondering why they were so far from home.


    The interior of the Star Fort designed city was a direct contrast to the masterful stonework of the walls. Everything was dirt roads, crude wood and thatch or field stone buildings with shale and te roofs. Perhaps the Trolls hadn''t made this ce, but had only taken it over at some point.


    They should have the technology to make it, though. The quality of the tools that Karl had brought to them was good, and it wasn''t that hard to cut square blocks. They just hadn''t, for whatever reason. This entire country was strange, but this mystery really made Karl wonder what sort of history the city had.

 Chapter 499 Factions

    Chapter 499 Factions


    They stopped at a decently built stone shop near the gates, and the Noble called out a group of servants to collect his purchases. It was only one load for the burly troll, and the well-dressed man vanished inside with onest polite nod towards Karl.


    He seemed to be in a hurry to be out of sight, but that might have been because he was overdressed for this part of town, and he wasn''t wearing armour.


    As strange and run down as this city was, they did need some sort of trade goods to take along the road with them. They could keep just doing donations to the needy, but that was more of a church mission, and it would seem odd for a powerful merchant to go along with it.


    The options in the city weren''t great, and most of the vendors goods made the ramshackle stalls look like they were decent quality.


    But as Karl led Thor through the street, they were encountering more of the original stone buildings, which were far toorge for the Trolls. It might have been Minotaurs, but Karl suspected that this was actually a Giant built city. The doorways were close to seven metres in most of the buildings, and the Trolls rarely got over four metres. The Minotaurs weren''t any taller, if you didn''t count their horns, but they seemed to have much more of a fondness for grandeur. That might exin the state that the city was in. If the trolls had recently taken it over, they might have never had the building skills to maintain it, and the majority of the city might have been destroyed during the battle.


    It was a long way from the borders that the Giant nations held, but the stone of the surviving buildings held signs of long forgotten battles and showed centuries of wear, to the point that the walls had a line worn in them from pedestrians shoulders rubbing against them.


    Once the city was looking more civilized, Karl led Thor towards one of the market areas. With some luck, they would be able to buy enough goods to keep up pretenses as merchants.


    None of them were eager to stay any longer than they had to in the city, so they were all keeping their eyes open for anything promising. However, there was nothing worth buying, even if the price was low.


    [Why don''t we leave, and you can sell what me and Remi make instead?] Rae suggested.


    [Remi? What is Remi making?] Karl asked, checking her space, where the Naga Queen was mixing nt products into various y containers that Hawk was drying with his fire for her.


    [She was trying to make new disguise pastes for you, but they''re not working out right. She''s got a number of moisturizing lotions, some makeup, an anti aging cream of questionable ability, and a painkiller.] Rae joked.


    [I''m close to getting another colour right. We''re just short on nts, because we picked them based on what was pretty or tasty, not on what had the bestpatibility to make stuff.] Remiined.


    Karl turned to talk to thedies in the wagon.


    "How about we get out of here? Rae has agreed to help us with some trade goods for our next stop. I don''t think that there will be much here that will be worth buying." He whispered.


    Ophelia and Dana both nodded as they watched the crowd out of opposite ends of the wagon.


    Karl thought about the flow of traffic in the city and turned Thor north down a main street. That should take them to the north gates, assuming there were north gates. Leaving empty wasn''t optimal, but they could im that they had an arrangement to pick something up a few days down the road.


    It would also give them more room to sleep in the wagon.


    The trolls were busy at work, ignoring Karl and his team, except to move out of the way of the massive Cerro as Thor pushed through the crowds.


    The north gates were only partially open, just a man door, notrge enough for Thor or the wagon.


    "Pardon, can we get the gate opened? I need to head north." Karl asked the guards.


    The pair of Rock Trolls turned to stare at him.


    "Taxes are due on exports." The grey skinned creature insisted.


    "We didn''t buy anything today, Just sold our tool shipment."


    The troll stared into the wagon, then smiled. "We will take one of the women instead."


    Karl shifted so they could see his trusted merchant token, in case it made a difference. n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om


    They didn''t seem to care, and Karl took a nce at the wooden gates, which had no visible enchantments on them.


    "That''s not going to happen. Now, are you opening the door, or is this going to get messy?"


    They were starting to gather a crowd, and Dana prepared for an attack from behind. They hadn''t been warned by any of the other Merchants about this city, but perhaps everyone had assumed they knew the process.


    Perhaps they just needed to bribe the guards, but going by the angry looks on their faces, that wasn''t going to be an option anymore.


    "You''re not even a Troll, but you think that you get to leave here for free?" The guardughed.


    Karl ignored the taunting and turned to the overdressed Troll closest to the steps of his wagon.


    "How mad would you be if I broke the door on my way out?" He asked.


    The Troll Nobleughed. "If you think that you can get past them, nobody will mind about the door."


    "Low-key, remember?" Ophelia whispered as Karl stood up on the front of the wagon.


    Karl hopped forward to walk down Thor''s back before stepping to the ground in front of him and looking up at the guards.


    They were just smirking at him, confident that he would give up one of his passengers or crew for them to sell.


    Faster than the Troll could follow, Karl''s maul was out and swinging.


    Five stacks of [Bone Crusher] collided with the massive monster''s chest, and the air was filled with the sound of shattering bones and splintering wood as he was sent through the closed gate.


    Karl turned to the other guard, who had frozen in shock.


    "Looks like the gate is open now. No need for a fee to open it."


    "Thor, let''s go. I have no more patience for stupidity today."


    Karl expected something. Some response, whether it was anger, fear or outrage at his actions. But the Trolls just stood there as Thor walked out the gate with the wagon, and the puddle of Troll in the wreckage of the gate began to heal and reform its bones.


    The gate guards were big, but only Commander Rank. However, Karl could sense that there were more powerful Trolls all over the city that hadn''t been alerted to the incident.


    He walked a few hundred metres as Thor followed behind, with everyone tensely waiting for something to happen.


    Only when they made it to the first of the farmers who were leaving the road to detour around to the south gate of the city did Karl begin to rx.


    "Did the Stone Guard Gang lose control of the gate?" The farmer asked hopefully.


    Karl shook his head. "No, I just smashed one guard through the gate itself. What is going on in Oakhamping?"


    The farmerughed at him. "I guess nobody told you. The City Guard disbandedst month, now the gangs control the gates. The Noble Silks control the south gate and most of the old city. The Stone Guard controls the North Gate, and most of the northern wall, while the slums change hands too fast to keep track of.


    Did you manage to sell your goods? I see that you have a token from the Noble Silks."


    Karl internally sighed. So that was why they were giving him a hard time at the gate. He thought that the city was more organized than it was, and he was actually wearing a rival gang''s token.


    "Yeah. The Noble Silks bought my entire cargo. I''ll have to pick something up along the way before I turn east."


    The farmer nodded. "There might be a bit left. Stay away from Berwickham entirely if you can, though. The Trolls have been at war with the Obsession Demons all summer for control of the city. When the river branches, follow it east, and you will end up back at the road again in a bit over a hundred kilometres.


    If you''re lucky, there won''t be too many wild tribes or bandits along the way."

 Chapter 500 Detour

    Chapter 500 Detour


    The best wishes for not too many bandits turned out to be a red g much faster than any of them could have expected.


    By the time that the city was out of sight from the ground, Hawk had already spotted three groups of bandits waiting for travellers along the road.


    The first one, all the travellers were going around, as they were set up at a bend in the river with two bridges, and it was simply faster to go through the field in a straight line to where the road came back to their side.


    But the second was going to be an issue, Karl could tell already.


    There were twenty buffalo type Minotaur, much like the sort that Karl was familiar with, but Hawk said that they were much more heavily built, and their heads were different, with forward curled horns instead of their usual upright ones.


    There was a farmer following them who had his two boys as guards, and they all looked nervous. If they were ambushed on the way back to the farm, they wouldn''t lose their crops. Instead, they would either lose the money they needed to keep the farm running, or possibly, their lives.


    Karl considered just going through the coulee where the Minotaurs were hiding, but there was a chance that they would ignore him to go after an easier target who was guaranteed to have cash on them.


    So, he followed the tnds further east, as he was going to be turning that way when the river forked, which might not be for most of the day.


    He didn''t have a precisely scaled map, only their reproduction of the one that the Beast Clerics had at the temple, and there was no telling exactly how urate it was.


    If it was right, they should reach the splitter that afternoon, but it might be near dark, or even the next day.


    The farmers followed them for another hour, then turned off on a small track and pulled into a farmhouse.


    After that family had separated from them, the number of bandits began to increase steadily. Whatever was going on in this area had created an influx of desperate bandits, and the situation was disgusting to Hawk.


    In his mind, bandits should be predators. Like Rae, they hid in the trees and set traps. They should be dangerous, not a bunch of hobos with rusted weapons, or even just tattered clothes and their own ws.


    Their state was embarrassing. Even if they were just monsters, they should have some dignity.


    One of the groups of bandits, Minotaurs who had set up a checkpoint of downed trees, was struggling to even make a proper campfire with the fresh green wood that they had collected. n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om


    It was so pitiable that even Hawk was moved. Moved enough that he bombarded their campsite a little and lit their cooking fire before flying away.


    Thor had decided that the best route wasn''t on the road, so they were travelling nearly a kilometre to the east of it, in between farmers'' fields. That meant that they were in no danger of bandits along the road, just anything that might be in the fields.


    If the farmers were rmed to see his group travelling between their fields, they didn''t say anything about it, and by dark, Hawk had found the split in the river, and they were prepared to set up on the edge of a stand of trees, where they could get firewood and set up camp for the evening.


    An empty wagon made a good tent substitute, and with a bit of reorganization, they had everything set so that the whole group would befortable and nobody was sleeping in the dirt.


    Dana joined Karl in his hammock slung under the wagon, while the other three made a nest of nkets in a that Rae had created across the wagon bed.


    It looked like a cargo securement, or a fishing, but it was made of the same stretchy silk that Rae used for hammocks.


    The Bloodbath Spider had decided to join Thor on the outside today, so she could keep a proper watch. There was a better than zero chance that something woulde looking for them at night, even if Karl had put the wagon and the trees on opposite sides of the small campfire.


    That meant there was a chance, however faint, that she might get to hunt tonight.


    Hawk was asleep, resting after having scouted all day, but she was ready to go and eager for someone to try her.


    Her dreams were doomed to be left unfulfilled. Nothing really moved around at night in this region. The dense poption had run off the wild beasts, and the danger of the more intelligent monsters kept everyone else home at night.


    So, while Karl and Dana silently held each other in their hammock, Rae was left to focus on her skills. Nothing was as good as actualbat, but a little practice wouldn''t do any harm. She wanted her Golems to improve by a Rank again.


    Even if they couldn''t be as smart as the bodyguards, they could be stronger. Rae prided herself on the amount of damage that she could do, and while her Golems still held the edge, thanks to Offensive Adaptation and Lacerate, it was getting close.


    Karl had bodyguards now too, and unlike Remi''s limited arsenal, he had far too many skills to help them cheat.


    Only a few hours after everyone fell asleep, midnight by Rae''s reckoning, something changed in the air around them. There was a surge of power and suddenly the area was filled with monsters.


    Not a portal, but a monster spawning Anomaly.


    Despite this being the best thing that Rae had seen in a month, she resisted the urge to run out and turn them into a new art instation.


    Instead, she woke Karl up to inform him of the good news.


    [There are new monsters. The ones that just appear. I can see three Drakes, or maybe baby dragons, and a dozen big, Minotaur sized things.]


    That didn''t seem right to Karl. [Did they just appear in the middle of the night? That''s only supposed to be a problem at home because of the broken anomalies. The books said that doesn''t happen in other ces.]


    [Well, they''re here. Maybe you can ask them?]


    That was a novel concept. If they were not insane and feral like the ones at home, they might be something that he could talk to and see what was going on. But with this feeling in the air, Karl suspected that it would not be that easy.


    He gently roused the others, spending a few extra seconds to kiss Dana until her eyes opened, then motioned for silence, so she knew to be ready for danger.


    The group slowly gathered around the embers of the campfire, and Dana sleepily settled into Karl''sp.


    Cara, seeing an opportunity, came out to sit on Lotus, knocking her over for a moment before the cleric got herself adjusted.


    "Sorry to wake everyone up in the middle of the night. Rae reports that there has been a monster spawn in the whole region. She has located at least three drakes or small dragons, as well as over a dozen Minotaur sized monsters in our vicinity. I didn''t want you to be caught unaware if they gather to fight. They''re not that close right now, but I am calling out the other bodyguards for the remainder of the evening, so we can get a bit more sleep.


    But we should consider this to now be a hostile battleground, not just a hostile nation." Karl exined quietly.


    Everyone nodded quietly, and Tessa shook her head as she realized that Lotus was already asleep under Cara. They could stay on the ground for the rest of the night, it was warm enough on the grass. Plus, Cara would defend her sleeping buddy, so if there was an attack on the camp, Lotus wouldn''t be in much danger from the initial assault.


    Not that it was likely to get past their defenders, but you could never be too prepared.


    It was a good thing that none of them snored, though. The night air was so silent, as if every small creature had gone to ground, that Karl could hear the wind rustling the grass, and the faint crackle of the fire''s embers.

 Chapter 501 Eternal Troubles

    Chapter 501 Eternal Troubles


    None of them were sleeping deeply, except for Lotus under the [Disintegration] bubble that Cara had erected over them while they slept.


    At first, Karl thought that it must take a lot of energy to keep an attack spell active all night like that, but the void badger used it like a tripwire. There was almost no energy in it until something touched it and woke her up, then she wouldsh out at them.


    With [Eternal Lightning] active, it was no burden at all, and she could keep it active without interrupting her normal night''s rest.


    So, that was what she did, and took full advantage of the fact that they had a small person for her to cuddle like a stuffed toy.


    The first few hours after their arrival, the monsters seemed just as confused to be here as Karl was to see them there. But once they got their bearings, they began to spread out and stake their im on the surrounding areas.


    Nothing had imed the areas that were dangerously close to their camp, but twice in the early morning hours, Karl heard the sounds ofbat as they either attacked a distant farm, or were attacked by the locals whose territory they had trespassed on.


    The farmers were mostly Minotaurs and rted species around here, and they did not take kindly to whatever these creatures were.


    Without light, Karl couldn''t be certain, but to thermal vision, it still looked like Yeti and Drakes, as Rae had described them.


    The whole group was up with first light, too nervous about the situation to sleep. "What are we going to do? Do we follow the river toward the road and continue with the n to keep working as merchants? Or do we just assume that everything has gone to shit if they''re getting random monster spawns in the monster nation?" Dana asked, gesturing with a spoonful of oatmeal to emphasize her words.


    Tessa sighed and nodded. "Some of the monsters are sure to settle in, while others will be killed in territory wars. But hanging around longer than necessary isn''t a particrly smart call.


    Whether we go north to get out, or east as nned to finish our loop, I think that we shouldn''t dy.


    It might only be this area that is in trouble, but I have an idea of why.


    The Golden Dragon Nation has always had too many anomalies and some low-level dungeons. That''s why nothing else really wanted the territory to begin with, leaving it to the humans.


    But now there is a stable dungeon here. A stable dungeon should also mean unstable anomalies that dump monsters on the area. That''s how it works at home."


    Karl frowned.


    "So, that means the region around the Dungeon is likely to have a never-ending supply of trouble, just appearing?" He asked.


    Tessa nodded. "Not every day, but they are moremon near known stable anomalies of all sorts. So, it''s likely that there will be more anomalies in this nation now than there were before.


    I don''t know all the details, that''s more the specialty of the Blue Dragons and their research teams, but it''s not a secret within the church that a new anomaly means more monster subjugation missions in the area over the next few years.


    There is one near the Seminary Academy, and the monster appearances are reliable enough that they use the region to train Church Guards."


    "That sneaky Dragon." Lotus gasped as she realized the implications.


    Ophelia was taking a moment to consider all the options, while a smirk slowly grew on Dana''s face.


    "I just learned a valuable tidbit about the nature of the Bronze Dragons. They serve the Dragon Aspect of Law and Rules. But their actual attitude toward thew is much more [If there is now directly saying you can''t, then you can.] The spirit of thew concerns their patron much less than the actual letter of thew.


    Many people go out of their way to obey the spirit of agreements, so they don''t upset the Bronze Dragon and bring misfortune on themselves. But if they just looked for a clear and legitimate loophole, I don''t think he would mind."


    Lotus nodded. "That''s right. The Bronze Dragon clerics are sticklers for contracts. If you want moral rulings, look for one of the Gold Dragon or World Dragon followers."


    Karl had begun to suspect that the World Dragon was much more amusement driven and less moralistic than the church let on. But he wouldn''t say that in front of a pair of clerics. At least not until he had definitive proof.


    That voice in his head,ughing at him every time something strange happened in rtion to the system, was most likely the World Dragon. But that was impossible to prove.


    "So, what way are we going? Where does Hawk say the easiest way through is?" Ophelia asked.


    "There isn''t one. No matter where we go, we''re going to have a fight. They''ve just been avoiding us because they think we''re a sleeping monster pack, and they didn''t want to fight at night.


    Now that the sun ising up, they will realize that we''re a merchant wagon with guards. Once that happens, they will get more aggressive, especially the Drakes. I don''t know what skills these sand coloured ones have, but we can hope that it''s not something hard to deal with." Karl exined.


    Tessa shrugged. "The Copper Drakes shouldn''t be too bad. They are a type of sand dragon. They use a corrosive sand cloud attack. The problem will be if they''re working with another monster. Drakes are smarter than people give them credit for. They can adapt to the weaknesses of their enemies, and bolster the strength of their allies.


    They might not be as powerful as their Draconic cousins, but the Drakes are a higher order beast, and if they''re working with an intelligent monster, they could be formingplex and deadly strategies.


    What does Hawk say about the power levels?"


    Hawk did one more loop of the immediate area to check, and found that it was mostly Ascended Rank, but there were two Commander Rank Drakes in his scanning range. n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om


    "Mostly Ascended. At the same level as the Dungeon, so it shouldn''t be too bad for us this morning. But that could change at any time."

 Chapter 502 Sand Drakes

    Chapter 502 Sand Drakes


    Cara spread her wings and flew up to rest on top of the wagon''s cover, while Tessa packed up theting, rolling it to the front so it could be quickly unrolled the next evening.


    "Everyone be ready. In under a kilometre, we are going to meet up with a drake leading a group of sand coloured Yeti things. They''re all Ascended Rank, but there are over a dozen of them, and I don''t know their powers." Karl exined.


    Their guards altered positions, with the Lamia joining the Naga Warriors on each side of the Wagon, while Dana came to the front to sit with Karl and Ophelia went to the back of the wagon to bother Lotus for snacks.


    Her supply was running low, and the Nature Cleric could make an incredible trail mix.


    [Iing. The Drake is ignoring me, so the whole group ising for you.] Hawk reported.


    [That''s a good thing, keep scouting. I think that Cara should be able to deal with a Drake.]


    Cara thought that was a great idea. She had seen Drakes before, but not for some time, and she hadn''t been doing a lot of flying. If she could have a flying badger fight with the Drake, it would be a good way to keep her wings in shape and burn off some of the extra kilos that she had been gaining as she rxed in her space.


    Once they had spotted the group, the Commander Rank Drake led his group of what Karl was tentatively calling Sand Yeti in a full-frontal attack.


    They might have just arrived here, but they understood the essentials of dealing with a merchant wagon. They had fanned out to keep Karl from nking them and making them chase Thor.


    "We will send all the golems and bodyguards forward this time. I want to know what these Sand Yeti can do before we face ones that are closer to our level. If the incident is simr to the ones in the Golden Dragon Nation, it will be almost all simr groups of creatures at different power levels." Karl insisted.


    It was good logic, and nobody argued as he pulled the wagon to a stop and the summoned guards fanned out to defend the team.


    The others held back for a moment, preparing to go anywhere that needed assistance, but the Bodyguards were all Royal Rank against Ascended Sand Yeti.


    The monsters all started with the same attack, a fast-moving arc of sand that reminded Karl of Rend, but in elemental form. n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om


    The pair ofmias counterattacked, nullifying the attacks with [Rend] as [ming Body] flickered over their scales.


    The Drake roared and took a deep breath to attack, but Cara was already in motion.


    Karl had expected the small badger to square off with the muchrger scaled attacker, but at thest second she barrel-rolled and passed under the Drake, which howled in pain.


    [That''s what you get for having bad breath, stupid. Oh, you don''t like that, I''ll punch you in the dick.]


    Karl had to resistughing as the Drake fell from the sky with a mournful howl of pain.


    First, Cara had raked the sensitive inner thighs with her ws, then she followed up with the promised nut shot, and the Drake was out of the battle, though it was not severely injured.


    The Drake hit the ground with a puff of dirt, and Caranded on his back to pull his wings back, straining the tendons as she pulled upwards with her ws dug into the base of its wing bones.


    The scaled beast lurched to its feet, twisting and bucking in an attempt to shake the creature free, while Cara rode its back like a rodeo cowboy.


    "The badger is insane." Dana noted.


    Karl wrapped an arm around her shoulders. "She''s just having fun. Don''t forget, at least one of our team members can talk to the creature if it''s willing to speak. We might actually learn something about where they came from if we don''t kill it immediately."


    The Copper Drake sent a plume of corrosive breath in front of itself, then ran inside. Under normal circumstances, that would cripple an attacker and force them to let go.


    But being attacked by Cara was no normal circumstance, and the corrosive breath only irritated her, encouraging her to pull harder on the wings until eventually the drake gave up andy still on the ground, defeated and prepared to face death.


    "Someone ask our volunteer where they were before they came here. I want to know where they came from and why." Karl demanded.


    The Naga Warrior closest to the Drake ryed the message in Serpent, which all Dragon rted species should speak.


    At first, the Drake didn''t respond, and Karl realized that there was something more wrong with it than the ws in its wing bones. Like a cloud hade over its mind, the Drake had no problem leading its subordinates intobat, but it couldn''t understand questions, though it obviously heard them.


    They tried for a few more minutes, thinking it was just being stubborn, before Cara decided to try [Nullify] on it. That had some effect, and the Drake began to swear at them, irate that it was being tortured.


    "Oh, now you can hear us. Where were you before today, and how did you get here?" Karl demanded, letting the Naga Warrior trante.


    The drake actually looked confused for a few seconds, trying to find an answer to that before madness descended over its eyes again, and it went back to roaring gibberish and trying to attack the Naga Warriors.


    [Nullify didn''tpletely remove the madness on it. It''s part of them. I think that they might be golems, or something like it.] Cara theorized, right before the Naga Warrior killed the irate Drake by beheading.


    Cara imed the body, while Rae imed the head as a decoration, then they all came out to examine the other bodies.


    The tan fur of the yeti was coarse like sandstone and thick. They hadn''t seemed to suffer from the heat, unlike the regr variety, but they were simr in powers, but with their Element changed.


    Hawk ordered them all brought into his space after examination. Sand magic was different, and the bird had a theory that one of them could learn new skills using the monster parts as part of a recipe.


    It was bothering him that they weren''t getting cool new things. Karl had gotten new abilities, and they had advanced, but it didn''t have a huge obvious effect on theirbat power like Hawk would have preferred.


    "The bodyguards are savage. The Yeti didn''t even have a chance to defend themselves, and the bodyguards weren''t using proper skills. It''s like their power is higher than it should be, but not like it has gone up a Rank. Like, the base ability has increased.


    They''re still limited in maximum power output, but they''re on an entirely different levelpared to most living things." Dana exined, unsure how to exin what she was thinking.


    "I think I get what you mean. Their skills are definitely Royal Rank skills, but their bodies are more like those group leaders in the dungeon. They''re tougher and faster than they should be. A grade higher in quality than a regr living thing." Karl agreed.


    Dana nodded. "Exactly like that. There should be some way to learn that ability to increase base stats, but I don''t know how."

 Chapter 503 Pulled the Adds

    Chapter 503 Pulled the Adds


    The sound of their battle had alerted other groups of monsters in the vicinity that there was trouble, and the closest two drakes were leading their groups over.


    None of them was above the Ascended Rank, but it was two dozen more of the Sand Yeti things, and perhaps a chance to learn a bit more about theirbat abilities.


    The first ones had died too fast to use more than one skill, so if these ones tried something other than their sandy version of Rend, Karl''s group would know more about what to expect from future encounters.


    "Cara seems to really enjoy fighting Drakes." Ophelia noted as the Void Badger flew in circles, waiting for the enemy to get into ambush range.


    [All those stupid Divine Species think they''re better than us because Void Badgers don''t have a deity. But neither do Drakes, so who are they to act all arrogant? Not even their cooler cousins are as tough as a Void Badger.] Cara dered.


    "Cara is annoyed that the Dragons are arrogant about having their own deities. The Drakes act like they''re a subspecies of Dragon, and she has an irresistible urge to put them in their ce." Karl tranted for the group.


    [If you were bigger, you could give them a power bomb.] Remi giggled.


    Her little sister had a ir for the dramatic that the Naga Queen appreciated, even if Cara did usually act like the bigger sister.


    Not the same way that Rae loved dramatic effects. Not at all. Rae liked dramatic visuals, while Cara was emotionally vtile, like she had an on/off switch forbat mode.


    This pair of Drakes seemed to be a bit smarter than the first one, and they teamed up on the Void Badger, ignoring the rest of the group. It wasn''t going to save them, but it was a good idea.


    The battle was about to start, with the summons moving to the front as Dana stepped up into the sky so she could rain Magic Missiles on the drakes harassing Cara. It would onlyst a few seconds, but a mighty roar distracted Dana for a half second.


    One of the Buffalo type Minotaurs from the nearby farmhouse was charging towards the battle, already bleeding and apanied by four smaller Minotaurs, all simrly injured.


    They had to be the local residents, and they were most likely under attack by one of these groups before the pained roars of the other Drake had drawn them away.


    Dana didn''t hesitate for more than a second, as Cara was already hurling Disintegration enhanced Rend attacks at the Drakes. She wasn''t even trying to fight them this time, and Dana was pretty sure that she was actually preparing her favourite cuts to be roasted.


    Before the Drakes were even dead.


    The farmer and his children stopped at the scene of the battle as the Bodyguards toyed with the Sand Yeti for a few seconds to see if they would use a new skill. But they only used that one skill and then went for w attacks when they were close. Even if you kicked them away, they still used the same skill. They used it in different ways, but it was still just the one skill.


    "Merchant, thank the Gods that you''re here. Can we pay you to save our farm? My brothers and cousins are holding the farmyard, but there are more of these thingsing, and they won''t see sense." The Minotaur pleaded.


    "We could use some trade goods. You give us a discount, and we will help. Now, lead the way." Karl agreed.


    They could use the practice, and the goods. Most of Karl''s team took off running after the Minotaur family, while Tessa and Lotus got back in the wagon. Thor was faster than they were over a kilometre or more, even with the wagon. The others were at least fast enough to keep up with the Minotaur family, while Karl already knew where they were going because he could see the pair of Drakes and therge group of Sand Yeti attacking a farm.


    There were other homesteads in the area that had been overrun, with the houses demolished, but arge group of defenders had gathered at this one.


    There were Commander Rank Minotaur among them, but there were Commanders among the Sand Yeti here as well, and Commander Rank Drakes, which were much more difficult for the Minotaur warriors to deal with.


    Dana turned to Karl as they ran. "Have Cara leave at least one of the Drakes for me. I want to fight a flying target so that I have the experience before we meet stronger ones." [Got it. I will leave hers alone. Or, you can practice artillery work, and just shoot at the others to improve your aim.] Cara suggested.


    [Do you think that my aim needs work?] Karl asked, curious how she came to that conclusion.


    [Of course it does. You''re not even a badger, how could your aim be perfect? Even Sister Rae still works on her targeting.]


    Raeughed as she ran towards the farm, startling the Minotaur family, who hadn''t realized she was there.


    [Yeah, even the mighty Bloodbath Spider needs to practice.]


    [Fine, Cara can attack things on the ground, and I will take out the other Drakes.] Karl agreed.


    Cara raced ahead, a blur of ck and white fur in the early morning light, as the hurried to intercept the attackers before anyone else could kill more of them. N?v(el)B\\jnn


    "You know, the rest of us aren''t going to get much of a fight if you let Cara just go wild." Opheliaughed as the Void Badger approached the edge of the battle.


    "While you do have a point. This is easier than arguing with her, and there will be more fights today, I can guarantee it. Once she has it out of her system, the rest of us can practice.


    Now, Dana can pick her Drake, and I will distract the others."


    Rae wasn''t going to let Cara get all of the fun, but it would be even harder for the local farmers to identify her, as the Bloodbath Spider was working on her stealth skills.


    She could blend with most things effortlessly, but her body wasn''t easy to hide. So, she had found that if she moved in spurts and pretended to be another object, in this case a hay pile, she might be able to trick her targets.


    She started out behind an actual hay pile, and then Shadow Stepped closer with her body disguised to look as much as possible like loose straw.


    But then her patience ran out, and she stepped into the group furthest from the farmers and went to work dismembering the Sand Yeti while her Golems circled around to attack the sides.


    The Golems were more obviously constructs, so they shouldn''t be attacked by the defenders, while the presence of Rae would likely terrify them even more than the Sand Yeti force, given the power difference.


    Cara was in no hurry this morning. She was ying superhero, rescuing the younger Minotaurs from the Yeti attackers and driving the monsters back, while making a big show of it so that everyone knew that they had been rescued and not tag teamed.

 Chapter 504 Minotaur Steel

    Chapter 504 Minotaur Steel


    Karl joined the fight just before the farmers who had run after the retreating group, hoping that they might either rescue or recruit another group for their fight. The relief was visible on the faces of the defenders, and Karl called Remi out to toss a couple of [Healing Ssh] spells onto the worst injured members of the Minotaur n.


    None of them appeared to be dead, at least not here at this house, and a bit of healing was all it took to close theirrgest wounds.


    Unfortunately, Healing Ssh wasn''t an instant whole body heal unless Remi soaked them in it, or got the spell inside them somehow. It would leak in through the cuts, and spread through the body when it stayed in contact, but that wasn''t nearly as fast as a Cleric''s minor heal spell.


    She had been preparing for this situation, with a number of vials of healing potion. Hawk had made the containers for her with mes and sand, and she was delighted with them. The bottles even had their logo on it, a Naga with a Hawk on her shoulder.


    Remi had made the logo out of y, and Hawk had set the vials on it to cool, imprinting it on the bottom of the potion bottles.


    "Open up. There you go, and one for you and for you."


    Remi took mental notes of how long it took for the potion to start working, as she had never made someone drink a diluted Healing Ssh before.


    Her pleasure that she had found a way to run experiments that she couldn''t get in trouble for was clear through the link with Karl, but he was busy with other tasks, and didn''t have the time to praise her ingenuity.


    He had hit both of the Copper Drakes with Rend already, and they had moved away from where Dana was fighting the third member of their flight. But they were retreating to hundreds of metres in the air, giving them plenty of time to dodge Karl''s attacks, so he had to chase them with the skills.


    It took far longer than it should have, as they were incredibly agile flyers. But Karl had a lot of practice controlling his skills, and with dozens of deadly arcs of energy chasing them, the monsters were taking steady damage, no matter how hard they fought to avoid his attacks.


    [See, not as easy as you thought.] Caraughed as she sensed Karl''s frustration.


    [Change of tactics.] Karl agreed.


    Arrows with Disintegration on them were much easier to work with, and the targeting enchantment on the bow did half the work for him.


    The first shot was a direct heart shot, as the drake was already trying to avoid the Rend attacks, and the second was not off by much, punching a clean hole through the drake''s rear hip and out its back.


    It howled in pain, but the effect hadn''t been set to spread on contact, so it was a clean injury that the Drake would be able to heal with a few minutes of effort.


    However, when the next arrow came, the Drake caught it with a smug smile on its draconic face.


    Until the [Disintegration] spell exploded and removed the front half of its body.


    [That''s cheating. You can''t just trick them into holding a bomb to kill them.] Carained.


    [No, I think that he''s on to something. Watching stupid monsters explode is kind of fun.] Hawk countered.


    Karl let the beasts argue as he began to fire at the Sand Yeti, taking out thest few who had started to flee. n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om


    If they were left alone, they were a threat to other farms and homesteads. That shouldn''t actually concern Karl, but it was still the right thing to do.


    Dana finished her Drake andnded next to Karl as Thor and the clerics finally arrived. They started right in on the healing process, helping the farmers recover.


    "Thank you Priestess." One of the older Minotaurs, a massively muscr woman, greeted them in a deep but somehow feminine voice.


    "Are there other survivors or wounded? I see that there are many damaged farmhouses." Tessa asked.


    The Largest Minotaur shook her head.


    "No, the wee ones are in the house here. The only ones who didn''t make it this far are unlikely to be making it anywhere else." She exined.


    That must mean that they had some sort of n in ce, in case of attacks. If all of the children had made it here, where the adults had gathered to fight, it meant that the n worked.


    But probably not well enough to prevent casualties among those who tried to slow the approach of the monsters, or who were caught out unaware.


    At home, Karl knew that shepherds stayed out in the fields all night to watch over their flock, so the same might be true of some of the farmers here. Those would be the most likely casualties, as well as the ones to alert the others to flee to the meeting point.


    Remi passed over a few more potions with a smile on her face that Karl always thought looked like she wanted to eat someone. At least it was a mouth closed smile this time, so she wasn''t showing fangs.


    "Just in case there is another need for healing in the near future. These keep for a few months, at the very least, so you don''t need to have a Dragon Cleric around all the time." She exined in Serpent, but at least a few of the Minotaurs seemed to know thenguage.


    The Minotaur looked at the potions in shock. "These are proper healing potions? I haven''t seen one of these in ages. Not since that Beast King came down from the north, selling them to the rich folks."


    One of the older menughed. "That''s been nearly eighty years. I wonder whatever happened to him? But thank you, Queen Naga. Our herd is in your debt."


    Thor snorted happily. They were herd monsters. Karl hadn''t considered that before. The bestial half of them was a herd animal, but they were ssed as a monster species, not a beast species. He had previously assumed that meant they didn''t take on bestial traits, only their appearance.


    "The sun is up enough to travel now. We should get moving." Karl sighed, looking at the horizon, and knowing that there would be a lot more encounters like this in the next week or two until the anomaly ended, and the monsters stopped spawning at midnight.


    "You should keep everyone close. These monsters are likely to appear again at midnight for some time. I don''t know how long, but I don''t think it''s over," he added.


    The farmers nodded. "At least they''re not interested in destroying the crops. That''s a good start. If we travel in groups, we should still be able to do our work. It will just be ufortable for a while until we can rebuild everyone''s houses."


    [There are moreing. Do you want to do something about them?] Hawk asked as he continued his patrols.


    [How close, and what direction?]


    [Ten kilometres, from the south. They''re past the city and headed this way.]


    There should be quite a few farms, and a couple of bandit traps, in that direction. If these farmers were lucky, the Sand Yeti wouldn''t make it this far.


    [No, let the locals deal with it. We will get what trade goods we can and move on.]


    The Minotaur group was already busy with that. They weren''t gathering food or goods they would need, but they had quite a few tools made in identical copies.


    Karl looked at what they wereying out and realized that what he had taken as tools weren''t actually tools. They were allbat weapons designed to look like farm implements.


    They could be used as farm tools, but they were designed to either do double duty, or be partially disassembled to make them into properbat weapons.


    That must be a Minotaur thing, as they were all Minotaur scaled. But the designs were brilliant. Some of these could be quite popr with farmers at home. They might not be as strong as Minotaurs, but Karl had a suspicion that as the Elites learned more, they would be able to help the rest of humanity even the odds.

 Chapter 505 Reasonable Monsters

    Chapter 505 Reasonable Monsters


    Karl made a guess as to what those weapons would be worth at home, given that they were all Common Grade magical weapons, then put about half that much money on the bench in front of him.


    The Minotaurs didn''t look happy with the offer, but they didn''t look insulted, so he was at least close to what they would ept after he helped him with the attack.


    Karl added six more gold coins, and watched as thergest Minotaur woman began to rx a little.


    Two more gold coins, and most of the others had lost their concerned looks.


    "Do we have a deal?" Karl asked her.


    She was the oldest, thergest and the most powerful. By most standards, she should be in charge.


    She looked around the other farmers and nodded in satisfaction. "Yes, we can ept that, merchant. We appreciate your business. Going to the city has be a troublesome experiencetely."


    Karl smiled. "If you see others, you might want to g them down. They will appreciate a safe spot to stop for the evening, with all the new troubles, and many of them have been avoiding buying anything in the city. The higher quality items aren''t going into Oakhamping, so there is nothing worth buying."


    The farmer nodded. "That''s why we had so many here. We were waiting until we had a full cart load to take them for sale. If we all leave at once, other than one family, they can watch our animals, and we will have enough guards for the trip. But now, we can put it off until next year. We''ve got enough to buy what we need, but the farms have been mostly self-sufficient for a while now."


    "Best of luck to you, then. We will get on our way so that we can get to another safe spot before it gets dark."


    The Minotaurs nodded, and Karl picked up their purchase to load into the wagon.


    The beasts didn''t immediately return to their spaces, Cara and Rae just wandered away from the farm, as if the locals would forget that they existed if they were out of sight.


    Or, perhaps they really did. Nobody seemed concerned about a missing pair of Royal Rank beasts as Karl led the team away with Remi curled up in the middle of the wagon, on top of their new cargo.


    It would be morefortable if they put the in ce, but that blocked the side benches where everyone else was sitting.


    So, it wasn''t long after they were out of sight of the farms that the beasts, other than Thor, returned to their spaces to rest. Hawk had scouted everything within an hour''s walk, so he returned for breakfast, with the intent to head back out after, but for the moment, they were just an average looking merchant wagon. Karl had even dismissed the Lamia bodyguards after the battle, so they didn''t have an excessive number of guards.


    Hawk came back out a half hourter to scout the area and directed them straight east, away from the river.


    [There are too many fights along the river. All the wagons have attracted the Drakes, which has attracted more monsters, and others hoping to get loot or valuable drake scales and body parts.] He exined.


    That was a good point. The drake body parts were actually precious resources. The price might be dropping hard in this area, but if they had a number of bodies with them, they could sell them after they were out of the area where the monsters were spawning.


    Giant Strength rings were some of the cheapest magical items you could get in the Golden Dragon Nation because of the spawns and now the wars. So the same would apply to the drake scales in this area for at least the next few months until the materials had cycled through the market.


    [There are a lot of farms out here. Should we go to the ones that are being attacked so we can loot them?] Hawk asked.


    He meant it the same way that they had traded with thest one, but that was just a form of looting to Hawk because coins had no value in his brain. You just got them from hunting things or getting rid of stuff you didn''t want.


    [How far off course are the battles?] Karl asked.


    [Not far, you''ll be able to see them if we stay on the best course.]


    "Hawk has found more farmers fighting. Does anyone mind intervening? The materials are valuable, and we can sell themter. Plus, it leaves fewer monsters to worry about at night." Karl offered the others.


    Ophelia sighed as she turned to look out the front of the wagon. "As much as I hate to say it, that''s what a local merchant would do. All these farms are potential customers. If we''re not going to follow the river to the road, we might as well trade with all the rural farms along the way.


    I just wish that we had gotten a reason that there are no towns along this entire savanna." She agreed.


    Tessa nodded. "It''s because of the nomadic tribes. Nobody dares to try to build a road and settle viges out here, but there should be random farms and nomadic viges."


    "And because the nomadic viges move to where the food and water are, there are no permanent roads, only recently used trails. Alright, that makes sense.


    I will follow Hawk''s directions to the farms, and then we will trade with the nomads as we go. I suggest that we keep some bags or barrels of food for trade once we get to the nomads. That''s all that the Orcs will trade for, and I don''t know what the Demons will want." Karl suggested.


    Dana looked at Karl like he was crazy. "And what makes you think that we can trade with the Demons?"


    "It shouldn''t be impossible. The ones we''ve seen so far have been intelligent and reasonable enough. If it''s just a matter of being evil, I think we''ve all met a couple of humans who would qualify for the title."


    Dana huffed in annoyance. Karl was likely referring to the mine bosses, but she recalled that one year when she was a kid that her dad opened a general store. He had been absolutely terrible to his employees until word spread through town and people stoppeding to buy from him. Thest straw had been when another shopkeeper came in with his goons, beat her father unconscious and looted the store empty. With all the store profit spent on liquor, he had nothing left to restock or repair, and that was the end of his attempt at self-employment.


    If that was the sort of evil that the Demons were, it would be manageable. But she suspected that it was a more primal sort of amoral evil. Like an aggressively cruel version of Rae.


    That could be much harder to deal with, and there weren''t enough of them to take on an entire nomadic tribe. If they were going to be passing through the nomadic areas, it would be better to just try to avoid them entirely.


    Tessa and Lotus were thinking nearly the same thing. Demons were unpredictable, unless you were dealing with matters of their aspect. Obsession Demons were actually the most predictable, once you knew what they were obsessed with.


    Wrath and gue Demons were far less predictable, and the unaligned ones nobody could predict. They seemed to enjoy pranks more than anything else.n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om

 Chapter 506 Fill The Gaps

    Chapter 506 Fill The Gaps


    Karl turned Thor to meet up with the next farm that was being attacked by the Sand Yeti. This group didn''t have a Drake with it, which should make it easier for the locals to deal with. Not that it would be easy for the Minotaur farmers to deal with over a dozen of the creatures, assuming they appeared in the same size of group as his team had been fighting earlier.


    "These ones are weaker. Lower Ascended." Hawk noted as they got close.


    A full-grown Minotaur was usually a Commander, so there was a chance that even a married couple could deal with the group, though it would be incredibly dangerous.


    The farmers were holding their own, and Karl saw five adults in battle, all Commanders. That would be enough to deal with the Sand Yeti on their own, but when they got close, he let Ophelia, Dana and the Naga Warriors go fight while he pretended to drive the wagon.


    Thor didn''t need directions like that, but it was easier to pretend than to exin.


    The four additions were able to quickly ovee the Sand Yeti warriors, and Karl noticed that the Naga Warriors were getting better with their use of [Tsunami].


    They had learned to create it with a downward strike of the sword, sending a narrow vertical arc of water racing toward the target for a much more concentrated and energy-efficient strike than the wide version.


    The Yeti were not particrly intelligent creatures, and they were mindlessly charging at the farmers without any sort of coordination, far from the level of threat that the groups led by Drakes had managed.


    Ophelia didn''t transform, she just hacked into the Sand Yeti with her axes, while Dana attacked from above, so she could see over the defenders.


    Compared to the others, she was tiny. Ophelia could use [Berserk Terror] when she was enraged to increase her size and power without Karl''s assistance. That made herrger than the Minotaurs and the Sand Yeti, while the Naga Warriors were not as thick, but their body length let them fight at an equal height to the others.


    Theirbat style was much more three-dimensional than most. They had no problem stretching out to attack from below, or raising to let their upper arms attack from above. Any target would have trouble dealing with four des at once, and the more that they practised, the more skilled that they were bing.


    With theirbined efforts, all the attackers were dead by the time that Karl pulled up to the farm house.


    "Do you need any healing? I have Dragon Clerics with me." He called over to the farmers.


    The bull headed grandfather of the family snorted in what sounded like annoyance, then gestured to the house.


    "If they don''t mind helping our kind, we do have injured." He agreed.


    Lotus hopped down from the wagon to take her turn at healing, and Cara poked at the mental link with Karl.


    [Tell her to try to polish their horns. I want to know what they look like when they are shiny.]


    [Later. Let us heal them and get them to calm down before we try to get them to agree to let Lotus groom them.]


    The presence of the Nature Cleric seemed to set them at ease. Lotus was possibly the least threatening person that Karl had ever met, and when she came in with an area healing spell active, it gave everyone a warm, weing feeling.


    "What are you doing so far off the track, merchant?" The oldest of the farmers asked.


    "This nonsense is happening all over the region, and we got a report that the route along the river, to bypass the battles at Berwickham, is even worse. The Sand Yeti are usually apanied by Copper Drakes, who give them organizational skills. Between that and the opportunistic ones looking to either kill the drakes or the merchants who might have valuables, this way is safer. It''s not much of a trade route, but I''ll try to make a go of it as I head east." Karl exined.


    "Well, if you can trade with the remote farms all the way through, you might do alright. What do you have for trade items?"


    "We''ve got some Minotaur tools, the sort that double as weapons for the farmers." Karl offered.


    The Minotaur nodded. "Do you want more of them to sell? We''ve got lots of steel here, but it''s rare further into the savanna."


    Karl shrugged. "I think that we have room for some extra gear. What do you have for sale?"


    "We get numerous requests for the sickle spear, or quality shovels. Grain and grass crops are the majority of the roughage grown around here, but we also do root vegetables.


    Sickles are essential for cutting wheat and hay, so we''re carrying them for most of the year. Shovels are just generally good weapons. So, we make some with serrated edges for dealing with thick hides and leather armour."


    That sounded like an innovative way to make a dual-purpose tool, even if you would have to sharpen the sides regrly with use. But Karl suspected that the sharpness was secondary when you were using the shovel as an axe.


    Minotaurs were strong, and a shovel head had a decent bit of weight to it, so it would make an eptable axe in an emergency.


    Karl turned to Tessa, who gave him a thumbs up from the wagon. They didn''t have too many of either, so they could afford to buy more here. The Minotaurs also had a crafting method that made Common Grade magical items out of their weapons, and she wanted to study that.


    If it was something that the church could do, the Red Dragon Clerics could make good use of it when a conscription happened on short notice. Teaching conscripts to use anything but a spear was difficult, and even their spear skills were questionable. However, handing them a shovel shaped axe should be more familiar.


    It had surely been tried in the past, and she had seen more than one pitchfork used inbat before, but it might be moremonce if they had better quality tools already in hand.


    The farmer sent one of the younger girls to go get their goods, and she came running back with a wheelbarrow full of them a minuteter.


    "This is what we have stockpiled. We haven''t had a lot of spare time to make tools this year, but it should be enough."


    Karl did the quick math and set out the money. Minotaurs weren''t hard negotiators from what he had seen. They had a moremunal mentality, and looked for the price that was best for everyone. So, offering them a fair price at the start actually saved time, and didn''t cost you any extra.


    The farmer nodded as he did the same math Karl had. n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om


    The little girl counted coins on her fingers and looked up at the elder Minotaur.


    "Is that a good price, grandpa?" She asked.


    "It is two thirds of the market price. That is a good price from a merchant, who has to carry them and find a buyer. It will be enough to cover all the supplies we ordered this spring." The older man replied.


    The little girl smiled and carefully put the coins in a bag before running inside with the bag held proudly in front of her.


    "Cute kid. Here, I have a couple extra healing potions, just in case you have more monster trouble."


    Remi passed Karl the potions from her space. She had been busy making these, and she was getting better at them. They still lost some effectivenesspared to directly using the skill, but she had mixed some medicinal herbs in them from her swamp, and it was getting closer to full power.


    The old Minotaur smiled as he carefully put the potions in a straw lined wooden chest.


    "If you''re certain, I won''t say no to your generosity. Emergency healing supplies are hard to buy, but not many merchants have clerics with them."


    Lotus giggled from inside the farm house, and Karl smiled.


    "They''re actually not made by the clerics. They''re made by a Naga Queen friend of mine. They''re Shaman healing magic."


    The Minotaur''s smile got evenrger. "Oh, that is a shock. I don''t think I''ve ever seen a Naga Shaman, much less a Shaman Queen. Even those Noble Warriors are a rarity outside their southern swamps. But if you''re headed east, there will be Lizardmen among the nomadic tribes. They are the closest thing to permanent residents that you''ll find east of the Minotaur farms.


    Arrogant bastards they are.


    Lizards and Minotaur don''t get along all that well, but with Dragon Clerics and Naga they should be easier for you to talk to."

 Chapter 507 Dangers To The East

    Chapter 507 Dangers To The East


    Remi wasn''t sure why the Minotaurs kept equating the Lizardmen with Naga. They were entirely different species. The lizardmen weren''t even aquatic like the Crocolisk species were. All they had inmon was scales. Karl took note of the old man''s attitude on the other species before asking more questions. "Have there been any recent troubles with the nomadic Orcs or Demons?"


    The farmer shook his head. "The demons all went west, intending to im a city for themselves. I haven''t seen any sign of them in months. The Orcs passed by here just a week or two ago, but they were in a good mood. We had a short fight, and then they traded us some steel in exchange for food."


    Karl chuckled. "Yeah, that sounds like them. As long as they''re not on a warpath, we should be alright, then."


    Karl saw Lotus sneak the younger Minotaurs inside the house a small bag of rice and beans, along with a bag of seeds that he couldn''t immediately identify. Then she came back out with her typical happy smile.


    "We''re all finished with the healing. Did you finish your trades?" She asked.


    "Yeah, we''re all done. We can head out as soon as everyone is back in the wagon."


    Lotus held out her arms, and Karlughed as he grabbed her by the hips to put her back in the wagon.


    Ophelia rolled her eyes as she climbed up thedder into the wagon, but Dana mimicked Lotus, holding out her arms. Karl grabbed her behind the legs for a one-armed princess carry and hopped up onto his seat.


    The farmerughed at her shocked expression, and Karl waved his free hand as he got Thor moving.


    Dana thumped him on the head as she wiggled out of his hold to sit beside him on the bench, cheeks flushed with embarrassment.


    There were a few other farms to the East, but Hawk didn''t spot any more trouble. In fact, the rest of the morning was quiet as they travelled.


    "Do you think that we reached the edge of the spawn area? When we went on missions, we would have reached a group at least twice an hour at this pace, but there isn''t much of anything here." Ophelia noted as they travelled across the open grasnd.


    "That is possible. We have no way to tell what the edge of the spawn was, so it is usible that it was centred closer to the city, and that would have put us outside the range by now.


    We only have Hawk''s reports to go on, and he''s focused on finding us the best route east. But I won''tin if we have a break between battles.


    Dealing with Drakes and a nomadic tribe at the same time would just be confusing, unless it was Orcs."


    The others all stared at Karl, waiting for an exnation of that idea.


    "Orcs like a good fight. If we ran into them and a group of Sand Yeti at the same time, we could send a champion out to fight, and they would ept that as a show of pride."


    "What are you, the Orc whisperer?" Tessaughed.


    "Just wait. There are nomadic Orc tribes here, and we will see them eventually. When I was sent back in time by Bishop Misty, I learned a lot about them. They used to be more civilized, but they have easy to follow rules of behaviour that seem to have survived the years."


    Tessa gave him a suspicious look, but Thor was nodding in agreement. Orcs were good people, they liked to smash stuff just as much as he did.


    Karl sighed as he realized that everyone trusted Thor''s judgment more than his own.


    Hawk''s scouting didn''t turn up much of anything for the rest of the day. They had left the spawn area for the Drakes, and even the farms had mostly ended.


    "Hey, do you think that the poptions are rted? As soon as the farms ended, so did the spawn. There wererger and stronger groups in the morning than at lunch, and now there is nothing. It feels like the spawn is tied to the local poption." Tessa noted as they prepared to set camp for the evening.


    "I''ve never heard of it being like that before, and they usually appear in the more rural areas. Or perhaps those areas are rural now because that''s where the spawns happen. But it does track. Hawk agrees too. The stronger groups were in the areas where the farm houses were clustered.


    If we add that to what you said earlier about them appearing near other anomalies, this might have been the smaller of the spawns as well.


    We''re days away from the Dungeon, so if distance has any rtion to strength, this should be the weakest that it gets." Karl offered.


    Tessa took out the map and looked at the area in front of them, which was basically onerge nk spot on the map. n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om


    "Going by this, it''s going to take us a week just to get back on the road, and close to a month to get to the border with the beastkin nation. When we set the schedule, we greatly overestimated how fast you can travel without breaking a wagon.


    It''s faster than having us mere mortals on foot, butpared to having us ride Thor and the rest of you jogging, we''re less than a quarter of our daily travel distance, maybe even an eighth." Tessa sighed.


    Ophelia nodded. "That is true. But it is what it is, and we''re not under any sort of set deadline to get back."


    Dana nodded, then smiled as she made a realization. "You know, this is as close as we''ve gotten to a vacation since we started at the Academy. We can just travel at our own pace and there is nobody to tell us otherwise.


    We might have to do something that pleases the Red Dragon eventually, but we can find a way, I''m certain."


    Ophelia smiled. "The gods have a way of making sure that we have the opportunity to make the right choices. That''s probably a red g, but maybe it will be cute orphans again."


    Lotusughed. "We do have good luck with orphans. It''s like small creatures are attracted to us."


    Tessa smirked at Ophelia, and Lotus stuck her tongue out at them. "That''s not what I meant, and you know it."


    She could protest all she wanted, but she was one of the small creatures.


    "Do we have any majorndmarks along the way?" Karl asked, with a gesture at the map in Tessa''s hands.


    "Nothing. We''re heading straight east, and not following the river as it bends northeast, but we''re only going to end up a hundred kilometres from where the ones following the road will end up. But if we go a bit south of true east, we would end up following the road for quite a while. That might be safer if there are more incidents along the way, but ording to the Dragon, the road route is the safer route.


    It''s after we reach the road again that we will have to decide to follow it southeast or go cross-country for a thousand kilometres to get closer to the Beastkin Nation."


    Karl frowned at the huge gaps on the map with no marked poption centres. It didn''t make sense for there to be nobody living there, but if there were no established roads, the Divine Beast Nation might have not bothered to fill it all in.

 Chapter 508 Visualize Your Desires

    Chapter 508 Visualize Your Desires


    Without a monster spawn nearby, Rae''s night watch was depressingly uneventful.


    But uneventful was good for Karl, as it gave him time to study his skills and theorize ways tobine them that might make a whole new ability.


    Trollish Regeneration and Limited Invulnerability hadbined to make [Void Body]. The skill basicallybined the best of both, with a bit more power, while keeping them as a passive skill.


    That wasn''t really what Karl was hoping for. It was an absolutely incredible skill, but he should be able tobine them into an ability that was better than just having both skills active, which he was doing anyhow.


    None of the other skills seemed all thatpatible, though. Karl considered his options, and while it seemed like he might be able tobine some of his attacks skills, his imagination was failing him on how tobine them to make them better than skill plus skillbined.


    There was no way that a skill so difficult to obtain could be limited to this degree. It wasn''t avable on the offensive or defensive skill trees, so there had to be more to it.


    Perhaps the point was to try to make ipatible skills work together to do something new and innovative.


    [Maybe you just need to think about how to make something from each of us work together? You can visualize skills, so just imagine all of us working together on one spell.] Remi offered.


    She was actually the one with the most talent and sess creating new skills. She had made two different types of Totems so far, and she had learned a wider variety of skills than anyone else.


    [Just make the snake''s magic less evil and go from there.] Hawk suggested.


    Karlughed at the bird''s loyalty to his element, and focused on the one shared skill from Remi''s advancement that he hadn''t tried yet.


    [Cyclone] created a vortex of water, simr to the defensive cyclone that that Naga Shaman boss had used.


    Hawk would want that to be less evil. So, Karl focused on converting the element to be fire. A ming tornado was more eptable to Hawk, even if it wasn''t better than the base Cyclone.


    [SOUP!] Cara shouted, startling them all.


    [What in the world are you talking about?] Karl asked. It wasn''t even close to lunchtime, and the drake leg that Hawk was roasting her wasn''t ready yet.


    [You know, soup! Just keep putting stuff in the pot until it''s good. You have a ming Cyclone, but if you added the Earth Barrier from Rae and a dash of Nullify...]


    The Void Badger trailed off to let Karl finish the thought.


    Karl thought about it, and that might be good, but not quite right. However, if he added Shatter to cause physical hits to inflict additional vibration damage, then made the Earth Shield swirl in the ming Cyclone, with a touch of [Nullify] to help it break defences, they might be on to something.


    It was a great concept, in theory. Except for the fact that Karl couldn''t use Nullify.


    In practice, trying to add Earth Shield to the cyclone was a pain, and he was unable to use Rae''s [Boulder Toss] to just add small stones.


    However, if he added [Shred], the swirling vortex became positively hateful.


    In practice, trying to add Earth Shield to the cyclone was a pain, and he was unable to use Rae''s [Boulder Toss] to just add small stones.


    However, if he added [Shred], the swirling vortex became positively hateful.


    But it still needed a bit more, and [Bone Crusher] did a fine job of recing Nullify in this situation, as it bypassed armour.


    It wouldn''t break their defences, but having a portion of the damage bypass them was a great start.


    Karl spent most of the afternoon trying to make that work together.


    He could form it in his mind, but it was unstable, and missing something.


    Chain Lightning, that was what it was missing. The Lightning would arc around it, carrying Shred and Bone Crusher with it, while the repetitive nature of the spell would help stabilize the mess of magic elements.


    In his mind, it was a great spell. It only gained a fraction of eachponent, but Rae and Cara were unhappy with being left out of the new ultimate skill.


    Disintegration wasn''t going to merge with this spell, though. There was already too much going on.


    [We might have to make this one the Hawk and Remibo. I''ve already added far too much to this soup, and I don''t think that it''s even going to stabilize. If I go any further I''m just going to be making a mess of things.] Karl sighed as they prepared to stop for the evening.


    [At least try it once to see if you can make a less evil Cyclone.] Hawk pleaded.


    "You''ve been lost in your head all day. Did you make some sort of discovery?" Dana asked as she leaned against his shoulder.


    She had been there all day, and Karl had been so preupied that he had hardly noticed.


    "I''ve been trying to use the Skill Merger ability that I got from Orthos to turn some of the Shared Skills into a higher grade skill. It''s harder than it seems, and the skill doesn''t seem to want to give me hints on what might work." Karl sighed.


    "How far along are you?" Dana replied.


    "Well, I think I''ve got an upgraded [Cyclone], but fire element instead of water. In theory, it should be much more powerful, but I don''t know if it''s going to work at all."


    Lotus popped her head over his other shoulder. "Are we going to get a show? I want to see you try to use a made up skill. That is too cool. Does that mean, if you learn enough different things, you can just make up a whole new set of attacks?" "I suppose that might be true. If I had the next stage of the Skill Master ability, the beasts would naturally be able to evolve their skills to new ones that are rted to the base, like how Shred is an evolved Rend." Karl exined.


    A single use version was how they had gotten [Eternal Lightning] and that one skill alone was enough to call Thor overpowered as a defensive support.


    "Well, let''s see what you have? Just cast it over there. We don''t want to get caught up if it goes wrong." Lotus insisted as Thor pulled the wagon to a stop next to arge boulder that would be their windbreak tonight.


    Karl chuckled as he got to the ground. "Alright. This might need some extra space, so I''ll go some distance away."


    Karl walked fifty metres from the wagon, just to be safe. That should be beyond the range of any idental misfires, especially when he was casting it away from the wagon as well.


    Karl focused on the new Cyclone, then activated all of the spells that would need to bebined to make it work. It was a massive energy use, but the spell was beginning to take effect as he had envisioned it.


    The cyclone was fire, it was energized with Shred and Chain Lightning, but when he tried to add [Bone Crusher] it vanished in a puff of unstable fire.


    "Alright, that might have been too much to ask. Let me try that again."


    Karl began to reform the four-metre tall Cyclone with more focus on the base spell to keep the form and then activated Shred for the tearing damage, and then Chain Lightning. That was fairly stable, but nothing special had happened, so Karl began to tweak the bnces.


    If he could get it right before he was exhausted, it would be a great victory.


    The spell began to settle, but the mana cost was still that of four spells at once. That wasn''t really an improvement, but at least the effect looked right. n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om


    Then suddenly, lightning arced off the vortex, hitting an Earth Mouse ten metres from the main Cyclone.


    A smaller version of the spell formed at the impact site, wandering off on its own without Karl''s input or control.


    Then another Chain Lightning arc hit a hidden creature and a second two-metre tall vortex formed, wandering through the grass.


    Karl nearly copsed as a pulse of energy was pulled from him and a dozen more small vortexes formed, one metre tall and spreading from the secondary vortexes.


    [Brother Hawk, it is glorious.] Cara breathed, barely loud enough for Karl to hear in his thoughts. Hawk blinked a tear from his eye. [It is beautiful.]


    [New Shared Skill Learned: Hellstorm]


    [Usable by Remi]


    [Usable Hawk]


    There was only one problem with that new skill. They had started a grass fire.


    [Remi, would you mind putting that out for us? Congrattions to you and Hawk on your new spell.]

 Chapter 509 It Worked

    Chapter 509 It Worked


    Thunderstorm quickly put out the grass fire, and Karl sighed in relief that the skill creation process had actually worked.


    "That is absolutely ridiculous. Why was it splitting? Is it supposed to do that?" Dana asked.


    "There were Earth Mice. The spell used Chain Lightning to stabilize it, but that made it arc to nearby targets. I think that it''s overall a sess. The system didn''t call it an Epic Grade skill or anything, but if the energy cost is reasonable, it should be one of the most powerful area attack spells that I have." Karl exined.


    "Well, it will make Hawk happy, anyhow. Wait, he can use it, right?"


    Karl smiled at the panicked look on Dana''s face. "Yeah, he can use it. So can Remi."


    Ophelia began tough, and everyone turned to see what was so amusing.


    "I can see it now. Just fire tornadoes all over the battlefield, randomly duplicating every time they get too close to something. It will be utter chaos. Nowhere will be safe, and we won''t even be able to work with allies without risking them getting a fire cyclone to the face.


    It''s both the greatest and most horrific spell that I''ve ever seen. It doesn''t even spare the grass. When you cast a normal fire magic spell, it doesn''t target the ground unless it actually lights the target on fire, but those things leave a burnt path as they wander." She exined between giggles.


    "I might need a bit of practice with the targeting." Karl admitted.


    "But are you even in control of the additional ones? The first one that you created sat in one spot, but the rest didn''t."


    "Minor technical difficulty. But it''s an effective groupbat spell. Besides, if there are no extra targets, I can just create the vortex on top of the enemy and make them fight their way out."


    Tessa shook her head and began to hang a silk sheet between the wagon and therge boulder beside them, so she could set up a fire pit underneath. It didn''t seem like it was going to rain naturally tonight, but the tarp would keep the light contained, in case something was watching.


    Lotus grew the firewood to warm the area, while Ophelia and Dana strung out the hammocks for the evening.


    "Has anyone else noticed that the air here smells funny? It''s like there is something rotten, but I can''t figure out where it''sing from." Lotus asked as she finished lighting the campfire.


    Karl sniffed the air, and yes, there was some smell of rotting vegetation, but that was normal for any wilderness area. "Nothing out of the usual. Do you think it might be something like that weird feeling before thest monster spawn?" Karl asked.


    Tessa frowned. "It might. You were the one who felt the strangenessst time, or at least the one that felt it the most powerfully. Tonight it is Lotus. Perhaps we should sleep early and prepare to be awake at midnight, in case of an attack?" N?v(el)B\\jnn


    "That''s probably a good idea. If nothing appears in the middle of the night, it might happen at dawn, or it might be the next night. The area around Oakhamping felt wrong for days before the monster spawn." Karl exined.


    That night, everyone slept armoured, much to Karl''s dismay. What was the point of sharing a hammock with a lumpy suit of chain mail? Even if it was covered in the soft silk of the outfit that Rae had made for Dana, armour still wasn''t fun to cuddle with.


    Rae mentally nudged Karl just before midnight, so he would be the first awake if there was anything happening. Karl woke the others, and theyy in the wagon, waiting for news from Rae, who would be able to see the enemy from the furthest distance.


    Karl waited, watching the distance for heat signatures.


    They watched for a half hour, and Karl was about to rx when movement in the distance caught his attention. However, it didn''t give off a heat signature, it was the same temperature as the ground and the trees. But it was moving, and from over a slight rise, there were more moving objects.


    "We have motion in the distance, but they seem to be cold-blooded. They''re not giving off a heat signature. I am just seeing them with echolocation. The amount of noise that they are making while they move makes them fairly easy to spot."


    "So, a reptile species, or possibly something unexpected." Tessa whispered.


    Reptiles would be the best option. At least Karl had a good idea how to deal with them. But most of the reptiles that they hade across, the monster varieties at least, were warm-blooded.


    Even the Naga, who appeared to be snakes, were warm-blooded.


    With movement in the distance, everyone got out of bed to prepare for an attack. Even the low light vision that Karl had inherited from Hawk was no use at that distance, they were just vague shapes in the long grass, as Hawk''s night vision wasn''t colour vision. But they were bipedal, and not muchrger than humans. However, as they got a bit closer, the details were easier to pick out. However, that wasn''t helping Karl in his attempts to determine what the threat level was.


    There were lizardfolk, Orcs, some Demons, humans and others just walking around aimlessly.


    "I don''t know what is going on. They''re all cold as the surrounding nts, but it looks like humans, orcs and other monsters." Karl whispered.


    "More slime monsters? They might be mimicking things that they''ve seen recently." Tessa suggested.


    "That is a possibility. Or it might be some sort of spectre. They don''t have an internal temperature, but they''re much more umon." Ophelia added.


    Dana looked around in the dark, unable to see much of anything beyond the radius of the firelight.


    "There is one more thing that they could be." She whispered.


    "The Undead."


    Karl looked out at the variety of species, the way they didn''t seem to have any animosity for each other or any urge to gather. Combined with the fact that they had just appeared at midnight, but didn''t take any proactive actions to do anything but slowly walk in random directions, and it did look like a setup from a horror movie set.


    It was too soon to say for certain, but if they were stuck in a zombie spawn, he would no longer be surprised. They had encountered enough abnormal activity since joining the Academy that he wasn''t putting anything outside the realm of possibility.


    Even if they had been told by those in charge that it wouldn''t happen.


    The fire had burnt down to embers, but it wouldn''t be easy for the creatures to sense anyhow, being surrounded by the tarps to keep the light in.


    "I need to check the other side of the rock and make certain that there isn''t anything sneaking up on us. Then we can start nning for how to deal with whatever spawn we''re stuck in." Karl whispered.


    "Fighting in the dark is going to suck." Ophelia sighed.


    "If we need to, we can make light. It''s better than risking a mistake in the dark. I''ll be back in a few seconds."


    Karl moved around the boulder to scout the area. If there were monsters close enough to be a real threat, Rae would have sensed them by now, but Karl wanted to see with his own eyes, so he had a clear grasp of the situation.


    In the distance, there were hundreds of the same assorted monsters and humans with no heat signature, all wandering aimlessly in the dark. At least nothing had appeared right on top of their group this time. They weren''t going to get much sleep tonight, but they weren''t in immediate danger.

 Chapter 510 Sound of Violence

    Chapter 510 Sound of Violence


    Out of the darkness, the sound ofbat carried to Karl''s sensitive ears, as well as the Naga Warriors.


    It was too faint for Thor to hear it, but Rae perked up, trying to find the source of the disturbance. It was out of sight, and Karl quickly realized that someone had found a low spot to camp in, where they wouldn''t be spotted from a distance in the morning.


    That was a much better idea than just camping next to a big rock, but if their battle was intense enough that it could be heard from kilometres away, they might need assistance. But more urgently, the sound of battle was drawing the attention of all the creatures in the area. Once they started to move with purpose, it got the attention of even more, and soon every one of the creatures that Karl could detect was headed in the same direction. Some would be passing right through their camp if they didn''t move, and there were hundreds of them.


    "Okay, that''s not good. Whoever is fighting in the distance has gotten the attention of every creature within five kilometres, and they''re all headed that way. Some of them will be passing right by us, and that means a fight.


    But a fight means that there will be more of them turning our way.


    I think it might be best to go for a strength in numbers approach." Karl exined.


    Tessa frowned as she replied. "So, head towards the battle and hope that whoever is over there is more friendly than whatever spawned? Well, given our experience with the spawns, that shouldn''t be hard to achieve.


    Do we know what the enemy is yet?" Karl shook his head. "Just our various theories, but we will find out when we get to them."


    [We won''t have to wait long. There are already monsters headed this way.] Rae reminded him.


    "Alright, pack quickly and let''s get going. I want to get as close as possible before the fight spreads." Karl insisted.


    They only had to pack up the two sheets that were hiding the campfire, then they were ready to move, as fast as Thor could go without risking the wagon. Karl jogged alongside the wagon as Rae kept Thor updated on the best routes.


    The monsters weren''t fast, and they were actually catching up to the ones in front of them, so Karl ordered Thor to slow a little. They would get as close as possible before they had to actually join the fight.


    He could already hear the voices, and they were speaking the Commonnguage, so at the very least the defenders weren''t insane.


    "Shoulder to shoulder, keep your positions circled and don''t get so far from the ground that they can get under you and inside the ring." A male voice was shouting.


    The sound of des and the shing lights of spells were now visible. Whoever was there, they had magic users. That meant it wasn''t a random group of farmers, as the Minotaur didn''t have any spell casters that Karl knew of. They had extremely powerful warriors, but that was the extent of theirbat power.


    "Tamarind, watch your offhand de technique. You''re slow on the left side."


    [Hellstorm!] Remi cheered in Karl''s mind, and a massive funnel of fire formed off to their right side, where a dense pack of the attackers had gathered.


    There was a short stone ledge there, but for some reason they were not climbing it, just piling up against it or going around.


    But with the light illuminated their features, Karl knew that today was going to be a lousy one.


    Every face was rotted, eyes zed in death, as the zombie horde pressed towards the signs of life. The undead were relentless. The only option was to kill them all or run away. But they were all around both groups, so running wasn''t an option.


    "What the fuck is that?" The voice shouted. So they were close enough that they could see the fire. n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om


    "Merchant teaming to your location." Karl shouted, drawing the attention of a number of zombies.


    He called out the Lamia to join the Naga Warriors around the wagon, and Rae called out her Golems to help her clear the path for Thor.


    Karl used Rend to cut down swathes of the creatures, then realized that the upper halves kept moving. Crushing the heads or burning them was the best option.


    So, he brought out his bow and began to fire [Chain Lightning] enhanced arrows into the horde.


    Most of them were Awakened and Ascended, but there were a few stronger ones in the crowd.


    Karl could feel them there, but it was impossible to tell which was which when they were packed so densely.


    The source of the spells came into sight as the ground dropped away into what looked like a dry dugout pond, the sort that farmers made for their cattle.


    It was an oval about ten metres by twenty, and only five metres deep. However, the defenders were all human, wearing the ck cloth outfits of a Spellde n.


    They were putting up a valiant defence, and the zombie bodies were beginning to stack up.


    "Don''t attack the Spider, it''s a friendly." Someone was shouting, and Karl breathed a sigh of relief. It was good to have intelligent allies.


    Karl started a second [Hellstorm] on his left, matching the one that Remi was still holding active on the right, along with over a dozen smaller ming cyclones.


    They were wandering through the horde, lighting zombies on fire. The weaker ones burned to ash in seconds, but the smaller cyclones weren''t Royal Rank. They stepped down by a Rank as they shrunk, first to Commander, then to Ascended Rank.


    Karl let his vortex wander, spreading the chained Vortexes through the horde, but it was nowhere near enough.


    With Rae''s assistance and Karl''s arrows, they managed to push the wagon to dugout position, where the Spelldes parted to let them through.


    Ophelia and Dana hopped down to join the defensive line, while Tessa and Lotus worked to bring up holy spells for the defenders. Thor already had [Circle of Protection] active, and he quickly spread [Eternal Lightning] over the group as he settled in to focus on his magic.


    Karl nodded at the golden masked Royal Rank Spellde as he stopped at the edge of the circle to reposition his [Hellstorm] vortex.


    Remi did the same, putting hers opposite Karl''s at the top of the hill as she came out to join the fight.


    Hawk used the light from the spells as a guide to take flight and bombard the area, while Cara wandered out into the horde, looking for something worth fighting.


    She had a barrier up, and she was virtually immune to low rank attacks anyhow, so Karl wasn''t all that worried about her, as long as she didn''t get too far away.


    Most of the Spelldes were Ascended Rank, with four Commanders and one Prince leading them.


    That was a pretty normal groupposition for a thirty-person team, but against this horde they would eventually exhaust themselves. Having Thor here would help immensely, with his barrier refreshing everyone''s stamina, health and mana.


    The de skills looked familiar, and Karl quickly settled into his role killing zombies who made it to the ridgeline, using minimal power with his arrows so that he didn''t have to take down [Hellstorm], which was still mana intensive even after it waspleted and learned as a skill.

 Chapter 511 Old Friends

    Chapter 511 Old Friends


    "Prince Karl, what a sight for sore eyes. Of all the things that we expected to being our way, Thor and Rae were not even on the list." The Prince next to Karl informed him.


    "I take it that we have met before. How is your team? Skilled fighters or recruits on a training mission?" Karl replied.


    "All skilledbatants now. We were reassigned from the Mountain Giant front to try to reach an anomaly that opened west of here. There is a rumour that it is stabilizing, and it might be high-ranked."


    As the man spoke, Karl realized where he knew that voice from. n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om


    "Prince Corbin?" He asked.


    "Right in one guess. Muffin is four or five spots down, and Tamarind is on the other side somewhere."


    Karl didn''t remember a Tamarind, but he was more focused on the battle right now than people''s names.


    "And the others from the Yeti anomaly?" He asked instead.


    "Larry and Darrel, the Commanders, are here. The other youngsters had duties at home."


    Karl continued to casually fire arrows into the crowd while Remi stood with her arms outstretched, guiding her main vortex with her hands while Karl let his roam freely.


    Corbin sent arcs of energy that were rather simr to [Rend] into the zombie horde, keeping them back of the defenders on their side, but some of the others were beginning to have trouble on the far end, where there was no Royal and no Hellstorm to slow the attack.


    "I will move to support the others. Once this initial wave slows, we can talk again." Karl informed the Spellde with a quick nod of his head.


    "Greatly appreciated. We will see you soon. Let me know if your team needs to take down that regenerating barrier. The mana it grants is likely all that is keeping our Ascended des going at this point."


    The fight had only just started, they hadn''t been fighting for more than fifteen minutes. But if they had been surrounded when they woke up, they might be working on four hours of sleep, and they would have burnt a lot at the start of the fight.


    They were doing their best, but most of the Spelldes weren''t specialized in multiple enemy fights, and these ones had most likely been fighting Giants before being sent on this mission, the same as Karl and the others had. It limited the skills that they were familiar with, asrge area attacks were less effective against widely spread,rger targets. But the zombies were shoulder to shoulder, and packed tight front to back, trying to w their way to the living.


    Karl used [Rend] at neck height and spread as wide as possible, decapitating dozens of weaker zombies in a single shot before returning to firing arrows along the new front.


    It was bing clear that they were still on the losing side of the battle, just not soon. The group didn''t have enough area attacks to keep the horde back forever, and minute by minute, the lines were advancing. Blizzard wouldn''t effectively get rid of them, it took too long to get through to the brain, and the zombies didn''t stop for mere flesh wounds. It might be worth a shot, though. Hellstorm was killing at a steady pace, but didn''t move between targets fast enough when it would only arc to a dozen or so targets at once while pulling almost all the mana Karl was getting from Eternal Lightning and his own regeneration.


    So, Karl switched the spells, with [Blizzard] spread as wide as he could make it.


    Unlike the ming vortex, the zombies didn''t see it as a threat, so they didn''t try to go around. That caused a momentary increase in the number of them reaching the front of the lines, but with the help of the Bodyguards, the perimeter was holding.


    Hawk''s bombardment was burning the piles of bodies, preventing them from creating piles that could be pushed down the hill onto the defenders, while Remi had a [Thunderstorm] on one side, and was following Karl''s lead in switching to [Blizzard] on the other.


    The Spelldes were concerned, seeing more wounded zombies making it to the front. If the new arrivals couldn''t sustain enough output to eliminate the zombies, they would soon be in hand-to-handbat again.


    Prince Corbin understood the long game, though. Blizzard was low mana cost, so the casters could focus on other spells at the same time. Plus it was a huge area, with the two Blizzards and a Thunderstormpletely encircling their position, leaving no gaps.


    All they had to do now was to hold the zombies in ce long enough for the damage over time to tear those stuck in the middle of the pack apart, and the defenders would get a respite while another wave of attackers made its way through the spells.


    "Just keep holding them back. Let the area spells do their work." Corbin shouted to his weary Sect members.


    That was all that they could do anyhow, but the prospect of getting a break when the area spells wiped out a whole region of the enemy was a wee one.


    Rae was firing stone bullets at the zombies from her position beside the wagon, while her golems hunted the stronger zombies in the area.


    It was the closest that she coulde to having fun in this fight when the zombies smelled so terrible. Their blood was rancid and corrupt. Even with a barrier over her, Rae did not want any of that getting on her. Just the thought of smelling like that for the entire battle grossed her out.


    It didn''t help that the Spelldes didn''t know about the spawns, so they had only put a minimal guard rotation on duty for the evening, thinking that if they did face anything it was likely to be bandits or local monsters.


    So, when the spawn had happened, the undead were already on them by the time that they noticed.


    That meant closebat, and zombie blood on the mages.


    Zombie blood that smelled absolutely terrible and was all over the area around the camp.

 Chapter 512 Clearance Section

    Chapter 512 Clearance Section


    The area spells were working their magic on the zombies, and every wave that reced one that had been destroyed was in a bit worse shape. Then, for a few glorious moments, there were no more zombies on the front line, only wounded ones shambling through the blizzard.


    "Catch your breath and prepare for the next wave. After this, it will be a steady wave of wounded zombies, but the storms will help keep the battle from attracting more of the creatures." Prince Corbin shouted to his Sect members.


    Karl''s team, mostly the summoned creatures, could take care of the influx for a few minutes. With the area damage and the slow movement of the zombies, they were arriving already heavily damaged. Plus, with the initial wave dead, they were losing their guidance, and they weren''t charging straight ahead anymore. They were lingering in the storm, and many of the weak ones were dying without ever making it to the front.


    That was making it easier to deal with, and Hawk''s reporting said that the worst of the influx was already here. They had drawn the majority of the spawned area to them already, as the Spellde Sect had been close to the centre of the anomaly, and there just weren''t many left to arrive.


    Karl wasn''t going to pass along that news yet. The others might get their hopes up, and Hawk''s search range was much more limited in the middle of the night than it was in the daytime. If he could bring Rae up with him, he would be able to see much further. That seemed like a good idea to Hawk. If he could work on a skill like Brutality, to increase his size, but by a lot more, he could carry someone with him to do the actual work of scouting.


    Maybe he could do it with a skill that he already knew? If his ming Body didn''t set everyone on fire when they sat on him, it would be able to do the job of making him big, but it couldn''t emte his wings well enough, so he still wouldn''t be able to fly with them.


    That meant that he actually needed to get big in order to fly with a passenger, and that would be much more difficult.


    [I''m going to hunt the ones that haven''t made it to the storms yet.] He announced, turning away from the battle.


    [Alright, have fun. If you find a way to make yourself big enough to give rides, we will work out a method to teach you.] Karl agreed.


    [Or maybe we can do it backwards? If we could make Rae into a tiny bloodbath spider, she could ride on Thor at the size he is now.]


    Raeughed at the thought. If she was the size of amon house spider, she could get under armour and clothing to just carve her enemies apart. Or circle their neck with Royal Rank silk and give it a tug to decapitate them.


    The possibilities were endless.


    Karlzily fired arrows into the few zombies that were still making it to the front of the swarm. Then he created a new [Hellstorm] to make a loop around the ridge line. The bodies had started to pile up, and with Hawk off hunting, they needed some fire to destroy the corpses. Frying their brains with lightning killed them, and decapitating them effectively immobilized them, but only fire got rid of the bodies entirely.


    "That spell is just nasty. Where did you learn something like that?" The Spellde on Karl''s right asked as their eyes met. n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om


    Karl was turning to guide the vortex in a circle, not trusting a route that he couldn''t see, but he had to move somewhat slowly, so the smaller secondary vortexes had time to kill the other zombies in the area and burn those corpses.


    "It''s an evolved version of the water spell [Cyclone]. I picked up the knowledge quite recently, and I''m still working on mastering it, but it''s a pretty brutal spell."


    The Spellde frowned. "Not from a monster in this region, I hope? I would hate to see that spell could do to a group of Spelldes while therge vortex was set on top of the group leader."


    Karl nodded. "The real drawback is the energy cost. By the time that I''ve got it all the way around the camp, I''ll be nearly drained just keeping [Hellstorm] and one [Blizzard] active."


    The young manughed and gestured at himself as Karl continued to turn. "I doubt that many of us could do more than that. Multiple spells are hard on anyone but a strong Commander or a Royal."


    As Karl turned, he saw one of the Spelldes, a small girl who looked like she might not even be ten years old yet, but an Ascended Rank Mage, was giving him a curious look. Not like a curious child, but more like she knew who he was and wanted answers to something.


    Karl set the thought aside for a moment and finished the loop with [Hellstorm] so he could return to only one active spell and his sporadic targeting of the stronger zombies.


    With the extra time between targets, the Commander on Karl''s left also began to chat.


    "You must be that Beast Master that everyone at home has been talking about. I can''t think of anyone else who has a team like yours, but I don''t recall there being Naga and Lamia among your bonded monsters. Are they new?" He asked.


    Karl shook his head as he sighted another arrow. "No, the Lamia pair is summoned. The Naga Queen evolved from the Spirit Snake you were likely expecting to be with me, and the Naga Warriorse with her."


    All three Naga Warriors were out around the perimeter, using [Tsunami] to crush the zombies, while the Lamia happily sliced the zombies heads off with [Rend].


    The Spellde nodded. "Prince Corbin told us all about his battle alongside you, as a motivational tale of what could happen if we worked hard and had a bit of luck with encounters.


    Now, I wouldn''t say that we''re having great luck so far, but we''re having encounters."


    His joke broughtughter from their side of the line. They had certainly had an encounter. They had just arrived in this nation, at a spot that had been determined to be too low on the priority scale for anyone toe see who had arrived by portal from the Wilds.


    The n had done a two-step transfer, moving into the region controlled by wild beasts first, then here. That way, there was a chance it could have been hunters harvesting resources and specialty meat, or even a border patrol team who had detected something out of the ordinary.


    There was a lot of that going around. Enough that they could make up all sorts of stories about their travels if someone dide to check.


    It was the opposite of what the Divine Beasts had done by sending Karl to the coast, where there was simply nobody monitoring for portals, as it was too far from the major poption centres to be worth the effort in extending the detection spells.

 Chapter 513 Moving Forward

    Chapter 513 Moving Forward


    As the zombies began to stop reaching the front of the storms, the mages began to rx. Karl''s team had everything under control, and they could finally catch their breath and begin to get their bearings. The sudden and intense attack had caught them by surprise, turning their seemingly genius camping spot into an inescapable trap.


    "Prince Karl, High Priestess, do you think you could spare me a moment for a debriefing? What in the Dragon''s name is going on around here?" Prince Corbin called as he retreated from the line.


    Tessa gestured for Lotus to continue cooking as she got to her feet, and Karl retreated from his spot on the far side of the line.


    "You missed all the fun stuff, Spellde." Karlughed.


    "There was a dungeon opening a few hundred kilometres west of here, and it stabilized.


    First it turned into an absolute shitshow of a fight with every nomadic tribe in the region, as well as thebat capable residents of the nearest cities, and then for thest few days there have been anomaly level Monster Spawns in the wilderness. The first few were just insane monsters, but this one was a bit different.


    None of them seem to be rted to the dungeon itself, as the monsters there are slime monsters that mimic the appearance of the members attempting to clear it.


    Minimum ten person entry, with a low Commander Rank power level." He finished.


    "And how, pray tell, might you have discovered all this information in thest few days, while under attack by monster spawns?" Prince Corbin asked.


    "Because the dungeon opened about three days before the monster spawns began, and I saw it stabilize with my own eyes.


    We were having a polite and genteel pay with the Yellow Tusk Orcs at the time, and they were vigorously enthused to see such a serendipitous happenstance."


    Tessa burst outughing while Prince Corbin rubbed his temples.


    "Setting aside the part about a polite and genteel chat with Orcs, you do understand that using big words doesn''t make it more likely I will believe that you''re not lying to me, right?


    My guess is that whatever you were up to before it appeared is directly responsible for the appearance of a stabilized Commander Rank dungeon here in the Newbon Empire.


    From what I hear, you''ve been missing from the lines for quite some time. You were on a mission and simply vanished. Now you''re here with your whole group of lucky charms and a Void Badger." Corbin replied.


    "Winged Void Badger to be precise. And she''s part of our team. Her name is Cara, and she enjoys holding small creatures and booping dragons on the nose." Karl agreed.


    Corbin determined that the only way forward was to simply pretend that Karl didn''t exist and go to the Dragon Cleric for answers. Anything else was too hard on his sanity.


    The Spellde turned to Tessa with his polite business smile in ce. "Where might your next nned stop be? Your team is a long way behind enemy lines."


    Tessa gathered herself and stoppedughing so she could answer. "We''re headed for Clifnal, where we n to get back on the road, and then head east to the Beastkin Nation.


    It was either that or go back into the Divine Beast Nation and go through the wilderness to the border."


    "Who sent you? The Bureau and the Prime Minster himself said that we were the only team in the region." He asked.


    "We arrived with the assistance of the Bronze Dragon Orthos from a negotiation location within the Divine Beast Nation. The trip was authorized by the Archbishop himself, I have the letter here." She exined.


    She handed him the paper, and Corbin frowned as he read through it. "Well, that is unexpected. But if I might ask, what secret mission were you on in the Divine Beast Nation? Something to do with the Void Badger?" Karl smirked as Tessa frowned, trying to decide where to start exining.


    "Not exactly. Karl was relocated by an anomaly, and when he exited, he was in the Divine Beast Nation and already had Cara. There was some concern that the Beast Gods would be unwilling to return him to the Golden Dragon Nation, and the rest of us were sent to ensure that the contract we signed with the Red Dragon, that demands we not leave a party member behind, was not broken.


    So, that''s where we were when this anomaly was discovered, and we enlisted their assistance to arrive on the West Coast. We have been posing as merchants since then, making our way across the country at the speed of a merchant wagon." n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om


    Prince Corbin sighed. "That''s actually brilliant. With the Naga, you can pretend to be a proper group of locals. Our n was to pose as a nomadic Spellde n while we investigated. Nobody expected us to get close enough to see the dungeon firsthand, so we would be reporting back whatever we heard. How many powerful dungeon Champions were there when you arrived?"


    Tessa shook her head. "We were on location when the anomaly opened. It was just us and the Orcs, and then we left as the first challengers arrived. We''re on good terms with the Nomadic Orc Tribes, and we didn''t want to fight them for control when our half of the job was already done."


    "To see if the anomaly stabilized?" Corbin asked.


    "To ensure that it stabilized. Which we did from the inside before anyone realized what was going on. The Beast Gods have a theory that having the stabilized anomaly here will help keep trespassers out of their nation.


    It''s close enough to the coast that every other nation can just sail in to Lutonade and make it to the dungeon in a day. It''s easier to sail into the port and go down the road than it is to try to sneak in across the Divine Beast Nation or from the eastern border." Tessa exined.


    The Spellde took out his map and looked at the various options. "That seems like a logical option. Can you show me where the Dungeon should be?" He asked.


    "It is right there. If you''re going to continue that way, it was spawning Copper Drakes and Sand Yeti among the farms in this region. Oakhamping is a disaster, don''t bother trying to enter, as you''ll probably have to fight your way out. South of there, Halsearing is preparing for a siege, or massive traffic, as it is within a half day''s walk of the dungeon. The roads were crammed with farm traffic, but everyone is paranoid about running into the Nomadic Tribes." Tessa gestured at the map as she exined, as his map was even worse than the one that they had hand copied. Corbin was adding details as Tessa exined them, along with notes on what monsters to expect in the area. Both the spawn and the local farmers.


    "This could be more difficult than I thought. Unlike your group with the Monster Man, we''re going to be bringing a whole Sect of young humans through. That will make it pretty obvious to anyone we see that we''re headed for the Dungeon." Tessa frowned. "Do you still need to get to the dungeon? If we go back with you, we can give them all the details that you would get."


    Corbin tapped the map as he considered it. "Let me think about that for a bit. Having you here is an unexpected twist that wasn''t in the predicted scenarios."

 Chapter 514 Check Your Inventory

    Chapter 514 Check Your Inventory


    As thest of the zombies were eliminated, the storms were disabled, and silence fell over the depression where the Spelldes were camped. With a mixture of relief and exhaustion, the mages copsed to the ground, while Ophelia and Dana came over to join Karl and Tessa.


    "Sleeping early was a good call. The other mages look horrible." Ophelia joked.


    "I''m not sure if you''ve noticed, but we have been inbat for nearly two hours, miss ''I don''t have ranged attack skills''." Dana replied.


    The berserker snorted in amusement. "I''m not getting zombie blood in my fur if I can avoid it. Didn''t Ie around with water for everyone?"


    Raeughed in Karl''s mind at thatment. She had been in the centre of the camp, firing stones at the zombies the entire time for the exact same reason.


    It wasn''t easy to be a furrydy surrounded by zombies. She was just thankful that the area was full of mages who were happy to use fire to get rid of all of the leftover bodies and viscera.


    [There are no more zombies around. Are the Danas all recovered yet, or do we need to guard them?] Hawk asked, distracting Karl.


    [The Spelldes are recovering, but they have enough Commanders who are fit to watch over the camp that you can return and sleep until the sunes up at the very least.] [I''m on my way back. Tell Rae not to ck, since she''s the only one who can see anythinging in the dark if I''m asleep.]


    Hawk was definitely cranky about being awakened in the middle of the night. The moon was half full in the sky, and there were no clouds, so even the humans could see a little in this light.


    Karl paused there. He had forgotten that he was one of the humans again. Perhaps if he thought about them as their sses, it would help. Mages and clerics had more trouble seeing in the dark than he did. Yes, that was better.


    Prince Corbin took notes of the situation as the team began to rx, and then got back to his original line of questions.


    "You said that you had been in the dungeon. Did youplete it? What sort of rewards did it give?" He asked.


    Karl realized that he had never even checked, and now he had to search through his inventory boxes to find what might havee from the dungeon, and separate it from what had certainly been there already.


    There were some Commander Rank armour pieces, nothing special. Some decent Ascended Rank armour, and then a small golden chest.


    That was unexpected.


    "There were some coins, some armour, and a golden box." Karl replied with a shrug.


    Tessa turned to him. "A golden box full of what? Did you even examine it, much less open it?"


    Karl shrugged, and Tessa rolled her eyes at him. In the dim light of the camp, backlit only by the cooking fire that Lotus was tending, it was easy enough to ignore the fact that she was exasperated by hisck of interest in the rewards of the dungeon.


    Karl checked the box, a bit embarrassed that it had slipped his mind.


    [First Dungeon Completion Random Reward]


    "It''s a random reward. I don''t know what is in the box." He exined.


    Dana poked him on the side of the head. "Those boxes are a group reward. Why don''t you go ahead and open it, so we can see if it''s something useful?"


    Corbin made a ''get on with it'' gesture. He was just as interested in what the dungeon had given as the ones who had actually been there.


    Karl took the small golden box out of his inventory and held it out for everyone to inspect. "Well, it looks normal enough. I wonder what sort of reward fits in that box." Corbin noted.


    In the edge of Karl''s vision, Lotus smirked. One of them had opened up into a full stage with a spinning wheel when she tried to open it.


    Karl flipped the lid to the golden chest, and it immediately vanished, reced with a message in his Status ovey, appearing as words in his vision.


    [Calcting First Clear Rewards]


    [Group Reward Calcted] Epic Grade items granted n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om


    [Individual Reward Calcted] Over Rank Penalty Applied


    Karl sighed as he saw the message, and then waited for the next message while he checked his inventory for the Epic Grade Item that the group should have gotten.


    [Ring of the Beast Lord] Increases Luck by 150 points. Increases damage of Skills used by bonded or summonedpanions by 15 percent.


    Karl had no idea what the Luck stat was supposed to be. It was nowhere in any of his interfaces, even when he checked them again. It must exist if he could get a bonus to it, but it was not a visible status line.


    However, fifteen percent more damage from the skills of his beasts was a pretty good ring. Combined with the Giant Strength Ring that he wore on his other hand, it would make a noticeable difference in theirbat ability.


    [Individual Reward Granted] Karl''s vision went nk, and he found himself standing in an empty void with nothing but a spinning wheel with square spaces on it like a paddle wheel on the grain mill. It was the same concept as the other spinning prize wheel, but this one had the prizes around the outer edge instead of on the face.


    That made room for many more options, and the wheel was dozens of metres tall.


    Karl looked at the skill in front of him. The actual square looked like tinted ss, but there was elegant script on the front that read ''Skill Book: Pimp p''. Now that was a skill. How useful it would be inmon was questionable, but the name alone implied that it had great possibilities.


    The other slots couldn''t be read from his position, as if the titles were blocked. So, Karl knew what spot to watch as the wheel spun to get a guess at what might have been possible.


    There was no benefit to dying any further, so Karl jumped up a few metres and grabbed the wheel to drag it down. It was huge, and it would take some effort to get more than one full spin out of it, he assumed.


    The slots began to blur by too fast for him to read as the wheel rapidly picked up speed from Karl''s overly enthusiastic spin.


    It felt like an eternity before it began to slow, and he could finally see the options. There were clothing items, an Epic Grade tent in a box, whatever that was, some oddly named skill books, and even experience bonuses.


    It wasn''t on par with thest time that they had gotten a reward, but there were some good items interspersed with the cosmetic items. Perhaps if he didn''t have Rae with him, a Commander Rank coat might have meant more.


    The wheel slowed to a stop, and Karl stared at the words on the reward slot in front of him.


    [Congrattions. Random Reward Granted.]


    Karl stared at thebel on the spot in front of him. [Skill Advancement Token] Advance one known skill by one tier.

 Chapter 515 Advanced Skill Mastery

    515 Advanced Skill Mastery


    Karl smiled as he saw what he had gotten. [Advance Evolution by one Rank]


    [Invalid Target]


    [Advance Skill Master Rank 2 to Skill Master Rank 3] [...]


    Karl got the impression that the system couldn''t decide whether he was trolling it or not. It was obvious that the token was a single use Skill Master Rank 3 token. Using it to advance Skill Master to Rank 3 seemed to have confused the system.


    But, he waited patiently to see what would happen.


    The token could have just told him it was an invalid target and made him pick a different one. In fact, Karl expected that it would, after a few more seconds.


    [Skill Master Advanced to Rank 3] [Skill Master Advanced to Rank 4]


    [Max Tier reached]


    [Skill Master 4] Allows all skills to evolve to one Rank and one Tier higher than their current tier with practice. *Additional Functions Locked Until Second Advancement*


    Karl stared at the notification. Now he understood why everything had frozen. Skill Master 3 allowed Skills to evolve by a Tier with practice, and he had a lot of practice with Skill Master. n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om


    So, it had tried to evolve to Rank 4, the next logical tier of its own ability. However, he didn''t meet all the requirements of Skill Master Rank 4. So, it had momentarily frozen as it attempted to advance.


    "Are you back with us?" Tessa asked as the scene faded from Karl''s vision.


    "Yeah, sorry. There was a random item thing, and it''s a bit distracting."


    She nodded. "So, did they give you something good? Random rewards are usually pretty good." Karl shrugged. "We will see. The reward it gave me is somewhat situational. It could be good, or it could be no different from a skill I would have already gotten soon."


    A small girl came over and stared up at Karl. He wasn''t sure what she wanted, but he put a hand on her head and patted her while he finished talking to Tessa and Corbin.


    "Dammit, stop with the hair. Have you forgotten me so fast?" She demanded.


    [Do you collect small women?] Cara asked curiously.


    [Definitely not. We''re at two and two, tall versus short.]


    Karl looked down, and realized that he really didn''t recognize that face. No, he did, but he had only seen it once before.


    "Tori?" He asked.


    "I am Tamarind now. It''s good to see you again. You''ve gotten stupidly powerful since I saw youst." She replied.


    "So, you''re a proper Spellde now, are you?"


    The vicious smile she gave him looked wrong on such a cute child''s face.


    "Not yet. I am an Ascended Rank mage, but I haven''t earned the right to call myself a Spellde yet. I am along as a trainee, working to expand mybat skills until I''m good enough that I can pass the exams." She exined.


    "I''m d you''re doing well. After the resurrection, I wasn''t certain that you would be able to adapt so easily."


    Tori, now Tamarind,ughed at Karl''s concern. "You don''t need to worry that much about me. I have turned over a whole new leaf. I''ve got all this family to look out for me now, and they''re happy to keep me away from any sort of misbehaviour."


    "Why don''t we rx and have something to eat?" Tessa suggested.


    "A midnight snack? I think that we''ve earned it. We will have to rearrange our night watch, but everyone should be able to get at least a few more hours of sleep tonight."


    Karl nodded in agreement. "Your team was nearly in the centre of the spawn, so even if we start movingter in the morning, we should still make it out of the area that is likely to be covered in zombies tomorrow night."


    Sleeping wouldn''t be a problem for most of the Spelldes, and the wagon was still set up for sleeping, other than the tarps that they had taken down. All the hammocks were still hung, and only a little dirty from the race across the grasnds.


    Everyone ate quietly, and by the time that they were finished and everyone except the Commanders who were on guard from the Spellde n had gotten back to bed, the horizon was already beginning to lighten.


    A couple of hours was all they were going to get to rest, and then they would have to discuss where they were going next.


    A soft whistle just after full dawn caught Karl''s attention, and then someone knocked gently on the side of the wagon, alerting them that someone needed their attention.


    Karl rolled out of his hammock, and Prince Corbin motioned for him to remain silent. "There is motion in the distance. I think that someone knows we are here." He whispered.


    "Should we split up?" Karl whispered back.


    "How certain are you that your cover story is good?" "It''s solid. How sure are you that you can take whatever ising?" Karl replied.


    "Not at all. I suspect that it''s an army unit. They must havee from the Capital to deal with the Anomalies. Their seers will have known that there was going to be something happening here tonight, and if they dispatched an army unit to deal with it, they''re not going to be weak."


    Karl nodded. "What direction are theying from?"


    "Southeast. Where are you going to go?" Corbin asked.


    "I am going to go straight east, as nned. It''s the logical route for me to take, headed straight to the road. Where are you going?" "Southwest. I have disguise magic that will hide us from cursory detection. The army is charged with keeping nomads under control, so they''re not going to be particrly kind to a nomadic Spellde n."


    Corbin nodded, and Karl prepared to hop back on the wagon as Dana packed up the hammock.


    "Good luck. We will see you soon. I''m not going to push for more information when things are this bad. The government might have been willing to sacrifice some lives for valuable information, but there is no need to waste my people when we already know the answers we came for."


    They shook hands, and Karl sent everyone but Thor and two of Remi''s bodyguards back into the spaces. With Dana''s Golems walking behind them, they headed east through the ash piles left after their battle.


    Once they were up out of the depression, Prince Corbin activated an air spell that made a mirage over their group, effectively hiding them from simple visual detection. That should be good enough to prevent the army from finding them, and the whole n was headed straight south, on a course where they wouldn''t be intercepted.


    But Karl and his team were in the open, and it wouldn''t be long before the scouts changed course to intercept him and his team. There would certainly be questions. Especially if they were expecting a massive horde of zombies right here. They were still close enough to see the remnants of the battle, so there wasn''t going to be any way to hide that the zombies had been here.


    Karl raised a hand in greeting when the closest of the scouts, a Torton warrior with a sturdy turtle shell around his torso, gestured in their direction.


    "Everyone ready? It''s time to y our parts."

 Chapter 516 Guard Patrol

    516 Guard Patrol


    Karl pulled Thor to a stop as the warrior, who was carrying two narrow des across his back, ran in their direction.


    "Merchant. Did you encounter the undead during the overnight hours? We were informed they should be near here."


    Karl nodded and gestured behind him. "They were drawn to a depression over there, and we fought them for most of the night. There are no more around, but I wouldn''t hang around here for long. They''re likely toe back at midnight. The Beast Nation told me about those phenomenons." Karl exined.


    The Turtle man nodded in understanding, then gestured behind them.


    "Were there others with you?"


    Karl nodded. "We were camped by that big stone over there, then we heard the sound of battle over here. Once I realized we were both surrounded by the undead, we moved to help them defend their camp. Strength in numbers and all. It was just a small nomadic tribe, demons and humans. They moved on at first light, before full dawn."


    The Torton made a note, then tapped his chin with his pen.


    "How many in total? Keeping the numbers of nomads under control is part of our job."


    Karl shrugged. "I didn''t count them, but I would say about two dozen fighting age adults and an equal number of elders and children."


    That answer seemed to please the soldier.


    "So, roughly fifty, perhaps a few less? And mixed humans and demons?" With that, he looked at thedies in the wagon.


    Ophelia nodded. "That''s right, I would say just under fifty. Not much of a fighting force, as they didn''t have anyone stronger than a Commander, but they had a couple of magic users that made the fight a lot easier."


    The Torton made a note of that as well. "That''s normal for demonic Nomads. I''m just d that you didn''t suffer any casualties from the undead or the demons. I will need to see the battleground. Can you tell me what sort of spells your team used?"


    "I am an Elemental Shaman, so there was arge blizzard and ming cyclones, as well as some lightning. The Naga Warriors use water magic attacks, so there will be lots of that, plus the attacks of our golems and the other guards." Karl exined.


    The Torton frowned. "Is there anything that you didn''t use? Something that we can use to pick out how much of a threat the demons are, and if there might have been advanced undead among the zombies?" "Oh, I forgot that there were thrown boulders as well. A specialty of the Golems. But there should be some fireballs and arcane attacks from the others. They''ll look a fair bit like ours, though. If you can pick out the power difference, most of the attacks by arcane type Commanders were from the other group. We just have one with us. Then a bunch of the fireballs were also theirs.


    I don''t know if you''ll be able to tell them apart from my fire spells, though. The ming cyclonese in two varieties, both at my rank and one below that." Karl exined.


    "Thank you, merchant. Please wait here while the unit Commanderes to speak with you."


    If the army unit was going toe to them to talk to get more details, that would give Prince Corbin and his Spellde n plenty of time to escape. As long as they could make it past the patrol, they would be able to turn east and start heading for the border. They were not going to get there any time soon, but it would be safer every day that they moved away from the dungeon.


    The whole military unit wasing towards the wagon, and Karl could sense the tension in the wagon behind them.


    The monsters didn''t seem to suspect that Karl''s team had been doing anything wrong so far, but they also hadn''t gone looking for the battlefield yet.


    Once they saw the oue of the battle, they would certainly have some serious questions about what sort ofbat power Karl and his team had.


    The Commander of the unit, a Royal Rank Demon with tattered ck wings that clearly wouldn''t be able to fly, stopped in front of Karl and took stock of the group.


    "Merchant, I am told that your team has a surprising amount ofbat power to be able to take out an entire undead horde with only the assistance of a small nomad tribe." He greeted them.


    "We do alright. You know how it is for merchants, we have to be able to take care of ourselves when we''re on the road." Karl agreed.


    The demon smiled. "I would imagine that it''s a lot easier to take care of yourself when you''re actually a Royal Rank human Elite with an active system and not a merchant at all. Tell me, what have you been telling everyone that you are, to pass so easily through half a country?"


    "I think you might have misunderstood something in your dispatch. My father is a stone troll. As much as every kid loves stories of the system, that''s all they are. Stories." Karl countered.


    "So if I cut your hand off, it would just grow back, with no help from your cleric friends, would it?"


    Karl chuckled at the demon''s attempt to call him out. "I am only half troll, but I regenerate well enough."


    Karl took his sword out of his storage space and held out a pinkie finger. n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om


    With a grimace, he severed the digit and held it up to the shocked soldiers. Then he held his bleeding hand up and watched with what he hoped was hidden shock as the original finger seemed to melt into mist while a new one grew out of his hand.


    He had never tested [Void Body] before, but it worked exceptionally well. It did leave him hungry, though.


    There was just one odd thing about it. He didn''t bleed red anymore. The blood that had poured from his severed finger and across his hand had been deep ck, though most of it was already absorbed into his skin.


    The Demon stared for a few more seconds, suspicious of Karl''s honesty, then dragged a young Minotaur forward.


    "Is this the man that you saw?" He demanded.


    "Yes, Unit Commander. That is the Dungeon Champion from the Golden Dragon Nation, I am one hundred percent sure of it now that I can smell him. Even if the trouble seer hadn''t said we would find him here, I would be certain that he is the human''s Champion." The soldier insisted.


    He was a Commander Rank Minotaur, likely still in his teens, or whatever the Minotaur age equivalent was. His horns were polished to a ck sheen that greatly pleased Cara, who had been wondering for some time if you could polish them, and he did look vaguely familiar to Karl, though they had only seen each other once.


    Karl hopped down from the wagon, and the Minotaur blinked up at him, then frowned. Thest time they had met, Karl had been under 190 centimetres tall, but right now, he was well over two and a half metres tall, towering over the young Minotaur.


    "Look, I''m sure this is an honest mistake. Perhaps it''s because we have a human guard and the Dragon Clerics with us?" He asked, gesturing to Dana and the others.


    The demon turned to the Naga warrior on his side of the wagon.


    "Did this man hire you to pretend that you were his guards?" He demanded.


    The Naga gave him an unimpressed look.


    [Are you retarded? We Naga have our own dignity. We have been his guards as long as he has been a merchant. There is no pretending involved.] He responded in Serpent.


    The Demon''s eye twitched, and Karl watched carefully as he barely resisted going for the de on his hip at the insult.


    Karl looked through the soldiers, taking note of the ones in lighter armour, which wouldn''t interfere with their mobility when casting spells. The soldiers noticed where he was looking, and began to believe that Karl might be telling the truth. If he took out the mages before they could respond, the rest of the team would have a devil of a time trying to kill a Royal Rank Troll without fire magic.


    The Demon frowned as he started to consider that they might have gotten the wrong target. But he couldn''t just let it slide when they had been specifically sent here.


    "I will need to ask you toe with us until this matter is settled. You will be free to make your sales when we get to the city."

 Chapter 517 Bethoke City

    517 Bethoke City


    "So you''re going back to the city of Clifnal? That''s no trouble, we were headed there anyhow." Karl shrugged.


    "No, the fortress City of Bethoke. You will be brought to the Overlord''s Temple for questioning on suspicion of being a spy."


    "Whatever, as long as they''re interested in buying tools, it''s fine by me. You don''t mind if we make a few pit stops at the farms along the way, do you?" Karl asked.


    "What part of this are you not getting?" The demon asked.


    "The part where you think you''re in charge here. If it wasn''t likely to offend the delicate sensibilities of the War Cleric, we would be having some harsh words about your assumption that you can just throw around usations and detain merchants.


    I would think that you would be a bit more understanding when you''re asking for a favour. There are countless nomadic tribes out here, after all, and it would be a shame if we walked away the next time you met one."


    Karl could feel the res that he was getting, both from in front and behind. However, after a few seconds, the Demon relented.


    "Alright, you have a point. Until we can prove that you''re the spies from the Golden Dragon Nation, we will ask that you apany us as honoured guests."


    "That''s much better. Lead the way. But I was serious about stopping at the farms. They''re the ones most likely to need the tools, and my wagon is nearly full."


    The Demon sighed and motioned for his unit of a hundred soldiers, mostly at the Ascended and Commander Rank, to encircle the wagon.


    They had just started to move when something in the Demon''s pocket began to glow.


    The unit leader took out a t stone object with runes all over one side, then stared at the other.


    "It looks like our guest is a prophetic one. There is a nomadic Orc Tribeing our way. We won''t be able to avoid them with the slow-moving Wagon, so everyone should prepare for a fight."


    Karl cleared his throat. "If you don''t mind, we''ve got Dragon Clerics with us. Do you mind if we trade some food to the Orcs before things get messy?"


    "I swear to the Vampire Gods, you are the most annoying Troll that I have ever met."


    Ophelia poked Karl in the back. "If you''re trying to get him to kill us before we make it to the city, you''re on the right path. But that''s not the greatest idea I''ve heard to convince people that we''re not spies."


    A few of the nearby soldiers chuckled, while Karl smiled at her. "They''ll get used to my loveable personality soon enough. Besides, if the lovelydies of the church have created some food supplies, the Orcs will be happy to see them."


    06:35


    From high overhead, Hawk gave them an update. [There are a lot of Orcs, and they''ve already got weapons out. I don''t think that they''re going to be willing to negotiate.] n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om


    That could be bad news, but the soldiers were surrounding their wagon, so it wasn''t like he could drop back and stay out of the mess. All that Karl could do was wait to see how things turned out.


    Once they were a hundred metres apart, the Orcs began shouting a war chant, a rhythmic battle cry in time with their advance.


    The Demon at the head of the patrol reached into his coat and set off a marker re of some sort that sent bright-green smoke billowing into the sky.


    "We will need your people to stay back. Not that we don''t trust your capabilities, but it''s safer not to mix our force." One of the soldiers informed Karl as he prepared to join the fight.


    "No problem. We will wait right here."


    With the two groups moving towards each other, that put Thor and the wagon well out of the way of the hostilities. As long as they weren''t dragged into the fight by a retreat by the soldiers, there shouldn''t be any issues.


    But as soon as Karl decided that this was a great opportunity to simply leave while the Orcs butchered the patrol, more soldiers started to appear out of portals all around the smoking beacon.


    Now, it wasn''t the soldiers who were outnumbered, but the Orcs. The two sides'' current numbers were close, but it was unlikely that either side would fight to the bitter end out here in the middle of nowhere, for no good reason.


    The Orcs just wanted a good fight, and they would calm down once they had one, Karl assumed. That was how they had been every other time that he had met them.


    Karl dug through the items that the Elves had loaded into his inventory and brought out a stack of paper and a fountain pen that he loaded with a bit of Hill Giant blood from Thor''s space.


    "What are you doing?" Ophelia asked as he began to write with a smile on his face.


    "I want to make a spell book for Crushing Blows. None of you can use it, but the leader of the Orcish force can. He''s an unarmedbat specialist, you see. Crushing Blows adds damage to blunt impacts based on Rank.


    Once this fight is over, we can trade them some food as a show of goodwill from the church, and I will give him the book as a first meeting gift."


    "That assumes that he''s going to be alive at the end of the fight." Dana reminded him.


    The massive Monarch Rank Orc sent a soldier flying with a single blow from his fist, which was easilyrger than the soldier''s head.


    "I think that he will do alright. They don''t have a duel challenger here to fight him, and I''m not about to volunteer to get beat up for sport."


    One of the reinforcement groups sent a runner over to see what Karl was doing, a nervous looking Satyr that was even shorter than Lotus, and barely Ascended Rank, by Karl''s estimation.


    "You are not going to join?" He asked as soon as he arrived.


    "The n looks like they''re doing alright. I am just a merchant who sells wares through the nomadic areas and a few of the cities. The first group of soldiers asked me to stay out of the fight, as they didn''t trust my loyalty was to them and not to the Nomads." Karl exined.


    The Satyr nodded. "Wait here. The leader will want to talk to you soon."


    Karlughed. "The other one said the same thing. Don''t worry, I''m not going to run away while you''re in the middle of a battle. Not that I would make it far with a loaded wagon."


    The Satyr hesitated to return to his leader, and Karl saw that all of the unit leaders were fighting the Orc n leader at the same time.


    "They never learn, do they?" He asked.


    "What do you mean?" The Satyr asked.


    "Well, it''s insulting to gang up on a n Leader, isn''t it? If you want to fight him, you should challenge him to a proper duel. Four on one is just rude, and makes them look weak and cowardly." The Satyr looked confused. "You understand the way of the Orcs?"


    Now everyone was confused. Even Ophelia was baffled about what sort of policy they had regarding the Orcs.


    "Did you never consider talking to them? Just ask them for a trade or a challenge. It''s not that hard. We figured it out the first time that we met them." Ophelia insisted.


    The Satyr was thoroughly baffled. "You speak Orcish?"

 Chapter 518 I Speak Orcish

    518 I Speak Orcish


    They all stared at each other for a few seconds, unsure what part of the conversation the others weren''t understanding.


    Then arge Orc with a club in his hand pointed at Ophelia.


    "Hey thick, sexy and furry. How about youe over here and show me if you would make a good wife?" He shouted.


    "If you wanted a strong woman to spank you like your mother should have, you just had to ask." She shouted back.


    Karlughed, but the Satyr looked confused.


    Perhaps he just wasn''t familiar with crude humour.


    Ophelia sized up the Orc, and then nodded for Karl to buff her up. They were both Commanders, but she wasn''t taking any risks of ending up as some random Orc''s wife.


    Haste, Terrorize, Brutality and Trollish Regeneration stacked with her own Berserk Terror skill, and she transformed into a four-metre tall Dire Bear before charging at the Orc.


    "Goddess, she is massive. What is she doing? I thought your team was sitting the battle out?" The Satyr asked, panicked.


    "Weren''t you listening? The Orc challenged her to a bridal duel, and she went to beat some sense into him."


    "How am I supposed to know that when they''re shouting in Orcish?"


    The Satyr was waving his hands in frustration as he screamed at them. Karl looked back at the others, but thedies just shrugged. They had only heard onenguage, the Common Language.


    But Thor thought the whole situation was hrious.


    [What if the only reason we get along with them so well is because we''re the only people who speak Orcish, other than the Orcs?] He chortled,ughing out loud along with his thoughts.


    Ophelia and the Orc were going at it in a brutal battle that looked like they had a vendetta against each other, but Karl could see that they were both pulling their strikes so that they wouldn''t seriously injure their opponent. It wasn''t a war, or a duel to the death. It was more like Orcish flirting, and while Ophelia was ying along, it was clear that the suitor was about to be rejected, as herst strike had nearly put him on his back.


    Once he was on the ground, he was done for. In Dire Bear form, she was muchrger than he was, and she could just pin him to the ground with one massive paw.


    They all watched for a few more minutes until Ophelia got the final blow and got the Orc in the back, pounding him face down into the dirt.


    A few other Orcs whooped in celebration nearby,ughing at his misfortune as Ophelia rubbed him in the dirt for a few seconds before backing away and transforming back into her Werebear form.


    The Orc got to his knees and made a show of bowing before Ophelia before standing up to look for another challenger to improve hisbat skills.


    The Satyr snapped his fingers. "Wait, if you can speak Orcish, can you end this insanity? Ask them for a pay or something?"


    "At the start, maybe. But it''s a bitte for that now. There are a lot of dead on both sides already. Once there are deaths, it''s generally toote for talking." Karl sighed.


    If he had known that for some reason he could understand the Orcs when nobody else could, he would have insisted from the start.


    "I need to tell my leadership. I will be back." The Satyr informed them, before turning to run off.


    "Do you think that it''s the system tranting? The Orcish tribes seem to have more memories of the past than others, so maybe they still have an affinity with the System?" Dana whispered, just loud enough for the others to hear.


    Tessa nodded. "That''s as good of a guess as any other reason. We all understood them just fine, but we''ve all got active systems, while the Monsters here didn''t need one to be strong." Lotus looked excited as she realized something. "Orcs have their own Gods, but they include the World Dragon in their pantheon. I think Tessa might be right. They still have some lingering affinity with the System. In fact, they might even have a limited version of the System still active, like the other Elites do. But they''re Orcs, and they all pick the warrior ss, other than a few Shamans. They are different from other species, but that makes me wonder what they were like in the past. You met them during that time Bishop Misty sent you to, right?"


    Karl nodded. "They were strangely civilized. They were smart, and spoke with a very refined ent. There is still some of that, like the fancy pants that the messenger they sent us was wearing. It''s all threadbare and faded, but they remember. They''re just not willing to go to other species to get assistance to bring them back to the status they lost."


    They were interrupted by the Satyr running back with a Royal Rank soldier in an ornate uniform. Karl couldn''t pick out what sort of species it came from, but it had a bird''s head and wings, as well as arms with taloned fingers and triple jointed legs.


    "Joffrey says that you know something about Orc culture and how to end this fight without it being a massacre." The officer demanded.


    "Sure, just back away. Don''t turn your back and run like cowards, they don''t respect that. But stop fighting and just back away. They''ll figure out what you''re after in a few minutes.


    But if you just spoke Orc, it would be a lot easier." Karl agreed.


    "Can you assist us? I see that your Werebear friend managed to have a solo battle with one of them." Karl rolled his eyes and hopped down from the wagon.


    "Make sure that your side doesn''t attack me. I will exin the situation."


    The officer looked overjoyed, Karl guessed. It was nearly vibrating with excitement, but the bird head didn''t show any emotions that Karl understood.


    The officer called for a guard to protect them, and Karl sighed. "What are you doing?" He asked.


    "Guarding you so you can make it to the leaders?"


    Karlughed and patted him on the shoulder.


    "You really don''t know anything about the Orcs at all, do you?"


    Karl stomped toward where the leaders were fighting, while the soldiers did their best to keep up.


    Arge, Royal Rank Orc blocked his way and Karl smiled at her. "I need to talk to the boss. These guys are too stupid to understand Orcish or even what a duel is."


    The womanughed, and motioned for him to follow her.


    That did not set the officers'' nerves at ease. Not even a little. n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om


    The three leaders and the boss were all bleeding heavily when Karl stepped in between them with a hand out toward both sides, signalling for them to pause their fight.


    "Chieftain, these idiots asked me to trante because they don''t speak Orcish. They want to withdraw their force, but don''t understand courtesy." Karl exined.


    "That part was obvious already. Why don''t they just do it?" The Chieftain replied while ring at the three Monarch Rank unit leaders.


    "Their custom is to just turn and run away."


    The Orc paused for a second, and then started tough as he realized what Karl was trying to say.


    [Oi, everyone back off and let the soldiers run away.] The Chieftain yelled.


    Over the next few seconds, the battle calmed, and Karl sighed in relief.


    "I have a weing gift for you once you''re done with these soldiers, as well as some food to trade from the Dragon Clerics. Let me talk to the soldiers for a bit and I will exin what they want." Karl informed the massive Orc.


    "No need to trante, I speak theirnguage." The Chieftain shrugged.


    The Orcs might have a point about the soldiers of the Newbon Empire being idiots. The Chieftain spoke theirnguage, and the Commanders hadn''t even tried to keep this from turning into a huge mess. It might have been a political thing, but Karl got the impression that the soldiers thought there was no other way to deal with Orc ns.


    Karl turned to the Unit Leaders.


    "The Orcs have disengaged after I told them that you weren''t intending topletely wipe them out." Karl informed them.


    "Why do I get the feeling that you weren''t that civil about it? I might not speak Orc, but I am fairly certain that I was just insulted to my face." One of the men, a tall and slender Demon with violet skin, insisted.


    [Not as dumb as he looks.] The Chieftainughed.


    "Dammit, he did it again, didn''t he? That bastard speaks ournguage!"

 Chapter 519 Present For The Chieftain

    Chapter 519 Present For The Chieftain


    [What sort of wee present did you bring for me? I''m willing to ignore their rudeness if you''ve got something good.] The Chieftain suggested.


    "First, I''m only with them because they suspect that I''m a spy from the Golden Dragon Nation, and they''re taking me into custody so they can interrogate me in the city. But I brought you this." Karl replied.


    He handed the Orc the hastily scrawled skill book and the Chieftain took it with a curious look, then flipped it open.


    The book vanished, and the air was filled with curses as weapons came back out.


    "What the hell did you give him? Was that a skill book! Everyone on guard, the Orcs might have a System User!" The slender, purple haired, Monarch Rank Demon officer shouted.


    "Rx, it''s a skill for punching people in the face. It''s Orc-specific, not many others can use it." Karl exined, with his hands up in surrender, as dozens of des were pointed his way.


    "What was the skill?" The Demon demanded. "Crushing Blows. It''s worthless to me, but valuable to him. Gifts between group leaders are amon courtesy among Nomad groups." Karl offered.


    The Orc smiled and put his hand on Karl''s shoulder, implying that his n would defend the merchant if the soldiers turned on him.


    Even though they were outnumbered, the Orcs had been on the winning side of the engagement, taking fewer than half the number of casualties that the soldiers had before the fight was halted.


    Karl saw that Lotus was running away from the wagon with an Orcish child and silently prayed that she was going to work as a Cleric and not just running away on the whim of a small Orc. She could resurrect, so that was most likely what she was up to.


    She had an area healing spell active as well, Karl could feel the holy Magic in the air. Tessa got down from the wagon as well, and began to move through the soldiers, healing them with a touch as she went.


    She couldn''t bring the dead back to life, that wasn''t the specialty of her Goddess. Even Lotus wouldn''t be able to bring many back before bing exhausted, so she would likely focus on the ones with important skills or small children.


    Normally, a Nature Cleric would just pick some at random, or do the closest ones. But she had been hanging around Tessa for a long time, so taking care of the Orphans took precedence in her choices.


    Especially if the choice was to make them no longer an Orphan by bringing one of their parents back.


    The soldiers were regrouping as they pulled away from the Orcs, leaving only their dead behind. Tessa nodded politely as she stepped up beside Karl, with Dana beside her. "Officers, healing of the severely wounded is finished. Your soldiers should be mobile again. There are a few who lost limbs and that will take more healing to recover, but other than that, I''ve done the Goddess'' will." Ophelia had gone to join Lotus, in case she needed anything. The Orcs wouldn''t bother her. She had already put one flirtatious Orc in his ce, and it would be harassment to continue flirting with her today unless she started it.


    "Can someone exin to me why there is some random merchant and a pair of Dragon Clerics here in the first ce?" One of the assistants to the Unit Leaders asked.


    A junior officer nodded and referred to his notes. "The Trouble Seers informed us that there was a spy from the Golden Dragon Nation at a specific location. When we arrived there, we found this merchant matching the general description of a suspicious person that we had recently been informed of.


    There is some doubt that he''s the right person, though. We were informed that he should be a Human Elite, but when we pushed him, he confirmed that he is actually part of a Stone Troll n. He can regenerate fingers like any other troll, and his blood is ck." The others looked like they didn''t believe, so Karl held out his hand to the Orcish Chieftain, who handed him a de. He deactivated [Void Body], but left [Trollish Regenerations] as he cut his hand and let the ck blood drop onto the ground. n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om


    "Evidence enough? It takes a lot of energy to regenerate limbs." He asked.


    The two newly arrived Unit Leaders shrugged. "Looks like troll blood to me. I''ve certainly never seen a human bleed that colour before. Perhaps the seers misunderstood what they were seeing? The presence of the Clerics might have been the Golden Dragon Nation influence, while he was the threat they were concerned about."


    The leader of the first group gave Karl an assessing look. "I still think that if he was gged as a threat and possible spy, we should bring him to the fortress."


    The Orcish Chieftain stood still, patiently waiting as the soldiers decided what they were going to do about Karl.


    "Why don''t we do our business first? The Clerics made a bunch of food when we heard that you wereing. We can take care of the trade while they argue, and then you can do whatever else you had nned for the day." Karl suggested.


    The Chieftain smiled and the two of them quietly moved to the wagon, where Tessa and Lotus had left twenty bags of their creations, split between rice and beans.


    "Cleric food usuallycks variety but..." Karl began.


    "No worries, Karl. My people love the rice and beans. We aren''t eating it every day, so it''s a rare treat for them to get such a fine crop that they don''t even have to sift weevils out of.


    I see that the Minotaurs traded you a full load of tools as well. We don''t need those, but you''ll be able to sell them as soon as you get to a city. Most of the farmers are still Minotaurs in this region. As you go south, you''ll find that more of them are Naga or Lizard species. Naga farmers are good ones, they appreciate a proper fight." The Chieftainughed.


    Karl began to hand down bags so that the Chieftain could have someone gather them, but when the Orc picked them up, they vanished into a separate space.


    Karl activated his interface and looked over the Orc''s name.


    {Kilgore, Chieftain of the White Fist Orcs} was written in the traditional brown of a warrior.


    Everything was transferred in under a minute, and the Chieftain turned to smirk at the soldiers.


    "You know, eventually they will figure out that you''re lying to them. They might not be able to see the namete, but even the Demons will eventually reach the point where they guess that your regeneration might be a skill and not proof that you''re a troll." He quietly informed Karl.


    Karl chuckled. "I''m hoping that they don''te to that conclusion until after we''ve already parted ways. If the World Dragon favours me today, they might decide that I can go about my business."


    The Orc snorted inughter. "One day, we will find the lost scale, and then we will see whether the World Dragon still favours us or if he gave up on this world."


    The words startled Karl. That statement made it sound like there was a method to their travels.


    "Are you searching for signs of an ancient temple or something where the Scale might be?" He asked.


    The Orc shook his head. "No, it should have been with a powerful Titan when he died. Nobody knows where his grave is, and nobody has found it yet, either. If we do, and we can recover the scale fragment intact, the ns should be linked back to the System in its fully active state."


    That was astounding news, on a level that Karl couldn''t fully appreciate. How much dedication did it take for an entire species to agree to search a continent, or perhaps the entire world, for millennia?


    That level of devotion would put the average cleric to shame. Not only did they say the words, and preach their Orcish gospel of righteous battle, they lived every day on a holy quest.


    For that reason alone, Karl had the utmost of respect for Chieftain Kilgore. But more than that, he would never look at the Orcs the same way again. Just knowing that they were on the same path as he was, a path towards fully reactivating the system, was enough to count them as potential allies and friends.


    [Everyone needs a friend who knows when to punch someone in the face.] Cara agreed.

 Chapter 520 Bethoke Fortress

    Chapter 520 Bethoke Fortress


    The Unit leaders came over and red at Karl and the Chieftain.


    "If you''re done conversing in your ownnguage, we havee to a consensus on the status of the suspected foreign spy." The Demon leading the first team that had met Karl informed them.


    "Alright,y it on me. It had better not interfere with my work, though." Karl replied.


    The Demon sighed and shook his head. "The risk that you really are the spy from the Golden Dragon Nation is too high, we can''t let your team leave until we have brought you before the trouble seers for an assessment."


    Karl sighed. "So, it''s going to be a huge pain in the ass, then? I take it you''re all nning a long walk back to your fortress and then an undefined duration of imprisonment on arrival?"


    The Orc Chieftain gave a low chuckle, and the three Monarchs gave Karl a suspicious look. "The council of Overlords has the right. They will determine what will happen until you can be brought before an Oracle.


    However, if you are truly innocent and concerned about your business, we can allow your guards to continue the business of escorting the Dragon Clerics on their pilgrimage, along with a small escort from our wilderness forces."


    Karl looked at the wagon for an answer.


    "We will wait in the city for the decision. It is safer for us if we aren''t travelling without one of our primarybat assets. Karl was chosen to escort us for his capabilities, not just because his wagon was in the right spot at the right time." Tessa insisted.


    "Alright, we will bring you all back to the Bethoke fortress, and you can wait for the Council representatives to make a determination on the situation with Merchant Karl. If he is determined to be a spy, there will be questions for the rest of you as well. After the incident is settled, we will assist you in finding a new escort if necessary."


    Tessa nodded. If things got that far, it was going to be a real mess, but there were nearly a thousand soldiers here right now, and they suspected Karl of being a spy, which meant that the Dragon Clerics were certainly under suspicion as well.


    The soldiers were just too polite to say it, as nobody wanted to insult the Gods if Tessa and Lotus were really on a pilgrimage.


    Karl shook the Orcish leader''s hand. "Chieftain Kilgore, it was a pleasure meeting you. Enjoy the supplies, and perhaps we will see you the next time that we are both in the same region." n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om


    Kilgore patted him on the shoulder with a smile. "Be careful as you leave. The Overlords have a touchy temperament. They have a habit of ganging up to attack any Orc that gets too powerful so that they don''t have to admit that the ns have better potential than they do."


    Karl''sughter brought confused looks from the Monarchs of the Newbon Army.


    "He''s just exining that the Orcs don''t have the best opinion of the city dwellers." Karl ryed.


    The orcs close enough to have heard the whole conversation did their best not tough at the difference between Karl''s version and what had actually been said.


    "That''s enough dy. The portals will be open in a few seconds, so please return to your wagon and prepare to travel to Bethoke fortress." The slender Demon Monarch insisted.


    True to his word, a set of portals opened, and soldiers in fancy uniforms rushed out. The first six of them surrounded Karl''s wagon, then the soldier on his right gave a nod, indicating that he should start moving.


    Karl waved goodbye to the Orcs, whoughed and waved back.


    The entire n understood that he was being used of being a spy, which could lead to his execution. But the fact that he wasn''t showing any fear multiplied their respect for him.


    Thor passed through the portal, and Karl felt them enter a barrier on the other side. It restricted something, but Karl couldn''t immediately tell what.


    [I think it''s intended to limit the level of abilities used in the city, so that nobody can challenge the leadership. If they can use Royal and Monarch Rank skills, but you can only use Awakened or Ascended, what threat can you pose to them?] Cara suggested.


    The soldiers visibly rxed as they followed Karl''s wagon through the portal into the open cobblestone courtyard that appeared to be the parking area for the stables.


    [Sorry, Thor. They''ll realize that we''ve been lying right away if you return to your space.] Karl apologized as he realized his mistake.


    [As long as they have good food, it''s fine. I will just talk to the other mounts here.]


    Karl looked into the stables and saw arge number of reptiles that walked on two legs with their tails extended behind them. They were a bitrger than an ostrich, but with powerful legs. The army units hadn''t been using them, but there were dozens, or even a hundred of them here in the stables.


    They greeted Thor with bugles and keening cries, which he replied to with happy Thor noises and a few snorts of amusement.


    [They''re friendly, and they''re all part of one big hunting pack. That''s weird for carnivores.]


    [They''re not going to try to treat you like prey, are they?]


    Thorughed in Karl''s mind. [No, they''re all Awakened Rank. They know that I''m not edible. But they''ve been trained to follow orders and not to hunt independently, they don''t really behave like predators.]


    [Let me know if you have any troubles with them. I suspect that we''re about to be escorted to afortable prison cell.]


    That prediction was confirmed when a group of grooms came out of the stables to get Thorfortable and put the wagon away.


    As they approached Thor, Karl noticed that someone was missing. Remi had recalled her bodyguards, or perhaps the barriers on the city had deactivated them. But they were definitely down by two Naga Warriors.


    Karl didn''t say anything about it, and instead focused on more urgent problems.


    [Remi, the disguise won''t wash off when they polish his scales, will it?] Karl asked.


    [Nope, it''s a magical effect. It won''t wear off his scales unless Thor wants it to.]


    It didn''t change the surface or sensitivity of his scales, only the visible colour, so Thor had no problem staying ck instead of green and gold. If the grooms were going to polish his scales, he would happily let them.


    "We''ve been on the road a while, he could use a full rub down and his scales scrubbed, if you don''t mind." Karl ryed to the grooms.


    "Of course, Sir. Your Cerro will be ready when you call for him."


    When Thor left with the grooms, the guards moved around Karl and the others. "Please follow us. We have a suite prepared for you while we wait. I believe that the Oracle will have time to meet with you today."


    The building they were led into was undoubtedly the most ornate and opulent building that Karl had ever been inside. There was gold everywhere, jewels studded into the frames of paintings, magical armour suits in alcoves all down the walls, and the oppressive feeling of the spell that was restricting their magic the whole way.


    "Please wait here. The maids will be along presently with appropriate attire and refreshments." The guard informed them.


    Karl nodded, and the guard stepped outside to lock them in the suite. There was no sound of footsteps, and Karl could see his heat signature through the grate of the viewport in the door. So, they were locked in and under guard. But the room was beautiful, and Lotus had already changed to clean robes and slippers to stretch out on one of the divans.


    "There should be bedrooms to the side if you want a proper nap." Tessa suggested.


    "I''m not sleepy, I just wanted to enjoy the sofa without getting it dirty." Lotusughed as she shifted to getfortable.


    Karl admired the rest of their holding area. It was certainly a guest room, even if the windows were barred and the walls were reinforced. But it was just as richly decorated as the rest of this ptial estate. There were gold fittings on the cab doors that kept dust off the bookshelves, fine crystal sses on the bar with a small selection of liquors and juices, and the furniture had high-quality padding, if Lotus'' happy noises were anything to go by.


    Then again, after travelling on the wood bench of the wagon, everything might seemfortable.

 Chapter 521 Appropriate Attire

    Chapter 521 Appropriate Attire


    The ''appropriate attire'' that the maids brought them looked like the sort of puffy and frilly noble attire that the Trolls at the south gate of Oakhamping had been wearing, but in in white.


    It was quality clothing, but unless they were at a church or a wedding, they would definitely stand out.


    [They put a spell on it to track you.] Cara reminded Karl as soon as she saw the clothes.


    [Can you remove it withouting out of your space?]


    There was a pulse of power over the clothing, and Karl sensed her satisfaction.


    [Done.]


    "I suppose that we should change to make them happy. The clothing should be safe." Karl informed the others.


    Dana looked at the clothes. "I don''t know what was cast on them, but there is still magic on these clothes." "It should be safe, though." At least, Karl assumed that Cara would have noticed if there was something harmful on them.


    Karl disabled his armour spell and slid the pants of the only not a dress type outfit up before pulling the coat over his shoulders. There was no shirt, but in his size enhanced form, he was more heavily muscled than he remembered his natural body being. Even with the coat only having two buttons at the bottom and the chest open, it wasn''t a bad look.


    Then he put on a pair of the slippers and the whole outfit changed colour. It was a deep blood-red with ck trim, and a bit of gold embroidery. With his shaggy ck hair in need of a trim, the rich fabric was a bit of a visual contrast, especially at the filly cor and cuffs.


    Dana giggled as she slid one of the dresses over her head before removing her armour and outfit.


    It was a frilly sleeved princess dress with multipleyers of petticoats, and Karl couldn''t help but smile at her frustration as she realized that there was no way to properly put it on yourself. It buttoned up the back all the way to the neck, and then a ribbon was designed to be tied around the waist.


    It was a Princess'' dress, for certain. Exclusively intended to be worn by ady with maids.


    Ophelia was staring at the clothing in intense disgust, but the four dresses were the same, just in different sizes.


    "You could transform into a Dire Bear and just refuse to wear clothes." Karl offered.


    "Thanks, but no thanks. My mother used to force me to wear things like this when I was little. Well, right until the day of the serum ceremony, actually. It''s personal, not a concern that it won''t go with my fur."


    Karl turned away to let everyone get dressed, so he was the first to notice when the maid came in with food.


    "Oh, good. The clothing fit. Those are some... interesting colours." She murmured, looking at the floor.


    "Do you think that they don''t suit us? I might be able to get them to change if I change outfits then put it back on." Karl suggested.


    "No, it will always be the same. The clothes reflect the colour of your aura."


    Karl turned and looked back behind him. Tessa''s dress was bright crimson, the same as her cleric robes, Dana''s was a very princess powder blue, and Ophelia''s was deep bronze with gold trim.


    Lotus, on the other hand, was wearing a shimmering mess of chaos that looked like someone had tried to do a pearl white paint job, then let their kids throw glitter all over everything.


    It was mostly green and gold sparkles, and Karl couldn''t help butughing. n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om


    "So, you''re telling me that the little High Priestess'' aura looks like that? I should likely be less shocked than I am. But that is glorious."


    "I think it''s broken." The maid whispered.


    "No, I''ve known her a while now, and I think it''s working just fine. See how happy she is with her new dress? I hope you don''t expect to get that one back when we leave."


    The maid smiled a little, but Karl noticed that she was avoiding looking at him.


    "Did I say something weird?" Karl asked. She didn''t have a problem looking at anyone else. Perhaps she was just shy.


    A deep voiceughed from the door. "It''s not what you said, Merchant. Or should we call you Merchant of Death? Your aura is blood-red and void ck, with only the barest hint of honourable gold at the edges. I have met mass murderers and Demon Lords that didn''t have an aura that dark and bloody." The man at the door, a Satyr of some sort, but with antlers and not curled horns, informed them.


    "I think it''s glitched, like the Maid said. I''m not actually a bad guy. Even the Nature Priestess will vouch for me."


    The Satyrughed as Lotus did a twirl to show off her dress.


    "I''m not sure that a Nature Priestess is the best judge of character. Though, it could just be a side effect of your lineage. Some of the more violent species always have a disturbingly dark aura base from their nature, and then another colour for their personality." The man suggested.


    [I say that we pull his legs off and roast them. He looks like he would be less annoying on a rotisserie.] Rae suggested.


    [He''s kind of fluffy and cute.] Cara disagreed.


    [The antlers would get stuck in my throat, we need to take them off too.] Remi sighed.


    Karl realized that he might have found the source of the aura issue. It was this bunch of hungry beasts messing with the colours. Perhaps the outfit would normalize once they had lunch.


    [Why don''t you all make yourselves something to eat? Thor should be able to pull food from his space as he needs it, but they promised to feed him properly.]


    While Karl was distracted talking to the beasts, a group of overdressed guards came in, then stopped and did a double take before staring at him.


    "Come on, it''s not that big of a deal, just a malfunctioning spell on the outfits." Karl insisted.


    "If you say so, sir. Please follow us this way. We need to... have a private talk with thedies while you meet with the oracle." The leader of the guard detachment agreed.


    [Summon more guards.] He whispered to the man outside the door.


    He wasn''t as quiet as he thought that he was, and all of the women, including the maid, were trying hard not tough as Karl followed him out into the hallway, where an entire unit of ten Commander Rank Minotaurs were waiting for him.


    "Alright, have fun,dies. Holler if you need me and I will be right back." Karl joked.


    "Stop making the soldiers want to cry. We will be fine for a few minutes." Danaughed as Karl waved and began to walk down the hallway.


    As soon as the guards thought that he was out of earshot, the questions began.


    "Are you alright? Is he holding you against your will? We can help you escape his influence if you need, give you a portal to the docks at Penbeck or Legore if you want to get on a boat and flee."


    Tessaughed and shook her head. "No, we are fine. I think that the aura colour really is some sort of glitch. He''s not the sort of Troll that takes anything in life all that seriously."

 Chapter 522 Lie Detector

    Chapter 522 Lie Detector


    Karl was led to a room where he was sat down across the table from a feathered Demon, with some sort of magical device between them.


    "This is a lie detector. My species reacts subconsciously to lies. If you speak, one of the lights will glow. Do you understand how this works?" The Demon asked.


    "Yes."


    The green light glowed steadily as Karl spoke.


    "Good, it seems to be working. Now, we will start on the basic questions before you are sent before the Oracle. This is just for his safety, and we would hope that you don''t take it as a personal slight."


    [That''s why there are Overlords at all three doors to this room.] Raeughed.


    "Of course not. The Oracle sounds like someone important, you can''t just let random strangers see him in person without vetting them first." Karl agreed.


    The green light glowed, and the Demon nodded.


    "You don''t seem as surprised as most are to hear that the Oracle here is male. But let''s keep on track. Were you sent here to spy, gather information, or otherwise obtain information about the Newbon Empire for another nation?"


    "Nope." Karl replied, and the green light glowed.


    The Demon looked confused, then continued his questions.


    "Did youe here at the behest of someone outside the Newbon Empire."


    "No."


    Both light glowed, and Karl tried to keep a straight face as the Demon growled.


    "If I rephrase that to ''did you arrive in Newbon at the behest of someone outside the nation'' does it change the answer?"


    "Yes."


    The feathered Demon made a happy chirping noise.


    "I see the issue here. You arrived in the city of Bethoke because the local guards requested it, and that was not what I meant, but it was a valid answer."


    Karl nodded, and the Demon continued. "Did the person who sent you here wish for you to harm anyone within the Newbon Empire?"


    "No."


    The green light glowed, and the Demon sighed.


    "What did they send you here for?"


    Karl considered how to answer that for half a second.


    "I was sent here to deliver a present that would help the Newbon Empire for many decades toe. I have already done that, and when I met your guards, I was intending to take my group to Clifnal to sell the tools that we are carrying and restock with whatever they had suitable for trade to the east down the road." The light remained a steady green.


    "So, you haven''t harmed anyone, and you came here just to deliver a present? Is that what I am to believe?"


    Karl chuckled. "Don''t get ahead of yourself. I''ve actually killed a fair number of people since we arrived here. But none that I would feel guilty about. Bandits, mostly."


    The Demon frowned. "That''s the job of the guard patrols."


    "But it''s more fun when I do it. Besides, we got a rather handsome payment for delivering a group of orphans to the driver from Halsearing."


    The Demon smiled and began to rx, but from the other side of the door, one of the Overlords that Rae had detected asked the important question.


    "Ask him how the children became orphans." The deep voice demanded.


    "I killed their parents, of course. They were bandits, and there was a bounty on them."


    "Dark Gods, what sort of monster are you?" The Demon sitting across from Karl gasped.


    "The sexy kind."


    The red light glowed so brightly that it drowned out the dim white backlight in the room.


    "Well, that was rude. It didn''t have to glow that bright." Karl mumbled, and the red light glowed again, though not as brightly.


    "How many monsters have you killed in your life?" The voice from outside the door demanded.


    "I don''t keep an exact count. A couple or ten," the red light began to flicker. "Thousand." As Karl finished his sentence, the green light came on, faint but steady.


    "Would it be closer to two or ten thousand?" The deep voice asked. In Karl''s mind, Rae did a quick mental calction of the bodies they had collected.


    [Definitely closer to two than ten, but not for much longer.]


    [You guys are a bunch of gluttons.]


    Karl noticed that the red light flickered as he replied to Rae, though he hadn''t spoken out loud.


    "Closer to two, I would say."


    The green light glowed as the door opened, and a delicate looking Lamia slithered into the room with a terrifying look on her face, followed by a cream scaled Naga warrior with four arms, and Overlord Rank power.


    [Oh, tall, pale and sexy. Keep that one alive, I want him.] Remi insisted.


    [I think he''s already taken.] Karl reminded her.


    [I am Queen, though. I''m sure he will see sense.]


    His small snake wasing of age, and Karl wasn''t sure what to do about her newfound attraction to Naga Warriors.


    The Lamia gave Karl a smile that conveyed no happiness at all. "The Council of Overlords believes that you might be a direct threat to this fortress. I suggest that you take this seriously." "If they thought I would be a danger to the fortress, wouldn''t it have been smarter to just leave me in the wilderness instead of bringing me inside?"


    The Lamia red at the glowing green light, but the Naga Overlord smirked.


    The other two doors opened, and an older Troll came in on Karl''s left, while a young-looking woman with bark on her skin entered on his right.


    His first thought was that she was a Dryad, but there was blood on her lips, and her body seemed to be filled with some sort of living smoke.


    The Naga Overlord reached into his coat and took out a piece of paper. On it was a drawing, an excellent facsimile of Karl.


    [Is this you?] The Naga Overlord asked.


    "It looks like me. But I have no clue who they had in mind when they drew it." Karl replied.


    The Lamia was about to trante, but Karl had received the live feed from Remi in real time, as she understood him just fine.


    "What othernguages do you speak?" The demon across the table from Karl asked.


    Karl shrugged. "I''m not bad with Troll and Orcish." The green light glowed, and the Overlords began to look impressed.


    "So, the reason that you weren''t concerned about going across the wilderness is because you speak Orcish? We read the report from our guards, and they say that you broke up the fight and your clerics minimized casualties on both sides." The Troll asked with a heavy ent.


    Karl made a nomittal gesture. "The Orcish tribes aren''t bad guys if you act properly. But mostly it''s just that the odds of running into a nomadic tribe in the middle of nowhere are actually pretty low.


    Compared to the chaos near the main travel routes with feral beast and monster spawns, plus the looters that are drawn to that sort of misfortune, it''s just safer in general."


    "What other spawns did you encounter?"


    "Undead yesterday, and Copper Drakes with Sand Yeti a few days earlier."


    The Demon across the table from him was baffled by the answer.


    "What is a Sand Yeti?" "They look like yeti, but light tan, and they use sand element attacks, not ice."


    "Oh, I understand now. Desert Howlers."


    "That name sucks." The green light glowed with Karl''s answer, and the Naga Warrior chuckled quietly.


    [Can you guess where we got this picture of you?] Naga asked, bringing them back on track.


    "My guess is that the Oracle drew it for you. The quality is pretty good. It''s a bit more slender than I am, but that could just be perspective."


    The light glowed green, and the Naga shook his head.


    "Do you know a Minotaur named Morrisa?" The Trollish Overlord asked.


    Karl thought for a second.


    "That name sounds familiar. I''m sure I heard it not long ago. Was that the matriarch of the farm herd that I traded with outside Oakhamping?" The green light flickered faintly, reflecting Karl''s confusion.


    "No, she is an Overlord. Does that ring a bell?"


    Rae giggled in his mind. [I bet she would murder someone if they suggested that she wear a bell like amon cow. That''s the Minotaur that wants to bang the catman.] n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om


    Karl snapped his fingers in realization and burst outughing.


    "That''s the one with the beastkin fetish. The Overlord who wants to marry the Golem Mage Ahmad, the one with the golden cat ears." He exined.


    The light glowed bright green, and the room went silent.


    "For the good of your health, I suggest that you never say those words out loud again, and certainly not in her presence." The Troll muttered.


    "She''s still mad, is she? I don''t me her. I heard he shut down her marriage proposal without even taking a night to consider it."


    The odd tree woman moved so fast that Karl almost lost track of her in the corner of his vision. But she didn''t attack, she took a seat across from him, and shuffled the demon interrogator over to the end of the table.


    "Tell me all about it. How did you learn of it? Was he as cute as the Oracle says he is? Are his ears fluffy?"


    "He''s a very handsome man. When I first met him, I thought that he was a human. But when he came over to introduce himself, he was excited. His ears were lifting his hood, and eventually, he just gave up and took it down.


    The Nature Clerics who were with me at the time had been baking cookies all morning. He''s got a huge sweet tooth, so if you want to shoot your shot, you should try bringing sweets with you." Karl exined.


    "But the ears." "As fluffy as anyone could hope for. I think his cat side is a rag doll or something simr. The fur is long and looks very soft."

 Chapter 523 The Oracle

    Chapter 523 The Oracle


    The sound of soft slippersing down the hall caught Karl''s attention. An older Troll with pale blue skin and one broken tusk, along with a scarred face and missing eye, made his way into the room.


    The Overlords bowed to him, despite his power only being at the Commander Rank.


    "The Oracle, I presume? My name is Karl. It is a pleasure to meet you."


    The old Troll smiled at Karl.


    "I sensed that the interview was only going to go in circles, and I have little time for questions today. I must watch the borders for attacks." The old troll wheezed.


    "Would you like me to ask the Dragon Clerics to help you with your healing? Trollish Regeneration is good, but it''s not almighty, and the clerics can help with most wounds." Karl replied.


    The Oracle waved off his concerns. "It''s a side effect of my ability. It will heal slowly, then return as I look out into the world for dangers.


    So, let''s get right to business.


    I saw you in a vision yesterday morning. You used a skill, a most horrific skill. There was a Naga Queen standing behind you, and you created a vortex of fire that arced with lightning and created smaller vortexes. So, after the trouble seers informed me of their findings, I cast a scrying on your location, and I found a sensation that could only be a spy from the Golden Dragon Nation. Who else could you be except for the spy?


    They wouldn''t dare to send a nobody into our Nation, and there is talk of an Elite bearing your name. A Dungeon Champion of the Golden Dragon Nation who challenged a Torton Monk to singlebat and won.


    Overlord Morrisa drew a picture of that Champion for us, and what do you know? It looks just like the man in my vision of danger. It looks just like you."


    Karl nodded along. "That''s quite the convoluted story, but I follow what you''re saying."


    "Do you deny that you are a spy for the Golden Dragon Nation?" The Oracle asked.


    "I do. I am not a spy for the Golden Dragon Nation. They had no part in my business ventures here."


    The Lamia whispered something to the Naga, who nodded in agreement. "Oracle, perhaps you should look into his past and see what we''re missing. We''re obviously asking the wrong questions." The strange Tree woman suggested.


    [They''re terrible interrogators. If they were a little smart, they would have asked you where you were born and where you grew up.] Hawk scoffed.


    [But it''s good for us that they''re not that creative. I''m not going to question our luck today.]


    The Oracle nodded and Karl felt a strange magic surround him. The Oracle held his cheeks and looked deep into his eyes, while Remi giggled. [Do you think he''s going to kiss you? Does this count as romance?]


    Karl did his best not tough at the situation, and just waited for the spell to take effect.


    The Oracle was staring into his eyes and chanting for a few minutes before he nodded and spoke in a demanding voice.


    [Show me the first memories you have, as far back in time as your mind is capable of recalling.] He intoned as his eyes faded to pale white, losing track of the present and immersing himself in Karl''s past.


    An image quickly came to Karl''s mind ofnding in theke when he was sent by Bishop Misty into the past. [When is this, what is the date?] The Oracle demanded.


    The scene skipped to the battle at Bunga City, where Karl first met Orthos.


    [Darklight Host Champion, Gold tabard, Lord of Bunga City. Thest resurgence.] The Oracle muttered, then shook his head.


    [That can''t be right. Show me the earliest memory, closest to the day of your birth.]


    The scene changed and Karl saw his parents, both in simple clothes stained the light grey of the bentonite y from the Lithium mines.


    [Where is this? What date.] The Oracle muttered.


    [A vige with no name, next to the deepest mine on the continent, under the light of the World Dragon.] He intoned, then the colour returned to his eyes and he stopped to stare at Karl.


    [Have your parents ever even owned a calendar?] Thor asked curiously in Karl''s mind.


    [Almost certainly not. They track everything by the workdays. Only the church uses years and months for anything.]


    The Overlords waited patiently for the Oracle to finish. "He was born in a mining town with no name, and at one point he was a Darklight Host War Champion on the Neia continent. I saw him challenge for the ownership of Bunga City. It doesn''t make any sense, unless he was thrown through time by an Anomaly.


    But if he was moved through time by an Anomaly, how long must he have been on this continent to regain his sanity? My visions are missing something."


    "Were you a Darklight Host War Champion?" The strange tree woman asked.


    "Yes. You can verify that as well. Grand Priest Orthos, the Bronze Dragon, is still alive and living in the Divine Beast Nation. He was there that day, and he can confirm that I did win the challenge for the city in singlebat."


    The green light glowed, and all of the Overlords began to stare at Karl with the sort of curiosity that was normally reserved for rare items and new species.


    "I''m honestly not that interesting. Not long after that incident, I was brought forward through time and didn''t live all those years in between then and now. In fact, I''ve only been in this century for fifteen years or so." Karl offered.


    The green light verified his words were the truth, but that only baffled the Overlords even more.


    "Do you have anything that could verify that? Some item, artifact from the past, or other item that could be scanned? I have a spell that can verify the age of a non-living item." The tree woman asked.


    "Well, they went through time with me, so I''m not sure if they gained the age, but I still have some supplies in a storage bag. Here, try these. If not, I have other items from bandits I dealt with."


    Karl took a small bag of Elven trail mix out of his inventory and ced the mix of nuts and fruits on the table.


    The Overlord looked ecstatic to see them, and almost reached into the bag to eat some before she could stop herself.


    "Those are Elven trail rations. I haven''t seen them in a century. Those nts don''t grow on this continent." She exined.


    She cast a spell that made the bag glow green, then her eyes opened wide, and she stared at Karl.


    "This bag was filled nearly ten thousand years ago. But the contents are fresh, and juicy, and they smell so good..." Smoke was leaking from her mouth, as if she was drooling at the sight.


    "You can have them if you like. They might be irreceable, but it is still food, and intended to be eaten." n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om


    Her long, slender fingers darted out to grab the bag, pulling it to her chest. Then she delicately picked one of the nuts out and set it in her mouth, where it slowly disintegrated in the mist.

 Chapter 524 Confusion

    Chapter 524 Confusion


    The Overlords silently conversed with each other, either with a spell, or just with bodynguage that Karl was missing because he was fascinated with the happy way that the tree woman was snacking on the trail mix one piece at a time.


    But he also noticed that she didn''t finish any of the options. She was putting one of each to the side so that she didn''t eat them all. Whether it was for research, her garden, or some other purpose, he didn''t know. But she was meticulous about it, and even managed to make her bark covered face look sad when she found a lone nut that didn''t have a partner for her to eat.


    "Well, if he''s not the spy, and just a danger to the city for some unknown reason, what do we do with him?" The Lamia that came in with the Naga asked the others in a low voice.


    The Oracle made a frustrated gesture. n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om


    "Forget that, why the hell are there two of him, one troll and one human? Or better yet, where in the seven hells did the actual spy that I detected go? Could he have been with the nomad group that was also fighting the undead?


    And for that matter, where is the human who looks like him? He went missing ages ago after the Dungeon Champion challenge, and Morrisa is worried that he might have found another opportunity to advance his power." The Oracle was whisper shouting at the others.


    "Well, we can''t just let him leave without knowing why he''s a danger to the Fortress, can we?" "Why would we keep him inside the walls, knowing that he''s a danger to the fortress?"


    "Those morons should have left him in the wilderness, and he wouldn''t havee within a hundred kilometres of us." Karl and the tree woman both smirked at that part, which caught the attention of the others.


    "Something funny?" The troll Overlord asked.


    It seemed to Karl that the Troll had been nominated tomunicate directly with him, as they were supposedly the same species.


    What Karl didn''t notice was that the massive Overlord was speaking Trollish, and it was being automatically tranted by the System. So when Karl replied directly to him, the others heard it as Trollish and not Common.


    "You know that we can all hear you, right? But on a serious note, are you familiar with the concept of self-fulfilling prophecies. The Oracle had a vision, and he told others about it. By telling others, and having them take action on it, he made the prophecy happen. If nobody hade looking, or they had onlye for the undead, who were already destroyed, I would have never been here. If I were never here, there would be no danger to your fortress. I don''t even know what sort of danger I''m supposed to be. It''s not like I care enough about your existence to make myself your enemy. No offence intended.


    But for all I know, there might have been zombie blood on my equipment or supplies, and my arrival here might have started an undead outbreak.


    That is the self-fulfilling prophecy part. In trying to avoid it, any action taken regarding the prophecy actually has a chance of causing it to happen."


    The troll stared at him for a few seconds. "That''s a deep thought for a troll. Who knew that the Trolls still had philosophers among us? So, what do we do to make it not happen?" Karl shrugged. "At this point, I have no idea. Once the process starts, it continues whether we want it to or not. That''s why it''s better to just leave well enough alone. I learned that from the Bronze Dragon Orthos."


    [Didn''t he just swear at you and tell you to stop teaching the children strange skills?]


    [Same thing, really.]


    The green light glowed happily on the desk, and the Overlords sighed.


    [What if we just put him in a room with his group members? If they''re only interacting with the maids, it could be a small danger.] The Naga suggested.


    The tree woman appeared to be ignoring the others, until she suddenly stabbed a finger into Karl''s hand. It punched right through his palm, as he didn''t have [Eternal Lightning] active, but he did have [Void Body] active, as well as [Limited Invulnerability] and [Trollish Regeneration].


    Her finger came back out of his hand cleanly, without so much as a spot of blood on it, and she hummed curiously, much like Rae did when she found a new thing.


    "Might I ask what you''re doing?" Karl asked.


    He didn''t think that he had actually taken damage, but it appeared that it was possible for certain species or skills to puncture him anyhow, which meant there was a chance he could be crucified and stuck to something, which would be incredibly inconvenient.


    "You''re immortal." She informed him in a matter of fact voice.


    "Far from it. I demonstrated that for the guards when they didn''t believe that I was a Troll."


    The green light came on, but the tree woman was ignoring everything except her finger and Karl''s hand.


    She stabbed him again and smiled. "I get it. You have to focus on stopping your regeneration so that you will bleed. It might be limited invulnerability? Giving that skill to a troll is the sort of thing that the old Gods would do."


    The Lamia cleared her throat, and motioned for the tree woman to exin.


    "Oh, I''ve been trying to figure out what was so strange about him. He doesn''t smell like a Troll, and his energy feels strange, almost bestial, not earthy like most trolls.


    I realized it when the Oracle mentioned that he''s from thest resurgence. He''s a Darklight Host War Champion, or at least he was. That means he has a System. He''s not just a troll, he''s blessed by the Gods. What if the danger to the Fortress is that his very presence is going to cause chaos? If he has enough of the System intact, he might be able to im the Fortress if he interacts with the City Stones." She mused.


    "And if he bes Lord of the city, he would automatically receive all the taxes thate to the Fortress. Every single coin collected by the Newbon Empire." The Troll realized.


    Karl nearly choked at the mention of that much money.


    "Why would every bit of Tax collected in the natione here? Forgive myck of knowledge." He finally managed to stammer.


    "This is where the Council is based, and where the Emperor is resting. Do you know nothing of the Newbon Empire at all?" The Troll asked.


    "I never cared about politics, so I didn''t ask. I thought that the Oracle was the one in charge of the Fortress. But if he''s just in charge of defence and strategy, that makes sense as well." The tree woman chuckled. "No, the Newbon Empire has two Totem Rank leaders. The Emperor and the General. The Emperor is resting here, while the General lives near the border with the Mountain Giants.


    But if you''ve been trading without a home base, you must not have paid any taxes, have you? You never ran into a tax collector to get an annual token?"


    "I got one of these. Does this count?" Karl asked, holding out the token he got from the Pirates.


    "No, that is not a tax payment token, though I do want to know how you got recognized by the Pirate Lordster. We will let it slide for now, but you should get that sorted out eventually. It is a serious crime to avoid your taxes." She informed him with a smirk.


    Perhaps this Fortress was more dangerous to Karl than he was to it. Few things in the world were more terrifying than having to pay the tax man.

 Chapter 525 Esoteric Reading

    Chapter 525 Esoteric Reading


    The tree woman stood up from the table and extended her hand to Karl. "I am Leafa, you may call me Overlord, or Princess Leafa. I believe that it is better that you return to your friends for now. They should be finished with the counsellors by now, and we haven''t heard about any issues from that interview.


    You can wait in your suite for now, and I wille talk to youter."


    Karl smiled and kissed her knuckles, which were cold as ice. "It''s been a pleasure to meet you, Princess. But if I can request a maid who isn''t as terrified by the colour glitch of my outfit, I would appreciate it."


    The Overlords allughed at hisment. "What makes you think it''s a glitch? Our base nature and our civilized thoughts are often in conflict with each other, but there is no doubt that your aura tells the truth."


    Karl shrugged. "Well, I suppose I can''t argue with that. I just hate seeing the staff so terrified."


    The Troll Overlord rumbled withughter. "Don''t forget that we already know how many people you''ve killed. They have good cause to be terrified. Just be kind to them, and they will calm down before you are ready to leave.


    Once the rest of the council is here, we wille to a decision, and then you should be able to return to your merchant route."


    That sounded problematic to Karl. If the rest of the council wasing, it meant that Overlord Rank Minotaur wasing, and possibly with the turtle that he beat up at the dungeon.


    One of them was likely to insist that he had found a way to lie to them.


    The guards came in to escort Karl back to the suite, and while they did give him a generous amount of personal space, they looked more rxed than when they had led him to the meeting.


    As before, they closed and locked the door once Karl was back in. Then thedies beganughing uncontrobly.


    "You should have seen how concerned they were that you were keeping us prisoner." Dana giggled.


    "It looks like you made it back here intact, at the very least. Did you get any more hints about what the n is?" Tessa asked.


    "They''re calling the rest of the council here, or the council wasing back anyhow. They''re not going to make a final decision until they''re all here.


    There is only one issue with that. Morrisa, the Overlord Minotaur that was hitting on Overlord Ahmad, is part of the council. She''s the one who drew the picture the guards were going on.


    If she decides that I''m the one that they were looking for, it could be a real pain."


    "Alright, we will have toe up with a n if they''re going to make it difficult for us." Tessa sighed.


    The first thought through Karl''s mind was that they couldn''t just hack their way out of here with a whole group of Overlords present.


    Then the realization that the clothing colours might not be wrong made him frown in annoyance.


    The maid came back with food to find them allughing and lounging on the sofas.


    She kept her distance from Karl, and kept her head down as she ced out cups of tea and bite sized snacks.


    "Thank you." Karl offered as she finished.


    She bobbed a nervous curtsy, then rushed out of the room again. n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om


    There wasn''t much more detail that they could discuss here, as there was definitely someone spying on them and listening to everything that happened in the room. So, they just rxed for a few minutes, then Karl got up to see what sort of books were on the shelves.


    "If we''re going to spend the day here, we might as well enjoy ourselves with some light reading." He suggested.


    It was all boring stuff. Poetry, travel journals, romance novels.


    No, thatst one was fairly promising. Karl flipped open the cover and chuckled as he read the intro.


    "The dramatic love story of a rejected Subus and her six Alpha Dragon mates." He read out loud.


    "What are you even looking at, and why is it even on the shelf?" Lotus demanded as she ran over to see if Karl was messing with her.


    He handed over the book, and Lotus flipped a few pages, then her cheeks blushed bright red. "The body doesn''t work like that!" She was about to drop the book in horror, but Ophelia was there to rescue it, and then beginughing as the read the page. Then she passed it to Dana, who turned bright red as she read the passage, and passed it to Tessa so that everyone could suffer the same horror.


    Tessa read the page with an intrigued look.


    "I think part of the problem here is that they don''t understand dragon biology. Or maybe we don''t understand subi biology." She mused.


    Karl knocked at the door and a guard opened it a crack to see what he needed.


    "Is there a subus on the guard team? We were reading a novel, and we have questions." He exined.


    The guard smirked and shook his head. "I know the book you mean. We use that suite as a break room when there are no guests. No, that''s not physically possible, even if they weren''t all ancient dragons, who should be fifty metres long."


    "Thanks. I''m sure you just saved the maid a very horrifying question and answer session."


    The guard chuckled. "She''s a satyr, not a demon. Her legs are just hidden under the dress."


    "Noted."


    Karl went looking for another book to read, one that wasn''t as disturbing, and ended up with a book on Demonic cksmithing.


    He might have no skills with metalworking, but it was still more interesting than doing nothing, and he could lightly meditate to build the energy in his spaces as he waited.


    Remi had been hoping for something alchemy based, but there weren''t really any technical manuals of any sort in the library. Even the one that Karl was reading was about the styles, not the details of how they were made.


    At the very least, it was interesting, and it kept his mind upied for the next few hours until a knock at the door informed that they had visitors.


    "Ladies and Sir, you have been invited to dinner with the Council of Overlords. We have prepared suitable clothing for you. This set is not aura coded, it is just a regr outfit suitable for dinner. Most guests do not arrive with such clothing, but if you have it, you are free to wear your own." She quietly greeted them.


    Karl stood back and let the others do the talking this time. Ophelia took the pile of clothes with a smile. "Thank you. We appreciate the concern, and we will happily wear what you have preferred. How long do we have? Is there time to properly bathe and groom?"


    The maid bobbed a curtsy. "Yes, Miss. There are ny minutes. If you wish, I can have a team assembled to assist you all in bathing and preparing for dinner."


    Karl smirked and nodded his head. "I think that thedies would greatly enjoy that. I can take care of my own grooming, but they will appreciate a full team to get them ready for dinner."


    Maybe not all of them, but Lotus for certain. And probably Ophelia, who had a lot of fur to shampoo and brush out.

 Chapter 526 Awkward Dinner

    Chapter 526 Awkward Dinner


    A guard led Karl to a room down the hall that had arge shower and bath, plus a dressing room and a few more options of clothing.


    "We will knock fifteen minutes before dinner. Let us know if you need anything before then, we will be outside the door and there is a manservant avable should you require assistance." The Guard exined.


    "Thank you, I will let you know if there is anything missing."


    The guard closed the door and Karl headed for the shower room.


    It was stocked with a dozen different body washes, shampoos, brushes, scrubbers and even an assortment of trimmers. There wasn''t much that he couldn''t do to make himself presentable, so Karl started right in on trimming his beard and cutting his hair.


    The sink area had adjustable mirrors, so he could even see the back of his head in the reflection, and the process was going much more quickly than he had expected.


    He considered letting Remi out to see what his hair would look like after she had her way with it, but Karl suspected that he was still under surveince, and having a random Naga Queen appear in his bath would be hard to exin.


    It didn''t stop her from giving suggestions anyhow, and by the time that he was finished with the trim, she was delighted with his makeover. [You just need tusks. I wonder if we could make Trollish Regeneration grow you a set of tusks?] She pondered.


    [That would be more Trollish. But I don''t think that we have time to experiment. I spent too much time getting my hair perfect, now I need to get clean and dressed.]


    Remi was sad, but she did have a few minutes to spare as Karl showered, and she could practice on her own ws in an attempt to shape them into a new design while making them grow out.


    If she could do it with nails, they should be able to do it with teeth as well.


    Unfortunately, it wasn''t working as well as she had hoped. She had made a pretty design out of her w, but it didn''t grow out like they would need Karl''s teeth to do in order to make tusks. It just returned to its default state if she damaged it too much. It didn''t get longer than that. n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om


    Karl finished his shower and quickly changed into the provided outfit. Then looked at it in dismay. The colourbination was horrible, pale gold and green. There had to be something better in the racks.


    A short search turned up a white shirt, ck pants and a silver and ck tailed jacket. [You need the waist band.] Rae reminded him.


    [Right, there we go. How do I look?]


    [Like you''re going to a meeting with nobles ten thousand years ago.] Remiughed.


    [That''s perfect. As long as I don''t look too ridiculous, a little bit of oddity will help sell the story that I''m from the past. With any luck, this should be ourst meeting with the Council, and then we can grab Thor and thedies to make our escape.]


    Karl added a spritz of each of the three fancy perfumes that were on the counter, hoping to hide his natural scent, and then double-checked to make sure that he hadn''t messed up anything on his outfit.


    The guard knocked at their door and gave Karl an approving look as he saw that everything was in order.


    "The Council will be ready soon, and it is considered polite to arrive before they do." He exined.


    "Lead the way. Are thedies ready?" Karl asked.


    "Hopefully, soon. The tiny one is a menace, and the head maid had to rescue one of her staff, but they should have things sorted out by now."


    Karl chuckled. "Nature Priestesses are like that. They''re a bit too wild and free for most social situations, and they love meeting new people. I wouldn''t be shocked if she dragged a maid into the bath with her."


    The guardughed. "I hope that it wasn''t that extreme. But such things are thedies'' private business."


    Karl followed the guard to the dining room, where the others were already gathered, along with a group of maids who had brought them.


    They were all elegantly dressed with intricate hairstyles and immacte makeup, except for Ophelia, though Karl suspected that there were highlights in her fur that were not there before.


    Once he had arrived, the guards and maids backed away, except for a pair of maids who guided them to their spots at the table.


    They were all seated along one side, and the other side of the table was set with five spots, plus one at the head and one at the foot. That should mean seven Overlord Council members in total, or fewer than that plus a few other guests.


    Karl had met three of them so far, the Naga, treedy and troll. The others hadn''t met any, and it was just the guards and staff that were showing concern for their safety while Karl was away.


    The trio that Karl had already met were the first ones toe out, followed by what Karl thought might be a Pixie, who transformed into a human sized form as she reached her chair, a Chimera who did the same, smoothly shifting from four feet to two, and finally Morrisa, the Minotaur Overlord.


    Thest to arrive was the Oracle, who took a spot at the foot of the table, across from the Troll, who took the seat at the head.


    "Wee everyone. I will do the introductions for the day.


    From my right, we have the Lady Ophelia, Mage Dana, Priestess Lotus of the Green Dragon, Priestess Tessa of the Red Dragon, and Merchant Karl of the Stone Trolls.


    Guests, I would like to introduce you to the Oracle, Overlord Morrisa of the Minotaurs, Overlord Thrax of the Chimera, Overlord Tink of the Faeries, Overlord Sslyth of the Naga, Overlord Leafa Oak of the Haints, and I am Council Head Arnold of the Forest Trolls."


    Everyone nodded politely as the names were read, then Morrisa turned to Karl with narrowed eyes.


    "You look familiar, a lot like a human I met not long ago." She insisted.


    "I have heard that a lottely. Tell me, did you find anything interesting in the humans'' territory? Once I make it past Whiton Temple, I might keep going and check out thends to the north beforeing back through the Divine Beast Nation."


    The Minotaur scoffed. "That would take most of a year toplete."


    Karl nodded. "It will be a good opportunity. And, I can find some new trade partners for the next trip. If I skirt the edge of the Mountain Giant territory just right, I should be able to bring some quality imports across the wilderness."


    The Fairy, Tink, looked incredibly excited about that idea. "That would be great. They have all sorts of new and shiny things, and you could almost pass as a human. Their sense of smell is terrible, so they would never know the difference. They might just think that you were big."


    "That''s the n. As long as they don''t mistake me for an Ogre, I should be fine." Karl joked.


    Their discussion on trade routes was interrupted by the servants bringing out the food, and Karl made a note of the way that Council Head Arnold ate. If there was some odd way that Trolls liked to eat, it was best that he noticed it before he outed himself as human.


    Fortunately for Karl, the Council head wasn''t doing anything odd, just gnawing the smoked ribs clean of meat and popping the diced and deep-fried potato bits into his mouth like everyone else.


    Having perfect peripheral vision saved Karl a lot of trouble at dinner. He didn''t have to look to the side or turn his head to see what everyone was doing, only to let them know he was talking to them.


    "Is that your goal? To bring the clerics to the temple at Whiton?" Thrax, the Chimera Overlord, asked.


    "Yes. We''re going to trade and let the clerics do their work all the way from here to Whiton. We''ve made it this far from the coast already, so we''re doing pretty well." Karl agreed.


    "A proper pilgrimage it is, then. Not many choose to make the trek across the continent from west to east, but thebination of a War Cleric and a Nature Priestess does make for an interesting bnce." The Chimera added.


    "Good food too. I''m not sure if you''re aware, but as well as theirbat duties, all the Red Dragon Priestesses are trained in the basics of caring for War Orphans, so they''re excellent cooks." Karl informed him with a pleased look at his te.


    "Perhaps as good as your Fortress Chefs. Mypliments to them, by the way, this is spectacr."


    The Chimera nodded, and the meal moved through the courses without interruption.


    Once they were finished eating, the Overlords began to excuse themselves from the table, saying goodnight to the Council Head and the Oracle in turn before getting up to leave.


    Karl and the others rose when the Oracle did, and the visionary nodded his head towards the door. "Sleep well tonight, and you may continue on your way in the morning. I will have the maids deliver you a token before you go. Lady Oak is quite intrigued by your past, and she may wish to contact you again in the future." He exined, then turned and walked out.


    "Council Head, it was a pleasure to meet you. My apologies for any trouble we might have caused." Arnold simply nodded his head and walked away, leaving the door open for the maids toe in and escort Karl''s team to their suite.

 Chapter 527 Misunderstood Innovation

    Chapter 527 Misunderstood Innovation


    Once they were back in the suite for the evening, Rae began to get excited, and dropped a pile of cloth into Karl''s hands.


    [This is for everyone.] She insisted.


    "Presents from Rae." Karl exined, then wondered how to sort the silk.


    That proved to be much easier than expected, as she had stitched everyone''s name inside what turned out to be a set offy flowing nightgowns of the non-sexy sort that Karl associated with his grandmother. The only difference was that these were all soft silk, not cheap cotton repurposed from flour sacks.


    "Thank you, Rae. This looks even morefortable than thest set of night clothes you made me." Dana giggled.


    She had only found a few chances to wear those ones since the first time, as they were rather skimpy for casual wear. But this one she could wear all the time, and she would never have to worry about it being dirty or frayed, as Rae''s clothing options always bonded to the wearer.


    Karl went to the other room to change so that he wasn''t used of peeping on the clerics. But what he found was a whole room full of oversized bunk beds.


    They were six metres long and three metres wide, suitable for even thergest of Trolls and Minotaurs to getfortable. Yet even with his size buffed by Brutality, Karl was only a third that size.


    One thing was certain, none of them would actually need to climb thedder to the upper bunks tonight. They might do it anyhow, but it wouldn''t be necessary.


    He changed quickly, leaving his dinner outfit carefully folded on one of the end tables. The staff could clean and store that for the next visitor after he left. The others came in only a minuteter, and Lotusughed as she pulled back one of the massive nkets.


    "Can we share? Just turn down the other side of the bed, and we can sleep sideways." She suggested.


    Karl and Ophelia would only be a little shorter than the bed that way, but it should work just fine.


    Tessa got to work, moving pillows and folding down the other side of the nket.


    "So, how are we going to work this?" She asked as she finished the work.


    Lotus pointed at the pillows in order. "Dana, Karl, Ophelia, me, you."


    "So you''re still next to me, but you get to cuddle the Werebear? That makes sense."


    Lotus looked proud of herself. "And she''s close to the same size as Karl, so they''re well-matched."


    Ophelia ran a hand down her nightgown, then down Tessa''s back.


    "Can you ask Rae why mine is different?" [Anti-static for furry friends.]


    "She says that this version shouldn''t generate static against your fur. That will make you less frizzy in the morning. Though, the staff did a wonderful job of brushing you today, and I''m sure you wouldn''t mind an excuse to do it again."


    Opheliaughed. "I wonder if we can hire a Satyr maid toe with us, just for grooming purposes? They''re better at it than anyone I''ve ever met."


    "I can talk to them and see if there is a hiring location in town with maids who don''t mind travelling." Karl suggested.


    Lotus smirked. "Can you imagine the look on their faces when we tell them that we want to bring the maid outside the country, and maybe bring her back next year on our way through?"


    "I don''t think that we will be able to find one with that proposal. Perhaps a human or a half troll, but not a Satyr." Ophelia noted.


    Lotus pointed at Ophelia and smirked. "We should ask that bear working the portal at Bruse Temple if he wants toe along and groom you for a living. I bet he would say yes."


    Ophelia thumped the wayward cleric on the head and frowned. "I don''t need that sort of attention, especially not from a Dire Bear."


    They all settled into bed, with Ophelia turned away from Karl so she could make Lotus her little spoon. Karl did the same with Dana, and that was how they were when the maids came in to wake them in the morning.


    "Do you think that they..."


    "That would have to cause internal damage, right?"


    "Forget that, the bear and her teddy are so cute."


    "No, that''s a cleric. Adorable." Their whispers woke Karl, which startled the maids. They had a lot of experience speaking softly, so they didn''t bother guests.


    They bowed politely and one of them began to speak quietly.


    "Sir, your group has been cleared to leave at your leisure. Breakfast will be ready in one hour if your group wishes to dine with the other guests." She informed him.


    "That sounds lovely. Can you send in some assistants to help thedies get ready? We have somewhat suitable travel garb." Karl replied.


    The maid bowed, and Ophelia got up out of bed, still holding Lotus, whose arms were wrapped around the Werebear''s neck.


    Karl nodded to her and headed out for the men''s shower room, with a guard escorting him. They could sort out their sleepiest members while he got ready.


    Moving from the bed woke Dana up, and the disappearance of Lotus woke Tessa, so they were all mobile bright and early. Early enough that Karl even had time to carefully blend the perfumes to perfectly match the scent he had worn the day before.


    Then he pocketed a small sample of each, so he could do it again if he needed.


    With his preparations finished, Karl returned to the suite to find thedies getting their hair done. [Don''t wait outside. I want to see how that works.] Remi insisted. n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om


    "I''ll be on the sofa while you all finish up." Karl informed the maid, who was trying to tame Dana''s curls.


    They eventually settled on a loose bun that let her curls hang out the bottom. Nothing else would stay, and random strands kept escaping, as Dana refused the use of "an army of bobby pins" as she put it.


    The maids looked very proud of their work, and the way that they''d managed to make thedies look elegant even in their travel outfits.


    For the Clerics, that was their fancy robes, Ophelia was in her new coat and pants with a silk sash, and Dana had gone for the hoodie and cargo pants Rae made for her, instead of her actual travel clothes, which were closer to the Spellde uniform, and covered her face.


    The guest dining hall held about thirty overdressed monsters, mostly transformed into humanoid forms. One Chimera preferred to eat in his natural form, but Karl saw that many of the others were wearing amulets with the Fortress insignia on them. [Rae, those are the transformation spells, right? What are the chances we could get one of those to study?] Karl asked as he took his seat.


    Rae considered it for a few seconds. [I would say close to one hundred percent. I''ve taken six of them so far.]


    Well, that was one way to do things. Karl hadn''t even noticed her taking them, so there was a good chance nobody else had either. There was also no way for anyone else to prove that Karl had them, even if they noticed them missing.


    The only issue was that they didn''t actually have a team member who wanted to be human shaped.

 Chapter 528 Leave With Grace

    Chapter 528 Leave With Grace


    There was no fancy sendoff after they finished breakfast, just a runner sent to the stables to get Thor hooked up to the wagon and staged for departure.


    Thor was happy to help them with their work, even if they had done acklustre job of scrubbing his scalesst night. They had at least scrubbed him down, but there was no enthusiasm and no extra attention to the itchy spots, even when he tried to point them out.


    So, he was hooked up and ready when Karl arrived with the team, while the grooms pretended that they weren''t intensely curious about the fact that his entire harness rig was made of silk rope.


    Normally, the shoulder brace would be wooden, with hemp ropes attaching it to the cart, but Thor''s harness was entirely silk, and included ties for a rider to be securely strapped in ce.


    Karl checked the cargo, and found that it appeared intact under the as the others loaded themselves into the wagon.


    Guards on the bipedal lizard mounts escorted them through the city streets, clearly not intending to let Karl stop and do business inside the city limits. That actually worked for everyone, as Karl had no intentions of staying in the area.


    With a whole group of Overlords and seers here, Karl was looking forward to being out of their sphere of influence. The less likely they were to notice what he was doing, the safer he would be.


    Nobody challenged them as they made their way out the gates and into the open farnd that surrounded the city, where the others began to rx a little. They weren''t going to say anything to blow their cover, but at least that feeling of being suppressed was gone, and so was the feeling of being watched. N?v(el)B\\jnn


    Inside the fortress, The Oracle, was sitting with a group of twenty Trouble Seers, staring at an image on the smooth surface of a pool of water in a silver pool.


    "Are you sure that he''s not going to be back, Oracle?" One of the seers whispered. "Yes, he is gone. I don''t know what sort of threat he is, but my advice is that we don''t follow his movements directly. If we interfere, it might encourage our soldiers to do something that triggers the danger.


    I believe that the one known as Karl said it himself, and it is something that we should have been more mindful of in the past. It is possible for a prophecy to be self-fulfilling. The more people who know about the monster hidden inside that body, the more likely they are to start a chain of events that lead to their destruction." The Oracle sighed.


    "Surely, the danger isn''t that high? I sense threat from his position, but not higher than a military unit. We sensed nearly as much when those mages from the Wilds arrived." The Trouble Seer asked.


    "That was thirty mages. This is one creature. I suspect that he isn''t truly a Troll, but it is unlikely that he''s a human either. It might be a doppelg?nger, or worse, an Echo."


    The seers shuddered at the thought. Most of them had seen one of the Echoes when they looked into the distant past during their training. They were constructs created by the Gods to guide and shape societies, but they were terrifying on a level that no living being should be capable of.


    Their mere existence was enough to put terror into the minds of those who could see the past.


    "Should we not have one person observe him to make sure he really is leaving? He might be posing as a merchant, but that is no guarantee that he''s not scouting for an invasion." One of the seers suggested.


    The Oracle began to cast another spell, watching Karl''s progress as they left the city.


    At first, it all seemed normal. But then, two Naga Warriors appeared on the steps of his wagon, without the Oracle even sensing that anyone had cast a spell. The Oracle didn''t sense a portal, and he didn''t detect the surge of magic for a summoning spell. His first thought was that the Naga Warriors had simply released an invisibility spell that had been cast on them, but the wagon had been in the fortress for over a day. Someone should have sensed them if they were simply invisible.


    He made a note of it among his other visions, and continued to watch for a few more minutes as the group simply travelled past the farms, and called out to those that they passed.


    None of it was out of the ordinary, only a merchant trying to sell his Minotaur made tools. But the oddities were enough to put the Oracle on edge and convince him that he had made the right call in telling the others not to do anything to prevent him leaving.


    If his guess was right, and he really did have a massive wealth of hidden power, there might be others watching over him from the shadows. Others who woulde to his rescue if he were actually in trouble.


    That dragon, Orthos, for example.


    Karl had mentioned him during their interview, and the Oracle had seen them interact in his visions. He might not know their current rtionship, but the anger of an ancient Dragon was not something to tempt.


    But in the wagon, Karl and the others knew nothing of these concerns, and they were happy to have simply escaped the notice of the Overlord Council without anything major happening.


    They had just passed the first cluster of small vegetable farms that served the fortress, and had passed into what Karl would consider a wilderness area, headed east down the main road.


    Karl turned to talk to the others. "You know, this shortcut is actually pretty nice. The road here is all gravel and well maintained, much better than the deep ruts and soft dirt that we were getting on the other sections of the road. Maybe we can stick with it for a while before we move back to travelling through the wilderness to get to the underserved customers?"


    Dana nodded. "That''s not a bad idea. We might be able to make a few good trades along the way, and pick up more than farming tools."


    Tessa nodded. "We might pick up a side quest or two as well. From what I understand, the further northeast we go from here, the more trouble they have with Giants and wild beasts.


    If we go that way, we should be able to get some excellent customers, but if we follow the road to the southeast we will get to the capital city of Newbon, and from there we can head east through human poptednds until we get to the wilds, then we''re into more dangerous territory.


    The Wilds are almostpletely controlled by beasts, but there are a number of towns and one major port there as well.


    A pirate port again, but that''s to be expected. Only this one specializes in beast materials, from what I understand, and not ves."


    "And from there, we can follow this huge river all the way up to Whiton Temple. There are major trade routes along the river, and a road going from there into the Golden Dragon Nation. It''s a pretty solid route, and we should be able to make sales and purchases at nearly every stop."


    "We might even find buyers for some of Rae''s silk."

 Chapter 529 Road to Mitford

    529 Road to Mitford


    Mitford was a city of ten thousand people only a day and a half down the road, so that was their goal. If they could make it there early, they could trade some goods at the market in town, or to a local shop, and have time to rx and eat before leaving town for the night.


    It was safer to be out of the cities to sleep, and that let Thor have a proper rest in his space, instead of some filthy barn somewhere.


    The number of farms didn''t decline much as they travelled, there was one every quarter kilometre for the entire day. But the quality of the road didn''t decline either, it was a well-groomed gravel double track, wide enough for two fully loaded carriages with guards to pass each other.


    It made progress much morefortable, though Thor didn''t speed up much, for the sake of everyone in the wagon.


    There was a conspicuousck of pullouts, though. Normally, there would be parking areas along the side of a road for wagons and merchants to stop, but along this stretch there weren''t any at all.


    There weren''t even any smaller viges, which seemed a bit odd.


    Farmers wouldn''t want to travel all day to get supplies, so normally a small vige would form every few hours of travel.


    Once it started to get close to dark, Karl noticed that there was a different practice here. The wagons pulled into one of the farm houses, and if he was seeing it right, they provided the evening meal, or at least a good portion of it, for their hosts.


    They were setting up tents in the yards, so Karl picked a decent looking carriage and pulled into the yard where it was parked.


    "Good evening. Do you mind if we join you?" He asked the farmer who came over to greet him.


    "Not at all. The General and his entourage were just about to start cooking. If you would like to let them know what you have for the pot, we can make adjustments."


    Karl smiled at the Minotaur. "We have Dragon Clerics with us, so we have rice and beans, and I have some meat stored in a storage item, so it''s still fresh."


    "That will make everyone happy. I will let them know, while you get parked and set up for the evening. I don''t know how much you have stored, but there are a total of twenty-five heads here tonight. The rice and beans are likely enough to go around, though."


    Karl frowned in confusion. "Your family is thatrge?" The farmer chuckled. "My family is six in total, then there are your seven, and twelve with the other carriage. Their mounts are in the back pasture, being tended right now."


    Tessa gave Karl a thumbs up, as she already had enough ready, and Karl passed her a roast sized piece of boar meat. "I will let you go with our host to greet the other cook. Let me know if you need anything else, or Lotus."


    Lotus was their resident spice expert, after all. The small perks of being a nature cleric.


    While Tessa went to get dinner started, carrying a sack of rice on her shoulder, the others got the camp set up, hanging tarps over the ends of the wagon that reached the ground, and one stretched out from the back of the wagon so they could get down onto dry ground, should it rain overnight.


    The process only took a few minutes, then they were free to go join the other carriage to see who needed a whole entourage of mounted guards. The farmer had said it was a General, but Karl didn''t sense anyone powerful in the area. It could be that the General was a strategic officer and not abat officer, though. The Golden Dragon Nation had many such officers in their military ranks.


    The General turned out to be a very familiar face. He looked nearly identical to the Naga Overlord, except that he had a scar over one eye that hadn''t healed properly, and he was a Commander, not an Overlord. n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om


    "General, it''s a pleasure to meet you. I am Karl, a travelling merchant." He greeted the Naga, who seemed more interested in the two silent Naga Warriors who were waiting by the Wagon.


    "It''s a pleasure to meet you. You seem to have developed quite the esoteric group on your travels." The General greeted him.


    "Travelling with Dragon Clerics makes everything much better. If it were just the guys, we would have a rather dull and silent journey." Karl joked.


    The guards returned as they were talking, and Karl noticed that they were all nearly identical Satyrs, at the Ascended Rank. "Pardon my curiosity, but isn''t that a bit flimsy of a guard for a General?" He asked quietly.


    The Nagaughed and shook his head. "They''re an honour guard, not like the wagon guards to protect your trade goods. If I''m actually in trouble, I just summon a military unit to my location. Ten honour guards won''t stop much, but a full regiment of mounted cavalry will."


    Karl nodded in understanding. "I forget that it is so easy for some people to use portal magic to get others to their location."


    The General shook his head. "The portal calls are expensive to make, and the other side has to be at a designated portal array, which only exists in therger cities. It''s impractical to have it for every mission. But in my case, the risk is low, and I''m only going to the city. This route is pretty well travelled, and there are multiple guard patrols along it every day."


    They had only seen one yesterday, but the first might have been by before they left the city, as the breakfast routine in the mornings at the pce didn''t start too early.


    The general nodded towards the wagon. "Where were youing from that you got so many quality tools? You could likely make a killing off those in the city of Mitford."


    "We picked them up outside Oakhamping, but we''ve been going cross-country to avoid the chaos on the roads. There have been some incidents in that regiontely. Then we got picked up by a patrol and taken to Bethoke for questioning, so we''re a good bit south of our original destination." Karl exined.


    The General nodded. "That makes sense. Anyone who has a Royal Rank Cerro for their wagon isn''t the ordinary sort. He seems quite friendly, though. Normally, Cerro get territorial when you hook them to a wagon."


    Karl chuckled. "He knows nobody is after his wagon or his passengers. But he loves people. If we get the farm kids to rub his scales, he will be in heaven."


    Thor nodded in agreement, and the General smirked.


    "I can do one better, as this farm has no small children anymore. They''re all grown and unmarried. But I''ve got Satyrs who need to be distracted until the food is ready."


    He whistled and gestured to bring one of the guards over and exined that he had volunteered them to rub down the Cerro for the evening as trade for the quality of dinner.


    They got to work, and Thor gave a happy rumble as they began to rub his head and polish his scales, just as they did for their own mounts.


    [Maybe travelling on the road isn''t all bad.]

 Chapter 530 Cyclops Spawn

    530 Cyclops Spawn


    Dinner ended with a huge pot of leftovers that were transferred to a container provided by the farmer''s wife for them to enjoyter, and Karl settled in for the night.


    The beasts could watch from inside their spaces, other than Thor, who had positioned himself in the driveway to the farmyard, between the entrance and the people.


    There was a sturdy fence all around the yard, so that was the only likely area for entrance by an unknown threat, and therefore the best spot for him.


    Ophelia was with the first watch group, which was more than a little upsetting to Lotus, who wanted to cuddle, while Karl and Dana would take the dawn watch, just before the sun came up. The guards had wanted five watches, each with two guards, which was a bit excessive in Karl''s mind, but they also didn''t have the beasts watching out for danger. If it was a single guard, an assassin could sneak in and eliminate them, then go for the General. It was odd that they hadn''t insisted on someone from their team taking the morning watch, but they were likely nning to be up by then and starting on breakfast, so they didn''t see the need to have one of theirs as the guard. n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om


    Tessa would likely be awake for that watch as well, or at least halfway through it. She rarely slept past the dawn wake-up call after so many years on the church''s schedule.


    So, Karl settled in to sleep peacefully with Dana after their watch, only to be awakened by the sound of screaming far too soon after he closed his eyes.


    [Report. What is going on?] Karl asked.


    [Another spawn. Hawk is already in the air.] Remi replied.


    [It seems to be centred on us, and it extends all the way back to the fortress, a whole day''s travel. I can see the torches as the fortress army units gather to fight in the dark.] Hawk added.


    That was massive. If it was centred on them, and they had covered close to eighty kilometres during the day, this newest spawn was absolutely massive.


    [What is attacking?] Karl asked as he equipped his armour and took out his maul.


    [That''s the best part! Food! We''re under attack by food.] Hawk cheered.


    [Trantor.]


    Remi giggled before exining. [The attackers are some sort of boar monster the size of Ophelia''s Dire Bear form, and they''re apanied by some sort of cyclops. A giant with one eye. That''s what has the Satyrs on guard duty screaming.]


    There was a group of the boars at the edge of the camp, just reaching the firelight but momentarily stopped by the mounts of the guards, who also saw them as food.


    Unfortunately for the agile lizards, these boar monsters were not only massive, they were also Commander Rank beasts, and wearing armour.


    They even had metal sheathes on their tusks, so they could more effectively attack.


    Karl was just about to send everyone out to y when he realized that they were standing right next to a General and his entourage. A general who was very likely to call for an entire army unit from the fortress that they just left.


    [Can we just kill him already? I want toe out and y.] Raeined.


    [Not yet. Or at least not where he can see you. I give it like two minutes before he panics and calls the army. I don''t know if they''re going to show up while everything is under attack, but they might.]


    Hawk was racing through the sky, trying to determine the extent and density of the situation, when he realized that they were about to have a not so minor problem.


    [The next city is full of monsters from the spawn. It''s within the radius by at least ten kilometres, and it''s not just surrounded, it''s overrun.] He informed them.


    [Well, that will put a damper on our chances of making a mass sale. However, I bet we can do some charity work with the farmers, if they''re short on weapons.]


    Karl jumped onto the roof of the house to take in more of the situation and realized that these ones weren''t the only one who would need some assistance.


    He could see four other farms in the distance, and they were all fighting with makeshift weapons, like the ones he was selling, but not adapted to be used as weapons.


    They were so close to two major cities, and along a heavily popted route that was travelled by hundreds every day, that they didn''t really need weapons other than for defence against unscrupulous travellers.


    The farm family wasing out in hastily donned coats over their pyjamas, carrying whatever farm tools came to hand.


    "Hey, over here. We have weapons." Karl called. The Minotaurs rushed over to where Karl was, while the guards from the General''s caravan harassed the Giant Boar who had made it closest to the farm.


    Thedies had taken the from over the cargo, and the Minotaurs smiled as they realized that the weapons were all modelled after things that they already know how to use.


    They each grabbed a tool and pulled the working heads off the convertible ones. "We will stay near your charges, would you guard the back side of the house? We should be alright, even if you take both the Naga with you." "I will have them watch the side of the house. The guards for the General have the other side, but we can send someone to help them if you need."


    The oldest of the Minotaur Farmers smiled and patted Karl on the shoulder. "As long as they don''t make it to the house, it''s fine. We have no animals, and they''ve already trampled the fields. We will see in the morning what can be salvaged."


    Karl nodded. "I will do what I can to keep them out of the vegetable garden out back."


    "I would appreciate that."


    [Remi, have the bodyguards watch the two sides of the house and keep everyone mostly on this side, so I can let everyone out to y.]

 Chapter 531 Guard The Farm

    531 Guard The Farm


    Once Remi and her bodyguards were in position, with two on Karl''s left, guarding the side of the house, and one on his right, making sure that the escorts for the General didn''t get overrun by a single Giant Boar, Karl was ready to begin.


    [Alright, it''s safe toe out now. Cara and Rae, I would like for you to stick together with Rae''s Golems. Clear the area beyond what the Minotaurs and Satyrs can see, and loot as much food as you think we might need in the future. These all appear to be Commander Rank boars, and there should be Royal Rank Cyclops with them. That means plenty of high-quality blood for Rae. n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om


    However, if you find a Monarch, inform me before you start fighting it, and I will join you.


    I know that at least Rae needs the Monarch Rank blood for her personal grooming, and if it''s an edible species, it could be good for everyone''s development.] Karl instructed.


    [Monarch Rank Giant Boar...] Hawk was almost drooling at the thought.


    He was already looking for one, but the Boars didn''t appear toe in anything but Commander Rank. Being a spawn situation, there were no young ones with them. But it was also incredibly rare to find a Monarch Rank Cyclops. Hawk had scouted most of the way to both cities down the road now, and he had only seen three of them, two of which were at the fortress. The Overlords would take care of those in a few minutes, so there was only one that was an actual option, and even that one was over twenty kilometres away.


    [We might have to wait for tomorrow''s spawn to get a good one.] He informed the others.


    Karl chuckled at his depressed tone. [What makes you think that we''re going to still be here?]


    [There are thousands of Commander Rank boars. They''re overrunning farms almost as fast as the farmers can flee, and the city is full of them. We did alright walking through the Hill Giant lines, but these are stronger.] He replied with pride.


    It was strange to have pride in what he viewed as a food supply that he didn''t even raise himself, but Hawk''s mind worked in its own special way.


    Karl could hear him mentally calcting the food supply from multiple days of harvesting the boars, and how much space he had to store them in. If he processed them and got rid of the parts that weren''t tasty, he should have enough for at least a week''s harvest in the space he dedicated to boar type animals.


    Rae came out of her space, and Cara appeared on her back as the Bloodbath Spider summoned her golems in the distance.


    [Forward trusty steed. We shall clear a path of destruction through the boars. Delicious, delicious, destruction.] Cara insisted.


    Karl stared at the strange spectacle for a moment and then realized that Cara was much bigger than he remembered, She had gone from badger torge dog sized, and when she spread her wings for bnce, she had a wingspan as wide as Rae''s standing posture.


    [Are you getting close to advancing?] Karl asked her, curious about the change.


    [Nope, I don''t think I''m even halfway there. I''m just getting big. I''m working on a skill to adjust my size, but mostly I think I''ve just been eating too well. I need to start exercising.]


    Why she wanted to adjust her size was a mystery, but Karl suspected that it had something to do with punching Drakes in the face. She kept facing big things that didn''t respect her because she was small.


    They vanished off into the darkness with a barrage of [Disintegration] and [Boulder Toss] attacks at the handful of nearby boars.


    Then they were on the surprised Cyclops, whose night vision was apparently terrible because it hardly reacted until the Golem was liberating its head from its body.


    Karl looked around the farm and realized that he might have miscalcted. With the dynamic duo going crazy on his side of the property, he didn''t actually have anything to do.


    He could hear the others fighting, and one of the Naga Warriors had gone to assist the Satyrs, who were losing their fight with the Giant Boar.


    Karl heard huge rushing feet and saw one of the massive beastsing for his left side, where the other Naga Warriors and Remi were stationed. Then Thor was on his feet and charging at the armoured challenger. This was his yard, and nobody was just running inside.


    The Cerro hit the side of the boar, and his upper horns punched through the armour ting as the beast was thrown from its feet.


    A shake of Thor''s head freed his horns from the twisted metal, and a Naga Warrior rushed over to wrap the beast''s neck.


    It gave him a steady base to attack from, with the side benefit of cutting off the creature''s breathing as the boar reared up to try to hit Thor with his tusks.


    Thor was quick on his feet, and the charge only reached open air as Thor rammed his nose horn up into the Boar''s belly, then mmed his tail into its head with [Earthquake] charged.


    The boar''s skull shattered, and blood ran down its face as it staggered. It wasn''t a lethal blow, but there was definitely brain damage behind that stunned effect. Then the Naga Warrior''s des slid between the broken skull bones and the boar copsed.


    That one they would have to leave in the yard, as everyone would notice it going missing. But they could use it for breakfast and lunch, or leave it for the farmers, whose crops had taken a lot of damage.


    Karl noticed that a Cyclops was getting close to the outlying vegetable patch, so he moved to intercept. The farmers might have lost a lot of their crop, but he could save at least a bit of it.


    The two Royal Rank opponents met on the road, and Karl quickly realized that the Cyclops was almost blind. It had no depth perception, nearly tripped in the drainage ditch, and couldn''t see Karl standing 5 metres away in the dark.


    That wasn''t even a fair fight.


    Not that it was going to stop Karl, as five stacks of [Disintegration] on the head of his maul removed most of its torso.


    He quickly dragged the body back into the pasture on the other side of the road and looked for another target.


    Rae and Cara were on a rampage, and Cara had taken to the air so that she could dive bomb and maul the Boars from the air.


    That was way more fun than just throwing orbs of death at them. Her [Disintegration] was a Monarch-Ranked skill, and the damage that it did to Commander Rank boars, and their makeshift armour, was devastating.


    It was so much more satisfying to go for the terminal velocity dive bomb into their back.


    Karl saw a group of heat signatures racing his way and prepared for battle. But as they spread out a little, he realized that it wasn''t more Cyclops, but arger than average Minotaur and his family.


    "This way, everyone. We have a Royal Rank team of guards to protect the farmyard." He shouted, loud enough that everyone would hear him.


    "Is the yard holding?" The man yelled as he turned to approach Karl directly, and not the house.


    "Yeah, we''re in no danger of being overrun. We''ve got a Commander Rank Golem Mage and Royal Rank Naga Warriors among the other guards in the yard. There are clerics with us as well, if you are injured."


    "Thank you, traveller." The big Minotaur replied, then let out a deep rumbling bellow that would echo through the distance to the other farms.


    It should be a signal of some sort that it was safe to gather here, but it startled the farmers in the yard, who definitely didn''t feel safe.


    "If you can fight, talk to the Red Dragon Cleric after you are fed and healed. We were selling weapons made by and for Minotaurs. They will hook you up, and you can trade them loot from your kills for the cost if you''re short on cash." Karl informed them.


    The big Minotaur smiled and patted him on the shoulder as he ran by.


    "Thank you. I don''t know what happened, but it''s good to see that someone has the good sense to set proper defences."


    With the route being so safe, most groups didn''t set night guards, they just went to bed in the farmyards after dinner.

 Chapter 532 Food Supplies

    532 Food Supplies


    After the bellow by the farmer, more groups began running in their direction. The farm houses were fairly well spaced, but each family could only farm a few hundred acres at the most. Even with Rae and Cara on the loose out in the dark somewhere, there were still hundreds of Giant Boars nearby, terrorizing the other farm houses.


    The pair had been prioritizing clearing the area around this farm so that they would have as much left as possible. But there were just so many creatures spawned this time that they couldn''t eliminate them all.


    [Is it just me, or does this not follow the pattern?] Remi asked.


    [What pattern?] Thor asked, as he hadn''t been paying attention the first time.


    [It was supposed to get weaker and lower density as we moved away from the dungeon, right? Well, we''re a long way from the dungeon now, and this is the strongest one so far, with the most monsters.] She exined.


    Hawk considered reasons, then came upon a good one. [What if it''s a present? We haven''t had a good food influx for a while, so maybe we''re being rewarded with thousands of boars? They appeared centred around us, that has to mean that they''re ours.]


    That was a somewhat horrifying thought. What if a thousand square kilometres ofnd had been overrun by giant boars and Cyclops because Hawk was feeling peckish and the Gods wanted him to have a new vour of snack?


    As much as Karl wanted to say that was ridiculous and impossible, he had a sneaking suspicion that it might actually be a usible answer.


    But the fact that this one appeared to be centred on them, while thest was only a few kilometres away, did make it seem like they were somehow involved in the generation of these anomalies.


    If they were, wouldn''t it be a disaster if they went home and brought the spawns with them?


    Karl had plenty of time to think, as it was only farmers headed their way at the moment. For a moment, he wondered where Prince Corbin and his Spellde n were. They should be well west of this incident, and hopefully out of danger. But they were faster moving than the wagon, and had a day''s head start going in the same direction, so they might have already been close to the Fortress.


    It would have been nice to know for sure where they were, but there was no way of verifying that in the middle of the night. During the day, Hawk might be able to scout them out if he could see through their disguise, but even that was questionable, as it was most likely being created by Prince Corbin, so Hawk wouldn''t have a power advantage when trying to detect ws in the spell.


    The influx of farmers from the surrounding homesteads didn''te without its own dangers, as the movement was drawing the attention of the Giant Boars, who were leading the cyclops toward the gathering. The giants'' eyesight was terrible, but their hearing was decent, and they seemed to realize what was going on, even if they were struggling to find their way with the fences constantly tripping them.


    If they followed the boars, it was better. The beasts smashed through the wooden fences without hesitation, and they had no issues finding the farmers in the dark.


    [You have moreing to your side. Cara and Rae are over on the far side right now.] Hawk informed Karl, who was distracted watching the farmersing their way.


    Karl moved away from the farm house to intercept the boars, which were running towards a group of small Minotaurs.


    The parents must have been at their home farm because these ones were all children.


    One solid swat of the hammer killed the beast, but Hawk was not impressed with the use of [Chain Lightning] which internally cooked them and made them hard to prepare forter consumption.


    [Alright, I will use Disintegration instead. That will only take away a small amount of them, and if I hit the head, it won''t even be a tasty part.] Karl conceded.


    Raeughed at their argument. She was using Lacerate, as were her golems. There was still plenty of blood left inside after they died, so a little mess wasn''t a major loss. The clean cuts left the entire beast usable, but neither Rend nor Shred were as powerful as Disintegrate.


    They were suitable options to stack five deep on the hammer, though. Karl could release them without contact, so he could just use it to build up a charge of concurrent casts. But he really didn''t need to do that for the Commander Rank beasts. Even just attacking normally two or three times would be enough for most of them.


    Karl tried that on the next boar that wasing for the children, and the first strike with Rend cut into its skull, but didn''t stop it. Karl had to hurry to intercept the beast before it could reach the Minotaur children.


    "Sir, is there a safe spot? Dad and Uncle are fighting at the house." One of the children asked, gesturing behind them.


    "Keep going straight towards that house with the fire in the yard. We lit it to help people find us. There are others there already. How far is it to your house? I might be able to help your family leave." Karl asked.


    "I don''t think that they will. Uncle Lu is a Colonel in the army and a Royal. They n to hold the yard and keep the house safe so we can return in the morning."


    "And they sent you away anyhow?" Karl asked.


    The Minotaur girl nodded. "Yeah. They said that it''s safer to be with a whole herd. We heard the bellow indicating a safe spot, so they sent the children."


    "Good luck, I will make their lives easier for a few minutes."


    The kids started running, and Karl headed for their house to clear the area. If there was a Royal Rank soldier there with someone to watch his back, they should be fine.


    There were still three boars in the area, not attacking the house. The Minotaurs were teamed up to deal with a Cyclops, and Karl could see that they both had proper weapons and armour.


    So, a few minutes to clear the boars should be enough to give them a rest.


    [Rae, when you guys make your next loop this way, clear around the farmyards that still have someone fighting in them. We can start expanding our radius if the battle slows down.]


    [Got it. We''re getting pretty well stocked already. These boars take up more space than expected. I don''t know what we''re going to do with a hundred tonnes of bacon, but it''s going to smell wonderful when we smoke it.] N?v(el)B\\jnn


    Karlughed as he finished the boars near where the Minotaurs were still dealing with the Cyclops. That didn''t seem right. There were two of them, and the Cyclops was only using skills on the lower side of Royal Rank.


    Karl turned to help them out. There might have been a reason other than safety in numbers that they had sent the children away while they defended the farm.

 Chapter 533 Old Soldiers

    Chapter 533 Old Soldiers


    The Cyclops never stood a chance as Karl leapt across the yard and smashed it in the back with [Disintegrate]. It was already heavily injured, and its armour waspromised.


    "Thank you merchant. Were you at one of the other farms? Are they alright?" The older of the two Minotaurs asked.


    They were both heavily bandaged, and one of them had only one arm, an old injury that had long since healed. No wonder they had sent the kids away to make their final stand. They were so heavily injured even before the fight started that they were in no shape to fight, but they didn''t want to burden anyone else with more wounded to care for.


    That was a soldier''s pride talking for them, Karl assumed. No soldier wanted to drag down others when they were likely to have to relocate in the middle of the night. Instead, they had sent away the ones that could run and remained behind.


    [Remi, do you have healing stuff in your space?] Karl asked.


    [The blue ones in the round bottles with the long neck. Those are the new healing potions.]


    Karl took two of them out and handed them to the Minotaurs. "Healing potions from my personal alchemist. This incident is huge, and if you''re not too attached to the farm, we could use the extra fighters.


    They''re holding out well for now, and we had a watch set, but they will get tired eventually." They nodded, understanding what Karl meant. Part of the reason for the Minotaur''s weing bellow was so that they had reserves when the front-line fighters got wounded or tired, allowing someone to switch them out.


    "We have Dragon Clerics there, who can do more healing for you as well. Did you want toe back that way with me, or are you remaining here?"


    The pair downed the potions, and Karl made a note of how their wounds closed and their stance improved. Remi would want that informationter.


    "We will join your group. I will just tell the kids that I wanted to get thest of my armour out before we joined them." The older soldier chuckled, with a gesture to a pile of supplies near the door.


    Karl picked it up and slung the oversized bag over his shoulder. "Is that everything you need? With nobody here, the invaders are unlikely to smash apart the house as long as you don''t have arge food supply inside."


    The farmer gestured to one side. "The pantry is concrete with a steel door and underground to keep the temperature stable. It should be alright."


    Karl took off at a jog with the soldiers behind him. There was nothing in the area, but they were both on guard, and hesitant to move so quickly.


    "I can see heat signatures in the dark. There is nothing along this path, I killed it all on the way here after making sure your kids made it to the farm." He exined.


    "They made it safely? Thanks be to the gods. Alright, we will trust your eyes. Lead the way."


    Karl stopped fifty metres from the house. "It''s right there. I''m on duty to protect this side, so I will let you go ahead. Tell them Karl sent you if they ask, but I doubt they will. Half the people there are your neighbours."


    The Minotaursughed. "If old man Davos can''t recognize us by firelight, we have bigger issues than a few questions."


    They pped Karl on the shoulder as they passed, and a few secondster, happy voices greeted them as they passed the Naga Warriors and came into the light of the bonfire.


    Lotus'' voice joined the chaos as she exined that she would heal them, and that everyone else here was still in fighting form, so they were the backup line. They had a bit of time to eat and catch their breath, then they could change spots with Ophelia, who was watching that side along with one of the other farmers.


    The battle near the farm began to fall silent as more farmers came to join their group, and as Rae teamed up with Cara to ughter everything that moved and wasn''t a farmer.


    That was a surprising level of restraint for that duo, but Karl didn''t see any small creatures or Minotaursing into the piles in their spaces.


    Two hourster, they were getting bored with theck of powerful targets and variety, so Karl called them back. [You can rest in your spaces. We''ve secured the area well enough. There should only be a few issues before dawn, and the others can take care of that. How did your collection efforts go?] He asked.


    [Pretty good. I think we got all we need, but there are no Monarch Rank Cyclops close enough to fight. If we could have gotten one of those for Rae''s bath products, it would have been better.] Cara replied.


    One of the Satyrs came over with a bowl of oatmeal and some roast pork slices for Karl, and then joined him for breakfast, taking a seat on the woodpile.


    "You''ve done an outstanding job on this side. Do you need anything else? We can send someone to assist you? Or you can pull your Naga Warriors back. They''re covering two sides of the house already, and they''ve taken a lot of the load off the rest of us.


    I don''t think that our patrol would have made it through the first attack without his help, and it appears that the army isn''ting." The Satyr sighed.


    "This incident isn''t just on us. It''s at all the farms as far as the farmers canmunicate with each other for three rys. By my guess, that''s at least fifteen kilometres in every direction that is under attack, and likely more. How many army units are in the area? Even if they sent them out right away, they could take a while to make their way here." Karl suggested.


    He couldn''t tell the guard that the issue extended past the next city, or all the way to the Fortress. At least not without exining how he learned. They would find out soon enough, and it was going to be a nasty surprise.


    It was better not to spring it on them in the middle of the night when everyone was panicked and exhausted.


    "I see that they went with raspberries today. That''s a change from the usual." Karl noted as he started at the in wooden bowl full of oatmeal.


    "Apparently it''s a specialty of the local farms. They have whole bags of dried berries here, and they go well in the oats." The Satyr guard agreed.


    "I will have to buy a few bags. Monster invasion, war, or emergency, goods still need to move." The Satyr nodded. "That they do. Fortunately for us, it will be dawn soon, and then we will be able to see trouble signals and find out what is going on in the distance.


    But I''ve never heard of a surprise invasion this deep into the nation. It should have been stopped near the border, not allowed to get to the Overlord Council''s doorstep." n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om


    "I am sure that the council will get it all sorted out. We just need to get enough rest that we don''t get overwhelmed."


    They ate quietly for a few minutes until Karl saw Minotaur shaped heat signatures in the distance.


    "Go let someone know to bellow that this is a safe spot. There are more refugees in the distance and they look lost." He warned the Satyr, who informed one of his teammates with hand signals.


    "They''re on it. They''ll likely call every hour or so, just in case there are others in hiding."

 Chapter 534 Dawn Reveals Destruction

    Chapter 534 Dawn Reveals Destruction


    The hours until dawn passed quickly, with sporadic attacks two or three times an hour, as the farmers from the surrounding area, and those who had been on the run in the area, had alle to them after the second bellow by the Royal Rank Minotaur. n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om


    His effort seemed much more effective than the first attempt, and Karl wondered if there was something about the voice of Minotaurs that changed with their Rank.


    Now, they had nearly a hundred Minotaurs in ce and as the sun came up they were making ns to fortify this farm, so they could fall back to it as an emergency resource in the future. "A trench line with a rake fence of spiked poles would slow down even a Giant Boar for a few minutes before it smashed them all apart." One of the farmers was suggesting.


    "And where would we get thousands of trees to make it from? We could do a low wall of dirt and stones with a trench on the other side, but that would still mess with the runoff for the fields, and we would risk drought on the farm. Or we could do just the yard." The Matriarch of this farmyard insisted.


    That would be a pain for them going to and from the fields, but they could put bridges over the wall, and pull them in if there was danger.


    The defensive fortification didn''t need to stop an enemy forever, much less actually hurt it. It just had to slow it down enough to give the defenders the advantage.


    As the sun came up and everyone could see properly, the extent of the devastation became clear. Hundreds of house fires poured ck smoke into the air, while Karl could see ten different red smoke streams, simr to the green ones that had been deployed when the patrol unit called for reinforcements against the Orcs.


    But worse, there was a massive plume of ck smoke to their east. A pir of smoke that marked a freshly sacked city on fire. The size of the column made the source unmistakable.


    No matter where they looked, there were signs of destruction, and the further into the distance they looked, the worse it got.


    The Naga General gestured at Dana and a Satyr guard. "Mage, how strong are you? Can you use that air walking to carry a guard into the air where they can see further? We need to know how far this extends and if there are others we might need to help."


    Dana nodded. "It''s not a problem. At my rank, carrying a Satyr with me as I [Wind Walk] isn''t a problem. I will take them a hundred metres into the air to scout the area, and we will report back in a minute."


    She picked up the smallest of the Satyrs and stepped up into the air, running as if climbing stairs.


    That was the great drawback to her skill. She still had to walk, so climbing into the air took a lot of physical effort, like running up a flight of stairs or a hillside. But she had been practising hard, and while she was slowing a lot at the end, [Eternal Lightning] gave her enough stamina regeneration that she made it to her chosen viewpoint with enough reserves to run in a circle and scout.


    The Satyr looked shaken as they reached the ground, but Dana had already known what was going on. Not only had she been attacking from the air, but the fact that it was a monster spawn was much less unthinkable to her than to the farmers.


    "General, I have your report." The Satyr informed them in a shaky voice.


    "Go ahead, Sergeant. What did you see?"


    "The fortress is under siege, though the battle appears to be close to finished. There are more than ten emergency calls for overrun units active, everything in sight from one hundred metres elevation was either destroyed farnd or hordes of Cyclops and their Giant Boars.


    At least fifty kilometres in every direction.


    The city of Mitford appears to be lost. The whole city is on fire, and there are hundreds of groups of Giants and boars moving away from it to attack nearby farms, which appear to have already been attackedst night.


    At least two thirds of the force from the Fortress is deployed in the area, but there is no sign of the guard force from Mitford. There are a few visible groups of farmers still fighting, but unlike our area, which has been fairly well cleared of threats, they are not faring as well." His voice was as neutral as he could make it, clearly trying not to cry.


    Then it dawned on Karl. They were visiting the Fortress and returning to Mitford. His family was likely from Mitford, and the city appeared to have been lost in a single night after the attackers appeared inside the walls.


    Lotus was faster to the important parts than Karl was, and by the time that he realized, she had already pulled the small man into a hug, so he could hide his goat-like face.


    All the beasts were back in their spaces now, except Thor, who was napping near the gate. Only the two bodyguards were left outside, so that the soldiers and farmers didn''t notice anything was off when morning came. However, they were all rested now and ready to fight as soon as they were needed.


    The General looked stunned by the analysis of the situation. There was nothing in his training or protocols that covered this situation. He didn''t have enough of a force to even try to make it to the city. And he certainly didn''t have enough allies left to rally a force to take it back if it was being upied. It might not be, as the smoke cloud suggested that most of the city was on fire at the moment, but that didn''t change the fact that he was half a day''s travel away, and had no resources.


    While the General was unsure what to do, back in the fortress, the Oracle had a much better idea of how to handle this situation.


    He was seated on a cushion in his scrying room with a stack of notes on one side and a nearly empty bottle of rum on the other.


    "His arrival marks disaster and great danger for the Fortress. Gods dammit." He muttered, casting bleary eyes up at Leafa, the Haint tree woman Overlord.


    "Do you think that he''s cursed? Could it be a side effect of pulling a System User through time? He has a powerful presence, far beyond his Royal Rank. It is possible that these incidents are urring near him simply because he exists." She suggested.


    "So, we send a team to kill him?" The drunken Oracle asked hopefully.


    "And leave the focal point of the anomalies permanently located next to the fortress? I think not. If he is the focus of the instability, it''s best that he takes them somewhere else.


    But there is another possibility. We have reports that he might have been with the Yellow Tusk Orcs when the Dungeon outside Halsearing first opened.


    We know that he speaks Orcish, so the reports are usible. It might be a side effect of that anomaly, in which case we have to worry about the Orcs and every other person who entered the Dungeon that first day spreading the instability."


    "Aren''t you just a ray of fucking sunshine?" The Oracle slurred.


    "I do try. But I can confidently say that he does not know. He didn''t have the aura of malice on him when he was here. If he had known that his presence could trigger this disaster, I would have seen it."


    The Oracle finished the bottle of Rum. "Just be thankful that it happened after he left. If not, we could have been Mitford, with our walls full of enemies and an army surrounding us at midnight shift change."


    Leafa nodded. "I will check the reports to see if there have been more incidents in the west that we have not had an opportunity to review yet."


    They normally only went over the important parts of the reviews, so small attacks, or incidents in rural areas might not have been noticeable enough to form a pattern in the reports yet.

 Chapter 535 Council Planning

    Chapter 535 Council nning


    The conversation between Overlord Leafa and the Oracle quickly spread through the ranks of the Council members, who had been spread through the region all morning, frequently crossing paths.


    Many of them agreed with Leafa''s assessment. If they had been somehow marked by the opening of the Dungeon, it was better that they just go away and take the troubles to someone else. The Mountain Giants, for example.


    However, there was another thought on the matter, shared by Sslyth of the Naga and Tink, the Faerie Overlord.


    "What if we take him back to where he started. Tell him to stay next to the Dungeon until the incidents calm? Then we would be able to prove if they were centred on him or just expanding in a shockwave pattern away from the dungeon.


    Thisst incident suggests that they are not all going to be milder aftershocks of the event, so controlling the location seems like the best option." Tink exined.


    "And what would a bunch of rural farmers out in the westernnds do about Royal and Monarch Ranked monsters appearing in their area?" Council Head Arnold asked.


    His trolls were the predominant people in the region, and he didn''t want them obliterated.


    "The same thing that my Minotaurs did. They can call for help." Morrisa grumbled.


    They had all been in the field for the morning, going from hotspot to hotspot, rescuing who they could. Now, the magic users in the Fortress were too exhausted to open another portal, and they had all had to make their own way back to the fortress, or to the city of Mitford.


    That was where Overlord Thrax, the Chimera, and Sslyth the Naga were right now. They had been too far off on theirst deployment to return to the Fortress, so they went to get a start on clearing out the devastated city and helping get the fires put out.


    Both of them had water magic, though Thrax couldn''t do much more than make it rain.


    In this case, that was precisely what they needed. A good rainfall would put out many of the lingering fires, started whenmps and fireces were knocked over by Giant Boars rampaging in the city.


    "Do we have any word on how much of Mitford is still standing?" Arnold asked, while slumping down into one of the padded chairs of the council room.


    "The Temple still stands. Mitford had abined temple, an ancient one where our people could go to worship freely, with statues of most known gods present.


    That served as a disaster shelter for the people, and the guard gathered there, along with the clerics, who used their magic to support the people willing to fight.


    So, that building still stands, and most of the governor''s mansion still stands, though the town''s governor is dead. He was found beside the bodies of a pair of Monarch Rank Cyclops, an apparent mutual destruction." The Oracle exined.


    The Troll sighed and shook his head. "No wonder it went so poorly for them. With the Governor under attack the moment the battle started, there was no time for him to relieve anywhere else.


    I will call the advisors to start on a n to repair the farms, send out aid and collect casualty numbers.


    Were there any areas in the fighting that took light enough damage that we might be able to stage soldiers there for the relief effort? I would like to set a temporary portal circle, to be kept open to move supplies."


    The Oracle''s eyes went white, and he frowned at the vision.


    "There is an area roughly five kilometres in radius where none of the farm houses were too heavily damaged. It appears that they mostly evacuated early in the battle, so the monsters followed them to a well defended position and left the houses alone.


    From what I can tell, thergest damage is to homes that hadrge food supplies inside, or whose residents didn''t get any warning. Those with underground pantries werergely undamaged, though there are still giant beasts foraging in their fields.


    Roughly one quarter of the number of Cyclops and Giant Boar teams are still active. The rest have been defeated or are missing." He informed the group.


    "You look much less happy than I had expected, given the news that such arge area was saved from devastation." Arnold noted.


    "Right in the middle of that space, surrounded by farmers and their families, is a very familiar ck Cerro and a half troll holding a pig roast on an improvised spit."


    Overlord Leafa began to giggle, pale blue smoke puffing from her mouth and retracting as she drew breath.


    "Of course he would be fine and taunting them with a cookout. The Karl Troll isn''t wired right in the head. Everyone else might be terrified of them, but don''t forget that he is a system enhanced War Champion from thest resurgence. Nothing that a Royal Rank Cyclops could do to him could even scratch his armour if he has the usual set of warrior skills and Limited Invulnerability along with Trollish Regeneration.


    For all we know, he might be fireproof as well."


    Arnold began tough at that. A Troll that was fireproof really was immortal. Burning their body was the only way to stop them from regenerating. Even if you put them through a wood chipper, they would eventuallye back to life. If he could keep himself from being burned inbat, he would be a juggernaut.


    If any of them knew that Karl could grant that level of regeneration to all of the beasts under his control, or even that he had such a team under his control, they would have been terrified.


    "So, we send an army unit to his location to work on stabilizing the situation? He''s two thirds of the way to Mitford, so it''s not a bad spot. When the others finish in the city the portal there will be set up again, and then we can start bringing soldiers in to deal with the issue." Arnold asked.


    A wave of panic flowed over the Oracle.


    "NO!" He shouted, startling everyone.


    "We must not bring anyone else in. I know what happened, I can see it. The shockwaves of the Anomaly are following the ancient lines of power. The Fortress is built on one, which exins why it happened near us. But the actual intersection of the lines is under that farm house.


    It is the number of powerful people in the area that is making the situation worse. If we call in reinforcements, we will trigger another incident, even stronger than this one. The best thing that we can do is spread the council out. It is too dangerous to leave that Bad Omen group unattended, but we can''t all be in the same spot until this anomaly settles."


    Arnold frowned. "So, it will happen again? Or only if we call for more soldiers?" "It will happen again for the next two nights. But the strength will go down, now that most of Mitford is dead. I can''t see the exact location, only the aftermath. But if we spread the Overlords out, so we''re not all in one spot at midnight, it will make the attack less intense." The Oracle rified.


    Arnold nodded. "I will go to the source, to the Dungeon. That will put me away from tonight''s incident, but close enough to an existing portal that you can call for me if you need it."


    Tink flitted around the room. "The two in Mitford can stay, they won''t fully offset the casualties there, and the survivors need them. I will fly north past the edge ofst night''s incident. I can cross the whole journey from here to Mitford in under two hours on my wings, and I''ve already marked all the locations I was at this morning, so I will know if they''re in trouble."


    Morrisa nodded. "I will stay here with the Oracle andmand the Fortress Guard. What are you doing, Leafa?" N?v(el)B\\jnn


    The Haint''s wooden face twisted up in a gleeful grin. "I am going to go visit our lucky visitor. I suspect that he has more surprises for me than ancient snacks. He''s in the middle of the fight anyhow."


    She didn''t wait for anyone to say anything, she simply turned to smoke and vanished, a species exclusive version of [Shadow Step] that could bring her anywhere she knew, and she knew every farm in the region after three hundred years living in the Fortress.

 Chapter 536 Surprise Guest

    Chapter 536 Surprise Guest


    Karl instinctively drew his maul as a shiver of ice-cold energy pulsed in the air behind him.


    "Calm down, old man. It''s just me." Leafaughed as Karl spun to face her. n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om


    "Overlord Leafa? I must say, I wasn''t expectingpany in the middle of the day. We were just about to have lunch, would you care to join us?" Karl asked.


    "Oh, that sounds lovely. I have a small update for you all, as thispound appears to hold the entire poption of the area, plus one of our Generals.


    The Overlords are going to spread out over the region, assisting with the cleanup, but also because of a vision the Oracle hadst night.


    There will be another appearance of the Cyclops and their minions tonight at midnight, and possibly for the next few nights. The fewer powerful people in the region at midnight, the less dangerous the incident will be. So, I will remain here, while two Council members are in Mitford, and the others are spreading across the country to take care of other duties.


    This isn''t the only spot which is having simr issues, but the dates are sporadic, and sending soldiers in advance only makes them worse." She exined.


    "So this is happening all over?" One of the Satyrs asked.


    "There have been incidents nearly every day, somewhere in the country. Most of them are not major incidents, but they appear to be influenced by the strength of the residents, as if they were a test of some sort. This one was the strongest reported so far, and arge part of the city of Mitford was damagedst night. However, the residents took shelter in a number of secure facilities, and the casualties were not as bad as we had feared. The unified Temple still stands, and there was a Shaman God High Priest there to put a barrier over the building while the guards rallied to help survivors make it there.


    This spot was nearly the exact centre of the battlest night, which makes it unlikely to be outside tomorrow''s spawn, even if the boundaries do move a little.


    What do we have for barriers?" Leafa replied.


    Karl gestured as he answered. "We have Tessa, the War Cleric, with her weapon and armour buffs that can spread over the whole group. Dana, our battle mage, knows some barrier spells, and the best boy in the whole world knows how to spread his defensive barrier to his closest friends."


    He reached down to rub Thor''s head, and the farmersughed. Thor had saved many livesst night, and his massive bulk made him a formidable force. Even in the face of a charging Giant Boar, he could stand his ground.


    Nothing else here, not even the Royal Rank Minotaurs could take that charge and not be knocked over. They had a few suitable boar spears from Karl''s supplies, but not nearly enough for all of the farmers who hade to themst night. None of the other farms had suitable weapons either, and most had shown up with at least some sort of tool in their hands that could be enhanced by Tessa''s blessing.


    At the very least, she was a High Priestess of the War God, and her blessing would put a Commander Rank edge on the tools. That was more than most of the others were going to get.


    After a moment of silence, Karl pped his hands for attention. "Alright, it looks like we know what we''ve got to do for the evening. Get this pig roasted and carved. Make up plenty of rice and oatmeal, so everyone has meals ready when they rotate off the line, clean and mend weapons. Then everyone needs to get to sleep early except the watch so that we''re all rested at midnight when the next group appears. That''s when thest one did, so it will most likely be the same tonight.


    One or two more days, and it should stop. Then everyone can start rebuilding their lives."


    The farmers nodded grimly and got to work on all the tasks that needed to be done before midafternoon if they were going to get any sleep before midnight.


    With so many children and not enough beds, they had to set up tents out in the yard with the help of the tarps that Rae had made for the wagon, and a half dozen others.


    The beds were hay, and the nkets were shared, grabbed from every spare that could be found in the nearby houses that were safe enough to go to alone. But it was enough to get all the kids somewhere they could sleep.


    Most of the adults would be sleeping anywhere they could find, and then fighting all night. Keeping the kids asleep as long as possible was the goal of the evening, as a horde of terrified children would just make everything more difficult, and if they were exhausted it would be even worse.


    Overlord Leafa just watched in amusement as everyone ignored her presence and got to work setting up for the night. Normally, everyone was so formal when a Council member was present that they came to her for every little thing and didn''t do anything without her approval.


    But with Karl barking orders at them and the war cleric marshalling people to bnce the workload while the Nature Priestess looked after the kids, it was moving more smoothly than even the Fortress staff managed on most days.


    She had been right in her assumption. There was something different about that Karl, and it became more obvious by the minute, but she couldn''t see why. He wasn''t using any sort of skill, he wasn''t even more powerful than the strongest of the Minotaurs here. But when he gave directions, everyone just followed them.


    There was something else to it, and she would figure it out soon. Her species was skilled with soul magic, as a form of possessed Treants, and borderline undead. So, Overlord Leafa was confident that if he was directly manipting their minds, she would have seen it.


    It would only be a matter of time until she learned what his secret to natural leadership was.

 Chapter 537 Not Huggable

    Chapter 537 Not Huggable


    That evening brought a surprise that Karl had never thought to see in this lifetime. Lotus had found a creature that she simply could not cuddle.


    Leafa was made of hard and sharp bark, and without Karl''s Limited Invulnerability, even touching her caused instant cold damage. The nature cleric learned that the hard way when she shook the Overlord''s hand before the other woman could stop her.


    The Haint didn''t sleep, so the sat up with all the watches, and seemed to take great joy in the fact that she could shake Karl awake.


    Normally, she wouldn''t be able to touch anyone without a barrier in ce, as her very nature drained body heat to a lethal extent. But it was a damage over time effect, so it was never more than ten percent of his health at once.


    The Satyrs were already getting ready, and the farmers were waking up, while trying to be quiet to keep the kids who were in the tent behind the house asleep.


    "How are we going to arrange this?" Leafa asked quietly.


    "Right, we didn''t go over that. Last night I was on the side of the house where the kids are, along with the Naga Warriors and a pair of Summoned Lamia Bodyguards, as well as two Golems. n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om


    The Satyrs took this side, along with the Cerro and the two old Royal rank soldiers. The two younger Royal Rank Minotaurs took the right side of the house, and the rest of the force filled the final side and sent reinforcements as needed.


    We did it that way based on who can see and fight best in the dark. I have thermal vision, so I can see nearly as well at night as in the daylight.


    How well do you see at night?" Karl replied.


    The tree woman chuckled and patted him on the shoulder, still not over the novelty.


    "I can see souls and magic. I don''t see light in the first ce, so there is no difference between day and night to me."


    "Alright. Then you can be wherever you like. As the strongest of us, you will likely be moving around a lot. Well, either that, or your presence will scare them away, and you won''t need to do anything at all.


    That was how the second half ofst night went.We got a little bit Stabby at the start, and then they just stoppeding this way."


    One of the Minotaurs standing behind Karlughed.


    "You will understand once he starts fighting. He''s got a maul that lets him stack power on it, and he can one hit a Royal Rank Cyclops."


    Leafa stared at Karl for a few seconds. "You can one hit kill a target of your own Rank?"


    Karl nodded. "The maul was a dungeon reward, and it lets you stack five copies of the same skill on it. I''m already a bit of a beast inbat, but that weapon is just unfair against less intelligent opponents like boars."


    "What about against smarter targets?" Leafa asked.


    Karl chuckled and took out his maul, then stacked five copies of [Disintegration] on it.


    Leafa smiled. "Oh, I get it now. They have to be stupid to not do their very best not to get hit by that. So smarter targets go on the defensive and make you work for it."


    "Exactly."


    Karl let the skill dissipate and put the weapon away.


    "We don''t have long to midnight, we should get something to eat and pick a position." He offered.


    A Satyr ran over with tes of food for them as soon as Karl mentioned it, and Leafa smiled.


    "It looks like the honour guard has been nominated to be the message runners tonight. They are more of a fast-moving scout unit, not a frontlinebat unit. With proper weapons, the farmers would do better." She whispered to Karl.


    "Yeah, They''ve all grabbed what they could from my supplies, but it''s not high grade military weaponry. That''s why we have Tessa, the Red Dragon Cleric, working all night to keep them enchanted. With that sort of help, they canunch Commander Rank attacks. Not with full Commander Rank strength, but at least the weapons will cut through Giant Boar hide."


    It wasn''t hard to guess that particr moment was exactly midnight. Even if they hadn''t sensed the pulse of power, it would have been impossible for Karl to miss the fact that there was a massive Cyclops standing right in front of him.


    "I don''t suppose that this is a great time to point out that my species isn''t well known for ourbat abilities, is it?" Leafa joked as she looked up at the Monarch Rank Cyclops, then into the distance, where two dozen Royal Rank Giant Boars had appeared.


    "Are they known for discretion?" Karl asked.


    "Yes. When we give our word, we keep it." Leafa replied in an offended tone.


    "Will you promise not to tell the rest of the Council what you see here tonight? Or at least not the parts that involve me." Karl asked.


    "Alright, but I don''t see why you''re so worried about the Council. I''m only here to make sure that the spawn doesn''t overrun this farm."


    [Everyone,e collect the pigs for your pantry. I will work with the Lamia pair to deal with the Cyclops.]


    The beasts appeared in behind the one - eyed giant as Karl hefted his maul and called the Lamia Bodyguards.


    Leafa began tough. "You''re him. Oh goddess, Morrisa will never let me live this one down if she finds out. You''re the champion she has been searching the continent for, only she didn''t recognize you because she thinks that you''re a human.


    That''s why nobody figured it out." She gasped as sheughed.


    [Five. Four. Three...] Remi began to count.


    "No! You''re not a troll at all, you have Trollish Regeneration as a skill, along with Limited Invulnerability and something that makes you big." Leafa realized.


    [And there it is.]


    The cyclops seemed to think that they were plotting against it, and pre-emptively lunged at Leafa, going for the greatest threat first. But the Bodyguards were faster, and its attack was smoothly parried while Karl dropped a [Disintegrate] loaded maul on the Cyclops'' back.


    "That''s one down. Watch the children, I will go help out with the boars ande back for the lecture."

 Chapter 538 Night Two Begins

    Chapter 538 Night Two Begins


    One Royal Rank Cyclops was far from their only issue for the night, and there were more of the giants headed towards them everywhere that Karl looked. It was almost as if their location were a beacon to the attackers, and they were determined that they would take out the threat which had stopped thest wave so effectively.


    With dual des, the Lamia Bodyguards made great partners. They had [ming Body] to enhance their weapons, and [Rend] for ranged attacks, so they could just follow Karl''s lead as he turned to meet the strongest opponents that he could find. [I think that there are more Monarchs on their way to us right now than there were in the entire spawnst time. That doesn''t seem right. The monsters show up in different spots, but the spawn is usually the exact same group every time that it activates.


    That''s how it was when we fought it at home.] Hawk noted.


    [Is it possible that there are more powerful ones still hiding fromst night, or that they were at the Fortress, and they got eliminated before we could scout them?] Karl suggested.


    [Possible. But they''re alling for us today. Also, treedy doesn''t have to fight, she just needs someone in front of her.]


    Karl turned back to see what he was talking about, only to find that Leafa''s primary method of attack was to suck the life out of a target directly. It took about five seconds, but she could do it from at least twenty metres away, and the Royal Rank boar that the farmers were fighting simply crumbled to dust after.


    That power was a nasty one, and it appeared that there was no easy defence against it except a full barrier. But she was an Overlord, and her power would tear through even Thor''s mighty barriers in the first few seconds.


    Only the fact that it took time to build up the effect prevented her species from being dered a menace to society. Unless they were known for their friendly demeanour or something simr. n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om


    Karl spotted another Monarch Rank Cyclops, and turned to engage it, but Remi was faster.


    She was headed that way with her third bodyguard, the one she reserved for her personal protection, and Cara was flying overhead.


    That left Rae and her Golems working with Hawk, and the two groups were circling the farm in opposite directions. After an hour or so, they should have finished a full sweep, and the farm would have a breather, like they had the evening before. Karl knew that it was a tried and true n, used by fortresses everywhere, even if he had only studied base defence strategies for a few weeks while they were on the Hill Giant front.


    [Hold up a minute, boss. I think that I have an idea.] Remi insisted.


    [Alright, let''s see what you have in mind.]


    Remi started to charge a spell, while Cara dodged in front of her and spread her wings wide, as if she was aiming to stall her forward motion.


    Then the badger tucked into a ball, holding a steel farm tool, and [Chain Lightning] hit her in the backside, propelling the ball of fur and steel into the Monarch Rank Cyclops at Mach Void Badger. The thunder of the spell was nothingpared to the sound of Cara hitting the Cyclops'' armour after her [Disintegration] wall broke, and then she was in attack mode, all ws and teeth as she tore the hapless and winded creature to bits.


    [At Commander Rank, Chain Lightning does less than ten percent of my health.] Cara announced proudly.


    Thor snorted in mental amusement. [You''re both idiots, and that broke Cara''s Eternal Lightning barrier, so be careful. But I''m happy if you''re happy.]


    [Oh, there are more. Do you think that we made someone madst night?] Cara asked as she pped her wings to gain altitude and pick another target.


    Karl turned to face one of the new arrivals, and gave his team a warning.


    [Don''t get too far from the farm. We don''t want anyone sneaking past us while we''re busy. There isn''t a defensive force on our side other than the pair of Minotaurs who are watching the kids.]


    [Stampede!] Cara warned as she sent an image of what she was seeing to Karl.


    Her night vision was strange, grey scale, but extremely clear where something was moving.


    What she saw was hundreds of boars herded by a group of Royal Rank Cyclops to charge directly down the road in their direction. There was no way that would miss the farm, but there were Monarch Rank threats on both sides that shouldn''t be allowed to reach the yard, either.


    [You guys keep fighting. I will stall the stampede. Advance apologies for the wasted meat.]


    Cara giggled. [Even Hawk is running out of space for more boars. I don''t think anyone will mind.]


    Karl smiled at the thought his gluttonous bird could ever have enough of a food stockpile, The majority of the boars were on the weak side of Commander, so they shouldn''t be too hard to take out, but there were simply so many of them that trying to keep them from running around him would be a nightmare.


    [Hellstorm] vortexes spread across the battlefield as Karl used the ming tornadoes to herd the Giant Boars down the road, keeping them from scattering. Six, then eight, and finally ten were active at the same time, and Karl began to pant with the effort of keeping all those Royal Rank skills active at once.


    "Bodyguards, forward. Hold the line while the smaller vortexes stop the stampede." He instructed as he took a knee.


    That way, even if the exertion was too much, he would only fall a little, and not all the way down.


    Within seconds, there were over a hundred smaller vortexes active and Karl was sitting to meditate in the pasture. That was the only way to keep his mana level high enough to keep the spells active until the fight ended.


    The battlefield glowed like a forest fire, and the wind howled with the conflicting air currents from so many vortexes in one spot.


    Thunder rumbled as the vortexes merged and split every time a target died, and two serpentine forms danced through the mes, slitting the throats of panicked beasts who saw no way out of the fire.


    Most animals were instinctively afraid of fire, and being surrounded by it with the smell of burning flesh was a living hell for the boars, but it was impossible to find a way out. Everywhere they turned, vortexes would appear, herding them to the centre of the road.


    But the Cyclops team was smarter. While Karl and the Bodyguards were distracted with the boars, they had escaped the chaos and were moving around to the side of the house, where Cara and Remi were already fighting a Monarch Ranked Cyclops.


    [You can drop the vortexes now. There are not many.] One of the Lamia bodyguards Karl had summoned informed him.


    The light faded as Karl released the spell, and then he caught the panic of Remi as she was ambushed by a whole group of Royal Rank Cyclops.


    [Go to her.] Karl ordered, then dismissed the Lamia bodyguards to summon them next to the Naga Queen.


    He was already exhausted fifteen minutes into the fight, but the Bodyguards didn''t require any ongoing effort to keep active. So, all that he had to do was handle a dozen scorched and panicked Commander Rank boars.


    That should be possible.

 Chapter 539 Well Forged

    Chapter 539 Well Forged


    Karl struggled to his feet and felt [Eternal Lightning] slowly refreshing the stamina that he had burned through to keep all those [Hellstorm] spells active.


    As long as he didn''t go overboard, he should be fine.


    But with that in mind, he switched to his two-handed de, which was already humming with the stolen energy of hundreds of in enemies.


    He didn''t need to hold it for the sword to do its work, but he did need to use it for the ability to transfer energy back to him.


    The influx of power sent a pleasant tingle through his body, and Karlunched himself into the boars. Many were blinded by the fire, their vulnerable eyes scorched and destroyed.


    So, what followed was not the sort of vicious battle that he should expect, but a one-sided ughter, basically harvesting the boars.


    The de seemed almost happy today, soaked in the blood of the Giant Boars. But when another of the Monarch Rank Cyclops came for him, the de was nearly thrumming with excitement.


    The cyclops held out a hand and a massive de appeared in its hand. It was beautifully crafted, and covered in some sort of magical runes that Karl was unfamiliar with, but the de in his hand seemed to take it as a personal challenge, a fight between champions.


    The Giant was half again as tall as Karl was, even with his skills enhancing his size, and not as night blind as most of his kin.


    His first strike was remarkably swift and deadly urate, aimed to take Karl''s head off.


    [ming Body] pulsed as the two des met in a shower of sparks, and the Cyclops twirled his de with a flick of his wrists, as if the massive weapon weighed nothing.


    Three more strikes arrived in the next second, forcing Karl onto the defensive.


    [Chain Lightning] forced the Giant back, and it roared in pain, but its attacks didn''t slow.


    The Cyclops'' de began to glow with blue energy, creating a bubble where the giant could see clearly, and where Karl noticed that nothing cast a shadow.


    The light came from every direction, not just from the weapon, rendering Shadow-based surprise attacks useless.


    Against Rae, that would be inconvenient. But against the average Rogue, that would be lethal. An inability to hide andunch sneak attacks eliminated nearly all of their most dangerous skills.


    But that wasn''t Karl''s specialty, and after sending a [Disintegrate] at the Giant''s face, forcing it to protect its lone eye, he went for the legs, cutting deep into the left knee and nearly toppling the stronger attacker.


    "You''re a tricky one." The Cyclops grumbled, using themonnguage.


    Then his body surged with power, and a suit of golden armour appeared on his body, recing the crude leather armour that the giant had been wearing.


    Karl backed up a few steps to n, and the Cyclops smiled.


    "The Cyclops n are the finest smiths in the world. You won''t be making it through my defences." He boasted.


    Karl was certain that im was highly disputed, but with Monarch Rank armour on the Giant, this battle had just gotten exponentially more difficult.


    The Cyclops moved forward and the two exchanged blows while the Lamia pair circled to look for an opening.


    But his back was covered in a chain link cloak with a hood that was down, but protected his neck.


    In short, the Cyclops had turned himself into a walking tank. One whose movement wasn''t hindered by the mass of magical metal.


    Karl cast [Disintegrate] over his de, as it was the only Monarch Rank skill he had, and went for the lower stomach joint, where hard te met chain.


    The cyclops was slow to parry, but twisted just enough that Karl''s de skated along the abdominal te, leaving a deep groove in the golden metal.


    Then Karl was forced to roll to the side as a massive de came for the top of his shoulder, glowing brightly with blue light.


    It nced his left arm and [Eternal Lightning] shattered, while [ming Body] was forced aside.


    But there wasn''t enough power left to harm his armour, and the barriers were recharged in the next second.


    Against a direct hit, Karl would not be so lucky.


    The Lamia pair hurled [Rend] attacks to distract the Cyclops while Karl charged again, going for the armpit joint, which was always a vulnerable spot for practical reasons.


    The Cyclops got its arm down in time, and [Disintegrate] cut another deep score in the tes.


    It snarled in anger at the fact that Karl was destroying its hard work, but the Cyclops species had poor peripheral vision and even worse depth perception, so dealing with three attackers at once was forcing it to constantly move to keep everyone in sight.


    "Stupid snakes." It mumbled, and Karl smiled behind his visor.


    The creature was thinking out loud, and the Lamia pair had already realized it was about to turn on them, so they backed off a few more metres.


    Power surged in the Giant''s feet, and Karl recognized it as [Earthquake]. So, he jumped to avoid the iing strike, but that wasn''t something that a Lamia could do.


    They couldunch themselves in a direction with their long body, but it was not easy for them to get entirely off the ground.


    One of the two took a series of stone spikes to the belly, which left it punctured and bleeding as it retreated. Trollish Regeneration would fix that in under a minute, but the Cyclops was pleased with the result. Normally, that would be a lethal blow to a Lamia spell caster, and this giant seemed to have the experience to know it, as itpletely stopped paying attention to that side for a moment.


    Karl attacked, pulling energy from the de to empower [Disintegration]. He attacked high, aiming for the throat, and the Giant lifted his de to parry.


    Karl went for the knee kick, hoping to strike the blind spot, but the Cyclops shifted its weight and Karl''s kick met a golden shin te.


    "I know that trick as well." The Cyclops chortled. N?v(el)B\\jnn


    "It''s always worth a shot." Karl agreed, and the giant smiled, just visible through the ts of its helmet''s visor.


    They circled for a few seconds, trading testing blows.


    Karl was a Rank lower, but faster, and [Disintegrate] on his de had no problem parrying the Cyclops'' attacks.


    After five minutes of testing each other, both sets of armour had taken multiple strikes and were showing their wear, but the Cyclops was beginning to slow, while Karl was maintaining his energy with [Eternal Lightning].


    If he couldn''t take the enemy out with overwhelming power, he would rely on teamwork to grind it down until they could force it to make a mistake.


    Karl twisted a strike to go for the wrist, while the Cyclops went for the base of his de, sending both des flying out of their wielder''s hands.


    Neither hesitated, and [Disintegrate] on Karl''s fist was met with the glowing blue gauntlet of the Cyclops. Neither skill faltered, and the bacsh of the strikes sent both of bothbatants flying backwards.


    They rolled to their feet in unison and called their weapons back to them, then summoned them to their hands.


    The Cyclops attacked to its left, and sent a Lamia flying. The bodyguard was twisted and broken, clearly dead. But Karl just summoned them again to appear behind the Cyclops, where the enemy wouldn''t be able to tell if they were healing or preparing to attack.


    Karl plotted his next move for a second, then movement behind him and a surge of power in front of him made him momentarily forget that there was a Cyclops present.


    Overlord Leafa appeared at his shoulder, glowing with ethereal blue power, at the same instant that an enormous portal opened behind the Cyclops.


    A four-armed Titan stepped through the portal and red down at the Haint, then sniffed and turned to face the Cyclops.


    "You areing with me." He announced, then grabbed the startled Cyclops and pulled him through the portal, which immediately closed behind them.


    "What the hell was that?" Karl asked.


    "That was a Cyclops Forge Master. Or if you mean the other one, that was Overlord Chronos Maximus the eighty-fourth. He''s a major pain in our ass, and now he''s abducted a Forge Master to make weapons for the Mountain Giant armies."


    That was not good at all. Who knew how many of the Forge Masters were going to appear in this monster spawn, but the Mountain Giants would likely get a chance to im another before it was all over. The Golden Dragon Nation was having enough issues with the Mountain Giants without giving them weapons armour at the quality that Cyclops had been using.

 Chapter 540 Unusual Allies

    Chapter 540 Unusual Allies


    "I don''t suppose that you saw another one of thosest night, did you? The Forge Master, that is." Karl asked Leafa, who was still staring at the location of the now closed portal. n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om


    The Haint nodded. "Yes, we killed one near the fortressst night. We also had the Oracle and Trouble Seers search for more, but only one appeared ording to their visions.


    I was confident that you would win the battle, or I would havee earlier. I never expected that the Giants would find out about the situation so fast and try to abduct him."


    Karl nodded. "I think you should likely be more concerned with how they found out about that very specific Cyclops among the entire horde of Cyclops. That seems like a difficult thing for a foreign seer to pick up, but a much easier one for a spy to ry to the enemy."


    Leafa tilted her head. "You consider the Giants as an enemy?"


    "Doesn''t everyone? They''re just generally unpleasant to be around. Plus, they keep attacking me."


    Their conversation was interrupted by the giants that hade to support the forge master, and Karl''s sword was suddenly thirsty for blood again. He used the maul most of the time, and the de seemed dissatisfied with receiving life force secondhand.


    "Are you good on this side? Your Lamia friends should be recovered by now, right? They''re not dead, are they?" Leafa asked.


    "No, they''re alright. I am more concerned about the other beasts. They are circling the farm now, clearing the area so that the defenders get the asional breather. Some of the fights have been intense, but they''re managing." Karl exined.


    "Alright, I will return to the farm. My hearing is good, just yell if you need assistance. The farmers takefort in my presence." With that, she was gone, back to the side of the farm house where the children were beginning to make a fuss as the fear and noise kept them from sleeping.


    Karl was fighting well away from the farm, but the noise would carry, and it wasing from every direction. The general spawn density tonight didn''t look any worse than it was yesterday, or at least not significantly worse. But there were many more powerful beasts at their location than there were in the previous days.


    Rae was in heaven. She had gotten a literal bathtub full of Monarch Rank blood already, drained from Cyclops bodies, and her thoughts were already on how much she was going to enjoy her grooming routine now that she had such wonderful bath products.


    The current wave was mostly Commander Rank boars, with high Commander and low Royal Ranked Cyclops leading their packs. That was an easy target for Rae, who could just [Shadow Step] and assassinate the Cyclops, then deal with the boars while Hawk bombarded them in the darkness.


    The boars couldn''t see or hear him, the only warning that they got was when the skills wereing at them, and by then it was already toote.


    It wasn''t significantly harder for Remi and Cara. They were leaving the corpses in much less recognizable condition, but the intruders were dying just as quickly.


    Only Karl was left without much to do, as his job was to hold a side of the house and not scout out new targets. The two teams of beasts had just passed each other on the far side of the yard, and they were moving a bit further from the farmyard to ensure that they had something to fight. They were still letting a trickle of monsters make it to the defenders stationed at the farm, but they picked out any of them that had a decent power level for themselves.


    The dispersion pattern of the monsters was much different today than it wasst night. The farmers weren''t at home anymore, they had all gathered with neighbours, rightly believing that the incident wasn''t likely to be over, even if their houses were still standing.


    There were far fewer burning houses tonight, which was a good sign for the farmers, but from his vantage point, Karl couldn''t tell if any of the fires were homes that had been guarded.


    He was waiting for something toe into range while the two groups of beasts came back to meet each other in front of him.


    Karl could feel that there was something unstable with Remi''s bodyguards, and through that, the Lamia that he had summoned with the same skill.


    [Is your skill advancing?] Karl asked.


    Remi wiggled happily, shaking her shoulders in a little dance as she inspected her bodyguard.


    [I think so. Your new Skill Master is a good skill.]


    Thor grumbled. He had good skills, but he couldn''t get them to go over his rank. It might be a potential issue, as even with his changes, the Lightning Cerro suspected that he was reaching the extent of his ability to grow.


    He was already stronger than any Lightning Cerro known, as they usually only made it to Commander Rank. But if he couldn''t make it to Monarch, he was going to run into trouble very soon.


    [Don''t worry, buddy. If you get stuck, we will use Evolution on you, and then find a new way to keep you going the next time that you reach your limits.] Karl assured him.


    Thor had a point. He had reached equilibrium with his pool full of Holy Stones. It wasfortable, but it wasn''t really helping him advance anymore, and he wasn''t advancing on his own.


    They would have to find something to help him grow if he was even going to make it to peak Royal Rank. Constant practice and dedication had taken him this far, way beyond his species'' limits. But there were limits.


    Remi, on the other hand, had more potential. She had not been born as a low Awakened Rank being, but a Commander. As the processpleted, the armour on the Naga Warriors turned to a deep ck that seemed to absorb light around them, and their size increased by a third, making even thergest of Minotaur Men look mediocre.


    The Lamia, on the other hand, gained light red edges on their bone white scales, and the red dresses that they wore gained silver embroidery.


    Rae red at them in annoyance. If anyone was going to be upgrading their summoned creatures, it should have been her Golems. Spiders were clearly superior to Naga, they should be easier to upgrade.


    Karl could hear the chaos behind them as the Naga Warriors suddenly grew in size while fighting a small group of boars, but most of the Minotaurs were taking it as a skill they used, as they didn''t know the Naga were a summoned creature.


    Now, they were at the same level of advantage that they had when Rae had Royal Rank Golems at Commander Rank. With defenders a Rank above them, Karl wouldn''t have to worry much about facing stronger opponents for a while, and the skill''s advancement was a strong sign that Remi would be able to follow them once the spaces were maximized again.


    The two teams of beasts continued on their routes, but Karl noticed that Remi''s side was much more smug, while Hawk and Rae were working double time, trying to grind hard enough to force an advancement.

 Chapter 541 Monarch Guards\

    Chapter 541 Monarch Guards


    While the farmers didn''t immediately notice that something was off, the same was not true of Leafa. The instant that the skill advanced to Monarch Rank, before the Naga Warriors had even finished growing, she had realized what had happened.


    What she couldn''t understand was how.


    None of the biological group members were close to the boundary for Monarch Rank, much less past it. But the skill was very obviously advanced by a Rank, just as the Void Badger''s [Disintegration] was.


    The obvious answer was that Karl had done something, but she hadn''t sensed him doing anything. If he had a skill that could bump up a skill''s power by a rank for the duration of a battle, the Haint Overlord wanted to know it.


    If she could make her [Soul Steal] advance to the Totem Rank even for a short duration, she would be one of the peak powers on the continent.


    Karl nodded a greeting as she came over to speak to him, then shook his head in rejection of her pending question.


    "I can''t make your skill advance like that. I know that''s what you''re after. Even if I was stronger, it wouldn''t work." He exined.


    "You''re certain? What are the limitations?"


    Karl smirked. "Only two things. Aprehensive and thorough understanding of how the skill should operate at the next Rank. Then, the restrictive part. It has to be a beast that is bonded to me and capable of retreating to a separate space I control."


    Leafa sighed. "So, it''s a trick just for your team members? Well, even if it''s one skill at a time, it''s still a huge advantage when you have summoned beasts on top of your bonded ones."


    Karl turned to face her, but stopped when he saw a very strange heat signature.


    Remi had transformed back into her small snake form, and Cara was flying around with her, so they could both attack from the sky. Cara looked like she had gotten bigger again, but Karl wasn''t sure with the distance. The next time they came back around, he would have to stand beside her and measure.


    Leafa stared into the distance. "Morning is going to be chaos, are you ready for a whole army unit to show up here? They''re going to expect you to be able to help them, but they will have a lot of questions if they see your beasts."


    Karl nodded. "When they arrive, I will call everyone back to their spaces, other than the two Naga Warrior Bodyguards that travel with us. If I push myself, I can do enough damage that most people won''t have questions. That''s how I did it in the past when I first met Orthos. It works well enough, but it burns stamina fast, and this is going to be a long night."


    The Haint Overlordughed and seemed to turn to mist for a split second before reappearing in the distance to bisect a group of boars with smooth swings of her de.


    Pale blue energy poured from their wounds to her body as she walked back to Karl, and she shrugged.


    "These boars aren''t all that tough. I might not be a soldier, but I am an Overlord."


    She had a point. Even if she only had a basic attack skill, as an Overlord, it shouldn''t be hard to one hit kill any of the Commander Rank beasts, and any of the Royal Rank invaders without defensive measures.


    [There is a whole swarm of bacon fooding our way.] Hawk warned.


    [Use Hellstorm all around the farm. We can create enough cyclones with the three of us that they won''t want to approach.] Karl insisted.


    Remi giggled as Hawk sighed. That was going to take a lot of energy, and he was the one doing the flying in his team, where Remi was just transformed into a petite Spirit Snake form and wrapped around Cara like a ne.


    So, Hawknded on Rae and began spreading ming vortexes around the farm, so they would cover a third of the circle.


    Karl took up his section, and Remi did the rest, as Leafa stared at the thirty pirs of fire surrounding their position.


    "That''s the spell that they were referring to. The terrifying fire vortex. It doesn''t look that bad to me. It''s just a Royal Rank ming tornado with some extra damage." She noted.


    "Just wait. They get spicy when someone stands too close."


    The boars naturally assumed that if they just didn''t run into the fire, they would be fine. But that notion was proven false the moment that one of them got within twenty metres of the initial vortex and a smaller me storm spawned at his position.


    The unfortunate boar was immediately tossed from its feet by the force of the wind and the [Rend] attacks embedded in the vortex. That was a good sign. If the spell could stop them trying to stampede past the main vortexes, they would be trapped on the other side of the line.


    A smaller creature would have been caught inside and buffeted to death, but the boars were toorge for that, and instead the vortex was aggressively attacking it, and spawning more vortexes every time something got too close.


    Leafa whistled a happy tune. "Oh, I like it. Spicy Tornado is an excellent spell."


    [I vote that we rename the spell.] Hawk demanded.


    [Spicy Tornado is a great name for a spell.] Remi agreed.


    [Make it upgrade with Skill Master to one Rank or Tier higher than it currently is, and you can pick the new name for it.]


    [Two skills in one day? Well, maybe I''m on a roll. Let''s do this. Upgrade iing.]


    If it were that easy, it would have happened to someone before this.


    But on the other side of the battle, Hawk was having more luck. His affinity with fire was growing quickly as he practised adapting his [ming Body] skill to allow him to more easily create [Hellstorm] vortexes.


    Hawk was definitely going to be the first of them to improve a fire skill. But he wasbining the two skills in a way that Karl wasn''t capable of mimicking.


    "Your beasts are strange. What species is that bird, anyhow?" Leafa asked.


    "That''s a mighty fine question. I''m not even certain anymore. In fact, the way he''s going, even if I give you an answer now, it might have changed by morning. His aptitude for fire magic is increasing by the day, and his body is changing as it adapts."


    The Haint Overlord stared at Hawk, who was only paying cursory attention to his vortexes as he adapted the casting method to minimize the amount of mana that they used.


    Karl could hear his thoughts, and Hawk had a grand n. If he cut the mana cost in half, he could make twice as many as Remi did, and then he would have uncontested mastery of the Fire Element.


    Being a Shaman was a cheat. She got to use evil magic and fire at the same time. But soon, he would be so much better with fire that she would never catch up.


    After a few minutes of silently staring at the battle while Karl adjusted the position of his vortexes to ensure that nothing was making it into the farm, Overlord Leafa took out a small blue stone from inside her arm.


    "I have a proposition for you. I have an item that will help your friend Hawk advance his power beyond anything he could manage on his own. I will trade you for it." She offered.


    "And what would you like in exchange for such a stone?" Karl asked, suspicious of such altruism.


    "Your sword. You have a de that drinks souls to improve its own power. I want it."


    It also shared the power that it drank to improve the power and growth rate of the wielder. The extra energy that it gave him was a massive part of Karl''sbat stamina.


    "If I trade you the de, will you teach Hawk how to use the stone to improve his power?" Karl asked.


    A chance to help Hawk master a new level of me skills was too good to pass up, and even Karl wasn''t greedy enough to think that he could have it without any sacrifice.


    "All he has to do is eat it, and he will gain a new level of fire mastery." Leafa agreed.


    "The sword is bonded to me, would it even be possible to transfer it?" The Haint nodded. "Just hand it to me and will the bond to transfer. You can''t unbind such a weapon, but you should be able to transfer it without issue."


    "Give the stone to Hawk and you will have the sword."


    Leafa smirked and smoke poured from her mouth. "So untrusting. I told you once already that I keep my word."n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

 Chapter 542 Glorious Hawk Boy

    Chapter 542 Glorious Hawk Boy


    Leafa vanished and reappeared next to Hawk, who was focused on his work. When she held out her hand with an open palm facing up, Hawk was fairly sure that she had snacks for him. That gesture always meant snacks. So, he ate what she offered without hesitation.


    The mes of both his body and his [Hellstorm] vortexes immediately turned the same pale blue as Overlord Leafa''s smoke, and a massive surge of power flowed through Hawk''s body as he turned incorporeal.


    [Hawk got a new skill? Unfair advantage. 5 yard penalty. Repeat first down.] Remiined.


    Nobody else had any idea what she was talking about, but the sentiment tranted well enough. n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om


    A mighty keening scream echoed across the farm as Hawkunched into the sky, his incorporeal form surging with energy.


    Light blue mes burst from him, creating a small sun in the sky, bright enough that it lit the ground all the way to the horizon and sent a wave of heat across the farm so intense that the soup pot went from a simmer to a boil, and the thatch roof began to smoulder.


    Then he began to reform into a massive bird the size of a Roc, but flickering with blue mes in ce of feathers, and with a slender body elegant in a way Karl associated more with drawings of a Phoenix than with the overgrown sparrow form of the Rocs.


    Leafa turned to Karl and held out her hand for her prize.


    She was obviously impatient to have the de, but it was resisting Karl''s attempt to take it out and hand it to her.


    [I know, friend. But we made a deal. I''m sure she will be good to you.]


    Karl felt the bond snap as the de changed hands, and Overlord Leafa surged with power, sending a pir of pale blue smoke into the sky over her for a moment before it retracted.


    "Oh, that is wonderful. Everything that I could have hoped for."


    Her words were eerie, not a threat, but they gave Karl a shiver of premonition that he might have just made a grave mistake of a sort farrger than simply needing a new weapon.


    Then, Leafa held out her hand and snapped one of her fingers off. "A recement for your weapon. Don''t let anyone say that I''m not a fair bargain maker." She exined. Then she simply vanished, letting the branch drop toward the ground.


    Karl grabbed it as it fell, and felt the twig bond with him.


    [Haint w] Obtained. Artifact Grade Weapon.


    {Morphable weapon. Deals Ghostfire damage in addition to skill damage. Haint w may grow into a Haint sapling with sufficient soul power.}


    Karl was admiring the new weapon in his mental space when the familiar power of a portal opening caused him to turn.


    The Oracle ran out of the portal with a massively powerful Troll in rich purple robes, trimmed in white fur, behind him.


    "What did you do? Where is she? Tell me you didn''t unbind her." The Oracle pleaded.


    "I have no idea what you are talking about. Could you please give me another clue?" Karl asked.


    "The Haint. The ghost weapon.Where. Did. She. Go." The troll behind the Oracle snarled with a heavy ent that sounded like he was talking with his mouth full.


    "She vanished. She does that now and then. She''s likely around here somewhere, fighting boars and Cyclops."


    The Emperor of Newbon roared, and Karl felt the Hellstorm Vortexes shudder as the Totem Rank Troll''s aura shook the energy flow in the area.


    "You gon be tellin'' me what you dun, or I gon rip yo arms from yo puny body." The Emperor roared.


    His voice shook the ground like an earthquake spell, and many of the defenders on the other side of the house stumbled.


    "She offered a stone to Hawk, and I traded her my sword for it. The stone helped Hawk master a higher level of me skills, then Overlord Leafa vanished.


    We''re in the middle of a battle, but all the enemies are trapped on the other side of the vortexes." Karl tried to exin.


    The big troll looked like he wanted to strangle Karl, but the Oracle had more questions.


    "What sort of sword did you trade her?"


    "It was an item from a monster spawn. A de of Champions. It stored life force from enemies and transferred some to the wielder to help them grow. I don''t know how much good it would be to her, as I already absorbed as much of the energy as I could. But the sword''s bond with me transferred to her." Karl informed him nervously.


    That big troll seemed quite intent on tearing him into little bits, and his power level made the Overlords seem like children.


    Fortunately for Karl''s life expectancy, the big man was swearing iprehensibly and casting some sort of shamanistic spell that was making the clouds vanish from the sky.


    "She is going west. Oracle, you will pay for your mistake." The Troll growled, then stepped through the portal, which closed, leaving the Oracle behind.


    "Care to exin? We could use our best fighter back." Karl asked.


    "She''s noting back. You just gave a sentient weapon the soul power to gain full autonomy. A Haint is a sentient energy being in a possessed body of some sort. Almost an undead, but not really, considering the nature of the energy that is inhabiting the body. In her case, the body of a deceased Dryad that was weaponized as a Golem. They have no soul, they''re a purely magical being. But they strip the souls from their enemies to power their growth and sentience. Whatever you gave her allowed her to break free of the Emperor''s bond, and now she''s on the run."


    Karl blinked slowly and adjusted his vortexes to buy time as he tried toprehend what was going on.


    "You''re saying that the Haint Overlord, the one who insisted on being called Princess Leafa, is actually a weapon bonded to the Totem Rank leader of the nation, and now she has what? Gone rogue and taken off?"


    The Oracle paled and nodded.


    "Worse. I think that she might have broken through to the Totem Rank. A Rogue Totem Rank threat loose in the nation and nobody knows what she wants."


    "Other than snacks. Elven trail rations in particr." Karl added.


    "I don''t see how that is... no, you are right. She might be trying to get off the continent. There are far more Overlord and Totem Rank creatures on the other continents, and she needs to feed on high ranked souls to stabilize her advancement.


    If she''s really nning to remain on the run, she needs more souls to give her the power to resist being bonded again."


    It was probably better not to tell the Oracle that he still had a piece of her. Leafa had helped Hawk evolve, and to Karl that meant he owed her a favourrger than a simple sword and a few days on the run.


    "Well, you might as well take a seat over by the fire. There are still hundreds of Giant Boarsing for us, and while Hawk''s pretty blue mes are scaring some off, they''re still trying to get through on the other sides."


    The Oracle turned toward the house, then stopped when he saw Hawk circling in the sky.


    "That''s a Ghostfire Thunderbird. That isn''t possible. I would have seen it. No, it wasn''t one before, was it? Leafa must have done that with her power. He evolved, didn''t he?" Karl nodded at the wizened Troll, who was looking even more haggard than he had two days ago.


    "That''s right. Maybe he needs an updated name. I can''t keep calling him Hawk when he''s no longer a Hawk at all." Karl joked.


    The Oracle sighed. "Hawk is a less ridiculous name now that he isn''t one. I have a cousin named Hawk."


    A troll named Hawk? Karl wondered about the naming sense behind that, but it might be a tribal name based on a personal attribute. The Orcs did that, and gave their warriors a second name based on their skills and reputation. It wasn''t unthinkable that the Trolls might do the same. Karl hadn''t actually asked many of them their names, now that he thought about it.

 Chapter 543 Prudence

    Chapter 543 Prudence


    Karl sighed and looked to the sky for answers. Far above the mes, the Dragon''s tail constetion shone dimly, barely visible over the light of the vortexes, even with every bit of cloud cover forced from the sky.


    The Oracle quietly made his way to the house, leaving Karl to his thoughts. With the revered Oracle gone, one of the Royal Rank farmers came over to where Karl was standing, and patted him on the shoulder. "I get the feeling that you''re going to be leaving here in somewhat of a hurry." He whispered.


    "I get that feeling as well." Karl agreed.


    "I won''t ask what you did that angered the Emperor to that level, but if it has something to do with your friend the Thunderbird, or with whatever emergency called Overlord Leafa away, you should likely get a head start on your travels.


    I will look after your wagon until you can return, if you need."


    Karl smiled and shook his hand. "We will see once this influx of monsters slows down. If I leave too early and something happens to the Oracle, they will hunt me to the ends of the continent.


    The Emperor went looking for the Overlord. Apparently her mission was not approved, and he was not happy about the timing when the Oracle foresaw it. I don''t have all the details, but at the very least, the Emperor is busy for the day."


    The Minotaur nodded in understanding, then got to the topic that had actually brought him over. "That fire spell you are using, is that something that can be learned somewhere? One of my nieces is a Shaman apprentice, and that fire tornado spell is the sort of signature spell that could let her advance to High Shaman and reach the Royal Rank." Karl shook his head. "I don''t know anyone else who can use it outside my group. It is possible to learn, but not quickly or easily, and she would need to know a number of spells as a prerequisite."


    The Minotaur sighed. "I feared that might be the case. If it were so easy, more people would know it. But I do need to tell her about those me totems. Those are the sort of signature ability that should scale well with level and let her stand out from the others in her training group. There is only so much to go around, and everyonepetes for additional resources."


    Karl nodded. "Resources are the great limiter for all of our growth. But at least after this, nutrition won''t be a problem for yourmunity for a year or so. The children will have plenty of energy dense meat to eat, and that will help their growth."


    "That they will. Let me know what you decide, but if you''re thinking of flying away on the massive bird, I wouldn''t rmend it. A twenty-metre wingspan and the fact that he''s literally on fire probably don''tbine to create the greatest stealth skill."


    Karl chuckled. That might make Hawk''s scouting duties difficult in the future, but they could work something out to dim his glow if he couldn''t do it himself. But even if he could dim the light, he was still enormous. Not even Thor was asrge as Hawk now, though Hawk was more slender than the Cerro.


    [I will have to make a harness for himter. Thor has his Tessa Knight mode, so Hawk will want a rider too. Maybe our Dana? They both have good range with their skills.] Rae suggested.


    [What am I, chopped liver?] Karl asked.


    [No, boar liver probably tastes better. But you''re a groundbatant like I am. Besides, Cara and Remi have a system worked out, so you''re mine by default. Unless I''m wearing my Lotus.]


    [d to know that I''m the option ofst resort.]


    [Well, you don''t do anything that the rest of us can''t, do you? You''re like picking all of the others when we only need one. You''re a good choice, but not the most efficient one.]


    Karl knew that Rae was trying to make him feel better, so he decided to tease her. [That''s fine, I have the Lamia Bodyguards now. They''ll hang out with me.]


    [Or you can hang out with Ophelia. She doesn''t have a partner yet.] Rae offered.


    [The Bear and the Karl don''t need partners. They just like to smash things.] Hawk interjected with a mental shrug.


    There wasn''t much smashing to do right now, the invaders were stuck on the other side of the wall of vortexes. That was what the Minotaur thought that Karl was focusing on when he was speaking with the beasts.


    "How is the situation outside the spell? Can you tell?" The Minotaur Royal asked.


    "It''s getting better by the minute. The spreading vortexes have eliminated most of the attackers now. If it keeps going at this rate, we should be able to let down the spell in the next half hour.


    There will be more attacks for the rest of the day, but the monsters near us are nearly under control. The three of us holding the vortexes will need a break after this, but it was the only viable way to deal with the flood of beastsing our way." Karl exined.


    The Minotaur nodded and turned to walk back to the front of the house. "If you need more assistants than those two Lamias, let me know. We have rested fighters in the yard."


    Karl nodded. "We should be alright. These two are excellent fighters, but I will let you know if we need more assistance on this side."


    The Minotaur returned to the other side of the fight, but they didn''t wait for Karl to make a request before they sent over assistants. If you could call them that. What they sent were four of the General''s guards, Ascended Rank Satyrs who had a look of determination, and the glow of Tessa''s Holy Blessing on their bodies and weapons. n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om


    "Wee to the dark side of the house. The Vortexes will be up for a while longer, then you can let the Lamias take the front lines, while you harass and distract their targets. It will be the fastest way to get the Giants down." Karl instructed.


    "Yes, Sir. We were sent to make up numbers so that nothing made it to the children. Fear not, we won''t let you down." One of the Satyrs replied grimly.


    "It''s not that serious. There are no more high-ranking beasts anywhere that I can detect. It''s just Commander Rank boars, and low Royal Rank Cyclops leading them. The three of us can handle those easily enough, but every distraction you cause gives us one more opportunity for a lethal strike."


    That was enough to assure the Satyrs that Karl really wasn''t messing with them or putting on a strong front to make them feel better. If he could view their assistance as nothing more than a distraction, even when they had the blessings of a High Priestess of the War Dragon on their weapons, he must be extremely confident in his abilities, they assumed.


    A normal person would have been overjoyed just to find out that they had anyone with a Commander Rank blessing on their weapons that didn''t burn the wielder''s energy to attack.

 Chapter 544 Calm Their Nerves

    Chapter 544 Calm Their Nerves


    [We will need to take down the cyclones soon.] Remi noted.


    Her power was beginning to exhaust her, while Hawk was unstable after his evolution. So, it was time for the others to begin to fight again and not rely on the three of them with thergest area effects.


    "The vortexes areing down now. Prepare to face whatever is alive on the other side." Karl warned. There was nothing. The vortexes had killed anything that had gotten within forty metres of them. But it kept the Satyr soldiers on guard, just in case something had escaped Karl''s notice.


    For the first few minutes, there was nothinging. Then Karl saw that a few groups of the armoured Giant Boars had noticed the change in defensive strategy, and were heading for the farm.


    It was only a half dozen boars and two Cyclops on their side, but the Satyrs were already looking nervous about the situation.


    "Rx, I won''t let anything happen to you. You have a defensive blessing from a High Priestess of the Red Dragon, the Goddess of War. As far as Commander Rank defensive magic, there isn''t much that outsses it.


    Plus, you have the three of us here, and none of us is going to lose a fight to some boar. You''ve seen my magic, have some faith in our capability."


    That seemed to remind them of their earlier determination. At least a little bit, anyhow, and the Satyrs raised their short spears and shields, ready to defend against attack.


    "Are your mounts awake and healthy? It might be easier for you if you were mounted and more agile." Karl offered.


    The Satyrs shook their heads. "The mounts are terrified of the boars. The boars are food, but they are also a predator, and these ones view our mounts as a food product, which has made them too afraid to be reliable inbat.


    We''re not a battle hardenedbat unit, we''re just the ones best trained to hold banners and move pedestrians out of the way of officers'' carriages."


    Karl chuckled at the description.


    However, they were soldiers, even if they weren''t much to write home about. And that meant that he could use them as soldiers, and they should know at least basic tactics.


    "Alright, split up into pairs and apany the Lamia. You attack the boars from the side, and then retreat away from their counterattacks, and thedies will do the rest. I will take care of the Giants."


    The Satyrs weren''t cowards, and they moved into position as the Lamia each picked out a pair of Giant Boars to target, while Karl charged forward before recalling that he had sold his sword. The Maul was an option, but if he wasn''t going to be getting the soul steal effect that both healed him and helped empower him, he might as well have used his bow.


    Instead, he equipped the Haint w, which appeared as long wooden ws over his fingers, which leaked pale blue smoke, the same way that Overlord Leafa did.


    Karl flexed his fingers, feeling the power of the weapon on his hands, then flicked a single finger at the Commander Rank Cyclops on his right.


    An arc of [Rend] coated in [Disintegrate] and trailing blue smoke raced across the gap, and the giant paused his advance, confused as to what was happening. Then its knees buckled, and the massive beast tumbled to the ground as its head rolled away, cleanly severed at the neck.


    The ws pulsed with power as the attack faded, and Karl sent another arc of power at the second Cyclops.


    This one got its de up in time to parry, and the attack faded as the de in the Giant''s hand shattered.


    Karl split Rend, again coated with [Disintegrate], into four arcs and the Cyclops panicked, trying to dodge to the side. But Karl was too close, and the unfortunate creature had no weapon left to protect itself.


    That was... far more effective than Karl had expected.


    [Status]


    Karl scrolled through the basic information about himself until he found the weapon description.


    [Haint w] Artifact Grade. Deals 280% base weapon damage as Psychic Damage. That was helpful, but Karl already knew that it added the ghostly smoke to the attacks. What he didn''t know was what sort of base damage it added to his attacks, or what other status bonuses he might have gained.


    So, he checked his bow for reference.


    [Unwavering Bow] Rare Grade. Aim Assist Level 1. Increases Skill Damage by 10%.


    That was an entirely different description, and there was no mention of base damage. So Karl was on to the Maul.


    [Crystal Maul of Resonance] Epic Grade. Applies the effect of spells imbued into an attack up to five times when a strikends. Deals strength-based blunt impact damage on strike.


    Again, no mention of a base weapon damage, and no numbers other than some percentage-based increases. He would have to dig into itter, when he wasn''t inbat and had more time to search through rows of numbers and possible hidden subcategories. n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om


    Whatever the actual number was, the damage he was doing to the Cyclops warriors said that it was an impressive one. Karl crouched and leapt to the side to attack a Giant Boar whose throat was exposed, coating his new ws with Rend. Hawk would be proud of him.


    The ws went smoothly through the thick hide of the boar and left deep gouges in the heavy te armour, leaving the boar bleeding out with a single strike.


    Karl used [ming Body] to burn the blood off himself as the boar copsed, and the Satyrs stared at him in shock.


    "If you could do that, why are you using all these fancy skills and weapons?" One of them asked.


    "One at a time is fine, but those skills deal withrge numbers while they''re at a safe distance from the house. We don''t want to put the children in danger.


    Besides, this method is messy." Karl replied with a shrug.


    Then he got a great idea. Maybe the Haint w wasn''t meant to be used as an actual weapon, for attacking, but as a supplemental weapon.


    It said that it dealt a percentage of base weapon damage as a bonus, so if he kept the ws on when he used another weapon, it might give an additional bonus based on the damage that the other weapon was doing.


    There were more boars in the distance, so Karl took out his bow, and adjusted his grip topensate for the length of his new ws.


    He made the drawing motion to activate the bow and charged it with [Chain Lightning]. He let the lightning charged arrow fly, and found that it was also followed by a faint trail of ghostly smoke. The arrow sunk deep into the boar, which twitched in pain, or possibly electrical shock, before copsing with a puff of ghostly smokeing from the arrow hole. That was definitely an improvement on the Chain Lightning alone, and the Haint w seemed to pulse with power after the kill.


    Perhaps it was simr in function to the sword that he had traded, but it wasn''t passing any of that stolen essence along to the wielder. ording to the extended details of the description, it would gather Soul Essence with each kill, and had a chance to be a Haint Sapling in the future.


    A sentient weapon like Leafa could make for quite the addition to the team, depending on the abilities that it developed, and Karl was looking forward to seeing what it could do.

 Chapter 545 Archery Practice

    Chapter 545 Archery Practice


    Karl released arrow after arrow, clearing the area of boars with ease, as he picked the closest targets first and worked his way into the distance.


    "So, you could fight with a bow as well? That is wonderful. But where did all these powerful friendse from? I''ve never seen a group of intelligent beasts like this outside of their own nation." The Satyr asked.


    "They are with me. It''s a bit hard to exin, but I can call on their assistance when I need it." Karl replied vaguely.


    After the wall of ming vortexes, and Hawk evolving right next to the farm, there was no way that they were going to be able to hide the fact that he had at least a few beasts with him, but Karl didn''t want the locals to panic.


    Of course, the Satyr likely wanted to know where the Lamia hade from as well, but that discussion could wait. Karl didn''t know if he was going to have to grab his team and bolt in the next hour or two, especially now that the Oracle had been dumped in theirps by a furious Emperor whose pet Haint had run away.


    The bow had a range of nearly two hundred metres, but in a matter of only a few minutes, there were no more boars to be found anywhere within that range. The overnight fight wasing to an end as the sun rose fully into the sky, and the second day''s damages were bing visible in the distance.


    It wasn''t as bad as the first morning. The invaders had mostly ignored the empty houses, and the ones that had smelled good enough to pige had been attacked the first night.


    So, while there was extensive damage to the farms and crops, it wasn''t as severe as many had feared.


    As the fighting died down, the Oracle made his way back to Karl, who had called everyone but Thor, Hawk, and the bodyguards back into his space.


    They could remain out for now, as nobody was going to forget that Hawk existed. Plus, he was huge now, and flying was an entirely different experience when he could ride on muchrger wind currents and updrafts.


    Before, he could soar on the wind, but now, he could simply tweak his feathers and float in the sky. His new body weighed very little, and his [Ghostfire Body] skill allowed him to fly without using his feathers at all.


    Like so many magical beasts, he could now use his magic to keep himself aloft, and not just his body.


    [I may have to abandon mice as food. But now, regr sized boars are mouse sized bites. Is this what they call an existential crisis?] Hawk pondered as hezily floated above the fields.


    [Is it like growing up and finding out that your favourite little rodents that struggled so prettily in your web are no longer a satisfying meal? Ipletely understand. It''s a tragic loss, but there will be others that put on as good of a show.] Rae consoled him.


    That cheered Hawk up at least a little bit. Even the Giant Boars were now small enough to be valid hunting targets for the massive Ghostfire Thunderbird body that Hawk had evolved into, but deep in his instincts, there was still that urge to go for the small and defenceless rodents.


    [Did you learn any new tricks along with your new mes?] Karl asked as Hawk surveyed the aftermath of the second spawn.


    [I think so, but it feels like they''re not ready yet. Maybe after I nap.]


    Hawk wasn''t concerned. Fire was the best element anyhow, and he was already big with better than ever mes. The rest could wait forter.


    Hawk''s circling form was a beacon to other defending groups. He wasrge enough to be seen from many kilometres away, and from a distance, he looked like an Ice Phoenix, with his blue ming feathers.


    The Phoenix was considered good luck, and they were as intelligent as Dragons, even if they could only speak bird. So, if their position was looking untenable, or just not worth defending anymore, they started to make their way towards the farm that had a Phoenix protecting it.


    Some hesitated when they were close enough to see that it was some form of Thunderbird, which was also an intelligent beast, but not nearly as auspicious as the Phoenix, but Hawk was obviously guarding an area, continually circling overhead while only sporadically diving to attack boars that got too close.


    Every time he rose back up with a snack, more of the Minotaurs began to consider heading in his direction, as they could hear the force, and see the campfire in the yard, showing that Hawk had not eaten the defenders.


    Not that a Thunderbird would hang around after destroying a farmyard. They weren''t a scavenger bird.


    In the morning calm, Lotus had enlisted the help of the children from the farm families to scrub and polish Thor''s scales. He needed a good rub down, and the Cerro was feeling depressed now that even Hawk had gotten a great opportunity to advance just handed to him.


    All the others got powerful so easily, but he was already struggling, even with his Holy Pond.


    Karl knew that Rae was likely to run into the same issue soon, but likely not until after she either reached the bottleneck or advanced to Monarch Rank. She had a few skills that would scale well, and that would give her a better chance at breaking the bottleneck.


    Eternal Lightning probably had the potential to go higher, but Thor''s body didn''t. But that could be a project for him and Remi.


    [If you go through the ingredients that we have, and make a list of things that we still need to make resources that will help Thor, I can try to find them. I think that all he needs is just a bit higher quality snacks to advance.] Karl offered.


    Thor perked up a little, both at the faint hope of advancement, and at the gentle hands of the children scrubbing down his scales with coarse bup cloths. Fortunately, his scales weren''t as harsh as they had been at first.


    They were still rough, but they didn''t tear through cloth anymore unless you put excessive pressure on them.


    Having something to focus on helped, and Karl knew the others wouldn''t let their resident best boy remain sad for long.n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om

 Chapter 546 The Whole Gang Is Here

    Chapter 546 The Whole Gang Is Here


    The Oracle sighed as he waited for Karl to stop being distracted. It was clear that he was mentallymunicating with someone, but the way that he looked around made the Oracle certain that it was the bird.


    He turned to see what Karl was looking at, then realized it was likely out of sight to him.


    "You know, out of all of this, I can''t believe that I got dad joked by a teenager." The Oracle began.


    Karl smiled, and the old man shook his head and continued. "Not that kind of Troll, indeed. You have no idea the sort of chaos that your presence has caused, even if you aren''t somehow responsible for these incidents. There is a theory that your presence when the Dungeon formed might be causing these incidents to follow you and whoever else was there on the first day.


    But more than that, the mere fact that you managed to make it almost all the way across the country without being detected, while travelling with an entire wagon full of Elites and clerics, is like a cock p to the face of the council."


    Karl chuckled. "Well, that''s... graphic. I will say this much, though. We''re not here to cause trouble or spy for anyone. I did consider that the incidents might be following me, but only thest two, the undead and this one, have been even remotely close to centred on my position.


    The first ones that we encountered near Oakhamping put us on the very north edge, and one of them didn''t even spawn with us in its radius, we travelled into it during the day."


    The Oracle frowned, then made a note. "The Council isn''t sure what to do with you. One thing is for certain, we''re not going to allow you to die in our territory if there is any chance that these incidents are focused on you."


    "Oh? I had thought that would be the go-to option."


    The old troll shook his head. "No, eliminating the target doesn''t stop the effect of an anomaly, it simply fixes the position of the anomaly. If something happened and one of your members died here today, it is possible that we would have a Giant Boar and Cyclops spawn at this location every morning, forever."


    "See, that is valuable information to have. Do you know what the n might be? Because I am considering making a run for it." Karl informed him, letting a bit of his curiosity leak into his voice.


    "Well, my guess is that Morrisa is going to suggest taking you somewhere to strangle you to death for making fun of her.


    But my visions say that it''s more likely they will decide to send you back to the humans and make you stay there, or to the Mountain Giant border, where any more anomalies would be their problem.


    There has been no decision, and I have seen both possibilities." The Oracle exined.


    Karl sighed as he scanned the horizon for threats. "That''s not highly encouraging. I''m not sure what I should choose. It''s encouraging that they don''t intend to kill me or my friends, but I also have no intentions of being locked in jail." N?v(el)B\\jnn


    The Oracle gave him a faint smile. "Honestly, I''m not even sure how we would keep you in prison. Even with the suppression field on the Fortress, we couldn''t stop you from setting a Royal Rank Bloodbath Spider loose in the hallway behind the guards. Blocking magic and skills is all well and good until half a tonne of razor-limbed arachnid is loose in the locker room."


    [Oh, that''s a great idea. Attacking them when they''re naked on a slippery surface. It will be chaos even before the blood flows.]


    "Having the ability to see the future sounds like it''s not a whole lot of fun." Karl noted.


    "You have no idea. Oracles of all sorts very rarely see anything but tragedy. Even if I want to look for good news, I have to look for the absence of bad instead. Only then can I see things going right."


    "What a crap skill set. No offence."


    The Oracle chuckled. "Have you never interacted with someone who can see the future before?"


    Karl made a nomittal gesture. "I have, but I never really asked about how they saw things, or about their visions. So, should I be expecting an Overlord to show up here with very little notice, or an army unit?"


    The Oracle''s eyes went white, and he frowned, then took out a sword.


    "Yes."


    Before Karl could ask what that meant, a portal opened six metres tall, and an armoured group of Giants that looked like they were made of solid stone, only identifiable as living creatures by their eyes and teeth, rushed out.


    A second portal opened behind Karl and the Oracle, and Morrisa stepped through with a snarl on her face and an axe in her hand.


    Once the Mountain Giants had arrived, onest Giant, two metres taller than the others, crouched and stepped through the portal.


    "You really do see only bad luck. Have you considered the fact that Oracles might be a Jinx?" Karl whispered.


    "Has anyone ever told you that you''re not funny?" The Oracle whispered.


    "More than once, actually. But you might want to step back before things get messy."


    The Mountain Giant Overlord scoffed.


    "Do you think that having him a few more metres away is going to make a difference?"


    Morrisa rumbled a warning, but Karl gave him his best smile. "Do you think that your warriors can go through me without my permission?"


    The Oracle poked Karl in the back, and Karl heard Tessaugh on the other side of the farm.


    [Oh, she''s glowing red. Does that mean we''re fighting?] Hawk asked.


    [Maybe, maybe not. We will see what they''re nning. The War God''s glow could be for protecting the children when things get spicy.]


    [Why are we even fighting?] Remi asked.


    [Because Rae needs more Monarch Rank Giant blood for her pond, of course.] Thor stated, as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.


    [Oh, that''s a good point. I hope the Overlords fight, we can scoop up some of the stter to make leg cream for Rae.] Remi agreed.


    "What are you thinking? Stop it, I can see the shifting possibilities." The Oracle whispered.


    "Sorry, wandering mind." Karl replied without taking his eyes off the squad of Royal and Monarch Rank Mountain Giants.

 Chapter 547 Intervenor Status

    Chapter 547 Intervenor Status


    N?v(el)B\\jnn


    "Is the Golden Dragon Nation going to get in the middle of this?" The Overlord Rank Giant asked.


    "That''s really up to you, now isn''t it? You came to me, not the other way around." Karl replied easily as the Naga Warriors moved to nk the Lamia Bodyguards.


    [There are soldiersing from every direction. Angry Remi and Beef warriors and a few that look like Dana but aren''t.] Hawk warned.


    [One day we will teach you all the words for other species.] Remiughed.


    [Meh, they''ll get names if they need them.]


    The Overlord Rank Giant was staring at Karl, trying to determine what he was nning, and what the best course of action was.


    Karl didn''t actually know what drew them here yet, though. If they came to abduct the Oracle, that could be a huge diplomatic disaster. But Karl couldn''t see what else they came for, now that they said they weren''t here for him or his team.


    Morrisa stepped forward to face her Overlord Rank counterpart, who stood head and shoulders taller than the Minotaur did.


    "What are you doing here? You know that your soldiers are not wee here. Speak your piece and go away."


    The Giant snorted at her in derision. "Our Earth Shaman sensed the appearance of an unfamiliar Totem Rank creature here. If Newbon Empire thinks that they can hire foreign Totems for the war, you are greatly mistaken."


    Karl hid his amusement as well as he could, but obviously not well enough, as the soldiers from the Mountain Giant side were shifting to defensive foot positions in his direction. It was subtle, but his smile must have been the threatening one again.


    "There is no foreign Totem here in Newbon. Tell your Idiot Shamans that they don''t need to send an emergency response unit every time the Emperores out to greet visitors from The Golden Dragon Nation." Morrisa informed him in a bored tone.


    The Giant turned to Karl. "The Emperor himself came to see you? Why?"


    "I brought a rare species with me, and he was intrigued about its origin." The Overlord looked up toward where Hawk waszily floating in the sky and frowned.


    A Ghostfire Thunderbird was indeed a rare species. Rare enough that the Mountain Giant didn''t even know what species Hawk was. Like many others, his first thought was that he was a Frost Phoenix, but the body shape and tail plumage were wrong.


    One of the Monarchs was casting a spell, but Morrisa showed no sign of trying to stop them. Maybe it was to avoid a fight between Overlords so close to an inhabited farm, or perhaps the spell wasn''t a dangerous one. If they were just looking for Leafa, they could take a number and wait their turn. The Emperor was already chasing after her.


    The spell finished, and the group of Giants waited anxiously as the shaman looked more and more confused.


    He was about to whisper to the Overlord, but therger Giant stopped him and handed him a notepad to write it down.


    That was a good call, as Karl would hear even a whisper from this distance, but Hawk was directly overhead, and he could read the note as the Giant wrote it.


    [It says he only found a Totem Rank skill that was used by Overlord Leafa. He calls her by name, so he knows the council members.]


    Well, that could make things more interesting.


    Once the Overlord had read the message, he crumpled it and made the shaman eat the paper.


    "Well, that''s one way to prevent messages falling into the wrong hands." Karl mock whispered in the Oracle''s direction.


    The Giant Overlord looked like he was going to respond, then he paused and took a glowing stone out of his pocket. Karl could only assume it was amunication device of some sort, but neither he nor Hawk could see any sort of writing on it.


    The Overlord''s smile slowly grew as the glow faded from the stone. Then a fresh portal opened behind him.


    "Forget this waste of time, we''re leaving." He announced.


    "That''s not suspicious at all." Karl chuckled, which caused the Mountain Giant Overlord to give him an evil smirk.


    Morrisa frowned as the Giant left, thinking the same thing that Karl was saying, and then rms began to re from her pockets.


    She took out a whole handful of glowing stones, all of which were giving off an alert tone.


    She turned to Karl. "You, I will deal with your insolenceter. But I now have proof that the incidents aren''t following you around. These are all regional rms for anomalies that spawned at dawn today."


    "All rted to the Dungeon? That shouldn''t be right." Karl mumbled.


    Morrisa looked between Karl and the Oracle, then sighed and shook her head.


    "They aren''t. They can''t be. The pattern doesn''t match. We suspect that the Giants have found something that is letting them trigger them. We started to suspect it when we first heard of the Advancement Trial the Hill Giants triggered. Now, anomalies are appearing all over the continent. But I have to go. Consider yourself warned to behave, I don''t have time toe back and deal with your people. Do what you want, as long as you don''t cause trouble on your way out of the country."


    A stone in her hand lit up red, and she stepped through a portal that closed immediately behind her.


    "They left me behind again." The Oracle sighed.


    "I am not normally the one to y Devil''s Advocate, but I suspect that wherever she was going, you probably didn''t want to be anyhow. If nothing else, we will keep you safe for the day. Then we can arrange a team to get you home after tomorrow morning''s spawn."


    The Oracle gave him a faint smile. "This will be thest one in this sequence. This spot won''t be hit tomorrow morning, ording to my visions. However, that doesn''t mean you''ll be safe for long. I don''t understand what is happening. I can see it, but I can''t decipher a pattern."

 Chapter 548 Run Away Home

    Chapter 548 Run Away Home


    Karl picked off a few more Giant Boars with his bow, then sent more instructions to Hawk.


    [See if you can find the team of Spelldes. They should be somewhere near here if they kept going in this direction. I don''t know if they''re going to be anywhere near us, but if they are, we should meet up with them.] [Got it. There are plenty of groups of Minotaurs, and some lizards. Oh, I see some Goblins and big goblins too. I don''t remember seeing those before. I will keep looking.]


    Hawk flew off into the distance, a streak of blue fire in the sky, before he vanished into the clouds.


    [Brother Hawk is fast.] Cara gasped, shocked by the speed of his departure.


    [Does that happen when you get big? I''m a little faster when I''m big, but I can''t fly.] Remi pondered.


    They were waiting in their spaces now that the sun was out, and Rae was napping, as was her tradition after the sun came up.


    "Can we get a substitution on this side? I need to talk to my team for a minute." Karl called out to the farmers who hade over to support Morrisa.


    "No problem. We all heard the Oracle say that this will be thest of the Giant Boar spawns, so it''s nearly time for us to get to work curing, salting, smoking and drying what we can. We will have to sell a lot of it to the cities, but we''ve got a solid year''s worth of stored meat now."


    That was about as long as a cured ham was normally kept without being eaten, but Karl didn''t know how many survivors would be in the next city to trade with. The fire was out, and it didn''t start over this morning with the two Overlords present. But that didn''t mean that there was much of the city left to salvage.


    The piles of boar bodies looked like hills in the countryside, with hundreds of bodies stacked for them to process and hundreds more in the fields nearby.


    Some wouldn''t be salvageable, but most of them should still have edible bits. Ophelia switched positions with another of the farmers, so the whole group could gather for a short meeting when Karl came around the house.


    "What''s the n? Are we going to try to fight our way through a whole spawn?" She asked.


    "That''s pretty much the n. I sent Hawk to go scout for a bit, and we can pick a route once he''s back. The wilderness will likely be the better choice again. If the monster spawns are being influenced by the poption density and power level, they won''t be as bad in the wilderness. However, the Oracle thinks that the Giants have something that''s triggering the Anomalies. Starting with the First Advancement Trial along the Hill Giant border, and now all over the Newbon Empire, the anomalies all appear to be linked to the Giants, ording to his visions." Karl exined.


    Dana frowned and gestured around them. "So this, all of this, might be the result of the Giants'' interference? That might mean that the Dungeon Anomaly in the west might also be their doing, and now it''s a stable Dungeon." The Oracle''s frustration made perfect sense to them all at that moment. How and why the Giant ns were causing anomalies was a mystery. However, if the Oracle could see their interference, there had to be some reason. If they were trying to mess with other nations, it was one thing. But this was excessive, and there was no way that they could control that much territory even if they had an invasion n that actually worked.


    [I found Prince Guy and the Dana herd. No, the Spelldes. They''re all toorge or too small to be Dana. They are north of the spawn by about twenty kilometres and headed east.] Hawk informed them.


    He was getting better at sorting people. At least a little bit.


    [Alright, remember where they are, or are they not hiding anymore?] Karl asked.


    [They''re still hiding. But with these new mes, I can see them glowing anyhow.]


    "Alright, I have a scouting report. North and then East appears to be the way for us. Now, we just need to make sure that everyone will be alright with what is left wandering the area." Karl ryed.


    However, the fact that Hawk had covered over a hundred kilometres in thest fifteen minutes was extremely impressive. Even the helicopters back home didn''t fly that fast.


    Tessa referred to the map. "That works. There aren''t any major roads in that direction, but there are farms that were still fighting further from us. We can help them clear the area as we go, and then head out of the spawn area to turn east."


    The farmers were doing well at taking care of this area, so Karl didn''t feel too bad about leaving, but he did hope that someone came for the Oracle before he ended up being med for something happening to him.


    The one - armed Royal Rank Minotaur soldier came over to join them, and nodded to Lotus, who had been nearly constantly healing the whole farmyard with her area spells.


    "If you''re all headed out, I wanted to say thank you for the help. If you happen to be back this way, stop in at the farm, and we will make you something." Lotus hugged his leg, and the Minotaurughed. "You made enough for us in thest two days that none of our families will be satisfied with the simple fare from the fields. We''re going to have to start expanding our recipe lists."


    Lotus smiled up at him. "It''s not my fault that you prefer raw roughage. I just hope that my cooking wasn''t too hard on anyone''s stomach."


    The old Minotaur chuckled. "Our stomachs aren''t that sensitive. We will miss having your cooking around, though."


    One of the boys smirked at her. "Fear not, little cleric. I will figure out what you did to make rice and beans so good, and then make them even better."n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

 Chapter 549 No More Wagon

    Chapter 549 No More Wagon


    n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om


    Karl looked at the wagon that Thor had pulled this far across the wilderness. Then he turned to the oldest of the Royal Rank Minotaurs who hade to the defence of the farm.


    "Jacob, I bequeath my wagon to you. I know yours got destroyed, it was smashed when I got to your house. We are going to have to move faster than the wagon will allow, so you may have mine as a recement to help bring the supplies your neighbours will need."


    The Minotaur patted him on the shoulder. "Are you sure? Humans on foot are not faster than a wagon."


    Karl chuckled. "I have a harness for them to ride on Thor. His might won''t be challenged by a few daintydies."


    The Minotaursughed while Dana stuck out her tongue at him and Tessa rolled her eyes.


    Karl and Ophelia were both fast on foot, but Karl was nning to swap out after the first few hours, once they weren''t being as closely scrutinized. The other farmers wouldn''t know or care about the beasts as long as they didn''t approach the farms, and his secret was already out, so he didn''t have to worry about the Council finding out who he was anymore.


    [I will take my Dana as an artillery essory.] Rae agreed.


    That would free up a seat for Ophelia on Thor''s back, so she was well rested when they ran into trouble. But she would likely want to remain on foot once they got into the more dangerous areas.


    But with the Lamia and Naga Warriors nking Thor, they had plenty of ground forces already.


    [I will take Remi.] Cara insisted.


    Having the Naga Queen in Spirit Snake form was a greatpliment to her skills while flying, and if she wanted to fight on the ground, Remi could transform and bring out her final bodyguard.


    The Bodyguards were Monarch Rank now, strong enough to defend against anything that they were likely to find out here, while Cara found a way to disassemble it.


    The beasts came out as soon as they were out of sight of the farm, so they didn''t leave a strange impression with the farmers they had been secretly protecting for thest two days.


    For the first half hour, it was easy travels to head north toward the edge of the incident. All of the nearby farmers had gathered in one spot, and the monsters had followed, or had been hunted by Karl''s team.


    But no good thingsts forever, and after that first half hour of cleared monsters, they were into the area that hadn''t been cleared yet.


    [Turn a bit east. That path will be faster. There are a few farms ahead on that route, but they''ve taken care of most of the monsters.]


    That worked well enough for Karl, and the route between fields was either clear or the fences had been taken down by the Giant Boars.


    [Many small farmers in that house.] Rae informed them as they passed by a damaged farmhouse.


    Karl turned to see what Rae was looking at, and found that the house had copsed, but the floor seemed intact, and there was a basement or a cer under it.


    He ran over and rapped his knuckles on the wood.


    "We''ve cleared most of the attackers from the area. Do you need medical help? I have a cleric with me." He called.


    "Dad said to stay until he came for us." A small voice called back up.


    "He had to leave the farm. Do you want us to lead you to safety?" Karl asked.


    There was a defended farm only half a kilometre away. If they knew about these kids, they should havee to get them already. So, it was likely that nobody told them the kids were here.


    A few metres from the rubble of the house, a small trap door pushed up a pile of straw, and a young Minotaur and a Satyr stuck their heads up at the same time.


    The yard waspletely destroyed, very little could be salvaged. But when they saw Karl, they sighed in relief.


    "You said you have a cleric? Some of the others are hurt. They came from the neighbours farms because we had the best cer." The Satyr girl replied.


    Karl whistled and gestured for the others toe over, which brought Lotus running. Tessa wasn''t far behind her, but Lotus was obviously the more enthusiastic of the pair, and she had area healing instead of just direct healing spells.


    There turned out to be far more children than Karl had seen through the rubble. Over fifty of them had gathered there, and Karl began to wonder what the farmers were doing. Perhaps they had chosen to defend a house with no basement?


    [Hawk, go check that out.]


    Hawk circled around to check the actual content of the farm, and not just that there were people moving at it.


    [No enemies right now, but only five Commander Rank Minotaurs and a juvenile Troll. They all look like they''re half dead.]


    Thor snorted unhappily. [So, they didn''te for the children because they don''t expect to survive the day and hiding is safer than out in the open.]


    Karl pulled Tessa to the side. "Thest few adult survivors in the area are on theirst legs. They''re not going tost the day, or possibly even one more attack, if there is a Royal Rank Cyclops. Did you want to search for a way to carry the kids and bring them with us? Or did you want to ask them to hide until a rescue team cane for them? I''m sure someone will be searching for survivors as they clear the area."


    Tessa sighed and looked at the rubble. "I will have Lotus make a sled. There is no food in that pantry, it was empty when they got in. They''re not going tost long hiding here with no food or water."


    There was a wagon in the yard, but it was smashed beyond repair, and they would do better to just have Lotus use her magic to make them a sled to have Thor pull across the grass.


    Tessa went to the basement and traded with Lotus, who came up to inspect the rubble, looking for something that could be repurposed to transport arge group of children.


    Fifty kids weren''t going to be easy to move with any standard wagon, but if they strung a couple together, or made something like the sled Karl had in mind, they could at least have enough room for them all to sit.


    It would just be a very rough ride.


    "Oh, this can work. Rae, darling, you sweet girl, could you please help me make arge cloth floor with side ropes? It would take forever to grow the wood for it, but we can make a really long wagon out of these two axle assemblies and that fallen tree. Then I will make hangars for the bench seats out of cloth, and everyone can just ride down the sides." Lotus suggested.


    She drew it out on a piece of paper, and Rae realized that all she needed was two long pieces of cloth.


    So, instead of making anything, she just handed over the tarp they had been using to cover their camp.


    "Oh, yes this works as well. Karl, can you bring me that tree? No way can I lift that."

 Chapter 550 But Thor Likes Wagons

    Chapter 550 But Thor Likes Wagons


    Lotus turned the wagon into an oversized ore cart, but cloth with high sides to keep the kids from falling out. The silk was stretched tight between the two ends of the long wagon, while the back was open so they could climb in without being lifted over the sides.


    Fifty kids were a lot to put in one wagon, even when over half of them were Satyrs, who weren''trge even when they were fully grown.


    But after half an hour of construction and Tessa getting all the kids fed, they had them loaded and ready to move.


    Nothing else had attacked the survivors at the next farm, and Karl was fairly sure there was room in the wagon for them, even if they needed toy down for a while. The kids had learned that they could dangle their arms over the sides to see out, and the cloth of the walls would support most of their weight.


    This method actually turned out to be smoother riding than the hard wooden wagon, as the silk had some stretch to it, so the riders simply bounced and weren''t harshly jostled as Thor jogged through the fields.


    Thor took them straight to the half dozen survivors at the next farm house, and Tessa began healing even before the wagon stopped.


    "Sir, might I ask what you are doing? The children were safe underground." The juvenile Troll asked as they approached.


    Karl could see that he had a soldier''s uniform on, but the five Commander Rank Minotaurs were all farmers.


    "There was no food or water in there. We are relocating them to safety outside the incident, or to a farm that has the capability to protect against the aftermath of this tragedy.


    There is one behind us with a General on site and multiple Royal Rank soldiers. We held the position with no losses, so there should be others who have gathered their neighbours." Karl replied.


    That was what this group had tried, but none of them were Royal Rank, so when they faced a Royal Rank Cyclops the first night, they had lost half of the nearby families before it had been stopped, and the second night was even worse.


    The Minotaurs red at Karl as he implied that they were lesspetent than their neighbours. They knew who he meant because there were only two Royal Rank Minotaurs within thirty kilometres of them. There were some strong Commanders, but only the two old Royals lived nearby.


    What they didn''t know was that there were others who just didn''t leave the house often anymore, and one that had been travelling when the incident started. But they had all ended up at Karl''s location.


    Karl addressed the survivors again when nobody had anything else to say about him collecting the children. "The War Cleric has healed the worst of your wounds. Are you going toe with us? We will take everyone to rtive safety. Once the army or a local force clears the area, those of you with families can return home to rebuild."


    They turned to each other and nodded. "We wille with you. The six of us aren''t enough to handle what is out here, so we will need to find arger group anyhow. Travelling with you to defend the children seems like the best course of action." n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om


    Karl nodded, while the kids seemed nervous. Most of them seemed to recognize these people, but after a few seconds, Karl realized what the issue was. They were all wondering where their families had gone.


    They had been safely locked in a cer and didn''t know that the defenders had taken such gruesome casualties, as the bodies were not out in the open.


    "Load up and we will get going. There isn''t much room, but if you need to bring any essentials, you can hang bags from the corner posts."


    They just shook their heads and got in the wagon, swaying awkwardly until they realized only the edges were stable.


    Thor had just started moving again when a massive st of power in the distance nearly knocked him off his feet. The power sent Hawk tumbling through the air for a dozen kilometres, and knocked Ophelia to the ground while Karl slid backwards five metres.


    The buildings to their northwest were entirely levelled, and there was a mist of blood in the air near the horizon.


    Whatever had gotten too close had been obliterated, but Karl had no idea what had happened.


    Cara and Dana both sensed the next sting and put up a barrier to defend against it.


    Cara''s wall of obliterate failed a split second after Rae and Karl both built [Earth Shield] walls to protect the group. The first fell, but the second held and Dana''s barrier shifted the remaining energy over their heads.


    "What in the seven hells was that?" Lotusined.


    [Totem] all of the beasts thought at the same time.


    "There are Totem Rank leaders fighting in the distance. I can only imagine the damage that they have inflicted on their surroundings if we''re being hit this hard from over thirty kilometres away." Karl ryed.


    "Other side." Tessa warned.


    Karl put the shield all around them, making a dome, while Rae focused on the direction she sensed the attacking from.


    This st was much closer, and Cara''s barrier was the one that protected them after both stone walls failed.


    This time they could see the cloud of blood and ghostly mist in the air, then the shift in energy as thebatants moved dozens of kilometres between skills.


    [The Emperor caught the Haint.] Remi surmised.


    It felt like their energy, but the question was: How anyone was expected to survive this?


    Then the sense of power faded as they made arger move, taking the fight elsewhere.


    {ALL civilians take shelter underground.} A magical voice boomed over the area.


    "A littlete for that. They''ve been and gone.


    But on the bright side, most of the boars and Cyclops are dead now." Karl joked, hoping to ease the tension in the air.


    "What is gone?" The young troll asked.


    "The Emperor is having a disagreement with Councilwoman Leafa. Or at least, that''s what it feels like." Karl offered.


    "How does that exin anything?" Ophelia asked, and Karl realized that the Oracle hadn''t exined anything to anyone else.


    "Councilwoman Leafa may have reached the Totem Rank, and she is somewhat of a free spirit. I don''t have any real details, but when she left our location, it was assumed she was nning to go overseas on vacation.


    An unauthorized vacation, it seems. Hopefully, it doesn''t get too out of hand."


    [Overhead] Hawk warned as he ducked into his space.


    "All barriers up. Thor, we''re counting on you to protect the little ones."


    Hawk coated Rae''s stone wall with [Ghostfire Body] while Karl used [ming Body] on his for extra safety.


    Then Cara put all her energy into [Nullify], hoping to dissipate some of the energy that wasing at them.


    From only a few thousand metres overhead, the st was overwhelming. Karl felt all the barriers shatter, even with his whole group pouring everything they had into them.


    Then a massive Troll crashed into the ground with a victorious smile on his face, and a branch in his hand.


    "You bitch, I''ve got you now." He snarled as magical chains began to wrap around the Haint.


    Leafa''s face turned to face Karl, and he could have sworn that she winked at him before she was engulfed in purple magical chains, and her aura began to drop, returning to the Overlord Rank.

 Chapter 551 Gift Returned

    Chapter 551 Gift Returned


    [Item Gained] Sword of Champions


    [Artifact Grade Item]


    The de was beautiful, glowing a faint Mythril blue and covered with runes that leaked power, but it felt hollow,pletely drained of Soul Energy.


    Leafa had used every drop of energy that it had trying to escape the Emperor, but she hadn''t managed to get away, and with her aura returned to Overlord Rank, the Emperor seemed confident that she would no longer be a threat to him.


    The Haint seemed unconcerned as he set her back on her feet while he sat in the grass catching his breath and letting his regeneration regrow the missing chunks of his body.


    "Oh, it''s the merchant Karl and his band of merrymakers. Good to see you again." She greeted them.


    "It''s a pleasure to see you as well, Councilwoman. Do either of you require healing? It might be a moment before our clerics recover, but we can help."


    She waved her hand dismissively. "We will be fine by then. Did you see the Oracletely?"


    "He''s at the farm we were at earlier."


    Leafa nodded. "Lovely. Where was that?"


    Karl gestured in the right direction. "About a half hour jog that way. You''ll find them easily enough with soul sight, they have a number of Royal Rank Minotaurs with them."


    "You know about soul sight? That makes life easier. We should take time to catch up one day."


    The Emperor was ring at Karl, who was baffled by the Haint''s strange behaviour.


    She remembered him, but she appeared to have lost her short-term memory, or perhaps it had been purged by the spell she was under.


    "Certainly. I am sure that you have a wealth of knowledge to pass on." Karl agreed easily.


    She was one of the leaders of this nation, and while she was openly fighting with the Emperor only a few minutes ago, anyone could see that they had settled their issue.


    The Emperor stared at the cloth wagon full of children.


    "Is there a particr reason for the relocation?" He asked delicately. n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om


    "The damage from the recent incidents left them homeless. We were going to bring them to a group that could protect them." Karl replied with a casual shrug.


    That could be a lot further now that the two Totem Rank monsters had levelled half of the countryside. But eventually, they would find a safe spot to drop everyone off.


    "I will bring them with me. Once we recover the Oracle, I will bring everyone to the Fortress." The Emperor insisted.


    "They might be alright at the location where the Oracle is waiting, The defenders there are strong enough to deal with most of what is left."


    The Emperor nodded. "If they are strong enough to hold until the army clears the area without any additional losses, I should be able to trust them with a few more mouths to feed."


    Karl smiled. "We left them over a hundred boars cleaned and dressed for butchering. They''ll be at that all day, and then salting and smoking it for ages. The fields that we could save won''t be much supplemental feed, but they haven''t taken any casualties since they arrived."


    The Emperor looked startled. "You and the local farmers held a location with zero casualties? How many people are there?"


    Karl did a quick mental calction. "After the Royal Rank farmers called for their neighbours the morning after the first attack, there have been about twenty proper fighters, plus children and some crippled that our clerics couldn''t fully heal.


    I don''t know if you have any clerics in the area, but if you can get another Dragon Cleric toe to them, it should solve most of their issues. These ones have sworn an oath to remain with our group."


    "And I presume you are also under a simr oath?"


    Karl nodded. "Yes, not to abandon any of my people or go off without them."


    The Emperor nodded, then turned toward the wagon, where Tessa was working to free Thor from the harness. It was all Royal Rank spider silk, so she couldn''t just cut it without using a skill.


    The Emperor nodded politely to her as Tessa got the hesitant Thor to move away from the wagon. He had just gotten it, and he was understandably reluctant to let his new wagon go, especially when it was full of small creatures that could scrub his scales when they stopped.


    "Leafa, let''s go. Say goodbye to your new friends." The Emperor demanded, returning to his borderline enraged state when he had to talk to the Haint.


    Leafa waved to everyone, but didn''t say anything until she passed by Karl.


    "I feel like I''m supposed toe see you again one day. I will see you when I remember why." She whispered, nearly too low for even his sensitive hearing to pick up.


    Then she was gone, stepping through a portal that led to the farm Karl had been at this morning. He hadn''t realized that she could just open a portal instead of vanishing. That was quite the skill set, and it was a miracle that the Emperor managed to catch her in the first ce.


    But perhaps there was some limitation on it, or she couldn''t do it after she broke their bond. The Emperor took the leads to the pulling harness for the wagon and followed her without looking back, leaving Karl and his team alone in the middle of a zone of destruction.


    There were no intact structures in sight, not even the small stone shed had survived the battle of the Totems intact.


    Dana activated her movement skill to step up into the sky, then turned in a slow circle as she ascended. After only half a minute, she returned to the ground and shook her head.


    "If there were other survivors near us, there aren''t anymore. Everything is gone. The invaders, the buildings, the crops, any survivors that were above ground. Everything." She exined.


    "I suppose everyone needs an exnation. I learned while speaking with her during the battle that Miss Leafa is bonded to the Emperor with a spell, but when she broke through to Totem Rank, she escaped the bond and went on the run. What we just saw was him recapturing her.


    The purple chains of that ability should be locking away some of her memories and restraining her powers. So, basically, she forgot everything after we left the Fortress. If we run into her again, she probably won''t remember fighting at the farm with us. However, she''s there now, and someone might say something that helps her remember." Karl exined.


    "So, she''s not part of the council of her own free will?" Tessa asked.


    "I can''t say for certain. She seems to enjoy her time on the council. But she definitely wants to break her bond to the Emperor and flee the continent as well."


    "What next? Was there a reason other than the survivors that we were going this way?" Dana asked.


    "The Spelldes are northeast of us. I was taking us there by the easiest route. Once we have regrouped with them, we can make our way out of the country. We have more information to pass to them, and they should have a way to pass that information back to the people in charge."

 Chapter 552 Finding Friends

    Chapter 552 Finding Friends


    Tessa looked around at the situation, then sighed and rubbed Thor''s head.


    "On the plus side, even though we turned over the orphans without so much as a thank you, we can now get back to moving at a decent speed." Karl smiled, and Rae called out a pair of Golems.


    "Yes, we can ride in style now. Ophelia, do you think you can ride without a saddle?" Karl asked.


    "I think so. The Golems move pretty smoothly. But can the bodyguards keep up with Thor?"


    The Naga Warriors gave her a thumbs up, while the Lamia pair nodded. They might struggle to catch the golems or Rae in a straight line, but they were pretty quick, and Thor would only be at a casual jog that he could keep up all day.


    Karl mounted a Golem and took the point position, while Hawk soared overhead, scouting the area for surviving threats. Their chosen route out of the area had nothing, as thest attack had been nearly overhead, and that didn''t give the Giant Boars much of a chance.


    If there was anyone alive and hiding underground, Hawk was determined to ignore it so that they could actually make progress today and not just keep stopping to pet babies and build wagons. n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om


    Neither of those activities held any interest for him, but once they found the group of Dana Mages, they were guaranteed to find action. Every time he had met them in the past there was a fight of some sort, and most of them were with new species. That had to be a good sign of their interesting nature.


    So, he flew to the edge of the destruction and searched for surviving Cyclops and boar teams. Dead was dead when the rest of the team arrived, and they wouldn''t stop just because it was Hawk that killed some of them.


    Karl could hear his plotting, but it wasn''t much different from what he would have ordered anyhow.


    Even at the casual jogging pace, it wouldn''t take them too much longer to make their way out of the affected area. There was a chance that some of the invaders had scattered, but a few groups wouldn''t be a major issue, even if Hawk didn''t find them first.


    [The Dana Mages are on the move again, but they''re slow today. I think that something happened to them.] Hawk updated.


    [Can you tell what it is?]


    [I think that they have wounded members. They don''t have the hiding spell up anymore, and some of them are being carried on a cloth between people.]


    [How far are they?]


    [About an hour if Thor runs?] Hawk guessed.


    [You up for it, buddy?] Karl asked Thor, who started to run instead of answering.


    The startled passengers held on for dear life as the Cerro''s swaying gait turned into a ramming speed sprint. But the saddle was made for this, and the Golems had no problem keeping up, while their multi-legged body gave them a much smoother ride.


    After half an hour, Thor''s stamina was fading, and his sprint had faded to a run and then to a fast jog, but the Spellde n was now in sight, and they should have been able to recognized Karl and the others just as easily as he recognized them.


    They had even been sending scouts up every ten minutes to get a better view, so there was no way that they didn''t know Karl''s team wasing by now.


    Once they realized that Karl wasing to them, Prince Corbin turned his n back towards the iing Elites, and the promise of healing from the clerics they knew were with them.


    Karl didn''t bother getting down from the Golem when they met, he just nodded politely to the other Royal Rank Elite and waited for an update.


    "We were caught by surprise when the pair of fighting Totems appeared overhead. We were far too close to their battle, and they didn''t appear to care that there were others in the area. Do you know who had the audacity to attack the Emperor?


    Scratch that, can I get your clerics to heal my people? We have some severe injuries that our potions couldn''t handle. We can discuss the restter." Corbin began.


    "Of course. Tessa, Lotus, would you look after the Spelldes? Remi, you can help as well if you would like."


    Remi came out with a bag full of potions to test on the wounded, and Tessa did her best not tough at the aspiring alchemist. Even if she poisoned them with a bad concoction, there were still other healers around, or Remi could just cast a healing spell on them to cure it.


    Most of the damages were internal, aftermath of the sts from the Totem Rank battle, and without intensive treatment, they might not make it.


    That sort of healing wasn''t easy for most healing potions, and it was one of the reasons that the doctors had originally suggested to Remi that she work on using [Healing Ssh] as an injectable healing spell.


    A regr healing spell worked from the skin inward. A potion worked from the stomach out and took a while to take effect. But injected into the blood, a healing spell would be much more evenly dispersed.


    That was what she tried first, with one of the most severely injured Ascended Rank Spelldes. Remi crouched over the casualty as if listening to their heartbeat, then subtly bit the victim''s arm and injected [Healing Ssh].


    Then she fed him a blue potion and hovered over him to watch the effect, using her long lower body as a base so she could remain close enough to see all the minute changes.


    [That works better than expected. We should get someone to make us needles, and then we can just stab people with healing.]


    Raeughed at the reaction people would have to a needle the size that Remi had in mind to inject them with a whole potion.


    [Rae is right, I think it has to be concentrated for injectable use.] Karl agreed.


    [That''s easily fixed. But most importantly, look how well biting people works for healing. I''m going to bite another one.]


    Her body darted toward another wounded Spellde, a Commander, who she bit on the neck like a Vampire.


    The man squeaked in horror, then thecerations and bruising on his body began to visibly fade, starting at the bite mark.


    "You''re letting her do that because it''s funny, aren''t you? [Healing Ssh] doesn''t have to be injected." Prince Corbin asked Karl quietly.


    "It actually works faster when injected. But yes, she could just douse them with it, or feed them the spell suspended in a potion."


    The Spellde Prince shook his head, and Karl noticed that Remi had picked up a heavily injured girl. Nobody else in the group was that small, it had to be Tamarind, formerly Tori the mage.


    As she was still Ascended, she had taken heavy damage from the st, and Remi had shown at the beast Temple that she had a thing for grabbing and relocating small people.


    [Don''t run away with her after she is healed.] Karl warned.


    [No problem. She just needs more healing than my bite and a potion, so I''m bringing her to Lotus.]

 Chapter 553 Routing

    Chapter 553 Routing


    Karl and Prince Corbin went over everything that had happened to their groups since theyst met, and found that the Spelldes had not had a much easier time than Karl''s group had.


    Despite the fact that they had gotten stuck in a Cyclops spawn, the Spelldes had just had a terrible time getting out of the wilderness.


    First, they had chosen to double back on their route, so they would be further from the major poption centres. But that put them only a few kilometres from the Undead spawn, so they had ended up moving camp in the middle of the night.


    Then they hade across a group of Nomadic Demons who were not happy with the trespassers on their pastures.


    That had led to a small fight, but fortunately no casualties.


    Then, they had to divert again because there were soldiers everywhere, working to contain the Cyclops spawn, and the Spelldes weren''t willing to try to pass themselves off as local as it would just lead to being conscripted for the cleanup effort.


    So, while Karl had been fighting for multiple days, the Spelldes had been running constantly and spending mana to keep the barrier up and avoid detection.


    Prince Corbin finished his story and leaned against his staff as he watched the healers work.


    "What''s your n from here on? Are you going to travel with us, or are you looking for something in particr to help your growth?" He asked.


    "I need either a holy item, or a unique skill that will help Thor, the Lightning Cerro, grow.


    He has hit the limits of his natural potential, and he needs a bit of a bump to get him past the bottleneck and on to higher heights. So, I was thinking that we might stop at the Whiton Temple on our way back.


    If there is anywhere on the continent that will help a beast with Holy Affinity ovee their limits, that should be the ce."


    Corbin seemed to understand the concept of needing resources to surpass your natural limits quite well. "This might seem like a wild goose chase, but I remember back when the Elite Program was first starting, my second year in school I believe, there was an incident near the three-way border between Newbon, the Divine Beasts, and the Mountain Giants that involved a Holy Relic.


    A bunch of the teachers were gone for nearly three weeks investigating it.


    The incident was near Dunster, Northeast of here. Well, almost North from here, but that''s a thousand kilometres of wilderness away.


    If you go that way, you can follow the Mountain Giant border all the way to Chiptonrith Lake. It''s far from a safe route, and it will put you within a few kilometres of the front lines between Newbon and the Mountain Giants, but it was supposed to be incredibly powerful."


    Karl looked at the map and sighed. The area had four nations iming territory within a hundred kilometres of it, and all four of the nations were hostile to each other.


    "As good as that opportunity sounds, it is probably smarter not to go anywhere near that spot right now. With the Giants acting up, and the fact that they''re going to have better weapons soon, things are going to get dicey."


    Prince Corbin frowned at the reminder.


    "That''s another thing. I''ve never heard of a monster spawn monster having enough lucidity to talk to anyone, much less form battle strategies and remember trade skills.


    Even species that should have some level of civilization don''t attempt to build anything when theye from a spawn, they''re just crazed by the Anomaly.


    But somehow that Cyclops was not. Not just that, the Mountain Giants knew that it was not crazed, and they came for it.


    That sounds to me like the Cyclops Forge Masters have the blessings of a Titan God protecting them. It''s the only thing that makes sense to protect their minds from the Anomaly."


    Karl sighed. "And if the Titan Gods are protecting them, then they are also interfering to assist the Giants in their war. With that sort of advantage, the Giants might begin to rise again, and not remain in the nations they''ve established.


    I wonder if they found something? The Orcs mentioned that they''re looking for fragments of the original Dragon Scale. It was supposed to have been buried on this continent along with the Demigod who had taken it, but nobody knows where that is.


    That''s why the Orcs are nomadic, they are actually working a grid pattern to search the continent for signs of the ancient grave."


    Prince Corbin paled. "I think that I know what they''re looking for. It''s not a grave at all, but a stable anomaly. It''s in the southern end of the Beastkin Nation, deep within the jungle and hidden within one of their ancient step pyramid temples.


    I came across it on a mission a few years ago and reported it, but nothing came of it.


    ording to the teams that came after me, there is nothing in the Temple, but I clearly saw the tomb of a Titan, and felt the power of a Demigod.


    Unfortunately, I could not enter. The anomaly was there, I know it was, but when I tried to enter, I simply stepped through the portal like a mirage.


    It''s not that far off our route, we could stop in again on our way back and try to look into the Anomaly to see what might be in there."


    Karl smiled. "You don''t seem enthusiastic about the idea."


    Corbin shook his head. "Would you be all that eager if you knew the sort of traps that a Demigod could set on their Mausoleum?"


    Karl''s smile faded. "You make an excellent point. Even if we can find it, getting to any treasure that it might contain is an entirely different matter. However, if we could at least prove that the Anomaly was there and stable, we would be able to report back on its existence.


    That should earn us some rewards, and perhaps even get a team of Blue Dragon Clerics sent there to research the facility. If anyone can find a way in, it would be the clerics of the God of Knowledge."


    "So, is that our route, then? We will head east, avoiding the roads and towns, to head into the Beastkin territories? If we pass south of Skiple, we should have a straight shot through the ins until we get near the border and into the jungle.


    It will be slow-going until we get to the river, and from there it is easy enough to find the temple. They weren''t trying to hide it when it was built, it was just that they built it so long ago that everything around it changed." Corbin exined.


    "I will talk to the others, but I don''t see it being a problem. We can follow the river back up to theke so that we don''t risk getting lost in the jungle. I don''t know how much faster it will be, but at least we will know where we''re going." Karl agreed.


    "Alright. As soon as my people are healed and fed, we will be ready to move. It''s still a long walk out of the Newbon Empire borders, and I get the feeling that the Emperor doesn''t want you to linger any more than you have to."


    That might be an understatement. Especially now that he suspected Karl had something to do with Leafa breaking her bindings.


    [If we see her again, I''m totally Nullifying that spell.] Cara agreed.n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

 Chapter 554 And He Shall Deliver

    Chapter 554 And He Shall Deliver


    The wounds weren''t going to take long to repair, as there were no missing limbs or organs.


    There was heavy internal damage from the st, but for cleric healing that was one of the easier forms of damage to heal, right behind simple cuts. Even broken bones were harder to mend than soft tissue damage.


    Tessa and Lotus already had everyone on their feet, though a few were still weak and exhausted, as healing used some of your own energy to do the mending.


    They had been pushing hard to get away from danger, so they didn''t have a lot to spare, and now with the healing, they were going to need a proper meal and a short nap before they were back in top shape.


    That process was already started, and while it was a simple meal with no need for cooking, energy was energy. The part that really mattered was getting as far as possible from here by the time that it got too dark for the Spelldes to efficiently travel.


    They would be headed northeast, in order to increase their distance from the incident''s borders, and then they would start heading for the Beastkin Nation border.


    That was going to take them most of a week, and they would have to cross from the open grasnds through arge portion of marsnd before entering the jungle.


    That was going to slow their progress even more than the fact that the Spelldes didn''t have superhuman strength on their side, so their travelling speed was mediocre, even with magical assistance.


    Ophelia could cover more ground than they did in a day, just relying on Werebear form.


    "Everyone finish eating and then get some rest. You have one hour, and then we''re moving out again." Corbin warned his team.


    Hawknded next to the camp and brought out chunks of boar to roast. Only Thor didn''t enjoy a good chunk of ham, and with so much in his inventory, Hawk was even willing to share with the Not Dana Mages.


    The fact that this one came fresh from the zone and not from his stockpile was mostly irrelevant.


    Even with all the extra people to feed, a whole boar was far too much food. But they only had an hour, ording to Corbin, so they began picking the prime cuts and preparing to roast them for lunch.


    "What do we even do with all this extra? Unlike you, we can''t just store it indefinitely in raw form." Corbin sighed.


    "Either leave it here or bring it to a farmer. Grab as much as we can cook quickly, and I will have Hawk drop the rest off for a group of farmers. The ones outside the incident will still be short on meat."


    Hawk mentallyughed at the idea. Hurling half a boar at someone''s porch sounded like a lot of fun.


    The Spelldes made a five-metre-long fire, and then arranged the strips of meat on an extendable pole intended for their tent. Narrow strips draped over the top cooked quickly and were easy to flip. Then they just needed to cool the pole and clean it after they were done.


    If they had more time, that was how they would smoke and dry jerky. But nobody wanted to stay too close to a dangerous situation.


    Once the meal was done, the magesy down for a short nap, and Hawk took off with the remainder of the boar, looking for a suitable target to donate it to.


    He was flying high in the clouds, as the presence of a ming blue avian monster with the wingspan of a full-grown Roc or Phoenix would panic the locals.


    He wasn''t seeing many good targets at first. However, about ten kilometres north, a young boy was kneeling in the yard with his hands folded in prayer and his tusked Trollish head facing the sky. He couldn''t hear him, but he could read his lips well enough even with the tusks.


    [Gods, please forgive my family and end this famine. Grant us the food to make it through the winter and a strong harvest to send my sister to school.] The boy was pleading with the sky.


    A sharp turn as Hawk released his ws sent the remains of the boar hurtling towards the farmhouse at well over a hundred kilometres an hour, and into the budding stalks of the corn nts in the field in front of the Trollish child.


    The boy froze in shock as the animal flew over his head, then began to cheer and call for his parents toe outside as it crashed to the ground on the other side of the fence.


    Hawk wasughing uncontrobly in Karl''s mind as the farmers tried to determine why a gift from the heavens would be a Giant Boar, already gutted with the best cuts removed. It came from the sky, they had all seen that much. But why this boar in particr? Did they do something right to be gifted so much fresh meat? Or did they do something to anger the gods and make them take out the best cuts first? n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om


    [Was it as good as you hoped?] Karl asked the happy bird.


    [All that and more. You should see the looks on their faces. They''re so confused.] Hawk agreed.


    [You''re going to do it again, aren''t you?] [As soon as I can find another boar. Forget throwing monkeys. Hurling food at people is much more fun. I saw in a book that the humans used to use it as a punishment, but the Trolls are so happy.]


    Remi giggled. [That''s because you threw the food to them and didn''t hit them with it. The punishment was to hit them in the face with food while they couldn''t run away.] That wasn''t quite how the stockades worked. But they weren''t entirely wrong, either.


    [As long as you''re enjoying yourself and you don''t hurt anyone. Just make sure that you don''t drop a living boar in someone''s yard. They might not be prepared for a fight.] Karl warned.


    [Got it. Only dead food.]

 Chapter 555 Hawk The Human

    Chapter 555 Hawk The Human


    Once everyone was rested and ready, the group got moving again, slower than Karl would have preferred, but moving steadily northeast out of the attack zone.


    Soon, they would be crossing the major road that ran east out of Clifnal, where they were originally intending to sell their goods, but they couldn''t follow that road east just yet, as it ran southeast down into the region that had been influenced by the Cyclops spawn.


    Hopefully, there hadn''t been too many merchants going that way in thest few days, but Karl was certain that at least a few unfortunate groups had wandered into danger, unaware that anything had changed since they left the city.


    "The road should be a good spot for the night. We can also pretend to be proper merchants again, despite ourck of wagon. Why don''t we stop there for the evening, and then if there is another incident, we might be able to gather more allies for the fight, which we can leave in the morning under the guise of regr business?" Karl suggested.


    Prince Corbin considered that for a moment, and then nodded. "That works for me. The less suspicion that our presence draws, the better. Even if we don''t have any wagons, most of the groups that meet us at night won''t know that until dawn, at which point we can make up an excuse. If there is no incident, we won''t need to say anything, and if there is an incident, they''ll be happy to have us, and unlikely to look too deeply into our motivations."


    They made it to the road an hour before dark, a proper time for a travelling group to start setting up camp. [Nobody within ten kilometres, and most of them are already set up for the night.] Hawk reported.


    [Alright, you cane down and rest. Rae will take over the night watch duties in an hour or two.]


    Hawknded outside the camp, and then smirked at Karl as he took out one of the many transformation tokens that Rae had stolen from the Fortress.


    In his natural form, he was a massive ming bird, blue at the feathers, but when he focused on toning down the fire he turned back to red as the temperature dropped.


    But when he activated the transformation spell, he didn''t turn into a human as Karl had expected. Instead, he appeared to be one of the feathered Demons. His head looked the same, and while he had a mostly humanoid body, and feathered arms, he still had pale blue and red wings on his back.


    {Ha, I am people now.} Hawk chirped, then got the most confused look on his face.


    {The spell is broken.}


    "I think that you need to focus more on looking like a human. You still look like yourself, but you''re shaped a bit like a human." Karl exined while trying not tough.


    Hawk transformed back into his natural form, then focused hard on what humans looked like. He hadn''t seen a lot of them without clothes on, but he at least understood the difference in male and female forms. So, he focused on making himself into a Karl.


    He knew that form very well.


    "Oh, that version is much better. You''ve still got a lot of feathers, and wings, but you definitely look more human now." Karl congratted Hawk as the transformation seeded.


    He had pale blue skin and red feathers for hair and on therge wings on his back, but otherwise, Hawk now looked human.


    He smiled, and Karl noted that he didn''t have teeth, but a rim of shiny red beak. That might cause some issues eating, but it was a small thing.


    "I am the Karl now!" Hawk agreed.


    His voice was deep, but musical, and Corbin couldn''t help butugh.


    "Is that the first time you used that ability? It''s an incredible one." He congratted the proud Thunderbird.


    "It''s a token, see? I got it from the Emperor Troll''s fancy house."


    "Bethoke Fortress." Karl exined.


    "Oh, those are valuable items. They let you leave with them?" Corbin asked.


    Both Hawk and Karl began tough, and the Spelldes did their best to hide their amusement as they realized what had happened. "Oh, you borrowed them without telling anyone. I see how it is. Those spells are normally never allowed to leave the property. We have a few at the Spellde Sect as well, so that nonhuman visitors can take on forms that can speak anguage we understand."


    Karl nodded. "Speaking of which, have you noticed that you can understand Trolls and Orcs much more easily than others? I noticed the other day that the System seemed to be tranting Orcish and Troll tomon in my mind.


    I didn''t notice at first, but when the guards came to investigate, I had to break up a fight because the Demons couldn''t speak Orcish."


    Prince Corbin froze in shock. "You speak Abyssal?" n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om


    "Pardon?"


    Corbin made a vague gesture, indicating that he was trying to determine how to exin the problem. "The Demonic Guards of the Newbon Empire speak Abyssal, not Common. The Orcs speak Orcish, the Trolls speak Trollish, and they only switch tomon for the benefit of humans, or when they''re speaking to someone who doesn''t speak any of the othernguages.


    Mostly, everyone speaks their ownnguage, but they learn all the others, so they can understand each other."


    Karl motioned for the others toe over. "Did you have any problems understanding people after we arrived?"


    Dana shrugged. "The Demons and Satyrs have a brutal ent that is a pain to understand, but other than that, not really. The others all speakmon pretty well, except the Serpents."


    Corbin reached into his pocket and took out a pipe that he lit with a fire spell from his fingertip.


    "So, the system doesn''t trante Serpent, but it''s tranting the rest for you all? Do the others hear heavy ents or unfamiliar words?" He asked as he smoked.


    Ophelia nodded. "Trolls and Orcs are easy to understand, and the Satyrs and Minotaurs as well, but I have a terrible time understanding the Demons'' ent. They use a heavy ng, kind of like the mountain vige farmers back home."


    Lotus looked confused. "The demons sound funny? I thought that the Orcs all sounded like they were drunk."


    One of the Commander Rank Spelldes began tough.


    "To think that I spent an entire year learning newnguages, when you five didn''t even realize that you might need to."


    Lotus giggled. "So, you speak Minotaur?"


    The man shook his head. "The Minotaurs speak Common. But the Satyrs don''t. They speak a dialect of Abyssal. The fact that you didn''t even notice is just an unfair advantage."


    Tessa was making notes. "So this is the advantage of having more of the system functions unlocked. Personally, I can tell when their words are being tranted. It has a distinctive inflection in my mind that''s the same no matter the tone."


    Karl thought about that for a moment. That was not true for him. Everyone had a different way of speaking. It was only when they got mad like the Emperor had that he began to hear their dialect.


    Maybe if he focused harder on what they were actually saying, he would get more detail from the trantion? You could tell a lot about a human by how they spoke, so logically he should be able to tell more about other species the same way.

 Chapter 556 Poor Route Choice

    Chapter 556 Poor Route Choice


    The novelty of being a Karlsted about ten minutes, then Hawk returned to his space and his natural form.


    Talking to people was overrated. They just kept asking him strange questions about flying, or wanted to touch his feathers.


    Rae smirked as Hawk retreated to safety. [See, being here in the shadows is far superior to being out there where people who can bother you. We can''t all be Thor, who people naturally want to love on and groom.]


    [Have you considered not trying to jump scare people?] Cara asked.


    [Considered it, rejected the thought.] Rae confirmed.


    Karl chuckled at their interactions and the way that they just epted Hawk''s decision that trying to be human was overrated. But now he knew how to do it, so if he wanted toe out in ces where his natural body was toorge to fit, he would be capable of it.


    No more forced sidelining if they were fighting indoors, though he would likely just remain in his space anyhow and cast out from there.


    The fact that they could use skills while in their spaces was the ultimate advantage for the beasts. If they didn''t want to interact, they didn''t have to, and nobody could bother them in there.


    She dide outside for the night watch, though. If there were any lost monsters or stragglers, she wanted the advantage of already being in the area when she detected them.It could save nearly a second in the process between finding them and eating them.


    She was the only one from Karl''s group that was on watch that night, the rest of the work was being done by the Spelldes. The first light of dawn was Rae''s signal to go to bed, and Hawk''s signal to start scouting. He could do it at night now, as his vision had changed with his evolution, and he no longer had any issues seeing at night. But that was Rae''s turn to hunt, and he didn''t want to start family strife.


    [There are merchantsing. They must have started moving very early. From the south.] Hawk informed them not long after taking off.


    That was not the expected direction, as the road led through the area that had been affected by the spawn in that direction. But if they hade through that way, they should have additional information about the situation. Perhaps it had been mostly cleared, and they wouldn''t have to go east to get around the dangers.


    "Prepare for visitors. They''reing from the south, out of the danger zone, so they might be in rough shape." Karl warned the Spelldes.


    The group was jogging down the road, and Karl noticed that they also didn''t have a wagon with them. They hadrge backpacks full of supplies, but the packs looked like they were hastily assembled, and not the sort of pack that one would choose for a long journey.


    Karl stepped out to the edge of the road and raised a hand in greeting as they came into sight, hoping they would stop to give some answers.


    The group was entirely made of Trolls, the slender blue skinned variety, and they had a Royal Rank shaman leading them.


    Karl could feel the elemental magic lingering on him, like a scent of ozone, but not an actual smell.


    The Shaman stopped in front of Karl and bowed slightly, panting hard from the run with a pack on.


    "I take it that the road south of here isn''t safe? We wereing across from the west and had to turn north to avoid trouble." Karl greeted him.


    "You would be correct. We lost everything but what we could carry, plus two of our people. There is some sort of invasion of Cyclops and Giant Boars to the south.


    The army is out dealing with them, but there are so many that it will take them ages. Is it safe to go west from here?" He replied.


    "Yes, you can go west ovend from here, just don''t go much further south, or you''ll be into it again. It runs all the way to Bethoke Fortress."


    The Troll cursed. "So the city markets at Mitford are inessible?"


    Karl frowned. "The city of Mitford was sacked. I don''t know what has survived, but the whole city is in rebuilding mode, and I was told by Overlord Leafa that two of the Council members are there overseeing it.


    The problem is that everything from here to there was invaded. You might make good money on what is left, but it would be safer to go west until you are past the Fortress and then turn south if you want to trade there."


    The Troll sighed and looked at his ragged group ofpanions. All of their clothes were tattered, and their weapons were cracked and chipped from intense battle. Thest thing that they wanted was another fight.


    If they hadn''t been Trolls and able to regenerate from the wounds that the Boars and Giants inflicted upon them, they would never have made it out. "I don''t suppose that you have any cloth for sale? We might not get through the Fortress gates looking they way that we do right now."


    Karl chuckled and nodded. "Yeah, I''ve got a bit of cloth with me. Consider it a gift in hopes of good fortune."


    They still had the rough canvas that had been the cover for the wagon, and that would be enough to at least make a basic toga for each of the Trolls, which they could hold closed with their sword belts.


    As he was handing over the in grey cloth, one of the Spelldes came over with an armload of cloth. "Here, take this as well. A simple kilt in n McCauley tartan looks good on everyone, and trolls usually go shirtless anyhow." He offered.


    The Troll Shaman turned to Karl. "What did he say? I can''t understand his ent at all."


    Karl chuckled. "He is offering you a bolt of his n''s signature tartan so that you look presentable, and not like beggars in the rough canvas I have." n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om


    The Troll smiled and patted the confused man on the shoulder.


    "Thank you. We will look glorious in your n''s colours. My people will wear it with pride."


    The Trolls stepped to the side so they could change from their tattered clothes into kilts with crudely cut canvas tunics.


    "I thought that my ent was fairly easy to understand." The Spellde whispered. "It is for me, but apparently not for Trolls who are used to the local Common ents. They''re happy to have the tartan, though. Is there a reason you had so much of it?"


    The mage chuckled and shook his head. "I have a spell to make it. I always carry one bolt of it in a spatial storage bag, just in case. I will make another once we''re on the road."


    "You should speak to Lotus as we walk. She would be genuinely interested in a cloth creation spell that can make fancy cloth. Or perhaps Dana, as she''s also a mage." Karl suggested.


    The mage shook his head. "n secret, I''m afraid. We''re not allowed to teach it to outsiders. I''ve tried to convince the Elders to teach the whole Spellde n, as generations of my family have lived there, but this spell only makes my family''s pattern, and they said it wasn''t appropriate."


    Karl shrugged. "Still, if you change your mind, let one of them know. They might be able to modify the spell to make other patterns."

 Chapter 557 Travel Buddies

    Chapter 557 Travel Buddies


    The Trollish Merchants turned west and left as soon as they were presentable again. They weren''t rushing, but they weren''t waiting around for something else to find them.


    That left the surrounding area clear for the Spellde n to finish packing up and preparing to head east through the grasnds.


    First, they just needed to warn the groupsing south that there was danger ahead so that they didn''t walk right into the incident unprepared.


    Karl jogged over when he saw a grouping, giving them plenty of time to slow down before reaching his team.


    "There has been an incident south of here. There are Cyclops and Giant boars running rampant, and the army is trying to clear them up. We met the remains of a Trollish Merchant group this morning, and they lost everything, including half their team.


    I wouldn''t rmend that you go any further down the road. My people are going east instead," Karl warned the lead driver.


    "Do you know how far east it goes?" The driver asked.


    Karl shook his head. "It goes west all the way to the Fortress before it ends, but I don''t know exactly how far east or south."


    Well, he did know yesterday, but it could have been partially cleared up by now.


    "Alright, we will wait here for the day, then. Once we see someoneing north with news, we will know if we can move again. Thank you for the warning, traveller."


    Karl nodded. "I lost my wagon as well. I was in the western end of it when the Giants appeared. Be safe out there."


    The merchant wagon driver nodded, and then gestured for his team toe forward as Karl returned to his group.


    "Alright, let''s get a move on. The others know about the danger now, so we can let them tell anyone else whoes along." He exined.


    The Spelldes looked more than a little jealous as Rae called out her Golems to take Karl and Ophelia as riders, while Hawknded to take Dana for the day.


    His mes were ethereal, not hot in this form, and Rae had made a saddle just for this purpose. Dana, on the other hand, had not been informed of the change in ns.


    "Wait, am I expected to ride on Hawk?" She asked when he headbutted her to end her hesitation.


    "That''s the n. You have ranged attack skills, he is the longest ranged attacker on the team. So, you''re well paired. Besides, Rae just made him a fancy new saddle, and he hasn''t gotten to try it out yet." Karl agreed.


    "And why is it not you, who is unlikely to suffer fall damage, who is testing this theory?" "Because apparently I''m a ground attacker. I don''t make the rules here, I just follow them. Do you need a hand up?"


    Dana shook her head in dismay and used a movement skill to step up to Hawk''s neck height, then settled into the saddle and began to tie herself into the harness.


    It was fairly intuitive, and it tied around her waist and thighs as well as over her shoulders, so she could move her upper body freely, but not worry about being tossed too far back and forth.


    "Well, I approve of the harness. It''s solid, and made of Rae''s silk. I don''t have to worry about it breaking."


    As soon as she had finished tying herself on, Hawk pped his massive wings and rocketed into the air at a speed that folded Dana against his back.


    [I need to warn her next time, it''s notfortable when the goes backward like that.] Hawk noted as he used [Ghostfire Body] to form a shield protecting her from the wind.


    [Remember, she''s not as strong as you or me. Her body isn''t made for that sort of rapid manoeuvring, you need to give her time to get a grip.]


    Over the next few minutes, the new pair got used to each other, and Dana''s narration let Hawk know what she was capable of enduring.


    Watching him dive, twirl and swoop from side to side as Dana got used to flying was making Tessaugh constantly.


    Ophelia just looked happy that it wasn''t her. n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om


    The ride on the spider golems was smooth andfortable, almost like riding on a sofa. If she had a proper cushion under her, it really would be.


    The pace was casual, just a brisk walk for Thor, even though the Spelldes were doing their best to cover ground before it started to get dark, and they had to stop again.


    That night found them in open grasnds, mostly unpopted now that Hawk''s presence had scared off the smaller beasts and one nomadic tribe that only had six people.


    They had spotted the bird in the air and had simply changed directions to avoiding into what it might consider its territory.


    The next morning, Dana wasn''t nearly as reluctant to board her transport for the day, and the group was moving right at dawn. Their goal for the night was to make it to the river. They could either follow that southeast to the Capital, or they could follow it as far as the road, then head northeast until they came to the trading route that led into the Beastkin Nation.


    That would take them close to their destination at the forgotten temple.


    It should take two to three more days to make it to the road along the river, then likely ten more to the temple, depending on how slow moving in the Jungle was.


    Karl didn''t have high hopes for the speed that the Spelldes were going to manage once they were in dense trees or the marshes that they were going to get before the borders, but with their magic, they might be just as good in soft terrain as Thor was.


    However, Karl was thinking too far ahead. There wasn''t much between them and the border but grasnds, marsh and one town they would use as a waypoint. But getting that far was not going to be as easy as he had hoped.

 Chapter 558 Risen Ruins

    Chapter 558 Risen Ruins


    The first signs that all was not well in thend of Newbon came just before dawn, when Rae spotted a portal opening, but nobody came through.


    Instead, there were signs of spell casting on the other side, and then the magic in the area began to destabilize.


    [Karl, get up. Something is happening.] He opened his eyes and looked in the direction Rae''s attention was focused.


    The spell was still ongoing, and it was doing something to the energy in the area. Karl couldn''t tell what at first, but then something under the ground began to shake, and the ground itself began to glow.


    Karl felt one of the Spelldesing over to see what had attracted his attention, so he motioned for silence as he pointed into the distance.


    "I think that there is an ancient ruin there, and someone is casting a spell to try to activate it. Rae spotted the portal when they opened it, and I can sense the magic they''re using, but I don''t know what the goal is, unless they are treasure hunters seeking an ancient artifact." Karl whispered.


    The Spellde nodded. "That might be the case. We do the same thing from the Sect Compound at home. We have a portal array, and we either send out teams or we check on known and likely opportunities.


    Seers can''t tell when an anomaly or trial will appear until someone finds it. So, we search using historical references. Normally, we focus on things within the Golden Dragon Nation, since those are the ones that might be a direct threat or an essible opportunity. But there is no real reason that you couldn''t focus on the historical sites of the other nations.


    If that is what someone is doing, there shouldn''t be any effect on the area, though. It''s just a scrying spell. If they are doing something to a ruin they found, that is an entirely different matter. They might have activated an ancient Relic. Normally, we try not to do that, as so many of them are unstable and could explode or cause other issues. Even the Anomalies are some of the milder effects, as they normally onlyst a day or two.


    Legend says that the old capital of Hitnd, a human nation east of here, waspletely obliterated when someone identally activated the ruins it was built over. Ten million dead within seconds."


    Karl frowned. "Well, we can hope that whatever they''re doing doesn''t cause something like that. We''re still far enough away that even if it would level a city, we should be safe. Besides, I can create stone walls for defence. A bomb outside the wall is much less scary." The Spellde nodded. "About that wall. You might want to start thinking about making it. The power in the distance seems really unstable."


    [Rae, want to give me a hand? Let''s build a proper wall around the camp in case that thing blows up.]


    [I''m on it. Then Hawk can cover it in his Ghostfire barrier. That should stop the rest of the damage.]


    That turned out to be the worst possible answer.


    While they quickly managed to build the barrier, the power used to activate the skills was resonating with whatever was going on in the distance, and everything in between was beginning to shake.


    Trees were falling, the ground was trembling, and the portal snapped shut with a surge of power that Karl was certain had been the caster on the other side erecting their own barriers.


    "What is going on? Why are we turtled into a stone castle?" Prince Corbin called as he woke up.


    "Someone opened a portal in the distance, and they were doing something that made the ground glow. It might be an ancient Relic or trial. I didn''t want the camp to take a direct hit if the ground exploded instead of just shaking." Karl exined.


    It was doing more than just shaking now. There was somethinging up out of the ground, a simple stone construct that looked like the ruins of a city from Karl''s vantage point.


    Hawk was resisting the urge to go out and inspect it for now. Until the mana stabilized, and he wasn''t at risk of getting blown up, it was safer to just wait and keep his barrier up around the camp.


    Karl could see that there were crumbled granite walls, ruined buildings, and in the middle of the risen city, a faintly glowing purple sphere.


    "Is it just me, or does that look like a trial instance entrance to anyone else?" Karl asked.


    "None of us can see anything past the walls." Lotus reminded him.


    Karl shrugged. "You can''t see anything because Ophelia is standing in front of you. But I get your point. I''m cheating with the ry from Rae. There is a ruined city that just came up out of the ground, and a glowing something in the middle that might be a trial instance entrance.


    Now, someone triggered this, so it could get messy if they realize we''re here. But I still think we should have a vote on whether to steal the instance from them if that''s what it is." Corbin sighed. "You''re nuts. However, you''re not wrong. Anyone who sees us in the area is likely to try to kill us. It might be safer to be inside the instance than outside of it."


    The rest of his n prepared to move, trusting his judgment, and Karl''s team waited for Thor and the Golems toe prepare them for a trip.


    "The city literally starts right outside this wall. It is less than a kilometre to the instance. We will do better moving on foot with a full retinue of guards." Karl exined. N?v(el)B\\jnn


    He also didn''t want to damage the ground any more than it had been, in case there were treasures there which were hiding in the dark. There was too much magic present for Rae and the others to tell if there might be treasures left behind, and that meant manually searching.


    The Spelldes seemed to have the same idea, as the moment that Karl and Hawk took down the defences, they began to spread out, making a wide line to travel through the ruins, instead of following the leader on a path that they knew had no traps.

 Chapter 559 What Is It?

    Chapter 559 What Is It?


    Rae did still call her golems, and Karl added the Lamia Bodyguards to the group, but Dana left her Golems in reserve. Unlike Rae, she didn''t get much situational information from hers, only a vague sense of where they were and what happened around them. They couldn''t be used to search for treasures in the ruins, but they might identally squish them into the soft dirt.


    The majority of the ruined city was still covered in the rich ck topsoil and long grass that had grown over it, but the magic which had caused it to rise was slowly dissipating the excess.


    The architecture was simple, with fieldstone walls crumbled by time, and piles of small round river rocks next to the remains of small houses. Many appeared to have been one room buildings, but there were signs of indoor plumbing, so they weren''tpletely primitive, just small homes.


    "Do you think that these were the slums of town? All the small houses, and I see a lot of petrified wood piled up in the corners, but not split for firewood. I think they had bunk beds, so it might have been a military barracks as well." One of the Spelldes noted quietly.


    "The quality is good, fieldstone with stone floors. Barracks or possibly traveller dorms would make sense." Corbin agreed.


    That reminded Karl of something he read in a history book. Back in the ancient past, when the system was fully active, most towns were built around a dungeon entrance. Both to keep the area secure, and for the travellers and adventurers who came to visit supplied and fed.


    There was a whole industry around harvesting the resources from the dungeons, but it took skilled and powerful groups of warriors.


    But most dungeons were for groups of either five or ten people.


    So, these small houses could be something like private hotels for them, rented to house the whole group, but not a lifelong, or likely even a long-term residence.


    The slums would look empty in a ce like this, as they would have been canvas tents or tin roofed shacks. Plus, there normally wasn''t much left of them if the inhabitants had to evacuate.


    The magic that had raised the ruins from the ground was still too strong to detect much, even for Remi, who was very well attuned to mana flows as a Shaman.


    But the Lamia bodyguards did find a few ''treasures'' in the dirt, which turned out to be silver chains with semi-precious stones in them.


    They handed them straight to Remi, though it was Tessa who actually knew how to identify magical items properly.


    However, it appeared that Remi could do it as well, though not in the same way. She had just learned to use the system to sort things that had some level of attunement.


    [Inspect] Karl heard her think. n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om


    [Junk, junk, oh, shiny.]


    [Ne of Fireball] {Damaged} Charges 0/50


    [Hawk, I got you a present.]


    Hawkughed when he saw what it was.


    [Just put it in my space and I will see if I can make it not brokenter.]


    Neither of them actually knew how to fix the ne, but it might be something obvious, like a cracked stone or a broken link. They could fix the link, and they had lots of little stones from the Giants. Giants always had stones in their pockets, and the beasts loved to collect them. Karl didn''t even see them anymore, they were just pilfered by the beasts as soon as they were detected.


    Along the line, one of the Spelldes found a in metal ring, and another found a broken amulet.


    There wasn''t a lot of value to be found, but it was clear that whatever was in the centre of this ruined city was powerful. [I can see the thing. It''s a purple sphere, glowing and floating in the air. It doesn''t look like a portal.] Hawk noted.


    As they rounded the corner, everyone could see the orb, and the tform that it was floating above. There were no stairs up to it, though. Perhaps it wasn''t something that was meant to be touched like an instance entrance? But neither Karl nor anyone else present knew what else it could be.


    Prince Corbin made a gesture to his team. "Everyone stay well back of the object until we know what it is. I need a volunteer to go forward and examine it."


    Karl nodded and patted him on the shoulder. "You know I''m going. But if you want to send one of your people as well, that''s fine."


    Corbin raised an eyebrow in a curious gesture, questioning Karl''s judgment.


    "Are you certain?"


    "If there are dumb things to be done, that is my job. I have the best defences, and the highest chance of survival out of anyone present. In fact, I am invulnerable to many of the attacks that could cripple others. So, I am going."


    Dana was ring at him as Karl finished speaking, but he made an excellent point. If they needed an actual person to go forward, and not a summoned creature, he was the best option. Next would be the Lamia bodyguards, or the Naga Warriors, as they were intelligent and could exin what was going on.


    Karl motioned for them to join him, as they could share barriers. Threeyers was better than one, especially when two of the three barrieryers would be the Monarch Ranked [ming Body] barriers from the Lamia.


    One of the Commanders from the Spellde n, an older man from Karl''s perspective, but most likely only in his forties with prematurely grey hair, joined him as he moved toward the orb.


    The trio extended their barriers to the Spellde as well, adding a level of safety as they cautiously approached the plinth beneath the purple orb.


    Karl stared at the runes for a moment, then gestured for the Spellde toe forward. The inscription was not in Common, or anynguage that Karl could read.


    [Oh, I can read that. It''s thenguage they use in Shaman books. Let''s see. Great Power awaits those who dare to embrace the power of the World Dragon. Take him into your heart and receive his blessing to know true power.] Remi read.


    [But the World Dragon is in my heart? Are we not all faithful followers of the gods? He''s in both the beast and Dragon pantheons.] Karl replied, not noticing that above his head, a faint purple copy of himself was forming.

 Chapter 560 Purple Orb

    Chapter 560 Purple Orb


    It took a moment for the beasts to notice it as well, so the first warning that something was off came from the group behind them.


    "Look up." Ophelia called, while the others froze, unsure what to do in this situation, as the apparition might be a good thing.


    Karl was wondering what to do when suddenly the mage behind him simply vanished.


    That brought everyone''s guards up, but Karl held up a hand for them to stop. "I don''t think he''s injured. There is an inscription to the World Dragon on the stone, and I think that it might be System rted." He warned them.


    The apparition over his head was bing more solid, but he didn''t sense any danger from it, as if it was just an illusion, and not an actual spell effect.


    Then, words began to appear in Karl''s vision.


    [System Active. Checking Compatibility.]


    [Checking Qualifications]


    [Checking Eligibility]


    [First Advancement Trial Completed]


    [Upgrade Compatible Skills Found]


    Then Karl''s vision went dark, and he heard Raeughing in his mind. [Now you''re both gone. But don''t worry, I''m calming down the others.] She informed him in an amused tone.


    [You are calming down the others?]


    [Oh, ye of little faith. I have a transformation toy too, and I am much better at this than Hawk.]


    Karl got a mental glimpse of her from Remi''s point of view, looking very much like Morgana, the Witch Doctor, in an borately decorated ck gothic dress and cloak with a face veil and gloves. Except Rae appeared to berger, as all of the humans present were shorter than the mental image Karl got before his attention was drawn back to the vision in front of him. Only Ophelia''s Werebear form, at well over two metres, was taller than she was.


    There were ten copies of Karl standing in front of him, each wearing a slightly different set of armour. Some were carrying weapons, some were not, and one appeared to have on cleric robes over the armour, while holding a staff with an Ankh.


    That one reminded him a little of Orthos, the Bronze Dragon.


    A floating message appeared over the clones, and a stone room appeared, so they no longer seemed to be floating in the void.


    [ss Upgrade Options] The message read.


    Karl turned to the one in the robes, and activated the system ovey that he normally ignored for itsck of information on people and creatures without system ess.


    [Beast Cleric] A disciple of the Beast Gods. Gains ess to advanced regeneration and Holy Magic.


    That wasn''t bad at all. But Karl had an important question.


    "Do I lose the skills that I already have if I change?" He asked the void, hoping for a response. n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om


    [ss Changes affect future advancement paths.]


    Hopefully, that was a ''no''.


    Karl checked the other images to see what he could learn.


    [Divine Hunter] gains a bonus with bow skills. Adds Holy Damage to attacks.


    [Ghost Ranger] Uses Ghostfire to create smoke and mist based stealth skills. Gains a bonus on all surprise attacks.


    [Beast Avatar] Allows merger with a Spirit Animal to increase the effect of known skills.


    Those were all of the ranger looking options, and none of them were particrly appealing to Karl.


    However, they were all supposed to be an upgrade to the Beast Master ss that he already had, so perhaps they had some special skills that would make them worth it?


    Karl checked the Ghost Ranger ss image closest to him and found that while the skill tree was hidden, he could at least see the ss''s Core Skills.


    [Ghostfire Mist] Appears as pale smoke in a cloud, engulfing a 10m radius from the caster. This mist enhances all other Ghostfire skills, and may be converted to [Ghostfire Purgatory] once the skill is known.


    [Ghost Body] Ghostfire Stealth ability that allows the user to be incorporeal while within the Ghostfire Mist, passing through solid objects so long as the user''s body touches the mist on both sides at once.


    Well, those skills were certainly better than what Karl had been expecting. But neither of them was really his style, and they didn''t help his team much unless the Emperor found out that he identally freed Leafa. If that was the case, a good hiding spot and a way out of prison were going to be at the top of his priority list.


    There was a theme to these advanced sses, Karl noticed. They all appeared to be rted to a skill that he or his team knew. The Beast Cleric should be from Eternal Lightning, Ghostfire was a new innate Skill to Hawk, and when he inspected the Beast Avatar, which could merge with a Spirit Beast, he found that its lone initial skill was [Beast Space], the core of the Beast Master''s ability to bond beasts.


    That one certainly wouldn''t be much of an upgrade for Karl, but the ability to merge with one of the team members might be.


    Then there were whatever skills were still locked away in the Skill Tree.


    The next few were the same way. Not quite what he was looking for. Many of them seemed like sses that were meant for Warriors, Rogues or Mages who had an affinity for animals. Mostly, they allowed the user to get the basic Beast Space along with a bonus that suited another ss.


    That left only three options for him to check. The first was [Beast Shaman] which Karl feared was going to be like the others, but actually added Shaman Magic to someone who could already use Beast Master type skills.


    The Core Skills of the ss were simple.


    [Totems] allows the Beast Shaman to create healing, regeneration and earthquake versions of the Totem. Maximum 2 Totems, effect doubles with every Rank.


    [Weather Control] The Beast Shaman may create [Thunderstorm] [Blizzard] or [Sandstorm] effects up to 10 metres per Rank in Radius around the designated point.


    It was a good ss, but he already had a Remi.


    The Secondst ss option was [Beast Noble]. The description for that one was just as simple.


    [The Beast Noble gains the ability of {Mental Domination}, to control beasts under their Rank for the duration of their concentration. Up to 2 Beasts per Rank difference.]


    It would let him simply order Commander Rank beasts to stop attacking, or join his team, as long as he focused on the skill. That could be useful, but it felt an awful lot like a sleazy cheat ability.


    So, Karl turned to the final ss option, to see if there was anything at all which might be worth choosing. This was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, that much was obvious. But if all the options were trash, or simply not suited to his personality, it might be an opportunity that came when he was unable to grasp it properly.


    The description said that this would be his way forward, implying that whatever skills he hadn''t taken from Beast Master''s skill tree would be unavable.


    He had almost all the good ones, but there were still the Tier 4 offensive skills to choose from.


    The final ss option was [Beast Commander]. The ss skill allowed him to bond one extra beast, and to bond new beasts when one was killed or released.


    That also wasn''t a bad ss, in theory. For abat soldier, it would be an incredible ss, as they might losebat beasts in battle, and need to rece them.


    But Karl had no intentions of losing any friends, beast or otherwise.


    With a sigh of resignation, Karl sat down to consider his options. There had to be something to one of these sses that he was missing. Something that would make it worth taking.

 Chapter 561 Classy Karl

    Chapter 561 ssy Karl


    As he considered his options, Karl scrolled through his System interface.


    [Avable Skill Points] 51


    Now that was something that Karl could work with.


    Many of the ss options were rted to skills that he had. If he added anotherbat skill, there was a chance that he would get another option.


    {50pts} [Rampage] Every time an enemy is damaged by the Beast Master or a bonded beast, increase the damage done by the Beast Master or the bonded beast for one minute.


    That was the best option that he had, and even if it didn''t trigger a new ss option, it was still a skill that he wanted to have.


    Plus, if he did pick a ss skill, this would be hisst chance to get it.


    [Rampage] Learned.


    [New Advanced ss Option Avable]


    That was the best possible news.


    Karl turned to face the new image, and smiled as he saw the name.


    [Beast Master Packmaster]


    It was so simr in name that it had to be close to the path he wanted. The only question was whether it was a good ss or not.


    [The Packmaster gains an increased percentage of base stats from bonded beasts.]


    The description sounded great, but wasn''t all that helpful, so Karl moved on to the skills.


    [Pack Tactics] Damage and healing done by bonded beasts and the Packmaster increased by 10 Percent Per Rank.


    It was hard to argue with t stat bonuses, but that wasn''t the only ss ability that the Packmaster got.


    [Bestial Champion] The Packmaster gains a bonus to speed, strength and Luck stats when his pack is threatened.


    Two passive skills for one ss, and both of them were useful ones to Karl''s mind. They suited the way that he fought, and the role that he served within the group.


    Actually choosing to change his ss, even if there weren''t many options left, was a strange thing to Karl. So, before he decided, he checked his skills.


    [Attack Skills] Tier 4 Skill Chosen {MAX}


    [Core Skills] None Avable


    [Defensive Skills] Avable Skills: {Barrier} {Refresh}


    Karl knew there would be Tier 3 versions of those defensive skills avable after he bought them. But he had limited time to choose an option from this ss menu. Like the Trials, he might turn out to be this event''s Lotus, ejected for just ying around instead of making a choice. He definitely did not want that to happen.


    Karl took a deep breath and ced his hand on the Packmaster image. "I choose Beast Master Packmaster" He stated.


    [ss Change Processing]


    [Upgrade Complete: Previous ss Skill Upgrades Locked]


    [New Skill Tree Unlocked]


    {Packmaster Skill Tree}


    (50 Points) [Follow Me Little One] Directly teach a known skill to apatible target.


    (50 Points)[Pack First] Removes the usage and targeting limits on {Evolution} but adds an increasing materials cost every time it is used on a bonded beast.


    (50 Points) [Territorial] All attacks by the Packmaster have a chance to cause {Intimidation}


    What sort of names were those?


    Karl was definitely making up new names to tell others when he used [Follow Me Little One] in the future.


    If he was using it to teach a new skill to a juvenile beast he was recruiting, that was one thing.But if he was teaching a skill to one of the other Elites, how embarrassing would it be to use that phrase out loud?


    However, there didn''t seem to be many restrictions on the skill, other than that the target had to bepatible. Maybe he could get around writing the spell books and just directly transfer knowledge to the target he wanted to have it?


    That would be incredibly useful. It also wouldn''t lead to anyone wanting him to sit and write books for hours or days on end. He could just transfer the skill, say it took a lot of energy, and call it a day.


    Of course, it really might be draining to do. He wouldn''t know until he tried.


    [Exit in 5 seconds]


    Karl found himself standing right back where he started, next to a stunned Spellde, who was staring silently at the purple orb.


    Karl whistled and motioned for everyone toe forward. This wasn''t a thing that they could afford to waste, and once someone else realized that it was here, all hell was going to break loose.


    Forget the stable dungeon, this thing was as good an active set of system stones.


    "Did you see that?" The older Spellde whispered.


    "Likely not quite the same as you did. I saw a ss Upgrade opportunity." Karl replied.


    "ss upgrade? I watched the end of the world. An abridged version of the events that led to the destruction of the original System. Did you know that the World Dragon''s scale actually created a system just for this world? Like, a unique one, not the same as the one that was being used on other worlds.


    That''s why the system copsed when the World Dragon Scale was lost. The System Stones are an attempt to recreate the original effect, not the source of the original System." He exined.


    So, it hadn''t tried to awaken the System for him, it had just shown him a history lesson? Actually, that could be more valuable than anything else because if he knew the full and true history, there was a chance that he might be able to track down holy Relics that would help them bring the System back to a fully online state.


    "Karl, what is going on?" Corbin asked.


    "No time for a chat. Everyone needs to focus on the power of the World Dragon and their sense of Piety." Karl replied.


    "Seriously? It''s a religious artifact? That''s not what the spiderdy said." N?v(el)B\\jnn


    Karl shrugged. "It''s a System artifact, but it''s activated with loyalty to the World Dragon, as far as I can tell. If you can read them, the words on the que will exin it."


    The first one to vanish was Lotus, and she wasn''t even near the orb. She was still twenty metres away, and flying.


    That took Karl a moment to process.


    She had convinced Rae to toss her in the air and catch her while they waited, and she had been in midair when Karl finished his exnation.


    Tessa vanished a few secondster, along with a couple of the Spelldes, including Tamarind.


    "From what I can tell, the most faithful, or the ones who have had divine intervention in their lives, have the easiest time. But, with luck, we might all be able to get in and out before whoever raised this ce returns." Karl informed Corbin, who nodded and began to focus on the orb with his hands folded.


    Dana and Ophelia vanished a few secondster, then the Spelldes began to vanish from existence, leaving Karl, one mage and Rae standing around to guard the site.


    [Are you having fun in human shape?] Karl asked.


    [It''s better than expected. People don''t ask me stupid questions like they do to Hawk. I wonder what species I seem like to other people? Can they tell that I''m a spider? I could usually tell with the ones in the Fortress, just by smell.]


    [We will have to test it outter. Those tokens can be used more than once, right?] Karl replied.


    [Yeah. Not forever, but more than once.]

 Chapter 562 Classy Everyone

    Chapter 562 ssy Everyone


    Rae inspected Karl for changes, as she could feel that he had new skills active on the team.


    "You know, you''re getting wider instead of taller." She noted.


    "I''m still not fully grown. Humans aren''t fully grown until like twenty years old. The men get all their height early, then they fill out with muscle." Karl exined.


    "Yeah, but look at you, and then the other human men. They''re all so skinny. Hardly thicker than the women, just bigger. Male Bloodbath Spiders are much smaller, they don''t usually get muchrger than Cara. But the more beard you get, the wider you are."


    Karl smiled, "Are you suspecting that I''m not human?"


    Rae shrugged, then admired the way her modified body moved and did it again for effect.


    "Nobody would mistake you for one in the dark. You don''t smell like a human. You just smell like Karl."


    Karl thought about it for a few seconds, then shrugged, mimicking Rae''s movement.


    "That''s just how people from my town are shaped. I''m taller than almost all the men in my home town, but most of them are almost as wide as they are tall. It''s an advantage in the mines, so all the tall people must have moved away years ago."


    Rae gave a twirl, then turned back to Karl. "Humanse in so many varieties, but I kind of like this body. I need to learn this skill before the token wears out. With [Ghost Beast] and these lovely ck robes, I can sneak up and terrify people at will. They are much less likely to notice a small woman than a glorious Bloodbath Spider, no matter how good my hiding skills are."


    Karl chuckled, as Rae''s human form was a hundred and ny centimetres tall, but incredibly slender with a nearly t chest and just enough of a curve to the figure to make it undeniably feminine.


    Her skin was also as impossibly ck as the shell of her chitin in spider form, a colour he had never seen on a human before. But with the glowing red eyes that her human form had, it looked good on her.


    "Well, I must say, you had a much easier time with it than Hawk did."


    Rae smiled at him, a row of sharp teeth with serrated edges, and flexed her fingers, which looked to have polished nails, until you realized the red was the same metallic chitin as Rae''s spider legs.


    When you added it all up, she was clearly not human, but a humanoid monster.


    Hawk came out to explore, now that the magic was stabilized. He raced off into the distance with a streak of blue and red fire, twirling in joy at being able to spread his wings again.


    Since everyone else wasing out, Remi also came out to explore.


    There weren''t much in the area except broken rocks, but there might be good rocks with them. Cara and Thor were resting in their spaces, waiting for a reason to be doing stuff. Unlike some of the others, Cara didn''t really collect rocks, and she had already scanned the area for cool stuff, but found nothing.


    It shouldn''t take long before the others started toe back out, and by then Hawk should have a good scouting report for them, so they could move on safely. n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om


    The first one out was Corbin, who had a beaming smile on his face, which turned to confusion as he realized he was the first one to finish the process.


    "The others are likely taking their time, or they''re ipatible with the System, and they are watching a historical video. I spent a lot of time choosing because I had many options." Karl exined.


    "Ah, that makes sense. I had one option, ironically named the Spellde ss. I took a while to examine it, then check myself for changes to the System afterwards. I have more features active now, and even an inventory option. I don''t suppose that you have ess to that same function and simply never mentioned it." Corbin replied.


    Karl nodded. "Mine is different from others, as ording to the Bronze Dragon Orthos, I am actually more akin to a crafting ss. So I get the option for bulk storage boxes. Most people get some sort of slot system to put their items in."


    Corbin smiled back at him, and Karl noticed that some of the hairs in his blonde beard were turning grey. Not from age, but at a visible rate as his beard grew from carefully groomed to chest length.


    That was a new one. Karl hadn''t heard of a ss option having a physical effect on appearance before. But Prince Corbin, despite being in his mid-twenties, was well on his way to having a very schrly long white beard.


    The next one out was Dana, who winked at Karl, and then gently flipped into the air at a slow and elegant speed that defied gravity and physics, before sending a kick at the sky that sent out an attack very simr to Rend.


    "The System called the ss a Murim Battlemage. I gained a whole set of martial arts thatbine with sword skills, and a cool new ability." Dana exined.


    The sort of flexibility that it took for the moves she had already shown was already impressive to Karl, but then she summoned a whole array of des over her head that attacked a stone that she tossed to them.


    The rock was sliced and swatted in an intricate dance that had the stone suspended in the air, leaving even Corbin startled at the intricacy of the movements.


    "That''s a fantastic skill. With thebined skills of those des, they should be able topletely control the movement of a target. But againstrge groups, they will be a deadly distraction as well." Corbin noted.


    Then, Ophelia came out, looking somewhat disappointed.


    "No suitable options?" Karl asked.


    "Options? I was hoping for something awesome, but it only gave me two options. The first was a Feral Berserker, which looked like a slight upgrade to the Bear Totem Berserker. The second was a Titanic Berserker, which seemed like just another Berserker but bigger.


    It had better base skills, so I went for that one. I probably shouldn''t feel let down, but I guess I got my hopes too high." She sighed.


    "Why not show us anyhow? Now that you have it, how is the Skill tree?" Karl suggested.


    "It''s very berserker. Lots of blunt weapon and sword attacks, defensive buffs and strength buffs.


    The base skills are passive strength increase of thirty percent per Rank and [Titanic Growth] that increases my size, strength and durability by twenty percent per Rank."


    "Well, how about raging and getting all buffed up in Werebear form, then test the new buff to see what you''re working with?" Karl requested, intrigued to see if the bonuses stacked or multiplied the growth.


    Ophelia activated [Berserk Terror] which brought her Werebear form to close to four metres tall. Then she activated [Titanic Growth] and suddenly Karl was looking at the knee armour of the singlergest beastkin he had ever seen.


    "That''s definitely a multiplication effect." He noted.


    "So that''s what a seven-metre tall Werebear looks like. Forget being hit on by the Orcs, you''ll have to fend off Hill Giant suitors at this rate." Raeughed, startling everyone with the hauntingly musical tone of her human voice.


    Ophelia''s rumbling growl shook the air, and Rae''sugh turned hysterical. She hadn''t expected such a great chance to pick on the others during her first attempt to interact as a human.

 Chapter 563 Rae Speaks

    Chapter 563 Rae Speaks


    "I liked her better when she made jokes about my luck with romance in private." Ophelia grumbled as she returned to her regr size.


    "Don''t feel bad, Beardy. Look at how many times Thor has struck out so far, and he''s the most likeable person that I know." Rae offered.


    "That is surprisingly wholesome and helpful. Thank you, Rae." "But when you find one that you like, I can help you tie him up so that he can''t escape."


    "And there''s the Rae that we were all expecting. I will keep it in mind, though. Who knows, maybe the secret to finding true love is just to make sure that they can''t run away."


    Ophelia winked at Dana as she finished the sentence, but Rae missed the gesture, and thought that the Werebear was only talking about the finer points of web crafting.


    The two clerics came out not long after, looking very excited, but otherwise the same as when they went in.


    "I got to learn all about trees and magic and my Dragon, and the Goddess." Lotus began.


    Tessa nodded. "I also got a vision of the past, but first it told me that there were no valid upgrade routes avable."


    Lotus pointed at her childhood friend. "That! It told me that too, then it got to the important stuff. What were we supposed to be upgrading?"


    Karlughed, and Rae bonked the little cleric on the head. "It was an opportunity for System users to upgrade their ss. And possibly for non system users to gain one. We will see once more peoplee out. The rest of the Spelldes are really taking their time."


    Karl nodded in agreement with Rae''s assessment. "That they are. They must be having difficulty deciding. Corbin only got one option, and it was just what he wanted, but some of the others might have more options than just the one upgrade path. Or, if some of them have no ss, but have the option, they might be able to awaken. How many of your Spelldes were recruited before the Divine Injection was widespread?" Corbin shrugged. "Most of them. Not the four Ascended ones, they''re all younger. Tamarind and Muffin both have, or had, sses, and chose to train with the Spellde n. The other two had aptitude for magic, but not for the injection.


    The older ones are all ssically trained mages, and spent their lives in the n working on their skills." n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om


    Rae looked curious as she moved to stand in front of the Spellde. "Do you think that the little one you call Muffin hates men because you refuse to use her name, or was she like that before?"


    Corbinughed. "She was like that before. Being called Muffin instead of Rose is a punishment she had to ept for her bad behaviour to remain as my Disciple.


    She won''t be free of it until she reaches the Commander Rank. That was our deal."


    Rae giggled, then pulled out a small white stone on a pendant.


    "I think we can make her a Commander. She is a wind creature, so we just have to feed her a wind pendant, and once she digests it, she should advance." The transformed spider insisted.


    "It doesn''t work like that for humans." Corbin began.


    "Are you sure? I don''t think that sticking it in any of the other holes would work better." Raeined.


    "No, that''s not what I meant. Don''t go sticking amulets in any of her holes. In fact, I''m going to pretend I didn''t hear that. What I meant was that a human can''t digest the stone directly. It needs to be made into a potion or tincture to be used on them in a way that they can absorb."


    Rae frowned. "That''s stupid. Why are humans soplex? If I gave this stone to a small wind bird or spider, it would directly evolve."


    The Spellde sighed and shrugged. "I don''t know why human bodies are the way that they are. But we can''t really evolve, and we don''t use resources the same way as beasts. Maybe it''s just because we''re too different."


    Rae handed the stone to Remi. "Can you grind that to paste to feed to the mage?"


    Remiughed. {There are other ingredients needed. I can see that it would be useful to the Dana Mage, so it should be useful to the Muffin Mage the same way.}


    Neither beast had noticed that the mage in question had left the trial, and was now standing less than ten metres from them.


    "What did the Naga say? Why is everyoneughing? I don''t speak Serpent." She asked.


    "They were discussing various ways to make a Wind Elemental Stone work to advance your rank to Commander so you could get your name back." Karl exined.


    "And how did that be amusing? I would certainly pay whatever I could to get that concoction, but how is it funny?" She asked.


    "It''s a trantion issue. It only makes sense if you speak Serpent." Karl informed her with his best attempt at a straight face.


    {Or Hawk.} Remi added, then she got sidetracked and began to sing in Karl''s mind.


    [Do you know the Muffin Mage, the Muffin Mage...]


    [Yes, I know the Muffin Mage] Hawk sang along with her, while Rae rolled her eyes at their antics.


    "What did you get from the orb?" Karl asked, distracting himself from the two singing beasts in his mind.


    "I got an upgraded ss. Spellde." Rose replied proudly.


    Lotus perked up at the promise of a gossip session. "Oh, you match. I wonder how many more will get the advanced ss, just because they already had all the necessary skills? Does it give cool new abilities?" "I match with who? Corbin? That''s unfortunate. But yes, it does give a number of newbat abilities. Did your Dana get the same ss?" She asked.


    Dana shook her head. "No, it gave me Murim Battlemage. Simr in effect to the Spellde ss, but more focused on martial arts. I don''t know why it thought that I needed a more closebat fighting style as a mage, but the skills thate with the ss are incredible." Rose was about to answer, but Corbin raised a hand to stop her. "The others areing out now. Take notes of what they have gained and let''s get out of here the moment that all of us have returned."

 Chapter 564 Upgraded Clan

    Chapter 564 Upgraded n


    The other Ascended Rank Spelldes came out excited about the official status upgrade and the ss marking on their arms that came with the System designation of Mage, but only a few of the older Commanders could say the same thing.


    They were the ones who had already been exposed to the system during their travels, and had some minor level of benefit from it, though not a whole ss designation and marking.


    Nearly all of the ones who had been sessful had gotten Mage as a ss, but unlike the members of Karl''s group, they were not sent to an upgrade scene, but a ss creation menu, where they could have chosen other options.


    Just to be different, one of them chose Warlock as his ss, but the rest all chose Mage so that it didn''t affect their progression or standing within the Spellde n.


    The ns had thousands of years of history, and if their choice prevented them from advancing within the n, or stuck at Commander Rank until their new ss caught up to their existing skills, they would have a hard life.


    It wasn''t the huge win that Corbin had been hoping for, but to the newly awakened mages, it was still incredible.


    They now had ess to the inventory, the status sheet and even to Skill Trees that would allow them to earn ess to new spells that were incredibly difficult to learn on their own, or in some casespletely forgotten before today.


    One of the higher level Mage Spells in the tree was [Portal]. If they could make it to the peak of the Mage Skill tree, they would be able to simply open portals on their own, and not rely on arrays. N?v(el)B\\jnn


    From the way they described it, Karl learned that some of the more powerful leaders of nations were permanently linked to arrays, and some skilled mages carried an array token with them, but under the Monarch Rank, it was extremely rare to have that sort of ess.


    "Leader Corbin, do we have time to go through the Skill Tree now? Or should we move first?" One of the stronger Commanders asked.


    "Move first, and we can check your new spellster. What did you see that has you so excited?" Corbin asked.


    "I have eighty Skill Points. My past achievements appear to have been rewarded, and I will be able to choose a number of additional spells. Does anyone know how many points it takes to get them all?" He replied.


    Corbin turned to Karl, who frowned as he did the math.


    "I got some of the more expensive ones free from trials, but if I had to buy them all, it would have taken me nearly three hundred points. However, if I had taken the Offensive Skill Tree option, it would have been a fifth of that, but I wouldn''t have had ess to the most powerful skills my ss has to offer.


    The Beast Master can choose between Offensive, Defensive and Progression paths. It calls Progression bnce, but really the skills it grants are to core growth." Karl replied.


    The mage nodded. "Mage ss is the same way, in that you can specialize in an element for a discount or in Arcane to get ess to everything, but without the discount. I refrained from choosing before asking anyone."


    The othersughed and nodded in agreement. They had all done the same thing, waiting for a second opinion before they chose.


    Thest of the mages, an older Commander, came out and gave Corbin a thumbs up.


    Thest of the mages, an older Commander, came out and gave Corbin a thumbs up.


    "I have finished my history lesson. Are we moving out?" He asked.


    "Yes. Many have ss skills to choose, and it''s not safe to do that here. But first, I must send a message." Corbin exined.


    He took a small tinum strip out of his pocket, and Karl noted the ornate golden iy in the design of the World Dragon on the front.


    It glowed with power as Corbin sent a message, and then he nodded. "The right people know what happened here now. Let''s move. That was a one-time use token to contact the Archbishop, but the other Totems will have sensed it. The ones here for certain, but possibly even the ones in the Beast Nation and the Mountain Giant territories. They monitor magicalmunications all the time, but they shouldn''t know what I said. They will, however, likely know where the message started and finished."


    Before he had even finished his sentence, the air was beginning to shimmer with magic.


    "Take your people and run. Put up the barrier to hide them. Ladies, you can go with them if you''d like. I will y the fool and distract whoever shows up first." Karl insisted.


    Corbin nodded and put the stealth barrier over his n, who began to run out of the Ruins to the East.


    Karl noticed that they seemed pale blue and ghostly when they were hidden, where before they were simply invisible. That had to be the effect of Hawk increasing his sensory abilities and sharing them with Karl.


    Soul Sight, Leafa had called it.


    It wasn''t visible when you could see the person, but with their body hidden, the soul became visible.


    The Spelldes got a thirty-second head start before the first Portal opened, quickly followed by a second, third and fourth.


    "Wow, did we pick the wrong day to be standing right here." Tessa muttered as the portals finished forming.


    Karl smiled at her. "Should we hide Lotus in a basement or something so she can resurrect the pieces of uster?"


    "Not funny. It''s most likely a good idea, but not funny." Tessa agreed.


    Lotus giggled and patted her on the shoulder. "There are no basements in these buildings. I can feel the roots of the nts. Just try not to get squished, and maybe ask Lady Rae and Cara to wait out of sight so they''re not tempted to start a fight."


    Rae looked offended. "And why would I do that?"


    "To get Totem Rank blood."


    "Point taken. But if there is a chance..."


    "We will get you some."


    Rae smiled, then vanished back into her space, followed by Cara and Hawk, who was making preparations to grab as many people as possible and fly away. He was exceedingly fast in this new body, and they should be able to make it to safety if a fight broke out.


    Twodies per w, Karl on his back. That should be everyone, and he could still fly with that much weight. Even four friends were lighter than a Giant Boar.

 Chapter 565 Nacht

    Chapter 565 Nacht


    The first to step out of a portal was a massive ck Dragon at the Totem Rank. That wasn''t the leader of the Divine Beast Nation, as they had the only Mythic Rank creature on the continent, but this was likely the spokesperson for that Dragon.


    {Humans. Beast Master. I thank you for your sinctmunication style, it made it quite worthwhile to intercept.} The Dragon began, speaking in Serpent.


    Karl noticed that he no longer needed Remi to trante, he could just understand what the Dragon was saying, even while it was speaking anothernguage.


    "While it wasn''t directly our intention to make your life easier, I will ept your good intentions. I take it that you are aware of the nature of this ce?" He replied.


    The Dragon nodded his head, then paused while three more Totems stepped through their portals to form a semicircle in front of Karl, facing the orb with him between them and the prize.


    That was not the positioning that Karl had hoped for, but he hadn''t had time to move.


    The Archbishop stood between the Dragon and a Totem Rank Naga in te armour, while an enormous Mountain Giant stood at the far end of the group.


    That would be the General, who was the other Totem Ranked leader of the Newbon Empire, Karl assumed, as well as the leader of the Mountain Giants, whose title Karl didn''t know.


    The Dragon turned to the others. {Wee to my new toy, everyone.}


    The General hissed in annoyance. {Your toy? This is clearly my Relic. Not only is it in the middle of my territory, my people are here first.} n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om


    The Archbishop chuckled at thebative pair. "Your people? I believe you mean my people. There are two Clerics of the Dragon Gods here already, as well as a pair of Elites."


    That math didn''t math, and Karl began to wonder which one of them was not being counted. Was it Ophelia in Werebear form? Or was it him? The dragon had greeted him separately.


    The Mountain Giant chuckled grimly. "You have a lot of brave talk for a man whose army can''t even hold its own borders."


    Karl could sense that things were about to go downhill very fast. None of these people liked each other, and he already knew the sort of damage that even a casual fight between Totems could do.


    Leafa and the Emperor weren''t actually trying to kill each other, but their strikes destroyed multiple square kilometres with every blow. Of course, they likely wouldn''t resort to that here. It would risk the Relic, and that was what everyone hade for.


    The Naga General was the one that decided to go for answers first, instead of bickering with his rivals.


    "You, Karl. The Emperor told me about you. Is it true what it says in the message? This ce can awaken sses and advanced sses?" He demanded.


    The Archbishop looked like he was ready to burst with excitement, as this could be just the sort of thing that the Golden Dragon Nation needed to push the Elite Program to a new level.


    Even a short period of study might bring huge gains.


    Karl nodded. "It helped me. But not everyone. It shows the clerics a vision from their patron deity."


    It would be better if he didn''t throw the others under the bus.


    If it was unclear what Dana and Ophelia had gained, or if they had even had the chance to make an attempt before the leaders arrived, they might escape the attention of the Totems.


    The Totems seemed more concerned with defending against each other than anything that Karl was saying, and for a few seconds, it looked like they might be at a stalemate.


    Then the General opened another portal, and brought through a whole group of soldiers. One of them was Colonel Lu, the wounded Royal Rank Minotaur Colonel that Karl had brought to the farm the first night.


    Karl waved to him, and the old Minotaur gave him a thin smile. It didn''t take a genius to guess that everyone here under Totem Rank had a low chance of survival.


    "Find out how to work that." The General demanded.


    "Focus on your devotion and loyalty to the World Dragon. Those are the instructions on the plinth." Karl added helpfully.


    The ck dragon tilted its head a little to read the inscription, then nodded.


    He would let the soldiers try first, and then if it actually did something, he would take action for the Divine Beasts. If this was an active System activation point, it naturally belonged to the Dragons, the heirs to the Dragon Gods.


    At least, that was his opinion.


    The Giant seemed to be thinking the same thing, and he opened a portal of his own to call through a handful of soldiers, fresh from battle and still treating their wounds.


    "Praise the gods and request ess to the System. The inferior beings have found an ess point." He demanded.


    That was odd phrasing. He made it sound like his people were not the ones who had found it. But who, other than the Giants, was going around and destabilizing anomalies in search for relics and trials?


    Could it be that he simply hadn''t received the update from his own people before he sensed Prince Corbin''s message?


    It was taking a while as the monsters tried to understand the method. Then Colonel Lu seemed to have a sh of inspiration, and as he closed his eyes he smiled, then vanished.


    "Well, there is one sess. Let''s see how his luck is." Karl noted.


    "Luck?" The General asked.


    Karl shrugged. "Aren''t all things System rted affected by luck? Only the lucky few could activate it, even ten thousand years ago. It was arge portion of the poption, but not even close to everyone. Plus, everyone who has entered so far got a different opportunity or vision."


    The massive Naga General frowned as he considered the options. The Giants weren''t having any luck with the Relic, and everyone was pretending that they hadn''t noticed the small portal that led to the border between the Golden Dragon Nation and the Hill Giants. Nobody hade through that one, but it was close enough that Karl knew they didn''t have to. They just had to focus on the orb, and they might be able to activate it.


    What Karl really wanted to know was if the Giants were going to be able to activate it, as they didn''t follow the World Dragon. This wasn''t an anomaly that just anyone could enter, and the requirement might make it difficult for them.


    But if that portal to the border led to the location the students were fighting at, there might be dozens of advanced sses gained today.


    Then, three more of the soldiers, two Orcs and a Troll, all vanished.


    That made it nearly half of the monsters, and no Giants so far. "Are you going to get in on this game?" Karl asked the massive ck Dragon, whose casually stretched wing was shading his entire group.


    "Young people are always in such a hurry. There will be time, or I can make time." The dragon replied.


    "Then you should probably make sure that Misty doesn''t wander away." Karl agreed.


    The dragon chuckled, and puffed out a cloud of darkness that gave everyone present a chill down their spines.


    ck Dragons breathed Death, a literal cloud of underworld energy which made life impossible within its radius. It was a sign of favour from the Goddess of Death, and at Totem Rank, even the slightest of contact would put most targets beyond the reach of even Lotus'' resurrection magic.

 Chapter 566 Success Factors

    Chapter 566 Sess Factors


    The rest of the monsters managed to make it in over the next minute, but only one of the Giants, a Commander Rank female, had vanished so far.


    That was not the sess that their Totem Rank leader had expected, and the frustration was visible in both his expression and his posture.


    That was making the other Giants nervous that they would be punished for failure, and the more nervous they were, the less likely they were to seed.


    The one who had the easiest time of anyone was Lotus, as she fully and immediately embraced any opportunity that the Gods granted, without even taking a second to wonder what it was.


    It was an opportunity, and that meant it was something new. There were few things that Nature Clerics loved more than something new.


    Even Tessa had taken a few seconds to mentally prepare herself.


    That was when the first of the Newbon Empire Soldiers to enter came back out with a huge smile on his face.


    "Colonel Lu, report." The Totem Rank General insisted.


    "The orb brought me to a space controlled by the system. Then it insulted me for being so slow to awaken a ss ability, and sent repeated messages denigrating my level of motivation to better myself."


    Karl did his best not tough as the aging Minotaur went through the list of grievances that the System had with a man well past his middle years finally awakening a ss ability.


    "Then it awarded me the Warrior ss and said that was all I deserved." The Colonel finished.


    "So, it did grant you ess to the System? That is wonderful news." The General cheered.


    "Yes, General. It appears that I now have ess to the System."


    The Giant growled, and the General''s hand went to his sword, while the ck Dragon huffed in annoyance. Then, the massive creature reached a forelimb into a distorted area of space and pulled out a five-metre wide basket full of nkets and eggs. He whispered something that Karl couldn''t make out, and a few secondster, all of the eggs in the basket vanished.


    So that was his y. He wasn''t trying to awaken a ss for existing Dragons, but for the next generation. That way, the Dragons would have System users for thousands of years, even if the resurgence began to fade instead of growing stronger.


    The frustration of the Giants was building as their group continued to fail to get any more members into the trial, right up to the moment that the lone female Giant to enter returned.


    "What did you find?" The Giant demanded as she came back out in shining silver te armour.


    "It is a trial set by the World Dragon. We must request his permission to enter. However, I have made great gains today. I was awarded the ss of Knight, and ess to a Skill Tree of new abilities."


    The leader of the Giants nodded in satisfaction, then gestured to the remainder of his force.


    They had all been listening intently, and once they changed their strategy, it didn''t take long before another Giant managed to enter, then a third.


    But by then, most of the Newbon Empire group had started to emerge from the trial.


    Karl was listening to them giving their reports of being assigned the fighter ss, with only one Shaman and a Blood Mage among them. Thatst one was a slender demon man with red skin, and Karl assumed that it was likely an exclusive only avable to his species.


    Behind him, he felt a growth of power, and saw that Lotus'' eyes were glowing green. She had moved behind Tessa, and was facing away from the Totems, likely hoping that they would mistake whatever she was doing for a healing spell.


    But when the power peaked, the ck Dragon turned to face her, focused directly on the Nature Priestess for a moment before looking back to the purple orb, where his clutch of eggs should be finishing their trials.


    Karl suspected that Lotus had been letting her dragon patron see through her eyes, but the ck Dragon Totem looked somehow smug as he waited now, and Karl suspected that there was more going on here than he wasprehending.


    If it was possible for the offspring of the Divine Dragons to use their link to their Clerics to ess a trial like this, they might be using it to grow their own powers. n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om


    As Karl understood what Tessa had told him about the situation, the Dragons they were paired with weren''t necessarily dragons from this world, only adherents to the same God. So, they might have never seen a Holy Relic of the World Dragon before.


    Given the personality of the Green Dragons, they wouldn''t pass up the chance to go in and y, even if it meant just watching a historical movie.


    By the time that the second Giant came out, all of the Newbon army troops were out, and they were just waiting to see what happened with the Dragons.


    They might get a ss, or they might not. The ck Dragon had sent eggs into the trial, and while Dragons were sentient for a while before they hatched, legends said that most species couldn''t awaken a system until puberty.


    That was deemed to be a safety measure by the gods, so that small children didn''t wreak havoc in the cities. But whether it applied to dragons or not, nobody knew.


    The first one of the dragons out was Lotus'' Green Dragonpanion, if Karl''s guess about what the glowing eyes meant was correct.


    Then, a small white dragon hatchling emerged from the trial, andnded in the basket all of the eggs had arrived in.


    It was adorable, norger than a full-grown house cat. For a moment, even Karl was enraptured by its cuteness, until Thor broke him from his distraction.


    [Do you think that they would let us borrow one? Scaled creatures grow up very fast in your care. I''m sure the little ones wouldn''t mind.] He suggested.


    [Oh, you need to learn the skill. If you already had the head pat for a skill ability, they would definitely give you a hatchling to raise.] Remi added.


    Karl sighed. [That''s fifty skill points. I have one left.]


    [Boo this man! I joke, we know that you needed to get Rampage before you changed sses.] Remi amended.


    The Dragon stared down at Karl. {You look like you''ve got something on your mind.}


    Karl shrugged. "I was just thinking that I''ve gotten rather good at raising scaled friends, and they grow up exceptionally strong and healthy in my care."


    {You can''t have a baby dragon.}


    "He can''t have a baby dragon."


    "Please don''t give him a baby dragon."


    The ck dragon, the General and the Archbishop all spoke at the same time, then paused as they realized that they were all on the same side of what they had expected to be an argument.


    "Are you certain? I swear, I''m superb with scale rubs, and I have a supplemental Nature Cleric to assist." Karl joked.


    The ck Dragon huffed in amusement as another pair of hatchlings came out and began chattering with the white dragon whelp to find out what was going on. It was an interesting offer, but they quickly realized that the big dragons wouldn''t allow it before they were fully trained and grown enough to travel alone.

 Chapter 567 Baby Dragons

    Chapter 567 Baby Dragons


    The rest of the dragons came out over the next minute, all excited about their new ss assignment and the opportunities that they would have in the future. A dozen baby dragons with ss skills put the Divine Beast Nation way ahead of the others, even if half the Academy had gotten a new ss through the portal the Archbishop had opened.


    "Hey, Amalgarystica, before you leave, do you think that you could demonstrate your [Druid Lord] ss skill for us?" Karl asked the baby green dragon, by name.


    The System interface gave names that were colour coded by ss, and most of them were destined to be clerics or warriors, but that one had been a deep emerald green that had intrigued Karl enough to check its status.


    The tiny green creature flew out of the nest, circled Karl twice, thennded on Lotus'' shoulder facing him.


    {How did you know that I''m a Druid Lord?} She asked.


    "It''s visible to other System users. I''ve never seen the ss before, so I''m quite curious what the ss skill for a Green Dragon who is also a Druid Lord will be." Karl exined.


    "Oh, that makes sense. Here."


    The ck dragon began tough as a ten-metre tall, Commander Rank construct made entirely of vines appeared in the ruins.


    It had a fewrger than usual leaves, approximating modesty, but it was shaped so simrly to Lotus that the dragon couldn''t help but makeparisons.


    It even looked like it had the same undercut hairstyle.


    "That is incredible. You are a natural artist." Lotus eximed as she gently petted the Dragon''s head.


    The ck Dragon red at them. {What did I just say? Youcannot have a baby dragon.}


    Karl raised his hands in surrender. "I am not trying to steal a dragon. I just wanted to know what the ss skill was.


    That construct is spectacr. It is giving off a healing aura, slowly repairing the buildings, and regrowing the nts in the area, all at once.


    For a Commander Rank ss skill, it is incredibly overpowered." n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om


    The massive dragon looked smug on the little one''s behalf. {Did you expect less of a disciple of the Nature Goddess?}


    "My apologies, my world was too small. I was judging a Dragon''s potential by human standards."


    {Your words are polite, but you still have the baby dragon.}


    Karl reached over to tickle the little dragon under its chin, which made it giggle as it took flight, returning to the mobile nest before it got in trouble for making new friends as well.


    "Don''t worry, Lotus. We will find another chance to interact with baby dragons. I am certain of it." Karl whispered.


    The basket of dragon whelps vanished once thest one was back inside, and that seemed to be the trigger for tensions between the factions ramping up.


    Now that the little ones were gone, all of the Totems seemed to be focused on taking the Relic for themselves.


    Normally, they wouldn''t directly fight with each other. There were political alliances to consider, and the wrath of the Mythic Rank ck Dragon that quietly ruled the continent. But that didn''t mean that they weren''t going to find a way to fight over it.


    {How should we settle this? Champions or a wager?} The ck dragon asked his counterparts.


    "Like hell. There is no way I will gamble with you." The Totem Rank Mountain Giantined.


    The Archbishop shrugged. "What sort of wager did you have in mind? Or we can do Champions if you like. Three of us have a Royal Rank representative here."


    Colonel Lu snorted in annoyance. He already knew that no Royal Rank opponent would be able to take Karl out. Even if he didn''t call out his beasts, he was a beast himself inbat.


    The Mountain Giant looked at Karl and the Royal Rank options in the Newbon Army team. He didn''t know much about Karl, but he had heard rumours about an Elite to be aware of on the Hill Giant lines not long ago.


    That could be him. But the leader didn''t recall all the details.


    {I suggest that we wager on which nation obtains the next Totem.} The Dragon suggested with a sly smile.


    The Archbishop shrugged. That was a reasonable sort of bet. It was hard to tell which Overlord would actually grow enough to reach the bottleneck, and nearly impossible to guess which would break it first.


    The Mountain Giant smirked at the Dragon. He had a sessor who was very close to the bottleneck. He had a very good chance of winning.


    "I would take that bet." The Giant agreed.


    The General was about to say something, when he noticed that Karl''s entire team, except Karl and Dana, who had her mask up, had turned away to poorly hide theirughter.


    He red at them for a moment, trying to understand what he was missing, then nced at the dragon, who hadn''t lost the smug smile. They knew what had happened with Overlord Leafa. They had to, or they wouldn''t be so smug. "Pick another wager. That one is no good." He insisted.


    The Archbishop looked startled, while the Giant was confused. You didn''t have to bet on your own Nation, it could be one of the human nations you bet on as well, or even an enemy nation.


    Why would the bet be no good? The phrasing didn''t make sense.


    The Archbishop looked at the others. "Then another wager? Something different from the usual, perhaps?" The Mountain Giant smirked. "How about we test it by preparedness?"


    The word seemed to trante strangely in Karl''s head, and the system hung up on the word for a moment, as if unsure what meaning to assign to it.


    "How so?" The General asked.


    The dragon tilted its head. {Why not make it a best of three? Other than ourselves, we will wager on which warrior here has the best thing?}


    The other Totems considered that for a moment. The Archbishop looked dubious about his chance of winning, while the General seemed indifferent. But the Giant looked suspiciously at the Dragon. "Is this not just an excuse to have our subordinates take out their best items so you can have them killed and lootedter?"


    [It had better be.] Rae agreed.


    [Right? We are short on good things.] Cara added.


    {The Beast Master thinks it is a good idea.} The Dragonughed.


    Colonel Lu, the Minotaur, snorted a challenge. "That''s because he fully intends to kill everyone else for their loot the moment that you all leave. And he can probably do it, too."


    "Are you bing a coward in your old age?" The General asked.


    "He can summon Monarch Ranked bodyguards and personally one hit kill a Royal Ranked Cyclops. I am no coward, but I am telling you now that I can''t win that fight." The Minotaurined.


    "Really?" The Archbishop asked. That was not in the official records of Karl''s abilities.


    The dragon held up a w to stop Karl from answering. {Why don''t we wager on that? Bring us a Monarch Rank Giant, and we will see if the Beast Master can one hit kill above his Rank. I trust the soldier that he can do it to one of his Rank. So, we can wager on one Rank higher. If he seeds, I will have one of my clerics bring the Giant back to life. Then, if we have more than one correct wager, we will make another wager for the winners.}

 Chapter 568 Insulting Wagers

    Chapter 568 Insulting Wagers


    The Totem Rank Giant roared at the Dragon. "Are you looking down on my people? Do you think that I am just going to bring one of my people here to be amusement for the Dragons?"


    {We could let them fight.} The Dragon suggested.


    "And if he really can kill a Monarch in one hit? What is the difference?" The Giantined.


    Karl was beginning to suspect that this part of the negotiations was actually the most time-consuming portion of the settlement of disputes. They all had different ways of doing things, and the ck Dragon served the Death God, so his suggestion was obviously going to always be to kill someone unless there was something more amusing avable.


    Sure, the ck Dragons upheld the bnce of life and death, but where that bncey was a bit of a murky topic, and one or two dead wouldn''t sway things too far.


    The Archbishop was a healing Cleric aligned with the World Dragon, so he would naturally choose peace in most situations, which meant either a challenge or a nonviolent wager.


    Karl didn''t know much about the personality of the others, but they both seemed fairly hot headed. The ck Dragon tapped the ground with a massive onyx w. {Why don''t you bring out your strongest Monarch, and we will pit him against the Beast Master? That should be fair, right? No matter what skills he has, it shouldn''t ovee your strongest Monarch.}


    [We''re totally going to get to loot someone.] Rae cheered.


    "No. Pick another challenge." The Giant insisted.


    The Archbishop tapped his staff on the ground to stop their bickering. "I have an even easier suggestion. Why not something less personal? There have been dozens of anomalies in Newbontely. This one isn''t the sort that we can wager on easily. But if we send a team to one of the others, we can have them race." The other Totems considered that for a bit. It would be a good way to solve things, but that would involve moving, and none of them trusted the others enough to leave here until the matter was settled.


    There were already teams here from three of the four arguing nations. But if the Totems left, it would be a bloodbath for control and not a civilized contest.


    [How about a p fight?] Cara suggested.


    Karl chuckled a little, and the Totems all turned to see what was so funny.


    "Sorry, one of my friends suggested a p fight." Karl chuckled.


    The Mountain Giant''s smile spread wide and he nodded happily.


    "That''s a wonderful idea. We have contestants here. Do Newbon and the Golden Dragon Nation have a Monarch Rank contestant? We can do best two of three from Commander to Monarch."


    The General nodded. "I can get a contestant here. Standard elimination style?" The Giant nodded, and the Archbishop turned to Karl. "Is your team up to this? Or should we bring someone?"


    Karl turned to Ophelia, who smiled. "We''re up for this contest. It should be fun."


    The four Totems silently consulted each other, then nodded.


    "This challenge is eptable." The leader of the Giants agreed.


    Karl looked up at the ck dragon, then checked his namete using the system interface. It was a white name, denoting a cleric, and simply said [Lord Nacht].


    "Lord Nacht, will you be calling contestants?" He inquired, curious to see who the Divine Beasts would send.


    {No. The Divine Beast Nation and the Chromatic Dragons will wager on the Golden Dragon Nation being the winner of this contest. You have beasts and the favour of the World Dragon. It is close enough for us.}


    The Archbishop sighed, then nodded. "Agreed. If we win, we will share."


    "Bring out your thirdpetitor." The General insisted, as he opened a portal and brought a Monarch Rank gori bodied centaur to them.


    That thing barely had a neck, and the body looked like it was a rhino, not a horse. It would be like trying to p out Thor.


    Karl had Remi call one of her Bodyguards, and then gestured to Ophelia.


    "I do hope that skills aren''t prohibited, other than attack skills." He asked.


    "Of course not. Skills are what makes it fun. But no attack skills and no barriers. Alright, we have our contestants. Which of the Giants will you choose?" The General replied.


    Three Mountain Giants stepped forward, and the ck dragon rumbled happily. Then his body seemed to melt and shrink as he transformed into a ck robed humanoid that looked eerily like Rae in human form, except male. It was even the same 190 centimetres tall.


    "I will referee this match. Starting with the Commanders, we will draw lots for the first match, short straw goesst. The contestants will trade ps until one is knocked out or forfeits. Then we will have a recovery period before the winner faces the final contestant. If the final contestant wins, the first loser may challenge." He exined.


    Karl patted Ophelia on the shoulder and activated [Haste], [Trollish Regeneration] and [Terrorize] as the extra growth from [Brutality] didn''t stack with her [Berserk Terror] and [Titanic Berserker] skills.


    She stepped up to the ck Dragon along with the Commander Rank giant and a burly Bison type Minotaur.


    "We''re having a p fight with a girl?" The Giant chuckled.


    "It''s my specialty." Ophelia joked.


    The dragon held out his hand with three sticks, and the contestants pulled.


    The Minotaur had a shorter stick with a red stripe on the bottom, giving him the pass, so Ophelia and the Giant would face off first. Her stick had a number one on the bottom, while his had a number two, marking the order of attack.


    "Contestants, prepare yourself. The Golden Dragon Nation has drawn the first strike." The dragon announced.


    The Giant did a short stretching routine and then Ophelia raged, activating Berserk Terror, Titanic Berserker and Dire Bear Form all at once, turning her into a seven-metre tall Dire Bear, towering over the five-metre tall Mountain Giant.


    One massive paw shed out, and the Giant was thrown from his feet tond in the dirt, unconscious.


    Ophelia rumbled withughter as the groggy Giant got to his feet, facing the wrong way and staggering away from the contest.


    His friends turned him around so he was facing the fight, and stood him in ce in front of Ophelia.


    As his vision cleared, a look of grim determination took over the confusion, and he lined up his swing for his turn.


    The massive palm of the giant caught Ophelia on the cheek, and blood flew from her mouth as her head snapped to the side, but Trollish Regeneration had her back in peak form by the time she had stabilized herself and turned forward again.


    She nodded at the Dragon, and the Giant braced himself for the strike. n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om


    "Second strike, contestants ready? On your time." The dragon announced.


    Ophelia lined up the strike and smacked the Giant again.


    This time, there was a sickening crunch as the Giant spun and fell limp to the ground.


    "That is a win for the Golden Dragon Nation." The Dragon announced.


    The other Giants rolled theirrade over, only to find he was out cold with a broken jaw and numerous missing teeth.


    The Archbishop of the Golden Dragon Church waved them away with a gust of wind, and cast a healing spell on the fallen contestant.


    "He will wake up soon. He is fully healed."


    The Novel will be updated first on this website. Come back and


    continue reading tomorrow, everyone!

 Chapter 569 Small Victories

    Chapter 569 Small Victories


    The Minotaur looked terrified as he took his position, but the ck dragon didn''t hesitate.


    "Challenger three has the first strike. Whenever you are ready."


    The Minotaur nodded, and swung a mighty blow at Ophelia that nearly rocked her off her feet. He was certainly stronger than the Giant, she realized. He also had an extremely thick neck, so he wasn''t likely to get whish.


    So, she wasn''t expecting much when she put her all into the first swing. However, when her paw made contact, the Minotaur fell with his legs still extended, knocked out cold at the moment of impact.


    "Oh, poor call on my part. Who knew he would have a ss jaw?" The Newbon General sighed, while the other soldiers rushed to help him up off the ground.


    The Archbishop healed him, and the ck Dragon smiled under his hood.


    "That makes one round to the Golden Dragon Nation. I have to say, a Titanic Bear Totem Berserker was not what I was expecting for the first round of our betting. But the next round should be even better. I have prepared a tform for the contestants, as even with skills active, the Royal Rankbatants are very different sizes."


    The three Royals came forward, and Karl immediately noticed that the Minotaur had been swapped out for a boar man of some sort. He wasn''t quite a Giant, but at four metres, he was still nearly a head taller than Karl''s erged form.


    The Giant, on the other hand, was well over six metres tall. Both of the other contestants would need to stand on a stage for their head to be the proper height for a p.


    The dragon held out his hand, and they drew lots. The Giant got the draw this time, and Karl had the number two stick, meaning the Boar Man would strike first.


    The Giant smirked at Karl as he faced down the muscr monster.


    "When you are ready." The dragon announced.


    The monster was incredibly fast, and the sound of the p echoed through the ruins as Karl was tossed into the low stone of a ruined wall.


    Karl stood up and brushed himself off, knocking stone dust off his armour. The strike was less than ten percent of his health, and he had taken no damage, but [Void Body] didn''t negate the momentum, and the Boar Man''s arm weighed half as much as his entire body. N?v(el)B\\jnn


    "Good hit." Karl congratted him, stopping the Boar Man''s victory celebration.


    "You got up?" The big man asked, thoroughly confused.


    "Of course. Did you think I would volunteer if I couldn''t take a hit?"


    The Boar snorted and took his ce for the return blow.


    [Oh, this should be fun. I wonder how much additional strength Karl got from his new skill.] Thor cheered.


    [The Packmaster gains an increased percentage of base stats from bonded beasts.] That was all that the system had to say about it, and Karl didn''t understand the base and modifier system for stats that it had, so he had no practical reference for just how strong he was now with all his buffs active.


    However, with the fifty percent damage increase from Pack Tactics, his new ss skill, he would be hitting with plenty of force.


    Karl checked that Haste was active, then snapped an attack at the Boar.


    There was a booming crack, then the sound of flesh on flesh before the boar man was sent flying and pain radiated up Karl''s arm.


    Without the barrier up and with only his own skills to protect himself, Karl had dealt himself enough damage with the strike to nearly break his arm, even after the reduction by Void Body.


    [That is fast. Stupidly fast. Who has ever heard of a supersonic pimp p? You didn''t even need the skill.] Cara eximed, eager to see if she could do that as well.


    Even the Totem Rank masters were staring at Karl in shock.


    "Did he just?" The Giant asked.


    The General nodded. "He did."


    The ck dragon pointed at the body of the boar man. "If you would be so kind, Archbishop. His soul is beginning to detach."


    That shook the leader of the Golden Dragon Nation from his stupor, and he quickly resurrected the fallen monster.


    But that left the Giants in a dilemma. If Karl hit a Mountain Giant like that, the result was likely to be the same. They could tell that he didn''t use an attack skill, he had just increased his own stats to the point that he could move an arm at supersonic speed.


    It had obviously damaged him, but the way that Karl was rubbing his arm, he would recover soon enough.


    The General knew that Karl had Trollish Regeneration, either as a skill or as part of his racial traits. It still wasn''t one hundred percent clear whether he had been part troll all along. Looking at his build, the General suspected that he was actually part Dwarf. His build was a bit too sturdy for human, and the muscture wasn''t quite right. Likely a quarter blooded if he had to guess.


    Enough that his family would have been considered human for some time, but they had likely been matching with mixed blood humans for generations.


    Most species were like that. Many of them could interbreed with humans, so there was always a chance of other bloodlines. Generally, those ones were considered weak and were a gic dead end, but sometimes a lineage would continue among humans.


    Karl shook the numbness from his fingers and waited for the Giant to prepare for his turn.


    That put the Totem Rank Giant in a tight spot.


    If he forfeited this match, Karl would win, making it 2-0 for the Golden Dragon Nation and giving them the overall win in the contest. But if he let thempete, there was a chance one of his Giants would be pped to death. The proud Mountain Giants would never ept that. It would do irreparable damage to their pride to be pped to death by a human. Unlike the monster species, they weren''t so forgiving.


    Losing a Giant''s dignity versus the slim chance that they could maintain this trial was a difficult bet. If Karl had gone first, there would have been no question, the Giant would have gone. However, with such slim odds, it might be better to cut their losses and find a way to get more of their people to the trial in secret.


    The Giants were categorically incapable of holding a poker face, and even the groggy and freshly resurrected Boar Man could see that the Totem Rank Mountain Giant was trying to formte a plot to get out of this agreement.


    To the other leaders, it was no surprise. This happened nearly every time they agreed on something. One of them would back out of the deal, or have one of their allies serve as a proxy to act on their behalf.


    "The Giants withdraw from this round. Congrattions to the Golden Dragon Nation on your small victory here today." The leader finally agreed.


    "Thank you for your kind words." The Archbishop replied with so much fake kindness that even Karl felt a little nauseous. The Giants immediately opened a portal and left, while the General turned to the transformed ck Dragon with a smile. "So, I know that the humans are going to send as many people as they can before this trial fades, but how much will it cost to buy some of your spots?" The General asked.


    The dragon''s face was hidden in magical shadow under his hood, but his voice was amused.


    "Now, I suppose that we can work something out."

 Chapter 570 Sharing Toys

    Chapter 570 Sharing Toys


    The leaders appeared to be making ns for what they were going to do next. They couldn''t just hang around here forever. They had far too much work to do for that, and the General had been stationed on the Mountain Giant border specifically to keep them from causing trouble with their Overlords.


    "Shall we retire to dinner and let our subordinates take care of the rest?" Nacht, the ck dragon Totem, asked.


    "Yes, dinner sounds wonderful. Prince Karl, kindly wait here for someone to relieve you." The Archbishop replied.


    The General nodded. "I will have someonee to take over, but unfortunately, I am needed on the line."


    The Giants'' leader said nothing, and simply left with his people.


    The General turned to his people and gave them a polite nod. "I will send reinforcements here within the next five minutes. You just need to make sure that nothing happens while they''re attempting to awaken their System interface."


    "Understood, General."


    This all appeared to be part of the ritual, pretending that they didn''t know that there was going to be an imminent attack at the lower levels and that the deal they had made actually held any weight.


    The ck Dragon opened a portal with a wave of his hand, and left with the Archbishop. Then the General left, and a unit of a hundred Commander Rank soldiers, and fifty Ascended and Awakened Rank support staff rushed through, only to realize that they had no orders other than be here.


    Karl cleared his throat. "Listen up. Every new arrival is to follow the directions on the plinth to give thanks to the World Dragon for the opportunity to gain ess to the System. Once you have aplished that task, you will be stationed here for guard duty of the orb.


    DO YOU UNDERSTAND?"


    "Sir, yes sir!" They responded in unison, then swarmed the Orb.


    Colonel Lu chuckled at their response. Karl wasn''t even part of their army, but they were so used to just following orders that they naturally assumed anyone giving them orders had the right to.


    It only took a few seconds before the first of them had vanished, and the rest were gone within two minutes.


    This unit was all younger soldiers, likely a frontline shock troop unit that the General happened to have stationed near his camp.


    The old Minotaur rubbed the shoulder of his freshly regrown arm, distinguishable by theck of tattoos and scars, then smiled at Lotus.


    "Well, Little Cleric. I told you I would love to try your food again, and it looks like I''m going to get a chance sooner than expected. It appears that your merchant group on a pilgrimage routine is a bit far gone to salvage, though." N?v(el)B\\jnn


    Lotusughed and winked at him. "Never underestimate our shamelessness. We fully intend to continue with the act as soon as we are done here. We''re headed for the Jungles and then to Whiton Temple. That much hasn''t changed. We will just have to leave someone else to help you with the mess here."


    The old Minotaur smiled at her, then reorganized his troops to surround the plinth.


    [Everyone, I believe it''s time toe out and be sociable. Hawk, you can scout the area in case they''re forming up in the distance.]


    The beasts appeared in the ruins, and Hawk made a quiet screech along with a e along'' gesture to Dana that said he intended to have a rider for the scouting mission.


    Tessa hopped up on Thor''s back with her spear ready, leaving Ophelia and Lotus to wait with Karl. Or roll around in the dirt ying with Cara.


    "How are we going to handle this? There will definitely be a challenge for the orb soon." Colonel Lu asked.


    "If it''s Orcs, I say that we let them. Same with the Nomadic Demons if they''re brave enough to approach. If the Giants challenge, I will deal with their leader.


    The Lamia pair will guard my nks, while the trio of Naga Warriors are with Remi, the Naga Queen. Remi and Tessa will work together as a pair, and Lotus heals.


    Ophelia and Cara are Berserkers, so just stay out of their way."


    One of the Demons, a slender woman who almost looked like she should be undead, with her skin the colour of a drowning victim, gestured at Cara.


    "That is a Winged Void Badger, isn''t it? You cow brains should stay well away from her. Those things are a menace to society." She taunted the Colonel.


    "You have no idea. She''s got a Monarch Rank attack skill. I''ve already seen it in action."


    [That was fast. The Giants are back. Two Monarchs, ten Royals, and five hundred troops, almost all Commanders.]


    "The Giants are back. Five kilometres from here, just over a hill." Karl informed the Minotaur Colonel.


    "Oh, did they send enough to make it fun?"


    Karl patted him on the shoulder. "Did you ever doubt it? There are five hundred Commander Rank soldiers out there."


    "That doesn''t sound fun at all. They outnumber us five to one, even after the otherse back. What did they send for a leadership squad? They normally have a five Giant officer squad for a full Regiment of soldiers." Colonel Lu asked.


    "Two Monarchs, ten Royals." The Minotaur sighed. "I will inform my people. With the few who got a ss, we might stand a chance using our new skills."


    "You''re too pessimistic. I will take one Monarch, Remi and her bodyguards will take the other. The rest of my team will focus on the Command squad.


    Remember, they don''t know that half the team is summoned. What they see are six Monarchs, eight Royals, including your team, and a handful of soldiers.


    They''re not going to be hasty when we have the advantage in visible Monarchs. If they hesitate long enough, we will have another hundred soldiers, and then whatever other reinforcements we get." "When you put it that way, it doesn''t sound so bad. They certainly can''t allow any of those Monarch Rank Naga Warriors or Cara loose in their Commander Rank back lines. It would be a massacre."


    As Karl had expected, the Giants paused as they came into sight of the orb and saw the defending team.


    Some of them would be hidden from sight, but the Giants could get a good enough estimate to slow them down. From a distance, it was much harder to guess rtive power level, especially with mixed species. If they were all Giants, you could guess by their size. Though, Hawk had better senses than that. But when it was a dozen different species, you had to guess how theypared to their own species, and then the humans would be a wild guess.


    It wasn''t like humans normally got bigger as they got more powerful.


    "How long do we have?" One of the younger Minotaurs asked.


    "If they charge, we have three minutes. It''s hard to say how long they will n for now that they have an estimate of our power levels. Expect them to spread out their formation first, so they can see how we respond. Once they have started to shift positions, the attack is imminent."

 Chapter 571 Theyre Back!

    Chapter 571 They''re Back!


    The moment that the attack became imminent turned out to be about ten secondster.


    The leaders moved to the far end of the line, and Karl adjusted his position to match them, with Remi close to him, but toward the main body of the Mountain Giant force.


    "Remind me again why I am doing this?" Karl asked as he watched the Commander Rank Giants form ranks behind their leaders.


    "Because they''re mad that you showed them up, and they''re not going to let you leave without a fight." Tessa reminded him.


    "Right. Almost forgot about that part. Alright, if everyone is in position, I will move forward with Remi to make the unofficial challenge."


    When Karl moved, the Monarchs and Royals all moved to match his group. That made life a lot easier on everyone else, and the Giants were already charging forward, aiming for the trial orb with superior numbers.


    [Hawk, see what you can do to slow the attackers once I have the strong ones busy.] Karl instructed.


    [ALL the fire.] Hawk agreed.


    Karl moved to lure the stronger Giants away from the group, while the rest of his team grew increasingly concerned about the odds on his side. With all the Royals gone, they would have an easier time with the Commanders, but twelve on two, or seven, depending on how you counted it, was not great odds when Remi was a ranged fighter.


    The bodyguards were Monarchs, though. That should make enough of a difference, Tessa hoped. Thor was itching to charge into battle, and she could feel the will of her Goddess flowing through her. The will of the Red Dragon wanted a war, and there was one waiting for them only a few hundred metres away.


    Or at least they would get to enjoy a small sample of the ongoing war at the borders right here in their own backyard. That was close enough for the War Goddess. N?v(el)B\\jnn


    Karl equipped the Haint w as gauntlets on his hands, and then drew his sword. The Monarch Rank Giants smiled at the sight, not realizing the hell that was waiting for them, and increased their charging speed to take out Karl before they dealt with the others.


    Karl pushed his speed as much as he could manage, testing the limits of the enhancements that he had gotten from the new ss, and the bonus he received from each of his pets.


    With [Disintegration] on his sword, Karlshed out at thergest of the Monarch Rank Giants, internally wincing at the sound of his de breaking the sound barrier. He either needed to stop doing that or invest in some earplugs. It had been the same thing when Leafa fought the Emperor, a cacophony of violence that could be heard for dozens of kilometres.


    The Giant was unprepared for that sort of speed, and hastily erected a [Guard] barrier to defend itself. But the skill didn''t hold, and the lingering remains of [Disintegration] along with the ghostly trail from the Haint w were still in effect as the de pierced the Giant''s throat.


    Karl jumped to stop his momentum by kicking off the Monarch, and managed an almost smooth backflip tond on his feet.


    [Not bad. Eight out of ten. You need to work on your form.] Remi congratted him.


    However, the Giant wasn''t dead. At least not yet. But it was bleeding heavily from the neck, and a stream of pale green energy was being ripped from its body as it struggled.


    The other Monarch saw this and came to the rescue, but the trio of bodyguards intercepted it, while Remi threw [Chain Lightning] to slow the Royals until Karl''s Lamia bodyguards could cut off their advance.


    It took Karl a moment to realize what had happened to the wounded Giant as he was evading the strikes of its enragedpanion, but when the stricken Monarch began to have seizures, he finally understood.


    The blow hade so close to killing the target that the Haint w had grabbed a hold on the Giant''s soul and was forcibly ripping it from his body with lingering psychic damage.


    Karl parried with his full force, and both des rebounded away, nearly putting the tip of his de in the dirt as the Giant''s chest was exposed.


    The Monarch twirled away from Karl''s counterattack, but immediately found itself falling. A Naga Warrior had taken advantage and wrapped its legs with its muscr lower body, and once the Giant was face down on the ground, the Warrior went wild attacking with all four arms and des coated in [Tsunami] water magic.


    Crude, but brutally effective.


    That left Karl and the warrior free to engage the Royals, as the first Monarch struggled for its life while fending off one of Remi''s Bodyguards from a kneeling position.


    The increased speed was an unfair advantage, and while the Giants had no problem keeping up with Karl''s running speed, his hand speed was far too high for them to effectively counter.


    However, after only a dozen strikes on his way through the crowd, his arms were getting sore.


    There was an imbnce in his stats. He could move faster than his body could currently sustain. Human bodies were not beast bodies, and despite all the enhancements, he was actually dealing a significant amount of damage to himself, which was being negated by [Void Body].


    That was going to have to change. Once they got out of here, or at least found time to go through their loot, he needed something that was going to increase his durability. Even if it was a workout routine and not a magical item.


    It was either that or he would have to hold back inbat to avoid injuring himself, and the amount he would have to hold back would increase with every beast that advanced.


    Worse, if it didn''t work, he would have to change his role from frontline fighter to ranged support.


    The Lamia moved to Karl''s nk as the Royals double-teamed all three of them. That shouldn''t be right, there weren''t that many Royals in the group.


    Then Karl noticed that once the Monarchs were both dead, Remi had taken her trio of Bodyguards into the nk of the Commanders to set up abination of [Blizzard] and [Hellstorm].


    The defenders were inbat now, and Hawk had just arrived, striking at the back of the force with a wall of [Hellstorm] vortexes that were moving forward at a walking pace, while Dana''s Golems attacked the survivors, and she assisted Hawk in raining attacks down on the Giants.


    Being attacked from three sides was not in their n, and despite the Giants outnumbering the defenders by an overwhelming margin, they were unsure what side to send reinforcements to.


    With that being the case, Karl held back against the Royal Rank Giants, testing the limits of his physical durabilitypared to his maximum strength.


    It was fast enough that the Giants could only haphazardly parry, and took indirect hits from most of his attacks, a distinct advantage on Karl''s part, as they were forced fully onto the defensive.


    The Bodyguards appeared to have gotten faster as well, but Karl couldn''t be certain, as he hadn''t spent much time actually watching them fight.


    "Prince Karl, the reinforcements are here!" A Satyr runner shouted from a few dozen metres behind him.


    "Have them join the main force and push the enemy back into the ming vortexes." Karl shouted back.


    The goat legged Demon ran off to ry the message, while the Royal Rank Giants rallied into a circr formation, where each of them would have a helper to cover their blind spots, and defend against tricky attacks.


    There were still five of them to Karl''s trio of attackers, who now had them surrounded.


    Karl was about to move in for the kill, aiming to cut through one Giant and attack the others from behind, when a Portal opened, and the Giants, including the dead, turned incorporeal.


    Then, they vanished, and the portal closed. All that they had left was a lot of scorched grass and blood, plus one Monarch Rank body. The unfortunate Giant whose soul had been siphoned by the Haint w had not been recovered with the rest of their force.


    Remi tossed the body into Rae''s space forter, then took stock of her bodyguards.


    They were a little beat up looking, but with [Trollish Regeneration] and [Eternal Lightning], their bodies were still solid.


    Then they refreshed their armour spells, and they were back to pristine appearance.


    [Resounding victory. Is it lunchtime yet?]

 Chapter 572 Called Back To The Chaos

    Chapter 572 Called Back To The Chaos


    "What portion of them do you think that we killed before they ran away?" Colonel Lu asked as the defenders were catching their breath and preparing for the next attack.


    Karl shrugged. "At least a third, but I don''t think that it matters because they took the bodies back. They will most likely resurrect them right away, and then they will have suffered no losses."


    The Minotaur sighed. "Whereas our losses are permanent, so they''re running a campaign of attrition."


    Karl gestured behind them. "Who said ours are permanent. We have Lotus, High Priestess of the Nature God, and a healing specialist, here with us today. It looks like she started with the strongest of the fallen, and then the cutest. She might not be able to save them all before she is exhausted, but with two Dragon God clerics here, we shouldn''t have too many casualties."


    They had many wounded fighters. Almost all of them had some level of injury after the battle, but about half of their force had been heavily injured and were slowly moving around, getting used to the feeling of their limbs again.


    It was a measure to prevent lingering mental trauma that would reduce healing effectiveness in the future, an elerated version of rehab to remind the body that it was healing properly.


    "At least there are more reinforcements iing now that the first group is out of the trial." Tessa noted as she rode up beside Karl on Thor''s back.


    Karl looked back in the direction she was pointing and saw an entire army regimenting out to surround the ruins. Dozens of white robed clerics, nearly a thousand soldiers, and a full artillery battery had arrived so far, on top of hundreds more soldiers from Newbon, and one adult blue dragon.


    "We should likely go speak to the dragon before they have toe here. Blue Dragons love knowledge more than anything, and if we give it to them, they will like us by extension." Karl suggested.


    Tessa smirked at him. "Is that your n to gaslight the clergy? Just y to their aspect?"


    "Hey, I brought you a whole battle with the world''s best charger to ride, didn''t I? I think I''m doing alright." N?v(el)B\\jnn


    Tessa rolled her eyes. "You provided this lovely charger, but I don''t think that you can take credit for the whole battle. The Giants wereing whether we were here or not."


    [The Not Dana Mages areing back.] Hawk updated as Karl prepared a good reason why he should get credit.


    "Oh, there are Spelldes iing as well. We should prepare to wee them." Karl announced, changing the topic while letting Tessa know what was happening.


    "What direction, I will go update them on the situation so that there aren''t any conflicts between allies today." Tessa asked.


    "Under Hawk. He''s circling them now and preparing tond."


    The Minotaur wondered how that was going to help with the stated goal of not starting a fight between allies, as the gigantic Ghostfire Thunderbird was not aforting sight to strangers.


    Thor rushed off to greet the people, which would give him time to socialize while Tessa exined the situation. Of course, Dana was on Hawk''s back, and she knew most of it already, but that didn''t sound like nearly as much fun as going over himself.


    "Why would they appear all the way over there instead of being here with the rest of the reinforcements?" Colonel Lu asked as the group came back into sight.


    "They were likely sent from their n Compound, or another mission, so they didn''t want to appear right on top of someone in an already chaotic situation. They''re only a five-minute walk away." Karl replied with a shrug.


    The Royal Rank Minotaur decided to leave it alone. He knew that the one who had found them was Hawk, so the rapid response was perfectly reasonable, and there were more forces expected from both sides, as they would be sending as many people as possible to take the trial and attempt to awaken System Functions before the orb ran out of energy, or the ruins vanished again.


    That was what usually happened with these things, and why they couldn''t just get along and peacefully use the resources that appeared.


    There were too many factions with too many people who all wanted or needed that power.


    Whether it was for survival, political gain or like the Blue Dragons, just because they didn''t already know.


    Karl and the Colonel waited with a few other officers as the Spelldes approached. The uniforms were simple, so nobody would have known which nation they represented without the introduction, so sending out someone to greet them and verify their identity was actually a good idea, no matter how redundant it seemed.


    Corbin nodded at Karl as he approached, then at the Minotaur and the Satyr runner who was waiting behind them.


    "I am Prince Corbin, of the Golden Dragon Nation. You can just call me Corbin. My people will be on guard here until the incident has ended." He exined.


    "Not headed in to gain the power of the orb?" Colonel Lu asked.


    "We have been paid handsomely for others to get that opportunity. Our instructions are that it is likely to be usage limited, so we are to prioritize not letting unauthorized users in."


    "Should we be expecting anyone else?" The Minotaur asked.


    "Orcs. There is a group of Orcs headed this way. My instructions are that the nomads are considered part of the Newbon delegation, but I am aware that your people have had some issues with them in the past. So, we will have Prince Karl escort them in if they do choose toe here." Corbin exined.


    [I saw them in the distance, and Dana told him.] Hawk exined.


    "I understand. Though, the thought of Orcs with a System is a frightening one. I had expected that such an honour would be reserved for more civilized factions." Colonel Lu grumbled.


    A lineup was already forming around the Orb, as it appeared to have reached its usage capacity. That would likely drain it much faster than anyone would prefer, but Corbin had already received a message by portal describing the situation.


    The content of a magical message was easily intercepted by the Totems, but a small portal to drop a physical letter would not be noticed.


    His excuse was a good one. The Spelldes were a powerful faction, but they were willing to be paid for their work and pass up other opportunities. So, the Minotaur and the other Newbon officers wouldn''t question why they weren''t trying to barge to the front of the line.

 Chapter 573 Fortify

    Chapter 573 Fortify


    The Spelldes weren''t the only ones that had been sent here. The Military Regiment was only the start, as they were not expected to be systempatible. The government was assembling Elites who had been out on missions toe to the orb as soon as possible, and Karl could hear the militarymander talking to someone on the radio about the next expected arrivals.


    Both nations had more peopleing, but the Blue Dragon was beginning to look impatient.


    "I will see you all in a few minutes. I need to go greet our draconic visitor, and make a good impression before they start reading everyone''s minds."


    It was a male blue dragon, so at least they didn''t need to worry about Thor hitting on this one. But if the Dragon started searching for information directly from everyone''s mind, they were going to find countless things that Karl would rather they did not.


    "Greetings, Prince Karl. I am Librarian Gareth." The dragon greeted him as Karl approached.


    "Wee, Librarian. It''s a pleasure to meet you. I presume that you have a number of questions about the inner workings of the orb, as well as the many historical events that the visitors have seen." Karl replied.


    "Indeed. The historical events that I have heard so far have added many pages to the history book, and there are so many more to go through. But it is the advancement opportunities and how they might function that is of the greatest interest to me.


    So much about the System is unknown to us now."


    "Well, I can describe how it went for me. After I entered, there was a group of mannequins, or illusions. They all looked like me, but in slightly different armour, with different weapons. When I used the System Interface to look at them, I could see the different ss names, and a few minor details about them, like the starting details, or a theme for the ss."


    The dragon had heard all of that before, and it wasn''t all that interested in hearing it again, so Karl added some juicy details to bring its attention back.


    "However, I had a number of skill points, and one more skill from my existing ss that I wanted to add. There was a skill called Rampage, a passive skill that adds damage to my strikes every time I hit the same target. A bit like stacking damage over time effects, but I have to keep hitting them for it to take effect. Or, if I could poison them, I suppose that would work as well.


    But the part that actually applies to this situation is that when I learned the skill, it gave me another option."


    That got his attention. "Adding a skill gave you a new option? Perhaps it was thebination with the other skills you already knew? There has long been a theory that the progression of Elites was individualized, and that not every person with a certain ss would get the chance at the same advancements.


    But to hear that it could be directly rted to the skills that they had mastered is wonderful news."


    Karl nodded. "If I happen to return to see Orthos at the Beast God Temple, I will be sure to train some of the children there in new skills. Then, when they grow up, you can study them and see what paths they follow."


    The dragon''s massive blue head turned to look off into the distance. "This wouldn''t have anything to do with the Naga Queen and the Nature Priestess wanting more time with the pups and whelps of the beast nation, would it?" n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om


    Karl gave him his best fake innocent smile and the dragonughed. "I will consider extending an invitation at some point in the future. Orthos has enough on his hands right now without bringing others to cause chaos.


    But your people will get to see the pups again. We are sending many acolytes here before the orb deactivates, so they can try to gain ess to the system."


    Karl nodded in agreement. "That sounds good. We will look out for the children and keep away any attackers. The faster that we get through the advancement of the defence groups, the more secure the area will be. However, I do expect that we will face attack by either the Giants or one of the other nations soon.


    If experience has taught me anything, it''s that nothing on this continent remains a secret once more than two people know of it. With that in mind, most of the continent will know about the situation by tomorrow."


    "I will leave you to it then. Please send your people by individually, and we can finish the debriefings. I will be providing a copy to the Capital Cathedral''s library, as well as to Orthos at the Beast God Temple, as per our agreement on information sharing."


    Karl nodded. "Onest thing before I go. Which location do you call home?"


    The dragon gave him a toothy grin. "Neither. I am from Whiton Temple. When there is new knowledge of this level, the blue dragons hold a lottery to see who gets to go."


    Karl walked away and sent Tessa over to give her report next. If there were childrening, her and Lotus would likely want to be nearby. The Red Dragon prioritized protecting children during battle, and the Green dragon loved all creatures, so it was a duty that neither would have any problems with.


    That left just the waiting for things to go wrong part of the day. They were slowly getting more soldiers and monsters back to the defensive lines around the ruins, but there was still a long line of them waiting to use the Orb, and most of the ones who had sess were too giddy with joy to actually pay attention to anything.


    Thankfully, they had Hawk overhead, and he could keep watch for approaching threats. But if there was one, Karl wasn''t sure he would be able to get anyone''s attention in time to have them actually respond.

 Chapter 574 They Dont Give Up

    Chapter 574 They Don''t Give Up


    The tension held on long enough that the defenders were beginning to rx. Almost all of them hadpleted their attempt to activate a system interface, and another round of candidates was being brought in.


    These ones were mostly youngsters from the Divine Beast and Newbon Empires, while the Golden Dragon Nation was holding off, for fears of overcrowding.


    But for Karl, Librarian Gareth, and a few others with good intuition, or a lot ofbat sense, the quiet was unnerving.


    The kids who were waiting their turn had been moved to the former slums of the town, where no ruins survived, and Rae had built a maze of stone walls and pirs for them to y tag in. The clerics were all sitting on the walls, keeping guard, and watching for injuries, while the soldiers finished their turn.


    "Bring them out ten at a time. That should be a smooth enough pace that they won''t have to wait now that the line is gone." Gareth directed, using the advantage of his enormous size to simply swing his head over to the clerics.


    "Alright, the next ten who are it and tag someonee to High Priestess Tessa at the entrance. She will lead you to the trial while everyone else ys. Then you cane back after." One of the Beast Clerics instructed.


    That brought an increased energy level to the game, as everyone either wanted to go to the trial or y as long as possible before they had to work.


    The Children formed an orderly line to the orb, expertly shepherded by the clerics, and Karl turned his attention to the distant horizon, scanning for danger. n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om


    [There, I found it. Fifty metres from the edge of town, a giant sized portal is about to open.] Hawk announced.


    "Iing Portal." Karl shouted, with a gesture toward the portal, which would be under a hundred metres from him.


    Both Karl and Remi called their bodyguards in front of the portal location, and the attack began. But not how Karl had expected it.


    A barrage of spells crashed into their barriers, and an armed unit of human soldiers in shining red te armour flew through, attacking everything that they saw.


    {Artillery!} Someone shouted from the Golden Dragon Nation lines.


    That triggered a barrage of anti-aircraft guns and artillery rounds, which were aimed through the portal to dy the reinforcements.


    Three of the Commanders broke off and targeted Dana, who was nearby, but behind the lines.


    Then the others focused their attacks on the Spelldes and the soldiers from Newbon.


    Thor put up a barrier around the Orb, protecting the children, while Tessa took her spot on his back.


    The attackers could move through the air, but like Dana they had to run on air, and that meant it was more efficient for them to fight on the ground, surrounded byrger enemies where they couldn''t be focused on with multiple attacks.


    For the first few seconds, they appeared to be ignoring Karl. Then a Monarch Rank mage came through the portal just as Karl fired a [Disintegration] coated arrow through the opening.


    The mystical bolt hit his shield and shattered it in a single strike, drawing his attention and blood from his cheek.


    [Oh, he took that one personally. If he didn''t want to be embarrassed, he should have put more effort into his defences.] Remiughed.


    "You damnable beast. I will put you in your ce today." The mage shouted.


    Karl took out the Haint w and let it form on his left hand, while he wielded the Sword of Champions in his right.


    "In my ce? Don''t be ridiculous. Your mother''s bedroom is nowhere near here. But you can still call me Daddy if you like." Karl''s shouted reply made a good portion of the Golden Dragon Nation soldiers burst intoughter, while the Newbon soldiers began to make crude jokes about the inexhaustible stamina of a Rock Troll.


    The mage dove at Karl, who sent a barrage of [Rend] attacks at him. Each was hardly Commander Rank, but Karl sent dozens of them, five at a time.


    The Mageughed as he decided that was all the ranged attack power that Karl had. Trolls, as he assumed Karl was, were closebatants. And the mage had no intentions of getting close enough to be hit with that sword. He only needed to be close enough that his attacks couldn''t be parried.


    The [Rampage] skill caused an increasing damage buff with every hit, but Karl kept reducing the power he was putting into his strikes, to keep the final effect the same and conserve energy.


    He could feel the bonuses from [Pack Tactics] and [Bestial Champion] taking effect as his pack came under attack, and had to cut the damage back even more to lull the mage intocency as he approached.


    It had only been five seconds, but Karl had sent nearly a hundred [Rend] attacks at his barrier, all on the low side of Commander.


    The Mage was beginning to sweat with exertion from maintaining the defence, and Karl could see that he was going to go for the kill as soon as he thought he was too close for Karl to avoid the attack.


    Ten metres, that was the distance he chose.


    Unfortunately for him, with Karl''s increased speed and strength, that was melee range.


    The Mythril blue de of the Sword of Champions glinted in the light as Karlunched himself forward with a thrust, extending [Disintegration] in front of his de like a spear.


    The Mage spun as the skill shattered his barrier, and Karl flicked his wrist, turning the thrust into a sh as Disintegration missed its target.


    One armoured arm fell to the ground as the mage howled in pain, then the air shattered as Karl''s left fist came around, and the Haint w smashed into his opponent''s face.


    Like a puppet with its strings cut, the mage crumpled to the ground, leaking ghostly green energy into the Haint w.


    A long bovine bellow echoed through the city, followed by the deep voice of a Commander Rank Minotaur.


    {First blood goes to Champion Karl!}


    The voice must have echoed through the other side of the portal, as the iing mages all turned in Karl''s direction. There was one Royal with ten Commanders, a standard deployment, but Karl had no idea what nation had sent them.


    To Karl''s left, he could see that Remi had transformed back into Spirit Snake form to protect Cara''s neck, and catch a ride, while Rae was tearing her way through the iing mages at a truly ridiculous rate.


    The extra damage from the new ss skills stacked with the damage increases she already had, and even the Royal Rank mages had a hard time taking more than one or two attacks.


    However, it was Ophelia that was surprising everyone. She had learned some sort of ground m ability that either increased gravity or negated flight magic, and when she used it, dozens of mages fell from the sky.


    Once they were on the ground, or close to it, the seven-metre tall Dire Bear simply mauled them.


    [Angry Bear is funny. Look how she chases after the terrified not Dana Mages.] Hawkughed.


    [Kind of busy right now. Make sure that nobody manages to hurt her.]

 Chapter 575 Poke Them With A Stick

    Chapter 575 Poke Them With A Stick


    The mages weren''t giving up as easily as Karl had expected. They had built a barrier around the portal that was withstanding the artillery barrage, and while Karl and Ophelia terrified them, the mages were not hesitating to engage with the monsters of the Newbon Army.


    More of them were pouring through the portal by the second to establish the beach head outside the city.


    [Thor, how are things going there? The faster the kids get finished, the faster they can be relocated to somewhere safe.] Karl asked.


    [Most are inside right now. Tessa has the others calm, and they''re waiting for thest few soldiers toe out.]


    That was as good as they could hope for. As long as the defenders could keep the invading force away from the orb until the kids could finish and be extracted from thebat zone, it should all be fine.


    They were mostly Awakened and Ascended Rank magical beasts or monsters. Most of them were only half grown, and they wouldn''t have done more than the very basics ofbat training so far.


    Karl faced off with the mages who hade to challenge him and considered his options. Hellstorm wouldn''t work, as he didn''t have the control to keep the vortexes in midair.


    Remi already had a [Thunderstorm] going, but the mages all had barriers, so it wasn''t taking them out until they were already heavily injured. The question was what was the fastest way to achieve that.


    Karl decided to start with the ssic crowd control skill. [Chain Lightning]


    The bolt came out ethereal blue from his left hand, and arced to ten more targets, shattering Commander Rank barriers and knocking mages out of the sky.


    They didn''t have a chance against the skill, and Karl simply continued to channel it, allowing the damage to stack and the lightning to function as a magical stun baton.


    The leaders of the attack squad realized that within seconds and began erecting a barrier to block the lightning before it could hit and arc.


    That let some of the mages get to their feet and make a shaky retreat back to the safety of the portal.


    It wasn''t like Karl had something in particr against these mages from one of the other human nations. But that didn''t mean that he was going to give up an opportunity for his people without negotiation.


    If they had sent someone powerful, the leaders would have sorted it out between them. The fact that they hadn''t implied that they were either too weak of a faction for it, or they wanted it to be solved this way.


    With their shield isting them from Karl, the mages retreated. The same was happening on the other side of the battlefield, where they were facing Ophelia, and the battle was quickly turning into a rout.


    Hawk and Dana were raining spells down on the barrier defending the portal, but it didn''t appear to be faltering at all. There was most likely a powerhouse on the other side keeping it active, though it was only at the Royal Rank. If they couldn''t exhaust the power behind that barrier, they would be unable to do any more than hold the battle to a stalemate.


    [The kids are all done. Tessa is moving them to Rae''s stone maze, and I will keep them all protected.]


    [Excellent news. Thank you, Thor.] N?v(el)B\\jnn


    While Thor prepared to protect the kids, Karl studied the barrier that was erected between them and the portal. He had enough power that he could shatter it with one strike of the maul, but it was definitely being fed power from the other side of the portal. If he broke it, he could get through, but it would be back up in under a second, and that would be troublesome for him. Trapped inside a barrier full of enemies, with a portal to their home base, was a terrible idea, even by his standard of bad ideas.


    However, that didn''t mean that he couldn''t mess with them at least a little bit.


    Karl put away his sword and took out the maul to stack [Disintegration] on it.


    The first swing of the maul shattered a hole in the barrier, through which Karl hurled [Chain Lightning] into the startled mages. Off to his right, Cara was torturing the mages in a different way.


    She had blocked a group of them from retreating, and she was just repeatedly casting [Nullify] every time they tried to cast a spell to get around her. On foot, they weren''t fast enough to get around her, and she wouldn''t let them use magic, but without using skills, they couldn''t harm her either.


    She was having a great time, and every mage that saw it was absolutely terrified, so it was a win on both fronts.


    Cara knocked them all over once more, and then sent Karl a mental message.


    [Tell them to stay put. They are my prisoners now.]


    [What are you going to do with prisoners?] Karl asked.


    [I dunno. Poke them with a stick maybe? They''re funny when they''re frustrated.]


    Karlughed and walked towards where she was pummelling a mage''s face in the dirt before flying off to recapture another one who had made a run for the barrier.


    "Gentlemen. I believe you have found yourselves prisoner of a Void Badger. If you will kindly stop resisting and trying to run away, she can stop beating you." He announced.


    The closest mage cursed and tried to throw a skill at Karl, but at the end of his sword swinging gesture, nothing happened.


    Cara had [Nullified] his skill.


    "It seems that you are slow learners. You can either sit here and behave, or I can stun you into submission. Which would you prefer?"


    The mages put away their des and sat down on the grass, while theirrades only a dozen metres away watched with concern.


    "Now, my lovely associate here just wants to poke you with a stick to see what noises you make, but I have a few questions. First, what nation are you from. Second, what will it take to make you go away? This matter has been settled between the Totems, it is not up for discussion or such impolite attempts at poaching." The Mages gritted their teeth, unwilling to provide him any information that he didn''t already have.


    [They''re from Baria. The Dana Mage recognized a token on a body I collected.] Hawk informed him.


    "Fine, I will start the question and answer period for you. You were sent here by Baria to try to gain the benefits of the Relic. That much is inly obvious.


    We can skip those basic details, and I don''t care what faction, n or Spellde Sect you were hired from. So, we can skip straight to the important part. What will it take to make you go away? Will your people leave voluntarily? Should I call for a couple of Overlords toe here and flex their might?


    What''s your directive on retreat?"


    The mages that were caught outside didn''t want to say anything at all, so Karl simply stepped over and smashed a hole in the barrier, through which he cast another Chain Lightning.


    The retaliation was half-hearted, only a dozen Commander Rank fireballs that were crushed to nothingness by [ming Body].


    "Is my inflection unclear? I am being nice for now. Don''t make me send a fist of Monarch Rank mercenaries into your barrier with orders to kill anything that moves." Karl suggested.


    "Fine, we can do this the hard way, then."

 Chapter 576 Now They Listen

    Chapter 576 Now They Listen


    Once Karl made his threat, a new Spellde came through the portal. He was Monarch Ranked, and wearing the same ck robes and shining red armour as the others, but with a gold embroidered cloak hung over his shoulders and sped with a gold chain studded with rubies.


    "Who do you think that you are to threaten my people?" He demanded.


    "Prince Karl of the Golden Dragon Nation. And from what I can tell, I personallymand more Monarch Rankbat power than your n does, so I am asking you politely to take them and go home. If you want a piece of the action here after this pathetic attempt at poaching, you need to ask the Archbishop, or one of his people."


    The mage paused, considering his response before this situation got even more out of hand. Spelldes trained to fight above their rank, and were considered an Elite force all over the continent. The Elites, on the other hand, were a new force without a lot of the respect that the Spelldes had earned over the centuries, but some of them had unique sses that were more than a match for anything else at their level. The n Leader knew the stories of some of the other Elites who had achieved things that were considered conventionally impossible.


    But that didn''t mean he would back down from a challenge, at least not just on the off chance that this particr one was capable of such remarkable feats.


    "And if I say that my people aren''t leaving?" The Spellde replied.


    Karl called the two Lamia Bodyguards, and the mage paled. Monarch Ranked intelligent summons were far more dangerous than a conventional Golem, and these ones had immediately created their own Monarch Ranked barriers.


    Karl smiled. "As I said to your men, we can do this the hard way. I was only extending a measure of courtesy to you."


    The pair faced off across the barrier around the attacking n, who were all looking haggard and exhausted from the effort of holding the barrier against the constant artillery barrage.


    The artillery and Hawk, Karl mentally amended, as Hawk was taking full advantage of his evolution to Ghostfire Thunderbird to sit on top of the barrier and let his mes drain the defenders'' energy without having to do anything himself.


    It was a brilliant move, and as soon as the barrier cracked, Dana could cast her Golems inside. With the barrier up, you couldn''t cast spells from the outside in. But every time Karl cracked the barrier with his maul, you could for the next second or so. At least spells that didn''t try to move through the solid parts of the barrier.


    Remi came over with her trio of bodyguards, reminding the mage that if they pushed, the defenders could get inside the barrier and wipe out the Spellde n in a matter of minutes now that they were tired and low on mana.


    "Release my people, and we will retreat for today." The n Leader relented.


    "That should be fine. The energy of the Relic won''tst much longer. Cara, if you would kindly send the Spelldes back to their bubble." Karl agreed. N?v(el)B\\jnn


    Cara mentally cheered as Remi passed her arge stick out of her space, allowing the Void Badger to poke and herd the mages, who she was still preventing from using any spells.


    There was no particr reason to make them walk the rest of the way to the barrier, but Cara wasn''t willing to give up her game yet.


    The n Leader turned and walked back through the portal to his home Sect, and the others quickly followed, leaving an empty barrier for half a second after the portal vanished.


    Ophelia came over to where Karl was standing, and Hawk circled down tond nearby, now that his perch was gone.


    "What did they say? Are they giving up?" Ophelia asked.


    "For the day, anyhow. They might not be back, but someone else will, and likely with arger force, now that they know that this one failed.


    Well, there are more reinforcementsing now, so we will be able to rx a little and let the new arrivals take over for us." Karl replied with a sigh.


    The others allughed as Karl finished his speech. There was no way that the next group toe invading them not was going to expect an overpowered Royal Rank Elite and a seven-metre tall Dire Bear to be part of the force.


    Ophelia took a small notebook out of her inventory, which looked ridiculous in her Werebear hands. "Alright,dies and gentlemen. Get some rest. I am taking wagers on when the next group arrives. Closest to the time wins the pool."


    She was about to continue when energy surged in the air, only a few metres from where she was standing. "Let me amend that. I will take wagers on the one after this because that was too fast to even get our bets in."


    The soldiers from both nations began tough at the absurdity of it all. They were still recovering from thest battle, and there was another portal already opening in front of them.


    The others retreated, leaving Karl at the front, with Cara standing on his left side like a guard badger.


    She now nearly reached his hip, and was thicker in the body than any dog Karl had ever seen. She had to be close to seventy kilos of pure muscle, but when Karl extended his fingers and gave her back a rub, the skin still shook loosely, in the odd way that Void Badgers fur did. You could pick them up by the excess skin, and they wouldn''t feel anything other than a gentle massage.


    In fact, Cara had considered picking fights a few times just to get someone to properly massage her, but had given up the notion when she realized she could just ask Remi and Rae.


    In front of them, a Royal Rank Mage in ornate armour stepped through the portal with a barrier around himself, then stopped and addressed the defenders proudly.


    "The Staptonbia Tower would like to negotiate for ess to this Relic." He dered.


    Everyone turned to Karl, and he realized that his positioning had nominated him as the official spokesperson for the defenders.


    The Newbon Army was happy to let him deal with the humans, who were notoriously rude to monsters, as most of the Newbon army still didn''t believe that he was actually a human, despite his allegiance.


    His own allies were happy to let him, simply because he was the strongest one here. It was either him or Corbin, and Corbin was more interested in looking after his Spelldes.


    Karl nodded in response.


    "Alright. I think we all know the routine. The Relic allows ten people to attempt to use it at once. There are no known Rank limits, but the benefits are greatest for those who have at least one specialty skill and time to grow." He agreed.


    The mage nodded and held out a small metal box.


    Karl flipped the lid open and saw a potion inside. He couldn''t identify it at first, even with the system interface, but Remi did.


    [It''s not finished. They think it is, but they''re just humans. If we add a powdered Earth Stone to that, it will be good stuff.]

 Chapter 577 Tasty Snacks

    Chapter 577 Tasty Snacks


    Karl closed the lid and took the box. "Pick your ten. I will guarantee their safety while they are here."


    The mage looked relieved that his offering had been enough. He didn''t know quite what the Relic did yet, but it was an opportunity for ten people, so some would have demanded an exorbitant price for it. Most of the duels for ess were a result of a price too high for the challenger to easily afford, though Karl didn''t know that and thought it was just a matter of ego.


    Karl gave the box to Remi, who began grinding a Monarch Rank Earth Stone that she had pilfered from the Cyclops invasion.


    [This will be such a good thing. We can''t feed it to Rae, though. She''s already a bit too Earth Element. So, either we can feed it to Thor, or sell it and get something Holy for him.] She suggested as she worked.


    [More Earth Shields? Rae already does Earth Shields.] Thorined, feeling slighted with a duplicate ability.


    [No, this is what my book calls an Exuberant Vitality Potion. Well, before I added the Earth Stone to it. Now it just says that it is good for you. It''s more health and nt based, and less dirt.] Remi exined.


    Thor thought about it for a second. [So, you''re saying it might be better to feed it to the Lotus.]


    Remi considered that. [She might explode if we give her any more energy. She''s been ying with children for over an hour, and she''s not tired yet.]


    The Spellde brought through ten teenage acolytes from his n, all at the Ascended to Commander Rank bottleneck. The System Interface said that they were all ssically trained mages, so if they werepatible, they would be getting sses today.


    That might eliminate some of the bottlenecks for them and let them advance. Getting to Commander was difficult, but getting past it was considered nearly impossible. So, for a faction that sent a Royal as their Champion, it was better to get more Commanders than to take risks trying to get another Royal.


    Ophelia stepped up beside Karl and motioned for the young ones to follow her. Protocol said that Karl would remain here with the other leader, and someone should bring them food while they waited. N?v(el)B\\jnn


    Karl waved his hand, activating [Earth Shield] and created a crude set of stone chairs and a table.


    "Why don''t we sit and wait? There are some conditions to ess, so it takes a few minutes for most." He offered.


    The mage smiled and sat on the chair, subtly activating a barrier underneath himself in case Karl tried to use the skill to attack.


    Rae transformed into a human again and stepped out of her space with a te full of roasted pork and berries.


    "Sorry for theck of cookies, I hope this suits your taste." She greeted them.


    The mage did a double take as he saw her and couldn''t immediately identify her species, other than that she was a Royal Rank beast and had managed to sneak up on him.


    "Thank you, Rae. I have some in my inventory."


    Karl took a small package of travel biscuits that the Elves had provided for him and ced them on the tray.


    He had close to fifty kilos of the biscuits, and they didn''t often eat them, so this was a great chance to bring them out.


    "Are those... Elven travel biscuits and Royal Rank Giant Boar meat? You have extravagant tastes, my friend." The mage stammered.


    "Far from it. The Giant Boars appeared in an Anomaly spawn not long ago, so I have an abundance, and the Elven biscuits are something of a unique snack option that I reserve for special asions." [Like finding someone who likes to eat bread.] Hawk noted.


    [Rae, tell your Lotus to make more of those fried rice ball snacks with the red bean paste in the middle. I like those.] Remi added helpfully.


    Rae agreed. She liked the rice balls, and wondered what this mouth made them taste like, so she [Shadow Stepped] to where Tessa was standing to inform her of their dinner order.


    "By the gods, that is terrifying." The Mage muttered.


    Karlughed. "She has a knack for terrifying people, and she has mastered using her movement skills without a power surge, so she just kind of vanishes." "I take it that she''s more friendly than she looks?" The Mage chuckled.


    "Not really. But she doesn''t like being in the sunshine, so she''s unlikely to start murdering people in the middle of the afternoon."


    All of the beastsughed in Karl''s mind as Rae nodded in agreement, both mentally, and in person, which confused Tessa, who had to try to decipher what bodynguage was intended for her and what was for someone else.


    Rae was not yet used to keeping her bodynguage for the person in front of her, as for so long, she had only been able to speak to Karl and the other beasts, who could all hear her thoughts. "What did you say her name was?" The Mage asked.


    "That is the Lady Rae. Princess of the Bloodbath Spiders."


    The mage went even more pale than he had been when Rae vanished.


    "I see. So, she''s using a transformation spell, then?"


    "She obtained one from Bethoke Fortress, and she''s working on mastering the skill so she can transform on her own. It will be a great victory for her mobility if she can ess human scaled corridors." Karl agreed.


    Many human fortresses were designed with ceilings just over two metres high and narrow hallways for exactly that reason. So that monsters couldn''t run wild inside the fortress, even if they managed to enter. A Royal Rank beast loose in the hallways was thest thing that they wanted, and the most powerful beasts were farrger than humans.


    "Is it possible for a beast to learn a skill like that?" The mage asked.


    "With the right motivation, it is. Lady Rae even learned how to summon Golems with a little assistance. She''s be quite the versatile hunter."


    [Karl is learning our ways. The mage is terrified.] Raeughed.


    [I knew he would catch on eventually. We should have brought Thor over so he could see how much a Lightning Cerro could advance. His mind would be blown.] Remi agreed as she finished her concoction.


    [There we go. Now, we can either feed it to Thor and see what happens, or wait until we''re bored and then feed it to Thor and see what happens.]


    Thor chuckled. [Those are the same options. You''re bored right now.]

 Chapter 578 Duplicate Order

    Chapter 578 Duplicate Order


    Within five minutes, all of the youngsters had managed to follow the instructions and enter the Relic''s separate space. Now all that was left was the waiting.


    Karl was just gettingfortable when another portal opened, and Rae used [Shadow Step] to go greet their visitors.


    "Ah, monster!" The woman on the other side of the portal screamed.


    No, Karl realized half a secondter. That was a man with an exceptionally high-pitched screaming voice. Because the woman who stepped through looked disgusted with his cowardice.


    "Princess. Are you the leader of this team? I have been sent by the Staptonbia Tower to negotiate ess to the Relic." She announced.


    Rae smiled at her, a gleaming crescent of serrated teeth.


    "No, my Karl is the leader here. But I could have sworn that we already had your person here." Rae replied, confused by the way that the humans were using the same name twice.


    The woman gave her a perplexed look, then turned to where Karl and the Royal Rank mage were sitting.


    "What are you doing here, Joseph?" She demanded.


    "The same thing that you are. I paid for my students to ess the Relic." He replied with a smug smile.


    The woman red at him, then held out a box. "I suppose that he also paid with one of these?" She asked, showing Rae a potion identical to the first, except higher quality.


    "This one is better than the first one. I can give you a chance to try the relic along with your ten tributes for that price." Rae offered.


    The leader of the first group of mages, Joseph, turned to Karl.


    "Can she do that? Normally, there are politics involved in which faction gets to make the decision." He whispered.


    "It''s fine. We''re in agreement on the price." Karl replied, dismissing the mage''s concerns.


    The new mage woman turned over the box, which Rae tossed in her space for Remi to upgradeter. They had one ready to go, and now they could make another. That way, they could feed them to both Thor and Lotus to see what happened.


    All she needed was to find another Monarch Rank Earth Stone. Or a nature stone. It should work with a nature stone too. Assuming that she could find one.


    [I will check my swamp first. I might already have some.] Remi noted. Rae was busy ying hostess, so Remi would get started on the work.


    [I have a Royal Rank Nature Stone. Is that good enough?] Remi asked after a few seconds.


    [Probably. I recall Hawk saying that humans can''t absorb resources well, so you can''t give them really good things.]


    A Monarch Rank potion would be two full ranks above Lotus, and that might be too much for her to handle. Normally humans used potions at their own level to advance, not ones that were already above their rank, simply out of ess issues. Any resource that they could use was usually consumed by the finder, or traded for one that they could use. So, there were no over level resources avable. The human nations simply weren''t capable of keeping up with demand.


    The [Identify] skill that Karl had gotten, and passively shared with the team, was practically a cheat code for Remi when she started to study potion making. She only had to see thebination that would be good for one of the team members, and then try to make something that wouldn''t kill a human.


    She had wanted to make a growth potion that would make Lotus taller, but one of the ingredients was her own venom. If it didn''t work to make her taller, it would probably kill her.


    "You''re really fine with a Royal Rank mage using the Relic?" The woman asked.


    "Of course. But only on the condition that you give our friend Librarian Gareth a full description of what happened inside. The Blue Dragons hate when they miss out on possibly useful information." Rae insisted.


    [Plus, it will be funny to find out what insults the System came up when we send another old woman in.] She mentally added.


    The woman led her group in just as the first ten came out, all within thirty seconds of each other.


    Once they were at the Relic, and the Blue Dragon was debriefing the young magesing out, Joseph finally gave in to temptation and asked Karl the question that was burning in his mind. "What are you expecting to happen that you are willing to risk a foreign Royal advancing with the aid of the Relic you''re assigned to?"


    Karlughed. "That Relic won''t immediately advance anyone. Your people will exin to you soon. But there is a sentience inside the Relic, and it loves to insult people. Rae let her enter just so that she would be forced to describe the experience to the Blue Dragon. They can read minds, and they will know if she''s lying or trying to hide anything. Trust me, you don''t want to leave before she gets out, especially if you''re rivals in the same Sect."


    Joseph blinked slowly, then looked at Rae, who was very proud of her idea.


    "That''s brilliant. Evil, but brilliant. Now, as I''m going to find out anyhow, what sort of Relic is it?" He asked.


    "It gives the chance to awaken a System ss if you arepatible, or view a historical video if you''re not. But you see, the System was typically awakened during puberty.


    Your counterpart is significantly older than that, as is Colonel Lu, the Royal Rank Minotaur over there. It berated him the entire time that he was there, even though it gave him the reward. n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om


    So, even if she is sessful, we are expecting entertainment."


    Joseph chuckled as he waited for his acolytes to be returned to him after interrogation by the Blue Dragon. His nation also followed the Dragon Gods, though they didn''t follow the Golden Dragon Church.


    But the actual religious faction didn''t matter much when it came to showing respect for the dragons. Even the Beast God followers were kind to the chromatic dragons, and most of the others on the continent followed suit out ofmon sense. After all, you never wanted to upset someone who might eat you.


    The Novel will be updated first on this website. Come back and


    continue reading tomorrow, everyone!

 Chapter 579 Judgmental Trial

    Chapter 579 Judgmental Trial


    Once the first group of Acolytes were finished with Librarian Gareth, they returned to Joseph and exined the situation to him in detail. All of them had managed to awaken the mage ss, and while some had considered other options from the base sses, they had ultimately all chosen to go with the one they knew.


    As with the Spelldes under Prince Corbin, they had to worry about messing up their future by picking a ss that was ipatible with the Sect teachings.


    Unlike the Golden Dragon Nation, there was really only one path for most of the other nations, and that was the path of thebat or research mages.


    That was the only way that the humans couldpete with the other species without technology, and the Golden Dragon Nation was the only one that had focused on technological development, thanks to their previousck of mages.


    It was thergest human nation on the continent, but before the Elite program began, it had only three Spellde ns in the entire territory, when most capital cities in other human nations had at least two, plus all the ones that were scattered through the countryside.


    "Oh, Janice is out already, and she doesn''t look happy." Joseph chuckled.


    She began stomping toward the portal with a re on her face, but she was intercepted just outside the ruins by the massive body of Librarian Gareth, who hadn''t gotten his part of the bargain yet.


    "We had a deal. No leaving without telling me everything that happened inside."


    Janice sighed and gathered her thoughts, while the Blue Dragon smirked at her and read her mind.


    "When I first entered, I was in a space with a clone image of myself, where I was allowed to choose a ss from the System. But it only gave me one option, Spellde." She began.


    "Did the system say anything? Give you an idea why you only got one option? Many of the young ones got a half dozen choices, but only one of them could choose Spellde." The Dragon asked.


    The mage gave him an annoyed look, then sighed and mumbled something too low to be heard.


    "Sorry, I didn''t catch that." Gareth informed her.


    "I said, it called me fat andzy, then berated me for not awakening the system interface before now. I''m a researcher, for World Dragon''s sake, when would have I awakened the System? Yet, it yelled at me for five straight minutes before it let me choose and leave."


    "So, you selected the only option and left as soon as it let you?" The dragon asked.


    "That is correct."


    "Alright, that''s all I needed to know. You can wait at the table if you like. There are refreshments."


    Karl created another chair so she could sit with them, and Janice eyed the tray of snacks with curiosity.


    "Who provided these? What an odd grouping." Shemented.


    "That would be me. It was what I had avable, but they go well together. There is tea as well. It''s pretty good, a little minty." Karl informed her with a smile.


    The tea was a Remi creation, and it was technically boiled leaves, even if most of them came from medicinal herbs growing in her swamp.


    Janice sipped the tea, then did a double take. "What did you put in this? Is this some sort of regional delicacy?"


    Josephughed. "It''s an acquired taste. I like the devil mint and spirit leaf grassbination, though. It goes well with the divine chamomile. Calming and refreshing at the same time."


    The female mage shook her head. "What a waste using them for making tea. Such precious resources should be appreciated, not treated as a snack."


    Her counterpart chuckled and slid a bit of roast pork belly on an Elven travel biscuit to make a sandwich.


    "You need to get out of the library now and then. Have a sandwich and some berries. It will help your mood."


    Joseph popped a berry into Janice''s mouth, and her eyes went wide in shock as she realized what he was feeding her.


    "You bastard, I could have sold that." She gasped.


    Joseph put on an innocent expression while Karlughed. There were literally thousands of those berries ripe in Remi''s space right now, grown as a peace offering for Hawk when she irritated him with her inconsiderate use of water magic.


    Karl took out another handful and put them in her palms. "There you go, plenty forter. They''re good in cakes and muffins as well. I grow these at home, no need to be shy."


    Janice held the berries in her cupped hands and gave Karl the most confused look that the beasts had seen so far. It was like he had told her that he was actually a tricolour hydra who lived on the moon. She simply couldn''tpute his words.


    But the berries were the same ones that came from Karl''s balcony at the Academy. Only these ones were Commander Rank resources, enhanced by the space they were grown in, and not just a bit of tasty junk food.


    In fact, the roast meat that they were enjoying had been seasoned with them and a few other nts from the beasts'' spaces.


    Janice managed to get the berries into a pouch without spilling any, and finally managed to ask the important questions. "Do you perhaps live in one of the protected Sects of the Divine Beast Nation?" Karl shook his head. "I have a dorm at the Golden Divine Academy. Or at least I assume I still do, I haven''t been there in a while."


    "And you can grow resources like this there? That sounds, frankly, unbelievable."


    Karl winked at her. "Trade secret. I can''t go giving away all my horticultural knowledge."


    [You don''t know anything about hortis or their culture, though.] Rae reminded him.


    [Horticulture is the knowledge of growing nts.] Remi rified for her older sister.


    [Silly name for it.]


    Karl tried his best to ignore them bickering and joking as the second batch of mages came out to meet with the dragon.


    This group had a special ss with them, a Magical Knight. That should still bepatible with the rest of the Spelldes, and it was an advanced ss, so it had powers in the skill tree that should be superior to many of the basic ones that the regr Mage ss got. n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om


    "Well, it looks like you got your money''s worth. I do hope that you enjoy your evening." Karl informed the two group leaders, then stood to shake their hands and send them on their way.


    "We certainly did. Our money''s worth and more. It was a pleasure doing business with you, Prince Karl, and Lady Rae."


    Rae bowed politely, delighted that they had thanked her directly, and not through Karl.


    She could get used to this form if people were going to be so nice.


    [Then POOF, giant spider.] Caraughed.


    [Precisely. They''ll never see iting.] That was just diabolical. Rae''s humanoid form already terrified people, and made it far too easy for her to sneak up on them. If she started just changing back into a spider right behind people, she was going to give someone a heart attack.


    [Or make them soil themselves. Pick your targets wisely, sister. We all have sensitive noses.] Thor added.

 Chapter 580 Lotus Root Juice

    Chapter 580 Lotus Root Juice


    For a few minutes, the ruins were quiet as thest of the trial takers left. Then a portal opened back to Bruse Temple, and one of the clerics came through to take the children of the Divine Beast Nation home.


    She waved at Remi from across the ruins, then began the task of making sure nobody forgot anything, so they could be returned home in one trip.


    Then a portal opened and Council Head Arnold, the Troll that led the Newbon Council, came through.


    "Merchant Karl, I havee to collect the kids. Thank you for your efforts so far." He greeted them.


    "Not a problem at all. I was asked to remain here for the time being, and I couldn''t really refuse." "Is there anything entertaininging up in the next few minutes? I could put off my return." Arnold suggested.


    "It''s hard to tell, really. We''re mostly waiting on the next group toe challenge for the Relic, or more reinforcements to be sent to take over from us and have their turn. It doesn''t show any signs of instability yet." Karl replied.


    The Troll nodded. "You''ve likely got a full twenty-four hours worth of ess. As powerful as that one is, I can''t see itsting longer than that. But until then, you''re going to have an interesting day.


    But before I go, tell me something. Did you get a new benefit from the Relic?"


    Karl nodded. "I got a most curious new ss. It only has three skills avable right now, and they''re all insanely expensive. I will have to work hard to see the true benefits."


    The blue dragon turned to the Troll. "Do you know the Beast Master? How was his strength before? I don''t have a frame of reference for what he was at before and after encountering the Relic."


    Arnold just shrugged. "You would have to ask Overlord Leafa, but she''s confined to the Fort on security detail for the time being. She was the one who saw him inbat. If you wish to visit, just send a message and we will wee you."


    Librarian Gareth nodded his massive head. "I believe that I will. This Relic is absolutely fascinating, and the potential growth of the ones who have benefitted from it is astounding.


    I suspect that many of them are hiding the extent of the skills that they could use so that they can advance in private, but that is normal. Even the mighty predators return to their den when they want to advance."


    Ophelia poked Karl in the back, and he made a face at her. "Come on, we know you''re holding out. Just give the potion to Lotus if you don''t want to give away Thor''s advancement." She whispered.


    "Alright, I know exactly how to do this." Karl whispered back.


    "Hey Lotus! Sister Remi made you a new type of juice!" Karl shouted over to where the clerics were gathered.


    That brought the Nature Cleric running, and Karl took the potion out of Remi''s space.


    "She says you''re supposed to drink it in one shot." Karl exined.


    "Thank you so much, Remi! I wonder what it tastes like? What kinds of juice do Naga even like?" Lotus wondered, while everyone else stared at the glowing neon green potion in her hand. Lotus sniffed it once, then tipped it to her lips and sipped a little. Her eyes widened in excitement, and she began to gulp down the potion like it actually was a ss of juice.


    Then the Cleric began to glow the same green as the potion, then rise into the air, suspended by a pair of vines under her feet.


    The vines wrapped around her, until Lotus was nearly engulfed in them.


    She looked a bit like a tree stump with a head on top, but she was radiating healing magic. Then, branches and leaves began to grow from the vines, and she really looked like a tree that was slowly moving around the open area around the ruins.


    The tree was giving off an area healing aura that was far stronger than any that Lotus had used in the past, and it was hard to tell if she had advanced, or if the potion had brought her right to the bottleneck of Royal Rank.


    "I love this new skill. There are birds in my branches." Lotus giggled. The birds were part of the skill, and could be dispatched to heal people by flying into them and turning into healing energy. But the visual effect was perfect for a Nature Cleric.


    "[Tree of Life] is the name of the skill that the potion gave me. To think that the Spelldes gave us such a good thing to ess the Relic." She gave a twirl in tree form, shaking her branches and sending gold dust scattering to the ground, where it healed any lingering wounds on those nearby.


    Librarian Gareth chuckled. "Little Cleric, they didn''t give you something that good. They gave you a decent enhancement potion, but not one that would grant an Epic Grade healing transformation spell. That must be the result of whatever your friend Karl, or did you say that it was Remi, did to it afterwards.


    Now I wish that I had analyzed it before you drank it. Who knows what sort of thing I might have learned from the concoction."


    Karl sensed that he was going to have to give a step by step description to the Dragon, but he had already been expecting that when he agreed to Ophelia''s suggestion that they test the first potion on Lotus.


    "Does it take a lot of effort to maintain the tree?" Gareth asked.


    Lotus shook her head, which made the upper branches of the tree shake. "Nope, it''s just here. It''s kind of slow and heavy, though. I can''t move very fast."


    "So, limited mobility, but greatly enhanced healing effects. Is there anyone here with a lingering ailment? A limb that has recently undergone regrowth, or other injuries that were still healing?" The dragon asked.


    All the defenders looked around, then shook their heads. They had been picked because they were in good health.


    "I was recently healed in my arm, and by High Priestess Lotus herself. I don''t know that there is any more lingering injury to repair, though." Colonel Lu exined.


    "That''s alright, please go stand in the shade under her branches."


    The Minotaurplied without question, and the dragon cast a series of spells on him for observation as he stood in the healing aura, being regrly sprinkled with golden dust falling from the leaves as Lotus danced around in tree form.


    "Fascinating. It is healing the lingering nerve and tissue damage that regr healing won''t touch. The traumatic damage that leaves so many crippled from repeated magical healing spells." Gareth exined. n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om


    Colonel Lu flexed his arm and shrugged. "I will take your word for that, but I feel like a young Minotaur again. All refreshed and full of energy."


    "A skill well worth its reputation as one of the grand healing magics."


    Then he turned to Lotus. "The Cathedral will be d to see you returned. I assume that you are going back there after this engagement?" Lotus giggled. "Nope! We''re going to the headwaters of the Seabingin River to find a temple for research, and then to the Whiton Temple to hug beastkin, and then we will take the long way back home. Maybe we can go back to the Beast God Temple first."


    The dragon turned a questioning gaze on Karl. "This sounds like a Nature Cleric set the route. Why are you headed to the middle of the jungle?"


    Lotus stuck out her tongue at the dragon, while Karlughed. "The jungle itself isn''t the target. We''re going to study ancient architecture. There are more examples of it popping up in the ruins and anomalies, so we want to study a temple that has survived the years to see what sort of differences there might be, and if there is some clue that might have been missed in the past, because of ack of knowledge."


    The dragon was suspicious, but he likely got most of the real reason from Karl''s mind. The Blue Dragons were sneaky like that.


    "That is understandable. I would ask that you bring an escort with you, as I have many questions for you once you reach Whiton Temple. However, all of that is forter. Today, we get to babysit a newly appeared Relic, and test all of the newly awakened Elites on the skills that they have mastered. Surely one or two of them had a skill point avable to upgrade a spell or attack skill."

 Chapter 581 Relieved

    Chapter 581 Relieved


    It didn''t take long before another group of reinforcements arrived, a team of Monarch Rank Elites led by a Warrior ss Overlord in a cktex bodysuit that looked more at home in an idol video than on the battlefield.


    "Who is in charge here?" She demanded.


    Karl rose from his seat to face her.


    "I am responsible for this location at the moment. You can call me Karl."


    The Overlord nodded. "I am Tabitha, and this is my team. We will be taking over control of this Relic. Thank you for your dedication, you may continue about your assigned duties, if you were not assigned to remain here."


    It was a dispassionate response, not like she wanted him gone, but more like she didn''t care where he was, as she was only here to do a job.


    "Understood, Overlord. We were headed east, so once I introduce your team to the other leaders here, I will take my group and be on my way again.


    First, we have Librarian Gareth, from the Whiton Temple, he hase to study the effect of the Relic on the various candidates.


    Then we have Colonel Lu, who is temporarily in charge of the Newbon Empire forces. He''s an excellent warrior, and easy to get along with. Especially if you have some knowledge of farming. In charge of the artillery regiment is Commander Jamison, and beside him is High Priest Dolores, who oversees the infantry."


    The red robed war priestess nodded a simple greeting to the Overlord, only sparing her a few seconds before she returned to rearranging her troops.


    "There is no leader from the Divine Beast Nation here?" Overlord Tabitha asked.


    Gareth chuckled, then gestured between himself and Karl. "We are serving as the representatives of the Divine Beast Nation today. They didn''t see fit to leave a military force here while they had no trainees present."


    "How could an Elite serve as leader for the Divine Beast Nation?" She asked, confused.


    "He is a Beast Master. There are four Royal Rank Divine Beasts with him, and they represent the only divine beasts present. So, Prince Karl leads their force, while I am the impartial researcher."


    The Overlord shrugged, and Karl noticed how Dana blushed and Tessa looked a bit disgusted by the way that her tight-fittingtex suit shifted and pulled with the motion.


    But he also noticed that it was an Overlord Rank defensive skill. Why it looked like that was a mystery, but why she didn''t wear anything over it was even more of a mystery, unless her skills gave her extreme agility, and she needed the flexible material with no impediment to her movement.


    "In that case, you are dismissed, Prince Karl. The honourable Librarian can take over the duty of leadership until such time as the Divine Beasts see fit to send a recement."


    Karl bowed to the Overlord and motioned for his team to join him. Five people would be too much to befortable on Hawk''s back, so Karl let Dana mount up while the clerics hopped on Thor''s back and Rae prepared her Golems for riders.


    The other Elites looked intrigued by the process, and even more when Thor began to jog away with his passengers, while Hawk rocketed into the sky.


    This time, he used his barrier to hold Dana in ce, cradling her like an ergonomic chair with head support. That made riding much easier when he wanted to make extreme changes in direction.


    Gareth sighed as he saw them running away. They weren''t actually afraid of the Overlord''s temper, they just wanted to go do fun things and not sit here being attacked while they sat at a huge glowing target.


    He couldn''t me them. Their n to go explore an ancient temple sounded like way more fun than getting information about the same three basic ss options over and over.


    Very few of the volunteers got and advanced option, and Gareth had already realized that the advanced options were rted to the skills that the applicant had. In fact, he even had a pretty reliable chart to tell whether a mage would get the Spellde option or not.


    The young ones got to choose sses, but the nations kept sending ones that were already undergoing training for a specialty, so they weren''t picking any of the fun options that they had described.


    That had to change.


    Gareth sent a message to the Bruse temple in the Divine Beast Nation. He needed fifty young beasts or beastkin who hadn''t started training yet so that he could encourage them to try the other sses and see what they all did.


    They had a full listing of all of the promising children of the nation that had been brought to one of the temples for the traditional blessing of the newborns, and they had all of the school enrolment information for those who were in the right age group to be gaining system skills.


    There had to be some good ones in there, and if he didn''t get to see them, it was a huge waste of the opportunity.


    It only took a moment for Gareth to craft a message, and even less time for a positive response to the idea to be sent back.


    Orthos took one look at the iing message, then decided that he had the perfect group.


    There was a misfit ss at the school in Holney, specifically for beasts and beastkin who wanted to pursue paths that were not well suited to their species. If they could get an actual ss for their ambitions, they would have an excellent chance to grow up as something more than wastrels.


    Karl was almost to the horizon when the portal opened, and Hawk began tough.


    A hundred juvenile beasts and beastkin had just arrived to use the Relic, which was fair by the rules of usage splitting. But the students that the newly arrived Elites were seeing were not what anyone expected.


    There was a Forest Weasel dressed as a cksmith, despite only weighing two kilos, a Dire Bear with shamanistic bead nes, a fox kin wearing leather pants and carrying twin battleaxes, and it only got more insane from there.


    That idea spurred Colonel Lu to do the same thing. What if the key wasn''t to find the most qualified, but to find the oddballs and make them qualified?


    So he called for another twenty from his nation, and they arrived within the next ten minutes, as the first group was getting organized at the Orb. They had sent all sorts of wild options from Newbon. There was an Orcish War Chief that wanted to be a mage, but could currently only cast fist. A subus that had sworn vows of celibacy and only fed secondhand, and a Minotaur boy who desperately wanted to be a chef. That one the Colonel recognized as one of his neighbours. They must have taken him to the Fortress after the Colonel and the other Royal Rank defenders were called to duty.


    "What is with all the misfits?" Overlord Tabitha demanded as she saw the new arrivals lining up and realized there was a pattern.


    "It''s an idea that the Librarian had. What if the orb is best used by those who don''t want a conventional path? The ones who want to defy fate and be something more than what they were born for? n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om


    Humans can be anything, really. Because they''re not born with any real worth or skills. They''re not even strong enough for farming or mining until they train. But our people have innate paths that are easy for them. But this orb, it could be the key to unlocking more futures for our children. We will see when the first onese out if they manage to aplish that." Colonel Lu exined.


    "And you are expecting this to seed?" Tabitha asked.


    The Minotaur nodded. "Just wait. I am sure that at least some of the beasts will seed, while the others will at least have a path they picked for themselves."


    The first one out was the Fox kin boy, who was now glowing with red energy and wearing ck metal armour.


    "I have found my new calling in life. I will be a Blood Knight." He dered. Librarian Gareth smiled. "That is wonderful news, and not a rogue type at all. Just as you wished. Now,e tell me all about it, and you can go practice your new skills in the open area."

 Chapter 582 Too Slow To Escape

    Chapter 582 Too Slow To Escape


    Karl and his group had made so much progress by the time that the sun went down that they had no idea how much chaos Karl had caused by simply ordering everyone to get started using the orb.


    Everyone else had assumed that was an order from the Archbishop, so they just went with it.


    However, when the Totems returned after dinner, they were thoroughly baffled to see hundreds of newly awakened adolescent System users. They had juste to an agreement on the schedule to use the orb, but everyone who had been called was just lined up double file, allowing the nations, including the Beastkin Nation, who hadn''t even been part of the negotiation, to use the orb equally.


    "What is this?" Lord Nacht, the ck dragon, demanded.


    "We are following the instructions passed to us by the group we relieved. Double file, equal ess for both groups. The Divine Beasts were said to be part of the Newbon delegation, and the representatives from the Beastkin Nation paid for their ess as part of the Golden Dragon Nation''s quota." Overlord Tabitha exined, not understanding why the dragon was upset.


    "And who did you relieve that set this policy?" The dragon asked. "That would be Prince Karl, the Beast Master."


    The ck dragon began tough, while the Archbishop gave a rueful smile. n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om


    "I don''t suppose that he said where he was going, did he?" The Archbishop asked.


    "To a temple in the beastkin nation, near the headwaters of some river." Tabitha replied with a shrug.


    "The Seabingin River." Librarian Gareth rified.


    "Alright, I know where that is. It appears that all our negotiations were unnecessary if everyone can share so well. Now, we are going to have a long discussion with a certain young Elite about what the words Executive Decision mean."


    Tabitha began tough as she realized what had happened. Someone had decided to just act while the Totems were negotiating, and hadn''t expected them toe back in time for anyone to catch him.


    The young Prince was a brave one, she would give him that much. Perhaps not too bright, but he had initiative.


    "On a positive note, even among the ones who were found to be ipatible, there have been no injuries and no fatalities." Librarian Gareth informed the two Totem Rank leaders.


    That made this a superior resource to the ''divine injection'', and the trial here had a sess rate that was over fifty percent overall, and increased with youth. Among those who were under their fifteenth birthday or equivalent for their species, it was nearly three in every four that obtained a ss.


    "Wonderful news. We will ensure that there is a steady supply of candidates for as long as the trial remains open. Do we know the exact time it opened?" The Archbishop asked. "I don''t, but as I understand it, the portal opened early this morning." The Archbishop nodded. "Then we have plenty of time left."


    As if the world wanted to spite him, it was at that moment that the light of the orb began to flicker. The energy from it appeared to be as strong as ever, but something was changing.


    Then, it stabilized, appearing just as it had before.


    "No more red gs." The ck dragon insisted.


    "Seconded. Let''s see whoes out next. Perhaps an interesting choice was made. Who is in there right now?" Lord Nacht asked, turning to his fellow Dragon.


    Librarian Gareth shrugged. "A bunch of misfit kids from the Newbon Capital and a couple of acolytes from the Divine Beasts. Almost everyone has entered already, the rest are just practising their new skills over there." The Blue Dragon exined.


    The two Totems looked around at the situation and nodded in satisfaction. "Alright, we will leave this to you who are here now. Send a message when you are finished or run out of volunteers, and we wille back." Lord Nacht insisted.


    "Yes, brother." Gareth replied.


    The Archbishop closed his eyes to focus and then frowned. "How can he be five kilometres apart from himself? I think that his beasts are messing with my targeting."


    The ck Dragon chuckled and ducked down so that the Archbishop could climb on his back.


    "Open the portal in the air, and we will find them."


    Karl pulled his Golem mount to an abrupt stop as a massive dragon head appeared through a portal twenty metres in front of him.


    "Lord Nacht, good afternoon. How was your dinner?" Karl greeted the Dragon, then realized the Archbishop was on his back.


    "Archbishop, may the blessing of the World Dragon be upon you." The Archbishop floated down from the Dragon''s back, and Nacht transformed back into his humanoid form.


    "We have been informed that you waited less than five minutes after we left to discuss the rotation of use before you decided to just send everyone present into the trial and start calling for more people." The Archbishop began.


    "Your Eminence, I would like to rify that I was not the one who called for more people toe for the trial. I simply set out usage guidelines that everyone could work with until your final decision was made." "That''s a beautiful way of saying that you didn''t pay any attention at all and just did what you wanted." Nacht agreed.


    "Thank you."


    The Archbishop hid his amusement at the way that the Beast Master didn''t back down, even in front of a Totem Rank ck dragon.


    It might be confidence, or he might just be oblivious to the danger, but he could sense that Karl''s attitude was partially from his bonded beasts, and with three apex predators linked to him, it was no wonder that he was self-assured to the level of arrogant.


    [Are you thinking what I''m thinking?] Cara asked.


    [If he takes two more steps forward, I will consider it.] Karl agreed.


    Nacht tilted his head curiously and cast a spell, then another spell.


    "You''re trying to determine what my beasts are saying to me, aren''t you? Orthos told me the easiest way is to listen to my thoughts because I will think the words as I hear them." Karl suggested.


    The ck dragon nodded. "That''s not my specialty. I am looking at your intent, and it keeps fluctuating, like a rainbow of different intents all mixed together. I am wondering which one is which. I would assume the one that is focused on mischief is the Naga Queen."


    Karl shook his head. "No, that''s the winged Void Badger. She has a thing with dragons."


    The Archbishop looked concerned that Karl might do something stupid, but Nacht was just amused. "The Dark Goddess is fond of small and fearless creatures. They often get away with things that norger creature could. I heard what she did to Orthos."


    [I think that''s a warning.] Cara noted.


    [He''s definitely on to your shenanigans.] Remi agreed.


    [I will have to find new ones.]


    The Archbishop cleared his throat. "We will escort you all to the temple, on the off chance that there really is something there. Unfortunately, the Spellde n won''t be able to join us, but Prince Corbin will get credit for his reports if there is something found."


    Corbin really had gotten cheated on this deal. He was the one who wanted to go there in the first ce. Karl just hoped there was good stuff there for Thor.


    "That sounds wonderful. Thank you for your assistance."

 Chapter 583 Lost Temple

    Chapter 583 Lost Temple


    The ck dragon or the Archbishop must have known exactly where they were going because the portal opened right beside a temple that looked exactly like the step temple in the very first trial instance that Karl had entered.


    "There is an opening at the top. Would you like me to fly you up there to begin the investigation?" Nacht asked.


    Karl shook his head. "No, I think it is important that you walk up the steps. This is identical to a World Dragon Temple in a trial I was in. The goal was to get as far up as you could. Now, this one might be broken, but if there is even a little lingering magic, it will be important that we have walked all the way up under our own power." Karl exined.


    All of the beasts came out to examine the temple, and Hawk was filled with a sense of nostalgia. It would be much easier to walk up the steps now. He was huge, and he might even be able to do three at a time.


    Karl led the way, then paused and went around to the left side of the Temple.


    "If I''m right, this one used to be the strength test side." He exined.


    Karl stepped onto the temple and began his ascent. There was no magical resistance, no sign of response from the temple, but he continued up the thousand steps to the top anyhow. If nothing else, it was a good workout.


    The others followed behind, curious to see if Karl would be able to provoke a response from the temple by mimicking the way that it used to function as a trial. They were about to give up on the whole notion when Karl reached the top and nothing happened. But when he took one more step forward, the temple began to slowly pulse with energy, a faint signature, but growing.


    "Well, I''ll be. It really did respond to your technique. What do you think you should do next?" Nacht asked.


    The Archbishop was making notes as he walked up, ensuring that no detail was missed. The old cleric surely had ideas, as he was the greatest expert in the world on the topic, but Karl went with the simplest idea first.


    "There is what looks like an offering box on the altar. I will start with that."


    The altar was made of the same ancient grey stone as the rest of the temple, but the box was heavily weathered brass, and most likely bolted down if it was still there.


    Karl reached into his inventory and took out a piece of gear that he knew was systempatible from thest resurgence, and ced the magical dagger in the offering chest.


    The dagger vanished as soon as he ced it in the box, and Karl waited to see if anything happened, or if everyone had to make an offering.


    The power in the temple was growing, but not everyone was at the top yet, as the clerics and Danacked the superhuman stamina of Karl, Ophelia or the dragon.


    Eventually, they did all make it to the top of the temple, and the power level began to grow proportionally to the number of people gathered around the altar.


    "Are we going to do something?" Ophelia asked. n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om


    "First, we wait a few more minutes. Then we will offer it a few more system enhanced treasures in the offering box. It epted the dagger I offered, so I know it works, at least a little." Karl exined.


    After a few minutes, the power growth seemed to slow to a crawl, but the Archbishop had an idea.


    "I think it justcks the mana to continue. You clearly triggered it well enough, it just can''tplete its desired task. Between myself and Nacht, we should be able to fix it." He exined in a tired voice.


    For the first time, Karl noticed that the Archbishop was not a young man, or what could be called middle-aged, or even aging. Behind his beard and his clear eyes, he was very obviously elderly, and might not have more than a handful more years left.


    But once he recovered from the long walk up the stairs, the strong aura was back, and the two Totems began to focus their energy on whatever was happening in the pyramid. That was bringing it to life, and Karl smiled as he realized that Corbin was right. There was something immensely powerful here. It was faint, but the energying off it was like nothing that Karl had ever felt before.


    It almost felt holy, but not in a way that Karl could put his finger on. Perhaps they really had found the tomb of a Demigod? If that was the case, Corbin was going to be devastated, even if he was given the credit for the initial find.


    The ck Dragon smiled. "I can feel it. There is something remarkable here. Prepare yourselves, I think that it is going to activate."


    The air seemed to twist, as if an anomaly was opening, and then Karl was floating in the void. There was nothing around him, only absolute darkness.


    For the first half of a second.


    Then he felt wind rushing past his face, and altered [ming Body] so that it gave off arge amount of light.


    On his right, Lord Nacht was spreading his wings to begin a gentle glide around the area. So, Karl called Hawk out, only to find that the beast hadn''t been returned to his space, and he wasn''t here wherever they were.


    Karl shifted to tten himself against the wind, slowing his fall, and waited for the ground toe into sight.


    Nacht was already far above him, as the dragon had simply opened his wings. He hadn''t realized right away that Karl was beside him and couldn''t fly, so his first instinct was to explore the area.


    Then Karl realized that he didn''t have to actually fly. He could change his armour and hope it adapted.


    [Bestial Raiment] was removed and reactivated, giving him a new pattern of armour with ayer of cloth connecting his limbs that allowed him to soar through the air, greatly reducing his fall speed.


    [Good call Boss.] Remi congratted him.


    [You''re with me? I thought we were all separated.]


    Remi gave a mental shrug. [When things started getting weird, I just went home.]


    That was a very Remi thing to do. She wasn''t fond of trouble, and liked to watch new things from the safety of her swamp. Only once she knew what was going on, would shee out.


    Karl realized that the others were likely in the same situation he was in right now, and frowned.


    [I hope they''re all alright. Hawk can fly, so can Cara. Dana can walk on air, but the two clerics, Thor and Rae could be in trouble.]


    He had other things to worry about, though. He could see the ground now, or at least a mountain range in the distance, and Nacht hade to soar beside him.


    {What a curious thing this trial is. If there was anyone else in this instance, I would have expected it to be the old man, not you.} He offered, keeping pace beside Karl.


    "It is a shock to me too. I wonder how it sorted us, or what sort of trial this is. It clearly didn''t sort us by power level, and it doesn''t make sense to sort us by size." Karl agreed.


    "Land there, on that ledge halfway up the mountain. Then, if we need to fly again, you can get on my back."

 Chapter 584 Temple Trial

    Chapter 584 Temple Trial


    Karl steered himself awkwardly toward the ledge, slowly getting the hang of manoeuvring in free-fall with his adapted armour.


    He could likely achieve the same effect with a cloak or cape if he tied it to his ankles, so he wanted to remember this skill forter.


    As they approached the cliff, Karl could see that there was a cave at the back, but he could also see that there was something alive in there.


    "There''s something in there. I can see the aura of its soul." Karl informed Nacht as he steadied himself on his feet and refreshed his armour so it would spawn a more practical design.


    Then he dimmed the light of [ming Body] so that it didn''t draw the attention of whatever he had seen.


    "You have the Soul Sight as well? How did you manage that?" Nacht asked.


    "It''s a benefit of being bonded with Hawk, who has evolved into a Ghostfire Thunderbird. I gain the sensory specialties of my beasts, but most of them are duplicated, or inferior to a version I already have.


    But I have thermal vision, echolocation and soul sight to work with, which ironically makes it even more disorienting to be high in the air in the dark."


    Nacht nodded towards the entrance to the cave. "Shall we? If we''re in a trial, standing around out here isn''t going to do us any good. But we might have an advantage on some of the others, as we found something living the moment that wended."


    He had a point. He had forgotten that he should be seeing anything living, if there was something alive in the trial, but Karl hadn''t seen anything else living beneath them, only the ground and the mountains.


    Nacht moved toward the cavern entrance, shifting into human form so he would fit within the confined space. The ceiling was over five metres tall, but in his adult dragon form, he was still far toorge to fit within the avable space. n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om


    Karl also ended the [Brutality] skill and let himself shrink back to his normal size, which suddenly felt very shortpared to the height that he had gotten used to on his travels through the Newbon Empire.


    "So you''re not an exceptionally tall human. You just keep a skill active all the time to be taller. That''s an odd choice." Nacht noted.


    "It also increases my strength by fifty percent. When there is heavy lifting or fighting to be done, it is much better to have it in effect, but if we''re headed down into the tunnels, it pays to be a bit shorter than average."


    Nachtughed. His own human form was quiterge, but Karl''s was roughly one hundred eighty centimetres tall. Taller than most women, but not particrly tall for a man. However, he was broad and muscr.


    The tunnel was gently sloping and carefully carved, not a natural formation in the stone. Karl used [Silent Movement] to reduce noise to the point that echolocation was only a faint image, and he was relying almost exclusively on thermal imaging to navigate the darkness. Nacht didn''t appear to be suffering from the low lighting situation at all, so Karl took the lead and followed the winding passage down into the mountain.


    As they descended, Karl picked out patterns on the walls, and motioned for Nacht to stop.


    A tap of his knuckles on the stone to give him an echo image of the hallway rified the situation for Karl. There were Dwarven runes carved all over the walls around them in two lines. One at just over waist height, and one near the ceiling.


    "Can you read those?" He asked Nacht, once he realized the extent of the carvings.


    The dragon created a small light, and began to mumble to himself. The system was tranting, but it was just random words. Stone, forge, Ale, Deep, Hammer.


    Then Karl realized what they were reading. It was a recounting of the names of the rulers of this ce. "We are in the Legendary City of Graska. Or more correctly, a replica of it. This ce was home to a poption of Dark Iron Dwarves, and perhaps in a trial it still is." Nacht exined.


    "It isn''t popted anymore in reality?" Karl asked.


    The dragon smiled at him. "Most likely not, but it was never a real ce in our world in the first ce.


    If we go by when the legends were first recorded, the actual city''s mines would be hundreds of thousands of years old by now, and surely yed out.


    The dwarves wouldn''t remain forever if there was nothing but stone, they would have rebuilt the city on another nearby mountain. But when Dwarves move a city, they give it a new name, and the upper line of runes clearly says that this is Graska, and that we areing in from the Southern entrance.


    What I''m more interested in is what is causing that soul glow. Something is alive down there, and powerful enough that we could both see its aura from the entrance."


    Karl shrugged and used [ming Body] to bring back the light.


    "We might as well walk proudly into the city. Perhaps it''s an ancient guardian left behind. This is a trial, and there is no reason to think that they are trying to y mind games with us." He exined.


    The ck dragon chuckled. The young human had many things left to learn about the true nature of the gods, and the non-draconic members of the Pantheon. That was amon oversight of the humans'' nations. They taught about the Dragon Gods, but they tended to overlook the others. This ce reeked of ancient power, and ancient power meant the Laughing God, an ancient Demon God who had once operated a system for the humans, separate from the one that the World Dragon operated on the worlds that he protected.


    Nacht had heard rumours that this human with him had encountered remnants of that system in the past, so it wasn''t impossible that his luck and affinity for fate had dragged them both into another Laughing God aligned trial.


    "What do you know of the Laughing God?" Nacht asked as they walked through the ancient corridor.


    "The God of Pranks and Ascension? Not a lot. He''s supposed to be the God you turn to when you have reached your limits, and you need divine favour to survive. But ording to my parents, his sense of justice is questionable, and the favours are often granted in the most unlikely ways. Personally, I think he''s the scapegoat God. When things don''t quite work out, and you don''t want to say that another God''s decision caused you hardship, you say that it''s the favour of the Laughing God."


    Nacht chuckled. "In a way, yes. The random choice options in the System selection, the ones that can change your gender and species? Those are almost certainly his additions. But you are right about his aspect, he is known to help humans reach the status of Demigods, even during times when no other God was willing.


    This ce we are in, it might be a Relic left by the Laughing God, or the Ancient System he implemented. It doesn''t feel like dragon energy, so I don''t think that what is here is a Relic of the World Dragon."


    Karl nodded. "If Prince Corbin is right, this might be the resting ce of a Titan Demigod. I should have asked him more questions, but I was expecting to travel here with him."

 Chapter 585 Graska Mountain

    Chapter 585 Graska Mountain


    With the additional light, the details that had been painted on the walls became clear, as well as the fact that the city had most likely not met with a peaceful end.


    There were scorched spots on the walls, and some cuts in the stone that Karl had originally mistaken for tooling marks were actually weapon strikes.


    That gave the area a very different feeling than simply being abandoned for many years, and the two intruders began to move with a bit more caution as they followed the soul energy towards its source.


    The tunnel ended in what looked like a forge district, the furnaces long dormant. However, the buildings were intact, and Karl took the opportunity to look inside a few to see what he could find.


    The first waspletely bare, nothing but a stone shell, but the second had a forge left in it, covered in magical writing.


    "I will need a moment before we move on. I have never seen anything like that before." Karl whispered to Nacht.


    [Good call. Brother Hawk will love me for writing these runes down for him. I don''t know what they do, but if they''re in a forge, they should all be fire rted, right?] Remi agreed.


    The dragon waited patiently, well aware of the curiosity of humans. Karl was also very young, and he wouldn''t be familiar with Dwarven Forge Runes. It wasn''t something that they taught in school, and Nacht didn''t know if there were any Dwarves left in his nation. Before the thought crossed his mind, he hadn''t cared. Who lived in the Golden Dragon Nation was of no concern to him.


    The signs of battle had been everywhere in the city as they travelled, but the houses had been carefully vacated, and there were no signs of the destruction that usually came with looting. There were no broken housewares or low-value items, and even the paintings on the walls had been removed and not left damaged or discarded.


    Perhaps whatever battle had caused the Dark Iron Dwarves to leave the city was not a losing battle, after all. It might have simply been infeasible for them to continue living here.


    Nacht gestured left. "It''s that way, through the opening in the stone and further up toward the peak."


    Karl followed Nacht through the city once Remi had finished copying all the runes she could see. The ramp spiralled up to anotheryer of the city,id out much like the one they had just departed, only this level appeared to be more residential and less industrial. There were also fewer signs of battle here, and more signs of belongings left behind, both in the houses and in carts by the doors.


    The soul energy was on this level, and Karl could see it glowing from its source. It wasn''t moving, and it wasn''t pulsating at all, just a steady glow of immense internal power.


    As they approached, Karl saw that the power wasing from a stone sarcophagus, but not one for the Titan Demigod that Prince Corbin had expected to be here. The entire stone box was less than two metres long, though it was on a muchrger pedestal, surrounded by stone pirs that were covered in runes and beautiful carvings.


    That was when progress became difficult.


    Every step forward that Karl tried to take seemed to put an increasing strain on him. Not a physical pressure, but a mental one, crushing his soul and attempting to break his will.


    He knew that if he slipped up just a little, he would instinctively take a step back, and that would probably be the end of his progress.


    "Well, this is an unexpected challenge." Nacht noted as he strode towards the grave with his hands behind his back.


    "Oh? It doesn''t look all that difficult to me? You''ve certainly got an easy time of it." Karl replied.


    "While that is true, I can''t touch it. I have the protection of the ck Dragon, God of Death. My soul is immune to attack. However, that means I cannot subject it to the attack of this trial to find out what it is supposed to do.


    I will have to watch your struggle and see if you can make it close enough to touch the stone that is set on the lid.


    If you can manage that much, you should receive a significant reward. There are immense amounts of divine energy in this ce, waiting for someone to pass the trial and activate it."


    Karl continued to walk forward,pletely focused on not letting the pressure drive him to the ground, as he moved past the point that it was simply trying to force him away.


    "Fascinating. Your soul ispressing under the pressure." Karl didn''t even hear Nacht''s words. He waspletely focused on the task at hand. From the outside, it would look ridiculous, a grown man staggering down the street like he was drunk. But the normally invisible force was far stronger than anything Karl had ever felt. Even the aura that the Emperor of Newbon emitted when he was enraged wasn''t close to this powerful.


    Karl wished that he had Thor here with him. His stalwart friend would know the best way to get across the road to his destination.


    Karl nearly stumbled as he moved from the cobblestone street to the soft gemstone gravel surrounding the tomb. Resting with his hands on his knees as he leaned forward, Karl saw the target, arge white opal stone. It was the source of the energy, and if he could just put a hand on it, he should havepleted the trial.


    "Just a little further. Today will be a good day, I can sense it." Nacht chuckled, excited to find out what sort of trial they had been sent to that could ept a dragon of his power.


    It was absurd to think that someone had set a trial capable of amodating Totems, unless this ce was truly a Legendary Relic. But here he was, and although he couldn''t fully partake because of his affiliation with the God of Death, he was still part of the trial.


    Karl could feel his mind beginning to shatter as he took another step forward, but Remi, who was unaffected by the trial in her space, was singing as she worked on potions, and that was just enough to ground him and keep Karl moving.


    A final step, and millimetre by painstaking millimetre, he extended his hand to the Opal.


    [Trial Sessfully Completed]


    [Calcting Rewards]

 Chapter 586 Temple Trials Complete

    Chapter 586 Temple Trials Complete


    The pressure vanished, and the soul aura that had been leaking from the stone was retracted, leaving it as a simple Opal that was practically vibrating with power.


    "You really did it. I can see the system message that the reward is calcting." Karl gave Lord Nacht a weak thumbs-up as he sat down on the gemstone gravel to catch his breath and let [Void Body] ovee the damage that had been done to his soul. n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om


    [Reward Calcted]


    [Evolution Stone] Awarded


    [Error: Some Functions unavable]


    [Randomizing]


    Nacht began tough as they both saw the message at the same time.


    "I will see you shortly, friend. Good luck on remaining a Dragon." Karlughed.


    They had gone through all that, only to get a glitched reward that didn''t even work properly.


    The Totem Rank ck Dragon seemed to think that this was the funniest thing that had ever happened to him, and hisughter echoed through the city as Karl waited to find out his fate.


    [Optimal Advancement Skill Selected]


    [Iron Within Rank 3: The Flesh Is Weak]


    Remi giggled. [Well, it''s not wrong. Your flesh is weak. That was the real issue here.]


    Karl mentally rolled his eyes at her. [And what are we going to do if it changes me into something strange?]


    [Then you get to be the Monster Man for realsies! We can just keep doing fun stuff forever instead of going back to work.]


    [Passive Skill Active] {Iron Within 3}, beginning transformation.


    Pain shot through Karl''s body, worse than the side effects caused by any of the experimental treatments that the Bureau agents at the Academy had provided for him, and he felt his bones shattering then regrowing.


    [Error Encountered: Ipatible Skill Active]


    [Adjusting]


    No, adjusting wasn''t necessary. Karl was thrilled with whatever it hade up with, as long as it wasn''t nning to make this process worse.


    It had to be [Void Body] that was messing with the skill implementation, but in his current condition, Karl couldn''t change any of his skills, not even to turn it off.


    [Adjustments Completed]


    [Continuing]


    The pain resumed, but this time it was fading to numbness, and Karl could see parts of his body turning to mist before reforming to look like they originally had.


    Once the wave had crossed his entire body, and Karl was fairly certain the process wasplete, he slowly got to his feet and tested his body.


    It felt the same as it had before, but his footsteps felt heavier on the gravel than they had before.


    [Status] He thought.


    Everything looked simr to how it had before, but with one notable change.


    [Name] Karl


    [ss] Beast Master Packmaster


    [Rank] Pending


    [Constitution] Void Iron Body


    [Bonded Beasts] 5


    [...]


    There had never been a line there for a special constitution before. Karl had feared that it was going to make him something other than human, as the description of the reward had said Evolution, and that tended to make his beasts something other than what they were.


    But once he got through the misceneous details, Karl looked back up at the top.


    [Rank] Pending


    Did that mean he was in the middle of the transition from Royal to Monarch? If the change in his body had triggered a promotion, this reward would be considered one of the highest tier rewards ever encountered.


    Nacht was distracted with whatever reward he had gotten from the trial, so Karl waited for him to finish with his progression.


    [You''re really the Monster Man now. I can feel the difference. You smell like Cara and metal.] Remi informed him as they waited for the ck Dragon.


    Nacht slowly recovered his senses and smiled at Karl, then pushed a bit of energy to him.


    The power filled Karl with a lingering warm glow that seeped into his bones and remained, driving away the strangeness of his remade body.


    "It appears that your luck is infallible, young friend. I have officially reached the status of an Ancient ck Dragon, and with it, I gained the gift of potential.


    However, the gift is not for me, but for a sessor. Normally, the advancement is made in one''s own nest, surrounded by family and n, and the most promising of the youngest generation is given the gift because it can only be granted at that very moment.


    Today, you are the only one here that I might grant it to.


    So, you have been given the gift of potential, ordained by the God of Death, The Great ck Dragon. May you rise forever to the skies, and taste the aura of divinity long denied to your ancestors."


    Thest bit felt like a ritual, and Karl could feel the dragon''s resignation and dismay that such a gift couldn''t be given to his own offspring.


    "I will do your legacy proud." Karl assured the transformed dragon with what he hoped was an understanding smile.


    Nacht sighed again, then turned his head to the sky and closed his eyes for a moment. But when he looked back down again, there was mischief in his smile.


    "I wonder what nation has the strongest im on you now?


    I daresay nobody would mistake you for a human anymore, and you''ve got the blessing of a Dragon God that isn''t the World Dragon now.


    Perhaps you shoulde back with me and get to know some of the Beast Nation''s leadership?" He suggested.


    Karl chuckled. "I will have toe back and visit soon. But I suspect that I will be expected to return home first, at least to check in. However, I really do need to stop at Whiton Temple before I get there. There might be a chance to evolve Thor, who has reached the end of his natural progression path.


    If we can increase his potential to Monarch Rank with a resource, then I can use the skills of my ss to increase it from there."


    Nacht shook his head. "You''re not going to find anything stronger than whatever holy resource he has been using. If they had the ability to elevate clerics and holy beings to the Monarch Rank with any sort of reliability, the Beastkin would be among the strongest forces on the.


    Unfortunately for you, they will be more interested in how you managed to get Thor to Royal Rank than they are likely to be able to help."


    Karl frowned. "I guess that settles it, then. I''ll have to force an evolution, and then I can work on finding a way to get through his next bottleneck.


    Rae likely won''t be that far behind him. She hasn''t evolved at all, and I don''t know how far a Bloodbath Spider can go on their own."


    Nacht smiled. "Further than you might think. They''re very instinctive, and with a safe spot to advance, plus plenty of blood, her evolutions will be subtle, but powerful. The Spider Goddess is kind to her children, and they often have more adaptability than any other species would consider reasonable."


    Karl chuckled. "Like allowing them to learn Earth Magic because they bathed in Hill Giant blood when they advanced to Royal Rank? I can see how other species would find that somewhat unreasonable. If humans could adapt like that, the whole species would be nightmare fuel."


    Nachtughed. "Humans are already a pain in everyone''s ass with their excessive breeding rate and magic use. If they could evolve, we would likely have quarantined them."

 Chapter 587 Trial Time

    Chapter 587 Trial Time


    The trial began to fade around them, and Karl wondered how the others might have fared. Not all of them would have easily entered the city from halfway up the mountain. There might have been an entrance at the bottom, or perhaps there were other spots in the area that they could havended and searched.


    When Karl''s vision cleared, he was back on top of the temple, where all three clerics plus Thor were waiting for them.


    "Oh, wee back. We were wondering how long you would take." Tessa greeted them with a smile.


    "I hope we didn''t make you wait long."


    The Archbishop chuckled and Lotus giggled as shey curled up against Thor''s side.


    "You could say that. We''ve been back for nearly two days already."


    Karl and Nacht turned to each other in confusion, wondering if this was actually part of the trial, and they weren''t really out yet.


    "Two days? We''ve only been in the trial for an hour and a bit." Karl asked carefully.


    Lotus looked up from her nap spot. "That was our thought as well. We appeared in a forest vige full of Elves, had lunch with a human clericdy, and then we were back here." "Did you get a reward?" Karl asked, wondering what sort of trial they had undergone.


    "We did. We just don''t know what yet. When we check the system interface, it still says rewards calcting." Tessa exined.


    That made both Karl and Nacht believe even more strongly that they were still in the trial, but then Nacht received a message, which shouldn''t be possible in the separate space.


    "Before we go any further, what happened to Prince Karl?" The Archbishop demanded, waving a hand in his direction.


    Karl nodded in agreement. "I suppose a run-down is in order. Wended on a ledge outside an ancient Dwarven city. Then we followed a powerful soul aura to an opal mounted on a tomb deep in the city, and it gave us a test and a reward. I was given a gift of Evolution, and a skill called [Iron Within] that appears to have reforged my body and granted a special constitution." "A special constitution? It sounds more like is partially changed your species. Or perhaps entirely changed it with minimal change to your outer appearance." The Archbishop retorted.


    Then he got a curious look on his face and opened a portal. n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om


    "Jeeves,e here and bring your assistant." The elderly Archbishop demanded.


    A blue robed dragonkin poked his head through, then nodded and vanished back to wherever he had been.


    Only a minuteter, he came back out with a young blue robed girl that immediately made Lotus stand up and smile.


    Karl discretely sniffed at the air, then chuckled. The young one was a juvenile blue dragon, not a dragonkin. Lotus must have noticed faster than he had.


    "Jill, it''s so good to see you again. You will never guess what we have been up to since I saw youst. Ask the big meanie if you can stay a while after he finishes working, and we will catch up." Lotus insisted, speaking so fast that her words were jumbled together.


    Jill winked at her and continued following the cleric known as Jeeves.


    ording to the System interface, his name was Geraldo, but the Archbishop might either know him by a nickname, or simply forgot his name long ago and hadn''t realized it.


    "Your Eminence, I have brought all my tools. What sort of new species have you found for me?" He asked.


    "That one. I suspect that a System gift made him no longer human. I would like to know what he is. Demihuman? Some form of monster? An unknown species?" The Archbishop replied.


    Geraldo smiled at Karl. "My ss is Schr. I have a skill to allow me topare a sample against any information I have ever read. So, if you are changed into another species, I should be able to tell." Karl nodded, and the cleric took out a needle.


    *Ting*


    Everyone turned to see what the metal on metal noise was, while Karl and Geraldo stared at the needle.


    "Well, that was unexpected. I''m sure I found a vein. Do you have a skill active?"


    Karl shook his head. "I have all my invulnerability and regeneration skills deactivated at the moment. The new one isn''t something I can turn off, though. When it interacted with another skill I have, it became that new Constitution."


    "Were there any other oddities?" Geraldo asked. "My Rank is listed as [Pending] at the moment."


    The cleric looked impressed. "You''re going to make it to Monarch Rank once your advancement finishes? That is incredible. I''m sure that everyone will be delighted to find out that there will be a new Monarch.


    However, that does exin the issue. Archbishop, I may need your assistance. Can you coat the needle in holy energy so that I can draw a blood sample? I''m not powerful enough to puncture his veins."


    The Archbishop took the needle from him and carefully drew a sample from the underside of Karl''s forearm.


    The blood came out deep ck and faintly shimmering, which intrigued everyone present. Karl included.


    They had never seen blood like that before, and when Geraldo tried to test it, he just shook his head. "There is nothing about this in any of the research materials that I have seen. I could study some of the more obscure entries that I haven''t prioritized, but that''s mostly for extinct species and mythical creatures." The blue dragon cleric exined.


    Nacht stared at the blood sample for a moment, then took the needle and let a drop fall on his hand.


    "I think that it has been permanently altered by his skill. If I apply small amounts of death energy to it, the blood regenerates. If I''m right, you''re not getting a reading because the skill that has modified his body is stabilizing the sample. You''re going to have to send it to one of your scientists if you want answers, and they''ll have to do a whole research project." The Dragon exined.


    Tessa smirked at the dragon. "So, you''re saying that even if his blood is spilled, the blood itself won''t degrade?"


    The dragon nodded, but the Archbishop realized the implication right away.


    "And if he happens to impart that ability to his beasts?" The elderly cleric began.


    "An immortal Bloodbath Spider." Rae announced as the remainder of the team exited the trial at the same time.

 Chapter 588 For Thor

    Chapter 588 For Thor


    "Wee back. Did everyone make it safely?" Karl asked.


    "As safely as could be expected. That trial was wild, and we didn''t have the clerics or Thor or Remi. I couldn''t even get her to give me stuff from her space. Fortunately, the buffs you cast on everyone were still active." Rae replied.


    "Alright, you had a very different trial than the rest of us. There was nothing to fight in ours."


    Rae seemed lost in a fond memory for a moment. "Me and Cara appeared with Dana and Ophelia, and Hawk was in the sky over us. We thought that everyone else must have gotten separated, but then there was angry bacon and zombies and the whack a moledy, and not quite humans, and some blue not quite humans.


    Everything was attacking, and I got to squish the zombiedy again, but with a hole in the middle of the stone, so she sprayed into the air." Ophelia shook her head in dismay, while Dana did her best not tough.


    The berserker was back in her own form for the first time in weeks, and it was strange hearing her normal voice, instead of the deeper voice of her Werebear form, as she added details to the exnation.


    "The trial told us that we would get a reward for every target killed before the timer ran out. Of course, with the three beasts, we were searching for targets halfway through the timer, and then it kicked us out with ten minutes left on the timer. But it gave me a reward, so I guess we did it right." She added.


    Dana nodded. "It gave me a reward as well, but it says that it''s calcting, so the reward is still pending."


    [I''m pending too.] Hawk noted.


    [What do you mean, you''re pending? Did you get a reward from the trial?]


    [Not quite. I''m just stuck halfway to Monarch. My skill advanced while I was ying with the not food, and now I''m pending.]


    Oh, Hawk had learned a new word, and it somewhat fit his situation. He would advance to Monarch very soon, but something was stopping him.


    Maybe it was his space? Karl was also stuck in limbo, so it might be a deficiency in the stored energy levels or quality.


    [I don''t think so, the spaces have plenty of energy.] Remi informed him as she worked on more healing potions to give out to the group, so they would have some if she wasn''t nearby.


    "Is there someone here who has to make a selection within their system interface?" Karl asked, wondering what the holdup was.


    [Remi, why don''t youe out? Maybe that''s the issue.]


    Remi remained in her Naga Queen form and came out to grab Lotus, picking the little cleric up in a princess carry.


    One after another, everyone confirmed that they didn''t have anything waiting for them to select an option. So, the System must have just hung up and wasn''t processing the rewards at its usual speed.


    "Well, if we''re waiting anyhow, why don''t we give Thor a potion and see if that changes anything? It''s here and ready." Remi suggested.


    The two Totems chuckled. Watching what the beast came up with regarding new concoctions was brilliant entertainment.


    [Well, there''s nothing to lose.] Thor agreed, still worried he wouldn''t get anything but a duplicate skill that Rae and Karl could already use.


    But he dutifully tilted his head back for Remi to feed him the potion that she had upgraded, and power surged through him as well as the beast spaces.


    Far above them, thunder rumbled and power surged from the temple beneath them as Thor began to grow.


    "Oh, it works really well. I should find good things to feed everyone." Remi cheered.


    His height increase wasn''t excessive, but Thor seemed to have gotten noticeably longer than he was before, in proportion to his height.


    Karl guessed the length increase between his legs to be a bit over a metre, with about the same added to his tail, while the armoured ball on the end had turned nearly all golden, as had his horns. Thor was definitely the first of them to reach Monarch Rank, and while Karl didn''t have a proper name for his evolution, it looked like Nacht did. n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om


    "Well, isn''t that interesting. You found a way to turn a Lightning Cerro into a Divine Thunder Cerro."


    Thor bugled happily as he realized that the potion hadn''t disappointed, and that he was actually ahead of the others for the very first time.


    Not for long, as Karl could feel that the bottleneck was released, and Hawk would advance in the next few minutes. But Hawk was happy to let his little brother have this victory.


    "And you have gained another Monarch Ranked Divine Beast. I must say, the potential of this Beast Master ss is absolutely incredible." Nacht amended.


    "Actually, I might have an idea about that. I can''t do it yet, but I think that by the time I am an Overlord, I should be able to teach the core ability to create a Beast Space to others.


    Once they have that, they should either be able to awaken with the ss, or choose a variant simr to it during their next advancement trial." Karl exined, mostly for the benefit of the Archbishop, who was currently giving Thor gentle head rubs as he examined the changes.


    "Fascinating. He really has changed species with just a potion. I knew that it was possible for some beasts, but I never expected that a Lightning Cerro would manage it. The odds are lower than a Carp jumping through the heavenly gates to be a Dragon." The Archbishop noted.


    Nacht rumbled withughter at the thought. There was such a legend, but as far as he knew, it was nothing more than that. No known dragon had ever evolved from a Carp, though it was said that during the early days, when the system was active, a few hade from lesser species like drakes and dragonkin.


    [What new skills did you get, buddy?] Karl asked Thor, who was immersed in the head pats.


    [Hmm, Eternal Lightning didn''t change. I got [Thunder Stomp] and [Lightning Zone]. Those both seem pretty fun. That''s it for new skills, but I''m working on Ophelia''s new one. [Gravity m] she called it. I think I will have it soon.]

 Chapter 589 Runes Of Fate

    Chapter 589 Runes Of Fate


    [Reward Calcted] [Random Reward] Skill Book


    [20 Percent Bonus Experience]


    In Karl''s experience, those bonus experience rewards were the ones that made huge and unexpected changes to a person''s power level, as they appeared to be retroactive for some time, and didn''t just increase the bonus that you got for the trial.


    Either that, or trials gave a massive influx of power to start with.


    Karl checked his inventory for the Skill Book, which was sitting on top of a pile of supplies left over from the Elves on the other continent.


    That seemed to be a prophetic cement, or perhaps it was a reminder of areas in which Karl was stillcking.


    He had incredible defence for someone of his level, and his attacking skills were both powerful and well-rounded for use on nearly any target. Combat was not an area where he wascking.


    He even had [Silent Movement] for stealth operations. Plus, strength and stamina for long runs. So, the system had given him something that he hadn''t really focused on during his development.


    Nobat skills.


    [Epic Grade Skill] Runecrafting


    [Runecrafting] The fine art of inscribing magical power runes to supplement the abilities of a magical object.


    Karl thought about that for a moment. He didn''t have any crafting skills, and he wasn''t sure that it would actually help to add runes to Remi''s potions. However, he knew someone with a skill that would go very well with Runecrafting. Morgana''s enhancement tattoosbined with Runecrafting would make for incredibly powerful buffs to the target.


    Once they made it back home, he would have to find a way to get time to study her skills. Or even a library book that had more details about magical tattoos.


    Karl used the book and an entirenguage began to flow into his mind,plete with syntax rules.


    Thenguage was far moreplex than themon spoken and writtennguages, with over six thousand base runes which werepounded to make a form of single word sentence.


    Then they were strung together in one of eight different ways to create aplex concept with an activation order for the magical effect you were trying to create.


    Even with the skill book teaching him how it worked, Karl wasn''t certain that he couldpletelyprehend the skill.


    While Karl was busy deciphering an entire newnguage, everyone around him was seeing their status change and in most cases, they were advancing. While Karl had left the Royal Rank behind him, with both Thor and Hawk advanced to the Monarch Rank alongside him, all of thedies had reached the Royal Rank.


    [How does this work? The boys all advanced, and we''re left behind.] Carained.


    [You''ve got a Monarch Rank skill, though.] Remi reminded her.


    [Still not caught up to them. I need to work harder. Once I''m a Monarch with an Overlord Rank skill, I can taste test all the dragons.]


    Remi carefully considered the oue of that.


    [Yes. I think that should work. If it''s Disintegration that advances again, you can run away in a safety bubble.]


    Hawk was rapidly expanding as he advanced again and took his ce among the Monarchs of the Beast Kingdom. With a thirty-metre wingspan, the Ghostfire Thunderbird was asrge as most adult dragons, and his innate abilities were far beyond what most beasts could im.


    His fire most likely challenged dragon fire for pure power, but the dragons wouldn''t take it well if Karl suggested that to them directly. They were proud creatures, and enjoyed the thought that they were better than other species.


    As he finished his advancement, Karl realized that they had visitors. The portal was already closed, so he must have been distracted for a while, but Rae wasn''t concerned, and she wouldn''t miss a chance to tease Hawk about missing danger.


    Karl turned to the new arrival and saw an unfamiliar Overlord, along with Colonel Valerie of the Bureau of Elite Development.


    "Colonel Valerie, excellent timing. I have things to inform you about." Karl greeted her, then turned to the other person.


    "Overlord." n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om


    "Monarch. Sorry, I don''t know who you are either? How does that even happen? Are there so many Overlords and Monarchs now that it''s even possible that we don''t know each other?" The man replied.


    Karl checked him with the System interface and saw that he was a ranger, but his System wasn''t fully active, and it wasn''t giving Karl his name.


    Then, he just had to go through the Overlords he knew about. But none of the Ranger types looked anything like this man. He must be one of the hidden assets of the nation, not one of the public facing idol type powerhouses.


    "I am Karl, fromst year''s intake at the Golden Divine Academy." The Overlord nodded. "I am Joram, mostly stationed along the Mountain Giant border. The Colonel was visiting my station when we got the message that your group had been found."


    Karl nodded. "Did we forget to tell anyone where we were going? Sorry for the trouble."


    The Overlord chuckled. "You have all been missing for months. I don''t know what you''ve been up to, but it is possible that there is a time flow difference within this trial. I can sense it below us, but for some reason I can''t ess it."


    Karl nodded. "You have to walk up all the steps. But none of us suspected that so much time had passed. I had thought it had only been a few days."


    Colonel Valerie looked him up and down, inspecting Karl''s enhanced physique against her memory of him as a new student. "Well, on the bright side, you missed winter. Most of it, anyhow. The end of semester exams at the Academy areing up soon, and then spring break starts next month." She exined.


    Karl winked at Dana. "Should we request a ride back? We can see if my balcony survived, and maybe take the exams to graduate formally."


    Overlord Joramughed. "What exam? The teachers are all Commanders, remember? A Royal Rank Mage would destroy the testing equipment, and it wouldn''t hold up any better to whatever you''ve done to yourself."


    Karl shrugged. "Skill based physical enhancement. The System calls it Iron Within Rank Three. But that isn''t a primary enhancement. It''s something that developed because I was identally injuring myself with physical skills."

 Chapter 590 Time Distortion

    Chapter 590 Time Distortion


    Lord Nacht, the ck dragon, was the only one unconcerned about missing multiple months of time. After all, he was a venerable dragon of the Death God. He had taken naps longer than two months.


    "How are things going politically? I should have been more careful." The Archbishop asked.


    "Everything is stable for the moment. The White Dragons sent a Totem to keep things running smoothly within the church, while the Army has been learning to y well with the civilian government and the Elites.


    Overall, it has been as smooth as possible, and your subordinates have proven themselves quite capable.


    However, the same is not true of the situation on the continent in general.


    The Orb Incident, as it has been named, was only the start. We have nine more stable dungeons on the continent now, all appearing and stabilizing within thest two months.


    Eight of them are Ascended Rank or lower, one is Commander Rank.


    However, that is not the problem. The new Commander Rank dungeon is also randomly awakening party members who finish the challenge with a group that has never entered before.


    We know of eighteen cases so far from four different nations." n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om


    The Archbishop took a deep breath. "And where might this new Commander Rank dungeon be?"


    Colonel Valerie hesitated before responding. "The Newbon Capital. Newbon City. It appeared over an ancient monument in the middle of the city. That''s two stable Commander Rank dungeons in the same nation now, and we have no way of verifying how many Monsters have gained ess to the System.


    However, with the restriction, and the fact that it doesn''t appear to be a guaranteed awakening for a single member, as we have observed at the one in our Nation, it shouldn''t be too far from our estimate.


    It has been open six days now."


    Of course, they couldn''t verify the numbers. If they didn''t have someone there to inspect them with the interface on the way in and out, the Monsters would look the same on the way in and out. It wasn''t like they immediately gained a Rank when the system activated.


    However, having a Commander Rank dungeon right in your capital city would be a huge advantage once the chaos of other nations trying to gain ess ended.


    Nacht rumbled in annoyance. "How many of the other confirmed stable dungeons are in Newbon?"


    Valerie shook her head. "None. There is an Ascended Rank Dungeon in Baria, near the Divine Beast Nation border, but all of the other new dungeons appeared along the coast or on inds, so they''re all nominally under human control except that one and the one in Newbon City."


    Nacht frowned. "Baria is a human nation. Or do you just mean that it is the only one that didn''t appear near the coast?"


    "It is twenty metres from the river that marks the official border. However, there is a Phoenix nest in the ruins where the portal opened, and the Matriarch won''t let anyone near her clutch."


    Karl perked up, and Colonel Valerieughed.


    "That includes you. In fact, it explicitly includes you. I don''t know where you met, but she called you out by name as someone to be kept away until her eggs hatched.


    Lord Nacht, you are on that list as well, as are Orthos, Librarian Gareth, Doug Mackenzie, The King of Creliston, a Subus named Marie, and Overlord Leafa of Newbon.


    The rest of the continent was just warned away in general."


    Karl and Nacht shared a confused look. They didn''t know what they had done to the Phoenix, but it could have just been a premonition. Basic visions of the future could be unclear, and the Phoenix might have just nket banned everyone she saw in the visions.


    The Archbishop shrugged. "That''s not our problem, though it is odd that all the dungeons are appearing at the edge of the continent. I will have to find out what is happening in the rest of the world. Lord Nacht, if I might prevail upon you to ask some of your overseas contacts as well. This might be a worldwide awakening."


    The Archbishop opened a portal, and the two stepped through, but before anyone else moved, the portal closed, and Karl was left staring at a very dismayed Overlord Joram.


    "Did they just?" He asked.


    "Yeah, they''re like that. I think they''re actually old friends, they are so in tune sometimes that it''s scary. Now, do we have a way to get picked up, or are we going to have to run away and leave you here with the Colonel while we go looking for fluffy beastkin?"


    Lotusughed and gave a fist pump of appreciation for that idea, while Colonel Valerie sighed and gestured at the ground near the base of the temple.


    "There is a helicopter right there. If we follow the river north to theke, we can fly over the water and be back in the capital by morning." She exined.


    Karl looked down, and a vaguely familiar pilot waved up at him.


    He waved back, then smirked at the Colonel. "I hope your legs are feeling good. It''s a long way to the bottom."


    "Like hell. I''ll call the helicopter toe to us instead. How do you think we got up here? You really were out of it, weren''t you?"


    "New skill. I was absorbed in the details. Still, I''m surprised that nobody warned me about the helicopter."


    Rae thought about it. [You know, one moment they weren''t here, then they were rappelling down to the tform. Time might still be strange here. I don''t remember the helicoptering at all.]


    Karl motioned for the Colonel to call the helicopter. "I think that time is still strange here, not just inside the trial, but also right here on the top of the temple. If we wait much longer, we could end up missing for weeks or months again."


    That got things in motion, but even as they were stepping into the helicopter and leaving the temple, Karl could see that the formerly midday sun was fading to the horizon.


    "Well, it looks like we will be flying all night, but we can still make it to the Capital in time for breakfast. How are your rations holding out? You''ve been in the field for quite a while." Colonel Valerie asked, noting theirck of packs.


    Ophelia chuckled. "We''re more than good. With the two clerics and Karl''s meat hoarding tendencies, we''ve not had a bad meal yet."

 Chapter 591 Back Home

    Chapter 591 Back Home


    Rae woke Karl as they approached the city across theke just before dawn.


    [I think that we''re going tond soon. We talked about it while you were asleep, and we want toe out and be weed with you.]


    Karl chuckled. [I don''t see a reason why not, as long as there is space.]


    Rae seemed excessively happy with that answer, and Karl wondered what she had in mind and how badly it was going to terrify the locals.


    Fortunately for Rae''s n, someone had notified the media that they wereing, and there were dozens of press members, bleary-eyed politicians who had been dragged out of bed before the crack of dawn and corporate reps waiting in arge field for their arrival.


    [Oh, that will be perfect.] Rae cheered.


    Karl refreshed his armour and got a new version in ck with a Darklight Host Tabard under a blued steel chest te. It was almost knightly, if you ignored the part where everything but the chest was leather and chitin or cloth. He skipped on the helmet, and waited as the helicopter approached the ground. Nobody else had changed, so Dana was in her cargo pants and hoodie with the armour underneath, while Ophelia had her heavy te armour on. The Berserker was in her human form, though. That was a change, and it took Karl a minute to remember that she was normally a human and not a Werebear. She had spent so much time in her transformed disguise that everyone had gotten used to her being twice the size of the other women, and not just slightly taller than Tessa.


    Even Karl had deactivated most of his skills for the flight, and the group only had [Eternal Lightning] active on them.


    "Ready to face the press?" Colonel Valerie asked.


    "I feel so short." Karl replied with a smile.


    Opheliaughed. "You feel short? I''m freezing. How did I ever survive winter without fur?"


    Colonel Valerie chuckled, though her expression didn''t change from its usual resting frown of general disapproval. "Good thing we''re sending you all for abat mission check after this. You need a few days to limatize to civilized life again.


    But we will do this the standard way. As the host, I will exit first, then you follow by rank. How you sort that is on you."


    There was a fair bit of space in the cargo hold of the helicopter, so everyone else arranged themselves in a double file line. Dana and Ophelia behind Karl, with the clerics at the back.


    Then Rae came out in human form to stand between the mage and berserker, while Remi transformed back into Spirit Snake form to hang herself around Karl''s shoulders for the best view.


    Finally, A shining silver and gold knight with a horned helmet on appeared between Tessa and Lotus.


    "Thor? Is that Thor in human form? Your armour is beautiful." Tessa greeted him.


    Thor nodded and gave her a shoulder bump that made the clericugh. He always did that as a greeting, but she had been trying to get him to speak.


    Hawk''s voice in humanoid form was strange, while Rae''s was beautiful and haunting. So, she wondered what Thor would sound like.


    "We will escort thedies out, and then we will join you." Thor informed Karl in a deep masculine voice that closely matched his mental voice.


    Out of everyone, he was apparently best at the transformation.


    Tessa poked him. "It is customary to take your helmet off to meet people."


    "But my horns are attached to it in this form." Thorined, suddenly sounding much younger.


    Tessa smiled and took the helmet off, revealing a handsome young man with long green hair, long ears and shining golden eyes.


    He almost looked like an Elf, but twice the size that any Elven man should be. Thor was nearly as tall as Rae was, but burly to the point that he could nearly block both Tessa and Lotus from view by standing in front of them.


    Lotus ran a hand over his armour. "We need to get Thor a shield. When we have time, we should take him to the armoury with Karl''s credit. He is basically a Pdin, right? A Holy warrior. He can do all the Pdin things."


    "We will work on it." Karl agreed.


    The helicopter touched down, and Colonel Valerie stepped out as soon as the back ramp was open.


    Karl didn''t know why these things had side doors. Nobody ever used them.


    Karl led the way out while Remi checked out the crowd of people in front of them, and Hawk eagerly awaited his opportunity to make a grand entrance. Unlike Rae and Thor, he didn''t intend to transform into a human. Cara didn''t either, so they would both show upter, once the first impression was made.


    Karl took his first step onto the grass and realized that their grand n hadpletely confused the crowd. They had no idea who Rae and Thor were, and wondered what Nation they were visiting from, as both were clearly inhuman.


    If they didn''t know what nation they came from, they didn''t know all the proper formal courtesies, or how to properly address them as a Royal and a Monarch. n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om


    Colonel Valerie cleared her throat. "Introducing the Beast Master Monarch, Karl. With him are the Princesses Remi, Ophelia, and Dana with the Lady Rae Bloodbath. Then we have the Royal High Priestesses Lotus and Tessa, with King Thor of the Cerro."


    [Lady Rae Bloodbath, I like it. Soon, I will be Queen Rae Bloodbath, and it will be glorious. But I need to ask a favour first. I''ve got all these great vours of bath products, but do you suppose that I could have just a bit of Karl? Maybe a shampoo? That new skill smells wonderful.]


    Karl mentally chuckled at her request. [I will see what I can do. With my regeneration, I''m sure I can spare you some blood.]


    Karl led the group to a spot three metres in front of the gathered dignitaries, and Rae stepped back from her spot between Ophelia and Dana. She joined Thor at the back of the group just as the cameras were getting set up, and the assistants were ushering the others into position.


    [Now is good.] Hawk decided, then appeared behind the group in all his glory, with his wings spread over the team.


    Cara came out to stand beside Karl, as she was too short to be seen over the group, while Thor and Rae returned to their original forms. Remi remained around Karl''s neck, satisfied that she would be prominent in all the photos without beingrge.


    Screaming filled the air, and nearly half of the assembled civilians either fainted or ran away, leaving Hawk and Rae congratting each other on their brilliant n, and Caraughing hysterically, rolling on the ground and pointing at the terrified humans.


    "Karl! Dammit, did you have to do that? We have a schedule to keep." A deep voice boomed in the distance.


    "Overlord Niall! I didn''t see you back there." Karl shouted back, impressed at the man''s stealth skills. It wasn''t easy to hide an aura that powerful from him, especially now that he had Soul Sight.


    The Rogue smiled behind his mask as he stepped into sight, his ck Holy Inquisition uniform standing out among the business suits of the dignitaries. His presence brought most of them to their senses, but Karl noticed that one camera operator was dutifully snapping photos, oblivious to the chaos all around him. He was so focused on getting the perfect shot that Karl was certain he hadn''t even registered the fact that those were real Magical Beasts in front of him.

 Chapter 592 Pressed Conference

    Chapter 592 Pressed Conference


    The dignitaries began to return to their spots now that the Overlord from the Inquisition was in sight, while Colonel Valerie red at Karl, and thedies did their best not tough along with Cara, who was slowly regaining herposure.


    "If you''ve finished having your fun..." Valerie began.


    "Of course, of course. Group photos. How are we arranging this? Meet and greet style, or with arge group pose?" Karl agreed.


    Overlord Niall chuckled. "Can you ask your friends to stay near their current position, and we can set up a photo shoot? There are mobile bleachers to lift your team up for the photo."


    Rae dipped her head, while Cara wandered through the crowd to examine the Rogue.


    He stopped to look down at the Void Badger, who pped her wings to help bnce on her hind legs, which put her closer to his height, though still less than shoulder-high.


    "Well hello there." Niall greeted her. n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om


    Cara licked him.


    Niallughed as he wiped drool off his face. "Now I am wondering if you simply wanted to taste test Overlord Rank human, or if that was some sort of greeting among Winged Void Badgers."


    Cara bnced on her hind legs and made a nomittal gesture.


    "Yeah, that''s what I thought. A bit of both. But we should get into position for the photos."


    Cara dropped back to all four feet and rushed over to stand on top of Thor, so she could see over the gathering. The dignitaries were standing in two rows, short then tall, while a long folding bench had been ced for Karl''s team, with the beasts standing behind them.


    It would be a brilliant photo, and Cara wanted a copy as soon as possible.


    The photographers got to work, focusing on various people, then Karl''s team was cycled through the back rank so that they could get close up shots with all the dignitaries.


    Karl was actually surprised how restrained Rae and Cara were being. He thought that the pair would prank someone, but they were behaving fairly well.


    Except that point when Cara stole someone''s hairpiece and had to be bribed to give it back.


    It did look good on her, though.


    "Monarch, might we have just a few minutes of your time? We are with the DuBois banking conglomerate." A short man in his fifties began.


    "I''m very sorry, Sir. I am not currently booking any coborative efforts or epting employment offers. But if your offer is not about that, please, continue."


    The banker bowed politely. "I understand, Sir. You have been on an extended assignment and require time to dpress. I will check with you again in the future."


    There were a few others who had the same idea, but as Karl was less approachable as a Monarch, they were much more interested in going after the two new Royals who might be much more amenable to their ideas.


    Monarchs normally already had solid ns, and while Karl was young, it was generally assumed that it would be the same for him. There were rumours that he was working with the Roth Savings and Loanpany on a major property deal, but such a project normally took a year or two before the details were finalized.


    Plus, it was likely to involve an exclusivity use so that the Elite didn''t end up as the face of apetingpany or project in the meantime.


    The only ones who were moving away from him were the ones who were only here as business representatives. Most of them were here to make friends with powerful Elites, or as Government or Military representatives.


    Karl found a familiar face in the crowd and went over to say hello.


    "Director Jones, of Military Finance, wasn''t it?" He asked.


    "You have an impable memory, Your Majesty." The bureaucrat replied.


    "The whole Your Majesty thing is a bit excessive." Karlughed.


    "Certainly, Lord Karl. I heard that you were on quite the adventure and missed most of the chaos of recent days."


    "Indeed. But not all of it, I got to see some in person while I was out of the country. But I''m more interested in your job. How is the finance and supply situation with all of the additional anomalies and monster spawns." Karl asked.


    "How did you know that the spawn rate was up? We hadn''t made that public yet."


    "I know a little about how it started and why. So it''s only natural that it would increase here as well. At least we haven''t been inundated with new Dungeons.


    If that had been the case, we would have been in much more trouble than even Newbon with their Commander Rank Dungeons and newfound influx of monster spawns.


    I won''t bore you with all the details, but it was quite the shock to them."


    Bored wouldn''t be the word that the Director would choose, but he was an ountant, not an Elite or any sort of soldier.


    Karl caught a blur of motion in his peripheral vision just before he felt something bounce off his armour. It hadn''t made it past [Eternal Lightning] but it was clearly an attack, and Karl turned to see who would be so brave.


    The situation almost looked calm and normal, but Soul Sight revealed Overlord Niall dragging someone out of the crowd while invisible.


    On the ground, Karl found a small metal needle that radiated magic. That must have been the projectile weapon, so he picked it up and put it in Remi''s space, wrapped in arge leaf, so she didn''t get poked identally.


    As soon as he stopped focusing on it, the needle disappeared, marking it as the creation of a skill, not an enchanted object. [Oh, someone is brave. Do you think that there are more of them?] Rae asked in his mind as she realized what had happened.


    [Where there is one, there are three. Well, that is about Earth Mice in the house, but I think it works for other sorts of vermin as well.]


    [How do we know which ones are which? Can I just kill them all for safety?]


    [No, some of them are important and useful. The Inquisitor should take care of the situation, but don''t let any sketchy people near thedies.]


    It took all of three seconds for Cara to take that literally.


    A rather sleazy looking businessman was getting too handsy with Ophelia for her liking, and the Void Badger grabbed him by the legs, spun him in a full circle, then body mmed him.


    The whoosh of air leaving the man''s body, then the pained wheeze, had a few peopleughing discretely behind their hands, but the ones who hadn''t seen the start were concerned that Cara had gone feral.


    But the way that she was rubbing his face in the dirt made it clear after a few seconds that this was personal.


    "Cara, you can let him up. I think he will promise to keep his hands to himself."


    Cara got off him, then wandered over and took something from a nearby woman''s purse.


    The wealthy executive was shocked at the fact she had just been so casually mugged by a Royal Rank beast, but Cara gave back the purse and only kept one small item in her mouth.


    "What have you got there?" Ophelia asked.


    "It''s ... a barbecue sauce package? No, you can''t barbecue him. I don''t think that he would even taste good." Opheliaughed.


    That was thest straw for the humiliated pervert. He bolted out of the meeting and began running for the questionable safety of the nearby buildings.

 Chapter 593 Misunderstood Beasts

    Chapter 593 Misunderstood Beasts


    The event lightened the mood of the meeting, though some were highly concerned about the actual safety of having the beasts around. After all, Cara had threatened to eat someone, and even Thor wasrge enough to identally crush someone to death.


    Sure, he had Elites loving on him and rubbing his scales, but a casual collision with him would be like walking in front of a car.


    Overlord Niall returned after a few minutes of socialization, smelling faintly of human blood, and motioned for Karl to join him.


    Karl followed him to the edge of the green space and into one of the signature marble buildings that were all over the Capital, and realized that this one was actually familiar. It was identical to the Inquisition holding building in design, but not in interior decoration. It might serve the same purpose, but the upper level looked more like the lobby of an upscale hotel.


    "Monarch, if you don''t mind a short chat." Niall began, with a gesture to a doorbelled [Conference Room C].


    Karl followed him in and felt a spell activate as the door closed. Then Niall barred it with a steel beam, which made Karlugh. The door was made of solid oak, but he could kick it clear across the lobby, so the bar wasn''t for either of them, just to keep nosy people out.


    "First off, wee back. It''s good to see you again, and quite the shock to see how you have advanced. But more pressing is not the known fact that you are a savant, but the fact that your entire group are now Royals. You have no idea how much of a stir it caused among the leadership when the Archbishop returned and casually informed everyone that your group were all now Royals. Of course, he''s so busy with other duties that he was most likely never informed that they were all Ascended a year ago. But for those of us with more time to be familiar with such things, it has raised plenty of questions. If there is some sort of technique to speed progression to that level, it is of national security level critical importance that we know. Your misadventures have raised more Royal Rank Elites this year than the rest of the nation, and nobody understands why."


    Karl took a moment to fully appreciate what the Inquisition''s top Assassin was saying. Overlord Niall had a point. There were so few Royals that they would normally all know each other. He was the outlier, as he didn''t really know anyone, and he was never around others. But now he had blown past that milestone and advanced to Monarch Rank, while the rest of his group was also progressing insanely quickly.


    There was nothing in his skills that would exin that, and other than Dana, the others had been growing at a perfectly normal rate before they met with him. Could it be that he had some hidden skill to help his group grow? He could for his beasts, but that was linked to their space. It didn''t really apply to the rest of the group members.


    "I think that it is more closely rted to luck and the favour of the gods than any level of skill that I possess. The number of exceptional opportunities that we have been encountering is higher than most other Elites could im in years of training. We have been in two separate opening events for Commander Rank dungeons and what might be a Demigod level trial in thest season alone."


    Niall shook his head. "The trials alone don''t exin it, unless thest one actually forced the advancement. But as I understand the reports, you were already exhibiting well beyond Royal Rank firepower before your Rank had officially advanced, ording to the system."


    Karl thought about it for a few minutes in silence, then decided to share a small tidbit about his powers with the Inquisitor.


    "I have a skill called [Skill Master] and I believe that it takes effect on my entire group, and not just the beasts I am bonded with. It lets them learn new skills more easily and improve the ones that they have. I suspect that the improvement in their skills might actually be driving their progress.


    Most people advance as their skills improve, right? Well, with Skill Master, the skills can be advanced to a Rank over the user. It''s never happened to another group member that I know of, but it does work for the beasts. I have had skills at Monarch Rank for a while now, and that is arge part of my excessbat ability." Niall took a chair off the stack by the wall and sat down at therge boardroom table.


    "What you''re telling me is that there is a possibility that you will have an Overlord Ranked skill while you are still a Monarch?" He asked.


    "Not a possibility, an almost certainty. How far through my progression will I manage it is the real question. It might be one of the beasts, and it may or may not be shared with me, but it will happen." Karl agreed, taking a seat across from the Overlord. n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om


    Niall took a small object from his storage bag, or perhaps his inventory. Karl couldn''t tell how active the man''s system was.


    "Squeeze that for me. I want to test your raw physical strength." He instructed.


    Karl shrugged and picked up the resistance scale. It had a D shaped hand grip on one side and a scale needle on the other, so Karl just squeezed it and watched the needle smoothly spin in circles, three times around before the lever bottomed out.


    Niall chuckled. "Well, that defeats the purpose. But it is an answer in its own way. Your strength isn''t on the human scale anymore, even for warrior sses.


    Do you think that there is a way you could help a few of our promising recruits advance as well?


    What I was thinking was to send them as apprentices to your group."


    "Did they do something to upset you? Sending children to apany a group like mine is basically a death sentence. Heck, even our protection couldn''t hold up when Overlord Leafa and the Emperor got into an argument over her vacation ns." Karl replied.


    Niall stared at him.


    "Come again? I know all those words, but I''m not sure that I understood what you were saying."


    "I''m sure the reports will make it back to you soon. The Overlord decided that she was overworked and decided to go on an unapproved vacation. It led to an exchange of blows with the Emperor of Newbon. Neither was seriously injured, but there was a lot of property damage." Karl exined.


    "That did not make it back to our reports, but I believe that I know the incident you mean. It simply wasn''t exined the same way, and was passed off as an anomaly rted natural disaster.


    It is actually less concerning to know that it was just a dispute between powerhouses. At least that way, it''s unlikely to happen again."


    Karl wasn''t sure he would go that far. Eventually Leafa would break free again, but trying to exin the whole situation would just lead to a never-ending set of questions he didn''t know the answers to, and probably someone wanting to study his weapons.


    He was quite fond of his weapons.

 Chapter 594 Niall Needs To Know

    Chapter 594 Niall Needs To Know


    Overlord Niall took out a notepad and ced it between them.


    "Now we can move on to the reason I actually called you in here. I interviewed the failed assassin, and it appears that you have made the growing threat list of at least one foreign nation. The toxin from the spell scroll should have been potent enough to kill a Royal Rank Elite if it hadnded.


    If he hadn''t missed, we would have had only seconds to prevent your death." Niall exined.


    "He didn''t actually miss. Thor keeps Eternal Lightning, his defensive barrier skill, active on the whole group at all times. He doesn''t like any of us being in danger. So, the attack hit a Monarch Rank barrier skill and simply fell to the ground. I thought it was a poisoned needle, and tried to collect it, but it vanished after a few seconds." "Do you have any idea what group might be after your life?" Niall asked.


    "I didn''t get their names, but a human nation that uses Spelldes with ck robes and red armour would be my first guess. They seemed a bit upset that we rejected their attempt to force their way into the trial that the Archbishop met me at. Of course, it could be the Giants. They have more than enough reasons to want me dead, especially after Lord Nacht trolled them during that same event. It''s probably not the Divine Beasts or the mages from Staptonbia. We all had a rather cordial rtionship as of ourst meeting, and the mages of Staptonbia were very pleased with our arrangement and the fact that we didn''t argue with their price.


    The potions that they provided were an excellent base for an upgraded potion using resources that we obtained from the monster spawns.


    One of them gave High Priestess Lotus a [Tree of Life] healing form, an Epic Grade spell, and the other allowed Thor to evolve into his current Divine Thunder Cerro form."


    "Thor has Thunder abilities?" Niall asked.


    "Only one stomp ability. But he has a couple of Lightning-based skills, so it fits with the general theme of his progress."


    Karl thought about his new skills, and realized that while he could make skill books and use [Skill Master] to help others learn skills, he would soon be a great asset to Elites in general, simply because he could teach them random skills.


    Maybe he should try to get the Overlord to help him learn a few more skills before he left the Capital again.


    "Back on topic, we are concerned about the risk that someone is sending assassins after you, but the leadership is also determined to see if your luck will extend to arger team.


    Obviously, they''re not going to be able to spare an entire team of Royals to follow you around when you''ve already got four of them on contract.


    I will look into the issue of the assassination attempts personally while your team is being debriefed and assessed after your deployment, then the apprentices will be sent to you."


    Karl drummed his fingers on the table as he considered ways to make that work.


    "Can you send us Acolytes? You know, the ones who are going to go for the Divine Injection at the end of the school year? I can test them personally forpatibility, and then we can take five of them with us to train." He suggested.


    "You want Common Rank kids who are still in middle school?" Niall repeated, ensuring he hadn''t heard it wrong.


    "Maybe from the Orphanages. That way there won''t be a fuss if things go wrong during training. Plus, I don''t want some politician''s snobby brat. I''d end up feeding them to Remi the first week."


    "You wouldn''t." Niall countered, but Karl could see that he wasn''t convinced. Niall was a good judge of character, so he shouldn''t take long to determine that Karl wasn''t joking.


    "Fine, maybe you would. I will see what we can find for your team. How long do you think that it will take to test them?" He added.


    "We should be able to sort them in a day or two. I have a trick for it now. The Cleric sses might be a bit harder, but the acolytes for me, Dana and Ophelia should be easier. I can probably verify theirpatibility right away."


    Niall made a note for himself, then gave Karl an expectant look.


    "What can you tell me about what happened to you and Lord Nacht in the trial? The ck dragon was... somewhat less than forting with details."


    Karl chuckled. "I can see how that would happen. He''s not the greatest fan of humans in general."


    "But he seems to be fond of you."


    "I''m possibly the least humanish human that you will ever meet, though. But I can tell you that there was an evolutionary resource in the version of the trial that we got. It gave me a special constitution, and that was a major factor in being able to reach Monarch Rank. n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om


    His details are his own, and as much as I like to prank people, I''m not going to give out the private details of a Totem Rank ck dragon." Karl exined carefully.


    "Understandable. Some Inquisitors would take that personally, but the Totems are said to be able to sense betrayal, and I would rather that he didn''te barging in here."


    Karl chuckled. "We would likely be gone before he made it here."


    Overlord Niall shook his head. "He''s still at the Cathedral. If he sensed betrayal, he could fly here in under a minute."


    But the Inquisitor had asked anyhow, Karl noted.


    "What are you going to tell the debriefing officers about your time abroad? Have you discussed it with the others?" Niall asked instead of continuing his questions about the trial.


    "Not yet. I think everyone understands what part shouldn''t be spoken out loud. But most of the journey was eventful in one way or another, so there will be plenty to give them without looking like we''re stonewalling the investigation.


    Besides, the Archbishop knows most of it already, and that''s the important part. Whether anyone else needs to know is up to him."

 Chapter 595 Flash Photos Are Evil

    Chapter 595 sh Photos Are Evil


    Overlord Niall made a few notes and then put the notepad away.


    "Alright, I will arrange for proper Acolytes to join your team while they are in the city. I am looking forward to great results from you, and I will try to keep the annoyances away while you''re all settling back into the civilized life for a bit.


    Is there anything else that you''re going to need right away, other than somewhere to stay? That has already been arranged, of course. The Archbishop wants your team close, so he has arranged rooms at the Cathedral."


    Karlughed. "It''s always the Cathedral when wee to the Capital. If I was there any more often, I would end up with my own room."


    "That can likely be arranged. There is a separate building for high-ranking Elites, next to the Inquisition dorms. You''re a Monarch now, so it wouldn''t be unusual for you to rent a room there to always have a ce to stay in the Capital. Even Johann and Ahmad have rooms there, though they also have houses nearby." Niall exined.


    "Oh, that does sound like a good n. I will have to find out the costs and arrange something. The dorms in the Cathedral aren''t terrible, but the lights out policy is a bit strict."


    The Rogueughed at Karl''sints. Indeed, the Cathedral did shut down very early so that the pious could pray in silence for a few hours before sleeping. But if you weren''t on a pilgrimage, it was an extremely early bedtime.


    "Why don''t I call them over now? There should be someone on duty."


    Karl nodded, and Niall went to the phone on the wall to make a call, requesting an agent for the Ranking Elite dorm, as well as amodation for two new Royal High Priestesses, who would be confirmedter in the day and the two visiting Royal Rank Elites.


    Lotus and Tessa would get permanent rooms here by default, as well as wherever they were assigned when they were no longer travelling with Karl. Karl suspected that nobody was in too big of a hurry to make them quit that mission, as they had gained so much already, but eventually, they would all want some downtime with no violence.


    [No violence?] Rae asked in Karl''s mind.


    [Minimal violence.] He amended.


    [Still sounds boring. Can we leave yet? These people are annoying.]


    [Return to your space whenever you want. I will make excuses for you when I''m done here.]


    That was all the motivation that they needed, and everyone but Cara was back in their space within seconds. Even Thor.


    That part was surprising, but the Cerro looked harassed and ready for a nap.


    [You alright buddy?] Karl asked. n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om


    [sh photography is evil.] Thor replied as he sunk his head into the pond lined with Holy Stones.


    That exined a lot. Thor loved people, but like all beasts, his eyes were sensitive, and if they had been taking constant photos in his direction with the sh on, he would have a terrible headache by now.


    The real question was what Cara was up to, and why was Karl so certain that it involved Lotus.


    But he didn''t have long to consider what sort of chaos those two might be causing. The representative from housing had already arrived, possibly from outside with the weingmittee.


    "Monarch. It is an honour to meet you. I am informed that you would be interested in renting a unit at the Ranking Elite apartments." The slim man greeted Karl, before adjusting his poorly fit budget suit and taking a seat to spread out an array of diagrams and pictures.


    "We have various options starting with infrequent visitor residences at under one hundred square metres, or if you are to be stationed here in the Capital, we do have some options in the five hundred square metre range."


    Karl did his best to hide his dismay at the opulence visible in the photos of the units. Even the smallest of them was farrger than the house he had grown up in, and at five hundred square metres, thergest would require cleaning staff even if he had his whole team staying there.


    Though, if the beasts were in human form, they would take up a lot of space, so a floor n with moremon area might be best.


    Overlord Niall gestured at one of the ns. "I think that this one might be a suitable option. There are three bedrooms, including the master bedroom, but there is arge sitting room.


    It''s normally for the sort of Elite who has a lot of informal business meetings at home, but with your friends around all the time, it might be a good choice."


    The agent nodded. "Yes, this one is suitable for task force teams when they are in the Capital, and it has easy ess to the rooftop helipad, should you be on rapid response duty. But fear not, the soundproofing is excellent, and the noise won''t unduly disturb you."


    Karl chuckled. "I can hear your heart beat and the shifting of your coat against your shirt. It takes much more than some basic soundproofing for me to miss a helicopternding. But I am certain that it doesn''t take much to get used to those interruptions, and I don''t intend to be in the Capital the majority of the time."


    "Oh, are you working on something?" The agent asked.


    "I am in the middle of a deal with Roth Savings and Loan to build a facility for magical beasts that can be raised as assistants to the Elites." Karl exined.


    "Fascinating. I know that many of the Ranger sses struggle to find just the right partner. However, as I am not one myself, I am not privy to all the details." "That''s fine. It''s not really relevant to this deal anyhow."


    [Oh, get the one with the huge bathroom with the hot tub. I want that one.] Remi insisted.


    [Yes, a gigantic tub is what we need.] Rae agreed.


    Karl gestured to the floor n. "Do you have an option with argemon area, and the oversized bath area with the hot tub?"


    "I have this one. It''s slightly smaller overall, but still has three sleeping rooms, argemon room and the spa. However, itcks a formal dining room, and instead only has a smaller table and dining counter in the kitchen."


    [Hot tub!] Rae cheered.


    "Can we go see the unit?" Karl asked.


    "Of course, Sir. However, it is customary to put down a deposit first, as a show of sincerity, as the units are rather expensive."


    Karl nodded. "How much?"


    "The deposit amount is fifty thousand credits, which will be deducted from the two hundred and forty thousand credit total annual fee for the unit, should you choose it."


    "Give him shiny rocks. I got a whole bunch of useless ones from the grave." Remi suggested.


    "Can you do conversions? I have no idea how many actual credits I have." Karl asked.


    "I can bring an appraiser from the supply department."


    "Wonderful, I can wait. Also, if they can send someone for the rest of my people, it would make life easier. I''m sure they are wondering where I went by now."

 Chapter 596 Apartment

    Chapter 596 Apartment


    Thedies came in with the appraiser, who was an Ascended Rank Elite with a crafting specialty ss.


    [Remi, did you pick useless stones?] Karl asked.


    [Yeah, and give him some of this grass I picked. There is too much of it here, and it''s in the way.]


    The appraiser bowed a full ny degrees, while Overlord Niall chuckled at the show of deference, or more likely at Karl''s difort around it.


    "Sir, I am told that you require a conversion for some items you have obtained?"


    Karl set the fistful of delicately cut gemstones and therge bundle of magical grass on the table side by side. "This should be enough, I think. If you can convert that to credits for me, I would like to rent an apartment and maintain a bnce in my ount for incidentals."


    The man just stared at the pile, while Overlord Niall picked up one of the gems, a faintly magical ga, low Ascended Rank by Karl''s estimation.


    "You know, a Fire Ga of this quality and cut is worth a year''s rent. You didn''t need to make the man go through so much work." The Overlord was staring at the gem with what looked like lust, and examining it with the practised movements of a jeweller.


    Or perhaps a jewel thief. Many Rogue ss Elites had a questionable past.


    Karl shrugged. "I never exchange anything, I didn''t know. But if that''s the case, you can keep that one for your assistance, and we can convert these two for credits, plus the pile of herbs."


    The appraiser looked at the pile of herbs with great concern. "Are you certain that you wish to trade all of this?"


    [Make them go away. Those are the trash stalks that I pruned so much better ones would grow, or to clear space.] Remi agreed.


    "Yes. Those are the lower grade castoffs that I don''t need anymore."


    The man seemed to freeze, and began breathing too fast for a few seconds before Lotus cast something on him.


    "Panic attack, he should be alright with a calming spell on him." She exined.


    "Sir, those stalks are all Commander Rank, and they''re worth nearly twenty thousand credits each." The appraiser stammered.


    "Do you regret picking the gem now?" Karl mock whispered to Overlord Niall.


    "Not at all. I don''t need Spirit Grass for anything. But magic type sses like the appraiser go all googly over it. You should see if you can get some potions made with the portion you kept. Your girlfriend would benefit from them."


    Karl stared at the grass with his system interface up. [Moderate quality feed for Thor]


    [Mild Intoxicant for Hawk]


    [Combines with Sage Spirit Herb to make minor Soul Strengthening potions for Hawk]


    Thatst line was a new one, but there were no other listed uses with Identify, so it was no real use to his beasts.


    "Good idea. I will look into thatter. I have the ingredients needed, I believe."


    The appraiser carefully examined every stalk and made notes, while the group milled about and Lotus tried to teach Cara how to y Cat''s Cradle with a piece of string.


    When he got to thest of the stalks, Karl stopped him, realizing that the total was an astronomical sum.


    "That one is for you. A gratuity for your prompt service."


    The appraiser stared lovingly at the long piece of grass. "Are you certain, Sir?"


    "Of course. There are how many of them in that pile? One is no loss. The conversion of those plus two stones should be more than enough for my immediate needs."


    Tessa shook her head in dismay. "You know, I tend to forget that while your stockpile of random stuff is useful in the field, you''re actually insanely wealthy if you convert it to money."


    Karlughed. "Thor eats that grass as a snack." n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om


    The appraiser and the real estate agent winced in pain at the cost of letting a giant beast eat such a valuable resource.


    "The total will be transferred to your ount, and these two gas will be sufficient to cover a year''s rent on your chosen unit. Thank you for your patronage, and the Cathedral Resource Warehouse appreciates your generosity."


    Overlord Niall watched the appraiser call for security as he loaded the grass into a secure cargo box on a dolly and hand the real estate agent a card on his way out.


    "Now, should we go see that unit? As long as there is nothing wrong with it, I would like to get settled in. I have a long day of debriefings tomorrow." Karl suggested.


    "You have debriefings tonight as well. But tomorrow will be even busier, so we should get ahead of the others." Niall agreed.


    Karl sighed and gestured for everyone to follow them out of the room.


    The apartment building was actually a high-rise tower that Karl had thought was part of the corporate district. Fifty stories tall and asrge as a city block, there was certainly plenty of room for the apartments. Lotus spun in a happy circle as she saw where they were going. "This is perfect. I can just invade your space when the dorms at the Cathedral get too boring."


    The housing agent gave Karl a look that said, ''should I show you a unit with a spare room for High Priestesses?'' But Karl motioned for him to keep walking.


    "I am sure that we can make space. Or we can look at other units if there might be a simr unit that keeps therge hot tub. That part is essential." Karl assured her, with a nod to the realtor to let him know the response was for him as well.


    Dana winked at him and Karl smiled. Rae and Thor weren''t the only ones looking forward to getting time to soak.


    The elevator took them to the tenth floor, and a pristine white walled lobby area with thick red carpets. There was a gold and crystal chandelier hanging from the ceiling, and Tessa whistled in appreciation of the luxury.


    Red Dragon clerics spent most of their time in Orphanages orbat training facilities before they graduated, and often after as well. They didn''t see much luxury.


    "There is a secure training facility on basement level two. It''s not actually under the building, but under the courtyard and park. It was reinforced by the Archbishop and a group of Overlord Rank mages, so there is no danger that it will be damaged as long as you pay the energy cost to enter.


    There is a public pool on the second floor, and a gym on the basement floor one. But the residential floors all look simr, with differentyouts based on apartment sizes. There are six units on this floor, only two of which are currently upied."


    Karl decided he didn''t want to think too hard about why there would be so many empty units in the building. Sure, it was expensive, but all the more powerful Elites were regrly required to be in the Capital for one reason or another, so it made sense for them to get an apartment somewhere in the city.


    It wasn''t like they couldn''t afford it. If Karl had checked his bnce before asking for a conversion of resources, he likely would have had enough for the rent just off his Elite payments, and those would be going up now that he was a Monarch.

 Chapter 597 Luxurious Living

    Chapter 597 Luxurious Living


    The agent opened the door and Karl stepped inside the apartment, which was decorated in what he understood to be thetest modern style, all white and stainless steel with hardwood floors in a light grey.


    Upon seeing the luxury, Rae came out in humanoid form and immediately wandered away before the sales pitch could even begin. The important parts of the tour were the bath and making sure that nothing here could rival her hammocks forfort.


    "Where did shee from?" The property agent asked, confused by the new arrival.


    "She''s sneaky. Don''t worry about it. Now, it looks like this ce is fully outfitted, I see cups hanging from the racks." Karl replied.


    "Yes, a full set of kitchenware is included, as well as daily maid service, so there is no need to do your own cleaning. If you are hosting parties or don''t wish to cook for yourself, there is a restaurant on the main floor exclusively for residents and their guests. They can prepare your meals to be delivered on request or on schedule."


    Dana looked impressed. "So, a top professional chef on call at all times for dinners? Now this is swanky."


    Overlord Niall chuckled. "Of course. Elite is more than just a title saying that you''ve got magical powers. There is another building nearby for Royals, if you would like to take a look. Three of them, technically, as there are more Royal Rank Elites than there are Monarchs and Overlords."


    "Would you like to view one?" The agent asked hopefully.


    Dana shook her head. "No, this one looks good, thanks."


    The agent blinked once as he realized the situation, then continued the tour, showing them around the kitchen, the balcony with sun loungers for summer use, then the huge living room with seating for at least a dozen.


    "This is nice. There is room for everyone at the same time. But where did Rae go?" Lotus asked, unable to find the spider.


    Normally, losing a Bloodbath Spider in the house would be a cause for concern, but Karl could sense that she had already finished exploring the other rooms and had gone to the kitchen to see what the strange smell was. It turned out to be a fully stocked spice rack, and she was collecting tiny samples for Hawk and Remi so they could add variety to their cooking.


    "She''s in the kitchen. Finish the tour and you can y with the Rae."


    [The ceilings are high. I can hang hammocks over the spare beds. Lots of room for sleeping.] Rae informed Karl as they checked the remaining rooms.


    The hot tub was in a cedar room with a steam generating heater and a bench along the far wall. It should be great for rxation, and the bedrooms were plenty for the group if Rae was going to hang hammocks.


    "I think that this should be perfect for my needs, thank you." Karl informed the agent.


    "Wonderful. I will take care of the paperwork, and I believe that the Overlord had some more business to finish with you."


    Niall nodded. "Not me in particr, but the Inquisition, plus the Bureau, and the army''s strategic intelligence agency would all like to have a nice chat with you tonight, while the details are still fresh in your mind."


    "Alright, you might as well send them all in. We can split up and everyone talks to someone at the same time. Or do we need to do this in the secure rooms?" Karl asked.


    "No need for that. Once you are over Commander Rank, almost all of this bes a formality. Even if they suspected that you were likely to go rogue, it''s not like they would try to imprison you.


    They''d just send me after you."


    [I want a chance to y with the stabby Overlord.] Rae demanded.


    [Maybeter. He lives nearby so we can try to convince him to train with you in the gym to help you learn newbat skills.]


    Niall noticed the puppy eyes attempt that Rae was making from the kitchen, and turned to Karl for answers.


    "I don''t get what she''s pleading for. I''m not going to let her torture the representatives." He whispered.


    Karl chuckled. "That''s not it. She wants to train with you in the gym before we have to go. It''s a great way for her to learn new skills if I''m there to supervise and use my skills on her directly.


    It''s so rare that we see someone who haspatible skills that are an improvement for her, but you''re an Overlord Rank Rogue, you have to know at least a few." Niallughed. "Alright. I would like to see just what I could teach Rae, and what she might be able to teach me. She has some rather unique skills, and I still don''t understand how exactly an ambush predator learned to use Golems."


    Tessa nodded in agreement. "That is a mystery that baffles us all. But somehow, after seeing multiple different ways of casting Golems, she came up with a way that works for her.


    It''s brilliant, and terrifying. But it''s an incredible sign of what she might be capable of in the future. She already knows how to Shadow Step, create Earth Magic barriers to create her own portable shadows for better mobility, summon Golems, and use Lacerate, to increase the bleeding, so she has a constant supply of blood. n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om


    There really aren''t all that many more things that a Bloodbath Spider could need for her perfect arsenal, except a few high output ambush attacks, and possibly a form of invisibility that is better than her natural camouge skills."


    Rae snuck over from the kitchen. "You are taking too small of a view of things. I have almost mastered this skill to be bipedal now, and once I do that, I will need skills to pretend to be other people."


    Niall smiled at the ambitious beast. "Oh, and why is that?"


    "Nobody will ever expect it if their friends and family are the ones that walk up and dice them into snack sized cubes." Rae announced proudly.


    Niall nodded. "I agree. We took too small of a view of things. Why hide, when you can stand beside them like a friend in the darkness until it''s time not to. That''s actually amon infiltration technique for some of the intelligence service Rogues. If you don''t mind that they aren''t as powerful as you are, perhaps we could invite a few of them over to help you master the art of disguise?"


    "Nope, I don''t see any way that this could end badly." Ophelia muttered to herself.


    Rae nodded. "Exactly, all the oues are good."

 Chapter 598 Still Roommates

    Chapter 598 Still Roommates


    By the end of the evening after the basics of everyone''s current skills andbat status, as well as the major details of their recent adventures had been ryed to every applicable agency, and all of the same questions had been answered five times, everyone in Karl''s group was thoroughly ready for a nap. n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om


    Overlord Niall had gone to his apartment hours earlier, leaving them with Colonel Valerie and the representatives of the Government and Military.


    Neither of them was particrly annoying on an individual basis, they just had to individually verify all of the reports, separate from any influence by the other party members.


    That meant that they were spread through every room of the house to get their answers, and everyone had to repeat everything for their assigned interviewer, then as a group, in case they missed something that might be important.


    Of course, they had alle to a silent agreement that there were some things they wouldn''t talk about. If it wasn''t public knowledge and the people involved could squish them like a bug, it got ignored.


    If it was embarrassing to a group member, it got ignored.


    But other than that, they gave a fairlyplete report of the events as they remembered them. The real saving grace was that Lord Nacht had brought a report from the Divine Beast Nation with him when he arrived nearly a day earlier than they had, and that outlined the parts which had happened in the Bruse Temple.


    At least in a vague way.


    So, while the interviewers were confused about the part where they were providing what sounded like daycare services for the acolytes, at least Karl didn''t have to go into great detail about how that hade about, or why they had agreed to be sent to the Newbon Empire in the first ce.


    They simply said that it was an order from the Archbishop, and nobody questioned that fact.


    Colonel Valerie put her pen down as she finished summarizing all of the notes that she had collected. "Alright, I think that we have everything that we need from you today.


    I have been informed that you will be receiving a visit from the mental health professionals tomorrow, and that there should be some acolytes brought to you for a training program being overseen by the Inquisition. Those students should arriveter in the day, and I am looking forward to seeing what sort of results mighte from the partnership." She dered.


    "You and me both. I think that letting them spend time training with the team should have significant effects on their growth, and there is some hope that we might be able to trigger a system awakening for them naturally, without the use of an anomaly like the Orb."


    The Colonel sighed and rubbed the tension out of the back of her neck. "Don''t remind me of that nightmare. It was open for four entire days before it ran out of energy and the ruins vanished.


    Nearly every Elite over the rank of Ascended was sent there to attempt to advance their ss Marking by the time that it had vanished, and the more we sent, the more confused the situation got.


    Most of the stronger ones could advance, but few of the weaker ones. Even with the same skills, different Ranks didn''t get the same options, and now we''ve got dozens of new ss markings to collect data on."


    Karl shrugged. "At least the new sses will have more of a system interface, so they can tell you all about the ss Skills, the Skill Tree and any other benefits that they get. It''s a huge victory for the record keepers, as they now get to file data for the next group of young Elites, so there are fewer cases of unknown markings."


    Tessa winked at the haggard Colonel. "Plus, you can pass it all off to the Blue Dragons and let them do all the recording and analysis, then just read their summaries to guide next year''s training.


    The Academy should be nearly through the school year, right? We lost some time in an anomaly, so I''m not quite adjusted yet."


    Colonel Valerie nodded. "Yes, the next intake ising soon. They will advance at the end of the standard school year, and that''s in just over a month. But this round will be somewhat different from the previous ones, as we have a new technique."


    "A new trick?" Karl asked.


    "Yes, we have numerous System imbued items from the dungeon. We will have each student attempt to wear one that our analysts think will suit them, and then if they awaken the system with the item, they don''t need the injection.


    It should increase our sess rate, and greatly increase the number of new students.


    In fact, they are so enthusiastic about it that they''re building another dorm building for the purpose. There is some spection that this year''s intake might be asrge as the entire student poption.


    Both current and before the early graduation filings that were done for student soldiers who have been serving on the front lines."


    Karl had almost forgotten about that. There would have been many casualties on the line, and the students who had grown significantly stronger would have been graduated early.


    That sort of practicalbat experience helped many of them advance, so they might actually have many more Commanders now than they had when Karl and his team hadst checked in with the Academy, even afterbat losses.


    "Will you be back tomorrow to check in on the new arrivals?" Karl asked.


    Valerie shook her head. "No, I will give you a few days worth of training before I start directly monitoring your progress, assuming that there is some. However, it will be my agents who bring them to you, so you might see some friendly faces, depending on who is back from their mission in time."


    "Then I will be looking forward to it. I will send you a message if there are developments."


    Colonel Valerieughed, and Dana pointed at the wall. "We''re in the city now. No need for radio phones, magical messengers or anything fancy, you can just call her office."


    "Right. Totally forgot about that. I suppose that means I should likely be expecting to start receiving calls soon. I''m not going to need a secretary to deal with spam calls from business reps, am I?" Karl asked.


    "Doubtful. All calls to the building go through the switchboard downstairs, and they will pass you the messages from anyone who doesn''t have either prior authorization or the clearance to call.


    If you had spent more time in the Academy, most of the calls would being from your fellow Elites, but nearly everyone you know is already in this room, unless the two High Priestesses are going back to the dorms tonight in preparation for their formal rank testing tomorrow morning."


    Lotus emphatically shook her head. "Not a chance. I will have breakfast early and go over before they miss me, but I''m not sleeping on those rock-hard cots when there are perfectly good beds avable."


    Karl doubted that the beds for a Royal Ranked High Priestess were that bad, but Rae was going to make hammocks in the spare room, and those were hard to beat.

 Chapter 599 A Trying Morning

    Chapter 599 A Trying Morning


    The next morning, when Karl woke up, he waspletely disoriented for a moment. It was far too warm, or possibly too cold, if he had slept in, and thisrge soft bed was quitefortable with Dana in his arms. But it took his brain a few seconds to remember that he had rented an apartment, and that he was home right now.


    Strangely, it wasn''t thefort that had thrown him off, it was the temperature control.


    The Divine Beast Nation and Newbon didn''t use any of the human technologies, so everywhere just fluctuated with the natural temperatures, unless it was getting cold enough that they had started a fire in the firece.


    But that felt different, as the heat came from a direction, where the apartment building had vents all through it to keep the perfect room temperature.


    The sun was justing up, but the High Priestesses had a formal testing and advancement ceremony this morning, while everyone else would likely be tested at the Cathedral as well, but without the strict requirement. n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om


    He could smell the food, and that was enough to rouse Dana from sleep and send her scurrying to the ensuite bath to get ready for the morning.


    Karl followed her into the shower, and ignored the fake cries of protest that he was going to make themte. Two people could shower as fast as one with that massive overhead shower head and the side jets, while teasing Dana could wait untilter.


    They both dressed in the Commander Rank suits and went out to see what had made it here for breakfast.


    "Ah, good morning, sleepyhead." Tessa greeted them with a smile.


    "Are we, though? I don''t see Lotus or Ophelia." Karl retorted.


    "In the shower still. I had the kitchen send up some food before our test. We have pancakes, eggs, battered fried toast, an assortment of toppings and meats."


    The way she said thest was with great disappointment, and Karl realized that the breakfast meat was just regr sausages and ham slices.


    While they were very high-quality meats, they were not the Commander and Royal Rank meats that the group had gotten used to. The energy content would be a small fraction of the usual, and mostly it would just be filler.


    "Do we have time to cook more? Or should I just have Hawk roast something?" Karl asked.


    Hawk''s me control was impable, and it wouldn''t be hard for him to fry them something to eat.


    "We can have a heavier mealter. We need to eat fairly quickly if we''re going to make it over to the Cathedral on time. I asked the staff when they brought the food, and there is a shuttle that can bring us there instead of walking. However, it looks like it''s just a golf cart, and I''m not sure whether that''s faster than going on foot."


    The other two came out still wet from the shower and in their best formal clothes, Lotus'' High Priestess robes and Ophelia''s Commander Rank Suit.


    "You know, we really should have Rae make us something fancy for future engagements. Fortunately for the three of us, we will be changing to the white visitor robes when we get to the Cathedral." Karlughed.


    "Or we can go shopping. We''re in the Capital now, and there are all sorts of high fashion shops around. Even if we each bought an entire wardrobe, it woulde to a fraction of what it cost to rent this apartment for the year." Dana reminded him.


    Rae''s sense of disapproval was strong in Karl''s mind.Many of those outfits, especially suits and shirts, were made with someone else''s silk.


    That was not eptable.


    "Anything that''s not silk. Rae wouldn''t be happy about that." Karl exined to the others.


    "Got it. So, we have an advancement trial, then likely a meeting, and then we can go shopping before they bring over our new Acolytes.


    Remind me again why we thought that was a good idea?" Dana asked.


    "Because there is a chance that I can teach them skills and help them awaken the System more fully. The Inquisition is intrigued by the possibility that having experienced Elites train Acolytes might help them grow faster, the way that the private tutors in the school do for promising students.


    It will help build bonds between generations of Elites, and build the strength of the nation.


    But mostly, it''s because my skills are so odd, and they already heard from Nacht that my training is exceptionally helpful to young beasts." Karl exined.


    Tessa finished a mouthful of pancake. "So, because you can train young beasts and beastkin, they think you might be able to train human children? Do you even have a n for that?"


    Karl smirked. "Of course I do. I believe that I can teach each of them at least one skill that will suit their personality. And then we can test them to see if they really will advance faster right from the start with our help.


    There were numerous options when I went to advance. Like nearly a dozen. So, even if they wanted to be bonded to a beast, it might not make them like me. But it could be a ranger, or a beast warrior type ss. If they can make friends with a good boy like Thor, think of how highly desired they would be in any young adventuring group. Every team at the Academy would be mouring for a student who could maintain a Refreshing Lightning barrier. Especially if they trained as a front-line warrior, while their Cerro defended the mages."


    Tessa nodded. "I see where you''re going with this. If you can teach them a skill book, they will gain the skill and a ss, and then you are hoping that at least one will get a ss which can bond a beast, who will speed their growth.


    They get the power every kid craves, the nation gets another Elite, and they will quickly reach at least Ascended or Commander, depending on what beast they got, with a chance to grow further in the future using their ss skills."


    "Precisely. And if they can''t learn to bond a beast, we can teach them other skills and spells to help them gain other sses. It will also be a great test of just how many people can actually gain power, and how many are simply ipatible with the serum."

 Chapter 600 Royal High Clerics

    Chapter 600 Royal High Clerics


    The trip to the Cathedral was a short one in the electric cart, which did turn out to be faster than walking, but not faster than riding on Thor would have been for the Clerics.


    The Archbishop himself was there to greet them in front of the Trial Temple, along with Lord Nacht and an elderly High Priest from the Red and Green Dragon factions.


    "Wee High Priestesses and honoured guests. It is such a pleasure to have you here today. We have gathered to express our most sincere wish that the Gods recognize the ascendancy of two Royal High Priestesses today, and show them their favour." The Archbishop began.


    "The morning entrance to the temple will begin in ten minutes, and we ask that the guests make way to allow the Priestesses to enter first."


    That was when Karl noticed that they weren''t the only ones here today, just the only ones who had taken this path into the Temple area. There were dozens of young Acolytes on the Cathedral side, all kneeling on the stone floor out of respect for the Archbishop, and so that the ordained Clerics behind them could see.


    There was a brief round of polite apuse for Tessa and Lotus, who the Archbishop motioned forward as the first signs of the Temple awakening for the morning began to show.


    The stones inside were building power that Karl could feel in his bones, and it wouldn''t be long before the trial was activated, and the two clerics could go in.


    "Would you like to follow the High Priestesses in to have your advancements officially verified?" One of the Cathedral staff Clerics asked Karl quietly.


    "I think that we will wait a few minutes. We don''t want toe out ovepping them, so let the kneeling kids go first, then we will enter." Karl whispered back.


    The cleric went and informed the others, and they began to get the kids into double rows, ready for a smooth entrance once Tessa and Lotus had entered.


    The temple''s magic activated, and the two Priestesses entered without hesitation, confident in their respective Goddess'' favour and their ability to pass the trials.


    Then, the kids were escorted in, leaving only the remainder of Karl''s group and the senior clerics.


    The elderly Red Dragon High Cleric addressed Karl with a faint smile. "Monarch, Princesses. Wee to the Capital Cathedral once again. Your new acolytes will be chosen from the Orphanage training programs, in the hopes that their drive to improve themselves will give better results. It doesn''t actually affect the oue rate of the injections, but the Red Dragon does hope that it will improve your sess rate in training Acolytes. At the very least, they should be motivated to try hard, and notzy or unambitious."


    Karl nodded. "At the very least, we can try to teach them a few different skills to see if they can awaken the mostmon sses if their first option doesn''t work out. But I think that if they show promise, we might be able to awaken a few unique skills just by teaching them the things that we already know."


    The old man in red robes smiled. That was the greatest goal of the Orphanages that the Red Dragon Clerics operated. If they could bring up a generation of heroes who managed to change their fate, they would give hope to every orphan that came after them.


    The Orphanages were filled with tragic backstories, but with just this, they might be able to give the kids hope that they could be more than hourly employees or infantry for the front lines of the army.


    Assuming that they weren''t one of the lucky few who waspatible with the injection, anyhow.


    The Archbishop gestured to the Temple. "Please, enter and confirm your Ranks. The High Priestesses should be out soon, and then we have a short ordination ceremony before they will be avable again." Karl simply smiled and stepped through the doors of the temple, letting the energy engulf him and pull him into the trial.


    Once again, he found himself standing at the foot of a World Dragon pyramid temple, but this one was iplete, still under construction, with a gantry and earthen ramps all around it to facilitate the movement of massive stones.


    There wasn''t anyone here, and the temple felt like it was missing something.


    Without anyone to guide him, and the beasts trapped in their spaces, the obvious answer seemed to be to go to the top of the Temple and see what had been holding up the progress. An unfinished temple should mean waiting for materials, so perhaps the test was for him to dere allegiance, or provide an offering to the gods?


    That might make sense for the Cleric sses at the very least. This was a temple trial, so perhaps it was for everyone who attained his Rank.


    So, he made his way to where the construction was ongoing, using the smooth ramps that had been made to move the stones, and examined the ongoing construction.


    He wasn''t a mason, but he''d spent enough days in the mine to know what good stone looked like, and what was wed.


    And the core stone was definitely wed.


    There was a tall square obelisk in the centre of the temple, and there were visible inclusions in it, which would certainly crack when the construction was finished and the stone was expected to carry weight.


    He could fix that, though. n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om


    [Earth Shield] could make stone, or reshape existing stone to make the shield. So, that was what Karl did, and removed the ws along the way.


    Now, the obelisk was perfect, and the temple was ready to bepleted. But it was still missing something.


    There was a small hole through the obelisk near the top, with an engraved tform for some sort of holy relic to sit on. It would be buried within the temple, but it would serve as the core for the sanctified ground effect.


    Every temple had one, though it was normally in a case behind the altar, where visitors could admire the holy relic.


    The great question was: What did he have that might qualify as a holy relic for a temple?


    He had some Holy Stones in Thor''s space, but that likely didn''t qualify.


    Maybe it should be something system rted?


    He had a number of System linked reward items.


    But he could do better than that, he was certain of it.


    He had [Skill Merger] which would let him make a whole new skill, and [Skill Book] to write it out. So, if he made the very best skill that he could manage, and put the book there, it should count as an Epic Grade, Monarch Rank System Blessed item.


    That had to be better than picking stuff from his inventory.


    Karl did hope that this wasn''t expected to be a short process, though. Because making a new skill could take some time, and then learning to make one that could be made into a skill book with the materials that he had avable would take even longer.


    Perhaps this wasn''t the right way forward, given how long it would take. But it felt right, and if it felt right, then it most likely was right.

 Chapter 601 The Perfect Gift

    Chapter 601 The Perfect Gift


    Karl stared at the small tform and tried to determine what might be just the right thing tobine to make a new skill.


    His first thought was [Skill Master] [Evolution] and [Skill Merger]. Those three together had to create some sort of fun effect for new people.


    [You know, trying tobine Bone Crusher and Disintegration to make the perfect p skill is still an option.] Cara reminded him.


    [No, SPICY TORNADO!] Hawk insisted.


    Rae sounded like she had put more thought into her answer. [If youbine your new Iron Within skill with Limited Invulnerability and Ghostfire Body you could make something awesome.] She suggested.


    Karl focused on the three skills using Skill Merger to see if he could get an idea of what might happen.


    [Lord of Destruction] Totem Rank Transformation Skill. Ignores most damage types, incorporeal, Deals fire damage to both physical and metaphysical targets. {Currently Unavable}


    Cara was practically drooling in her space.


    [I want it. I can be a Totem, I''m certain of it.]


    [Perhaps we should go with something more realistic? A skill that we might be able to actuallybine is what we need here.]


    Next, Karl moved on to his first idea. Skill Master, Evolution and Skill Merger. Whenbined, the three made a skill called [Randomize].


    [Randomize] May the odds be asionally in your favour. Creation of this skill book requires ground pulp of ten different Commander Rank or higher nts and ten different elemental stones, set in the blood of the writer.


    That was not a description at all. But at least he knew how to make it. n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om


    [Oh, this is the right skill. I need some of your blood anyhow. How fast did you regenerate?] Rae asked.


    [Fast enough. Have you picked the other blood types that you wanted for your bath?] Karl asked.


    [We''re a bit limited. I have a lot of Monarch Rank Cyclops, I''ll get a bunch of yours to go with that for the Earthy side. Then I''ve got some Royal Rank Drake, and five drops of Totem Rank Troll blood from that little fuss with Leafa. But I also got a bunch from Monarch Rank whack a moledy.


    It doesn''t smell great, but I think if I add some other stuff it should be alright.]


    She sounded dubious about that. Everyone knew Rae wouldn''t take the bath if it was going to make her smell bad, no matter how many cool skills the zombie summoner had.


    [Well, you can work on that tonight after the trial. First, we need a core for the temple.]


    [I will get the nts.] Thor insisted.


    [I have lots of stones from the trial, I will pick ten that we have a lot of.] Remi added.


    [Let me stab you.] Rae insisted.


    [You can''t leave the space in the trial. I will give you the blood.]


    Karl deactivated [Void Body] and [Limited Invulnerability] so that he would actually bleed, but left [Trollish Regeneration] active so that he could continually funnel blood to Rae.


    With the Haint w on his left hand, and a bowl set under his right hand, Karl was ready to start.


    With the w, he punctured therge vein in his wrist and let it bleed down the w into the bowl, where Rae imed it for the pool in her space.


    The Haint w seemed happy with the arrangement, as did Rae, who had already portioned some off for Remi to make the ink mixture for the skill book.


    The problem was that Karl didn''t bleed quickly, even with a major artery punctured, and the blood was thick and metallic. [Don''t worry, I don''t need too much. It would make me smell like Void Badger. I have a n for this time. It''s all about thepound blend. Once I get the scent right, I''ll know it.


    You see, Karl smells like Cara and Metal. Cyclops blood smells like fire and Earth. Then I have this nice ssh of Troll to put in with a strong nt and healing energy refreshing scent.


    Trust the process.]


    Karl let the process go on for another five minutes while Remi finished the ink for the book, and then Rae finally decided she had enough blood.


    [Alright, that should do. I will work on it after we finish here, so it doesn''t get stale before my bath.]


    Karl took out a clipboard and set it on a nearby stone, then settled in for a long writing session.


    The [Randomize] skill book was incredibly long, and utter gibberish, unlike most of the books, where Karl had actually understood what he was doing as he wrote it.


    The hours seemed to flow from one into another, but the sun never moved from its spot high in the sky, no matter how long Karl wrote for.


    Finally, the book was finished. It bound itself into a golden tome covered in dragon scales, with a spine that looked like the y tile roof of the oldest buildings. Currently, t te tiles were in fashion, and the y tiles were rarely used.


    [Book of Randomize] Cannot be learned.


    [Use Now?] Y/N


    "No. You are going in the obelisk." Karl informed the system, just to be one hundred percent clear, that he didn''t want to randomize himself.


    With that sorted, he ced the book in the hollow, and stepped back as a powerful barrier formed over the stone.


    [Monarch Rank, Epic Grade Core Detected] The system informed him.


    The stones of the temple began to move, and Karl jumped down to a spot on the Temple that was alreadypleted. The top of the building was rearranging itself, creating apleted temple. The closer toplete that it became, the more powerful the magic surrounding it grew. Then it faded to a steady thrum, and between one breath and another, Karl found himself back outside, holding a small golden loop in the shape of a dragon.


    [It''s a crown! You got your own crown, that is awesome.] Remi cheered.


    The Archbishop stared at the loop in Karl''s hands, then at the trial building, which was giving off an incredibly powerful aura.


    "Wee back. I can see that you seeded, though I do wonder what sort of trial did it give you?" The aging Cleric asked.


    "It wanted me to make a core item for a new Temple under construction. I take it that the time flow isn''t the same on the outside? Because I was there for at least a half a day, and you''re still standing here." Karl replied.


    "Yes. You have been gone about five seconds, and you are the first one back." The Archbishop replied vaguely, more concerned with the trial building.


    Then something seemed to sink into his mind. "Did you say that it asked you to make a new core item for a Temple? What did you make it?"


    Karl shrugged. "A skill book called Randomize. It''s abination of my skill learning abilities and Evolution. It can''t be learned, only used. But the trial epted it as the core of the Temple, so it must have passed the power verification."


    The elderly representative from the Green Dragon smiled as he took a few steps, Karl''s way, using a walking stick to remain upright.


    "I doubt it was about power. The trial knew what your Rank was as soon as you entered. I believe that you passed the vibe check." The Red Dragon High Priest chuckled as his counterpart continued to the trial ground, while the Archbishop shook his head in dismay.


    "You''re not going to try that skill, are you?" The Archbishop asked the Green Dragon Cleric.


    "Of course I am. If I don''t then the first one to find out if the new Monarch made a core for the Trial will be a Blue Dragon, and they always get to do the fun stuff." The old man grumbled.


    They really didn''t ever change, Karl decided.

 Chapter 602 Randomized Trial

    Chapter 602 Randomized Trial


    They were both giving him concerned looks, but neither of the Priests was trying to stop him from going in to verify if Karl''s trial really had made a new core for the temple. It certainly felt like it.


    Nacht walked over in human form and nodded politely at the others as they watched the old man totter his way to the temple.


    "Where''s he going?" The Ancient Dragon asked.


    "I may have created a new core for the temple during my trial, and he wants to go try it." Karl informed him with a wink.


    The Dragon sighed. "And what might that core be? Please say you didn''t put a weapon at the core of a trial temple."


    "A skill book for the skill Randomize."


    "Is that skill usable by clerics?" The Dragon replied.


    Karl shrugged. "I don''t see why not. It''s just abination of Skill Master and Evolution, which are both training and advancement type skills. It''s not a skill that anyone can learn, but it''s a book that everyone should be able to use. At least everyone with an affinity for the System."


    Lord Nacht chuckled, and a cold aura of death magic surrounded him.


    "I will pray to my goddess to send him back alive. That is the best we can hope for."


    Karl put his hands over his heart and faked his best wounded expression. "You make it sound like I did something sinister. I assure you, that skill is not intended to cause damage to anyone, it''s just for helping system users advance." He pleaded.


    The ck Dragon and the two remaining clerics all gave Karl identical knowing smiles. "That assumes you didn''t let a Nature Cleric use them. There is nothing that they can''t use improperly, and if that thing gives him the chance to evolve into a butterfly, I can''t guarantee that he won''t take it, even if it''s got a one-week lifespan." The Archbishop replied.


    He made a most excellent point. But more concerning, Karl''s Nature Priestess was still in there. Who knew what Lotus would do if the trial updated and let her pick random options.


    Perhaps this was not as well thought through as Karl had believed. When it was a theoretical solution for a problem in a trial, there was no reason to think about real-world consequences.


    He hadn''t expected his trial to have any effect on reality, and there was a chance that it still wouldn''t. But the faint trial energy was significantly stronger now than it had been when he entered.


    Not long after the High Priest vanished into the trial, the first person exited the doors. That was when Karl knew that he was in trouble.


    For the person who came back out was a small gnomish girl in a pretty green dress, and Karl didn''t know which of the Nature Clerics it was likely to be. The little girl was Royal Rank, which narrowed it down to Lotus and the old man. But then the girl took out a walking stick and took a few steps before stopping and staring up at everyone.


    "I got short." She announced in a squeaky voice, then froze and cast a spell that created a mirror out of water.


    "What did you do to me?" The little girl shouted, running over to Karl and pounding on his legs before yelping in pain and holding her hand. n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om


    "Sorry, I''m quite sturdy. You should be careful of that until you grow up. You didn''t happen to say yes when it asked if you wanted to randomize, did you?" Karl asked.


    Lord Nacht burst into silentughter, doubled over and holding his sides in what was clearly magical silence. But the Red Dragon High Priest had a look on his face like a deer in the headlights. He was frozen, unable to believe what he was seeing.


    "What do you mean, did I randomize? Of course, I did. I wanted the random skill. Now, what did you do to me?" The Clericined.


    "Randomize doesn''t grant you a random skill. At least not always." Karl began, then double-checked to ensure the gnome was still a Royal Rank Cleric.


    Fortunately, that part hadn''t changed, and even in a new body, they were still a High Priest, no make that Priestess of the Nature God.


    "Randomize randomly changes something about you if you don''t have a fully operational system interface, and presents you a random option if you do. At least, I think that''s how it works. I haven''t been brave enough to choose the random option on my own, though I have been given a few random rewards." The gnome red up at him. "And what am I supposed to do with this? I can''t even reach the counter anymore."


    Karl shrugged. "No offence, but when she gets back out, Royal High Priestess Lotus might be able to help you with that. She also struggles with counter heights. That is, of course, assuming that she didn''t turn herself into something strange."


    The next ones out were a few of the new acolytes, and with his system interface active, Karl could see that they were all now clerics and Common Rank. The transformed Nature Cleric gestured to them as they stood around, confused as to what they should be doing.


    "Come over and make your report. Don''t dally."


    One of the boysughed. "You talk just like the High Priest, but we''re real clerics now, we don''t take orders from a little girl."


    Light shed, and the boy jumped as a [Smite] spell hit him on the backside.


    "I am the High Priest. Now, what did you see in the trial. Don''t keep me waiting, I have better things to be doing."


    The Red Robed cleric made a ''get on with it'' gesture, and the confused Acolytes began describing various trials where they had to aplish a task and then got a reward. They were all quite normal, as were the rewards, which sounded a lot like the default skill for the different aspect gods.


    Karl turned to Lord Nacht. "At least it sounds like nothing strange happened with the kids."


    Nacht winked at him. "It''s supposed to be a standardized test of their healing ability to prove that they''re up to entry standards. It was the same test for Common Grade acolytes for a century. Only the higher Ranks, who have chosen a god to devote themselves to, got individual trials.


    I don''t see it in their information, but I suspect that they have already been sorted by patron deity, and they just don''t know it yet."

 Chapter 603 Times Are Changing

    Chapter 603 Times Are Changing


    The Archbishop rubbed his temples as he took in the news.


    Things were changing too fasttely, and it was giving him headaches. He was already well over a hundred years old, and this was not in the ns for his retirement years.


    Why had the trial asked for a new core? Why now? Why a Monarch Ranked Elite who wasn''t even a cleric?


    None of it made any sense at all, but the fact remained that the Temple had been renewed, and the level of power that it possessed now made it a truly magnificent relic.


    What he hadn''t realized yet, as he was a naturally awakened Cleric of the World Dragon, was that the System was now fully active within the temple, and that it was fully capable of handling system users up to Monarch Rank.


    Thatck of knowledge would be corrected much sooner than he would have preferred.


    There was another group of peopleing, these ones in the white robes of visitors looking for an advancement test.


    They were led by a cleric in a doctor''s coat, so they must havee from the hospital for the test before their discharge back to regr duties.


    One of the Elites waved at Karl, then did a double take. Not only for the fact Karl radiated power, but that the Archbishop and someone terrifying were there as well, just casually chatting with him.


    Karl looked over and saw James, who had entered the Academy at the same time Karl had, and who specialized in avoidance tanking with a two-handed de. Or at least he had in the first year when Karl had seen himst.


    Now, he had a huge scar down his face that was freshly healed, and the soul aura around one of his arms was weak, so it was likely reattached or regrown in thest few months. n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om


    The small group stopped and bowed politely with their hands over their chest, fingers spread in the sign of the dragon. The Archbishop smiled at the group.


    "Good morning, young friends. Are you here for a rank confirmation?"


    The doctor answered for them. "Yes, Your Eminence. These young faithful have reached the Ascended Rank, and they would like the confirmation before they return to battle. I''m sure you''re aware of the change in policy. As new Ascended, they would be reassigned to a Commander led group for their next mission, instead of serving in the lines with the other Awakened."


    Karl chuckled, and everyone turned to look at him.


    "My apologies, I didn''t mean to interrupt. But the Ascended with a Commander led team also have the chance to be assigned to the Hill Giant front instead of serving along the Frost Giant front with the artillery.


    The weather is significantly better."


    The Archbishop smirked at Karl and chuckled, then nodded at the neers.


    "In that case, you have my best wishes for sess, and a warmer deployment."


    The doctor led everyone into the trial as the first round began to return, along with Ophelia, the first of Karl''s team other than Karl to return.


    "Well, that was different. It didn''t test me in any way that I could tell. I entered, Cara poked me with a stick and I chased her around for a couple of minutes, then I was back here."


    Lord Nacht began tough. "Oh, it tested you alright. The Void Badger is out here, and has been out here. I think the trial tested your suitability to advancement as a Berserker. She poked you with a stick, and you raged, then chased her around for messing with the trial, right?" The ck dragon asked.


    Ophelia nodded, then turned to stare at the temple.


    "What an evil test. But it gave me a thing."


    She held up a small purple stone carved to look like a panda. "Well, that''s a mark of sess in a Royal Rank trial, so there is no doubt that the trial approves of you. Congrattions, Princess Ophelia." Nacht replied.


    The Archbishop smiled at her, while the doctor looked confused.


    "That is the strangest test I have ever heard of. Did you upgrade the testing for personality?" He asked the Archbishop.


    The old man shook his head. "No. For some reason, the trial asked this Monarch for a new core. The changes seem to be the result of that."


    Another Cleric arrived with a group of applicants, all in suits that said they were businessmen, not the soldier sort of Elites. They all bowed deeply to the Archbishop, who gestured for them to go ahead. There was one Commander with this group, or very close to it by Karl''s estimation.


    Now that he had Soul Sight, there wasn''t much question. He could just look at them and tell the answer without having to wonder if they were hiding their power or waiting for them to use a skill at full power. He was good at guessing before, as were most beasts, but now it was almost as clear as if Rank were part of their basic visible information.


    Tessa and Lotus both came out with small trinkets in their hands before the second group reached the door, followed closely by Dana, who was wearing a new set of mage robes with loose fitting pants underneath for ease of movement inbat. She quickly changed back to her usual hoodie and pants, but not before Karl was certain that it was one of her ss Skills, as it was Royal Rank armour, though probably not Epic Grade like Bestial Raiment.


    They all held up small stone trinkets, and the bystanders quietly cheered them on.


    More Royals was a huge thing, but with the Archbishop here, some measure of decorum was necessary.


    "I know what you did." Tessa announced, staring at Karl.


    "I have no idea what you mean? I''ve been standing right here since my trial ended. I have witnesses."


    She put her hands on her hips in a gesture that made the old Red Dragon Priestugh. It was the same one that Orphanage Matrons used when the kids were in trouble.


    "Oh, and when you were in the trial, you didn''t happen topletely ignore the detailed instruction text and give it a skill book designed to troll users with random oues instead?" She demanded.


    "Instructions? There were no instructions. Just the iplete temple."


    Now she had the attention of all the other Clerics.


    "When I entered the trial, you were standing at the top of an unfinished temple. Then a voice announced that the trial was to find the perfect Holy Relic to reactivate the system in the Temple. I went up and tried to talk to you, but we couldn''t interact. I had suggestions, but you couldn''t hear them, but I could hear you. Even the inside thoughts you shared with your beasts.


    I know that you put a custom-made skill book designed to create random options in the core, then finished the temple." Tessa exined.


    Lotus frowned. "You got to see all that? It made me nt trees. Not even fun trees, just the same one over and over. I filled a whole clear-cut with trees. It''s much prettier now, but I could have used a few more varieties."


    Dana just shrugged. "I only had to duel myself."

 Chapter 604 The Answers You Seek

    Chapter 604 The Answers You Seek


    The Archbishop nodded as Dana confirmed Karl''s words. "A Skill for Randomization is how he described it as well. Though, he didn''t mention that the skill was designed to troll users."


    "Give them a random option from the System. It''s a thing, I swear it." Karl corrected him quietly.


    Thest of the first group came out just after that, and the answers were all different, but all quite mundane. But now that they knew what was likely to happen, the Clerics were much more interested in what the others would say.


    Oddly, the Commander from the final group was the next out after thest of the first group, and he looked just as confused as everyone else.


    "What did you see, friend?" The Archbishop asked.


    "It gave me the option to advance my ss. A random ss Upgrade, it called it. I am a Pdin now, see?"


    He held up his arm, showing off the mark of a glowing shield with a lightning bolt on it, the sign of a Pdin.


    Nacht rapidly shifted to dragon form and picked the man up, holding him in front of one massive golden eyeball for closer inspection.


    "The first advancement trial. He really did change sses at Commander Rank. How fascinating."


    Then he dropped the Pdin and began to wander away, pacing as he was lost in his thoughts. n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om


    The baffled Commander dusted himself as he got back to his feet, but nobody else was concerned about his state. The fact that the trial temple had advanced his ss was much more important in the grand scheme of things than a bit of dirt on his backside, or a bruised Ego.


    In fact, he was so overjoyed about the situation that he wasn''t even made about being osted by the dragon. He had advanced from being a basic warrior to a Pdin, and he had a whole selection of new skills to choose from, on top of what he already knew.


    That was the greatest thing that he could have possibly hoped for, and he got it just from showing up here to have his rank verified.


    "I think that I missed something. Can someone exin what is going on and why I have such a great opportunity?" The Commander asked once it was clear that nobody intended to exin.


    Karl gestured toward the temple. "It asked me for a strange thing when I was in there earlier, and because the system is so much more active for me than for others, it began to activate the old system functions within the temple.


    One of the functions that these temples used to have was to allow those who had reached sufficient level to choose an advanced ss, as they would have worked their way through all the skills that their starting ss had.


    So, you are a Commander, and you should have learned all the skills of a Warrior, which means that now you are ready to be a Pdin.


    If you check your system interface, you should have at least a few Skill Points avable that you can use to choose Pdin skills. It''s an instant learning function, and you will be quite the formidablebatant once you have chosen some of the new options."


    The Commander''s eyes went nk as he searched through his interface, and a smile slowly grew as he discovered all that he could potentially learn now that he had advanced.


    "Alright. I have a number of new defensive abilities, plus [Holy Light] an area damage and protection typebination skill. Man, it''s good to be a Pdin. I even got [Lay on Hands] healing as a ss skill. It''s not one of the remarkable heals of the white clerics, but it''s much better than nothing." The Commander cheered as he finished using up his points.


    "Excellent. Now, when the otherse out, we will be able to check if they also can now ess their skill tree. We know that you can, as it upgraded your ss. But for those who were partially awakened by the Serum, we don''t have enough data yet." Nacht exined, as he transformed back to human after his walk around the area.


    The Archbishop nodded happily. "Yes. This is a wonderful day, and I am greatly looking forward to seeing what else the Elites will manage with a bit of assistance.


    At first, the randomness appeared to be a drawback, but perhaps it''s not. If it''s just the best way to give the users an option, then the church can count it as a boon."


    Karl shushed Tessa, who was about to remind the Archbishop that Karl actually had no idea what he was doing at the time, so he could hardly be given credit for a positive oue.


    The old man was happy, and that was all that really mattered.


    Slowly, the rest of the Elites who had gone into the trial began toe back out again, and the clerics on duty got to work taking their reports while Karl tried to determine just how long it was polite to remain here before they ran away once more.


    Fortunately, the Clerics had that covered for him. "Monarch Karl. If you would like to return to your apartment, we can bring the Acolytes byter in the day, perhaps a few hours after lunch? That should be enough time to get to know them this afternoon, and then you can begin training them after your visit with the doctors tomorrow.


    Just routine diagnosis, making sure that you are not suffering from your extended time in the field." The Red Dragon cleric suggested as they waited for the rest of the trial takers to finish.


    "Yes, that would be perfect. I will go prepare for their arrival, and then once we meet I can develop a training regimen based on their specialties. I have high hopes for our options here." Karl agreed, then gestured for everyone to follow him back to the apartment. With some luck, they could cook a proper meal and get a nap in before they had to meet new people, and that would make the day nearly perfect. It wasn''t often that they had the time to get a proper nap during the day, and certainly not while they were travelling.


    But such lofty hopes were dashed the moment that they got back to the building and realized that there were dozens of other messages waiting for them from all over the city, and not all the messages could simply be ignored.


    The ones that were just looking for them to join some business venture could be put aside for now, as they had many more important things to do.


    But there were also the ones that were from other Elites looking for a meet and greet, which could be anything from just saying hello to looking for team members forrger missions, resource gathering or even a rapid response team.


    Those could not be set aside so easily without looking like aplete jerk. But they weren''t only for Karl. There were requests for the entire team waiting for them, and he simply got the majority of them, as this was his apartment.


    Ophelia smirked as she looked at the small handful of messages she had received,pared to everyone else. "It''s good to be the low-key one. I only get a few people messaging me, and none of them are super long portfolio binders." She joked.


    Then she opened the first message that had been left, written on red paper and sealed in an envelope, showing that it was hand-delivered and not ryed to the concierge.


    She read a few lines, skimmed through the rest with a disgusted look, and then handed the letter back to the receptionist.


    "Kindly burn that. The words alone should be enough to have it dered a biohazard."

 Chapter 605 Skittles Sacrifices

    Chapter 605 Skittles Sacrifices


    Once they were back in the apartment, Lotus mad a grabby hands gesture towards Karl. "Turn over the good meat. There are plenty of cooking implements in this apartment, and I want to make us something. I will put a proper stew on for dinner as well, as we''re not going to be going anywhere, so it will have time to simmer."


    "Don''t go saying anything that will raise gs. We want to actually get through a meal without major interruptions here." Danaughed. n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om


    Lotus stuck out her tongue at the mage, and took out a slow cooker, then frowned and looked around the kitchen again.


    "All of this is for bachelors or newlyweds. None of the pots and utensils arerge enough for our whole group." She realized.


    "If the travel utensils aren''t suitable for use on the stove, you can send the ingredients down to the main kitchen and tell them what you want. That should work well enough. They might not be nature clerics, but they are professional chefs. I''m sure that they have most of the spices that you want them to use." Karl suggested.


    "Oh, that''s a great idea. There''s a directory on the phone here. Dial 0 for the concierge and...


    Hello, can I get a kitchen worker up to Monarch Karl''s unit? I would like to have dinner prepared with some of the Royal Rank ingredients that we brought back, but the kitchen isn''t stocked for asrge of a group as we are expecting.


    Yes. That would be wonderful, thank you."


    Then she turned to give everyone a thumbs up.


    "Done and done. They will be here in ten minutes to collect the special ingredients, and they will have the meal ready for whatever time we pick. I also got them to bring up a cart full of snacks for while we wait." She exined.


    "Who knew that Lotus was secretly organized?" Tessa joked.


    "When it''s about food, I am excellent at organization. There is nothing more natural than not wanting to miss a meal."


    As promised, the snacks soon arrived, and Karl loaded arge roast on the cart for the kitchen, and then a second one in case someone else had a special event.


    Even in a building like this, high-ranking beast meat was not easy to get, so if they could incorporate a little of the boar meat into their menu meals for the next few days, it would buy Karl a lot of goodwill with the other residents.


    He had a sneaking suspicion that he was going to need that soon once the beasts started to settle in. With their skills, it would be nearly impossible to keep them out of an apartment if they wanted to enter, and restraint was not a wordmonly found in their vocabry.


    "Do you have arge amount of that meat avable? We might be interested in making regr purchases. Assuming you can maintain it at this level of freshness, that is." The chef suggested.


    "Food doesn''t go bad in System storage, so it will remain that fresh indefinitely. I have a limited amount of the Royal Rank, but I can spare at least a tonne of Commander Rank boar meat." Karl agreed.


    Lotus giggled, while Dana silently mouthed the words ''Hawk, you glutton'' towards Karl, knowing that the bird could see her.


    Each of the boars weighed more than that, even deboned and prepared for cooking. But the bones were valuable as well. Not just as a resource, but to render down to make soup stock.


    There was one in the roast today, and Hawk would not mourn the loss of the bones. They were too crunchy and tasteless.


    That gave Karl plenty of time to finish the messages before their lunch was ready, so he could send the responses with the delivery worker and rx for a while before the kids arrived.


    However, the time that they got to themselves before the kids arrived turned out to be even less than Karl had expected. They had only just finished eating lunch when the phone rang to inform them that their new trainees were on the way up with an old friend.


    That sounded promising, and Karl wondered who they had sent. He was hoping for one of the Mackenzie brothers, or perhaps one of his teachers from the Academy.


    However, the long beard and deeply stoned eyes that smiled back at Karl from the other side of the door were none of those people.


    "Doctor Skittles, wee. I don''t know how you got assigned to escort the trainees here, but it''s good to see you again." Karl greeted the Nature Priest from the wounded veterans'' hospital.


    "I had hoped that name wouldn''t stick. But I was the one in charge of ensuring the selected trainees were mentally suited to the task at hand. I know that your team isn''t for the faint of heart, and if you release an aura of killing intent, it might break the will of many of the youngsters.


    We wouldn''t want that, and I suspect that you wouldn''t appreciate having someone pee on your floor in terror." The old doctor joked.


    There were five children behind him, though Karl felt a bit odd thinking that. They were only really three years younger than he was, a year from undergoing the awakening injection themselves. They did look determined, so at least someone had warned them about what wasing.


    But more than that, they looked awestruck. The building was extremely luxurious, and the room was filled with people more powerful than anyone they were likely to have met so far in their lives.


    "I should inform you that this experiment will be treated as an actual scientific experiment, and not just a game. There will be someone monitoring your progress while you are in the Capital, and the participants have been selected to have no connection to any of you." Doctor Skittles added.


    "Well, that''s not out of the realm of expectations. I thought that we would have to make daily reports, but if they''re going to have someone watching us train, then we can skip that step.


    Will you be the one today?" Karl replied.


    "Indeed. There shouldn''t be too much to report today, it''s just a meet and greet." He shrugged.


    Karl took out a handful of jewellery and smiled at him. "Oh, I wouldn''t count on that. It''s a shame that I couldn''t learn Randomize to cast on them, but I think that there is a chance one or two of them might be able to awaken their ss by equipping a System imbued item."

 Chapter 606 Acolytes

    Chapter 606 Acolytes


    Karl motioned for the acolytes toe forward with his empty hand, and then offered each of them one of the many Giant Strength rings that he had acquired.


    "Do I want to know where you got so many of those?" Doctor Xander, better known as Skittles, asked. n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om


    "Probably not. But if you''re doing the psych evaluations tomorrow, it mighte up anyhow. Oh boy, do we have fun stories for you."


    The doctor sighed, and the kids took the rings from Karl, holding them curiously, as they had no idea what such a crude metal band was supposed to be for.


    Four of them were nearly identical, to the point Karl thought that they might be siblings with the same straight ck hair, but there was one blonde girl in the group, and she was clearly the feral child of the group.


    The first thing that she did when she got the giant ring was to bite it and then slide it over her hand like a bracelet.


    She gave her arm a happy shake, then her eyes went wide as the ring equipped, and it moved to her left ring finger.


    She made an inarticte squeaky happy noise, and Skittles turned around to see what was going on.


    "Sybil, where did youe from, and where is John?" He demanded, while also signing along with his words.


    "Is Sybil deaf?" Karl asked.


    "Yes, and she definitely isn''t supposed to be here. She''s two years younger than the others, and she''s supposed to be on security restrictions after stabbing another child at the orphanage." Skittles exined.


    Rae stepped out of her space and stared at the small blonde child.


    "I want this one. She''s got potential." The spider announced.


    "You''re just saying that because her first instincts are to bite and stab." Karl retorted.


    "Well, yes. But I think that she will make a pretty good rogue. See, she already picked her ss, or got it assigned."


    Karl checked her with the system interface, and realized that yes, her name was in the odd yellow that was assigned to Rogues.


    Karl considered his options for a moment, and then realized he had the perfect skill for a deaf Rogue.


    Echolocation.


    If he gave her an additional sensory skill, she would be able to see in the dark, detect most hidden targets, and she wouldn''t be distracted by noises, as she couldn''t hear them anyhow.


    "Alright, I have prepared a n for the development path of the young Rogue ss Elite. The other four of you, please introduce yourselves and try to get the ring to fit and adapt to you, the way that Sybil did." Karl instructed.


    "I am going to look for John. We''re short one of the original students, and he was with us at the doors." Skittles whispered.


    If she had attacked someone to steal his spot, the feral child might not be a good person, but from what Karl could tell, she was an incredible Rogue. Nobody had even noticed the switch.


    If they had, they surely would have snitched on her to the doctor. It wasn''t like she would hear them telling him.


    The next to seed was a boy standing near the door. His eyes went vague as the ring fell to the ground, and then he began to do a little happy dance.


    His name had turned the light blue of a Mage in Karl''s interface, so he couldn''t actually equip the ring. But it had still worked to activate his system skills.


    Karl picked up the ring and patted the boy on the back.


    "I will introduce you to your new tutor. This is Princess Dana. She is a Murim Battlemage, and she will be helping you with your basic magical skills starting tomorrow."


    "Thank you, Your Majesty. Princess, I will be in your care." The boy replied politely.


    The next two advanced at the same time, and a new pair of warriors was born.


    "I am Aaron, and this is my sister, Jaime. Thank you so much, we both get to be warriors like our dad was." The boy replied.


    "Sorry for your loss." Karl replied.


    "Oh, he''s not dead. He was resurrected, or reincarnated? Reborn into a new body, and he lost his status as an Elite. But before that, he taught us all sorts of fighting skills, just in case we were sessful with the injection." Aaron exined.


    That would have made him one of the early test subjects that had been pulled from the army to beta test the injection. The kids were a couple of years too old for him to have been a regr injection student.


    Well, unless he had kids in middle school, but that seemed even less likely.


    "And I am Joan. I don''t know if this thing works for me, but the reddy says that I need to be here to keep the children under control." Thest student exined.


    Tessa smiled. "I will be here as well. But we will get you all trained up. Here, why don''t you try to wear this instead?"


    The Red Dragon God wouldn''t let the clerics wear strength items either, perhaps viewing it as unfair, or likely to distract them from other duties. But the simple ne that Tessa gave Joan equipped immediately, and the girl''s name appeared in white over her had in Karl''s ovey.


    "That''s five out of five without having to do anything strange. Now we just need to know what happened to John and wait for Skittles." Karl announced, then pocketed the two rings that couldn''t be used.


    Sybil was watching him carefully, and made a series of hand gestures to answer, but Karl didn''t speak signnguage. Fortunately, Lotus did. "She knocked him out and stuffed him through the ess door for the fire suppression system on our floor." Lotus tranted.


    "Please go get the lost student. We can take on a sixth if Skittles allows it."


    Lotus ran out to the hallway, then right back in. "Skittles found him. There is a stretcher, and another cleric, and some guys with guns and uniforms."


    Karl watched as Sybil ducked below the height of the sofa and then scurried across the living room to hide under arge reclining chair. If he didn''t have thermal imaging, she would have seemed to simply vanish, and she was incredibly quiet.


    Even Rae was impressed, though she did go to sit on the chair so that nobody tried to search under it. That was her new student, and she was keeping the crazy one.

 Chapter 607 Feral Rogue

    Chapter 607 Feral Rogue


    The guards came in with their hands on their weapons, looking for Sybil.


    "Sir, do you know where the young offender is? She escaped custody, and has seriously injured another student." The guard asked.


    "She''s around here somewhere. Why don''t you let me take custody of her? I will get her behaviour straightened out by morning, and you won''t have any more troubles with her in the future." Karl suggested.


    "You would like to personally take on the duty of caring for a troubled Orphan? My apologies, Your Majesty, but do you know how much effort such an undertaking will involve?"


    Karl nodded. "I understand. I will exin the situation to the doctor. Besides, she has awakened as a young Elite now, so it is only right that we take charge of her punishment."


    The guard saluted. "Doctor Xander will return soon. He is seeing to the treatment of the wounded child. He sustained a major head injury from a dislodged fire extinguisher."


    Skittles came in, and the guards left, which confused the doctor.


    "I told them that I would take care of our feral Rogue. Technically, I''m going to let Rae train her, but if a Bloodbath Spider Queen can''t keep her out of trouble, I doubt anyone can." Karl exined.


    "She fractured the boy''s skull with that fire extinguisher strike. Now, I''m impressed that she could even lift it at her age, but she is dangerous."


    The other four nodded in agreement.


    Karl shrugged. "We are Elites. We''re meant to be dangerous. Besides, all of you are Elites now as well. We can start everyone else''s training tomorrow, but I will keep Sybil here for the night so we can calm her down and exin how things are going to work."


    The warriorughed quietly at the thought of their troublesome peer finally meeting serious discipline, while Owen the mage was more concerned with the way that Dana was floating half a metre off the ground, showing off her skills.


    Only Joan, the one that Tessa suspected was awakening as a Red Dragon Cleric, was looking around to try to find the lost Rogue.


    That was also good training for her, as the Red Dragon Clerics were often battle tacticians with the army, and they would need to have good analytical skills as well as keen senses.


    "Now, before you all go, I want to ask you what skill you would most like to learn. I have some connections, and I might be able to help you learn that skill right from the start." Karl asked the students.


    "[sh]" The two warriors replied in unison.


    "Do you not already have that? It should be the basic warrior skill that you got when you awakened." Karl reminded them.


    "We already have a skill? It just told us that we were warriors." Aaron replied.


    "Think or say the word status, then go through your menus to see what you have. sh or Cleave should be your starting skill. Then you will have a Skill Tree showing you the skills that you will be able to learn in the near future."


    Then Karl turned to Owen, the mage.


    "I would like to learn Lightning spells. My starting skill is Magic Missile, and I am totally asking to use the training room at the Cathedral when we get home."


    Karl nodded. "That should be possible, but we will have to work on your mana and stamina so that you can use it as well as Lightning Magic deserves to be used."


    Joan, the young cleric acolyte, smiled. "I would like to learn protection magic to keep these idiots from hurting themselves."


    Karl nodded. "We know just the thing."


    Rae stood up and pulled the startled rogue out from under the chair. Then she turned her to face Lotus, who could exin the situation in signnguage, but left the girl hanging upside down.


    Once Lotus asked the question, Sybil started to smile and gesture frantically, seemingly overjoyed that someone had asked her.


    "She would like to learn ming sword skills so that she can burn every bully in the world to ash." Lotus tranted.


    Or perhaps that wasn''t joy. She might really just be crazy.


    But now both Hawk and Rae were impressed with her dedication to all the right things in life.


    Now that he thought about it, an extra stabby tiny creature with a fire obsession was practically made to be a new friend to the beasts. Even Cara would like this one, they were both feral creatures.


    Rae set her down and Sybil immediately tried to escape out the door, but was dragged back by a cor of silk around her neck.


    Lotus smirked at the girl as she attached the web to the ceiling, and then borrowed a notebook and pen out of Karl''s inventory.


    "Is she going to be alright?" Skittles asked, growing concerned about the short-term survival of the girl.


    "She will be fine. Rae has good reading skills, so they''ll be able tomunicate even if she doesn''t know signnguage."


    [I wonder if we can teach them to mind speak. That would be good.] Cara suggested.


    That was part of their bond, but there might be some simr function in the System that they just hadn''t uncovered yet.


    [I will look into it.]


    Jaime, the formerly silent half of the warrior pair, raised their hand and spoke in a surprisingly high voice. "Who will be our warrior trainer, Sir? They told us that you work with beasts, but none of us got a ss like that." n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om


    Karl had originally thought that they were twin brothers, but apparently Jaime was just tomboyish with the same haircut Aaron had.


    "I will help with it, but the Lovely Princess Ophelia here is a Berserker. If anyone knows about meleebat, it is her."


    Ophelia smiled and waved, while the Warriors nodded happily. Then Karl continued. "I also have Thor, who is actually a Monarch Ranked Divine Thunder Cerro, but with a bit of effort, he can transform into a humanoid form to help you learn defensive tactics, while Ophelia teaches you offensive skills.


    Between them, you will be the sort of well-rounded Warriors that your father would be proud to know."


    He also had Remi to help Dana with the aspiring Lightning Mage, so it was only Sybil and Joan who didn''t have two specialty teachers.


    That was still better than Karl had expected. You never knew what you would get from a system assigned ss, but Karl was slowly discovering that there was a core set that appeared more often than others.

 Chapter 608 Raes Training Regimen

    Chapter 608 Rae''s Training Regimen


    Doctor Skittles smiled at Karl and gestured to the four children who weren''t in hiding.


    "Should we head out for the evening? I will see you all tomorrow morning along with some of the other doctors, and the students can return at any time you are free." He suggested.


    "That works for us. I assure you that Miss Sybil will be alive and better behaved by morning." Karl agreed.


    The doctor nodded, then gestured for the kids to follow him out. They all waved happily, knowing that they would not only be back, but that they had the greatest ever story to brag about with their friends tonight. In fact, they intended to practice their new skills until lights out, or until the clerics forced them to go to bed, whichever came second.


    Once the door was closed, Tessa turned to Rae. "Why don''t I try talking to her about what was going through her head that made her think it was alright to attack another student?" Sybil red at her and began gesturing frantically in Lotus'' direction.


    "I can read signnguage as well." Tessa replied, gesturing along with her words.


    Maybe it was an oversight in Karl''s education that he didn''t. Or it might just be a cleric thing.


    While Tessa and the young Rogue had a silent conversation, Lotus came over to trante for everyone else.


    "She says that she actually won the draw, but the bullies beat her up and stole the winning stick, so when the teachers came to see who had been chosen to go, John had her stick. That''s why she ambushed him and took her spot back.


    Oh, that''s interesting. ording to Skittles, she was previously in protective custody because she killed her foster brother." Lotus quietly narrated.


    Dana and Ophelia gave Karl dubious looks, but he was more interested in watching the interaction, even if he needed trantion to learn what they were saying.


    "Tessa told her that she''s considered an Elite now, and that sort of behaviour will get her drugged to limit her powers while she is locked up for life.


    It looks like she understands, and now that she''s bing more certain that she will get to stay, she''s not speaking with so much anger." Lotus continued.


    [We need to teach her Shadow Step. If she had that, nobody would have noticed the bully going missing.] Rae suggested.


    [She''s a Rogue, she will get to it eventually. Did you want to teach her stealth skills first after we have helped her senses?] Karl replied.


    [That should be good. Her starting skill is [Backstab], so she needs a way to get behind the enemies.]


    [Alright, I will work on teaching her [Silent Movement] and [Echolocation], assuming that she can learn both.] Karl agreed.


    "Are you really going to train her? The girl likely belongs in prison." Ophelia asked, with her back turned to Sybil and Tessa.


    "She likely does, but yes. I intend to train her into a proper Rogue ss Elite, and then she can take over duties that will make her childhood bullying seem like a happy memory. Besides, training is the only way that anything is going to change for her, and she''s just going to get worse if we don''t do something.


    So, if we''ve got a tiny psychopath on our hands, why not train her up and set her loose on someone else?


    I am certain that she would be just as happy on the Frost Giant front as she is in her dorm at the orphanage."


    Karl had forgotten that she could see him, but he didn''t miss the panic as she read his lips.


    It had never urred to her that Elites might be sent somewhere terrible. She hadn''t thought about it past the part where they had the power to get away from the bullies. So, her responses to Tessa were bing increasingly concerned that she might immediately be sent off to war now that she was an Elite.


    Tessa was patiently exining that there were requirements, and that she still had to learn to behave before she was sent off to the Academy so that she could gain more power after their group got her started.


    It was a strange situation, but even Remi was getting in on the excitement, and she had found some shadow element items from the giants, both nts and magical stones that she could grind into potions.


    [I still need more books. Tell the delivery person that I need books.] Remi reminded Karl.


    [Alright, I will have them send up some rted Alchemy and Shamanistic magic books for you after they deliver dinner. Does anyone else need anything?]


    [I will let you know after my bath.] Rae replied, while the others just ignored the question, as they didn''t need anything that a human could deliver them. n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om


    Instead of wasting more time, Karl took a seat at the table and started to write out the [Echolocation] skill, which he wasn''t certain would bepatible with the girl at all. Then he went on to [Silent Movement] his lone personal stealth skill.


    He didn''t actually use it much, but he suspected that Rae could use it as a passive, as she was uncannily silent as she moved around the house.


    Being the only thing around which was not making noise would make it easy for Rae, or a Rogue, to spot any other movement in the dark by using an Echolocation type skill. Tessa looked up from their conversation. "Alright, I think that we''ve got things sorted well enough. Were you going to teach her a skill tonight?" Karl nodded. "At least one. Likely two. Then Rae has training nned for her tonight. Our new friend might be up past her bedtime, but we won''t start the training until after dinner."


    What would happen if a Common Rank Elite ate a whole bowl of stew made from Royal Rank ingredients was a mystery. Higher Rank ingredients were great for growth, but the Academy simply didn''t have anything with that big of a power gap avable. Karl hoped that having a constantly open Commander Rank dungeon might help with that, though. Elites could repeat it, though not immediately. So, they could farm resources, which should include at least some edible ingredients and potions from the rewards.


    Growth Potions, the sort that enhanced an ability or physical status, were normally only beneficial once, so after the dungeon repeating group members had used them, they would be a tradable resource for others.


    "Alright, Sybil,e over here and try to read these books. If they work, you will get good things." Karl instructed, after making sure she was looking at him.

 Chapter 609 Sybil

    Chapter 609 Sybil


    Sybil came over to inspect the books that Karl had set on the table in front of him, not quite understanding why they were important. She had gotten so used to nobody caring what she was up to that she had long since stopped paying attention to gossip, so she only picked up what was in her textbooks, and the details of how Elites advanced were not part of the core coursework.


    The methods weremon knowledge, but she had missed out on a lot of that, and until today, hadn''t cared.


    But she liked to study, so she flipped the [Silent Movement] book open without hesitation, then looked around in confusion as it vanished, wondering if some trick was being yed on her. n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om


    "It''s a skill that lets you move without making a sound. I know you can''t tell the difference, but it''s an essential skill for a Rogue, and it goes well with the other skill that we have prepared for you." Karl exined.


    She quickly grabbed the second book and flipped it open, then stared around the room as it took effect.


    Then, she snapped her fingers, and watched the world change as the readings from [Echolocation] came in from all directions, and not just forward. It appeared in front of her eyes, like a secondyer of vision, and it didn''t seem to matter to the skill that her ears didn''t work.


    She made a series of hand gestures, and the clerics began tough. Karl waited for someone to exin, and Sybil took out a small notepad and pen.


    [This is absolute bullshit. Now I can SEE SOUND, and I''m still deaf?]


    Karl did his best not tough at her suffering. "Well, I don''t know a spell that will allow you to hear again, but this is magic, I guess you don''t need to hear to be able to use it. When the lights go out, now you''re not deaf and blind, you can function in perfect darkness, or even blindfolded.


    For a Rogue, an Elite who is likely to take on infiltration and stealth roles in the future, this is one of the most important passive abilities that you can have." Karl exined.


    Sybil reluctantly nodded, then began to write again. [What else were you going to teach me? This was really fast.]


    Karl gestured to Rae, who had an evil grin on her face.


    "You already know the skill [Backstab], so I am going to teach you how to [Shadow Step]. With that skill, you can move through darkness to appear in any other shadowed ce that isrge enough. My Karl will use his skills to help you learn, and I will start with exposure therapy to help your body understand."


    Karl focused on the pair with [Skill Master] to help them learn faster, and then smiled as Rae turned out the living room lights and began to move rapidly back and forth between the living room and spare room until Sybil pleaded for mercy as the dizziness overwhelmed her.


    The spider turned her tiny charge to face her and patted Sybil on the head. "Now, you just need to focus on the feeling of moving through the shadows. When you understand it, you will be able to escape, and my training will beplete."


    She started bouncing back and forth again after gagging the Rogue with a strip of silk cloth, and Ophelia turned to Karl in concern. "How long are we going to let the spider torture a middle schooler?" She asked.


    "Technically, I think she''s in herst year of primary school. Skittles said she was younger than the others by a couple of years. But I have Skill Master at Rank Four now, and there are few skills that Rae is better at than Shadow Step. She loves that skill.


    I give it two hours at the most, and the newest Elite will manage to escape."


    An hour in, everyone was researching their training methods for the next day, and the doorbell rang, with room service delivering the stew that Lotus had requested for dinner.


    Ironically, that was the trigger for the great escape.


    Sybil vanished from Rae''s arms and appeared under the food cart, then made a run for safety down the hall, only for Rae to grab her a half secondter and drag her back inside.


    "Not bad. Only one hour and you''re getting the hang of the skill. Now, sit down and eat. You''re going to need the energy for training tomorrow." Karl instructed as Sybil realized she couldn''t Shadow Step away when she was being held by the ankle.


    [I have a potion for her. Put it in a cup, I want to see what it does.] Remi informed Karl as Rae set the Rogue down at the table.


    [Wait for tomorrow. I want to know everything that she''s capable of before we start feeding her new supplements. Tonight, we will focus on skills. You can make potions for all the Acolytes if you would like, and then we can test them all at once.] Karl suggested.


    [Oh, that''s a good idea. Everyone at the same time will be much better entertainment, and then if strange things happen, the others won''t be able to refuse. I knew you were the Karl for a reason.] Remi agreed.


    What exactly she thought the job of a Karl was remained a mystery, but he felt like it had be a middle management job, and less of an Elite powerhouse position.


    But if nothing else, Remi would have potions for all five of their Acolytes the next day during training, and once she found time for a new beauty routine, Rae should advance, and possibly pick up new skills that she could leverage to take back her top spot.


    Having Rae at the Monarch Rank would motivate Remi and Cara to advance as well, even if the power of the separate spaces advancing wasn''t enough to immediately force them to break through.


    In short, tomorrow was going to be a very busy day for Karl and the team.


    But before that, he should likely rescue the young Rogue from whatever had happened to her now. She was turning red in the face and squeaking, but she appeared to be breathing well enough, so she hadn''t choked on her soup.


    [I think it''s an energy overload. We''re all used to the condensed power of the boar meat, but she''s never had anything like it before. Maybe take her to the training grounds in the basement to burn some of the excess off before something bad happens.] Thor offered.


    [Right, good call. You have to be careful with giving humans good things.]

 Chapter 610 Morning Prep Work

    Chapter 610 Morning Prep Work


    Rae grabbed her trainee, along with their soup, and vanished. Karl could feel them directly beneath him, so she must have gone to the training areas, but why she had decided to bring the food was a cause for concern.


    It was too much energy for a Common Rank Elite to handle, so if she was intending for Sybil to eat more of it, she would have to intensely train her skills. It was still early in the evening, but she wouldn''t be able to burn off that much energy quickly with the amount of energy that she could currently handle.


    However, Karl did have Skill Master active on them, so if Rae was going tobat train her, maybe Sybil could learn some new skills that she could overload with energy.


    "You know, there is a good chance that Rae will kill her identally." Lotus quietly reminded them.


    Karl nodded, "That is possible, but I think that as long as she can burn off all that excess energy, there is a good chance that Rae can actually force her to advance tonight.


    Rae has an advancement bathing, so she will want to get as much training as possible done before she goes to bed for the evening. It wouldn''t be surprised if we find a Rogue dangling from the ceiling in the morning, though. Rae likes it when her prey stays where she puts it."


    Thedies chuckled at that, but Karl was right. Rae would definitely cocoon a flight risk so that Sybil remained where she was put until morning.


    "Should we get ready for bed, or do we wait up until Raees back with our new charge?" Dana asked.


    [I''ve got it handled.]


    "Let''s sleep first. We have a long daying tomorrow."


    Karl retired to bed with Dana, while Ophelia transformed back into Werebear form and slung Lotus over her shoulder.


    Tessa chuckled as the Bear imed her teddy, while Lotus made half-heartedints about how a Werebear was too warm to sleep with when you had temperature control.


    Karl also woke up far too warm the next morning, with Dana''s warm body on one side and Cara curled up against the other.


    "Is this going to be a new thing?" He whispered to the Void Badger.


    [It is my duty to keep your rtionship wholesome until Brother Thor manages to find a girlfriend.]


    Karl smiled and petted her head, which made Cara stretch out in the bed and wake Dana.


    She rolled on top of Karl, then rolled back when Cara licked her face.


    "What was that for. Good morning, Cara. I''m awake now."


    Karl looked into his space, and found that Rae was still in the middle of her bath preparations.


    She had the base ready now, but Remi had made her a potion to work into her body before she began, and Rae wanted to finish that before she added the Totem blood.


    [It opens the pores and exfoliates loose outeryers. It was an error during my research, but it works really well as a body scrub for Rae.] Remi exined.


    The Bloodbath Spider was lost in her preparations, oblivious to the fact that it was already morning, and that everyone was getting up for the day.


    Karl carried Dana to the shower while Cara polished her fur, and then he let his senses wander to the others to make sure everyone was doing well.


    Thor was in human form with Sybil in the kitchen with Tessa, while Lotus was making a lot of noise in bed, possibly trying to escape from the grip of a gently snoring Ophelia.


    Hawk was in his space, as was Remi, so Karl worked through his morning routine and then realized he was actually short on normal clothing for a casual day.


    He decided to go for the uniform suit without the coat or tie, and made a mental list of items to request from the delivery service.


    {Mister Karl, good morning. We''re just about done making breakfast.} Sybil greeted him in signnguage as he reached the main room, with Dana and Cara behind him.


    "You look like you slept well." Sybil gave him a rueful smile. {Lady Rae tied me to a hammock, and I couldn''t Shadow Step out of it, so I didn''t really have a choice. I was stuck there until Mister Thor came to rescue me this morning.}


    Karl chuckled as Tessa tranted. Rae''s webs didn''t have knots, so there was no way for an escape artist to untie themselves, and a Common Rank Elite wouldn''t be able to break the silk.


    Thor smiled at Karl. "When are the hatchlingsing?"


    "As soon as we finish with our morning meetings, we can call for them. Have youe up with a training program for the warriors?"


    Thor nodded. "I have the perfect thing, and Sister Remi made me potions to help. It''s going to be very productive. If they''re good warriors, they might even show progress in just one day."


    Tessa smiled at the transformed Cerro. "I''ve already called the doctors to finish our evaluations. But are you sure that you''ll be alright staying in human form? I believe that those items are usage limited."


    Thor shrugged. "It''s not a big problem. Sister Rae will learn the spell soon, and I can just stay like this for a while. My pond isfortable even without my scales."


    [Thor secretly likes wearing armour.] Cara added in Karl''s mind. n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om


    That was valuable information to have. When he had time, Karl knew that he would have to study more so that he could keep useful spells like that one avable for the team. Or one that would allow them to shrink.


    If they were able to reduce themselves to Cara sized or smaller the way that Remi could, there would be little reason for any of them except Rae, who wanted to jump scare people, to transform.


    The trick was to convince Thor, who valued power and the ability to protect, that being small was a good thing. He had even made his human form thergest out of all of them.


    Plus, a sheepdog sized Thor would be adorable.

 Chapter 611 Exfoliation

    Chapter 611 Exfoliation


    While Karl answered mundane questions about his mental state for the doctors, Rae was hard at work with her advancement.


    She had finished her exfoliation routine, and she had the perfect blend of blood in the bath for her uing advancement. She wasn''t entirely certain what sort of skills it would give her when she did be a proper queen, but she had high hopes for this blend with the little bit of Totem Rank blood that she had managed to acquire.


    It was only a few drops, but it contained ridiculously potent healing abilities, and it was two full Ranks over her.


    She settled into the pool and began the work of pulling all the energy out of the blood. The process was simple for a Bloodbath Spider, and instinctive. You just absorbed all the energy from the bath, and then you found out if your body adapted to it well enough to break through the bottleneck and if you learned any new skills.


    The Cyclops species might have an innate skill that she hadn''t gotten to see during their battles, as they were almost all crazed by the spawn, but Karl''s blood definitely had some special properties, as did the Emperor''s blood.


    She could feel the energy from Karl and the Newbon Emperor, mixed in with the Monarch Rank cyclops blood, revitalizing her, while the blood from the two creatures that could regenerate also strengthened her resistances.


    The Emperor''s blood worked on her elemental resistance, as Trolls were immune to all but fire, where Karl had Limited Invulnerability as part of his core skill set, and the [Iron Within] skill that made his blood into living liquid metal and improved his already impressive invulnerability.


    It was the perfect time for her advancement, Rae decided. She had gotten to have fun for most of the night, then a good nap, and now she got to skip all the boring stuff before the trainees showed up.


    Rae briefly wondered how fast a baby Rogue would improve their Shadow Step if a giant spider was actually trying to eat them.


    Just a little bite would do it, and then the clerics could heal her after, but it would add all the motivation in the world. Even if she did have to chase her down every day to continue the training.


    Her mind wandered to many simrly pleasant things as she bathed, and then Rae noticed that there was another source of energy that nobody had bothered to remind her of. That sword and the ghost tree stick both had lots of energy in them, but they were stored separately, and she couldn''t reach them from the bath.


    It was unfortunate, but she would remember them for next time. More energy was always a good thing, and who knew how hard it was going to be to get a proper bath for her next few advancements.


    Today''s bath was particrly refreshing, Rae realized. The energy just seemed to keeping as Karl refreshed the energy in her space, and thebination of Karl''s and Emperor Troll''s blood regenerated the damage she was doing in the process of remaking her body as she filtered an entire bath''s worth of blood.


    It was like having an energy drink that just didn''t run empty.


    She carefully stirred her bath and rolled over to refresh the coating on her back, then floated with her legs up for a few minutes as she enjoyed the influx of energy.


    Rae was gaining the faintest hint of a new skill, and though it was going to take some effort to focus on it, she knew that when she got it right, it would be beautiful. Everything that a spider could hope for.


    Karl was nearly finished with his interview with the psychology team when Rae finally got it right.


    She had invented the most incrediblebination of skills with Karl''s [Skill Merger] ability. Ghost Beast hadbined with Iron Within and Shadow Step to make a new stealth ability for Rae.


    [Night Haunter] Ignores physical damage in spectral form. Allows movement to any point that can be seen or touched with the incorporeal body. Invisible to optical vision. Regenerates life while in spectral form.


    But the skill wasn''t the only benefit. Her body was rapidly growing more powerful. The advanced abilities of the blood she was ingesting were remaking her in a much more drastic fashion than her previous advancement, though Rae could see that she still looked like herself.


    Her outer shell now would be nearly impervious to attack, thanks to Karl and the Emperor, and her physical strength was off the charts.


    If she wanted to, she could now leap over a hundred metres to get intobat faster or take her prey by surprise. From that distance, most of them wouldn''t even know that she was waiting for them until she was already on top of them. n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om


    But that wasn''t all that she wanted. Trolls and Karl both had humanoid forms, and she wanted one.


    She was quite literally the thing that haunted the darkness now, and that only worked if she could get to her prey.


    The lingering power of her advancement helped Skill Merger and Skill Master function more efficiently, but the power was waning as she took in more than the blood could regenerate, and imbued her body with the energy.


    But she still had the token, and a lot of determination. All she had to do was learn to use the spell without the amulet.


    Karl was shaking hands with the doctors now, so they must be nearly done, but Rae was confident that she had the right method. All that was left was to try it out.


    A surge of power activated [Humanoid Disguise] and she was in her two legged form in her space with only her own power.


    Then a thought activated [Night Haunter] and Rae stepped out to stand beside the door, forgetting that she was still dripping with blood.


    The effect when she let the spectral form fade and reappeared in front of the psychologist, covered in blood from head to toe with a row of serrated teeth smiling at the cleric, was even more beautiful than she had hoped for.


    The man screamed like Lotus did when she was scared, then vaulted backwards and over the kitchen ind before crashing to the ground and scurrying across the floor towards the back wall.


    [Ten out of ten. Perfect form.] Cara congratted her.


    "A celebration is in order. Doctors, may I introduce to you Queen Rae Bloodbath, the most powerful known member of her species, and our Nation''s newest Monarch Rank resident." Karl announced.


    Skittles took a drag off one of the Nature Cleric specialty cigarettes as he red at Karl.


    "You''re going to give an old man a heart attack one of these days."


    Karl smiled. "Fortunately for us, not only do we have two clerics present, we also have one that can resurrect. It''s fine if Rae sneaks up on people now and then."


    The terrified man on the floor scoffed. "In my professional opinion, bringing them back to life won''t undo the mental trauma of being literally scared to death."


    Rae gave the man two thumbs up. "I will keep that in mind for next time. No scaring them all the way to death. Halfway is fun enough."

 Chapter 612 Terror and Knowledge

    Chapter 612 Terror and Knowledge


    n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om


    The other four Acolytes came in, then stopped when they saw that Rae was soaked in blood, which was rapidly being absorbed into her skin.


    "Did wee at a bad time? Thedy at the door said that the doctors were on their way down." Joan, the dark-haired Red Dragon Cleric in the making, asked.


    "No, you have impable timing. They were just on their way out when Lady Rae decided to show off her advancement to Monarch Rank and startled them." Karl exined.


    Skittles wasughing so hard that he had tears in his eyes, but no noise was escaping from him, and his posture was both unnaturally straight and formal until he could get his amusement under control.


    "Congrattions, Queen Rae. I am certain that we will see each other again soon." The hippie doctor announced, doing his best to avoid giving the new arrivals a poor impression of his professionalism.


    The doctors left, and Karl''s group split up to talk to their charges, while Karl sat down at the table with his writing implements. Most of them would need a skill book, and he hadn''t even started on the ones he already knew he could make.


    [Chain Lightning] for Owen the mage wouldn''t be too hard. It was usable by most types of elemental magic users. Not Dana, at least not anymore, but it should be good for Owen.


    [Circle of Protection] was more questionable. It was theoretically usable, but the description said [Suitably Blessed Clerics]. What exactly that entailed was anyone''s guess. Compared to that, the warriors would be easier. They had wanted [sh], which they should already have. But Karl had [Rend] and [Shred] which were both better sword attacks.


    A couple of books of [Shred] didn''t take him long while the others got acquainted with the students.


    Sybil already had a head start, and she had Rae guiding her, while Cara gave helpful hints from the pile of nkets she had amassed in her space.


    "Ladies and gentlemen, I have some books ready for you. For our warriors, I have copies of [Shred] to increase your damage output. For Owen, I have [Chain Lightning]. Then, for Miss Joan, I have a copy of [Circle of Protection]. I have a spare one as well, if Lotus or Tessa needs it."


    The two older clerics both shook their heads. "We can already use it, but it doesn''t stack, so we just let Thor, as his is stronger."


    Karl nodded. That made sense. Karl could extend [Eternal Lightning] or [Refreshing Lightning] over the whole group, but he rarely did it, as Thor had it handled.


    "It seems that we''re all relying on you." Karl informed the transformed Cerro, who now had a shield hung from the back of his armour.


    That was odd. Karl didn''t recall getting a shield as an item drop anywhere.


    Then he realized that Remi had a whole new stack of books and a fancy wooden shelf on the altar in her swamp.


    [Someone ordered delivery while I was asleep, didn''t you?]


    [We put it on your ount, no problem.] Remi agreed easily.


    [It''s a good thing we''re not short on money. Was there anything else that we needed?] Karl asked.


    [No, I think we got everything. I also gave them different ingredients to make snacks for the kids during training. The soup was a bit too strong for the Rogue, but we have lower grade stuff leftover in here.] Remi informed him.


    At least the beasts were taking good care of the new trainees. Their initiative was admirable, and this was the most excited that Karl had seen the team get about something in quite a while.


    The Acolytes had hesitated at the table, and hadn''t opened the books yet. Everyone else was giving them expectant looks, even Sybil, who was still periodically trying to test Rae''s grip on her to see if she could escape.


    Little did she know there was a single strand of Royal Rank silk attaching them, so the young Rogue wouldn''t be able to go far without learning to pull Rae along with her.


    Owen, the mage, was the first to try, and the [Chain Lightning] book vanished in his hands as his eyes went wide in shock.


    Rae pped happily. "Alright, Lightning Mage obtained. Who is next?"


    Joan, the Cleric trainee, came forward and took her book. Opening it made her glow with bright golden light. Then her entire body glowed red and blood began to drip from the corners of her eyes, while [Eternal Lightning] healed her.


    The girl was lost in a vision of something, staring off into nothingness, so Karl didn''t try to interrupt her experience. Whatever the Red Dragon wanted her to see was probably an important part of bing recognized as a cleric of the God of War.


    The two warriors looked concerned for their friend, but they did step up and collect their books.


    Nobody had heard of Warriors getting more than a headache and sore muscles from attempting to learn things, so the book shouldn''t hurt them.


    The skill books vanished, and the two young warriors shared a high five.


    "Alright, now what path did the two of you pick? I believe the System should have given you options for your first few skills." Karl asked the warriors before Ophelia and Thor could steal them away.


    Aaron smiled. "I picked the defensive route, while Jaime picked offence. Then we can teach each other the opposite fighting style."


    Karl nodded. "They won''t be able to pick the skills from the tree, but there is a chance that they can still learn some of the skills through hard work, and knowing how to fight both offensively and defensively will make you more versatile.


    Many times in the future, you may need to serve as attackers while your group has a Golem distract the target.


    Oh, that is an idea, I should see if I can teach the Mage how to summon Golems. It''s a core skill that the Academy wants all mages to know if they can learn it. Some aren''tpatible with the skill book, though."


    The problem was that Rae''s Golem spell wasn''t a standard variation, and Karl couldn''t summon them themselves.


    Dana shrugged. "I will contact the supply warehouse and let them know about the situation. If Owen can''t use it, then that''s that. But I have high hopes for him. He started with the same basic skill that I did, back when I was a Common Rank freshman."

 Chapter 613 Mixed Training

    Chapter 613 Mixed Training


    "Alright, while Dana calls to order a skill book, we can all get ready to go to the basement training area if it''s avable. If not, we will train in the Cathedral''s guard training practice ground." Karl decided.


    "But... they don''t have a system, they''re just warriors." Owen noted.


    "All the more reason to practice with them. They are simple warriors, regr humans relying on the favour of the Gods to survive, not special skills or magic. You might be fledgling Elites now, but rest assured, anyone on those training grounds is likely to be able to humble you in a matter of seconds." Sybil didn''t look impressed. She had all these new skills that Lady Rae had taught her. How could she not be better than some church soldier?


    The skill book delivery was shockingly fast, and the hotel staffer who came up with the book on a silver tray appeared nearly as eager to see what was going on as the kids.


    Dana smiled at the delivery man. "Thank you for the prompt service. Young Owen here is going to try to learn to summon a Golem. Owen, you know the routine. Just focus on the Golem you would like to summon as you cast the spell for the first time, then every time after it will be the same.


    But not until we get outside. My Golems are well over two metres tall, and we wouldn''t want to damage the floor in here if you get ava or stone golem."


    The kids all rushed for the door, ready to try out their new skills, but Tessa hadn''t forgotten Karl''s suggestion, and when they left the elevator, she led them out the front door and towards the church soldiers'' training area.


    "This is the perfect spot to train. The soldiers use Holy Magic on their weapons, so the training ground is more than capable of dealing with some Common Rank attacks." She exined.


    The Acolytes didn''t quite understand why she thought so highly of it until they got to therge sandy area that was used for training, and saw that the Red Dragon Clerics also worked on theirbat magic here, to keep teams buffed and protected as they sparred with each other.


    "Wow, what spell are they using?" Aaron used as he saw the Elite Guards sparring.


    "Spell? That''s nonmagical training with wooden des. The ones over there are using defensive and de enhancement magic." Tessa exined.


    "But they''re so fast." The young warriorined, trying to exin the impossibility of the soldiers being normal humans, though there were no Elites in those units.


    "Resources from the church help enhance their physical abilities, When you grow up and train, you will be much stronger and faster than that. Which is why we will ask them to help train you, right after we find out what Owen''s Golems look like."


    That got the attention of the soldiers, who were on a break.


    "Oh, do we have a few special cases who were awakened off schedule? Let''s get a good look at these new Elites before they''re lording it over us. n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om


    No offence, Sir, and Priestess."


    Karlughed and waved off his concern. "We''ve got an interesting group of Acolytes today. The Archbishop has asked that we try to train them up as a team, to see if working together helps them grow faster."


    "A holy assignment? Wow, you must have done something right."


    Karl shook his head. "The opposite, I think. We get to train a group of the next generation as an experiment to see if it keeps us all out of trouble for at least a week."


    Many of the Elites assigned to the Academy for short durations were the same way, making up for causing someone trouble by taking on a job that would rehabilitate their image.


    Dana talked Owen through the process one more time, then the new mage focused and began to cast the golem spell.


    The surface was smooth and pale like a child''s doll or a store mannequin, and didn''t appear to be gaining any features as it grew to human sized. Not asrge as Thor, but a hair taller than Karl.


    But as it finished, Karl noticed that it was not as solid as it looked, the surface was flexing and shifting slightly as it formed.


    Dana stepped forward and inspected it. "Not bad. y Golems aren''t the most powerful, but they are highly durable, as they can absorb most blunt attacks with minimal damage.


    Now, part of the challenge as you grow will be keeping the Golem properly equipped. It can attack with its bare hands, but it''s better if you give your Golem a weapon."


    Owen nodded. "Do you give yours a sword or a club?"


    Dana shook her head. "I have an advanced version of the [Armoured Constructs] skill. My Golems appear with armour and weapons, so I don''t need to provide them. But that skill will take you a while to learn, if you ever do. So, for now, you need to work on how to coordinate your Golem with your magic, andter with your team.


    The goal is to have your Golem block for you so that you can continue to cast without being hit.


    Do any of you fine gentlemen have a moment to assist us? King Thor will happily put a defensive barrier on you so that you''re not injured during the test. All you need to do is get past the Golem and hug the mage to win."


    The soldiers who were on break motioned for their Sergeant, who came over, bowed slightly to Karl, then turned to Dana.


    "Did you need a few of my soldiers to assist with your training, Princess?"


    Dana smiled. "Likely not all day, unless you have some who don''t need your full training regimen. This is their first day with as Elites with a ss, so our trainees are starting from nothing."


    The Sergeant nodded. "If you would like, I can spare you these four, as they''re all on light duties after injuries. Then, if you would like, I can take the youngsters for basicbat forms training with the rookies starting at three.


    They''re also only a few weeks into their training, and mostly only a few years older."


    "Oh, that should be good for the warriors and the Rogue. I''m not sure about our fledgling cleric, but I will be working on mana volume and control with Owen all day." Dana agreed.


    The Sergeant made a ''get on with it'' gesture to his injured men, then returned to the crowd.


    "I will go first. How far off should I start?" One of the men asked.


    "Twenty metres is far enough. By the time that a mage needs to go into defensive mode, the enemy is at least that close."


    That was actually a lot more warning than a mage got in most battles, but for the first day of training, it would give Owen more time to work with his Golem. The better that he understood defensive tactics, the better the Golem would understand them. So, as he had no otherbat training, this was the best they could do.


    Rae smiled at Sybil. "I like this game. We will have a soldier try to keep you from reaching me as well. It''s nice and sunny out, so do your best."


    The spider''s mirth was not lost on the young Rogue. She couldn''t Shadow Step on an open field in the middle of the afternoon, and she wasn''t Rae, who could create a stone to appear under when she wanted to move.


    Thor motioned to the warriors. "We will train here. I have a defensive barrier up on everyone, including our volunteers, so don''t worry about getting hit. I will start with Aaron, while Ophelia starts with Jaime, and then we will switch once you have a good grasp on how to use [Guard] and [Shred]."


    The young warriors weren''t certain that would be any time soon, but Karl knew that there were skill books for the skills if they needed them, and the instructors in question shouldn''t have any problem teaching the skills.


    Thor would be faking Guard with his [Eternal Lightning], and Ophelia would be imitating [Shred] by using [Rake], but the visual effect would be close enough that with some instruction, they should learn some version of the skill without using a point.

 Chapter 614 Humbled

    Chapter 614 Humbled


    Karl took a seat off to the side of the training grounds, along with a few of the Elder Clerics, who were supervising the training and not actively involved in the process.


    An old woman on Karl''s left gestured towards where the warriors were training. "It looks like you got a batch of naturals. They already understand about basic sword stances and de techniques."


    Karl nodded. "They were raised by a soldier, a fallen Elite. The other ones might need a bit more work, but the warriors should have the basics down."


    As they talked, Owen was spun in a circle by the soldiers again, as they had gotten past his golem and dodged his magic missile.


    Dana was giving him hints, but he had zerobat sense. So, she changed the routine. Instead of having the Golem defend, it was on the attack, with the soldier defending her. Now, the young mage could see what it took to keep an enemy away from the mage for as long as possible.


    Further down the sandy field, Sybil was also having issues. Despite her diminutive size, she waspletely stonewalled by the warrior on defence, and couldn''t even make a step of progress towards Rae. All she had to do was get close enough to touch Rae, who was standing still, and she would win the round, but it just wasn''t happening.


    A messenger came over with a note for Karl, in the apartment building''s stationary envelopes.


    [If your Bloodbath Spider isn''t busy tonight after dinner, I will be free to train with her in Basement 3 training Gym. I have it booked and I will be there all night. -Niall]


    "Thank you. If you see him, let the Overlord know that Rae will be there at sunset." The messenger nodded, then returned to the apartment, but not before stopping to watch the practice for a few seconds.


    The soldiers of the Church were an extremely physically fit group, and not gender segregated duringbat training, which the messenger obviously viewed as an opportunity for eye candy.


    The aging cleric woman next to Karl was watching the training with sharp eyes, making sure nobody was in real danger, but she continued to talk to Karl.


    "Were you going to try something new with these ones? I see that you''ve awakened some extra skills for them, but that''s pretty standard for individually guided students." She asked.


    "I believe that we might have a way to speed their initial level increases. With a couple of herbal supplements and a specialized training regimen, we should be able to make them at least Awakened before the school year even starts, with a good shot at Ascended the first semester.


    After that, we will likely be moved to another assignment, but I believe our n has potential. If we manage to bring these five to Ascended in half a year, they might start implementing the method on arger scale.


    From what I can tell, the goal is to more reliably bring Elites up to Ascended or Commander Rank, where they are in a position to challenge the mainbat forces of the Giants and anyone else who might invade.


    If we can prove that it is possible, the status of the Elites will change quickly to gain the sort of respect that the Spelldesmand elsewhere." Karl borated.


    The old woman smiled. "I can only imagine. With all the different sses the Elites have, they would have so many new skills in battle if they were stronger. It wasn''t bad like this until recently. When it was just the feral beasts and some monster spawns, we could take care of it with the armies of the faithful. But with the Giants invading, and that new Dungeon that seems to attract trouble, I understand why they''re trying this.


    But how did you pick these five? They seem like an odd group, and I think that Rogue is deaf."


    Karl chuckled. "She is. However, they did the selection by lottery, and she stuffed a bully in a storage closet when he tried to steal her ce, so she''s got the motivation."


    The old woman smiled. "That is what the Elites need. Too many of them are after the fame and fortune. Not enough of them are willing to stab someone to get where they need to be in life."


    "Are you sure that you''re from the Red Dragon and not the ck?" Karl joked. "War is war. It doesn''t matter if it''s external forces, a civil war or a Cultural Revolution. If they want to turn their movement into a war, the Red Dragon approves, under certain conditions."


    The cleric next to her, a middle-aged man also in the robes of the Red Dragon, nodded in agreement. "The Elites are a Cultural Revolution. Who would have thought fifteen years ago that we would be recruiting every child capable of bing superhuman and giving them the chance to be the hero from their childhood stories?


    The Elites might have all but won the war of public opinion, but were you not nearly assassinated just a few days ago?"


    [She has a point. They might not have understood that they were hopelessly outmatched, but whoever they were, they were willing to sacrifice their lives for their cause.] Remi agreed.


    Karl considered the answers. "You know, I never thought about it that way. I thought about how the extrabat power of the elites made things safer when monsters appeared near my hometown, and how they put on shows on the TV in the caf¨¦. n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om


    But I suppose that it makes sense that there would be pushback, even if it didn''t primarilye from GDN residents."


    The Cleric nodded. "Nothing in life is ever as simple as it seems, and the War Dragon sees every conflict, then judges its worthiness."


    The old woman smiled. "Even between the Spellde ns, the Red Dragon recognizes states of war. Small and petty wars, where they are both subordinates to someone else, but determined enough to have earned the Red Dragon''s recognition.


    There was a time that she even recognized a workers'' uprising and attempt to unionize."


    Karl chuckled at that. It had been the miners who had risen up against their employers, and they had fought against the mine bosses for over a decade, shutting down nearly all resource production. They had eventually lost, and the leaders of the unionists were executed, but it was a legend of heroes to the miners of Karl''s generation.


    "Is that why you watch the soldiers training? Because they''re the ones who are most likely to please your God in the future?" Karl asked.


    "Oh, perceptive. That is part of the reason. We find it rxing to be here. But we are actually working. We are the supervisors for the clerics on duty, and in charge of preventing serious incidents.


    When you give swords to a thousand people who may or may not like each other, things can happen."


    [Friendly Fire is not Friendly.] Thor chuckled.


    [Indeed.]


    The younger clericughed out loud, making Karl think that he had heard Thor''s mental voice, but the Cleric was watching where Thor had changed training techniques and was having Aaron charge at a training post with his shield up.


    "What on earth is your warrior teaching him?" He asked.


    "Shield bash. Thor is a firm believer in the usefulness of smashing posts as a training tool. Just watch, the young warrior will learn to adapt his [Guard] ability soon, and use it as an offensive m attack with his shield."


    It was only natural, after all. Karl was putting a lot of energy into Rank Four Skill Master to help everyone teach and learn skills. With a little luck, his beasts might even pick up a newbat technique from watching all the training.

 Chapter 615 Just Cant Win

    Chapter 615 Just Can''t Win


    [I think I have just the right thing for the baby Elites to try. Nutrition is important, and Rae''s new pet grew really wellst night, though she couldn''t properly digest the soup.


    I know that they have lunching soon, but I have made a mild berry juice to go with it.] Remi informed Karl while the Warriors were taking a break.


    [Is it good for recovery? You could give it to the warriors now.] Karl suggested.


    The others would be going for a break soon as well. They were getting frustrated with their inability to win against the veteran soldiers, even though they were Elites.


    It was a humbling first day for them, a chance to realize that being a Common Rank Elite didn''t make them better fighters than regr veteran soldiers, so it should build their motivation to grow their powers.


    [It should be good for energy, so I guess it could be used to recover between training rounds.] Remi agreed.


    [And what is it made from?]


    [I''ve got these berries I collected when we were back in time, and the tea made from the moss, and this minty leaf from Thor''s space for vour. It''s not strong, Ascended Rank. So I think that they''ll be able to digest it.]


    The moss was a potent resource, and ording to Karl''s [Identification] skill, the minty leaf was good for growing mana density. The berries didn''t have a specific use listed, so he assumed that they were some sort of Ascended Rank food.


    [Make one more. I want to taste test it before you pass it out. I know that your taste buds aren''t the same as humans.]


    Remi happily passed him a potion bottle full of the juice, and Karl sipped at it, while the clerics gave him confused looks.


    "Sorry, I was out of clean cups. It''s just a berry smoothie." He exined.


    It was tart, but refreshing, very suitable for drinking.


    The old woman gave the potion bottle an intrigued look, and Karl wiped the mouth of the bottle, then passed it over.


    She smiled and took out a long straw, then sipped the thick mixture.


    "It''s mixed with ice? Oh, that is beautiful. What vour is it? I don''t think I know that one."


    Karl shrugged. "I actually don''t know the name of the berries either. But they''re mixed with silver mint leaf and moss tea. You can have that one if you would like. I was just taste testing it before I gave it to the students with lunch."


    Once the break started, Remi came out in Naga Queen form to hand out the smoothies and take notes on the effects that they had on Common Rank Elites.


    The fact that they were being used as experimental test subjects for a new blend of energy smoothie was lost on the students, but after feeling the surge of energy from the juice, the old War Cleric knew very well that this was not just a simple snack.


    The lunch delivery from the apartment arrived at the same time, and by the time that they had finished eating, the students were practically vibrating with energy, but more importantly, their bodies were quickly refining the existing energy to push them up through the Common Rank.


    "That is fascinating. Do you think that it''s a sympathetic reaction between the food and the drinks? They don''t appear to be taking damage from the situation, and the quality of the energy in their body is increasing.


    I think it''s the moss tea and silver mintbination. The two are usually used together at lower quality for cleanses, but it appears that they arepletely cleansing the nascent energy from the ... oh, there they go. As I said, full cleanse."


    Lotus began tough as the five trainees began running for the training area restrooms. The effect of the juice was cleansing all impurities from their bodies. Absolutely all of them.


    {I will add that to my notes. May have side effects. But we will see how they''re doing when they get back. It might be a standard issue item for the Academy if it works well.} Remi dered, speaking Serpent.


    That was a fair wait, nearly an hour, before anyone returned to the training ground. They all had suspicious looks that said they would not be willingly epting random food products from Remi in the near future, but they were definitely more powerful.


    The old woman beside Karl nodded. "If you''re giving that recipe to the Bureau, tell them to issue it during thest day of the train rides. At least then they won''t be losing a training day."


    Joan, the new priestess, gave the woman a pleading look. "You still intend to give that evil juice to people? Did we not suffer enough?"


    The old woman just smiled at her. "One hour of suffering to move most of the way through Common Rank. If it wasn''t for diminishing results, I would be tempted to ask them to issue it every morning for a week."


    Tessa patted her small charge on the shoulder. "Now that you''re back and fully energized, we can get back to training. Your mana levels have increased, so we can increase the frequency of your casting."


    The others realized they wouldn''t be getting off easily either, and their respective trainers dragged them off to practice.


    They still had most of the afternoon left in their training schedule, and the warriors were swapping between offence and defence, while Owen was moving to mana training. Unfortunately for Sybil, Rae wasn''t feeling merciful, and had decided that the problem with her attempts to bypass the soldiers was ack of practical skills training. So she was learning de skills with the soldiers, and then when the rookies arrived, she would be moving on to unarmedbat techniques.


    As a Rogue, she needed to know as much about fighting as possible. Skills burned too much energy, and using them would alert Elites and magic users to your presence.


    However, Karl suspected that the intense schedule wasn''t as much about Sybil''sck of skills as Rae''s frustration that she had to wait until dark to y with Overlord Niall.


    The end of the day couldn''te early enough for any of the trainees, or even Karl, who was getting that disquieting feeling that someone was talking about him. n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om


    The feeling was validated soon after the trainees had started their afternoon training, when Karl saw visitors from the Inquisition and the Government headed his way with determined looks on their faces.


    Once he was back at his apartment, they would be less likely toe bothering him, but out here in public, everyone could see that he was just overseeing the training of juniors.


    "Monarch. If we could have a bit of your time? The President and the Bishops have a few questions that they believe you can answer."


    "If I say no, they''re just going to show up at my houseter, so we might as well do it now. Would the conference room over there work? I have a training skill active, and I would prefer not to get out of range of my students." Karl reluctantly agreed.


    "Of course. The topics at hand are private, but not particrly sensitive."

 Chapter 616 Overlapping Plans

    Chapter 616 Ovepping ns


    They headed for the nearby building, and Karl checked the Skill Master bonds. The ability wasn''t feeling stretched at all, or limited without him watching. During the early days, when Skill Master was still at Rank One, he had to actually watch the process and focus, but now it appeared that simply activating it with deliberate intentions would help them learn the skills as well as they could.


    "We will start with the least likely portion first. We have a group of Special Forces soldiers here, well, special forces cadets, who the President and his advisor Generals believe would be a suitable test force to follow in your footsteps. They have been working with the Moor Cats that the University is training, but have been unable to form the sort of bond that you have." The Inquisitor with his head shaved announced.


    None of them had given their names, and while Karl could look at their system status to find out, that always seemed to ur to him a few minutes toote.


    Besides, you could just call people by their title, and it would make them happy.


    "Of course, Inquisitor. But that will most likely involve going to the university to get the beasts involved. A personal touch is the easiest way to change their minds, especially if they''re already stronger than the trainees.


    After all, a bond like mine would kill them if they tried to bond with an Ascended beast while still at Common Grade with no preparation."


    The bald Inquisitor nodded. "They do have some training. Though they aren''t Elites, they were trained both physically and mentally as Monks. It was done for unorthodoxbat purposes, but I am told that your mental skills are simr, with a heavy requirement for mental fortitude."


    One of the men stepped out of the room and came back in with ten young men and women about Karl''s age.


    "These are the cadets. Can you see any obvious ws in our n?" The Inquisitor asked.


    Cara came out of her space to examine the group, not particrly impressed until she got to one who crouched down to pat her head like she was a dog and not an intelligent Royal Rank monster.


    [This one definitely suits being bonded to a Thor.]


    Karl nodded in understanding. "Alright, why don''t we do the university portion first, and then we can finish the questions after?" The cadets looked excited, and the one who had tried to pet Cara looked over to address Karl.


    "Do you really think that we can bond the newborn Moor Cats?" He asked.


    "I don''t know yet. But I have a good feeling about it. The process might not have a one hundred percent survival rate, but I think that most of you should get it after a few tries."


    The cadets paled, and the Inquisitor tried not tough. Whatever the Beast Master had in mind was very different from their ns if he didn''t expect everyone to survive.


    So, the procession back out of the room only a minute after they entered was a silent one, as was the shuttle ride to the University.


    Only when they reached the building marked [Animal Husbandry and Gic Research] did anyone begin to speak. n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om


    "So, this is it. After an entire year of trying, we might finally seed in bonding one of the young beasts." One of the cadets whispered.


    Karl turned to the Inquisitor. "They''re not going to try to bond a year old Ascended or Commander Rank juvenile Moor Cat, are they?"


    The bald man smiled. "Fortunately, no. The mother cat that we have just had another litter that is ready to be weaned to solid food. They have been feeding the kittens for a few days now, and they''re still Awakened Rank."


    "Does it have to be Moor Cats? They might actually do better with a weaker but fast-growing beast first." Karl asked.


    "What did you have in mind?"


    "Well, you said special forces, so you want the beast as abatpanion. Something that can reach Commander easily enough, instead of the Moor Cats, who can be Royals at their peak, would be easier to bond. It would also make it easier to get a unified force if the Moor Cats reject them."


    "We will keep it in mind. There is a small pack of Lightning Cerro here now, with many of them newly hatched. They were brought to study how you managed to evolve Thor, but they could also make goodpanions for an assault force."


    As they approached the door, a young woman with a leather glove over one arm came running frantically towards them.


    "There is a Devil Snipe on the loose. Please wait here until I recover it." She pleaded.


    Karl turned to inspect the area, then pointed at one of the trees. "It''s right there. Holding some sort of fruit seed. Would you like me to grab it?"


    The Devil Snipe was a Common Grade Monster, and at full growth could still fit in the palm of a grown man''s hand. They were named devils for their temper, not their power, though they did have a small amount of wind magic.


    "Oh, you are the Beast Master, right? Please, if you have a skill to get it back, I have put in significant effort with that one, but he''s got an odd food obsession and flew away when someone left the fruit bowl out." She pleaded.


    Karl took out a single Commander Rank Mountain Gooseberry from Hawk''s space, which made the napping Thunderbirdugh. No mere Snipe could resist such a good snack.


    Karl held his hand out with the snack, and the small bird''s head immediately turned. It raced down out of the tree and gentlynded in Karl''s hand, then cooed in pleasure as it took small bites.


    Karl stroked the back of the bird''s head, then passed it, along with the berry, to its handler.


    As she received the bird, the young woman''s gaze went vacant for a few seconds, then Karl felt her aura shift.


    He inspected her more closely with his system interface active and saw that she was now shown as Arabe, Common Rank Ranger.


    "Well, that went better than expected. Congrattions, young woman. You have sessfully bonded with your Snipe. Who, I would note, is quickly advancing to Awakened Rank." Karl informed the group, as she was still in shock.


    The bird looked smug, and the woman rolled her eyes, answering its mental demand.


    "Is it that easy? You just touched her, and she gained a ss." The Military Representative asked, shocked at the development.


    "Actually, the fruit made the bird advance, and it was the bird''s advancement that cemented the bond that they already had. If my guess is right, it realized that humans reliably have food, so it wanted a human to keep it fed." Karl exined.


    Arabe sighed. "Yes, that is very close to how it went. Flicker requested a contract, and when I epted, I awakened a ss."


    That small revtion changed everything. Karl forged bonds with the beasts, not the other way around. But getting the cats to want to be with the humans would be so much easier than having the cadets try to move a kitten into a separate space and convince it to stay without tearing their mind apart for fun.


    The Novel will be updated first on this website. Come back and


    continue reading tomorrow, everyone!

 Chapter 617 Moor Cats

    Chapter 617 Moor Cats


    The researcher was quickly collected by the Inquisitor before she could escape their grasp. She was proof that their method might actually work on arger scale, unless it was proven that the oue was a result of Karl''s interference.


    "The Moor Cat enclosure is this way. Monarch Karl, how certain are you that this will be feasible?" The Inquisitor asked, without removing his hand from the researcher, who was engrossed in conversation with her bird.


    "With Moor Cats? I would say the chance is slim. If we go to the Cerro pens, I think that they will have good luck. Lightning Cerro love to meet new friends and expand their herd."


    The other officials looked like they were much more set on the Moor Cats than the Inquisitor was, but he was likely the only one of the group that really realized that trying to bond the Moor Cats was likely to get many of these cadets killed, even if they seeded.


    "These are the cat cages. Is there anything you need to do in preparation?" The military representative asked.


    "I need to go speak with the mother cat first. Is she in the same cage as the little ones?" Karl asked.


    "No, they have been separated for safety now that the young ones are on solid food."


    Karl sighed and shook his head, then walked to the door with a full-grown Moor Cat in it.


    "If you would kindly open the door, I will go speak with her."


    The University staff and officials all looked at him like he was crazy.


    "Sir, that Moor Cat is not sedated. You can''t go in there."


    "I thought that you were trying to train them to help you? If you have to sedate them to be near them, you''re clearly failing. But I''m not concerned. Open the door."


    One of the researchers shrugged, then took out what looked like a smoke grenade, likely of sedative gas, expecting Karl to be attacked.


    He stepped through, then closed the door behind him as the massive Moor Cat, taller on all four feet than Karl was standing upright, stared at him.


    "Good afternoon, my name is Karl. These gentlemen would like to form a life bond with your cubs. The young humans, that is. Is that permissible to you?" He asked.


    The big cat growled and red at him, but Karl continued anyhow.


    "What about one of them? There is one of them brave enough to pet a full-grown Winged Void Badger." Karl offered.


    The cat looked curious, but kept its hostile stance.


    "The cubs will have to agree to the contract, of course. But I am going to offer each of the cubs the chance to pick a partner." He continued.


    One massive paw shed out, and Karl raised a hand to stop it, letting the force slide him across the floor a little, but a simple swat wouldn''t harm him.


    That got the Moor Cat''s interest.


    "Oh, I think that I get it. You don''t have any respect for the weak humans, so you don''t want them dragging down the futures of your cubs." Karl guessed.


    The cat rumbled in agreement, then snarled at the humans outside the cage.


    [System Quest Activated] If they die, they die.


    {Use the contract tokens to allow each recruit one attempt to bond with a magical beast and activate their system assignment.}


    Ten tokens appeared in Karl''s hand, and he smiled at the Moor Cat.


    "See, these are the tokens, nothing dangerous. The humans will use one to try to bond with a new partner. Then your cubs can show them how powerful a Moor Cat is."


    The big cat wasn''t happy with him, but it reluctantly nodded, and Karl turned halfway to knock on the door.


    Showing his back to the mother cat would be rude, so he sidestepped through the door before turning to face the students.


    "You might want to bring a cleric. I suspect that this might not go how they were hoping. The cats need to be fully cognizant and unrestrained for the next part." Karl exined.


    [That wasn''t part of the rules.] Cara reminded him.


    [The bond isn''t instant. Nothing is stopping them from turning on the cadetster tonight when the drugs wear off, if they''re trapped that way.]


    [When you put it that way...] Cara wasn''t sure which would be funnier. Watching the cats, which were nearly her size already, beat up cadets, or knowing that they would wake up from a drugged stuporter and tear apart the Elite from the inside out.


    They went one cage over to where the kittens were receiving instructions from their mother, and the cadets approached the bars with determined looks.


    "Alright, we will do this one at a time. Who wants to go first? All you have to do is prove to your chosen partner that you are worthy." Karl asked.


    The guy who had tried to pet Cara raised his hand and stepped forward, as did one of the kittens, who had paused its grooming mid blep and still had its tongue sticking out as it came to rub against the bars.


    The mother cat was visibly embarrassed at such behaviour, but the two were clearly fond of each other.


    Karl grabbed the key card from one of the researchers and stepped inside the cage.


    "You, follow me. I will use this token, and you have one chance to make your choice believe that you are a suitable lifetime partner for them."


    Karl activated the token as the man crouched to hug the cat and murmur something in its ear before he was tackled and licked, then turned into a pillow as the cat simply curled up on top of him.


    The cadetughed as the huge kitten kneaded his leather armour with its paws, then the baby Moor Cat vanished, and the bond waspleted.


    His ss was {Beast Ranger}, which was somewhat close to what Karl had expected, and while it wasn''t a Beast Master, he had a Moor Cat and a ss, so it was certainly what anyone would call a resounding victory.


    "Well, that''s one for one. We''re off to a good start. Who is next?"


    A confident young cadet swaggered into the cage, then gestured to thergest of the kittens. "Bring me that one.


    I mean, I would like that one, please, Monarch." He corrected as he realized who he was making demands of.


    Karl caught the mother cat''s smirk, and ushered the sessful candidate out of the room.


    Karl motioned for the Moor Cat Alpha cub toe forward, and activated the token.


    As soon as he did, the cat growled, and the token put up a shimmering ck and green barrier over Karl, then a second one over the cage.


    "Oh, it looks like this is a test of worthiness. Good luck, young cadet."


    "What the hell? Are you not supposed to give me a Moor Cat?" The cadet demanded as the cub began to stalk him.


    "That''s not how it works. You have to prove you''re worthy as a partner. I have been informed that you''ve been trained as a special forces soldier. You''ve got this, it''s just a kitten." n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om


    The cadet drew a training sword and the kitten growled, as did the mother. Weapons were cheating in their minds. But that didn''t matter for long.


    The cat pounced, and the cadet was too slow to respond. Four ck ws tore his face open, popping an eyeball, and then continued shing down the front of his armour, while the other front paw tore apart his sleeve as he iled helplessly at the kitten''s back.


    The Inquisitor tried to cast something, as did the cleric outside, but Karl could see the spells hitting the barrier.


    "Monarch, do something." The Inquisitor demanded.


    "What exactly? Shatter a divine barrier to save a cadet from his hubris? I''m not certain I can manage that. The barrier should fade once the test is over." Karl replied calmly.


    "He will be dead by then." The priest reminded him. "That''s very much a ''you'' problem, not a ''me'' problem. Or we can call High Priestess Lotus over, as she can resurrect the failed candidate if she gets here in time."


    The white robed cleric sighed, then winced as the kitten tore the throat out of the cadet, then proudly strutted away as the barriers fell.


    "See. All as the gods intended. Who wants to go next?"

 Chapter 618 Friendly Kittens

    Chapter 618 Friendly Kittens


    Everyone just stared at Karl as he stood next to a growing puddle of blood as the cleric worked to heal the cadet in preparation for resurrection.


    "Why didn''t you tell us you were serious?" One of the others demanded.


    "Did everyone think that I was joking about you dying if the cat disagreed? I wasn''t lying. I am also not joking about you only getting one chance. The token won''t work for you again if you fail and live. But there are other beast species options here, if you want to try one of them." Karl reminded them.


    One young woman stepped forward as she wrapped her hands in some sort of cloth.


    "I would also like to try for a Moor Cat kitten. The youngdy with the white stripe on her neck." She insisted.


    The kitten turned to stare at the audacious upstart of a human kitten.


    It didn''t particrly dislike this human, but to think that a human thought they could be partners in any meaningful way? Ridiculous.


    The cleric pulled the body out of the cage and began the hard part of his work while calling for reinforcements. Resurrection took a huge amount of energy, and for some reason, healing this victim was harder than usual.


    If he couldn''t do the resurrection alone, he might need to cast the Reincarnation Ritual and have the cadet reborn in a new body.


    The tokens that Karl was using appeared to be some sort of divine blessing, and the Gods themselves were interfering in the casting of his spells.


    That should have been expected, Karl thought. Both the Nature God and the God of Death approved of permanent death by stupidity as a punishment. They also both rewarded those who were brave enough to try anyhow.


    Assuming that they survived.


    The mottled ck and grey kitten with the white stripe on its neck marched over to Karl, demanding he use his spell so she could find out if this fake monk was worthy.


    [Do you think she''s getting eaten?] Cara asked.


    [I think that she knows something about that cat in particr. If it was a lingering injury or deformity, she wouldn''t have chosen that one as a life partner, so it''s likely about personality.] Karl suggested.


    When both appeared ready, Karl used a token on them, and the cat pounced, only to have the cadet punch her paw.


    In the next few seconds, dozens of strikes were parried, and the girl nimbly dodged strikes with the jaws, as well as a four footed pounce, intended to pin her to the ground.


    Interestingly, while the barrier was up around the cage, Karl was not blocked this time. He could move freely around the cage, but chose to sit along the wall between the mother cat and the action.


    The cadet was beginning to sweat heavily with exertion by the end of the second minute, but the kitten was losing focus. It had forgotten that it was supposed to be making the monk prove that she was a worthy partner, and had reverted to simply ying with the human like she did with her other siblings.


    Two minutes after that, the cat vanished and the girl smiled. [Name] Nikki


    [ss] Tiger Monk


    "Congrattions, you have seeded, with only minimal injuries." Karl informed her.


    The girl was actually bleeding very heavily, and was likely to pass out from blood loss soon. It was only adrenaline and joy keeping her conscious right now.


    A newly arrived cleric cast a healing spell on the exhausted monk, while Karl warned away a few of the other cubs that thought it might be a good opportunity to eat a human while they were exhausted.


    After all, defenceless humans were basically just giant steaks, and they loved it when the white coats fed them steaks.


    Karl saw the longing looks as the kittens backed away, unwilling to start a fight with the powerful male. So he took a small sample of Commander Rank meat, the lowest grade that Hawk had in his repository, to cut and toss to the others.


    "There, a little treat for everyone. Thank you for helping us so far." Karl whispered, like it was some secret he was feeding them.


    Then he tossed arger steak through the bars to the mother cat, who rumbled in joy that Karl was kind enough to give her a decent portion for her body size.


    Too many of the workers tried to give her little bites that wouldn''t even cover half her tongue.


    After a few seconds, the monk gave Karl a weak thumbs up, and the kitten appeared in front of her with a sh of green light, a phenomenon that didn''t happen when Karl''s beasts left their space.


    It marched over with all the imperious pride that a kitten could muster, then gave him a pleading look and whined for food.


    Everyone else had gotten a snack, but she was stuck in a separate space.


    Karl patted the Moor Cat''s head, and then fed it chunks of meat as it hung from his arm, attached with long ck ws that were unwilling to let him escape.


    "Fascinating, it has be so gentle after being bonded." One of the University staffers noted.


    Karlughed. "Don''t be mistaken, its ws are pierced deep into my arm. But I have Trollish regeneration, so it''s doing less damage than I regenerate."


    He was also immune to this level of damage, but that wasn''t a fact that they all needed to know. n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om


    "Who would like to go next? Any volunteers?" Karl asked.


    Silence.


    Then one of the boys spoke up. "I got to meet your Thor once before, could you do the same for the Lightning Cerro hatchlings?"


    [Haha, I knew they were all herbivores. But it''s a shame we don''t get to watch more of themmit suicide.] Cara joked.


    [You can''t expect everyone to be able to handle a strong personality right off the start. But I''m sure that they will make for an excellent herd of Elites with their Lightning Cerro partners.]


    "Yes, if that''s everyone who would like to try for a Moor Cat as their partner, we can move on. I am certain that the army will be overjoyed, no matter what you pick." Karl agreed.


    The mother Moor Cat gave a derisive snort, and Karl winked at her, letting the beast know that they were on the same page about thepetence of this group. Karl just understood the limitations of humans better than the Moor Cat did.


    The Moor Cat kitten climbed up Karl''s arm to sit on his shoulder, much to its new partner''s dismay.


    "Will youe down here? Monarch Karl isn''t going to give you more food just because you''re close." The newly minted Tiger Monk demanded.


    The cat gave her a skeptical look, then rubbed up against the side of Karl''s face while the mother cat looked away, unwilling to be associated with such shamelessness, even if this strange man did have the best snacks.


    Cara dropped a small bit of meat in front of the kitten as Karl stood up to walk out of the cage, and the beast gave its partner a smug look.


    "You are stronger than you look." The Monk noted, confused at the ease with which Karl could stand while carrying a twenty - kilo cat draped over his back and shoulder.


    "Soon you will be as well. If you advance along with your partner, it shouldn''t be difficult for you to be a proper Royal Rank Elite."


    Her eyes lit up with excitement as she followed him back to the group, envisioning the day when she was one of the powerful ones.

 Chapter 619 Cerro Hatchlings

    Chapter 619 Cerro Hatchlings


    The Lightning Cerro area was much less heavily guarded. The baby Cerro were not too threatening, so as long as you wore shin guards, you would be alright until they grew up a little.


    [Oh, I have bribes for the baby Thor type beasts.] Cara announced. [Oh, what did youe up with?]


    Cara held up a hazelnut, and Karl wondered where it hade from.


    [The Lotus made them for breakfast food, and I imed some nuts for trees.] She dered proudly.


    They weren''t naturally a magical resource, they were just Hazelnuts. Tasty, but not rare or special. But after growing up in a Royal Rank beast space, even themon Hazelnut tree was imbued with mana.


    What Cara had done was to make a crude copy of the hazelnut butter and insert it into small apples with the core removed. Even a young Lightning Cerro would treat those as a one or two bite snack, and Karl couldn''t deny that they looked pretty tasty.


    The Inquisitor nudged Karl, reminding him that he still had someone else''s Moor Cat on his shoulder.


    In response, he handed the monk girl a bag full of diced Commander Rank meat. "Feed her that when she needs a snack. High Rank monster meat is the best way for a young beast to grow, so don''t be too stingy, even if the food costs are high.


    I don''t know if your ability is like mine, but if it is, you might eventually be able to keep food for your cat in a separate mental space." He exined.


    Nikki looked confused and shrugged. "When she''s not out here, she wanders my spirit ocean, the spot in my mind where I focus energy to grow mental strength."


    So, she didn''t get a separate space for the beast. That was unexpected. It also ruled out keeping resources there.


    "In that case, you can put the meat in your inventory, you don''t need to keep holding it." Karl reminded her.


    "Right, inventory. I have a ss now." "And don''t forget to check your ss skills in your skill tree so that you can n your advancement. You have a lot to do. The same for our first sess story. Where did he go, by the way?"


    A hand waved from the back of the group, and then Karl noticed that the clerics were taking away a body covered in a white sheet. They really hadn''t been able to resurrect the one who had died to the Moor Cat kitten.


    He was going to have to be reincarnated, and that couldn''t be done here. It was a six high cleric ritual.


    The grown Cerro group came over to greet Karl, and much to his surprise, they had a lot to say.


    [It''s a pack leader. Are we going to move the pack? This ce is small. Why do you smell good, do you have food? Aren''t the little ones cute? Are you keeping the predators away?]


    Karl had no idea why he could hear all the Cerro in his mind, but he took a pile of feed out of Thor''s space for the pack. Thor wouldn''t begrudge them the good stuff, and it bought Karl some time to try to determine why he could hear the Cerro pack. n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om


    If the reason was nothing more than that he was a Beast Master Packmaster, so he could hear pack animals, Karl might actually give up on trying to understand the system.


    In his mind, Thorughed. [All Lightning Cerro share a mental link. We can all hear each other''s thoughts when we''re close to another pack, so we don''t need to bugle except as a warning. I can hear them, so you can hear them. Probably.]


    Karl epted Thor''s idea as the most likely one, and addressed the Cerro Elders.


    [I came to make a request. Some of these humans want to start packs with the young ones. They will take care of them and have their packs help the little ones grow up strong. Do you know of Thor, my Cerro partner? Or is he too far away?] Karl asked them, focusing on both Thor and the pack.


    [We can sense him, but he''s not close enough to talk to.] The current pack leader agreed.


    That made things much easier. If they knew that this agreement could grow stronger than usual Lightning Cerro, they were more likely to agree.


    [How many of them? Our pack is already small.] The leader asked.


    [Not more than seven. But these white coats will continue to look after your pack and keep predators away.]


    The Cerro considered it and grunted before turning to eat. If the little ones wanted to try joining the human pack, they would allow it. The human pack that looked after them was strong, after all.


    "Alright, everyone who wants to try for a Lightning Cerro partner,e forward. I will provide you with snacks for your potential partners and then activate the tokens."


    Karl passed out Cara''s apple concoctions, then took one for himself.


    [These are good, we should make more of them.]


    Cara nodded with hazelnut spread on the fur around her mouth.


    [I agree. I will prepare more of them.]


    She was using [Disintegrate] to core the apples, so the only time-consuming part was making the hazelnut paste.


    The little ones came forward to see what sort of snack was being offered, and only a few secondster, the first bond formed.


    Karl saw that this one was also tagged as a {Beast Ranger} by the system, and the small Cerro in front of him was marked as his partner.


    Then two more cadets gained the same ss, and everyone began to notice the pattern. Beast Ranger was the default ss for people partnered with one of the Cerro, as a regr Ranger was unable to bond with magical beasts, onlymon animals.


    Two more cadets gained the ss, and the group was beginning to think that Lightning Cerro was the best option for this process.


    Then, things began to go wrong.


    One of the Rangers began to convulse, and Karl sensed the distress from his bonded partner. It was part of his pack now, and the pack member was in danger, but the Cerro didn''t know what to do.


    It had already put a [Refreshing Lightning] barrier over him, but it couldn''t see the attacker.


    Karl examined him as thoroughly as he could, but it just didn''t make sense. The man had the ss, the Cerro was amon rank hatchling, and everything looked normal.


    The white robed cleric realized it first.


    "The mental link is too strong. It''s breaking his mind. I will sedate him, but I don''t know what we will do after that."


    Karl wasn''t sure that would work. The mental link was active even when you were sleeping. But being unconscious should give him the best chance to focus and stabilize his mind.


    That left only two of the cadets, and while the hatchlings happily epted all the snacks that they could offer, they wanted nothing else to do with them.


    Then a second cadet dropped to the ground with blood pouring from their eyes and nose.


    The cleric rushed over, but the boy waved his hand. "I will be alright, he''s just... energetic. There is a tree of life in my soul sea, and Devon, my Cerro, charged it with his horns." He mumbled.


    Karl chuckled. "You have a smashing post in your mental space? You''re in for a very rough week until you build your mental strength."


    The others all looked confused, so Karl created an [Earth Barrier] post on the far side of the enclosure.


    The Cerro herd cheered and began to line up to take turns smashing into it.


    "Dammit, we were finally breaking them of that habit." One of the University workers grumbled.


    "It''s essential to their mental health. You need to let them y. If they can''t charge at posts, they need to charge each other, and that isn''t as much fun. If you have mages, they also like mage barriers." Karl exined.


    A number of the nearby Cerro nodded in agreement, making the cadets who were not having a hard time with their new partnerugh.


    Mage barriers were good. Posts were better. Magical posts were the best. If they could find one that made a better noise when they hit it, they would revise the ranking system.

 Chapter 620 Quest Complete

    Chapter 620 Quest Complete


    "What is wrong with me? I swear I''m a good partner." One of the two men who were left out of the selection pleaded with the little Lightning Cerro in front of him.


    The beast stole the offered snack from him and ran away victorious.


    Karl discretely sniffed to see if there was something he was missing. It was buried under soap and alcohol-based sanitizer, but there was something rancid, like the worst possiblebination of body odour and rotting fruit. He couldn''t pin down what it was, but there was something wrong with him.


    When Karl focused on Soul Sight, it was immediately evident. The normal light blue glow was tattered and corrupted, profoundly wrong.


    The other one was simr, but not in the same way. Their soul was just wrong, and gave Karl a feeling of evil, like someone who takes pleasure in bullying others. It wasn''t something that he could point at and say "This is what is wrong" but it was definitely there, and the herd could sense it as well.


    But the cadets had already used their one token, and there would be no second chances. At least not with Quest item assistance.


    Whether those two could convince a beast to bond with them in the future was unknown. But now that they knew the trick, the researchers should be able to find at least a few more sessful Rangers among their ranks.


    The Inquisitor turned to Karl for answers, but he didn''t want to say it out loud. "I will exin privatelyter. I think that this Quest should be nearlyplete."


    The word quest told the Inquisitor all he needed to know about why this should be a private conversation. He had thought that the tokens Karl had taken out were rted to a skill that he had. But if they were from the System, that changed things immensely.


    Karl looked over the young Elites. The rest of them appeared to be having better luck with their bonded partners, and only the one was in serious trouble.


    "That''s not bad. Sixty percent sess rate." Karl noted as the clerics worked to save the man in an induceda.


    "Sixty percent among trainees who weren''t able to gain a ss with the serum, but showed signs ofpatibility with magic." The Inquisitor added.


    "Did you try the system linked item trick already?" Karl replied.


    The Inquisitor nodded. "We did, with no luck on this batch. The real question is how many might have seeded without the tokens."


    Karl considered it. "I would say three. Three of them struck me aspatible with the technique from the start. The two sesses among the Moor Cats, and one with the Cerro herd."


    "Do you think that thesest two might be able to activate a system interface with an appropriate skill book?" The Inquisitor suggested.


    "Honestly, I have no idea. I don''t think that everyone was ever able to ess the system, and we''ve already sorted these by their ability to use mana. Among the general poption, the chances will be much lower."


    It was beginning to sink in that while they were trained as Special Forces soldiers, the two who were not deemed suitable by a Cerro and didn''t try with a Moor Cat would have to be transferred from this unit.


    But the leadership was not concerned with losing a few research volunteers. If they had six healthy test subjects in the unit to attempt to train up with their magical beasts, that meant that they could begin working on methods to increase growth speed now for when they found a way to make the projects applicable on arger scale.


    Karl was ying with the baby Cerro group while the students and scientists began to work, recording data and getting responses from the sessful cadets.


    Then one of the hatchlings bumped Karl''s hand, nuzzling at his ring, then looking at a student researcher with her hair dyed the same gold as Cerro eyes.


    "Oh? You want to give a gift to your sweetheart?" Karl asked the little beast.


    The Cerro nodded happily, so Karl took an Awakened Rank ring from the spare trash in his storage and hung it over the little beast''s nose horn.


    The studentughed and petted his head as he came strutting over, then reluctantly put on the ring at his repeated insistence.


    Then the Cerro vanished.


    "Hey! What are you doing now? I thought you only had quest items for ten." The Inquisitor demanded.


    "I did. I actually just gave the Cerro a ring of minor agility as an engagement ring for his beloved handler. The rest was unexpected, but I think that she awakened a ss as well."


    The Inquisitor sighed and ran his fingers through his hair. "Are we going to have to let everyone in the nation try on a system imbued item to find out if they are actually Systempatible?" He muttered.


    "That''s probably the easiest way. It looks like a lot more people arepatible than we had thought by using the serum alone. You can''t me anyone for it, though. It''s not like we had system linked items avable even a year ago." Karl agreed.


    Now, more of the baby Cerro wanted rings, as a method of recruiting new herd members.


    "Just wait. When it is time, the right herd members wille to you. You don''t have to hurry to find them when your pack is already strong." [Did a hatchling just get engaged? How is that fair? I have been rejected by so many, and he gets his first choice.] Thorined.


    [He went after a Common Rank student with no scales at all. Don''t worry about it, buddy. You''ll find your perfect woman one day.] Karl assured him.


    [No scales? Did he propose to a human woman? What a strange kid.]


    Thor definitely did not see the appeal.


    Karl noticed Cara leaving the area, and tracked her movements as she left the building entirely, heading for another section of the university.


    [Try not to get yourself in trouble.] Karl warned her.


    [I have a n. Trust me.]


    That did not reassure Karl at all. Cara and n in the same sentence generally meant that there was going to be trouble of some sort.


    So, Karl was not shocked when under a minuteter, a runner wasing to get the Inquisitor for a "situation".


    Cara had found the orphans'' school at the side of the Universitypound, and she had started handing out sweet grasses from her space along with magical items for the kids to try on.


    [Oh, they sent people to help.] Cara informed Karl happily.


    [I think they''re actuallying to restrain you. What did you do?]


    [Lotus told me that the kids don''t get birthday presents at the orphanage, so I''m giving them all presents. You should see how happy they are. Oh, and that one got a warrior ss. We''re on a roll here.]


    [Cara...]


    [Don''t worry, I''m almost done, there''s only like fifty kids here.]


    The Inquisitor turned to Karl with an angry re. "Care to exin?"


    Obviously, he had already seen Cara, so the report would have told him immediately what was happening with the ball of chaos at the school.


    "The nature priests told her that orphans don''t get birthday presents. So, she made an executive decision to go distribute them."


    "And you didn''t stop her?"


    Telling this man he thought it would be funny probably wasn''t the correct answer. But Karl was saved from saying anything when the Inquisitor continued.


    "Never mind, I can tell that you have no intention of stopping her as long as nobody is getting injured. I will ask the recovery team to bring her back to you." Heined. N?v(el)B\\jnn


    Just trying to capture Cara was likely to cause more chaos than it stopped. In fact, there was a decent chance that the kids at the orphans'' school would think it was some sort ofedy gag routine.


    "That''s likely not necessary. It''s not like they can capture a Winged Void Badger, and she wille back when she is done."


    "They are specialists." The Inquisitor insisted.


    "She can Nullify skills, and she''s got a Monarch Rank bubble of [Disintegrate]. Plus, she can fly. Are you sure you don''t want me to call her back instead?" Karl suggested.


    The Inquisitor considered it. "No, let them try. It will be a good experience for them."


    The Novel will be updated first on this website. Come back and


    continue reading tomorrow, everyone!

 Chapter 621 Challengers

    Chapter 621 Challengers


    [We have a challenger! Quick, I need more loot. Boss, toss some trash items into my space.] Cara demanded.


    [What in the seven hells are you doing now? Don''t taunt the teachers.]


    [I would never do something so low and cowardly. The teachers called for reinforcements. Cast a barrier on me, will you? Ha! nullify!]


    Those must be the response team that the inquisitor called, as Karl could hear chaos over the radio headset that the man had put on.


    The Inquisitor''s frown had turned to a sharp re at Karl, then to resignation, and finally to a faintly amused smile.


    "Man, am I d I don''t have to write this report." The Inquisitor muttered.


    "That bad?" He nodded. "Would you want to tell your boss that your target dropped their barrier to give your team leader a wedgie, then gave a giant strength ring to a preschooler, before running away with a Nature Priestess on her back?"


    "Not Lotus, I hope?" Karl asked.


    "No, one from the response team. They apparently thought that they could pin the suspect, but they have now been abducted by a monster that all the children think is a funny-looking dog running loose in the park."


    [And I''m out of loot.] Cara announced as she returned to her space, breathing heavily fromughter and exertion.


    The chaos continued over the radio for a few more minutes as the security team had to convince a group of schoolkids to turn over the magical items they were given, and deal with the fact that some of them had actually awakened a ss early.


    A security guard ran in a few minutester, panting for breath. "Sir, we have lost the target. I regret to inform you that there is a Royal Rank Winged Void Badger loose in the city." The Inquisitor patted him on the shoulder. "Rx, son. The Beast Master took care of it, and the troublemaker has been given a time-out. How bad is the damage?" n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om


    The soldier sighed and shook his head. "We have three confirmed ss awakenings in the middle school section, ten more probable ss awakenings, four aggressive preschoolers with Giant Strength that we left to the Red Dragon Clerics, and a few bruised egos.


    No major injuries, unless Jill is injured, wherever she went."


    Karl frowned. "Is Jill your nature priestess?"


    The guard nodded. "I take it that the agent of chaos is your bonded pet?"


    [I''m gonna punch him in the face.]


    "Partner. She is one of my bonded partners. Sorry for the trouble, she gets quite excited about new projects, and she wanted to give all the kids a gift to make up for all the birthday gifts they missed."


    "Great, and now we have to feel bad for taking the presents away. I suppose that they can keep most of them, but the dangerous items will need to be collected." The guard sighed.


    Karl was a Monarch, and even if he was a little entric, nobody actually got hurt, so the worst that would happen was that he got yelled at for a while.


    "What did she give them? I thought it was all just random stuff from my inventory?" Karl asked.


    "Yes, that''s the issue, isn''t it? It''s just random stuff from your Monarch Rank Inventory. Most of it is magical gemstones, a few random potions, and food. But there are some magic items as well, including a number of Giant Strength items.


    The Awakened sses are a minor issue, and not my problem. But some of the kids were not entirely human, and the influx of power has had unexpected results."


    "Do you want me to go sort it out? We''re nearly done here. The test is finished, and we''ve proven the secondary theory that we were after as well. So, I can go over to the school and calm the situation." Karl offered.


    The Inquisitor smirked. "You know, I think I would like to see this. Yes, let''s see how you calm down an entire middle school."


    In his mind, Caraughed. She had given a bunch of the kids juice that Remi had made to increase energy. Nobody was getting them to calm down for hours.


    [You know, we''re going to get a bad reputation in the city after this.]


    [Only with annoying people. The kids already love us, and so do the soldiers. I heard that they will let Thor and Remi give stuff to the other cadets to see if they can awaken a ss.]


    Karl left the university researchers and the representatives from the military and government behind as he followed the Inquisitor out of the animal husbandry section of the university, waiting for the right moment to ask his question.


    "Inquisitor, how bad have the casualties been with the Giants that we are trying so hard to find new ways to awaken Elites? I was under the impression that the government was happy with the current arrangement." He asked quietly.


    The Inquisitor sighed and shook his head. "About twenty percent since the war started. If they keep it up another year at the current rate, we will have lost half our Elites just trying to defend the nation, and we''ve already fallen back in many sections, giving up the more difficult to defend regions to the Giants."


    Karl frowned. "What the hell are they after? They can''t be doing this without a reason."


    The Inquisitor shrugged. "For a few weeks, they stopped pushing and sent invasion teams towards all of the newly opened dungeons. But now they''re back at the border in full force and pushing harder than ever.


    Whatever they''re after, the official word is that it is likely to be system rted. The current motivational videos say that they are jealous of the Elites and our power, so they''re trying to stop us before we grow."


    [The Titan Gods can''t use the usual Relics to awaken their people. They need the fancy things.] Cara suggested.


    [The system stones or the lost fragment of the World Dragon Scale that was supposed to be buried on this continent.] Karl agreed.


    "You know something." The Inquisitor stated.


    "Indeed. But that''s between me and the Archbishop. I''m afraid I''m not free to exin."


    Telling the Inquisitor that the Giants were likely to overrun the nation trying to find a lost Relic that could awaken the System in their people now that everyone else was getting in on the fun wouldn''t do the haggard looking man any good.

 Chapter 622 Schoolyard Chaos

    Chapter 622 Schoolyard Chaos


    The schoolyard was chaos when they arrived, even with a swarm of teachers trying to calm them all down.


    As they reached the grassy area where the kids were gathered for their break, Karl switched to his armour and then used [Brutality] to increase his size, then [Haste] to buff his speed to the level he would need for his next show.


    A sharp p of his hands sent out a boom of dislocated air at supersonic speeds, and caught the attention of everyone on the yground.


    "Listen up. I need everyone gathered here in front of me. If any of the little ones have gone inside, I need them back out here.


    Come on, we don''t have all day." He shouted before letting his size reduce back to normal.


    The Children dutifully lined up in front of Karl in a jumbled group, with a few beastkin at the front. They seemed almost drawn to him, and it was their response that brought the others.


    "Hello everyone. My name is Karl, and you already met my friend Cara, the Void Badger. Now it hase to my attention that the clerics are not happy with some of the gifts that she picked, so instead of having them confiscated, I came over to give you a chance to exchange them.


    You see, young Cara just learned that the Orphanages don''t celebrate birthdays, and she wanted everyone to have ate birthday present from her. So it wouldn''t be right if it was taken away." A small boy ran up and hugged Karl, while the teachers smiled.


    "It''s my real birthday today." The boy exined, then held up a hand wearing a Giant Strength ring.


    He was too young to have awakened a ss, but the item had equipped to him, so Karl was fairly certain that he would be awakening one in the near future.


    "And the teachers thought that making you super strong was likely to break stuff." Karl agreed.


    Cara was working frantically to prepare gift bags full of snacks, each with one special treat at the bottom. Nothing that would cause the chaos of the rings she started passing out after the security team began chasing her, though.


    Cara wanted them to have one longsting item to remember her by, so some of the items were looted broken magical items, decorative jewellery that she had stuck a pretty stone into, recing the ugly or missing stones or other simr items.


    She passed Karl a bag, and he traded the preschool aged boy for the ring of Giant Strength.


    He pulled it out and found a simple brass amulet on a chain, then opened it to find a crude self-portrait of Cara, carved with one of her ws into a quartz ke.


    "It''s so pretty! I will keep this forever." The boy dered.


    "I will tell Cara that you like it. Happy birthday."


    The ring returned to its normal size as the boy took it off, and Karl set it back into one of his inventory spaces.


    There were far more trash quality magical items in there than Karl remembered. Sure, they looted the Giants'' bodies empty, but there had to be thousands of damaged or extremely low-quality rings, bracelets, amulets and other bits of magical jewellery in there.


    [Did we really kill that many monsters?] Karl asked.


    [I don''t think so. Well, maybe before I got here? Lots of that stuff smells like cold.]


    That was right. They had looted the Frost Giant City. Or, Rae had. Remi wasn''ting out of her space in that weather, but Rae had stockpiled everything that she could get her hands on, just so the Giants couldn''t have it.


    [You can pick items that protect against the cold to give to the kids as well. Nobody willin about those if they don''t increase strength or magical power enough for the kids to be a problem.]


    That made Cara''s gift package giving much easier, though she was going to pick the food bushes in her space clean by the time they finished. She only kept them for decoration, and the others were all busy, except Hawk, who was still asleep, enjoying his day off.


    There were only a half dozen items that needed to be swapped, and a few kids that Cara had missed the first time through, as everyone was moving around, and she was being chased by annoying people.


    "Did we miss anyone?" Karl asked.


    "The twins are in the closet, and the doofus with funny hair is sick today." One of the boys announced.


    "His name is Ronald, and he''s not a doofus." One of the girls defended him, though Karl noted that she didn''t mention his hair.


    The teachers were the ones that caught the important part. "Why are the twins in the closet?" The old woman asked.


    "Because they''re stupid and nobody likes them." One of the boys in back muttered, too low for human hearing to pick up.


    Karl turned to the teacher. "Bullying. How about I give you this for Ronald, and you can go get the twins?"


    The teacher nodded and jogged off to get the twins, while a number of the students gave the boy who had outed them a dirty look. It didn''t take long to find the twins, and even less time for the teachers who remained outside to determine who the culprits were. The twins were brought out to meet with him, and Karl gave them a quick inspection. They didn''t appear to be injured, and there was nothing visible strange about them. He had expected that they might have something odd about them, like part beastkin lineage, being too small for their age, or even an unusual hair colour. But they seemed perfectly normal so far.


    The twin girls red at the boys from their ss, and the teachers sighed. n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om


    One of the teachers, a younger woman and still an Awakened Rank Red Dragon cleric, leaned over to whisper to Karl.


    "They''re recent arrivals. They lost their family to a monster spawn a couple of months ago, and they don''t get along well with the boys. They''re fine at the dorms, but sses are mixed." She exined.


    That was understandable. They had just lost their family, and now they were in a new ce, strangers among a group of kids who had mostly grown up together.


    [I have just the right thing. Here, give them these bags.] The bags contained matching pendants, which added three points to agility. Not a major increase, though it would be noticeable for the children. The important part was that they were two halves of a matched set, so the twins would have their own thing, but not something that the other didn''t have.

 Chapter 623 Professor

    Chapter 623 Professor


    The chaos around the school began to die down now that everyone had their birthday presents, and the teachers started to corral their students back into groups so they would go to ss.


    With the students all gone, the Inquisitor could finally rx for a moment, then he realized that the actual cause of all the chaos had not been handled, as he was still standing right there, holding the Void Badger in reserve for the next time that they got bored.


    "We should return to the University. The government and military reps have their hands full, dealing with a bunch of hyper new Elites, and they won''t stay under control long without someone who can actually handle them present." The Inquisitor sighed.


    Karl chuckled. "Well, I suppose that we should do some actual work. But the students shouldn''t be that much trouble. There are only two Moor Cats among them, and the rest are all Lightning Cerro, who are going to naturally want to herd up and make friends with the new people.


    It''s hard to exin, but the presence of a beast in your mind is highly influential, like a second track of inner monologue giving you different suggestions to the point that you need to remember what is you and what is your partner.


    If you''re not careful, it can start to influence your personality."


    The Inquisitor gave Karl a nk look. Did he not realize how much his own personality was influenced by the beasts that he was bonded with?


    Or was this him speaking from experience, as he had already let his beasts shape his mind, so now he was warning others to be careful.


    [Don''t leave yet, there is a dragoning.] Cara announced.


    She knew that she had to behave, but this was a Red Dragon anyhow. She already knew what they tasted like.


    "Headmistress." The Inquisitor weed the dragon, who was in the form of a middle-aged woman with ming red hair.


    "I came to thank the Monarch. The kids are so happy today with their gifts. As you know, our budget is limited, and giving out durable items, especially magical ones, is far beyond our means."


    Karl bowed slightly. "It might be a once-in-a-lifetime thing, but everyone should have a present to call their own. Something that they can bring with them to remind them of the good times."


    The Red Dragon nodded happily. "What do you carry?"


    "I don''t have one. We could never afford anything that wouldst."


    The headmistress nodded, while Caraughed. [You have an emotional support Cerro instead.]


    "We have made a listing of what belongs to which student, in case something is reported stolen, or an incident of bullying esctes to theft. It is harshly punished, but often the victim is too afraid to report it."


    Karl nodded. "They still have to live with the bully, after all. The best you can do is try and have your teachers be proactive. Like the twins. It might pay to find out why and by who they were locked in the closet today. Nobody ever moved to my hometown that didn''t at least have family there, but I suspect that being new is hard."


    There was amotion behind them, and Karl saw a group of small Cerro running his way, being chased by their partners.


    "Oh, the little ones got to run out on open grass? It''s a good day to be a Cerro." Karlughed as one of the little beasts came up to bump against his leg.


    It was knee-high, still a hatchling, and just as eager to explore everything as Thor had been when he was young.


    The two young Moor Cats were out as well, sniffing around and headbutting the Cerro hatchlings. The bond had helped them understand everyone was on the same team, and while they were still working on it, they were getting along better than expected.


    Only the one unfortunate case of mental weakness had been taken away, and the other bonds appeared to be increasingly stable already.


    "What was next on your schedule?" The Inquisitor asked Karl, as the Beast Master yed with the small beasts.


    "We have a few more hours of training for the Acolytes, as they have nobat experience at all. They were all recruited before the attempt at the Divine Serum, after all." Karl exined.


    "Ah yes. With the five of them, plus all these sessful attempts, there is a lot of training to be done." Karl slowly realized that his sess had volunteered him to train these beast rted sses as well, adding a group of special forces cadets to his roster of Acolytes.


    But that wasn''t all bad. They now had Beast Rangers and a Tiger Monk to add to their group of Common Rank Acolytes, and eleven people was enough that Karl might be able to convince someone to let him lead them on an adventure. n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om


    The area where he had first gone to collect resources was a good start, as it had moss that a Cerro would love, and he could swing by the cave to get them crystals for their mana development. Plus, there was a chance the instance would open for them.


    Karl smiled at the Inquisitor. "What are the chances that I can take them on a field trip? Not far from the train tracks, and my team will supervise the eleven of them. There is a spot with resources that the Cerro love, and a chance at weak monsters, so they might be able to test their skills and let the Moor Cats hunt for their first time."


    "Likely not for the next few weeks. The research team wants solid data on how well your technique works to advance them in the early stages, and letting them go on a field trip introduces all sorts of variables that aren''t part of their methodology." The bald Inquisitor exined.


    "So what you''re saying is that we''re school teachers for a while, but with eleven students instead of five." Karl sighed.


    "But now we have beasts for you to prove your skills on. How much do you think that you can teach them?" Karl smiled. "More than might be considered reasonable by a sane person."

 Chapter 624 Training Cadets

    Chapter 624 Training Cadets


    Karl motioned for the newly chosen Elites toe forward so that he could make a lesson n.


    "First, as I''m being assigned to help train you, I need to know what you know besides the basicbat training of the Church soldiers. What skills did you get from your ss, and what do you have avable? Other than Nikki, the Tiger Monk, you are all Beast Rangers, so your skills should be simr." Karl began.


    The others gestured for the odd man out, the lone Beast Ranger that had a Moor Cat, to do the exnation.


    "Well, Beast Ranger is a rangedbat ss, with our teammate as our closebatant. The first skill that I got was [Deadly uracy] which boosts my skill with a bow. But I also got a system reward for going first, and it gave me [Shadow Meld], for hiding in the forest to set up an ambush.


    If I am reading the ss description right, we should all gain extra stats and abilities from the bonded beast that we chose. For certain, my agility and strength have increased substantially." He exined.


    One of the other boys nodded in agreement. "For those of us with a Cerro, it''s our strength and stamina. Jogging over here behind them wasn''t even enough to raise my heart rate. I got the same starting skill, but no bonus.


    Once I have a couple of points, however we get those, I can start picking bow skills like Infinite Arrows and Lightning Bolt." N?v(el)B\\jnn


    The others nodded. "The skills seem to be the same for all of us. So, we will be good at working in a group."


    Karl chuckled. "You have no idea how true that is. You see, your Lightning Cerro can learn to extend Refreshing Lightning over you with rtive ease, and the whole group with a bit more difficulty. So, you will be excellent at working in a group, as your partner is specialized in team defence.


    For the one friend with a Moor Cat, you are clearly the team''s scout, as you specialize in stealth, and I will start training you with the rogue types in my group to build your skills."


    "You have a powerful Rogue in your team?" The Ranger asked.


    "Technically no. But I have a Monarch Rank Bloodbath Spider, and if there is anything in this world that knows about ambushing and bing the reason other species fear the dark, it''s Rae."


    The cadet looked concerned about actually being able to learn anything from a Spider, but Karl hadn''t mentioned that Rae could take on human form yet.


    "Now, for the Tiger Monk, what are your skills?" Karl asked.


    "I have two basic skills right now, [Energy Strike] and [Merger]. One is self-exnatory, the other lets me boost my power with my Moor Cat''s presence when she is in my mental space. There are skills in my skill tree for us to fight together, so I don''t think it''s supposed to be an all the time thing, but more for when she is recovering, or it isn''t practical for us both to fight." Nikki replied.


    "And you already know basic unarmedbat, so there is no issue there. Your training should be fairly easy. You can train with the warriors, but on a higher level, as the other two that I have in training right now are freshmen."


    [More Pack Members?] One of the Cerro Hatchlings asked.


    "Indeed, young Cerro. There are more military pack members there for you to meet, as well as my pack members, and a Monarch Rank Cerro named Thor."


    That was all that the young ones needed to hear to be back at full energy and running around the yground, while the Rangers were shocked that Karl could understand what the Cerro wanted to know.


    "Follow me everyone. We''re going to the guard training grounds, where the rest of your fellow trainees are waiting to meet you.


    Well, they don''t know you''reing yet, but they will soon. There are only a few hours left in today''s training routine, but before we call it a night, there is time for you all to get to meet your other specialists." Karl exined as he waved goodbye to the Headmistress of the Orphans'' school and started to walk toward the training grounds with a pair of Moor Cats circling his feet and a line of Cerro Hatchlings behind him.


    "It''s like the pied piper. They will follow him anywhere." One of the Rangersined.


    And that was what they did, in an odd little procession all the way across the park to the training area.


    They had gathered quite the crowd by the time they arrived, all intrigued by the presence of the baby beasts, and eager to find out what sort of thing they were up to at the Cathedral today.


    The training areas weren''t precisely off limits to the public, they just weren''t popr visiting spots for anyone without a reason to be there. So, the small crowd followed them back and saw the recruits learning basicbat skills along with Karl''s group of Acolytes, who were using Skills.


    That immediately marked them as Elites, who would normally be finishing their first year at the Academy right now.


    But those beasts who were following Karl weren''t a year old yet, and that started the rumours that the whole group, nearly a dozen students, had gotten their sses early.


    That was huge gossip for the bored residents of the Capital, even before the group of Cerro Hatchlings raced across the sand to go see Thor. The sight was so adorable that everyone wished there was a reporter here to take proper professional pictures.


    Then, Thor began lining them up in a row, while Dana made barriers for them.


    The onlookers were confused, but Karl got everyone moving. "Cerro team, head to your partners. You will be practising working together as they charge. Moor Cats, Nikki will be with Ophelia learning offensive coordination, and Pat will be with Lady Rae to practice your stealth skills."


    Karl gestured in the right directions, and Sybil gave a relieved sigh as she saw that there was finally someone to distract Rae''s full attention from her.


    Little did she know that the special forces cadet was at a higher standard of basic training than she was, and other than skills, she had a long way to go to catch up.

 Chapter 625 Ranger Training

    Chapter 625 Ranger Training


    For the new Rangers, the idea of fighting from a distance while avoiding hitting a very enthusiastic teammate was much more difficult than they had expected it to be.


    They understood basic tactics from their cadet training, even some advanced group tactics, but none of those were prepared for an overeager Cerro who finally got a chance to charge a smashing pole.


    Thor had made the poles short, only a little taller than the Cerro Hatchlings, as there would be times when they were fighting smaller monsters, especially when they were Common and Awakened Rank. But that meant that they had to hit the target without hitting the Cerro, and the hatchlings were not good at following directions to get out of the way.


    They tried.


    They actually tried very hard. They just had no idea what their new herd members actually wanted, so they ended up simply switching posts, or running around in circles for a minute before they were instructed back to order.


    Thor thought that it was hrious, but there wasn''t much he could do to elerate the process, as the whole point was to teach the Elites how to give orders to their beasts in a way that they would understand, while working together as a team.


    Both Aaron and Jaime were working on their offensive attack skills for the remainder of the evening, guided by Ophelia, while Karl took on the training of their new Tiger Monk.


    "Alright, first things first. You have two very differentbat styles. However, after the bonding, the levels of physical capability aren''t as different between the human and the Moor Cat as they were before, so we have these lovely volunteers from the Cadet force to assist us.


    The others were doing the same training earlier, and the concept is simple. There are three of them, and two of you. You will pretend that I am your team''s cleric or mage, and prevent them from getting to me.


    I have cast a barrier over them, so you can go all out. They are using training weapons, but they will still hurt if you mess up, so be careful. Now, show me what you can do when you are working together."


    The Tiger Monk ss should have a number of defensive abilities, and Nikki''s durability was greatly increased, while her Moor Cat would be in no real danger from a training de unless she got hit too hard on the head or poked in an eye.


    That left Karl free to see how the others were doing, and the chaos that was an exhausted Sybil and a confused Pat trying to find a way to attack Rae.


    The spider had five guards encircling her, and Pat had ranged attacks, but Rae was not an easy target to hit, even if she was taller than most of her defenders.


    Every time he thought that he had a good shot, she would move so that a defender was between them, or someone would force him to retreat and change his angle.


    They were allowed to retreat, and the guards wouldn''t chase them, letting them set up assaults on their own. So, it was just a matter of time until he finally found a way to get past the defenders.


    The Moor Cat charged, forcing a defender to the side as an arrow raced past, only to be caught in Rae''s slender fingers, then crushed to dust.


    "Wonderful timing, you''ve learned to shoot past defenders. Now, you just need to do that every time." She congratted the Beast Ranger.


    Pat smirked. "You know, being a ranged attacker is so strong. If we were close to the same Rank, wouldn''t I have a huge advantage?" Rae smiled at him, then activated [Night Haunter] and shot out a stream of silk faster than the Ranger could process. Not as an attack, but as an extension of her body. Anywhere that she could see, or her body could reach, she could move to in incorporeal form.


    Faster than Pat''s mind could process what was happening, the slender monster woman was gone from the encirclement, and a massive ck Bloodbath Spider was towering over him from behind with clicking mandibles.


    Of course, Pat had yet to learn any of the advanced detection skills of his ss, so to him Rae had vanished for a split second after activating [Night Haunter], and he had no idea how she had gotten behind him.


    Rae tapped him on the head with her mandibles, then changed back to humanoid form.


    "You''re not the only one that can ambush from a distance. This is good training for forcing mages and clerics onto the defensive, but learning to defend against other ambush attackers willeter."


    Sybil stared at Rae with open adoration. Lady Rae was simply too cool. She hadn''t shown off at all when she was forcing Sybil to learn to use [Shadow Step] more efficiently, but this type of attack was precisely what Sybil had been trying to master all day long.


    She would keep training hard, and soon, she would learn the trick to moving undetected.


    For now, she was working on a more practical approach than trying to use the [Shadow Step] skill. Lunge, Parry and roll tounch an attack towards Rae. All she had to do was get around the defender, and she would get her shot at sess.


    What she failed to realize was that the volunteers in this group all had children, and many years of practice with escaping youngsters to add to theirbat training. They knew all the ways that a kid would try to get around them, and they weren''t falling for Sybil''s tricks. The only way for her to seed was to build up herbat skills. N?v(el)B\\jnn


    Rae intended to add evening sses where they could move freely in the dark after the first week of going over basic attack and defence moves to supplement what Sybil had learned from her ss activation.


    Her first impression was proving to be correct, though. The girl had promise, and she was a fast learner.


    While she couldn''t hear anything, the skill called [Echolocation] was a passive Skill ability, not a physical trait for her. For Rae and Karl, it was simply an improvement that modified their natural bodies. But for Sybil, it was a skill that had been added by the System, and her damaged ears made no difference to its effectiveness.


    She was learning to use it well, as the skill told her when someone was about to grab her from behind, or hit her with an attack. It made her extra slippery, and a number of times she had nearly made it through the defenders already.


    Not bad for a first day.

 Chapter 626 Group Bonding

    Chapter 626 Group Bonding


    Once the training was done, the eleven new Acolytes were moved to the Elite dorms in the Cathedral. They were on the main floor with all of the other Common Rank Acolytes of the church, and they were all sharing onerge dorm, but the atmosphere there waspletely different from what they had experienced at the Orphanage, or in themon dorms of the cadets.


    The other Cadets were all jealous of the ones who were chosen for Special Forces training, and the nomination had previously given the new Beast Rangers a level of arrogance, putting themselves above the others, though none of them were Elites.


    Now, they were sharing a dorm with the Acolytes that had been chosen before them, and everyone in the room was on the same level. Over the course of the day, they had seen enough of the younger Acolytes training to know that while they were less trained, they were not weaker than the Beast Rangers.


    It was a humbling experience.


    But for four of the five chosen Orphans, it was a much more tense situation. They had finished dinner, and it was nearly to lights out. Lights out meant nearlyplete darkness in the room. A room shared with Sybil, who could Shadow Step, and who they had bullied for being deaf all her life.


    None of the ones here were lead participants in her bullying, as they simply didn''t see her as worth the effort. But that didn''t necessarily mean she didn''t hold a grudge, and she was known to stab others even before she had a ss that specialized in it.


    Countermeasures were needed.


    Sybil was about to climb up onto a top bunk in the corner of the room when Joan whistled softly, catching her attention through [Echolocation]. The Rogue turned to see what the fuss was, as the whistle was usually for the clerics to get the children to do something, but the girl was just smiling at her before she began to sign.


    [Excellent work today, Sybil. You really were born to be an Elite.] Sybil smiled. That was the first nice thing that anyone had said to her in years.


    "What is she saying?" Nikki asked from the next bunk over.


    "Oh, right. I forgot that you all couldn''t sign. I was congratting her on her good work the first day. We were all chosen as test subjects for Monarch Karl''s group to train, and they helped us all awaken our sses with an item and a skill book." Joan exined, signing as she went, then tranting the responses for Sybil.


    "Oh, Monarch Karl used tokens to help us bond with our beasts. From what I learned, you have to have the potential, and convince the beast to bond with you. It''s not easy without guidance, and we had been trying for almost a year before today when he showed up to help." Nikki offered.


    [You got an adorable kitten. I''m jealous.] Sybil signed while Joan tranted.


    The othersughed. Adorable and Moor Cat didn''t often go together in one sentence, even when they were little. But for some reason, the cats liked Sybil, and didn''t ignore her or shy away from her during the walk to the Cathedral after training.


    "Just wait until she''s big. Moor Cats are enormous when they''re fully grown, as big as Princess Ophelia in her Dire Bear form. Well, the one before she uses her skills to be massive.


    What sort of skill is that, anyhow? How is anyone supposed to fight a bear the size of a house?" The Tiger Monkined.


    Ophelia had shown off for them a little towards the end of the day, and while she had kept her speed down, it was still nearly impossible for the warriors to deal with her size.


    With the Giants attacking, Elites were expected to be trained to fight bothrge and small enemies, but Sybil was certain that small was the easier half. n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om


    [Then she can block for you while you go for the vital points. It will be a good pairing. I''ve been trying all day to find a way to get around the guards, maybe tomorrow I will try using Pat''s partner as a distraction.


    But if I could find a weak spot on the bear, how would I even reach it? I''m stronger and faster than I was, but the bear is huge.] Sybil agreed.


    Everyone was so excited about the next day that they forgot about their worries, even when the lights went out and the cathedral clerics began making their rounds to ensure everyone was in bed and not wandering in the dark.


    Back at Karl''s apartment, a training summit was in progress, and it had attracted all the talents.


    Overlord Niall hade to train with Rae for the evening, but had gotten sucked into the discussion when Overlords Joram and Tabitha hade knocking at Karl''s door.


    They both had rooms on another floor, and had seen the training today from their windows.


    Joram, the Ranger, was intrigued by the abundance of Ranger types with beast partners, and Tabitha, who was normally a strict and serious warrior, was intrigued by the idea of forming a tactical response squad out of these recruits.


    They weren''t strong yet. But they would be soon enough, and Princess Remi hadid out quite the n for them.


    {You see, giving a human too many resources burns their potential. Their bodies can''t adapt that quickly. Like with the concoction that some use to bypass the Royal Rank bottleneck when they are stuck.


    However, these six with the beasts have an advantage. They will grow with their linked partners. So, we can give the resources to the beasts. We know that they are going to grow rapidly, and all the human half will need to do is to work on their mental strength, so they don''t take damage from the imbnce as they''re pulled along.}


    Remi didn''t bother to use a transformation skill, so she was speaking Serpent. But Niall had brought a magical tablet with him that disyed the words for everyone who didn''t speak thenguage.


    "So, the goal is to try to bring up a group of regr human elites at the same speed as the beasts are growing, while keeping the Elites bonded to the beasts from taking mental damage?" Overlord Tabitha asked.


    {Exactly. We can give them skill books, and use the Karl''s learning skills on them, and train them all day long. If we do it right, with the proper nutrition, I think that we can do it.


    I had a whole bunch of books delivered to me today, and I read in the ones on nutrition that humans only eat basic magical foods. Your slow growth could be due to ack of nutrition.}


    A bunch was an understatement. There were entire shelves of them in her space now, a small library of technical tomes and magical reference books.


    Tabitha chuckled. "Or it could be an aversion to using too many magical resources to grow and crippling or unbncing their potential. Everyone treats higher ranked foods as more of a growth resource than just food, but look at your other humans. They don''t seem to be suffering in the potential department, and they''ve been eating highly potent magical nts and meats every day, on a level that is far beyond what would normally cripple an Elite."


    She made a good point. Normally, you would expect that sort of fast growth to lead to damage, but nobody in the group was showing signs of it yet.


    {There has to be something about it. Maybe because it''s not refined, so it''s easier to digest? I will study it more as we feed our trainees. I have potions for them as well, but not too many.} "You have a very helpful Naga Queen on your side." Overlord Joram congratted Karl.


    "She started life as a Spirit Snake Shaman, and she has always been obsessed with learning. I had totally forgotten that I should be careful while ingesting magical resources. If they taste good, they''re food, right? I just went for whatever tasted best." Karl replied with a shrug.


    "Making it through life on pure blind luck." Niall chuckled, then turned to Rae.


    "How about we head down to the training grounds? We''ve got eight hours before breakfast to train."


    And then they were gone, having escaped to the training ground with [Shadow Step].

 Chapter 627 Sparring With Rae

    Chapter 627 Sparring With Rae


    Rae was delighted that the Overlord had not forgotten his side of their deal. Now, she was a Monarch, and only one Rank beneath him, so it should be a good sparring opportunity.


    "So, which form would you like to practice in first?" Niall asked.


    "I think human first. It should be easier to learn your tricks if I''m in the same shape you are. Then we can go all out when I''m in spider form with golems." Rae suggested.


    Niall nodded andunched his first attacks, as Rae activated [Night Haunter] and extended her fingernails out into proper ws to parry his attacks.


    The Overlord Rank Rogue tracked her movements with ease and Rae had to slip away using her web to keep him from getting behind her.


    He could also step on air the same way that Dana did, meaning that even moving to the ceiling didn''t put her out of his range. But the human was also faster than she was, and they were both constantly using movement skills to flit around the room.


    To the Commander in the security office, it looked like the room was filled with shadows and smoke, as thebatants were moving faster than the recording cameras. Someone in the upper ranks was going to be extremely disappointed that they couldn''t get a recording of the battle, but with the skills of stealth type sses, recordings were normally useless even if they weren''t this fast.


    After five minutes, a bell rang, and thebatants returned to the centre of the room, breathing heavily. n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om


    "How do you see me?" Rae asked, confused about her inability to hide. [Night Haunter] should make her invisible to both normal and thermal vision.


    "I have [Presence Sense], and I''m a Rank over you. Unless you canpletely hide your aura and life signs, you won''t be able to hide from me.


    But what is that skill you are using? I''ve never encountered anything like it. It''s stealth and movement at the same time, and something more. Unless you have a separate skill that is making you incorporeal and immune to regr damage."


    Rae shook her head. "It''s all one skill. Night Haunter. It''s not really a movement skill, though. It only lets me move my whole body to ces I can see or touch. But it counts my silk as part of me until I detach it. So, I can weave a web and then move around the room with ease."


    "And the transformation, is that you, or are you still using the token from Newbon?"


    "That''s all me. I put in many hours of effort to make a babysitter form for dealing with small humans. It is quite effective."


    Overlord Niall chuckled. "Do you think that you will do better in spider form?"


    Rae looked around the room, then frowned and shook her head.


    "No, I''m toorge for my extra speed to matter. I might be able tond a strike or two with my legs, but I won''t be able to win without much more space."


    "Then let''s keep practising. Maybe you can learn one of my attack skills."


    Really, Niall was determined to learn more about Night Haunter, and he could feel that Karl''s training skill was active on both of them. Chances for an Overlord to learn a new skill were few and far between, so he would make the best of his night with Lady Rae Bloodbath.


    He wasn''t the only one trainingte that night, though. Thor''s advance had granted Karl the ability to use [Lightning Zone], while Hawk''s had improved [ming Body] to [Ghostfire Body]. So, Karl had to practice both new skills so that he would know how they worked, and their limitations, before he needed to use them inbat.


    Ghostfire Body was very simr to the old skill, other than the fact that it appeared to burn away the soul energy of the target as well. But the Lightning Zone was going to take some work.


    By default, it created a charged area around him that would shock anything that entered, other than the targets he specifically excluded.


    It would be much more useful if it could be focused away from himself, or into a barrier line, where the lightning would shock and stun at a set point, and not randomly all over the zone.


    It would make him difficult to sneak up on, as he would feel the activation when anything was shocked, but it was a bit too indiscriminate for Karl''s taste.


    He practised for an hour after all of the Overlords had gone to bed, but with no progress, he decided to put it aside for now and work on itter.


    Hawk had some insights on the problem.


    [Maybe you just need to make it more Karl voured? You are good at using our skills, but they''re not really your skills, are they? Just a copy of ours. If you tweak them, it might be better.]


    [So, more focus on using Skill Master and Skill Merger on myself? That''s actually a good idea. Maybe I can advance a skill or two. Learning an advanced version would be a huge boost.]


    Hawk considered that. [You have that fancy writing skill too. It''s for more than just writing books, right?]


    Yes, Runecrafting was for more than writing skill books. Though, it did also make writing skill books easier.


    Karl thought about it, and took out a piece of paper to write on. Then he realized that he was short on supplies. A pen wouldn''t do for this application, as the runes he needed to write had specific thickness ratios, and he didn''t have a paint brush.


    [I will have to test that tomorrow after I get supplies. Maybe I can leave skills behind if I write the runes on an object.] He exined to the beasts, who were watching with great interest.


    [Who knew that we could be stumped by something as simple as a paintbrush? But you can be like this heroine in my book.] Remimented.


    [What book?]


    Remi held up a small paperback, and Karl sighed. {Spirit Summoner Onmyo and her lustful Demon Lord}


    [Where did you get that? Let me guess, you ordered it from the library because you liked the title.] Karl sighed.


    [It''s a good one. Lots of romance, but the main character writes runes on paper to cast spells and banish demons.] Remi agreed easily.


    Putting aside the fact that the book appeared to be a white cover trashy demon erotica, it wasn''t a bad idea. With Runecrafting and focus, he should be able to transfer some of his skills to paper and use them as wards on an area.


    In theory, anyhow.

 Chapter 628 Training Needed

    Chapter 628 Training Needed


    The practice could wait until morning, Karl decided as he climbed into bed next to Dana, only to have Carae out to snuggle between them.


    She was taking her self-appointed duty to keep Karl wholesome until Thor found a date entirely too seriously, but the Void Badger was actually rather soft and warm, not at all unpleasant to sleep next to.


    Dana would have much preferred that the Badger not lick her face to wake her up, though.


    "Alright, I''m getting up already. Now, what are we up to this morning?" Sheined.


    "Same as yesterday. Breakfast, rescue the Acolytes from themselves, then training." Karl replied with a shrug, then jumped as Cara smacked his ass.


    [Hmm, getting soft. You need to work out more.]


    Karl stroked Cara''s fur backwards to rile up the Void Badger, then left the room to go find breakfast. The first order of business was to call the concierge and have them bring up a stack of parchment paper slips, a set of brushes and some ink, along with a selection of casual clothes for everyone to wear when they weren''t training.


    Rae had been busytely, and she was still training with Overlord Niall even now that the sun wasing up.


    The two of them had made great progressst night, if Rae''s impression of the evening was correct, and they were at a point now where even with her Golems out, she couldn''t keep up with the Overlord''s tricks.


    Rae got a lot ofbat practice, rtive to her age, but Niall had spent a lot of his time since reaching Overlord doing security work, and he hadn''t had the chance to really go all out for a long time.


    It was a refreshing chance for him to hone his skills against someone with a simr skill set, instead of his usual training partners, whose moves he already knew as well as the other Overlords themselves did. With new practice partners, he would be better prepared should another nation send their own stealth type Overlords against him, instead of the usual Mage or Monster type infiltrators and challengers. For that, he was even willing to upgrade Rae''s reward for the outfit she had made him to a bit of his own blood, instead of Monarch Ranked, as they had originally agreed.


    Now that Thor was awake, he was casting [Eternal Lightning] barriers over them both to increase their stamina regeneration so that they could get the most out of thest few minutes of their training. But soon enough, the Overlord would have to go back to work and then get some sleep after spending all night training with Rae.


    A gentle knock on the door caught Karl''s attention, and he looked over as Ophelia opened it to reveal Sybil, along with a staff member from the lobby of the building.


    It was the employee who spoke first. "Lady Ophelia, a group of trainees is here to see your team. They im to have morning training scheduled with you, but it is not on the building''s schedule for approved visitors."


    Ophelia nodded. "We didn''t expect them to be up and moving so early in the morning. But if they''re this energetic, perhaps we went too easy on them yesterday. Please invite them up, and we will get a high-energy breakfast into them before a full day of training."


    The concierge nodded. "Will you be requiring any ingredients?"


    Ophelia turned to Tessa, who handed a short list to the delicate featured man. "That should do for breakfast. We will cook the rest ourselves."


    "Very good, High Priestess." He agreed, then turned to leave, with Sybil still standing in the hall.


    She turned to follow him, clearly only here because she was interested in what they would have to say, and not because she had been escorted. But Ophelia was faster, and grabbed the little rogue by the back of the neck to put her inside the apartment.


    Lotusughed and signed along as she spoke. "You can wait here for the others to arrive. The building staff won''t keep them away."


    Tessa had ordered a stack of omelettes, which arrived before the acolytes had even been brought upstairs. It would go well with the huge pile of bacon that the clerics were making, ever so reluctantly donated by Hawk.


    After his evolution, Hawk actually ate less than he had before, despite his size increase. He would be an Overlord before he even made it through the Royal Ranked boars, if their progress remained steady, but he did enjoy looking at his mountains of food. n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om


    "Good morning everyone. Sit and eat to get some energy for the day." Karl instructed as the acolytes finally made it up to the apartment.


    "Sir, we already ate breakfast at the Cathedral." Aaron reminded him.


    "And now you will have a second breakfast, with a lot of high-grade protein. We were informed that you were all full of energy and eager to get training this morning, so we have a more intensive routine nned for the day."


    The trainees began to wonder if the Cathedral''s schedule had made Karl think that they were more energetic than they actually were. They had to admit, they were excited to get into training today, but that didn''t mean that they didn''t have sore muscles, even after healing and a good night''s rest.


    But it might also be the Monarch testing them to make sure that they were sufficiently devoted to learning and deserved to keep their spot in this elite team.


    For the Special Forces group, it was a given that everything in life would be a test until they graduated. But for the others, they hadn''t had a chance yet to learn just how creative the instructors of the Church Army could be with their training methods.


    "What is first on the schedule?" Tessa asked as she finished serving breakfast.


    "Strength training. Even mages need some muscle tone and stamina, and with all this extra energy, plus Thor''s magic refreshing them, they should be able to build some strength in a hurry.


    Getting a ss increases strength for warriors, but it still takes a lot of training to get to peak form. Especially for the Rangers, who will be moving through difficult terrain and chasing their beasts, building that muscle tone will be essential to your survival." Karl informed the group.


    It made sense, but they all got the ominous feeling that they were going to end up doingps around the field to start their day.

 Chapter 629 Gut Laps

    Chapter 629 Gut Laps


    Thor was not nearly that uninspired. There were nops around the training area for the acolytes under his training regimen.


    Instead, he brought out a number of weighted vests, made of Rae''s silk, and had the trainees do sprints up and down the bleachers while he kept a milder version of [Refreshing Lightning] active so that the muscles had time to strain, heal and repeat.


    If he kept too powerful of a spell active, they didn''t suffer the strain needed to grow the muscles, but this way they should get the gains in a single morning that would otherwise have taken them months. n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om


    Thor was very proud of the n, but Karl noticed that he put a stronger version of the regenerative spell on the Cerro Hatchlings, who were happily chasing everyone up and down the stairs.


    They didn''t need the work to grow up big and strong, they needed higher quality feed and a good smashing post to practice their skills. Chasing the herd was just fun.


    Thor had prepared both for them, and he was happy to ignore the hateful res that he was getting from ten of the eleven trainees.


    Fourps in, Sybil was too exhausted to even re at him anymore.


    But that was quickly solved with an adjustment to her protective spells, and Rae was happy to keep her running. No disciple of hers would bezy.


    One of the training Sergeants came over to coordinate assistants for Karl''s acolytes today and paused when he saw their physical training.


    "Did they do something personal to you? Weighted gutps up the bleachers is pretty extreme for rookies." He asked.


    "Nope. We have a healing and stamina regeneration spell on them. In theory, this should build muscle at a rate that no steroid couldpete with. We have limited time to train, so we''re pushing them as hard as humanly possible without damaging their potential.


    It''s the core of what the Church asked us to do when they assigned us these lucky recruits. My group has a number of training specialty skills, and they were hoping that we could push up a fresh group of Elites, then teach others the method.


    It''s only day two, but I already see progress.


    Take a look at that Monk, what do you see?" Karl replied.


    "Just a Monk running up the stairs with everyone else." Then the Sergeant paused, then noticed one more detail.


    "Much more easily than she should be with that much weight on her back. How monstrous is her strength?"


    Karl chuckled. "If I am right, it''s not about her strength, which is actually monstrous. I believe that she has learned a movement skill to reduce her weight."


    "A new skill learned on the second day of training? How ridiculous is your method?"


    Behind them, Danaughed. "The Monk isn''t the only one. The mage is using a barrier under his weighted vest so that he doesn''t have to carry the weight himself. He''s still dying trying to run up the stairs, but that''s expected."


    "Oh, you taught him the barrier spell yesterday?" Karl asked.


    "No, apparently he got a skill point from yesterday''s training, and he used it to buy the barrier spell once he found out that the day was going to start with weightedps up the bleachers."


    Having a fully active system was going to be a huge advantage, and if Karl wasn''t proactive with his own growth, there was a chance that the average overachiever in this next intake might actually shatter his growth speed records.


    If he told the Academy that, they would likelyugh at him. But Karl was fairly certain it was an actual possibility. Theck of System ess was what was dragging everyone down in the past, and with these new students being close to fully active, they should grow steadily, and they would be able to just buy ess to new skills to improve their abilities.


    Thor let the students run for two full hours before he called a stop to it and had theme down to eat. At this point, even the Cerro Hatchlings were looking exhausted, but once Thor put out the pile of feed for them and Remi passed out steaks for the pair of Moor Cat kittens, all of the beasts were regaining their enthusiasm for life.


    "I can see that everyone''s physical strength has improved in just one morning training session. Don''t worry about your weight, you''re going to burn off every single bit of energy that you can take in during your training. Just eat." Thor informed them.


    Sybil read his lips and decided that escape might be the better option, but she was only gone for half a second before she returned with Rae''s hand on her shoulder.


    The Rogue slumped in defeat after realizing that it would not be so easy to get out of the hard parts of the day, even with [Shadow Step].


    But then the volunteers from the Army came over, and she realized that they were on tobat training, which was way more fun than strength training, even if it was just as exhausting.


    Or more exhausting, as she would be constantly using her improved physique to try to defeat the guards. Or so she thought.


    Rae smiled at her. "The rest of the morning will be focused on ranged weapons training. I have fashioned or obtained three different types, and once you have one hundred percent uracy with all of them at a reasonable range, we can add new ones."


    She had obtained throwing stars and throwing knives, as well as a hand crossbow that was amon grade magic item and created its own basic bolts. It would only be a decent weapon if there was poison applied, or a skill added to the bolts, but it was perfect for training, as it took minimal energy to make the bolts.


    Karl shuddered to think of the hit that his wallet was taking now that the beasts had learned about ordering shopping for delivery. But as long as they kept it reasonable, he shouldn''t run out of spending money before they went on their next proper mission.


    Karl pped his hands. "Now that everyone is done eating, the beasts are with me, and the rest of you can head to the same trainers you had yesterday."


    The Cerro herd was stoked to y with the beast master, but the Moor Cats looked skeptical.


    "You two lovable furballs will be doing hunting training with my bodyguard here, while I set up a training ground for the herd." He exined as a summoned the Lamia.


    The snake woman was fast, much faster than any human both in movement speed and reflexes, so the Moor Cat kittens would have their work cut out for them. For the Cerro, Karl was just going to set up a field of smashing posts made of Earth Barrier, and then draw a course for them. If they hit the posts hard enough, it would break their fledgling [Refreshing Lightning] barriers, and then they would have to refresh it for the next strike. It really was the best training that they could get until their partners were ready to start working together with the herd inbat.


    The issue wasn''t identally hitting the Cerro with an arrow. The Special Forces Cadets were better than that. But the Cerro were still very young and the bond needed time to develop so that both halves of the partnership were on the same page when it came time to fight.


    Until they reached that standard, it would just be chaos.

 Chapter 630 Cerro Show

    Chapter 630 Cerro Show


    "Why are you going so far from the training ground?" The Sergeant asked as Karl began to herd the freshly fed Cerro herd away from the others.


    "Do you think that four baby Cerro frolicking in the grass will be productive for the other trainees? If everyone is watching them, who will be training?" Karlughed.


    One of the Cerro rammed into Karl''s leg and bounced off, bringingughter from the soldiers on the sand behind them, as if to prove his point.


    "Ah, I overlooked the human factor. I will have one of my Corporals wait nearby in case you need anything."


    Karl shook his head. "No need to pull someone from their training. I''m just going to go out off sight behind the bleachers. That''s far enough that we can train, and I can still hear the others in case of trouble. You never know what might happen with new Elites trying skills that they haven''t fully mastered. Things can go wrong, and I''m pretty good at sorting out wayward troublemakers."


    [Or you just want to be close enough to watch it all go down.] Cara added.


    [I can jump onto the bleachers from here. It will be a great view.] Thorughed quietly at the pair as he prepared his warriors for their training. Sitting on the bleachers would give a much better view, but he had trainees of his own to work on, and Ophelia was going to be working with the Rangers today. Instead, he had a pair of Remi''s bodyguards to help with the one-on-one training. They had four arms, and four swords, so they could keep constant pressure on the warriors as if they were fighting multiple targets.


    When Karl had the smashing poles erected and the orders given to the Cerro Hatchlings, all of the excess spectators moved away from the training grounds, leaving the rest of the group to train in peace, while Karl barked orders like a herding dog and kept the procession moving.


    Then, he got a great idea. He could give them apetition, to get to a specific pole as fast as possible when he called the number.


    Not only would it help them burn energy from the feed that Thor had given them, but it would help develop their tactical thinking as they worked to be the fastest.


    Karl jumped on top of one of the pirs.


    "Everyone, attack the pir that I am on." He called to the four eager Cerro.


    A tiny stampede started as they all rushed at the same time, tripping over each other to be the first to hit the pole.


    "No, you have to actually reach the pole. Again." Karl called as he hopped to another.


    The second attempt was a bit better, but still not well organized.


    "You''re a pack, you need to work like it. Organize your charge to hit multiple spots on the pole, then peel off for the second rank to strike. Again."


    Over and over, the Cerro pack worked to better their coordination.


    By the time that lunch rolled around, they were actually getting good at it, and Karl was having fun making them run around for the crowd as they learned to coordinate an attack that looked much more like scaly puppies running into posts.


    The Cerro pack weren''t the only ones that were improving at a notable rate, though. The bonded partners as well as the five acolytes that Skittles had brought them were also making remarkable progress. Fast enough that the soldiers had noticed the difference between yesterday morning and lunch today. They were all eager to find out what the trick was, and how the cadets could pick up newbat lessons after only seeing them one or two times.


    That was a side effect of Skill Master that Karl hadn''t considered. They were all working their way towards learning thebat skills that they were practising, but there were many other lessons to be learned along the way, before the actual activation of a new skill.


    Not that they were likely to pick up another new skill so quickly, but there was a decent chance that they would have one by the end of the week.


    Karl was having lunch on the bleachers with Cara and Remi when the training ground suddenly went silent, and most of the crowd dropped to one knee in the formal bow.


    Karl turned to see who it was, as he could only sense an Overlord Rank presence, then realized that he had no idea who the Knight approaching the grounds was.


    Fortunately, the System was there to save him.


    {Overlord Drath, Commandant of the Church Armies, First General of the Golden Dragon Nation}


    Karl stood and made his way down the bleachers to greet the Overlord, who was currently making his way through the officers'' ranks, greeting various leaders and their drill Sergeants.


    Once he was done greeting his subordinates, the Overlord made his way to Karl.


    "Monarch Karl, it''s good to finally meet you. I have heard a lot about you thest few days. You''re the talk of the Capital." "Commandant Drath, it''s a pleasure to meet you as well. I appreciate the loan of the Special Forces Cadets. They''re turning out to be quite talented." Karl agreed.


    "Oh, I wasn''t sure you would know who I was." The middle-aged soldier chuckled.


    "Your System interface is activated enough that I can see your name and ss assignment." Karl chuckled.


    Drath smiled. "Who would have thought it would be so effective on an old man like me?"


    Karl took a second to look more deeply at the man''s details and found the important bit of detail that he had missed.


    [Species] Bronze Dragon


    Which brought up another vital question. How many of the older powerhouses in the Golden Dragon Nation weren''t actually humans, though it was nominally a human run nation?


    "Orthos said that all he needed was an item that was fully system activated to bring his dormant system functions back online. Are you still missing any?" Karl replied.


    Drathughed. "And just how old do you think that I am? I understand you met the old man in his youth, but I''m not yet seen my hundredth year. Even the Archbishop is older than I am."


    Karl shrugged. "Well, you are an Overlord, so I assumed that you had some years on you. I don''t actually know much about the maturation rate of Bronze Dragons."N?v(el)B\\jnn


    The Novel will be updated first on this website. Come back and


    continue reading tomorrow, everyone!

 Chapter 631 General Drath

    Chapter 631 General Drath


    Overlord Drath looked toward the students, then to Karl''s beasts, who were doing their best to teach them new things, exining theory even during the lunch break.


    "How hard do you think that you can push those new Elites without damaging their potential?" He asked carefully.


    "We have a potion for the five orphaned volunteers that might immediately push them to Awakened, but then they will need significant time to recover. The ones with bonded beasts will grow closer to the growth rate of their partner, though. The System will help them grow faster, but pushing the Elite to advance will only create an imbnce where one side is stronger than the other. It happens to me constantly, and I''m constantly working to keep both myself and all the members of my team in bnce.


    So, there is only so fast you can push them, and they will eventually need practical experience to help them grow." Karl exined.


    Drath sat silently as he mentally calcted something. "So, Awakened by autumn, then Ascended by second year is realistic for most of them?"


    Karl nodded. "If their growth rate holds, or whoever takes over after my team is reassigned keeps them on the same training regimen. I can''t speak for other methods, but Ascended by the end of the first term shouldn''t be a problem.


    We''ve got some clerics over there taking scientific notes on everything that we''re doing so that they can try to replicate it with others. Some of the advancement is directly due to my own skills and my team, though. So, I would expect limited gains from a repeat."


    Drath chuckled. "Like following the same diet and workout n designed to maximize gains, but having the second group do it without steroids."


    Karl nodded. "Something like that. The real issues won''t start until Commander Rank, though."


    The Overlord sighed.


    "Oh, I am well aware of that. What I was hoping was now that I''ve got some system equipment from the Dungeon, I might be able to boost some of my Sergeants.


    They''re already established in the army, so if I can grant them a system and smash them up to the Ascended or Commander Rank in a matter of months, I can give the units a champion to maintain morale."


    "Not the officers?" Karl asked.


    Drath shook his head. "The officers make ns and give orders, the Sergeants carry them out. We don''t need powerfulbatants giving orders, we need them fighting."


    Caraughed and nudged Karl. [Promoted past the point of usefulness.] Drath noticed the exchange and waited for a trantion.


    "She says they have been promoted past the point of usefulness."


    "In a battlefield sense, that is true. The Lieutenants still leadrger teams, but beyond that, they''re rarely on the front lines, other than the Commissars."


    The Commissars in question were a Special Forces team from the Church, part of the Inquisition in charge of military morale. They were all insane, as far as Karl could tell, but they made the Red Dragon happy.


    "I take it that they''re making ns to spread this rapid training method as soon as possible?" Karl asked, knowing that the Overlord in charge of Military Strategy as the First General of the nation was not here on a whim.


    Overlord Drath sighed and nodded. "There are twopeting ns right now. One wants to make a potion that will boost freshly tested Elites to Commander directly, burning their potential in the process. The other group believes that we need to find a way to use your rapid training methods on more soldiers."


    Karl nodded. "Actually, I think that I have a solution for that. I have been thinking about it for a while, and if we can find a number of young beasts like the Cerro Hatchlings, I believe that there is a way to bond them to those with the potential to be an Elite.


    I had a System Quest for it, and it had a sixty percent sess rate among the Special Forces students, as you likely already knew. I believe that with Runic Talismans, I could initiate that mental bond, and those with the potential would gain a ss. Most likely Beast Ranger."


    "And why didn''t you mention this to anyone?"


    "Because the rest would probably die. The Elite Program has a roughly one percent fatality rate. Initial numbers for this method are twenty to thirty percent rejection, with a ten to twenty percent fatality rate. The oue is significantly better, but you can likely reach those numbers with the equipment testing this year. It''s just that they will mostly have the basic sses, and not an advanced one.


    The First Advancement Trial that is now happening at the Cathedral Temple for Commanders and up allows us to upgrade sses, and from what I can tell, Beast Ranger would normally be an option then, to upgrade Rangers." Karl offered.


    Drath took out a binder of papers and began to flip pages.


    "Yes, that is correct. We have observed a small number of them who have advanced to Beast Rangers after entering the Commander Rank Dungeon. It is listed as a Commander Rank minimum requirement, but it appears that your method might be able to do it early.


    That would be a huge bonus for our forces. Cerro Knights charging to break enemy lines before the infantry follows behind them is a bit primitive as a military tactic, but if they''re Lightning Cerro, and the Knights are the Sergeants, they can defend their units as they charge."


    Karlughed at the thought of lines of Cerro with infantry running behind them on the attack.


    "You know, they''re actually better on defence. Mine likes to pair with the Red Dragon High Priestess, and they work together on the unit buffs, while the Nature Cleric does the majority of our healing."


    Drath smirked. "You haven''t told her that you can give her a chance to have a monster as a pet, have you? The Nature Priestess I mean. We might not have any left if they knew." n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om


    Karl shook his head. "I don''t think it would work. They''re already imed, their ss won''t change so easily. They didn''t get an option to change even when the rest of us were doing our Advancement trials. But if I learn to create a skill that will let them talk to monsters, they might never get anything productive done again."


    "Is there another way to reliably create specialists? The random assignments are great for Elites, but I need uniform training regimens for hundreds of soldiers at a time. We can do that with warriors, at least the ones who have their whole Skill Tree active, which I''m not certain will be true of all the new Elites. Lack of data, you understand."


    Karl looked through his skills, using the restrictions listed by [Skill Book] to determine if there was anything that he could give them all to create some sort of uniform ss.


    The problem was that most of his skills were either specialized for beasts, or usable by more than one group of Elites, so there was no guarantee that those who used it would awaken the same ss.


    "I think that most of them should have a fully active System. All five that I awakened with items had the skill tree. It''s mostly just the Serum that was ipletely activating the Elites. Well, that or something has changed with the appearance of the higher rank active dungeon. That was when the majority of my inactive features were awakened.


    But if we want to activate only one ss, that could be an issue. We could narrow it down to Warriors and Rogues, or various casters. But I don''t see a way to only get one type."

 Chapter 632 Alternate Solutions

    Chapter 632 Alternate Solutions


    Remi was in full agreement with Karl''s thoughts on the grand solution for their problem. [Why not have like three different specialties? As far as battle tactics go, there really are just warriors, mages and others.] She offered.


    "My partner Remi, the Naga Queen over there, has a suggestion.


    Why not increase flexibility? You can have teams led by warriors or mages, and then the others can fill in, since there are far more mages and warriors than anything else."


    "And how do you guarantee that we will have enough of them if we try bringing them up among our ranks?"


    Karl smiled. "That''s the easy part. Plead with the Blue Dragons to give them skill books."


    The Overlord gave Karl a look that said two things.


    First, he wanted to strangle Karl for suggesting it.


    Second, he had already tried it and had been not so politely told that they would not be making thousands of skill books for him.


    After all, they had to be handwritten by a suitably powerful user, and the number of Blue Clerics and Inscriptionist Mages was limited.


    Karl relented when he realized that the n was already rejected. "I joke. No, send them all to the trial at the Cathedral and order them to pick Mage or Warrior if they are given the option. If they''repatible, the trial ground should awaken System users now."


    Drath sighed. "We tried that too. It only worked to awaken Clerics. However, it is a great advancement resource for Elites who have reached Commander Rank."


    "It seems that military efficiency and the System do not mingle well. However, I do think that it would be best to just go with it. Train everyone in the samebat techniques so that they can fight together as needed, and then let the units work it out at their end with the ranged and closebat attackers. From a practical standpoint, it doesn''t matter if that enemy at a hundred metres died to a magic missile, an enchanted arrow or a battle cannon on a mobile artillery piece."


    Drath chuckled, looking younger than he had when he arrived. "That was my suggestion as well, but the President and the other Generals voted it down as too chaotic. That''s why I have been looking for a better proposal.


    Count yourself lucky that you didn''t get roped into a political position. It''s a giant pain in the ass, and when you actually use the power you are given, you end up stepping on well-connected toes, and making your next effort harder than it has to be."


    Karl tried not tough. Most of the problem was that the politicians were still a generation or three behind. Tactics had been evolving rapidly over thest decade with the introduction of the Elites, but most of the senior politicians and military officers had been serving for thirty or forty years already.


    The Archbishop was over a hundred years old, the President was nearing seventy, and most of his senior advisors were close to sixty. "You''re thinking that we''re all fossils and behind the times, aren''t you?" The General asked, with his eyes shing bronze as his draconic instincts sensed a challenge.


    "For a Dragon, you''re quite young. But for humans, most of the others in charge are ancient. As I understand it, a Bronze Dragon is too attached to the letter of thew to bend the rules yourself, and that''s why you''re looking for a solid reason to adjust the regtions, right?" Karl replied.


    "Precisely. And technically Elites are outside my purview, as they are no part of the Church Armies. But we need the firepower, and we have a procedural handbook to follow.


    I did consider just eating them all so they stopped saying no to all the good ideas, but there arews against that."


    [If you taught them all Offensive Adaptation, they could likely bond with Bloodbath Spiders.] Rae suggested.


    An army of giant spiders and Karl clones would be funny.


    "Well, once we have these ones trained, you will have enough data to prove one way or the other whether entire units of System users within the army is a viable tactic. It might take an amendment or two so that they''re actually soldiers and not just attached to army units, but it should be easy enough to get a regtions addendum passed if we get a huge influx of new System users."


    Drath''s eyes shone with amusement as Karl finished his sentence. "You know, if it wouldn''t copse society, we could just have everyone we meet put on a system linked item until they''re all depleted or everyone has tried. It would be the greatest challenge that a Bronze Dragon could ever face." N?v(el)B\\jnn


    His tone was a bit manic as he envisioned the challenges of maintainingw and order in an entire nation full of workers who had suddenly gained a system ss. You couldn''t be an ''Elite'' if everyone were one, or even if the majority of people were. He would never willingly allow the copse of society to actually happen, it waspletely contrary to his nature. But like a kid dreaming of bing a superhero, Karl was beginning to understand that Bronze Dragons fantasized of bringing order to chaos and implementing rules and regtions to keep everything orderly.


    Then the dragon sighed. "I think it is time for you to use that potion you mentioned. Try to advance your students to the Awakened Rank today, even if just the five with sses that aren''t beast linked. You need to make your method stand out as superior to any other if things are going to change. Giving that level of resources to every student in the next intake will be a massive cost. Unless senior Elites empty their stockpiles to provide all the resources, it might not even be possible. But even then, the cost will exceed the entire year''s revenue.


    Convincing everyone that it is worth it will take results so far beyond anything that we''ve seen so far that the senior staff will believe that it would cost us more not to."


    [Yes, potion time. I''ve had them ready all day long. These will be great. Trust me, I can make humans into proper Elites.] Remi cheered.


    "Alright. They''re on lunch, and we''ve been feeding them Commander Rank meat to overload them with energy for the afternoon training already. That''s a worthwhile attempt, by the way. The progression just from sufficient nutrition has the clerics in a frenzy."


    Drath chuckled. "If we had that many edible Commander Rank and higher monsters, I would consider it. Edible monsters are rare in the spawns, and it''s not like we''re farming them at that sort of power level."

 Chapter 633 Suspicious Slurpee

    Chapter 633 Suspicious Slurpee


    Remi used [Blizzard] to make snow so that she could turn the potions into smoothies.


    Nobody said no to berry voured smoothies.


    While Remi was confident, Thor had been listening to the parts of the conversations which rted to ruining someone''s potential with too much of a good thing. He trusted his little sister, but she got too enthusiastic about her projects, and she didn''t study humans much. There was a risk that like the first day''s Royal Rank soup, this was going to overwhelm them, but because this was a potion forcing them to gain power, it might cause permanent damage.


    [Just wait, you will soon see that I know what I''m doing. It''s even in the book as a safe advancement form for baby Elites.]


    Karl examined the potions that she had made, and while they did have some Commander Rank ingredients, they were in minimal doses, and heavily watered down. The potions could be considered Awakened Rank, at least after they were mixed with the ice to make a smoothie, so they should be safe enough.


    [Potion of Advancement] was what the System called them all, though Karl knew they had been tailored to each individual student. Fortunately for everyone, Remi hadbelled all of the potions before she mixed them into smoothies, so there was no confusion as the began to pass them out to the students.


    Much to the dismay of the rest of the trainees, and the suspicion of the recipients. They hadn''t forgotten what the cleansing drinks had done to their insides.


    "What is with this unfair training bias? We get extra work on ourbat skills and mental fortitude, and they get smoothies." One of the Rangersined.


    Karl shrugged. "If it helps, I gave the Cerros and the Moor Cats a special treat."


    The all looked to where one of the cats was happily nibbling at a bowl of Commander Rank meat, and the beast covered it protectively.


    "That does not make it better at all." Pat, the Ranger bonded with the cat in question, remarked.


    Karl could have sworn that the catughed at him as it resumed eating. The humans had gotten a pretty decent lunch, specifically chosen by the Clerics with the help of the apartment kitchen to include some higher rank ingredients to spike their energy in what Lotus assured them was a safe way.


    But the cat got an entire bowl full of the good stuff. No filler, no nonsense. Just meat.


    Remi did have mercy on the Rangers, and Nikki The Tiger Monk, and she passed them out simr smoothies as well. But that was part of the n to distract the other five from their suspicions about being suddenly given treats.


    They had already gotten a fancy lunch, and now a fruity drink that wasn''t served with the meal? That was suspicious. But when everyone had one, it was less likely to be some sort of nefarious plot. Or so they assumed until the potions started to take effect.


    {The system is showing me something weird.} Appeared in Karl''s vision, thoroughly confusing him until he realized that there was a name tag before the words, indicating that it was sent by Sybil.


    How had she done that?


    Karl searched for the option, then focused on the words and realized there was a function button beside them with nobel that he had simply hidden as useless.


    "What do you see, Sybil?" He asked out loud.


    The Rogue''s eyes lit up in excitement. Someone had seen her message!


    She had tried to use the mind talk thing that Karl and Lady Rae used to make their ns, and it worked. Well, mostly. It was supposed to go to Rae, but Karl got it instead.


    {It says Warning: Experience increase effects have a cumtive detriment modifier.


    Chance of Sess >=98%


    Chance of Failure <1%


    Chance of Critical Failure 1%


    Modifier 0%}


    Karl read that twice, then nodded at her. "Go ahead, that''s as safe as it gets." Karl informed her, but Sybil was already finished the smoothie, not connecting the message with the beverage until it was toote.


    Slowly, her power began to grow, the same as Karl''s had when he used growth resources at the Academy. Her power was steadily increasing in quality, and Karl was nearly certain that she would make it to Awakened Rank with just the one boost.


    [POWER JUICE!] The Cerro Hatchlings began to cheer once they realized what was going on. [Why doesn''t it work for our pack? Is it just for the other pack?] The Cerro began to wonder.


    [We didn''t give it to everyone, just in case it didn''t work right. Instead, you got the good feed and your partners got juice.] Thor exined through the Cerro mind link.


    That made sense to them. You had to share when there were only so many good things. The big Cerro always gave the good treats to the littlest ones, just like Karl had done for his pack''s hatchlings.


    Aaron and Jaime advanced to Awakened at the same time, with Joan and Owen only a few seconds behind them.


    {Now it says Modifier -20%} Sybil updated them.


    That was a dangerous category. The first one was basically guaranteed, but if there was a cumtive detriment to using that sort of resource, even a few of them would nearly guarantee a negative oue.


    Or it might have something to do with the strength of the concoction.


    Overlord Drath might know.


    "Commandant, I don''t suppose that you have one of those potions that they give to the bottlenecked Elites, do you? I would like to inspect it with a skill that I have. I suspect that I might be able to deconstruct it into a more effective form." Karl asked.


    "The Overlord Potion? No, I don''t carry that with me, but I can have some sent here if you need to study it. That potion of yours is brilliant. All five of them reached Awakened Rank in a single shot with no visible side effects." He gushed.


    "Oh, there is a side effect, just not visible. Every time a System User takes one of those types of potions, there is a cumtive chance of critical failure."


    The Overlord winced. He knew exactly what that entailed. Some who took the potion to break the bottleneck between Commander and Royal simply died, while others had their powers crippled. It was a low chance, but only a few had ever actually be an Overlord directly, and most of the sessful attempts ended up barely bumped over the bottleneck into Royal Rank, with little to no growth ability left.


    Now that they knew more about the System, and with Karl''s input, it could be presumed that was the result of a failure or critical failure of the potion effects.


    That would also exin why some in the lower Ranks who tried to push too fast ended up crippled from overuse of resources. They had pushed their luck too far without ever knowing the odds.


    The Bronze Dragon took out a magicalmunication token and sent a message.


    "Someone will bring you a copy of the potion soon. If you can even tell us a few things about changes that will increase the odds, it would be an enormous benefit to the nation." He exined quietly.


    "I will let you know what I can find out. With the ability to identify the odds, my alchemist can at least experiment on the potion until there is an improvement." Karl agreed.


    [Then we can feed it to a new Commander and see if they explode.] Remi agreed. N?v(el)B\\jnn


    [Your sisters are corrupting you.] Thormented.


    [Be powerful.] Remi amended with an apologetic look at her big brother.

 Chapter 634 Overlord Potion

    Chapter 634 Overlord Potion


    The Overlord Potion, as Commandant Drath had called it, was hand-delivered by a Royal Rank Bishop of the church, along with twenty Elite Church Guard and a pair of Inquisitors.


    "First-General, I have brought the potion as you requested. Who might the blessed one be?" The Bishop asked.


    Overlord Drath looked a little sheepish and rubbed the back of his neck.


    "Bishop, my apologies, but there has been a misunderstanding. You see, Monarch Karl wanted a sample to study.


    His team managed toe up with a potion that immediately advanced these five cadets to Awakened Rank only two days after they gained their system.


    However, we learned a troubling fact during the process, and I believe his skill can shed some light on why the Overlord Potion malfunctions."


    All of the cadets and Acolytes stopped what they were doing when they heard that. They didn''t know what sort of super powerful potion warranted this sort of escort, but it had to be something incredible.


    "May I touch the potion, Bishop? It is necessary for the skill to function." Karl asked.


    He would only see the odds once he had it in his hands and at least considered using it.


    The Bishop passed Karl the potion, and the guards moved to surround him, protecting the potion, as they were facing away from him.


    As Karl focused with [Identify] on the potion, a few things became clear. First, this was a much better thing than he had expected. Second, altering the ingredients probably wouldn''t help much.


    {Overlord Potion}


    {Grade} Totem


    [Immediately upgrades the power level of the imbiber by a set range of levels. Maximum Rank of Overlord may be achieved.]


    {Warning: Experience increase effects have a cumtive detriment modifier.


    Chance of Sess 0.3%


    Chance of Partial Sess 10%


    Chance of Failure 2%


    Chance of Critical Failure 87.7%


    Modifier 0%}


    {Sess Grants 3 Ranks of advancement}


    {Partial Sess Grants 1 Rank of advancement}


    {Failure Causes 1 Random Permanent Debuff}


    {Critical Failure will result in death with no resurrection possible}


    [Warning: Full Sess Not Possible] Maximum Rank of user exceeded.


    Now Karl understood why the potion had to be taken by a Commander. Nobody else could get the full use of the effect, as it was either one or three Ranks of advancement. But those odds were dismal. Surely, there wasn''t a ny percent chance of death for the regr users, or they wouldn''t have started using it on Commanders at all.


    So, Karl inspected the potion more closely, trying to find the default values.


    {Overlord Potion}


    {Grade} Totem


    [Immediately upgrades the power level of the imbiber to a set range. Maximum Rank of Overlord may be achieved.]


    Chance of Sess 4%


    Chance of Partial Sess 40%


    Chance of Failure 54%


    Chance of Critical Failure 2%


    {Sess Grants 3 Ranks of advancement}


    {Partial Sess Grants 1 Rank of advancement}


    {Failure Causes 1 Random Permanent Debuff}


    {Critical Failure will result in death with no resurrection possible}


    That made more sense. The people using it were already at the limits of their potential, so they would have a heavy modifier, but if the chance of actually dying from it was only two percent, and failure was a permanent debuff, many would be willing to risk it when they didn''t know their personal odds.


    The Bishop cleared his throat. "What do you see with your System Skill, Monarch?"


    "The system calls it an Overlord Potion, with a four percent chance to take a Commander to Overlord, or a forty percent chance to take one to Royal Rank. However, other resources you''ve used in the past will modify that.


    For me, it is impossible, as I''m already a Monarch, and the potion doesn''t grant a linear amount of power, but a set effect instead.


    However, you could theoretically use it on Elites below Commander Rank to grant them the same four percent chance of gaining three Ranks. About half would end up with a one Rank advancement, and half would take permanent injury, ording to the potion''s description."


    The wince that the Bishop made when Karl mentioned giving it to people below the Commander Rank said that this was not a cheap or easy potion to make. But that should be expected from a Totem Rank potion of any sort. N?v(el)B\\jnn


    "Is that all you can learn about it with your skill? Not that I''mining, knowing the odds and exact effect is incredibly valuable." The Bishop asked.


    "Give me a while and I might be able to discover how to tweak it for more sess, but I wasn''t expecting it to be Totem Ranked. One Rank over myself isn''t too difficult, but two is pushing my luck." Karl exined.


    That made sense to the Bishop. Many had tried in the past to improve the form, and just as many had failed.


    Karl tried to look deeper into the potion''s construction when a notification caught his attention.


    {Skill Master 4 Activation: [Identification] has improved by 1 Tier. Skill [Analysis] gained.}


    That was the first time that the Skill Master Ability had advanced one of his own skills by a Tier, and Karl was startled that it was a utility skill and not one of the ones that he used constantly.


    Perhaps he simply wasn''t pushing hard enough to force the evolution of the others? Or he might just need inspiration to cause them to evolve.


    With Analysis, both Karl and Remi could tell much more about the potion. First, the primary ingredient was Totem Rank Holy Power, in liquid form. So, these potions were personally made by the Archbishop, or another nation''s strongest cleric.


    There was a list of nt names there as well, none of which Karl had ever heard of. Then he noticed something floating in the potion that he hadn''t seen before.


    It was glowing, and Karl couldn''t seem to figure out what it was. The system wasn''t being any help at first, but after a few seconds, Karl realized that it was a rune. There were solidified magic runes in the potion.


    [Runecrafting Compound Sigil Recorded] Power Surge


    Remi''s excitement filled Karl''s mind, but it was Rae''s mentalughter that caught his attention.


    [That one really will make them explode.] The spider cheered.


    She was right. The rune was nothing but a pure power transfer, as much as the user wished to imbue into it, but without form unless it wasbined with others into a proper sigil or phrase.


    If Karl used it alone on anyone but the Overlord, it would just drain every bit of his energy and overload the target. That much raw mana would literally make them explode.


    Fortunately, with Runecrafting, Karl should be able tobine thatpound rune into a sentence to empower a runic inscription that would otherwise have little to no effect. In a way, it was a new word. A more precise way of describing what he wanted to happen when writing with runes. It would take work, but he had been nning to practice his Runecrafting anyhow.


    But the fact that there was no other sigil with Power Surge in the potion was a clue on its own. The flow of power was uncontrolled, which was what was likely damaging the users. If he modified that, it could improve the sess of the potion.


    "How mad would you be if I modified this potion?" Karl asked the Bishop.


    "It takes the Archbishop sixty hours to make one." He replied simply.


    Well, that changed the risk to reward calction.

 Chapter 635 Runecrafted

    Chapter 635 Runecrafted


    Karl stared at the potion for a little longer. He was going to modify it. He could apologize to the Archbishopter if it didn''t work.


    Or maybe run away with Lord Nacht. Whichever seemed safer at the time.


    Fortunately, the runes were simple for what he wanted to do. So, he moved the potion to Remi''s space and carefully portioned a little bit into another beaker. One third of maximum power flow for three times the duration was oneplexpound rune that attached smoothly to the Power Surge rune. Karl took that as a sign that he had done something right, and carefully modified all the runes in the smaller vial.


    As thest one waspleted, Karl got a notification.


    {[Vial of Overlord Potion] Part 1 of 3}


    Interesting.


    So, he made two more, and watched as he got the notification two more times. Then, he carefully mixed them into onerger potion bottle, though still half the size of the original.


    {Runic Overlord Potion}


    Chance of Sess 4%+5%


    Chance of Partial Sess 40% +5%


    Chance of Failure 54% -10%


    Chance of Critical Failure 2%


    {Warning: Runic Potions are ipatible with some species.}


    Karl considered that for a moment. It didn''t say what species, so this might either be t out better, or totally useless to the GDN if it didn''t work on humans.


    He opened his eyes and realized that everyone around him was sitting and eating dinner as the sun went down.


    "How long was I out of it? I lost track of time." He asked.


    "About six hours?" Tessa guessed, and Overlord Drath nodded in agreement. n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om


    "Well, at least I have something to show for it. Here, the modified potion. It should have a five percent better chance of both one and three Rank increases, with ten percent less failure chance as a result. However, the system says that some species can''t use it, and I have no idea what ones." Karl informed the Bishop.


    Before he could move, the potion vanished from his hand, and Lord Nacht was beside him, staring at the bottle.


    "Oh, this is good. We should test it." The Ancient ck Dragon announced.


    The Bishop who had brought the original potion looked like he was going to argue for a moment, then thought better of the notion. Fighting with a Totem Rank Dragon wouldn''t end well for anyone.


    "Oh? Do you have a baby dragon in mind?" Karl asked.


    "Why in the seven hells would I give this to a dragon?" Nacht asked.


    He had a point. Dragons didn''t need it, and they weren''t worried about growth rate.


    A portal formed near Nacht''s left hand, and he pulled an old woman in ck robes through by the neck.


    One wed hand tilted the woman''s head back, and the dragon poured the potion down her throat.


    Slowly at first, then with increasing flow, power began to gather in the area. The disturbance had caught the attention of every powerful Elite in the city, and Karl could sense people running their way, as well as a half dozen portals opening nearby.


    This had better work, now that they had so many onlookers.


    Karl spun the [Ring of the Beast Lord] on his finger. It increased his Luck stat, and that had to help somehow. Avoiding embarrassment was a form of luck, right?


    The ck robed cleric gasped and copsed to her knees, surrounded by a mist of dark power that had every bit of Rae''s attention. But the process wasn''t over, more power was still flowing into her body as her magic reacted wildly, restrained by Lord Nacht so that it didn''t kill all of the lower ranked Elites in the area.


    "Hmm, it appears that you did it right. She''s not dead." Nacht noted, sounding dismayed.


    The Cleric rolled over on her back, twitching in pain as the power flowed into her. She managed a single second worth of re at the dragon before she was wracked with pain again, and the power gathered by the process began to merge with her body.


    "Your god has an odd way of showing their favour." Karl noted as the woman''s power grew.


    "Divine Favour? I was betting on the two percent chance it would kill her outright, and I wouldn''t have to listen to her whine again." The ck dragon replied.


    Rae giggled quietly, while everyone else in the area looked horrified. He had picked her because he didn''t mind if she died? That was unexpected.


    As the effect faded, the cleric passed out. It didn''t matter to the onlookers, or to Lord Nacht. They could all sense the Overlord Ranked auraing from her.


    "Nine percent chance of sess, her luck is pretty good." Karl noted.


    The ancient dragon nodded. "Yes, it was thoroughly satisfying. Now I have a new Bishop for the ck Dragon."


    "Who is going to hold a grudge." Karl added.


    "Irrelevant. She''s from here in the city, and I will be headed home once my business is done."


    The Archbishop came over with a smile. "Is it true? The potion''s effectiveness could be increased?"


    Karl nodded. "Not the effectiveness, exactly. But the chance of sess increased by five percent for both stages of sess. Now the base sess rate is over fifty percent before modifiers and luck."


    "A week well spent, then. Come with me, we need to discuss this in private."


    Karl didn''t even have time to react before Nacht was shoving him through a portal, followed by the two Totem Rank leaders, and the unconscious Bishop.


    "Start from the beginning. What did you do to my potion? At your Rank, you shouldn''t have even been able to mix in a single ingredient without it fading." The Archbishop began.


    "I actually didn''t add ingredients, or remake the potion itself.


    There are magical runes in the potion, but they were iplete. No, that''s not the right word. They were unregted. I added a runic phrase to slow the effect. That way, the users were less likely to explode, as my friend Remi so eloquently put it." Karl exined, then drew the rune in the air with his finger.


    The Archbishop took him to arge oak desk and sat him in the plush leather chair in front of golden writing tools and a stack of paper. He had pens, pencils with various cores, paint brushes and various paints and inks to choose from.


    But he wasn''t making a skill book, it was just a rune, so he chose a small paint brush and in ck ink, which the Archbishop appeared to have ground from an ink stone and not purchased as a liquid.


    "This is the part I added, and this is thepound rune that I formed." He exined a few secondster.


    Nacht leaned over the desk. "Oh, I see. And you said that this additional part was already in the potion?" Both Karl and the Archbishop nodded in unison, and the Archbishop gestured towards a wall full of runic writing.


    "It''s one of the power runes for holy items of all sorts. This potion is my own creation, but my Runecrafting skills are limited. I know thenguage fairly well, but I don''t have it as a System Skill."


    Karl considered that, then pulled a jar of silver ink and a stack of paper over.


    "We might be able to fix that. I have the skill, and a skill for creating Skill Books. Let''s see how this goes." He suggested.


    Lord Nachtughed, and the Archbishop sighed, then gestured at the book case. "I already considered that. But I won''t turn down a spare copy."


    Karl saw that there was a [Runecrafting] book on the shelf, but it was ancient and damaged. Not an active Skill Book.N?v(el)B\\jnn

 Chapter 636 Cramped Hands

    Chapter 636 Cramped Hands


    Karl got right to work on the book, as the necessary inks were already on the table. Runecrafting was more of a dictionary than anything else, and every rune that Karl wrote slowly etched itself into his mind, an unusednguage that he had never paid attention to.


    Sure, he had the skill to use them, but it was a bit like using Rend for the first time when he was on the train. It was possible, but he had not trained any sort of mental or muscle memory for it, so it was somewhat like following a guidebook for something that you had never seen in person.


    Just writing out the book was giving him ideas. If he had better crafting skills, he could make weapons and add Runes to them, turning mundane items into quality magical weapons.


    [Making toys for fun and profit.] Remi agreed, paying close attention to Karl''s work.


    [Can you use this skill?] He asked, wondering how many of the beasts shared his more esoteric abilities.


    [I can, but not the others. Probably because I''m the only one that reads for fun.] Remi agreed.


    Writing out a whole dictionary of Runes took time. A lot of time. But eventually Karl had a massive bound tome in front of him that put the one on the shelf to shame.


    It was easily a thousand pages long, and Karl guessed that he had missed at least an entire day while he was working, even with the increased hand speed that he had to restrain just enough not to stter the ink.


    There were no windows in the office, and the room was soundproofed, with no clock in sight. That made it exceptionally easy to lose track of time, and actively using a System Skill seemed to keep you locked in, so you didn''t notice outside stimuli as much.


    "And here we are. One skill book of Runecrafting." He announced, waking the Archbishop. The old man was napping on a divan in the corner of his office, which was well-equipped with nkets, suggesting that this was a regr urrence.


    The Archbishop slowly got to his feet and came over to the desk, where he ran a reverent finger over the tome.


    "It''s beautiful. If I had to guess, I would say that it is an Epic Grade skill, just going by the cover. But I suspect that it''s actually something much more difficult to obtain than that." The old man rambled.


    More umon than an Epic Skill?


    Reverently, the Archbishop opened the cover of the tome.


    And nothing happened.


    At least, until Lord Nacht burst intoughter.


    "Oh, that is grand. The greatest Rune master on the continent can''t use the Runecrafting skill book. Do you perhaps already have a basic version of the skill?" The ck dragon taunted his counterpart.


    The Archbishop shook his head. "I don''t have a skill for it. I know most of thenguage, though. It would seem that I still have much to learn, with the size of this tome, but I am considered fluent in Runic."


    The Dragon inspected the tome, and then a slow smile spread across his face. "Why don''t we call the Librarian? I bet that the head of the Blue Dragon Clerics would love the opportunity to learn the mostplete form of the Runguage."


    It only took a few seconds for the Librarian to enter after the Archbishop called for her. She came through a side door, and Karl realized that their offices were attached.


    That was incredibly convenient when there were questions. Or when Lord Nacht was visiting and wanted to troll someone.


    "Librarian, we have a rare skill book for you to try. None of us can use it, and we have some hope that you can learn its secrets, then make a duplicate." The Archbishop requested.


    The Blue Dragon carefully put on a pair of white cotton gloves as she approached, and delicately inspected the entire tome, making mental notes before doing anything else.


    "Beautiful. It will be a shame to remove such a beautiful book from cirction, but once I have learned it, I will immediately endeavour to make another." The Librarian announced, then carefully opened the cover.


    Her eyes widened as the book vanished and a flood of information entered her brain, filling in all the details of the Rune Crafter''s trade.


    "This is wonderful. There is so much to know, so many things that were lost to time. I can fix the wards on the bookshelves, and rebuild the automatic staircase. Oh, I do need to get another copy made as soon as possible.


    The Juniors can do all of that while I study the rest of the knowledge hidden in here."


    She was clearly rambling now, but the dragon was happy, even if her subordinates were about to be very unhappy.


    The Librarian ran out of the room without even acknowledging that the Archbishop was waiting to ask her questions.


    Lord Nacht patted him on the shoulder. "Well, you win some and you lose some. She will answer all your questions eventually. It''s good that she was the one that it worked for because all the teachers in the Cathedral are Blue Dragon Clerics, and your Weaponsmith Students are sure to want ess to that knowledge as soon as possible."


    The Archbishop nodded. "Not just the students. Everyone is going to want to learn a bit more about magical runes."


    Karl thought about that and shook his head in dismay.


    "There are Runes and then there is Runecrafting. Anyone can write the runes if they''ve seen them before, but making a magical item that can properly harness them is an entirely different matter."


    The Archbishop didn''t quite understand, but Karl had an easy way to exin.


    He picked up the paintbrush and some in ink, then wrote the rune for [Shock]. It was easier to recreate skills that you already understood, and he knew lightning pretty well.


    "If you would kindly activate that Rune, I can demonstrate." Karl informed the aging Cleric.


    The Archbishop just looked confused, but Lord Nacht tapped the paper and infused it with a bit of mana that made electricity crackle over the page like a stun gun.


    The paper was destroyed by the electricity, so Karl wrote another with the same ink, then activated it to create a [Shock] effect on the ck Dragon.


    After all, the Archbishop was old and somewhat frail.


    A small amount of electricity crackled over the dragon''s barrier, and the Archbishop nodded in understanding.


    "I see now. It''s the difference between the Rune doing what it says, and the Rune doing what you will it to. There is so much more that I could do if I had that skill. But, s, I will have to leave it to the Blue Clerics and their students.


    Perhaps the skill will soon spread through the Alchemists and the Smiths, bringing us back to the glory days of item creation."


    The old man waspletely on a tangent now, and the ck Dragon was trying hard not tough at him.


    "I should probably tell you now. Runecrafting won''t work for anyone under Royal Rank, and only one in a hundred at best will be able to learn the trade skill. Don''t get too lost in big dreams just yet, old friend." The dragon warned him quietly.


    "And you had to ruin it. Fine, I''m going back to sleep. See the Monarch out, would you?"n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om


    The Novel will be updated first on this website. Come back and


    continue reading tomorrow, everyone!

 Chapter 637 Age Brings Wisdom

    Chapter 637 Age Brings Wisdom


    Karl followed Lord Nacht out of the office, and did his best not tough at the expression on the Dragon''s face.


    "You know something that I don''t about the skill book, don''t you?" Karl asked quietly as they walked through the silent halls of the Cathedral at night.


    Nacht smirked at him. "At my age, I know more about nearly everything. But what you mean is that I know that the old man already has Alchemy as a trade skill, and the System won''t let you take another."


    "So, I''m a Runecrafter by trade? I wasn''t expecting that." Karl replied.


    "It seems so. I would assume that it was a quest reward of some sort, but Runecrafting is a particrly fine lost art. Which discipline have you chosen?"


    "Discipline?"


    Nacht shrugged. "Gnomish Engineers, Dwarven Runemasters, Onmyoji Demon yers, Ward crafters, Rune Mages and a few others I have long since forgotten all rely on the Runecrafter trade skill for their art. Normally, you would choose one of the disciplines, but it appears that you simply got the Rune library without having to make a choice.


    So, eventually, you will have to choose a specialty if you''re going to truly master the craft. No matter how many Runes you know, only tireless practice will make you an actual master at using them."


    "I was thinking of using them to make useful charms, but not as a trade, just as a parlour trick to make life easier. But I''ve been to an ancient Dwarven city near the Frost Giant border, as well as that trial that we both entered. They had runes on every wall, and when they were active, they could do so much. Remi, my Naga partner, recorded the Runes in the forges." Karl began.


    Nacht nodded in agreement. "That is part of the Runecrafter''s art. You could rebuild that sort of magical forge, and even the weapons that they turned out from it.


    The Cyclops Forge Masters used a variation of the same art. They''re much more like the Dwarves in their crafting skills than either species would be willing to admit. They both have their own style, but they both craft rare items with incredible powers and beautiful details."


    Karl sighed. "Why does it feel like all the progress we made with technology is quickly bing irrelevant?"


    The Ancient Dragonughed. "Not all of it. Many things in life are easier with technology, but it will neverpete with magic for raw power and versatility. It''s not impossible to mix the two, there are some nations who raise Technomages. But the interaction is limited. They have the most wonderful magical guns. And it only took them a century to recover all the ones that were stolen from them during the civil war. Now they self-destruct if anyone other than the intended user tries to activate them."


    That made sense. It was the same thing with any powerful magical artifact. A magical bow that could do massive damage from a long distance was a prime target for theft. Especially if the user could be discretely killed.


    "I take it that they don''t bond?" Karl asked.


    "They''re ipatible with the System. I''ve seen the ancient records, and there were Technomage armies then. But they were seen as being at a disadvantage because they could be disarmed by theft or magic and couldn''t call the weapons back to themselves.


    Disarming them to capture the soldiers became the standard method of dealing with the tactic. Well, that or casting a spell to amplify fire magic and making all their guns misfire."


    Karl nodded in understanding. "The Hill Giants plug artillery barrels with Earth Magic if they get close enough."


    Nacht smiled. "The giants surrounding your nation make life much easier than you know. They''re a nuisance, but if the old man had to fight off a dozen nations of humans and the hundreds of sub-factions, the Church would have never managed to unify the nation.


    Youe from the mines, don''t you? You''ve got the look. That whole southern region between the capital and the Beastkin Nation used to be part of the Wilds, a no man''snd thatpeted with monsters for survival.


    Without strong magic or the blessings of the World Dragon, the whole of the Golden Dragon Nation would have been the same way if the Giants didn''t keeppetition out."


    Karl frowned. "It''s strange to hear it that way. Is that perhaps the perspective of your god?"


    Nacht shrugged. "The God of Death doesn''t care about species all that much. But ck Dragon Clerics are sensitive to the bnce of life and death in the same way that the Nature Clerics are, only we focus more on the higher beings than the nt life.


    I think that learning to make something of your Runecrafting could be exceedingly valuable, not only to you but to your partners. Take your friend Remi as an example. As a shaman, she would benefit greatly from runic jewellery. It would improve her elemental magic, you could boost her mana regeneration and casting speed as well.


    Or make armour for the Cerro, perhaps a muzzle for the Void Badger."


    Karlughed. "I don''t think that she would go for that one. There are still too many species to taste test." N?v(el)B\\jnn


    Nachtughed. "Of all the species that you could have picked, why that one? Where did you even find one? It''s not like there are a lot of them."


    "I had a quest to find what the System called ''the perfectpanion''. I was headed across the Neia continent, towards somewhere far to the east of my location, then suddenly, that quest target disappeared, and the quest retargeted Cara. The System said that she was the bestpanion, and bonding herpleted the quest, so that is what I did." Karl exined.


    "That makes more sense than you probably realize. The system''s idea of perfect does not usually mean most powerful, fastest growing, or the current meta skill. Instead, it almost always means most a little bit of each of those, but also the most entertaining for the gods to watch. And it''s hard to argue that anything but a Void Badger would be quite as entertaining at the Monarch Rank."


    "She''s not quite there yet." Karl reminded him.


    "Give her a few more days. With three of the five already advanced, plus yourself, it won''t be long before the others either advance or hit a bottleneck. But a Naga Queen and a Void Badger shouldn''t have any issues.


    Now, you should sleep, there will be blue dragonsing to see you in the morning, I can almost guarantee it."

 Chapter 638 Sharing is Caring

    Chapter 638 Sharing is Caring


    Karl returned to his apartment, and sighed as he realized Cara had already stolen the spot next to Dana, right in the middle of the bed.


    [What is this? Are you trying to steal my Dana Mage?] Karl demanded with amusement as he realized that Dana was sleeping with Cara half draped across her.


    [You are part of me, I am part of you. We are basically one person.] Cara replied.


    [Really now?]


    [Yep. So it''s notyour Dana, it''sour Dana.]


    [There is definitely something wrong with that logic. If she''s our Dana, you should be on the other side. So we can share properly.]


    Cara considered it, then used a wing to pull Dana across the bed with her, so the mage was in the middle of the bed.


    [Much better.]


    Karl woke up the next morning with Cara''s head on his chest and Dana against his side. The sun was already well above the horizon, and he was a bit shocked that nobody had woken them up earlier, until he heard sshing in the hot tub.


    If there were multiple people soaking in the morning, they must not have anything nned.


    Karl got out of bed and noticed that the closet door was open with a lot of new clothing in it. He was headed to pick something out when Rae''s voice called out to him from the other room.


    "Put on pool shorts ande soak with us. There are bubbles."


    That made Karl wonder what they were nning for the day. He couldn''t see any of them willingly getting out of a bubble bath early.


    Karl put on a pair of shorts from the closet while Dana tried to escape Cara, who was not ready to get out of bed yet.


    After a few seconds, the mage had convinced the reluctant badger to go back to the bed in her own space, where she could restfortably, then Dana began to search the closet for a swimsuit.


    "Shoo. Go y with your spider. I will be along in a few minutes." Dana admonished Karl as he lingered hopefully outside the closet.


    "Spoilsport. Fine, I will see you there."


    All of the others, plus Rae and Sybil, were already in the hot tub, which was overflowing with bubbles.


    "Oh, are we not training today?" Karl asked as he settled in next to Rae, letting the hot water rx his muscles.


    Ophelia smiled. "The next two days are off days, then it''s exam week for the students. Most people take the week off, as it finishes with the Divine Injection Ceremony. We decided that the cadets can have thisst weekend, then we will train them all week before we put them on the train to the Academy to join their peers on the first day.


    The train is an important experience for all the students, even if they awakened a few days in advance."


    She had a point. That was where Karl had first met Dana, where he hadpeted to be the first to the school to pick his dorm, where he mentally adjusted to Academy life.


    "So, they''re discharging the Special Forces group for training?" Karl asked.


    Ophelia shook her head. "Not them, they will remain with the military for training. Officially, they want to keep the fact that there are so many new beast affiliated Elites quiet. But our five young Acolytes will be departing after next week."


    Karl smirked and ruffled Sybil''s hair. "Are they going to be ready to rejoin society after only one more week in our tender loving care? I could likely ask the Bureau to send them back after the first few days."


    Sybil''s look of panic made everyoneugh. Rae had been intensively training her since they first met, and the young Rogue hadn''t been out of the spider''s sight for more than a few minutes at a time, with the exception of one night in the dorms.


    Rae didn''t even let her go home, she kept her tied to a hammock in the spare room as part of her training.


    Rae smiled happily. "I think she will be ready. I remember how we were when we were young. She should be at least that good by the time that I''m finished. At least she''s already Awakened, so she won''t be too weak to train."


    Tessa smiled. "Rae is in a good mood because she got to train with Overlord Niall against night. The second training room is out ofmission, by the way. They did some damage during their training."


    Rae smirked, but kept her thoughts about the training to herself.


    Sybil smiled as she signed and Tessa tranted. {Brother Hawk promised toe out for training next week to help me learn fire attacks.}


    [You need tobine a ming sword attack for her before we go back to training. I don''t want to start from the basics.] Hawk added from the nest in his space.


    Now Karl understood how this system would work. He made the skill, then Hawk and Rae would teach her to use it properly.


    "Did I miss anything while I was out for the day? The Archbishop asked for a Runecrafting book." Karl exined.


    Dana sighed, then replied. "More than a day, actually. I guess it''s easy to lose track of time while you''re working on a skill. All five of our students have made progress now that they''re at the Awakened Rank. The warriors have both mastered [Shred] and [Guard], and Joan ising along well in her healing training. Owen learned [Barrier], and he''s made great progress on his mana. But it''s Sybil that''s the star of our show." n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om


    The little Rogue blushed, then squeaked as Rae pulled her into a surprise hug from behind.


    "Sybil has Backstab, Shadow Step, Silent Movement, Lacerate and Poisoned de in her repertoire now." Rae informed them.


    "That''s quite the list. How did you manage to teach all those?" Karl asked.


    "She got some skill points when she advanced, and she picked [Poisoned de] as her first chosen skill. She''s waiting to get a few more to get the second stage of it instead of getting the other introductory skills." Rae exined.


    "As long as it doesn''t interfere with her versatility. Mages can have a specialty spell, but Rogues need to be good in every situation." Karl reminded her, though the warning was also for Sybil.

 Chapter 639 Day Off

    Chapter 639 Day Off


    n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om


    With time off, Karl decided that it was likely best to just focus on personal improvement. He still had Remi and Cara at Royal Rank, and while the spaces were pushing them upwards, they hadn''t managed to break through yet.


    It would only take a little longer to force them to advance, and if he could do it during the days off, they could have a party.


    [Party?] Cara asked.


    [Yeah, a little celebration for you reaching a new Rank. Since we have a day off, we could do something fun, possibly order a cake.] Karl suggested.


    Cara considered it for a few seconds, then began to roll around on the bed. [Maybeter.]


    Cara must be feelingzy today, if even the offer of a party wasn''t enough to get her motivated. But Karl continued to work on the energy levels and quality in the spaces anyhow. Soon, they would all need to be at the same level, and preferably before the students went to school and the team was reassigned.


    "Oh, you need to keep doing whatever that is. It''s so good." Lotus nearly purred, pulling Karl from his meditation for a moment.


    Dozens of thoughts, each more lewd than the one before, were going through his mind, but when he opened his eyes, Lotus was frowning at him.


    "No, don''t stop. You were leaking power into the tub, and it makes it both warm and tingly." She exined.


    Sybil nodded in agreement, still trapped in Rae''s arms, but not trying to get free, as she was enjoying the extra bubbly hot tub.


    The cleaners were likely going to hate them for this brilliant idea, but for the amount that Karl was paying for the suite, they could suffer the asional mess.


    For a few hours, everyone just rxed, enjoying their time off. Then Rae called for room service, and that was everyone''s cue to get dressed for the day.


    Karl noticed that before she even started to stand up out of the bubbles, and without even attempting to dry off, Sybil changed into a ck silk martial arts outfit that had to have been made by Rae.


    For one, it was bonded. Secondly, it was Monarch Rank silk, and Rae wouldn''t let her baby Rogue wear someone else''s silk.


    It was an excellent gift, and now Sybil wouldn''t have to rece her training and infiltration clothes for most of her lifetime, if ever. Most likely, it would be her most prized possession.


    "There are towels over there. You don''t need to get dressed while still wet." Karl informed her, in case the Rogue had simply missed their presence.


    Rae giggled. "Sybil is body shy. She got into the tub fully dressed as well, and only after the bubbles were in ce."


    Sybil nodded frantically, then grabbed a towel and ran to the bathroom to dry off and cycle her outfit so that it woulde back dry.


    Karl got out of the tub, and everyone was drying off when Sybil came back out of the bathroom, then covered her eyes, squeaked, waved her hands, then ran away.


    "She''s easily embarrassed, isn''t she?" Danaughed as Rae vanished to go recover her Rogue.


    [The Sybil is funny. She''s ashamed to not be all muscles like the rest of you.] Rae exined a few secondster.


    Karl considered that. With all the walking and travelling that they had been doing, they were all pretty ripped, even with the good eating. Despite what Cara thought about his backside.


    [Bring her back for breakfast. We''re all dressed now, no visible abs to make her self-conscious.]


    For the first time since he entered the Golden Divine Academy, Karl found himself with downtime in front of a television, and time to watch the daily morning news. Of course, it would all be only a fraction of the truth, but there might be something on that would entertain him as he worked on forcing the energy in the spaces past the point where it would force Remi and Cara to advance.


    Both of them might have just been slow to grow, as they were the newer arrivals, and Remi was still quite young for a Naga Queen.


    Cara might be young for a Void Badger as well, but Karl couldn''t actually find enough information on them to tell him if they were supposed to getrger, or how fast they grew.


    They weren''t native to the GDN, so the data in the public records was limited.


    The news reports of the day were unexpectedly boring. They must be in a slow news cycle because it was all about a plumbing issue in the Capital that would take all week to fix. There was no mention of war, or monster spawns, or anything else that might be threatening.


    So, Karl changed the channel to reys of sports highlights for background noise as he worked.


    Dana was doing the same thing, with her head resting on a pillow in hisp, building her mana pool.


    Most of the day had passed when Karl began to feel resistance. One of the two spaces was resisting his attempts to advance it, and Karl had a sneaking suspicion that he knew which one.


    [Cara. Stop messing with the space. You can only hang out at Royal Rank so long.]


    [Nope, I''m not done yet.]


    [Name your price.]


    [...


    Fine, you make good on the promise of cake, and we have a deal.]


    [Hazelnut chocte fudge cake?]


    [With strawberries and whipped cream.]


    [Rae, could you order that? Myp is upied.]


    Raeughed and went to the phone to order the cake. The kitchen wasn''tpletely certain that they understood what she wanted, but they assured her that they would make a suitable party cake for them, along with an assortment of other snacks to arrive with dinner.


    Once Cara stopped being stubborn, a sixth space started to form, and the quality of both her space and Remi''s began to undergo a rapid qualitative change.


    As soon as the change started, Remi transformed back into her Spirit Snake form, using the logic that the smaller she was, the higher the density of energy she could pack into her body when she advanced.


    If she was a tenth the size, that should make the process ten times easier, in the mind of Remi.


    Hawk woke up from his extended nap as the new space formed. [Oh, are we getting ready for a new friend? Epic mission to steal a baby dragon? We could make it a ck dragon to pass on Nacht''s Legacy.] He sleepily suggested.


    Thor chuckled at the idea. [I believe his exact words wereyou cannot have a baby dragon.]

 Chapter 640 Chaos Void

    Chapter 640 Chaos Void


    Now that she wasn''t holding back, Cara was the first to advance of the remaining pair. Not much seemed to change at first, her body wasn''t changing, just the energy. Maybe that was why she didn''t have the motivation that the others did. If she had learned or instinctively known in advance that she wasn''t getting a new skill, she might have lost motivation to be stronger.


    Then, as her space stabilized and Remi''s began to surge in power, Karl got an unexpected notification.


    [Racial Skill {Chaos Void} has improved shared skill {Nullify} to Overlord Rank.]


    [You have a hidden racial skill?] Karl asked.


    [I do? Oh, I do. Haha, all the Nullify. This is going to be so fun.]


    That was going to be absolute chaos. But for the sake of their enemies, at least it wasn''t Disintegrate that went to Overlord as soon as she advanced.


    Cara waited toe out so that she could show off with Remi once they were both done. The process had already begun, so it could be said that they advanced at the same time, but Remi''s Monarch Rank advancement was going to be a good one if the disruption of her space was anything to go by.


    All of the elements were swirling around, making a mess of everything except the safe spot on her altar where the Queen in Spirit Snake form was meditating.


    Hellstorm vortexes littered thendscape, and a ming Blizzard filled the air while a hail of stones rained down from above. The unfortunate nts of her space were not faring well, and she would lose a huge number of resources, but it appeared that she was learning a new ss skill as she advanced.


    After a few minutes, the spell faded, and the mes vanished, leaving charred nts all over her swamp, but Remi had transformed back into a Naga with a pleased smile on her face.


    She wasrger than before, and more simr to her warriors, with four muscr arms, but a more mature look than she had before. It was hard to say why it looked more mature, other than the size, and the fact that for some reason Remi''s form had what appeared to be breasts over the upper arms'' pectoral muscles, despite being a reptile. But she definitely looked like a young adult now in Karl''s mind.


    Her armour spell was fancier as well, with more gold and jewels, as well as dangling bone decorations and a belt full of potions.


    [Congrattions,dies. Looking good.] Karl congratted them.


    [You finally got a skill that isn''t evil.] Hawk agreed. Remi nodded. [It''s even got a great name. Apocalypse.]


    [That is an outstanding skill name. We will have to find a spot for you to show it off.] Karl agreed.


    Both beasts came out of their spaces at the same time, appearing in the middle of the living room in front of the sofa where Karl and Dana were resting.


    {Tada!} Remi cheered in serpent.


    "Ooh, ooh, is that a Queen Remi? Extra strong hug arms!" Lotus shouted as she vaulted over the back of the couch and into the Naga''s waiting arms.


    Caraughed as Lotus realized mid-flight that she had only seen one of them from her vantage point, but both had advanced.


    Now, she was caught in a dilemma. Remi had her in a tight hug, but there was a soft and fluffy Cara at ground level who had also just advanced.


    Remi knew exactly what she was thinking, and lowered her upper body, so Lotus could reach down to pet Cara. But stopped ten centimetres short, so she couldn''t quite reach.


    "Karl, help! They have learned new torture techniques." Lotusined.


    Thediesughed as they realized the situation that Lotus was in, and how much fun the two beasts were having with it. Especially when Rae sat down on the sofa to smirk at the Nature Priestess and pet the Badger.


    "Did you learn new skills?" Tessa asked as she settled down next to Rae.


    Remi nodded happily, and motioned for Karl to exin.


    "Remi got a new skill called Apocalypse, that appears to be a fiery blizzard with Hellstorm multiplying vortexes and meteors. While Cara had her Nullify skill advanced to Overlord as soon as she made Monarch." Karl informed the group.


    Tessa sighed and looked between the two proud beasts. "I''m not sure which one of you to congratte first. Those are both remarkable advancements. The pure destructive ability of a skill that is literally called [Apocalypse] versus the usefulness of Overlord Ranked [Nullify]. Just trying to get past Cara''s defences will be a national security threat level event. If she can mess with the Overlords most potent abilities, then it will juste down to the group''s ability to deal with them." Tessa congratted them with a smile.


    Remi put Lotus down, and the Nature Priestess ran over to hug Cara, then back to hug Remi, then back to Cara again, like a hyperactive pinball of celebration. n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om


    "Now that you have the whole team at Monarch, you must be able to ept a new team member, right?" Dana asked, looking up from Karl''sp.


    "Technically, yes. The space has formed for another partner, but I''m not in a hurry. It''s honestly not going to be easy to find a beast that has Overlord or higher Rank potential, or one that I have the confidence to improve to that level.


    If we knew more about how to trigger evolutions for beasts, it would be so much easier.


    Look how far Hawk hase from the humble Windspeed Hawk to a Ghostfire Thunderbird. Or Thor bing a Divine Thunder Cerro. There is no form or data on that, so the only sure options would be a Dragon or a Phoenix, and I''ve been warned not to abduct the children of either on this continent. There should be stronger beasts on the other continents, though. When I was sent to the past, they warned me that there were regions with Second and Third Advancement beasts, meaning there should be species peaking at Overlord strength if I interpreted the danger level correctly.


    Perhaps, like Cara, I might get lucky finding new friends there again." Karl suggested.


    "You could try for an Elemental. I don''t know if they count as beasts, but they certainly have a peak strength that is high enough. There are Totem Rank water Elementals in the ocean, and I heard a rumour that there is a Totem Ranked Magma Elemental in one of the coastal nations." Tessa offered.


    "Well, we can sort that out when we find the right partner. For the next week, we''ve got young ones to train, and we need to civilize Miss Sybil enough for her to sessfully attend the Academy."


    Sybil smiled at the mention. She was getting better with people, she was certain of it. It helped that people didn''t try to bully her anymore.


    Once that had changed, she found it much easier to get along with people. In fact, being a deaf Elite was almost like a cheat code. So few people could speak signnguage that they rarely bothered her, and instead went to others to get answers, but still gave her the level of respect that Awakened Rank Elites were seen to have earned.


    That was not muchpared to Karl''s group, but it was way higher than what she was used to.

 Chapter 641 Breach

    Chapter 641 Breach


    A knock at the door caught Tessa''s attention, and she opened the door to let a group of clerics in.


    "Monarch, We have an urgent issue. There has been a line breach." The first cleric in the door eximed, only to pause in confusion as a server with arge cake on a cart pushed past him into the room,pletely ignoring his panic.


    "Continue, sir. There has been a line breach where? I take it that you need an Elite of my Rank, or you wouldn''t be here in such a tizzy."


    [Tizzy, that''s a fun word. I like it.] Cara noted.


    The cleric nodded rapidly, then a ck robed figure appeared at his left.


    "Overlord Niall." Karl greeted him.


    More boots were stomping down the hallway, and Dana gave Karl a ''WTF is going on'' sort of look.


    Overlords Tabitha and Ahmad both burst into the room, skidding to a stop so they didn''t bowl over the slower reacting clerics.


    Karl cleared his throat. "First off, the advancement of my beasts didn''t trigger a false invasion rm, did it? There are a total of five Monarch Rank beasts with me now." Ahmad''s fluffy blonde cat ears perked up as he smelled cake.


    "Is that hazelnut and chocte with strawberries? Oh, no, it wasn''t you who panicked everyone this time. The Mountain Giants are pushing across the border at Soutle."


    The Mage noticed Karl''s confused look and continued.


    "That''s under a hundred kilometres west of here. We''re hoping to stop the advance before we have to scramble the entire Capital Defence Force. We have portals." The Mage exined, holding up a parchment scroll that was most likely the portal spell in question.


    Karl sighed. "Cara, Remi. Grab the cake. We will have to partyter. Sybil, do we need to take measures, or will you behave while we''re gone?" Sybil gave him a thumbs up and sent a message using the system''s chat function. {I will go hang out with the others for the rest of the day. They were talking about wanting to learn to work as a team, and Lady Rae says to give them a chance.}


    Karl nodded, and the Rogue ducked under the table, then vanished.


    Tabitha, the Warrior ss Overlord, looked startled.


    "You taught an Awakened Rank Rogue to Shadow Step already? You''ve only been back a few days."


    Rae smiled at her. "Not only did I teach her, we also awakened her after activating her ss. She''s a good prot¨¦g¨¦."


    The Warrior gave Rae an impressed look. "Which one were you? I studied the portfolio on the way over, but it didn''t mention a humanoid beast."


    "Lady Rae Bloodbath. I learned how to mimic humans when I became a Queen." n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om


    Tabitha nodded and gave her a wink. "It''s a pleasure to meet you, Lady Bloodbath. I look forward to seeing what a Spider Queen can do inbat."


    In his space, Thor sighed. So much for their days off.


    Niall made a ''get on with it'' gesture to Ahmad, and the mage opened the portal, floating over the floor of the apartment.


    "If any of you have obligations, you may remain, but we always appreciate more hands. We''re stretched a bit thin today. Everyone else was called outst night." Niall exined as he double-checked the fastenings on his clothing. It was the outfit Rae had made for him, so Karl knew that it wouldn''t have worn or torn, so it was likely a routine to focus and prepare himself.


    Karl''s team changed into their armour, and Cara vanished into her space with the cake.


    Keeping the cake fresh was priority one.


    They stepped through the portal, and Karl called out the bodyguards, who were still Monarchs, but felt somehow stronger now that Remi had advanced. The skill was a shared one, and it must have improved in some way when the Naga Queen became a Monarch.


    Remi came out with all three of her bodyguards, while the others came through the portal behind them


    "Careful. The intelligence was wrong." Niall warned, a half second before trees came crashing down around them, and an entire toon, or whatever the Mountain Giants called their military units, came into sight.


    Six Overlords, ten Monarchs, and twenty Royal Rank warriors. "We should have brought more cake." Rae muttered as thest of the team came through the portal, and Ahmad closed it behind them.


    The leader of the Mountain Giant team stepped forward and began to speak in crude Common.


    "Surrender now, and we will grant you a swift death." He demanded.


    "I don''t think that is going to work for us." Tabithaughed as she brought out a massive two-handed de.


    The Giant nodded. "Then we will pin you to the city walls as your Capital falls, so you can watch the end of your pathetic church."


    Karl noticed a shiny thing on the ground, and casually scooped it up into his inventory, then picked up a small stone.


    "Hey, Tabs. What do you think the odds are that I can brain him with a rock?" Karl could see the vein pulsing in her forehead at the nickname, but the Mountain Giant was literally spluttering in rage.


    Karl activated all of his buffs and coated the stone in Disintegration, then Nullify. His hand shot forward with the sharp crack of supersonic travel, and the stone rocketed towards its target.


    Unfortunately, Karl was never a professional ball yer, and even with his improved physical abilities, his aim wasn''t quite up to that standard.


    The[Nullify] spell on the stone shattered the Giant''s defensive barrier, which then crashed into his helmet, sending the golden armour piece flying.


    "Good thing we didn''t bet." Karl muttered as the Giant staggered.


    Niall snickered and winked at him before vanishing, then the fight was on.


    The Giants surged forward as Tabitha recovered, and the Thor came out to defend the back line in Cerro form.


    Behind Karl, Raeughed. "They are so going to kill you for that. You should p one to death while you have the chance. We didn''t get to do itst time."


    "Did nobody ever teach you the negotiation tactics of Giants, you psychopath." Tabitha muttered as she met the Giants'' charge.


    "We are negotiating. I learned this tactic from the Troll Emperor himself."

 Chapter 642 Gigantic Ambush

    Chapter 642 Gigantic Ambush


    The situation took a drastic turn as the wind began to howl and embers of fire filled the sky. Clouds gathered, turning the noon sky dark, except where it was punctuated with lightning. Then the Hellstorm Vortexes formed, and a keening noise began far above them.


    The first Meteors rocketed down through the clouds as Hawk came out to add his own Hellstorm Vortexes to the chaos.


    The ethereal blue fire was an odd counterpart to Remi''s bright orange mes, and the Overlord Rank Giants began to swear in their ownnguage.


    {Where is the Shaman? Make him cancel that.} They were insisting.


    Only, there was no Shaman to be found. Cara had exited her space to a spot at the edge of the trees and had crept up on him, Nullifying his counterspells until she could ambush him amidst the confusion.


    One of the Giant Overlords swept his de towards the sky, dispersing a huge portion of Remi''s spell, and creating a swathe of clear sky.


    The Naga Queen was already exhausted from the spell, and had retreated to her space to recover, but half the spell was still going, and the attack had missed Hawk, who was still actively raining fire on the battle.


    Niall reappeared to lodge a de in the back of the unarmoured head of the leader, then Rae vanished, only to reappear in spider form with all eight limbs stabbed through gaps in a Monarch Ranked Giant''s armour.


    "Showoff." Karl heard the Rogue mutter as both assassins vanished again, using their skills and movement to find targets that couldn''t defend against them.


    Dana''s Golems marched forward as the Giants tried to reach the core formation, where Karl and Tabitha were forming the front lines with all three of Remi''s bodyguards.


    Karl took out his de in one hand, with the Haint w on the other, and prepared to dy the Overlords until someone could deal with them.


    Ahmad was a Golem Mage, with four Legionnaire styled golems, and they were standing just behind Karl, waiting for the chance to attack around him.


    Ophelia had moved to the back of the group, defending against the attempts to encircle them, but Remi''s initiative had effectively dealt with the majority of the Royal Rank targets that the berserker would normally be responsible for.


    [LOOT!] Cara cheered as she made her way through the back of the Giant force.


    [Bring some back for me. I need a nap.] Remi pleaded.


    This new spell was great, but it was a one and done sort of deal. She could keep it active for a while, but there was no casting it twice. At least not at early Monarch Rank. n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om


    Karl was fighting on the defensive, using his enhanced speed to keep a pair of Overlords at bay as Ahmad and his Golems slowly wore them down.


    Tabitha was in a simr situation, but with Niall helping her. That left Remi''s bodyguards holding off one more between them. Despite the early casualties, the Giants were beginning to close in on the human force, and even Hawk and Remi''s bombardment wasn''t enough topletely stop them.


    "Any brilliant ns, Beast Master?" Tabitha asked as she was nearly knocked to her knees by her opponent.


    "Give me a moment, they''re running out of reinforcements." Karl called back, hoping to distract one of his targets for long enough to take advantage.


    Between Rae and Cara, they really were running short on reinforcements. The Giants had no way to deal with an invisible Bloodbath Spider that was incorporeal and immune to brute strength.


    They had attack skills that could hurt her, but they had to find her first.


    Suddenly, the target to Karl''s left howled in pain, then gurgled as his throat filled with blood.


    He downed a healing potion, then turned to attack behind him, looking for Rae. The spider had stabbed him in the throat then run away, giving Karl a chance to attack.


    The de was reced with his Maul, and five stacks of Monarch Ranked Disintegrate mmed into the Giant''s hip, where the armour was already damaged.


    The Overlord copsed to the ground, missing a leg, and Cara mentally whistled at his durability.


    Even on an Overlord, she had expected half his torso to be gone after that strike, but it had only gotten enough of his hip to sever a leg.


    However, that made him an easy target for Overlord Ahmad''s Golems, and the creature was decapitated only secondster.


    Then Niall was on the other, and Karl found himself free of an Overlord Rank target for the first time in the battle.


    He couldn''t go far, this was his spot on the front line, but he could switch to his bow and fire [Ghostfire] arrows into the remaining Monarch Rank Giants.


    It was the lowest energy cost attack ability that he had, and the arrows left a ghostly string back to the Haint w, which was adding a soul leech effect to the mes.


    It wasn''t immediately fatal, but every bit of bleeding and burning damage added up. The sound of truck horns behind them brought relief to Karl''s group, marking the arrival of reinforcements. However, the truck seemed to have stopped a few kilometres away.


    [Hawk, what are they doing?] Karl asked.


    [They can''t get close. We''re fighting in a circle, and the shockwaves are travelling most of a kilometre. Then there is Remi''s spell, and my mes.]


    That was right. Karl hadn''t thought about the fact that they had barriers to defend against the attacks. The ground did not, nor did the truck bringing the reinforcements.


    Reinforcements who had no idea what spell effects would turn on them.


    [Remi, you can take down the spell now and get some rest. There will be more fighting soon.]


    The horns of the trucks had alerted the Giants as well, and they were beginning to regroup now that the area attacks had ended. They had no intention of fighting to the end. Instead, they would rejoin the rest of their forces and push again.


    And, it would be harder than ever to stop them.


    Half of the Overlords were still alive, and they were covering for the others as they backed away, forcing Karl and his team to advance to keep pressure on them.


    Then, as one, the Giant Overlords used a ground m ability, sending a wall of stone rushing at Karl''s team. The sides were separated, and by the time that the ability had been blocked and nullified, the Giants were long gone, hundreds of metres away.


    That wasn''t dampening the spirits of the Overlords, though.


    "That has to be a new record. Three permanent Overlord Kills." Ahmad cheered, his ears t against his head in contrast to his happy words.


    Rae transformed back to humanoid to give him a confused look.


    "Normally, the engagement breaks off earlier than this. Neither nation can afford to lose Overlords at any sort of regr rate. So, if you''re losing, you take your casualties with you and retreat.


    Speaking of which, I don''t see the bodies. Did they manage to recover them? I thought that we had them secure behind us."


    Rae gave him a toothy smile.


    "That''s my loot. I''m not giving up my bath water."


    Overlord Tabitha gave a very undignified giggle. "Right, Bloodbath Spider. In the most literal sense."

 Chapter 643 Churned Earth

    Chapter 643 Churned Earth


    Karl took a moment to look around them, checking for bodies that needed to be looted, and any sign of additional attackers.


    But what shocked him was the pure devastation that had urred during the battle.


    A swathe over five hundred metres per side had been razed by [Apocalypse]. There were deep furrows in the ground from attack skills, the earth was churned as if someone had been tilling it for nting, and the entire stand of trees where the Giants had been hiding no longer existed.


    There was an excellent reason that the army did their best to keep the fighting to the border regions, and this was part of it.


    Nothing survived a battle at this level, and if it happened in a resource rich region, or over top of growing crops, it would be difficult to recover from.


    [All this mess, and we were just getting started. If they had more than one shaman with them, they would have been able to hold out much longer, but Cara killed the dumb one as soon as the fight started.] Rae noted.


    [You might have just been getting started, but over on my end, I was doing all I could to keep them from killing the squishy people.] Karl reminded her.


    [Good thing you''re not squishy. You took plenty of hits.] Cara reminded him.


    [I am going to be sore tomorrow for certain. But I suspect that we''re not done fighting yet. They wouldn''t have scrambled us for this when they weren''t expecting us to be attacked the moment we stepped out.] Karl offered.


    That got Cara and Rae excited. This had been a great fight, but it wasn''t nearly long enough. With the area attack that Remi dropped on the Giants, plus Cara busy attacking from behind, Rae only had to fight the Monarchs and the Overlords. But the Monarchs were already taking constant damage, and the Giants were ill-suited to dealing with a being as glorious as herself.


    In contrast, Cara would happily maul the weaker Giants so she could loot their bodies. She had given away almost all the trinkets that she had collected when she went on a birthday gifting spree, and now she needed more stuff to fill her loot box.


    Good stuff, broken stuff, shiny stuff. There was a ce and time for it all.


    Overlord Ahmad cleared his throat to get their attention, and smiled as Cara came over to nuzzle his hand. [This one smells like cat. It''s pretty good. I might have to trade sleeping spots with someone.] Cara noted.


    [I am fairly sure that he sleeps alone.]


    [Even better.]


    "The target we were intending to find is five kilometres west of our location, and currently engaged by another strike force. The message just came through. We have nes scouring the area for Giants that might have evaded our patrols, but the strike team will need our assistance if they''re going to survive without casualties." The Catman mage informed them.


    Rae waited patiently for them to be ready, while Cara took the chance to check the ground onest time for loot. They had grabbed many of the bodies as they ran away, but there was a chance that there would still be valuables on the ground, as the Giants were not system users, so they didn''t have a storage space.


    The Clerics climbed up on Thor''s back once the saddle Rae had made him was equipped, then Rae ced Dana on one Golem and Ahmad on the other.


    That should cover everyone who didn''t have supernatural strength, and they were ready to move.


    "Is this how you usually travel?" Ahmad asked, bemused by the actions of the Bloodbath Spider.


    "Yeah. Mages and Clerics can''t run as fast as the rest of us, so we let them rest and have either Thor or the Golems provide transport.


    That way they''re fully rested when we arrive, and we don''t have to slow down for them." Karl exined.


    The Overlord Rank mage smiled and nodded in agreement, though he had spells that would let him keep up with the group, and knew that Dana did as well.


    Now that she was a Murim Battlemage, her physical skills were rapidly increasing. The martial arts aspect of her ss was strong, and she had already possessed wind walking abilities.


    But riding on the Golem was certainly easier. Plus, with eight legs, the ride was very smooth, you weren''t jostled around like you were on a horse, or on a Cerro, who swayed as he walked.


    The jogging pace of a group of high ranked elites was fast enough that the vehicle convoy was falling further behind them on the rough terrain that used to be a main road.


    Someone would have to bring equipment out and grade the road back to smooth gravel, but that could take a few days, and wouldn''t start until after the battles in the region had ended.


    Until then, the vehicles would do their best, and Elites with suitable skills would level a route for their own teams.


    Overhead, Hawk had already spotted their targets.


    [Turn a bit northwest. They''re fighting in a valley to keep the damage contained.] He instructed.


    [Got it. How is the battle going?]


    [The humans are outnumbered two to one, but there is only one Overlord on our side, and four Monarchs.]


    That would make it a standard strike team, Karl assumed. Five people was fairly normal for responses, and his own team was normally set up the same way.


    Compared to that, the team he hade with was akin to swatting flies with a hammer.


    "As soon as we''re over this ridge, we will be on them. Hawk says it''s two standard patrols on their side, versus one on ours." Karl informed Overlord Tabitha, who was running beside him.


    "Alright, I will take the left side, you take the right. We will drive forward to our team, then spread out to give them a free side to retreat to our clerics." n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om


    [Hawk, we''reing in. You can start clearing a path for us now.]


    [About time. These Giants need to learn that fire is better than Earth Magic.] Hawk agreed.


    [They''ve been throwing stones at you again, haven''t they?]


    [Constantly.]

 Chapter 644 Rescue The Overlord

    Chapter 644 Rescue The Overlord


    Karl led the charge down the hill, hoping that the Monarch Ranked [Eternal Lightning] barrier that was over the whole group would trick the Elites into thinking that it was just arge group of Monarchs that wereing to the aid of the outnumbered force.


    Normally, the extra Overlord with the fancy armour that the Mountain Giants were wearing, would be enough for them to still have the advantage, but with three new Overlords on the human side, this would be a short and messy battle.


    Tabitha''s n was to surround the force, making them fight in both directions, and preventing them from retreating, which would prevent them from reaching a healer who could resurrect their fallen.


    If it worked, they would rack up two more confirmed Overlord kills for the day, bringing them to five. Battles between Overlords rarely ended in permanent death, so it would be a huge change in the bnce of power at this end of the battle.


    Others had told Karl in the past that the Overlords were generally only there to keep the peace, but that didn''t seem true of the Mountain Giants, who had more of them than anyone else, on an individual national basis.


    As they charged into battle, one of the Mountain Giant Overlords held up a talisman made of what looked like pure diamond, then a pair of portals began to form, allowing reinforcements to arrive.


    "Crap, they tricked us. It''s an ambush." Niall noted, his voice more amused than concerned.


    Rae shifted back to her humanoid form without breaking stride and smiled at him.


    "Do you want to y a game?"


    The Overlord smiled back at her and both of them vanished, while Tabitha cussed them out.


    "We''ve got an entire battle ahead, and they''ve already run off to y?" Sheined.


    Karl focused on Rae''s position, and realized she had gone through the portal, but he could feel her magic only a few kilometres away, and she was keeping a kill count as she worked.


    "Don''t worry about it too much. Those portals only go a few kilometres. They''re in a Mountain Giant army camp causing chaos now that all the Overlords are gone." Tabitha shook her head in dismay, then Hawk swept across the battlefield, throwing out Monarch Ranked [Hellstorm] vortexes that were rapidly spawning smaller spells through the newly arrived Giants.


    "If there is one thing that we''re good at, it''s area suppression. Go pick your Overlord, and we will deal with the rest."


    There was only one with the reinforcements, making it three on three, counting the Overlord that was with the team they were relieving.


    "Thor, charge into the middle with the clerics and relieve the defenders." Karl ordered.


    Ahmad''s Golems were hacking a path through to the newly arrived Overlord, and Karl''s team was moving to join the encircled forces, forcing a gap in the attackers, while Karl hung back and used his bow to keep the path clear. n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om


    [Disintegrate] was incredibly effective on the arrows, and punched through armour like cloth. The golden te was absorbing most of the energy from the spell, but the arrows were finding their marks, deep in flesh, even if they weren''t carving holes in their chests.


    Karl smiled as he saw the Giants trying to deal with Ophelia, whose fully buffed Dire Bear form was nearly as tall on all four feet as the Mountain Giants were on two. They clearly were not expecting that sort of foe, and the Berserker was handily herding them to where Dana and Cara were waiting for them.


    Remi was halfheartedly casting spells, but it was clear that she was still exhausted from trying to keep up such arge spell at full power.


    Ophelia mmed her front paws down, using [Gravity m] to knock a row of Giants over for Dana and her Golems to deal with. [Oh, that''s it. I get it now.] Thor cheered, and then a tail m took another group of Monarch Rank Giants to their knees.


    [Isn''t it kind of them to kneel in respect for the might of a Cerro?] Karl joked.


    [Wait, what are you guys doing there? It sounds fun. Eighty-seven, eighty-eight.] Rae interjected.


    Whatever they had found at the camp, Rae was going on a rampage.


    A group of Giants charged Karl, who was now isted and standing by himself, a bit further up the hill where he had stopped when the reinforcements arrived.


    It was a great spot to shoot from, but nobody would be able to get to him in an emergency unless one of the beasts returned to their space.


    Karl charged into them as fast as he could, forgetting that his physical stats had been pushed so far beyond normal by the Packmaster ss, and the [Bestial Champion] skill that buffed him even further when the pack was in danger.


    The de of Champions buried itself to the hilt in the chest of a Monarch Rank Giant, who simply stared at Karl in shock for a few seconds, unable toprehend what had just happened.


    Karl followed up using [Rend] coated in [Nullify], aimed at the throat of the beast on his left.


    Blood sprayed into the air, and something tugged at Karl''s sword arm.


    A sharp tug pulled it free, and Karl saw a spectral image of the dying Giant being forcefully ripped from its body by a string attached to the Haint w.


    The weapon was getting thirsty, and while the Giant''s body was healing as it tried to retreat, the Soul Siphon was stubborn.


    The others were shouting something in Giant, but Karl couldn''t make it out as he used [Rend] to parry the attacksing his way.


    The Giants in the back were horrified by the attack, so Karl decided to take advantage.


    [Ghostfire] coated on four arcs of [Rend] hurled from his fingertips barely grazed the Giants, but it set them on fire, and established the soul damage to give the weapon a link.


    Oddly, that made it easier for their Shaman to free the mortally wounded fighter. There must be a limit on how much Soul energy the Haint w could steal, and when it was pulled from multiple targets, it was easier to deal with.


    A sh of his de, and the judicious application of Nullify over Disintegrate, took the head off another Giant, right before Karl was hit by the t of a de and sent flying.


    He twisted in the air to keep his eyes on the Giants, andnded on his feet, sliding a few more metres before he came to a stop, unharmed.


    [Oh, they''re in trouble now.] Caraughed from the far side of the battlefield, where she was helping Thor and Tessa push the Giants away from the defenders on that side, to give everyone a break.


    Karl braced his feet and pushed off to jump back into battle, then threw a flurry of [Rend] attacks ahead of him to put the defenders off bnce.


    Another Soul was grabbed by the Haint w as Karl took an arm off the Giant, then followed up with a sh across the back of its legs as it turned to defend the weakened side. This time, the Giant was too close to death, and the Haint w ripped its energy free of the body, causing the Giant to crumple dead on the ground.


    Then, a roar went up through the Giants as an Overlord fell to thebined efforts of Rae and Niall. The Giants were surging in their direction, but the feeling was different. They were not looking to overrun the humans, they wanted to recover the body and retreat.


    [Let them have that one. It will make them go away.] Karl instructed Rae.


    [Fine. I''ve done pretty good today. They can have one to bring back to life. We will just kill him againter.]

 Chapter 645 Lady Othello

    Chapter 645 Lady Othello


    With the death of the Overlord, the Giants had realized that things were not going their way, and began to retreat towards the portals.


    They were in for a shock when they got there, as Rae and Niall had killed anything that moved in the camp on the other side, and then had returned here to ambush an Overlord together.


    It was good to see Rae making friends with simr interests.


    Karl rejoined the others as the Giants ran away, but didn''t let down his guard.


    "Keep ready. They''re going to find a massacre on the other side of the Portals, and they mighte back." He warned before Niall could.


    The Monarch leading the other team came over to shake his hand with a smile. "I''ve already greeted the others. I am Lady Othello, Head Knight of the Silver des." She introduced herself.


    "Karl, The Beast Master."


    She smiled. "I gathered that much from the Cerro. I must say, young Thor is quite the cavalry unit. I don''t think that I''ve ever seen a breaching charge quite so effective."


    Thor stomped his feet and wobbled his head in pleasure at the praise. Gravity m and Earthquake worked amazingly well to put the Giants off bnce for him to charge into the defence lines.


    "I appreciate the rescue. Even with a pdin of my power, we were having issues. But what is thatbat power you have? Not your beasts, which are an unfair advantage to start with. But your personalbat power." Lady Othello asked, an excited gleam in her eyes at the chance to gain new knowledge.


    "I can share some of the skills and physical stats of my beasts. With five of them at Monarch Rank, I would estimate that my base physical abilities are twice what an average Monarchs are. Mostly, I only use a few of the most efficient attack skills, though there are more."


    "Like Soul Chain?" The Overlord Rank Pdin asked.


    Karl shook his head. "I have a weapon with Soul Steal and Soul Damage on it. That''s the effect you''re seeing, not one of my personal skills."


    She shrugged. "Either way, you should have seen how terrified they were when you literally ripped the soul essence out of a Monarch Ranked Giant.


    It makes a bit of a spectacle, and I do hope that you have a n for when they start to focus on you to eliminate the threat."


    Karl nodded silently, while Rae transformed back to human and rode one of her Golems over to the conversation.


    "Are we making ns to deal with the Mountain Giants? I vote genocide." Lady Othello looked confused at the new arrival, but Niall justughed.


    "Lady O, meet Queen Rae Bloodbath. One of Karl''s bonded partners, and a Monarch Rank Bloodbath Spider." He exined with a wink toward his counterpart.


    Othello smiled at Rae. "I saw your handiwork today, and I have no doubt that it is an actual possibility."


    Tabitha came over and cleared her throat. "I hate to break up the happy fun time, but the Giants have clearly advanced past our lines. We need to scout them out and find the advance strike force teams that have made it past the defenders."


    That brought everyone back on task.


    Karl nodded in agreement. "Right, we found the first group nearly five kilometres from here, closer to the Capital. They were waiting next to where we entered by Portal. They seemed determined that they would raze the Capital with this offensive, so they won''t be alone." n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om


    [Hawk, what do you see? Any more targets?] Karl asked.


    [Sure. Do you want weak ones, lots of weak ones, strong ones, or lots of strong ones?]


    [How many groups do you see that aren''t fighting?]


    [Maybe fifty?]


    Karl cleared his throat to get everyone''s attention back on him. "Hawk says there are at least fifty groups of Mountain Giants past the defenders, and that''s just the ones that aren''t fighting anyone right now."


    [Only four that have big ones stronger than you.]


    "Four of them with Overlords." Karl added.


    This portion of the border near Lake Chiptonrith marked the closest spot for the Giants to cross their border and head to the GDN Capital. It was a long way from any Mountain Giant poption centre, as far as anyone else knew. So, it was normally a safe route for travellers to pass through to move between the Golden Dragon Nation and Newbon.


    "Should we split up?" Lady Othello asked.


    The other Overlords nodded, and then Tabitha sighed. "I think it''s for the best. I will go with your response team, and the other two will stay with the Beast Master and his team.


    Most of the Giants should be operating with one Overlord at the most, and this will give us the advantage."


    Karl frowned. "There are a fewrge groups as well. Should we deal with them before we split."


    Othello looked at him like he was insane. "You want to get into a fight where you know you''re outnumbered?"


    Karl smiled at her.


    "More loot from the loot god. Besides, we specialize in it."


    Othello hummed to herself as she thought about the answer, then realized that Cara was wearing a gaudy golden chain around her neck.


    "Wait, I don''t remember that. When did the Void Badger start wearing bling?" She asked.


    Karl inspected the chain, thenughed. [Chain of Disruption] Grants the wearer''s crowd control and interrupt type abilities a five percent greater chance of sess.


    "It looks Cyclops made, and it''s Monarch Rank, so my guess is she got it sometime in thest hour. It looks good on her, though. Very fashionable."


    Karl definitely wasn''t going to mention that it looked like a cat cor made of gold.


    Dana reached down to pet Cara''s head. "It increases her chance to disrupt enemy attacks. You know, the fact that the Giants'' equipment doesn''t bond or vanish with the dead makes them a pretty good target for upgrades. My own gear could use a bit of a refresher, but nothing that they wear is suitable for a Battlemage who needs mobility."


    Othello shrugged. "Most of the Cyclops made gear does bond to the user. However, bonded gear that is in use remains on the body when you die. It can be imed by anyone after you''re gone. It''s just the items that are put away that remain locked away."

 Chapter 646 Large Group Hunting

    Chapter 646 Large Group Hunting


    Tabitha sighed as the group got sidetracked. "So, what first? The big group, or hunt another Overlord? We have three permanent kills today, and if we had imed the body, it would have been four."


    Niall shrugged. "It was better to encourage them to leave than to make them fight for the body. Besides, we can get another when we hit a group with only one Overlord."


    Overlord Ahmad nodded in agreement. "We should hit thergest groups in the area first, so they don''t reach the city, then go hunting Overlords. Four on one, they won''t even be able to run away.


    Who knows, maybe our young friends here will manage to get an above Rank kill at Monarch. Wouldn''t that be something?"


    The othersughed and Karl smiled at the Catman Mage.


    "Now, we just need to find a way for you to get one at Overlord and shake the world." Karl offered.


    The mageughed. "Now you''re pushing it. Totems are just built different. Literally. Their attack power is usually only half again as much as a peak Overlord, but the Totem advancement does something to them, and they take a tiny fraction of damage from anyone who isn''t a Totem. I don''t know what sort of defensive skill they all get, but even the Archbishop has it, so it''s not a warrior type ability. That''s why they''re so important to their nations."


    If you had to go fifty on one with Overlords to take on a Totem, even a healer specialist would be impossible to beat. Perhaps it should be, especially a healer would be impossible to beat.


    [Three kilometres north, there is a huge group passing by us soon. Not strong, mostly Dana Mage level.] Hawk updated.


    "We have a target. There is arge group passing three kilometres from us. Nobody has intercepted them, so they''ll be headed straight for the city if we don''t." Karl informed them.


    "Alright, we trust your scout. Lead the way."


    Hawk was suspiciously happy, like ''I just found water magic users to torture'' happy. Normally, he was only bloodthirsty in specific situations, so Karl wasn''t sure why this was different, until they topped a hill, and saw the army arrayed below them.


    Mountain Giants, Hill Giants, Frost Giants, Ogres, Ettin, Cyclops and others that Karl had no name for were marching in formation towards the Capital, nearly two thousand strong.


    Most were not at Royal Rank. There were hundreds of Ascended and Commander Rank Ogres and Giant subspecies at the back, working in the supply section. The number that were actually at Royal Rank or higher was closer to a quarter of the total.


    That should make the start quick and bloody. n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om


    "Where are the leaders?" Niall muttered, not seeing the Overlords that should be with them.


    "In the scouting groups all around the army, clearing the way for their advance. Ourst fight let them move past us, and now we''re behind their lines." Karl quietly replied, rying Hawk''s scouting intelligence.


    Lady Othello turned to face them with a questioning look.


    "What''s the n?"


    "We fight. The Overlords hold back for now. You can tag team the reinforcements when they try to stop us. Put the bodies in your inventory, or call for one of my beasts to do it. They can''t take them back to resurrect that way." Karl suggested.


    "You''re going to try to solo an army?" Tabitha asked in disbelief.


    "I have a team. Besides, look how happy the War God is."


    Tessa was literally glowing red with divine energy, and the army in the valley below them would notice it soon. "I called for reinforcements. If you can hold them here for five minutes, we will have hundreds of Elites and an entire regiment of cleric led infantry on site." Othello informed them.


    Dana rolled her eyes at Karl, then sighed in resignation.


    "Don''t worry, Cara will look after you. If anything happened, it would mess up her sleeping arrangement." Karl joked.


    Remi woke up a little from her nap. [Are we fighting again?]


    [And it''s a big one. We will need your spells again. But don''t go too hard, they''re going to have clerics trying to Counterspell them.]


    Remi came out with her bodyguards, and Karl prepared for the charge.


    "For the record, this is a terrible idea." Overlord Ahmad reminded them.


    "Noted. But I''m going to do it anyhow. Remember, don''t get too involved in the battle at the start, you''ll need to be free to deal with the Overlords when they arrive."


    The Catman Mage smiled. "Go, enjoy your personal vour of crazy."


    Karl started the charge down the hill towards the back of the convoy, where the Commander and low Royal Ranked Giants were pulling the supply carts. Every army moves on its stomach, and while they were only a few hours from the Capital at a Giant''s marching speed, destroying their food and gear would make a siege much more difficult.


    Plus, there were other advantages.


    [Hawk, Remi. Area suppression, if you would.]


    Dozens of [Hellstorm] vortexes spawned in the rear of the army, demolishing wagons and tearing apart the Commander Rank Giants and weaker support team members before they could even understand what was happening.


    The Royals fared a bit better, but everyone was so distracted by the attack that they didn''t even notice Karl''s team until Tessa led Thor past him and into their lines with her golden spear levelled.


    Thor knocked an entire column to the ground with [Gravity m] then trampled them as Tessa spun her spear and slit throats as they passed.


    [The Tessa really is one of us when she gets feisty, isn''t sh?] Caraughed.


    Normally, she was on defence with Thor, but a War Cleric inbat was a fearsome sight. Especially when she had a long spear and a Monarch Ranked Cerro mount.


    Karl sent his Lamia bodyguards to the right, towards the main force with him, while Remi went left with hers to finish the back of the supply column.


    Karlughed as the Giants hurled stones, ice and spears at him, all of which simply bounced off his barriers, doing too little damage to get past the reduction of [Void Body].


    [Skill Master 4 Activation] Skill: Rampage has improved by 1 Tier. New skill [Rampage 2] gained.


    [Rampage Tier 2] Every time any enemy is damaged by the Packmaster or a bonded beast, increase the damage done by the Packmaster and allbonded beasts for one minute.


    It was a one word change from the original version, but a critical change. Every bit of damage they did would increase everyone''s damage, not just their own.


    The damage caused by the Hellstorm Vortexes wasn''t only increasing the damage done by Remi and Hawk anymore, but the entire team.


    Karl returned fire, using [Disintegrate] covered [Rend] attacks for area coverage. He was mildly horrified by the way that the first rows of Commander and Royal Rank Giants were simply eviscerated, split in half by the attacks as the damage continued to stack.


    Over and over, Karl hurled the t arcs of power into the Giants, cutting the weaker members down as if he were harvesting wheat.


    That was sure to get someone powerful''s attention, and then he could really test the extent of the new [Rampage] upgrade.


    In his mind, Rae wasughing hysterically as her legs punched through armour like warm butter. All the blood was hers. She didn''t even particrly want this vour, and she could have it with just a casual stab. So, instead of keeping them for herself, she started hurling the bodies into the air. The severed limbs detached as they flew, causing the bodies to rain blood over the battlefield as Rae wove her webs and made the killing fields an impossible maze of sticky silk.


    This was the single greatest day of her life.

 Chapter 647 5 v Army

    Chapter 647 5 v Army


    In the distance, the Overlords watched in horror as Karl''s group went wild through the back ranks of the army.


    "You know, if the reinforcements don''t get here soon, he really is going to solo an army." Overlord Niall noted.


    "He''s certainly efficient at removing targets below his rank. But what is up with that spider. That is the most gruesome thing I have ever seen." Othello agreed.


    "What you fail to realize is that she''s not even serious yet. She is a Night Haunter, and I taught her to use [Vibrating de]." The Rogue Overlordughed.


    The Pdin frowned. "You''re saying that she could be invisible, incorporeal, and immune to physical damage, but she''s just running around enjoying herself? No wonder the old generations tried to exterminate her species."


    "Oh, you knew about them?" Niall asked, surprised at her recognition.


    "History buff, what can I say? But the first Overlord led group of Giants is on the way. We should get going."


    Niall nodded. "I will move us all with [Advanced Shadow Step]." n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om


    Below them, Karl had finally reached the first of the Monarch Ranked Giants that hade to intervene. Fully equipped with Shaman barriers, they had charged through the vortexes to reach him. Karl opened his fingers and hurled Disintegrate coated in Nullify at them, shattering barriers and cracking armour with the first strike.


    The power of his improved skills was a heady thing, andbined with [Void Body] Karl was beginning to feel like an invincible god of battle.


    Then the counterattack hit, and he realized that he might have overestimated his immortality.


    Ten [Cleave] attacks from the Monarch Ranked Giants hit him at once, shattering [Eternal Lightning] and carving deep lines in his armour, then the flesh underneath. His body began to rapidly mend itself, but the point was made.


    Ten percent of his life reduced from every attack by [Void Body] was no small amount, but all ten of them were at the same Rank as he was, and Cleave was a slow casting, high damage skill.


    Karl charged into their ranks as he reactivated [Eternal Lightning], getting too close for them all to attack at once.


    Three Frost Giants fell in the first ten seconds, hacked apart with [Ghostfire]ced attacks that targeted their weakness to heat. But the Mountain Giants had Cyclops forged armour, and they were smart enough not to fall for simple tricks.


    Karl spun and parried for a few seconds before the Bodyguards made it to him. The Lamia pair sliced into the Giants with [Rend], allowing Karl to break free of their attacks and target one to take down.


    [There is a cap on the stacked damage. It''s not growing anymore.] Hawkined.


    [It says one minute.] Karl reminded him.


    [Not the whole minute. It stopped before that.] Hawk amended.


    So, there was some hidden soft cap to keep him from using an army of small creatures to stack millions of miniscule attacks for the skill effect.


    [Well, now we know how strong we can be. Is it enough?] Karl asked as he defended the Lamia pair, allowing them tond constant attacks.


    [It should be.]


    Karl threw up an [Earth Barrier] between himself and the rest of the battle, and realized the weakness in his new skill.


    Rampage only increased damage, not overall power. His defensive skills weren''t getting any better with time, only his offensive. So, in a way, he was bing a ss cannon.


    Assuming that he was fighting something of simr skill, that was. These Monarch Ranked Giants were good, but nowhere near his increased speed, even if they were nearly equal to him in strength.


    The stone barrier came down only secondster, hacked apart by the earth magic of the Hill Giants, who were trying to pelt him and the Lamia with magical stones. The size that they could throw without risking hitting the Giants he was inbat with was notrge enough to make it past [Void Body], so Karl wasn''t too concerned.


    However, the constant pelting made it hard to keep his bnce, so he had to split his attention to avoid the majority of them.


    Progress was down to a crawl for the moment, but the fight behind Karl was close to over, and then Remi and Hawk would be able to focus their attacks on the main force of the army.


    Behind Karl, Niall popped in and dropped three Overlord Rank Giant bodies, then vanished again, going back to his team.


    Karl tossed the bodies in Rae''s space, knowing that the Giants would be hurting badly after that day''s fighting.


    [Overlords are here for Lotus. The Cat Overlord died.] Thor updated him.


    [How did that happen? Did they get there fast enough?] Karl replied, trying not to get too distracted from the fight.


    [Fast enough. He''s standing again, but Lotus is tired. Tessa is tying her to my back.]


    Well, that was a start. At least they had managed to save their fallen Overlord, while collecting three more from the Giants.


    By Hawk''s early scouting reports, that meant there was only one more Giant Overlord nearby, so the strike team could afford a moment to rest and recover.


    [The other weak groups areing this way. Rae, can you warn the Tessa?]


    [On it.]


    That was another two hundred Giants, by Karl''s estimate of Hawk''s reports. They were going to need reinforcements of their own soon because the number of Hellstorm Vortexes was falling, and there were still enough Giant Shamans that they were only up for five or ten seconds each, before being dispelled.


    Even [Eternal Lightning] couldn''t refresh energy fast enough to keep up a full assault, and as a result, the stacked damage would soon start falling when the total fell below the cap.


    Karl was sent flying by a strike to his side that shattered ribs as it cut through his armour, and then the Lamia were in trouble. They were frantically parrying the Giants'' attacks, but they were more of a caster type than meleebatants, and they didn''t have the brute strength of the Naga Warriors.


    Karl focused on refreshing his armour spell and waited a few seconds for his regeneration to heal his ribs, then called a fresh pair of bodyguards beside him, giving up some ground, but gaining time to recover some energy.


    [How long has it been?] Karl asked, trying to time the arrival of the reinforcements.


    [Ten minutes.] Remi replied grimly. She had also been keeping time, and the reinforcements were well overdue. Or noting at all, depending on whether any of the Giants'' forces had reached the Capital''s security zone.

 Chapter 648 Too Slow

    Chapter 648 Too Slow


    The Giants approached carefully, waiting for Karl to make a move. They knew that they couldn''t afford to be reckless against his speed, but this strange human also appeared to heal unnaturally quickly, despite being separated from his healers.


    Karl was using [Rend] with [Nullify] to get past the defensive abilities of the Giants and force them to parry the skills, which kept them at a distance.


    The fight speed had slowed to a crawl, and the whole battle was falling into a lull as the humans'' stamina ran low.


    Thor''s efforts would have them recovered in no more than five minutes, but that was a long time inbat. The Giants backed off a little, and a horde of Ogres advanced. They were only Royal Rank, the leaders of their species. But fighting them would burn more energy, and the Giants didn''t care about expending them as cannon fodder.


    They had put stronger barriers over the weaker species, but when [Nullify] hit them, the barriers put up no real resistance.


    But, another wave stepped over the bodies of the fallen, then another, and another.


    [We''re done at the back, you can retreat to our position, and we will prepare to attack again.] Thor informed Karl, who was alone with his bodyguards, fighting the seemingly endless tide of Ogres.


    One full force backwards leap disengaged Karl from the attackers, and showed him that the Ogres were nearly depleted, and the remainder were being forced forward by the Giants, as they weren''t willingly fighting anymore.


    The move put the battle in a tense standoff, with the two sides thirty metres apart and staring at each other, waiting for some sort of trigger to continue.


    More groups of Giants were joining the survivors, but they wouldn''t make much difference in the short term. What they needed was someone who could challenge Karl one on one, and keep him from sweeping through their ranks.


    "What''s the news?" Karl asked as he reached the others, while Tessa cast a small healing spell and a refreshing ability on him.


    "We weren''t fast enough to respond. The Capital is under attack by the Giants'' allies. Right now, it''s Ogres and Goblins. We''ve got the Giant armies slowed down enough that they haven''t engaged yet.


    But there should be more forces in the area, which may or may not have been engaged by the other strike teams and the border guard.


    There is nothing on the radio at all. We think that they might have a spell that is blocking the signals. Even trying tomunicate between groups we can see doesn''t work." Niall exined.


    "So, we finish up here and then hunt? Or do we return to the Capital to defend the city walls?" Karl asked.


    The four Overlords looked at each other. Without orders, it was their call. Ahmad looked to the sky, as if for inspiration. "Well, we''re all on the stronger side of Overlord, so we''re needed in both spots. I don''t know which would be better, but now that I''ve recovered enough, I will mount a full assault against the remainder of the army. My skills, like yours, are not great against single targets, but highly effective againstrge groups, though the energy drain is incredibly high. I''m a Rank over the strongest of the remaining forces, so I should be able to wipe them out if I canst long enough, we just need to keep them from running away until I finish.


    With your Thor here, I will recover quickly enough to be ready for the next battle, I hope. Then we can follow the scouting reports of Hawk to see if we''re still needed here."


    Karl nodded in agreement. "I will have Hawk and Remi assist you so that there are too many spells for the Giant Shamans to effectively dispel them all. It will save you some mana, and hopefully allow us to clear this group."


    Overlord Othello smirked. "You know, after this, they are going to make us suffer through another of those godawful award ceremonies."


    Niall winked at her. "That''s if they find out. We can just tell them that we were busy wiping out the Overlords and the smaller patrols all day, and pretend that this force never existed."


    The Overlords looked over at Karl''s group, assuming they would want the fame and glory of such a feat. After all, even with the presence of the Overlords, they were still outnumbered by more than a hundred to one. If it wasn''t for thepletely broken skill that Karl had, which allowed his beasts to tear through the weaker portion of the army, they would have been almost immediately overrun.


    The Overlords were still trying to work out what sort of skill that was, but Karl wasn''t saying anything.


    [It''s a good thing that we have the vortexes to start the fight. It gets the skill all stacked up before we have to actually fight.] Hawk noted.


    [How is your range? You''re not going to get stones thrown at you when you try to attack, are you?]


    Currently, Hawk was hiding among the thick clouds overhead, out of sight from the ground, even with his prodigious size.


    [It will be fine. I know where they are rtive to you, so I don''t even have toe down for this one.]


    Right, he had Soul Sight now, so he didn''t need to rely on his impressive natural sight to find the enemy.


    "Overlord Ahmad, whenever you are ready, my team will join you with the Hellstorm vortexes." The Catman mage took a deep breath and began to focus. Spears of lightning formed overhead, dozens of them. Then hundreds. Then thousands.


    The Giants were charging, but Hawk and Remi had started with the Vortexes, which were cloning with every strike, creating a wall of spinning fire for the Giants to run through in order to reach the humans.


    Then the first volley of spearsshed out, taking down an entire row of Giants. Then another, and another, and another.


    The Giant army was falling in waves as the vortexes chased them across the battlefield, and spears tore through their retreating bodies.


    Then Hawk switched his vortexes to the far side, blocking the retreat as thest of Ahmad''s spears cleared the survivors.


    [Cara forward, LOOT!] The badger shouted to herself, before racing off with Remi and the bodyguards to double tap anything that might have survived and clean out the bodies.


    "What are they doing?" Tabitha asked, watching them moving silently across the battlefield.


    "Checking the corpses. We don''t want them regrouping with the others and telling anyone what happened here."


    Rae was making Ahmad a hammock hanging off Thor''s side opposite Lotus, who was just beginning to wake up after over exerting herself with a Resurrection during the battle.


    The mage was out cold, but with Thor''s barrier over him, he was in no real danger. His energy would recover, and a bit of food when he woke up would have him right as rain.


    "Alright, what is the call?" Karl asked quietly.


    "Let your beasts finish, then we will clear this area and head back for the city. They won''t have sent the majority of their troops on foot, this was probably intended to be a sneak attack, while the forces arriving by Portal would have been detected." Niall instructed. n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om


    [Hawk, find us more targets. Let''s make it a full clear.]

 Chapter 649 Multiple Targets

    Chapter 649 Multiple Targets


    [Head Northeast, there is a group that will be crossing behind us on a path to intercept where this team should be.] Hawk instructed, then remembered to add details.


    [Three teams, led by the Monarchs and made up mostly of Royals.]


    Karl didn''t set a fast pace, so everyone would be mostly rested when they made it to the target, but this shouldn''t be a hard battle. The numbers were very close to even, and Karl''s group was much stronger than their adversaries. n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om


    [I can take care of this with Hawk. They will never even know what happened to them.] Rae suggested as Karl and the others casually jogged along.


    [I won''t stop you if you want to y. Hawk can find us another target after.] Rae vanished in spider form, followed by Overlord Niall, who was more interested in what she was up to than staying with the group.


    [Turn further East, towards the city. There is a Monarch led group that way as well, but only five Giants.] Hawk suggested, and Karl quietly altered the route.


    Nobody asked where the two assassins had gone, they just epted that they were doing sneaky things. The Inquisitor frequently vanished to take care of some secret objective, and the other Overlords were used to it. So, when Rae did the same, they just assumed that it was part of some established n.


    A minuteter, the group came into sight, and Karl chuckled as he realized what Hawk had done. These were all Frost Giants, and the water hating bird had sent everyone else to deal with them while he yed with the Mountain Giants.


    He hated water magic, but not enough to willingly expose himself to it.


    There weren''t many things that Hawk could do now that would actually surprise the group, and sending them all to deal with the parts that he didn''t like was no shock at all.


    What was surprising was that there was a Monarch Ranked Frost Giant here.


    As Karl had been informed, the Frost Giants were the weakest of their kin, so there shouldn''t be many Monarch-Ranked Giants in the entire nation, and now to see one here with five Royals was certainly a surprise.


    Perhaps he should talk to them for a moment first.


    At least long enough to satisfy his curiosity.


    "I want to try to talk to this giant before anything else happens. Something is off if we''re finding Monarch Ranked Frost Giantsing from the west." Karl informed the group as they advanced.


    "Monarch Frost Giants? I wonder which one? I might have met them before." Lady Othello suggested.


    That about settled it. If he didn''t want to talk to them, someone would.


    Karl slowed as he came into sight of the Giants, then raised a hand in greeting and stopped twenty metres from the group, who were all facing him with weapons drawn.


    "Greetings, I am Karl, and this is Overlord Othello. We have a few questions and a request for you." Karl informed the leader of the group, a Frost Giant Shaman woman wearing long white robes.


    "The human wants pay?" The Giant seemed confused.


    "Why are you invading from the west, so far from your borders, when your presence is needed at home?" Karl began.


    The Frost Giant looked annoyed. "The Mountain Giants rallied all the Giants to their great benefactor. Today, we conquer the humans and im the System for ourselves."


    Well, as a reason, that made sense. But Othello had a question.


    "A great benefactor, not the Mountain Giant Sage?" She asked.


    "Old Sage is dead. Titan benefactor wants the system. We know that the humans have it in their capital. You, Beast Man, why do you work with the humans?" The Shaman demanded, gesturing to Karl.


    "I was born here. The human nation is my home."


    That was a good enough reason for the Giant, and she just nodded before turning back to Othello.


    "You, I know you. You should leave this ce. The Great Benefactor will kill all humans once he has System Stuff for the Giants."


    Othello sighed. "Turn around and go back. If you continue, we have to fight. You came, you did your duty to the great benefactor and dyed us here. Now go and return home."


    The Giants might not be very bright, but they could do enough math to know that Royal versus Overlord equalled dead. If there was a fight, it would be a very short one.


    The Frost Giant Shaman took out a delicately carved magic stone from her pouch and opened a small portal, then led her people through. It wasn''t as good as dead, but they weren''t on the attack anymore.


    More importantly, Karl had many questions about who this benefactor was that appeared to have killed the old Sage that led the Mountain Giants.


    That wasn''t the Mountain Giant Totem that Karl had met, or so he assumed. But it had to be a strong Totem Rank creature, perhaps even a second Mythical Rank creature had appeared on the continent.


    "I think that we need to go back to the city. Right now." Othello whispered.


    "I will call the others back. Rae can lead Niall back to us." Karl agreed.


    [I heard the conversation. Niall knows now. We''re just cleaning up our mess and we will be back.] Rae agreed.


    That made life easier for everyone. Two groups reduced, plus the army of reinforcements, but if there was a new force driving the Mountain Giants to hunt in the GDN for System Relics, this war would not be ended easily.


    "Let''s go, they will catch up if we just jog. I would assume that Ahmad is the one with the portal spells, so we''re not going to be getting an instant trip back until he wakes up, and that''s not going to be any time soon." Karl suggested.


    Tabitha sighed and began to jog toward the city, leaving everyone else to catch up. [Hawk, how far are we?] Karl asked.


    [About seventy kilometres? Two hours at a jog should be enough.]


    Maybe a bit more than that, as Thor''s jog was a bit slower than others so that he didn''t dislodge his passengers. But given a couple of hours, they would be back at the city walls, and they would be able to pass on a message.


    [Wait, turn right. There are trucks stopped on the road. You can steal those.] Hawk corrected.


    "Overlord, this way. There is a convoy on the road."


    A convoy that was definitely not expecting to have their vehiclesmandeered. Tabitha didn''t even wait for them to get out, she just threw the driver into the passenger seat and turned a truck around with a shouted order for everyone else to follow her.


    "There has been a thing. We''re going back to the city. The Overlords will exin once we''re there." Karl offered, as the others climbed into the back of a munitions truck, and Thor transformed into his humanoid form to keep thempany.


    Karl climbed in the passenger seat, while a very harassed looking driver flinched at the re Lady Othello was giving him in the mirror.


    "I suggest that you follow them as fast as humanly possible. Plus a few, if the truck is up to it. Trust me, it''s that important." Karl instructed.

 Chapter 650 Back To The Capital

    Chapter 650 Back To The Capital


    The ride was rough, and the engine was screaming as the cargo truck did its best to follow Tabitha down the gravel road, with the other vehicles falling further behind.


    Rae and Niall had found their way to the lead vehicle, only appearing among the troops sitting in the back with one perplexed cleric once they were alreadyfortably settled on the floor.


    "Can you tell me what is so important that we had to turn around? We were expected to be the reinforcements for a group of Overlords who were fighting arge invasion force. They''re going to be pissed that we''re noting." The driver asked timidly.


    "That was us. That fight is already over. But we learned what is happening and why. It''s crucial that we get the information to the Cathedral so that they can properly protect what needs to be guarded." Karl exined.


    The man''s eyes briefly shed pure ck, and his scent changed just a little. A transformed spy, Karl was certain of it.


    [Rae, check all the humans in your truck to see if they''re actually human, or something else disguised as human. I think that my driver is a spy.] Karl instructed.


    That put all the beasts on high alert, and overhead, Hawk began to scour the auras of all the soldiers.


    [The driver of yours and the driver of one of the other trucks don''t match the rest of the soldiers. They''re not the same thing.] Hawk updated.


    That was good enough for Karl.


    "Iing on the left." Karl warned his driver, who turned to look out the window, right as Karl hit him in the back of the head with a [Disintegrate] attack.


    The head vaporized, and Karl was about to throw him in the passenger seat when the body began to grow.


    So, he threw him out the passenger window.


    [Hawk, tell me what that dead driver turns into. The body should be far enough from the road that the other drivers don''t see it.] [Some sort of Giant. Four arms, blonde body hair.] Hawk updated, then swooped down to grab the body and toss it into his space.


    It was a young Giant, still with the perfect skin of one who hadn''t seen a life ofbat or exposure to the elements, but already at the Commander Rank. Whatever species that was, it had to be a powerful one if it could hit Commander before it had even finished puberty.


    [I killed the truck with the other suspect in it. He also turned into a Giant.] Rae updated.


    Karl wasn''t sure what she meant by killed the truck, but dead was dead, and it looked like they had removed the spies from their convoy.


    Overlord Othello climbed out of the canvas covered bed and into the passenger side through the window.


    "Care to exin what that was all about? And do you even know how to drive?" She asked.


    "I can drive a mining truck, and it''s kind of simr. I''ve never taken one above five kilometres an hour before, though."


    The Overlordughed. "Change seats. I will drive, you exin why you threw a body out the window, and where the driver went."


    Karl gave her an overview of what he had found and suspected, then waited for her to process it.


    "So, there were spies passing information, dressed as regr soldiers from the supply department, where they would be able to see our deployments just by what we needed for the area. Insidious. We''re going to have to get the Inquisitors to do a full search of the service after this to root out all of the others.


    To think that there are so many spies that they sent two in the same convoy. It might have been deliberate, as they wereing to aid us, but it could well have just been coincidence.


    If it was just by chance, we''ve got a real problem." She muttered, mostly talking to herself, while Karl had Rae ry her thoughts to Niall. N?v(el)B\\jnn


    [I''m a super secret Inquisition spy asset.] Rae giggled.


    Really, she was just whispering what Karl was hearing to Niall, but if it were arranged, she really would be an incredible spy.


    The trucks were making good time back to the city, bouncing along the gravel road, which was in surprisingly good condition, considering that the nation typically didn''t improve roads that went to the borders.


    It would take them under an hour to get to the city limits, but well before that, they were starting to see signs of battle, and Hawk had picked out defence patrols in the distance.


    [There are battles on the North Side of the city. I think that they''re trying to force the humans into the water.] Hawk noted with disdain.


    That made a cruel sort of sense. The Giants sounded like they didn''t want survivors after they took the city, so they would want the residents backed into theke, and not able to flee out the far side in trucks and buses.


    Most likely, they would try to surround the city, once the rest of their forces arrived.


    A frantic message from Sybil using the System''s message function caught Karl''s attention.


    {Mister Karl, they say that we''re being activated to defend the city, and we''re all in a bus, but they''re talking on the radio, and nobody is signing, and there are no clerics on the bus.} {What direction are you headed? We''reing back from our mission with information, but we''re not in the city yet.} Karl replied.


    {North. The others are talking about Goblins now, but I''m not with the rest of the trainee group. They split us all up into different buses with Ascended Rank team leaders.} Sybil exined.


    No clerics, and they split up a team that hadn''t even made it to the Academy yet, to send them out on patrol against Goblins, and whatever other small monsters the Ogres had managed to force to join them.


    What a mess.


    {I will send people to you as soon as I can. Let me know if your bus stops, and where it is when you stop.}


    {There are so many people in the street, the bus can barely move. I will tell you when we get somewhere, or when someone starts talking where I can see them.}

 Chapter 651 Bad Traffic

    Chapter 651 Bad Traffic


    Karl turned to Lady Othello. "I just got a message that the traffic in the city is at a crawl, we won''t get far with vehicles. I don''t know where you need to go, but they are deploying the lower ranks to the North Side to defend against a Goblin and Ogre attack."


    "You sound personally invested in that." The Overlord noted.


    "In a way. My group was working on a way to rapidly boost trainees, and we had gotten a group to advance to Awakened within a week of training, they haven''t even started at the Academy yet, and won''t for another week. But they''ve been split up and sent to the city walls with random Ascended Rank team leaders.


    I know the policy is that Awakened Rank and up are ready to fight outside the training environment, but this is a bit different." Karl exined.


    Othello looked impressed. "You managed to help them skip the entire Common Rank grind? That is impressive just by itself, but I can see how it would be an issue if they were at the Cathedral today.


    Is there one in particr that you''re concerned about?"


    Karl nodded. "There is a Rogue with them who is deaf, and the message she sent me says that she''s with a group that doesn''t have a cleric, or anyone else who knows signnguage. So, she can''t understand any of the ordersing over the radio because nobody is speaking them out loud."


    "A message?" Lady Othello asked.


    "Oh, right. There is a System Function for that. Sybil, the baby Rogue, found it."


    Karl sent Othello a message, startling her so much that she almost swerved off the road.


    "Sorry, I didn''t think that it would be that obtrusive. It just appears at the edge of my vision." Karl exined.


    "I see how you sent it now. But it appeared in front of me like the System Alerts inside a trial. I will have to find a way to change that. Maybe if I just focus on moving it, and perhaps making it a little transparent. Yes, that''s better."


    Othello sent him back a brief message. {I will circle to the north of the city, and enter from the north gates. That is closest to the Cathedral anyhow.}


    So, their convoy took a turn, following the edge of the city towards where it was bing clear the battle had nearly reached the walls. They were under five kilometres away, and Karl could see the fight when they came over a hill.


    "Would you be particrly mad if I jumped out and left you to deliver the message? My team would surely be a morale booster along the line, since the leaders there are mostly Commanders, the same as along the Frost Giant border." He suggested.


    "I don''t mind. Do you need time to tell your group?"


    Karl shook his head. "No, they know already. Thor is in humanoid form, so he just told them directly. I don''t know if you can hear them over the wind."


    Othello shook her head. "No, my senses aren''t as keen as yours. But I hear that you might be able to change that. There was talk of an Elite passing out strange skill books, and my guess is that was you."


    "If there is time after the battle, I will see if there is a sensory skill that you can use. I don''t really have one specialized for Pdins, but there might be something. Even passive night vision might be possible, if I can find a way to iste the change to make it into a skill book. I got it as part of a package upgrade when I first got my ss." Karl exined.


    "Good enough for me. I''ve made it to Overlord without it, after all. But every little bit counts, and not relying on Presence Sense when fighting blind would be a huge advantage."


    Karl spotted familiar faces in one of the buses headed for the battle, and gestured out the window.


    "There are four of the five trainees."


    [The Dana says that she will go to them.] Thor informed Karl, a second before Dana was flying out of the truck towards the slow-moving convoy of buses.


    [Take everyone else and go help her, and whatever section that they''re assigned to. I will go find Sybil.] Karl informed the Cerro.


    The others hopped out of the truck one after another, leaving only Ahmad in the back, still protected by [Eternal Lightning] as he recovered.


    He was somewhat conscious now, and they had fed him, so he would only need a few more minutes before he was in fighting form again.


    [I sense my baby Rogue. She is about toe out of the hole in the wall.] Rae announced.


    The gate was only a hundred metres ahead, so Karl prepared to exit the vehicle.


    "This is my stop, thest of them is just ahead. We will help organize this end of the battlefield and take over from whoever got pressed into the duty. Assuming they don''t outrank me, that is. You can let the Cathedral know that we''re not cking." He informed Othello. n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om


    "Send Ahmad up front, we will have to park the trucks here anyhow. See, Tabitha is about to pull over, and then I''m betting she''s going to run into the city. She''s impulsive like that. Absolutely hates when things aren''t going her way." The Pdinughed.


    Sure enough, the truck in front of them was pulling off into the grass between the road and the wall, and the Warrior ss Overlord was out and running into the city, looking for whoever needed their intelligence.


    "Good luck. We will likely see you soon." Karl joked as he got out of the truck.


    With a full assault from the Giants iing, it was almost certain they would see each other within the next few days, as they would be assigned to fight some of the same groups of attackers.


    Rae had already stolen Sybil from the bus she was in, and was standing next to the truck with her.


    "Hey Sybil. What group were you with? I''ll exin the situation, and then you can be my assistant while we start to organize the lines. Without the radios, it is chaos all along the line. But we know how to send System Messages now, and we can use that to organize without the radio." Karl informed the panicked young Elite.


    She gave him two thumbs up, and Karl ryed his intentions to the rest of the group, both in person, and with a System Message. He included the four Overlords in themunication, and saw Niall and Ahmad pause as the iing message startled them.


    This was going to make battle nning so much easier once they had met all the section Commanders.

 Chapter 652 North Side

    Chapter 652 North Side


    Rae picked up Sybil and ran off to join the others, while Karl headed for the bus she had been taken from.


    "Monarch, how might we help you?" The driver asked as he approached the door.


    "I have collected Awakened Elite Sybil, on orders of the Inquisition. She is part of a specialty training program and should not have been separated from her team. It interferes with the training data.


    However, I will be leading a group to guide battle tactics for the region, so please find a recement for her position until one can be assigned to your unit." Karl informed the driver.


    "Yes, Sir. Did you just arrive in the Capital? We were informed that there were no Ranking Elites avable for the North Side Defence."


    Karl nodded. "My team returned with intelligence from the border, and I saw the situation here. Now, I need to go. My scout is already sending data, and I need to get in contact with some of the regional leadership."


    Karl sprinted off to the section where Hawk had indicated that the line was being tricked out of position, looking for the Commander in charge.


    There was a Commander Rank Mage, most likely female, with her hood up, looking over a table full of maps. That seemed like the best choice.


    "Commander. My scout reports that there is a group of eighty, led by an Ogre and a team of Hobgoblins, waiting in the valley here for your troops. They''re being pulled off course for an ambush." He announced, gesturing to the map, before he looked up at a familiar face.


    Danni Mackenzie, the Golem specialist of the Mackenzie twin sisters.


    "Oh, Danni, good to see you again. If you tell your people to pull back and hit the Goblins here and here, you can fight them without reinforcements, as the stronger team will be stuck waiting for you. Hawk is overhead giving updates to everyone." Karl exined.


    "Monarch? Karl?" Danni Mackenzie stammered.


    "It''s been a minute, hasn''t it? It''s good to know that I wasn''t totally forgotten."


    The other leadership team members, none of them Elites, just strategists and army officers, chuckled at her baffled expression. They hadn''t expected to see anyone of his rank here, but now there was not only a Monarch, but a Monarch with what sounded like a flying scout.


    [We have followed the team members to their spots. We''re spread out to be with all four zone Commanders for the north now.] Cara updated Karl as he was about to send more directions.


    [Do you have a way to pass on Hawk''s scouting messages?] Karl asked.


    Rae and Thor could be human, but Karl had never seen Cara do it.


    [Of course. I just asked the silly bird to send the others a message directly.] Cara informed him smugly.


    Karl could feel Hawk rolling his eyes, but he didn''t refute it, so he must be able to send messages.


    [That had to freak everyone out.] Karlughed.


    [They all think the messages are from you. This will be so much funter.]


    No, a disaster is what it was going to be if a mischievous Void Badger started sending people messages in Karl''s name.


    Once he knew to check, Karl realized that the messages had both his name and Hawk''s on them, so at least it wasn''t just tagging all messages as havinge from Karl directly.


    Hawk sent enemy positions and movements as he saw them, and the team ryed them to the Commanders on the ground.


    [Who paired up?] Karl asked, as Cara had said there were only four zones.


    [Tessa is with Thor. Ophelia is with Rae and her baby Rogue. I am with Dana and Lotus watching the other four cubs, and Remi is napping in her space.] Cara exined.


    That worked out well. Thebat power might be a bit imbnced, with Thor and Tessa together, but they would have the strongest buffs out of anyone for the Church Soldiers.


    Karl turned left to observe the fight, and saw a towering tree in the middle of the line, which had to be a transformed Lotus. He could clearly see the birds flying around in the branches, as well as the golden dust sprinkling down from the branches to the line.


    They held the spot along the road where the buses were unloading, which would naturally be where the injured were sent to for treatment and removal, so having a Tree of Life there would greatly reduce the number of casualties that had to be evacuated.


    [Does everyone have enough Red Dragon Clerics for their soldiers?] Karl asked.


    There were three here that he could see, one of them a Commander.


    [We have a Commander plus some.] Cara agreed. n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om


    [We have the Orphanage Matron, plus two other High Priestesses.] Rae added.


    [I have my Tessa plus two Commanders.] Thor cheered, and Karl sensed that the Cerro was greatly enjoying the Chivalrous Knight act, while also working to understand the [Humanoid Transformation] spell that Rae had already mastered.


    He had even found time to carve a picture of a Cerro on his shield. [Rae did it for him. Thor can barely colour inside the lines.] Remi quietly joked.


    [I''m not that bad. It''s just that Sister Rae is too good.]


    With the constant stream of updates from Hawk, Karl had resorted to using coloured stones on the map to update positions and group sizes in real time.


    Hawk could see much further than a regr scout could, and for some reason, there were no nes flying patrols in the area. It took Karl a few seconds to realize that it was because the radios weren''t working, so they couldn''t report back.


    That left Hawk as the only aerial scout in the region, and a much more valuable asset than even Karl had expected.


    [There are portals in these five spots. The ones on the East and West have Giants gathering at them.] Hawk updated.


    Karl immediately ryed that to the Overlords he had been travelling with, so they could updatemand, and got a swift reply from Niall.


    {You can send them directly to Tabitha, she is with the Archbishop and his assistants nning the defence. Keep her in the loop as much as you can.} The Rogue exined.


    {No problem. I will send her updates every five minutes on the status of the battlefield if it''s significantly changed.}


    What Karl didn''t know was that the two were standing side by side in the room with the Archbishop, and Niall''s smug look had not gone unnoticed by the Warrior Overlord.

 Chapter 653 Coordinator

    Chapter 653 Coordinator


    Overlord Tabitha didn''t realize right away what it was that the Rogue had done, but she was immediately certain that he was messing with her in some way.


    It was only when she received the next message from Karl that she realized that the scoundrel had told the Beast Master to send all updates directly to her as the liaison to the Archbishop, to keep everyone updated on the battlefield situation.


    "Did I do something in particr to you?" She asked, before rying the message to the Archbishop and his team.


    "Not at all. You were simply standing in the wrong ce at the wrong time, and he only knows so many people who are here to pass on the status updates." Niall replied with his most sincere smile.


    The Archbishop and Nacht both chuckled as they realized what the Overlord had done, right before Niall excused himself from the room by simply vanishing. That didn''t stop anyone''s nning, as he was only there to provide intelligence confirmation anyhow, and they had already discussed the majority of what had happened while the Overlords were out with Monarch Karl''s team.


    On the North Side of the city, Karl had his hands full with the constant new arrivals. Not just of Elites and soldiers to rece the ones who had been wounded inbat and brought into Lotus'' radius for healing, but also the constant arrival of the Giants'' allies. They were appearing from portals in the distance, in numbers that suggested they had cleared out the majority of the three nations.


    Strangely, they had not brought many higher ranked monsters to this side, and were attempting to flood the city with weaker ones, instead of softening it first by defeating the most powerful Elites.


    There must be more to their strategy that Karl wasn''t understanding, he was certain of it.


    [Hawk, remember how the Frost Giants were scouring the area in a search pattern before the First Advancement trial spawned. Do you think that they could be doing the same thing here today? Something is off with their tactics, and they aren''t sending their strongest, just loads of cannon fodder.


    They can''t be expecting us to send all our strongest and tire them out before the real fight starts, there has to be a deeper motive.] Karl suggested.


    [If there is, I don''t see it. They''re attacking in nice ordered lines, working together, but there are only a few of the strong Giants in the back guiding them. It doesn''t look like some fancy search pattern.] Hawk replied, uncertain whether he too was missing something about their attack.


    It looked perfectly normal to him, but deeper motives were the Karl''s department, not his.


    {The numbers are increasing too fast. We''re going to need Commander led teams on the next bus full of reinforcements.} Dana noted as her central defence point repelled another attack wave.


    This time it was mostly Ogres, with some Hobgoblins, but they were beginning to get more Commander Rank Beasts in the mix, and the defenders couldn''t easily keep up, even with the High Priestesses blessing their weapons.


    {Overlord, Please inform the Archbishop that the attackers have stepped up the assault by a Rank. We are now seeing many more Commanders among the assault groups. n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om


    The Command Officers on the North Side request higher Rank reinforcements.}


    {Understood. We will send who we have. They are pulling Elites from the border via portal, but we don''t want to reduce our capability too far, in case this is a diversion for a major border assault.} Overlord Tabitha replied.


    Karl ryed the message so that the teams fighting could have some hope. What they needed were more wide area defenders. The blessing of the Red Dragon Priestesses made a decent armour barrier over the troops, but it was a one and done sort of spell. They didn''t have the mana to keep refreshing it as everyone took damage, they could only get it active and hope for the best.


    With hundreds of soldiers for every capable priestess, and a thousand or more for every High Priestess, they had to do the best that they could with what they had.


    Karl looked down at the map in front of him, taking stock of where all of the enemy troops were, and briefly wondered where the Commanders who would normally be doing this went.


    Were they with the reconnaissance nes that couldn''t send radio signals, or possibly stuck in town? Worse, had his attempt to rescue his trainees simply rendered them obsolete, so they went back to their offices?


    {Monarch. We have an update for you. There are Commanders on their way to the North Side, but not as many as you might hope. The East and West walls are straining our higher Rank capacity.} Tabitha informed Karl.


    He could sense the grim tone behind the message, even though it appeared as text. A nce at the stones for troops that were not part of his battlefront, the ones he had simply updated from Hawk''s messages and forwarded, showed Karl that things really were that bad. The western front had nearly six thousand Giants above Commander Rank facing it down, and that was taking most of the higher Ranked Elites in town to deal with.


    Whereas on the Eastern Wall, they were besieged by an Ogre army, assisted by Frost Giants, and that would need every Commander led Ascended team that they could get.


    {How is our artillery looking?} Karl asked.


    {There are only forty units stationed in the city for point defence.} Tabitha replied simply.


    {We will make do with whatever you can spare. If ites down to it, I will activate arge area spell over the North Side to improve our odds.}


    {Do what you have to. If they send a challenger over to contest your actions, deal with it however you see fit.}


    That worked well enough for Karl.


    [Hey Remi, howrge can you make a Thunderstorm at Ascended Rank? We don''t need to kill everything, we need to make them think that we have a way for lower ranked mages to work together on one huge spell.] Karl suggested.


    [I think that I can do that pretty well. If I make it high Ascended, that''s under five percent power output. I can spread that outrge enough to almost make it look like a natural storm.] Remi agreed.


    [Do it, but stay in your space when you do so that the enemy can''t trace it back to its source. I''ve noticed in the past that others have a hard time finding the source of spells from the space, unless they are visibly leaving from our location.]

 Chapter 654 Make It Rain

    Chapter 654 Make It Rain


    Remi prepared her spell to cover the entire area around the north side of the city, with a special bit of focus on not destroying the nts. Most of them had already been smashed by travelling armies, but if anything could be saved, that would be best.


    The other sides would hardly notice an Ascended Rank Thunderstorm spell, but with it forming over the whole north side of the city at the same time, it would look more like it was cast from within the walls, where they couldn''t easily get at the target.


    For the mechanics of cing the spell, Remi was relying on Hawk''s mental imagery, but she was fairly certain that she knew what to do, and even if it rained on the city, it shouldn''t hurt the buildings or the humans.


    [Thunderstorm] was also fairly easy to keep active, as it was channelled and didn''t have a huge upfront cost. Remi could just keep it going until the Giants'' Shamans dispelled it.


    The advantage she had was that, while the spell was being used with minimal damage output, the low cost would make it easy for her to keep the sections that weren''t being actively dispelled active.


    Compared to most casters, the Naga Queen had excellent elemental control, and a focused dispel effect wouldn''t cause the whole spell to copse.


    That would help them sell the idea that it was shamans inside the city that were messing with the weather. If they were in the city, then the storm would be nearly impossible to stop until the battle was over, and the enemy would have to work to deal with it, or send their troops into battle wounded.


    The second was the more likely case, as the Giants didn''t actually care at all about their allies. Especially the weaker ones here on the North Side, who they would happily sacrifice just to soften up the Capital City before the final invasion force arrived.


    Overhead, the clouds began to shift and darken as the wide area spell took effect. At first, Remi wasn''t facing any sort of resistance, and the Giants driving the horde forward seemed to think that it was a sign that they were on the right path, as Hawk was reporting that some of them were celebrating.


    They were in for a rude awakening.


    When the first bolts of lightning hit, the Giantsughed them off, uncaring about a few Ascended Rank lightning streaks.


    Even when the rain started, they were mostly unconcerned. The troops could march in the rain, and bad weather would not stop them from toppling the capital today.


    But when they realized that the rain itself was eating through their gear and supplies, and that the lightning was spreading all through the hills north of the Capital region, covering a dozen kilometres ofnd on this side of the city, they began to worry.


    [That''s impressive. I didn''t think that you had that much coverage in you.] Karl congratted.


    [I''m borrowing energy from everyone, since we''re not fighting. Just enough that we can all recover what I''m using.] Remi exined.


    Karl hadn''t even known that was an option. He didn''t know how to draw energy directly from the team to use abilities. Perhaps it was a Remi exclusive ability?


    On the North Side of the city, where the Giants'' weaker allies were attacking, the situation was bing dire for the iing monsters. Most of the terrain sloped upwards towards the city from a river valley, meaning that they had to charge up a muddy hill in a thunderstorm to get at the defenders, which was slowing their advance.


    The rain was burning through their clothing and their hides, leaving welts and blisters that were quickly turning to deep wounds.


    The best that they had managed was to shelter themselves with cloth. If they weren''t touching the cloth itself, the rain wouldn''t eat through it. But every time they tried, the Lightning had an uncanny way of finding them.


    In contrast, Karl''s hasty move to a Command tent with the sides rolled up, so they could see the army as they worked, but still remain dry, had worked out perfectly.


    Rae had simply made a shelter for her people with Earth Magic and silk, while Thor had managed to obtain arge parasol, the sort families would use for a beach day. He was sheltering Tessa and themand table with it, while the soldiers worked to raise a tent simr to the one Karl was using.


    Of them all, Dana had it both the best and the worst.


    Therge branches of Lotus'' Tree of Life form sheltered them from the rain, but Lotus had to be regrly reminded not to dance in the rain, or everyone under her got soaked.


    Dana would have to get a tent soon. n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om


    "Monarch, we have supplies for the line." Someone shouted from behind Karl.


    "The receiving area is to your left."


    "Sir, they are specialty equipment sent by the Archbishop." The voice replied, and Karl turned to see a young Acolyte of the church, thoroughly soaked from the rain, holding a wooden box for him to inspect.


    {Ice Cleats ? One Size} The box read.


    That was a brilliant idea.


    "How many are there?" Karl asked.


    "They were dispatched to all four stations in the north. There is a whole truckload of them." The Acolyte exined.


    "Get them distributed to the front lines. The second rank can put them on, then rotate forward. Officers, pass the order." Karl insisted.


    Danni Mackenzie smiled at him. "Ice cleats to give them better traction in the mud? It appears that the seers approve of your tactic."


    Karl nodded. "I wish that I had thought of it. That is a brilliant tactic. I wonder if they were avable when I was on the Frost Giant front? We were always scouts and never on the lines, so I never really got a chance to check out the supply rooms."


    Danni shrugged. "They were avable, but nobody really used them. With the line holding in the same spot for so long, the ground was already torn up, and the traction was good.


    We really do need to find time to catch up after the battle."


    Karl smiled. "Are the rest of your siblings here?"


    Danni shook her head. "Donni is over by the tree, but Bob and Doug are on the Hill Giant lines right now. You said they''re calling some of those ones back, so we might see them, but they weren''t stationed in the Capital."

 Chapter 655 Fight In The Rain

    Chapter 655 Fight In The Rain


    Karl waited as the battle wore on, and the Giants made no attempt to get rid of Remi''s storm. They were saving all their energy to attack the walls once they were past the defenders.


    No, that wasn''t quite right, Karl realized. They were disguising their Shamans. If they made themselves stand out from the other Giants in the back ranks, they would make themselves targets for assassination.


    The Giants only had one type of caster. They didn''t have separate Clerics, Mages and Shamans. So, if they lost the Shamans early, they would be in grave danger once they reached the walls and the real siege began.


    Danni leaned towards Karl and whispered a question. "Do you know what triggered this? Why the full assault on the Capital? Why now? Another six months and we would have been much weaker."


    Karl winked and tapped his head before sending her a message.


    {Not necessarily. They have spies all over the Capital, reporting on everything that we do. The next influx of Elites is going to include awakenings with System Linked items, and we expect the sess rate to exceed thirty percent.


    I also managed to push a group of new Elites from Common to Awakened in two days. They''ll be there for a while as they adjust, but the Giants don''t know that we can''t just keep doing that. Their scouts will have told them that we found a way to force awakenings and advancements, or something close to that.


    But when we first fought them, they said that they would take the System Item from us and crush the Church. They think that we have an equivalent to System Stones in the city.} There was a brief pause as Danni took that all in, then Karl got a message back.


    {Holy wall of text. This feature is wonderful. Mine activated when you sent me a message.}


    So not everyone could use it. That was valuable information.


    There was a pause, and then the Mage sent him another private message.


    {What if the item they''re referring to is the Trial Temple? I heard it changedtely, and new Clerics were awakening faster and stronger than ever.


    If I heard, then whoever is spying surely did.}


    That made a lot of sense. The Giants likely didn''t know that the temple was only awakening Clerics, even if they had sess with sending in people for benefits to other sses.


    But depending on how connected the spies were, the Giants might also know that it worked to give Commanders advanced sses, which would give them a whole new set of skills to work with.


    {Well, we can let that be the Archbishop''s issue. I will include it in my next report to him.}


    Danniughed out loud, then began to speak as they finished the confidential part of the discussion.


    "You''re already thinking of your next report, but we''re in the middle of a battle. Such dedication. Are you sure you''re not an Inquisitor?" She teased.


    Karl chuckled. "I''m sure that Sister Rae wouldn''t mind. Inquisitor Overlord Niall lets her stab people."


    Danni shook her head in dismay. "To think that our adorable spider friend is now a Monarch. How much has she changed?"


    "Not much, actually. Her appearance is close to what it was at Commander. She didn''t grow too much more, but now she knows a skill to transform into a humanoid. Her skills are obviously improved, but that''s a discussion forter."


    {There may be transformed Giants among the supply group. I will give details in private.} Karl warned.


    It wouldn''t do to have the detailed skills of his team revealed to the enemy in advance.


    Rae''s mental voice interrupted Karl''s train of thought.


    [Ooh, I win! They sent someone to challenge me to a duel. An Ettin Mage Monarch.] She cheered.


    [Do you have this?] Karl asked.


    There was no response for a few seconds, then Rae began to sing.


    [I''ve got a lovely bunch of coconuts. There they are a hanging in a row.]


    Karl was baffled for a second until he got a message from Ophelia.


    {Can you talk to Rae about terrifying the soldiers? She''s arranging the pieces of the Ettin on pikes behind the line.}


    [Rae, this is not the ce for an art exhibition. You''re scaring the humans.]


    [Just the heads?]


    [Fine, you can leave the heads up. But please don''t hang dry your food in public.]


    Ophelia messaged a few secondster. {Thanks, that is much better.}


    Then Thor had an update.


    [I get one too. A Monarch Ranked Ogre Lord. This is going to be so much fun.]


    [Have you got this?] Karl double-checked, the same as he had for Rae.


    [I have a couple attack skills, and all your buffs. I can beat up some silly Ogre without even turning back into a Cerro.]


    Overhead, Hawk wasughing.


    [What is brother Thor doing? He''s in human form challenging an Ogre Lord. Oh, he can use Gravity m like that, and Eternal Lightning on the de. That works pretty good. You''re missing out.]


    The Ogre Lord rolled back to his feet, bleeding from one arm after being knocked over by a shield m from this strange Pdin.


    He was clearly the bigger one, and he should be stronger, but the Pdin had tossed him to the ground like he was a child. His pride couldn''t handle such an insult.


    The Ogre Lord parried Thor''s de, but the real attack was with the edge of the shield that mmed into the Lord''s ribs. [Crushing Blows] and [Shatter] activated, sending vibrations through his body that had the Ogre Lord spitting blood.


    None of this made sense. They were both Monarchs, how could this stupid Pdin be so much stronger than an Ogre?


    Thor activated [Brutality], increasing his height from just under two metres to three. That put him eye to eye with the Ogre Lord, who instinctively backed away a step to put himself at the edge of Thor''s reach.


    A stomp of his foot activated [Earthquake], and the Ogre Lord stumbled, lurching to the left where Thor''s de was iing.


    A twist of his arm parried the blow, but Thor was charging with his shield forward. N?v(el)B\\jnn


    A fully buffed [Gravity m] ttened the Ogre Lord''s body and warped his armour, then sent him flying a dozen metres backwards into his forces.


    For a few seconds, everything was frozen except the silent torrent of rain, then the Ogre Lord gave a wheezing gasp and copsed with blood pooling around the joints of his armour.


    Thor had won his duel.


    [ying Knight is fun. We should do this more often.]

 Chapter 656 Nialls Cleaning Routine

    Chapter 656 Niall''s Cleaning Routine


    While Karl was busy on the Northern defence lines, Niall was busy within the city.


    He had to find as many of the spies as possible before the Giants reached the walls. That would be the natural time for them to start causing chaos, giving false orders and starting trouble within the supply lines.


    With the incident on the trucks, he had discovered the trick to detecting them. He couldn''t normally see through their disguises, which appeared to be created by a Totem Rank disguise item. But once he had gotten his hands on one of them, he could clearly see the disguised form of the others.


    With [Shadow Meld] active, he raced through the streets, invisible to the poption that he was protecting. Then, a most horrifying sight caught his attention. Three Generals were nning the deployment of the western lines, and all three of them were disguised Titan infiltrators.


    They had been deploying the troops this entire time. The Archbishop was going to be devastated to know that so many of their trusted leaders were actually spies.


    The Inquisitor was about to attack when a subtle difference caught his attention. One of them was not a disguised Titan at all. The spell wasn''t as good, and the power he could sense through it was that of a beast.


    So, quite possibly a disguised spy, but possibly not today''s enemy.


    Niall made a mental note of the Divine Beast Nation spy, and thenunched two [Ambush] enhanced throwing knives into the base of the skulls of the other two.


    For an instant, he let the surviving General see him as he collected the bodies so that he wouldn''t raise an rm. But the dead Titans were already transforming back to their natural shape, and that should be enough for him to understand.


    With a quick activation of [Advanced Shadow Step] the bodies were deposited in the Inquisition building, and Niall was back to continue his work.


    With the positions of the defenders on the western lines mostly ordered by the enemy, there was too much to do.


    "General, I want a full redeployment of the western lines. The enemy knows the location of our assets. Scramble your reserves and cycle some strategic assets out. It needs to be done before the next push." He exined as he returned to the site of the ambush. n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om


    Then he was off hunting again. It was a shame that he didn''t have Sister Rae with him. She would love this game.


    Deep within the Cathedral, seated around a table in the war room, the Archbishop and his advisors looked at the Scryers'' projections of the duels happening all over the battlefield. The North was holding well, but the same could not be said of the champions on the west, and the lines there were being forced to retreat after two Overlords were lost, and their bodies imed by the Giants.


    "Your Holiness, the visions are changing. Someone has altered the odds on the western front in our favour. I can''t see what is happening, but when I look at the Command Group, two of the three Generals have changed." One of the seers exined.


    "Understood. That should be the work of the Inquisition.


    Have we found what they''re looking for yet? It can''t be the Temple. The Mountain Giant Great Sage already knew about the change. So, whoever took over from him after his death should know as well." The Archbishop asked his advisors.


    "No, Your Holiness. We have been searching the city with every skill that we have, but there is no sign of a Holy Relic that we didn''t detect in advance."


    The old man sighed. "What do the fates say?"


    An aging cleric on the Archbishop''s left sighed. "The fates are a tangled mess. Many heroes will be made, and many names will fall to shame today. But there is one clear tangle above the others, shining bright with the favour of the Gods.


    The closest member of the group is right here with us. Overlord Tabitha, as well as Ahmad, Niall, Othello, and that Beast Master''s team are all entwined together. I believe that most of what they were going to do to affect our fate is already done, but their dominance suggests that there will be something else for them to do, either individually or together."


    Tabitha suspected that her part in the ordeal was finished, as she had been tricked by that bastard of an Inquisitor into being the Liaison to the Northern Front.


    That was the only front that they had reliablemunication with. But once she gained ess to the System Function, Tabitha had sent Othello to the Eastern Front to do the same as Karl was doing in the North.


    Ahmad was still recovering, but he should be ready soon, and then he could head to the western wall and ry orders and Intelligence from the Cathedral.


    At Karl''s station, a proud Hill Giant was marching through the ranks, with four Hobgoblins holding up a tarp over his head, keeping him out of the rain.


    It was clear that his chance at a challenge wasing to him, and Karl had moved out to the front line, where the battle had parted around him as he waited for his opponent.


    The Giant stopped fifty metres from the line, then raised a hand, and a portal opened.


    Out stepped a fifteen-metre tall, four-armed monstrosity of a Titan. There was no doubt that thing was at least a Totem Ranked Giant, and likely the new leader of the Mountain Giants.


    As one, the entire Giant Army on the Northern Front knelt facing the new arrival, even the ones who were inbat backed away to kneel.


    The Giant red down at Karl, who returned his energy with an unblinking stare. This fight might onlyst half a second, but there was no need for him to embarrass himself before his inevitable death.


    "You." The Titan rumbled, clenching his fists in rage.


    "Me." Karl agreed, utterly baffled about how this creature might know him.


    Unless it had been a vision that revealed his identity, Karl was absolutely certain that they hadn''t met before. Not even ten thousand years ago. The Giant was about to say something, when a portal opened behind Karl, and a small girl with white hair and white scaled ears stepped through.


    "Bishop Misty." Karl greeted her, then stopped and did a double take as a second figure exited the portal.


    Karl stared at himself, five metres tall and radiating power, with a grizzled version of Cara sitting on his shoulder, her face pulled in a permanent smirk by a scar across her muzzle and grey in her fur.


    The visor was down on his helmet, and his Cara was smaller than the one on this man''s shoulder, but if there was anyone in the world that Karl would recognize just by their aura, it was himself.

 Chapter 657 Titanic Challenge

    Chapter 657 Titanic Challenge


    Nobody was sure what to do as the two powerhouses stared at each other. The size difference was vast, but the power they were radiating was making Remi''s Thunderstorm churn, and they hadn''t even used a skill yet.


    "It''s toote." The second Karl announced, staring at the Titan, who spat on the ground, while ring at him.


    "It''s never toote." The Giant dered, and began to surge with power, pulling the mana out of the area into himself.


    The skies went clear, every barrier copsed, and even the barriers over the city walls fell under his power. The might of the Archbishop was nothingpared to whatever this thing was. But the other Karl and Bishop Misty looked unconcerned as the transformed Temporal Dragon waved her hand. "Let''s take this back home. You know better than to meddle with things that must be." The Dragon insisted as white fog filled the air.


    "NO!" The Titan shouted, as a ck bolt of lightning raced from his hand toward his nemesis.


    The second Karl casually swatted away the bolt of power that would obliterate Totems with a ncing blow. The power streaked off into the sky, vanishing out of sight. Then the fog closed in on them, and the trio was gone.


    Karl staggered as the world seemed to shift. All of the mana had been taken, used for that insane skill, and everyone under Royal Rank was unconscious, unable to defend themselves.


    The Monarch Ranked Giant who hade to open the portal simply stared at Karl for a second, then took what might be his one chance, and attacked.


    From within her space, sheltered from the mana drain, Remi channelled [Chain Lightning] into him, a steady stream that fried the Giant''s body even as it twitched, suspended off the ground by the maic field of so much electricity flowing through metal armour.


    The Giant''s body copsed, nothing more than a scorched husk, and Remi nodded in satisfaction. That had taken a lot of power, but with no energy to defend himself, and his armour weakened by the powerful one, the attack had been quite satisfying.


    Hawk picked himself up off the ground and shook the dirt from his feathers. He had been kilometres away from the incident, and the effects had still knocked him from the sky.


    But from here, he could see the most wonderful sight. There were shiny treasures in the sky.


    With a streak of fire, he went to im them before anyone else could get to the good stuff.


    The attack by the Titan had to have passed right through this spot, and whatever spells had been protecting the treasure had shattered, leaving the shiny thing to fall from the sky.


    He swooped close just as portals opened all around it and attacksshed out. But they were all too slow and stupid to challenge him. Hawk pulled the item into his space, then vanished from the area as he followed it home to examine his treasure.


    He hadn''t managed to get the box. The attackers had covered it with danger, but it was already open, and Hawk was happy to just take what was inside.


    As disappointing as it might be.


    It felt like holy power, but it was just a silly tiny dragon scale. It wasn''t even a good one, it was cracked, and dull, and most of its power had been drained.


    He was keeping it anyhow.


    If someone was willing to attack him to steal it, that just meant that he didn''t know how good it really was yet. So, he would keep it hidden with his other treasures until he found the answer.


    [Good work, everyone. Status report. How are our cubs? Did anyone get injured?] Karl asked. n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om


    [My baby Rogue is good. She''s already waking up and coherent. Ophelia looks tired, but Thor''s barrier is back up already.] Rae agreed.


    [The other ones are waking up too. The Lotus Tree has everyone around us recovering quickly.] Cara agreed.


    [I protected my team. Tessa is good to go.] Thor added proudly.


    Half a secondter, Overlord Niall was next to Karl, des out and looking for danger.


    "Rx, they already left. Bishop Misty, the Temporal Dragon, threw them through time to fight it out." Karl exined.


    "That''s not what I''m concerned about. Our reports from interviewed detainees say that the Titans thought they had located a fragment of the original System Stones, but the box was open and empty.


    I am looking for signs that it might have been stolen by one of the three creatures that were here fighting.


    If there really was a surviving fragment in that chest, and the attack destroyed it, the System might copse entirely."


    [They can''t have my treasure.] Hawk pouted.


    Karl frowned at the Inquisitor. "There is definitely no sign of the System Stones here. Nor the chest or what was in it. I think it was already gone before the portals arrived."


    Niall smirked.


    {Fine, but know that I''m keeping an eye on you until we have verified that statement.} He sent as a system message, not trusting Karl''s honesty.


    They were friends, but when it came to trying to keep a Divine Relic secret, silence was your best option. Lottery winners had enough problems when people found about their ticket, and that was just a bit of money.


    {If I had something with that much power, we would likely have a lot more visitors right now, wouldn''t we?} Karl joked.


    Niall wasn''t so easily swayed. The item was gone, despite every Totem on the continent trying to grab it. There was a chance the box was always empty, but as an Inquisitor, it was his job to explore every possibility until the Holy Relic was recovered.


    However, it was no wonder nobody could find it in the past. The relic wasn''t on the ground, it was thousands of metres in the air, hidden in a separate space. You could fly right through it and never sense its presence.


    It was a brilliant hiding space, and logically, there would have been some sort of clue or guide to finding it when it was first ced, but that was lost before any recorded history that they possessed.


    Niall shrugged as he sent onest message. {If it is found, we will find another safe spot for it. The question is if the Giants or anyone else will be able to determine where it is before we can recover it. If they think it stopped existing, we''re good. If they think that someone in the Capital might have it, all hell is about to break loose.}


    The armies of the Giants and the Golden Dragon Nation seemed unsure what they should be doing now. Everyone was exhausted, and something big had happened, but they had no way of knowing who won the exchange.


    Karl sent a message to Tabitha. {Let everyone know that our side won the exchange between leaders. I will exin the detailster.}


    Then Karl messaged the rest of his team. {Once the armies are rested, prepare for another attack. There is no telling how the forces that could see the incident are going to respond to the battle.}

 Chapter 658 Regroup

    Chapter 658 Regroup


    Compared to the chaos that was gripping the advisors and seers within all the cities of the nation, the chaos on the battlefield was nothing.


    For one brief glorious moment, they had all seen the greatest divine treasure in the world appear. Then mere secondster, all the visions ended. Their premonitions vanished as if the trigger had never existed.


    The Archbishop and Nacht shared a concerned look as the seers began to panic. All of their abilities had been triggered by the event, and then it was over, gone, vanished without a trace.


    "Do you think that it might have been taken through time by the mysterybatants?" The Archbishop asked.


    The Seers slowly nodded in agreement. "That seems like the most likely oue. We don''t recognize the aura of either of the parties involved in the attack on the hidden holy relic, but Bishop Misty was present, and sided with the one who was not a Titan. The most likely scenario is that she will have taken it through time, but the current her will have no knowledge of the event, as she has not done it yet." The two Totems sighed. Dealing with Temporal Dragons was tricky. You never knew what they actually knew. They liked to hide things from themselves so that it would be a surprise when it happened. A little treat that kept their lives interesting.


    Nacht frowned. "I will send a message to the temples to keep an eye out for her so that we can ask her what she knows about the incident, but I strongly suspect that she''s not going to know anything except what we know from after the change in the timeline.


    How and why she interfered is unclear, but we can start with Monarch Karl and his team, who should have been close enough to get some information about the situation."


    That was naturally assuming that they would survive the battle. The Beast Master''s team had the World Dragon''s own luck, and they were on the weakest side of the offensive, with considerable area attack abilities. If they weren''t concerned about drawing the attention of and provoking stronger foes from the other fronts, they could clear the entire North Side themselves with rtive ease, from what Nacht and the Archbishop had learned of their skills.


    After a few minutes of staring at the monsters while the troops on the line caught their breath, and thest of the soldiers equipped the ice cleats, horns began to ring out in the distance, signalling the invading army to retreat.


    Starting from the back, they turned and left, while the front slowly retreated. Not fleeing in panic, but an orderly withdrawal of forces designed to minimize casualties.


    They had already suffered heavily, and the walk back to the portals was over the bodies of their fallenrades. But they were alive, and today, that was all that mattered.


    "Are we not going after them?" Danni Mackenzie asked as they watched the enemy retreat.


    "And send our soldiers down that muddy hill, where they will have to face an enemy line with decent footing in the riverbed? No, there is no need for further casualties today. Let them leave and regroup, and we will deal with themter.


    I suspect that the losses they have taken will keep them quietly in their own borders for at least a few days." Karl exined. n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om


    He didn''t know how the other sides of the city had gone, but the Overlords who were with him earlier had taken numerous bodies from their Overlord Rank kills, so the Mountain Giants would be at least a bit weaker than they were yesterday.


    Overlord Niall chuckled. "I don''t know about days, but they will stay put for at least one. The Mountain Giants are a chaotic bunch, and with everyone so worked up to follow them into battle, they''ll have everyone in a frenzy soon enough."


    He made a slight gesture with his head towards Danni and the other Command group members who were in earshot, reminding Karl not to say things that should be public, like the change in leadership, and how the Frost Giants had already realized they were being used as fodder, but didn''t dare to disobey orders.


    Those things were better left unsaid, and knowing them would only earn a trip to the Inquisition for the officers here, to ensure that they were absolutely loyal.


    The Mackenzie Sister was well vetted, and not really a concern, as she was on Capital Security. But most of the others were either reserve soldiers, or nobat officers who had been brought to the line topensate for theck of radiomunication.


    "How long do we wait before I can start telling those in back to pack up the supplies in preparation to move back to the city?" Karl asked Overlord Niall, who hopefully had more experience with this sort of thing than he did.


    "I really don''t know. I say we give it thirty minutes. By then they will be off the adrenaline high, and they should be thinking clearly again. It will make for better packed supplies." Niall suggested.


    He knew that there was a guideline for this, he had just never cared what it was. He had been an Inquisitor since he became an Elite, so he had never been the one who had to make the decision, only pass it on.


    A few of the officers looked like they wanted to say something, but they were not brave enough to question the judgment a Monarch and an Overlord, so they simply stayed silent for the half hour while Karl silently updated the troop deployments on the map until everything was gone, and thest of the troops on the west side were reported by Hawk to be getting close to the border.


    "Alright, have everyone pack up. The battle is over, there is nothing left to fight." Karl announced.


    Orders were shouted down the line, but Karl could hear that the radios were crackling to life again, restoring normalmunication.


    Then, a System Message appeared in Karl''s vision.


    {City Defence Sessful}


    {Calcting Difficulty}


    {Calcting Rewards}


    {1x5 Skill Points Awarded for sessfulpletion at Monarch Rank}


    {20 Bonus Skill Points for Sessful Command Role}

 Chapter 659 Just A Little Skilled

    Chapter 659 Just A Little Skilled


    With the system notification, Karl checked his stats to see how he was doing on points. For the longest time, he was either just saving enough for a skill, orpletely forgetting that they existed because it was so far to the next Skill. But now it seemed that he was getting a rather significant number of them all at once.


    But before that, there was something to test.


    {Whoever currently has care of the little ones, can you check if they got Skill Points from the battle? I got a reward forpletion, so there is a chance that all the System Activebatants on our side got a point or two that they can use for skills.} Karl messaged to the team.


    {I got two points. That''s enough for a whole skill. Sister Rae said that she would talk to me about themter, once we''re finished packing.} Sybil agreed.


    {The others all got two points as well.} Dana responded after a minute''s pause.


    That was a good sign. If they were all getting the same achievements that Karl was, then they should all have fully active systems, and not wed or partially active ones.


    Karl looked at his own numbers, and found that he had actually been racking them up at a rather prodigious pace.


    He had received points from the Graska Trial, the Cathedral Core Upgrade Trial, and a few of the fights that they had along the way, totalling twenty-eight points, on top of the twenty-five that he had just received.


    He only had three skills avable, though.


    {Packmaster Skill Tree}


    (50 Points) [Follow Me Little One] Directly teach a known skill to apatible target.


    (50 Points)[Pack First] Removes the usage and targeting limits on {Evolution} but adds an increasing materials cost every time it is used on a bonded beast.


    (50 Points) [Territorial] All attacks by the Packmaster have a chance to cause {Intimidation}


    Pack First wasn''t a priority right now, as he didn''t need to evolve any of his beasts, much less much than once where the skill would supersede the limits on Evolution.


    Territorial was a useful skill, as intimidation would put him at an advantage in nearly every fight. However, in his current situation, the unfortunately named [Follow Me Little One] was the skill that he needed the most.


    That skill felt distinctly like the System was trolling him, but Karl had so many skills that were along the same lines, that it only made sense that he would get something of that sort. Especially with Skill Merger avable, he could create a whole new skill, and then just teach it to someone.


    It would be brilliant, and he could save an immense amount of time in the training process.


    But even better, he could teach advanced skills to a beast of a simr or identical species. He already knew that they would bepatible, all he had to do was teach them, and they would gain the prerequisite to pass their next growth bottleneck.


    Karl looked over at Niall and realized that the real cheat code was not training baby Cerro, but helping the older Elites who had grown withoutplete Systems. They were slowly reaching full activation now, but they would be so far behind the new generation that would be able to upgrade their ss at Commander Rank and gain all new powers, as well as picking all the ss skills along the way.


    As formidable as Niall was, he was likely a dozen useful skills short of where a Royal Rank Rogue would be in the future, and who knew what sort of skills an Overlord Ranked advanced ss that started as a Rogue would be.


    The man in question obviously noticed Karl giving him an assessing look, and waited expectantly for an exnation.


    {Skill Learned} [Follow Me, Little One]


    [Skill Points Remaining] 3


    "I got a bonus of Skill Points, and used them to learn a new teaching skill." Karl exined quietly.


    "What sort of ss build are you even going for? Teal Dragon Cleric? Blue and Green mixed together." Niall joked.


    "The skills are intended to help me train my beasts, though they''re also useful to help train beasts for others, and in certain cases, other Elites."


    Karl focused on Niall, and a skill that he would definitely want to have if it would work on him.


    [Offensive Adaptation] Is ipatible with humans.


    [Void Body] is ipatible with the target.


    {Skill Teaching Request} [Limited Invulnerability]


    Niall got a confused and offended look on his face, then it turned to joy after a few seconds, and he pulled Karl into a hug.


    "What''s with that response?" Karl asked.


    "Nothing. Just a strange System Message."


    {Pack Master Karl Offers Knowledge} Skill [Limited Invulnerability] will be transferred to the loyal hatchling Niall.


    No way was the Overlord willingly repeating those words out loud.


    "Did it transfer properly?" Karl asked.


    "Indeed it did. This skill is absolutely broken. No wonder you act like you''re immortal inbat. For most purposes, you are." Niall agreed, then his eyes went vague.


    He was clearly pulled into a system menu of some sort, so Karl waited for him to finish ande back to reality.


    It took nearly five minutes before the Rogue came back to consciousness with an amused smirk.


    "Well now, isn''t that interesting. I just learned one of the most fundamental secrets to the System, and it was entirely identally."


    Karl chuckled. "That it unlocks hidden ss options if you get an oddball skill that''s capable of bing more powerful than your current Rank?"


    Niall nodded. "My new ss is Stalker, and apparently, I have a vast wealth of Skill Points that I could never ess before."


    "Sister Rae will be overjoyed. You will be able to y together even more effectively once I manage to teach her a simr skill."


    The Rogue winced. "Perhaps not making the Immortal Bloodbath Spider invincible as well would help people sleep better at night."


    "I can''t even guarantee that it would work. I tried and failed twice with other skills before I found one that you could learn." Karl paused as he saw Niall waiting for an exnation.


    It didn''t seem like something he couldn''t say in front of Danni, so Karl continued.


    "First, I was going to teach you [Offensive Adaptation], the skill that Sister Rae has that increases her damage permanently every time she hits a target of a certain type. For an Inquisitor, that skill would be outstanding. But apparently regr folk can''t learn it at all.


    Then I tried to teach you [Void Body], abined invulnerability and healing skill that was improved from Cara''s [Limited Invulnerability] and [Trollish Regeneration]. But that''s ipatible with you in particr. I don''t know who it might work on, though.


    Then the third option worked." Karl finished.


    Niall nodded. Limited Invulnerability was already good enough. Combining that with the insane self-healing of Trollish Regeneration? That was just disgusting. "Wait, do you have all of those skills?"


    Karl nodded. "Not all of them are active anymore, as I''ve improved some of them. But yes, I know all three."


    Karl got another brilliant idea. {Invalid Target} [Night Haunter] is a species exclusive skill.


    Well, it was worth a shot. If they had a Rae equivalent Elite on the Inquisition, the Church wouldn''t have to ask for Rae in the future.n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om

 Chapter 660 The Whole Gang Is Here

    Chapter 660 The Whole Gang Is Here


    Their presence seemed to be drawing Overlords to them, and before the line was ready to move out, Niall had been joined by Tabitha, Overlord Joram the Ranger, and Overlord Drath, who came to them from the Eastern Front, covered in blood and looking rough.


    "Inquisitor, did you find anything?" Drath asked as he arrived.


    "Nothing. There is no sign of the Relic. No residual energy, no trigger from my tracking skill. It''s like it simply vanished.


    The Archbishop is absolutely certain there was something in the box, but now it''s gone without a trace. I''m sure we all have theories, but as far as hard evidence, I haven''t found anything yet." Niall exined.


    Tabitha stared silently at Niall for a few seconds, then pointed at him.


    "Your ss changed." She used.


    Instantly, Niall realized what that must look like to the others, who didn''t know what had happened since he arrived. "That''s an unrted issue. Monarch Karl learned a new skill that helped me trigger a ss change." He offered.


    Karl nodded in agreement, and the Overlords waited for a more detailed exnation.


    "I got a skill intended to teach my beasts new skills that I already knew. However, it came with a loophole. It''s not limited to just my bonded beasts. If I can find a skill that ispatible with others, I can use it to teach them as well.


    The only real restriction is that I know a limited number of skills, and many of the ones I know are intended for beasts, and not humans."


    Overlord Joram looked confused, while Drath and Tabitha seemed to understand better, as they had spent a while around Karl.


    "For example, I wanted to teach Niall [Trollish Regeneration] because what would be funnier than a Rogue that self-heals? But it''s ipatible." He exined.


    "Ah, that makes sense. You gain all your skills from your beasts or books, right? You don''t get the same sort of skill tree that other sses do."


    Karl shrugged. "Well, I do get a skill tree. But it''s all utility skills, buffs and such. I could have picked a different path and learned a load of attack skills, but at the time, this seemed the better path."


    "We need to get you into the Library and start teaching you new skills. Well, what ones you can. We have still only managed to turn a few dozen skills into actual skill books.


    The requirements on knowledge of both the skill and Inscription is too limiting for the first book creation." Tabitha sighed.


    "Do you know Inscription?" Karl asked.


    Overlord Joram snorted in amusement, and she red at him.


    "No, I didn''t pick Inscription as a trade."


    Karl patted her kindly on the shoulder, and activated [Follow Me Little One]


    {Skill Teaching Request} [Sharpness]


    [Sharpness] shing, Stabbing and Disintegration type abilities increase in damage by 10 percent per Rank of the user. Tabitha''s cheeks went bright red as she stared in shock at Karl, and Niall began tough.


    "Oh, it must have given you the same message that it gave me."


    The Warrior cleared her throat and put on a stern expression.


    "I don''t know what you mean." She replied calmly.


    "He just taught you a skill, didn''t he? Which one did he pick? It has to be something that ispatible with your skills as a warrior. I don''t know what Karl has that would qualify that you don''t already know, though." Niall exined.


    "Sharpness. He taught me a skill that increases the damage of shing and stabbing attacks. Perfect for a Greatsword user." Tabitha informed him with a sigh.


    Then she turned on Karl. "What is with that message anyhow? Since when am I an adorable kitten?"


    Karl nearly choked on his tongue, and Niall had tears in his eyes.


    "It called me a Loyal Hatchling. I think it''s System generated, and the skill is intended to be used on new pets." The Rogueughed.


    Karl looked at the skintighttex bodysuit she wore with armour tes over the vital areas and firmly decided that while Adorable wasn''t quite the word he would have picked, he was going to take a page from Sybil''s ybook and not say a single thing. n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om


    Unfortunately for Tabitha, Overlord Drath was not so restrained.


    "Well, I think that you''re adorable. Look how cute you blush when you get mad." He teased, winking at the embarrassed warrior.


    The soldiers were ready to head back to the city, and Danni was waiting with the Command Group for Karl or someone to give them an order to move.


    Karl turned her way, changing the topic from exceptionally curvaceous ''adorable kittens'', and nodded to the Mage.


    "Send out the orders. The North Side is secure, all troops can return to the city." Karl instructed.


    "Thank you, Monarch. We will be off." Danni replied, but Karl stopped her before she could go.


    "I''m in the Monarch apartments, if you want toe by with the siblings. My whole group is staying there, and I''m sure they''d love to catch up."


    Danni smiled. "Donni already sent me an invitation from Dana toe visit you all. I will let you know when we have time. We''ve both got regr guard shifts this week."


    The rest of the team was making their way over, along with the Acolytes and Donnie Mackenzie. They were all in high spirits, though the young ones looked more than a little traumatized after their first time seeing battle.


    Karl was fairly certain that they hadn''t actually taken part, as Awakened Rank had little chance of doing anything more useful than themon soldiers on the line, and they were even less trained than the Privates in the Church Army.


    At best, they might get a bit of experience, but more likely they would just be in the way and get others injured as they tried.


    Once they arrived, the young cadets all came over to greet Karl, who took the time to listen to their stories and the things that they had noticed about how the senior Elites fought during the battle.


    He wasn''t training them, that could wait forter. But it was clear that the little ones were fond of him, and after the next training session, that sentiment was almost guaranteed to increase.

 Chapter 661 Dealing With Reporters

    Chapter 661 Dealing With Reporters


    Back inside the city, things were even more chaotic than they were on the battlefield, with people panicking about the attack, about how they had just realized that the Capital was a target, and that it was far too close to the Mountain Giant borders.


    Never mind that they had been there their entire lives, and this was the first time that the Giants had dared to threaten the city directly, now that it had happened, the reality had sunk in for the Capital residents who were used to their luxury and safety.


    Karl would have liked to say that it was understandable, just a matter of threatened civilians and bureaucrats, but shamefully many of the sedentary lower ranked Elites were involved in the chaos.


    They had never really taken the threats to the nation seriously, even when they were in the Academy. Now, they regretted every action that they had taken which dyed their own growth or passed up potential for political power or wealth.


    [We should have gotten the fear aura skill.] Raeined from her space as they slowly made their way through the crowds in the streets.


    Fortunately, the majority of the crowd didn''t recognize them, only that they were Elites by their armour. So, nobody stopped them to ask questions.


    However, when they began to approach the street that led to the higher ranking Elite''s apartments, the crowd was absolutely packed, looking for someone who could give them answers.


    The apartments were all empty, everyone who lived there was called to battle, and they were the first ones back. The other fronts had taken much worse damage than the North Side did, thanks to Remi''s intervention with the Thunderstorm.


    The first to recognize them was a reporter, and his shouts turned hundreds of concerned citizens around to swarm the group of returning Elites.


    "Please, can you tell us what the current situation is?" The reporter pleaded, while his team worked to keep the crowd from pushing into the shot.


    "The armies of the Giants and their allies have retreated. There is currently no direct threat to the city, but we have not been privy to the casualty counts or merit awards that mighte from this battle." Niall informed the reporter in a monotone voice.


    That wasn''t how he usually talked, so he was deliberately making his interview as boring as humanly possible, hoping to end it soon.


    "Which portion of the city were you defending?" The reporter asked.


    "The Inquisition cannot confirm the location of its members. However, I can confirm that a Monarch and four Royal Ranked Elites tookmand of the North Side of the city. Their direction led to zero line breaches, while the Tree of Life form of High Priestess Lotus, servant of the Green Dragon God, was instrumental in reducing casualties."


    [If all else fails, throw someone under the bus and run.] Remiughed.


    [I will drag him back if he tries to run.] Rae agreed.


    Niall hadn''t made any gestures to indicate who was who, so the reporters had to guess whether the Nature High Priestess in this group was the one named Lotus.


    The reporter turned to Karl, who was standing near Niall, while the other Overlords had formed a protective ring around the junior members, in case there were still disguised infiltrators or other traitors in the crowd.


    "Sir, can you provide any additional details?" The reporter asked, and Karl watched Niall smirk as the attention was diverted from him.


    But two could y this game.


    "I can provide a few. The Thunderstorm during the battle was indeed a magical effect, created by our Golden Dragon Nation''s Elites. Also, the battlefield appears to have been segmented, with the North Side receiving the majority of thebatants under the Commander Rank. That allowed the Giants and their weaker allies to work together without the weaker creatures getting caught in the aftershocks of a Monarch or Overlord Ranked battle.


    Finally, we have identified a number of traitors and transformed spies from the Giant Nations inside the city. If you should be caught in the middle of a police action to apprehend them, we cannot guarantee your safety if you are protesting or crowding the streets."


    Behind him, Drath and Tabitha groaned, and the crowd began to shout in panic. n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om


    "Sir, can you confirm how many spies might have been found?" The reporter asked.


    "Obviously not. However, you are live broadcasting this, so there is a chance that they will attempt to go underground or join the cowards fleeing the city for the anonymity of a ruralmunity."


    A giant wouldn''t take the indignity of living like a peasant ormon worker, so if the rural poption was suspicious of everyone with powers who entered the vige, it would help keep the cowards in the Capital.


    At least, that was Karl''s logic. The viges didn''t want politicians rolling in with their wealth and taking over, they already had enough issues with therge business owners acting like they owned the world. A few words to help discourage the relocation was the least he could do for them.


    "Can you provide any other details?" The reporter asked hopefully.


    This Elite was more forting than most, who would make asking questions feel like pulling teeth.


    "Only one that is relevant to the situation. With the help of a new potion breakthrough and an advanced, science-based training regimen, I am pleased to inform you that the old record for time taken to reach Awakened Rank for an Elite has been broken. Research is ongoing, but the early signs are very encouraging, and we can expect a grand announcement of sess after the Divine Injection Ceremony in theing days."


    {What exactly is science-based about the torture routine that you had Sister Raee up with for me?} Sybil asked.


    Karl smiled back at the little Rogue. {Human biology is science. She was very careful not to push it so far that you died. Besides, isn''t it getting easier now?}


    The reporter looked around the group, and realized that everyone else was studiously ignoring him, so there would be no more questions.


    Karl cleared his throat. "Now, if it''s not too much trouble, we would like to return home to shower and rest after the battle."

 Chapter 662 After Battle Snacks

    Chapter 662 After Battle Snacks


    The crowd parted as the interview ended, leaving them a path to the apartments. The crowd was already beginning to disperse, as they had gotten the basics of their questions answered by someone in charge.


    Normally, they would get political non answers, and then it would be a day-long protest until people gave up, but today someone had just told them what happened, and then gave them gossip to share.


    Everyone who had kids, especially ones whose kids would be undergoing the ceremony in the next few years, was excited to find out what the big news after the ceremony would be, as well as specte on what the new record for advancement to Awakened was, and whether they knew someone who might be able to suddenly increase in power.


    The Elite had said that it was a potion, so that meant anyone might be able to use it. Not just children, but perhaps their cousin''s spouse who had been stuck at Awakened since the Academy might suddenly begin to make progress and bring pride and wealth to the family.


    Little did they know that the Elite program was about to be a significantlyrger portion of the student body.


    Once they were all in the lobby of the apartment, and the crowd was safely on the other side of a soundproof wall, the Overlords turned on Karl.


    "Did nobody ever teach you how to deal with the reporters?" Drath demanded.


    "Rx, General. None of what I told them was an actual secret. If they had two functional brain cells, the reporters watching us train in public would have noticed the advancements to Awakening happening in real time. In fact, they likely have it on film, and don''t even realize it because they were more focused on the Cerro pack in the background ying with the smashing posts during lunch." Karlughed.


    "Did you have to tell them that there were spies in the city? That''s confidential." Drath demanded, defaulting to his duties as First General.


    "I''m fairly certain that they''re all dead by now. Our friend Niall''srades at the Inquisition should have taken care of that during the battle.


    But the important part is that it kept the wealthy losers in the Capital instead of letting them scatter to all the small towns where they could mess up the economy or buy out a huge portion of the local small businesses.


    I don''t mean to be offensive, but the rest of the country is happier not knowing that they exist."


    The Overlords all began tough quietly.


    Joram, the blonde Overlord Rank Ranger, smiled at Karl. "You''ve got a point. None of the smaller viges are ready for what would happen if they suddenly got an influx of bankers and influence brokers building vacation estates in the hills where they hunt and clear timber.


    The cultural conflict would be an absolute disaster."


    Everyone piled into the elevator to head to Karl''s apartment, where the staff had helpfully already sent an assortment of snacks and drinks.


    The Overlords all headed for the shower at the same time, then paused andughed. If it was just the guys, they didn''t care, they had all trained together and used the same shower room in the gym. But as they approached, they realized that Tabitha was with them today.


    "Overlord Tabitha, there is a shower in the ensuite if you would prefer. It''s not asrge as the one in the sauna and hot tub area, but well stocked." Karl offered.


    Tabitha nodded, then changed directions to the master bedroom, while the others went to use the shower heads all along the walls of the hot tub room.


    Karl had assumed that they were mostly there for the steamy ambience when you had the sauna going, as one of them pointed straight at the sauna heater. But they did work as actual showers.


    In his mind, Rae came to the same realization. They had just turned them on to get the air nice and humid before their bath. The showers even had a timer on them for that purpose. But she could use them for so much more. n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om


    Nobody took long. Three minutester, everyone was back out in fresh clothes with wet hair.


    Overlord Drath took charge of the conversation once they were all seated, with a nervous group of Acolytes sitting at the table behind Karl, next to the kitchen. The snacks and drinks were on the coffee table, so they were hoping that they would just be ignored. What was about to be said was likely super secret, and while they knew they shouldn''t be hearing it, they couldn''t resist.


    "Alright, I will start with the obvious parts. Bishop Misty of the Divine Beast Nation arrived with two unknown Totem Rank or higher creatures. What do we know about them?" Drath began.


    Karl considered his answer. "One was a four armed Titan, he arrived through a portal opened by a Monarch Ranked Giant. He was the first to arrive, and then Bishop Misty arrived with the second Totem, who I believe was a human. Possibly, a beastkin. But close to human."


    [Technically not a lie.] Thor allowed in Karl''s mind.


    Karl was possibly a human. And possibly a beastkin. Or something that was neither of the above. But they were all still options until they had a definitive answer.


    "And the attack that revealed the treasure?" Drath asked.


    "The Giantunched it, and the other swatted it away. I think he was just aiming to send it into the sky, but there wasn''t time for much after that. Bishop Misty sent them all through time. If I remember right, I believe she said that they were taking it home. That makes me think that they were all transferred through time, and the Temporal Dragon was working to restore a timeline. Or prevent additional damage to it. I don''t really understand how that works." Karl exined.


    "Did they take anything before they left?" Overlord Joram asked.


    "I don''t think so. But the dragon''s time spell creates a thick white mist. I couldn''t see the treasure location until after."


    The Overlords nodded in understanding. "Great, more mysteries." Joram sighed.


    Tabitha frowned, then her expression brightened, and she snapped her fingers.


    "That location is directly above the Cathedral, right? Didn''t there used to be a huge tower there? If I remember the history books, there were the ruins of a massive white stone tower at this location when the city was settled. That''s why they picked the spot. The stones had a bit of lingering magic in them to improve durability, so they used them to build the Cathedral and the first few buildings."


    Everyone else just shrugged, and she sighed. "Never mind. I will ask someone who has actually read a history book."


    A knock at the door drew their attention, then Sybil opened it to let Lady Othello, Overlord Ahmad and the head Librarian from the Cathedral enter.


    Karl smiled at Tabitha. "Ask and ye shall receive. If anyone has read a history book, it''s the Librarian."


    The Blue Dragon smiled at Karl. She had questions for him as well. Especially about that Runecrafting book that he had apparently made for the Archbishop, and why it didn''t give the user knowledge of any of the relevant crafting specialties associated with the trade.


    It was simultaneously the most useful and dysfunctional learning experience of her life.

 Chapter 663 Capital History

    Chapter 663 Capital History


    The Overlords nodded to theirrades, then took seats, with Ahmad settling in next to Dana to whisper in her ear. Karl gave him a suspicious look, but the Overlord sent him a system message.


    {Magical theory developments. The Battlemage will gain from them.} That was good enough for Karl, but the fluffy cat ears of the Overlord Rank Mage were entirely too tempting, making the mage a naturaldies'' man.


    Tabitha turned to the Librarian. "Am I right about that location being somewhere directly over the Cathedral that was built on the ruins of an ancient tower?"


    The blue dragon nodded her head. "That is right. My theory is that the object was a prize for winners of the tower. We don''t know what was supposed to be in it, or if it was imed and that was why the tower''s magic faded. But the location matches, though the tower must have been thousands of metres tall.


    What isn''tmon knowledge is that the foundation of the tower was never dismantled. The Cathedral wasn''t built there simply because there was a lot of stone, there is an active trial in the catbs under the temple. There are fifteen levels below ground, through the actual base of the defunct tower. The magic of the World Dragon is strong there, and that is why the Cathedral was actually ced on the site.


    The basement trial is only good for one group of people, though.


    Nobody can enter it except Bishops and Avatars of their Gods. That is the Overlords and Totems aligned with the Church. It is simr to the trial instance in the grounds, but at a much higher level.


    That trial temple on the Cathedral grounds used to rely on the power of the underground temple, but after the incident the other day, it is generating its own power, and the usage is no longer so limited."


    Thest was said while the Librarian stared at Karl, who had made the new core for the trial next to the Cathedral. But in Karl''s opinion, that wasn''t really his fault. It wasn''t going to let him out until he provided a new core, so one way or another, it was bound to happen.


    Karl smiled at Tessa and Lotus. "So, you''ve got an extra fancy trial waiting for you in the future. What do you think? Two more years should do it? Or do you think it will take three to reach Overlord?"


    The other Overlordsughed, while the dragon rolled her eyes.


    "You say that so casually, as if everyone else in this room didn''t use a massive number of resources or enjoy a string of exceptional luck for over a decade to reach their current status."


    Karl shrugged. "Well, we''ve got both of those on our side. Plus, the System is awakening. Once it''s fully active for everyone, steady progress will be much moremon. As far as I know, the only real challenge to their growth will be bypassing the bottlenecks."


    Tabitha took out a map and refolded it so that the area around the Cathedral was on top. "So, there is a trial here, and here. Then there are Holy Relics here, here, and here? It looks like there is a whole vige buried under the Capital." n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om


    The Librarian nodded. "That''s right. As far as we can tell, there is an entire city under the city, buried by more than a hundred thousand years of time, and thirty metres of sandstone, formed in the years after the time when this area was on the edge of the desert."


    Ahmad finished exining his idea to Dana, and joined the conversation.


    "You know, one of the groups of Giants that we fought said that they were going to take the System Relic that was in the city and crush the church. Do you think that they mean the System Stones, or one of the other Relics?" He asked.


    The Librarian winced. "Well, technically, they could mean any of countless items. We have been stockpiling System Relics in the catbs for centuries. The hope was that the resonance would help activate other System Relics."


    "Did it work?" Karl asked.


    "That is debatable. But if nothing else, it seriously slowed the decay of the stockpiled items, to the point that some of them were still active during thest annual inspection, thought in a very precarious state.


    They couldn''t be moved, or used for their intended purpose, but when we tested them with holy magic, they still showed signs of the system, even after all that time. It''s part of the reason that the Church was so confident that they would be able to get the Divine Injection to work once they found the ruined System Stones. They were designed to liquify holy power with the system integrated, and the study of them allowed the development of the serum.


    But I''m rambling, we didn''t want to talk about that, we were talking about the treasure over the city that might have once been in the tower that was here, and whether that was the item that the Giants were after.


    Well, if that new leader of theirs knew something in advance, perhaps having been informed by the time traveller that Bishop Misty sent away, it is possible that they know much more than we do.


    In fact, it''s possible that we still haven''t discovered what they came here to find, and that might be why they''re so desperate to force us all out of the city.


    I get that they hold a grudge against the World Dragon, but they seem much more determined than in the past to stamp out the church."


    Everyone let her ramble, thinking of the possibilities, as well as the likelihood that the Giants would being back for whatever they had failed to obtain with this attack.


    Or, in the case of General Drath, what his troops were going to have to do to actually win the next confrontation, if they dide back and try to force their way into the city.


    If they made even a small breach, the destruction that the Giants could cause to the civilian poption with a single Overlord was immense. A few minutes loose behind the walls would cost tens of thousands of lives.

 Chapter 664 System Favouritism

    Chapter 664 System Favouritism


    After a few minutes of letting the Librarian ramble about the past and the possible targets of the attack, Overlord Drath decided to change the topic to something a bit more optimistic.


    "This isn''t strictly on topic for right now, but we would like you five to help with the ceremony here in the Capital next week. We know that you all have fully active systems, and the Government will be providing System enhanced items for the testing.


    That is why we would like you to assist. You see, there is no guarantee that the items will have the same reaction to being handed from a Nurse to the student as they would when being passed from one of you to a student.


    We are hoping to maximize the number of sesses in the Capital region, and we will have nearby Elites help with as many of the other locations as possible.


    If nothing else, it will at least improve the Morale of the new students to have met a few working Elites before they reached the Academy."


    Karl chuckled. "The guards on the train were the first experience for me, and they were remarkably helpful."


    The General nodded. "They are typically chosen from the Elites that are good with kids, but not really good at much else. I have heard that it makes them easier to rte to because they''re all Common and Awakened Rank Elites, the closest thing we have to just sending other students to pick them up.


    We did consider that, by the way. As a sort of reward for senior students."


    Karl chuckled. "That could be interesting this year, as so many of the students who are about to be Seniors have spent thest year on the Hill Giant border. At least, I assume they''re still there."


    Drath nodded. "They''ve been moved a few times, and cycled back to the Academy for rest, but they''ve spent at least half the year on the border, and they''re stationed there right now."


    Karl nodded. "I don''t think that any of my people would have an issue with the n to attend the ceremonies. How many middle schools are there in the Capital?" Drath thought about it for a second. "There are sixteen in the city, but they all do the injection ceremony at the opera auditorium so that their parents can attend and see the new Elites onest time before they go.


    I believe that the smaller towns do it at the school, don''t they?" Karl nodded. "Yeah, but not with parents present. We did it in the ssroom, as there was only one ss in our year. But the Lithium mines aren''t all thatrge, so many years we have under two dozen kids in a year. Mine wasrger than usual, but even then, there were only a few of us at the Academy. Possibly, only two. Unless I missed someone."


    The Librarian frowned as the two talked. "How much do you have left to do in the city before then? I seem to recall that we were getting training updates from some students under your supervision."


    Karl nodded. "We have these five lovely young Elites in our care, and they''re making great progress. But we also have five Beast Rangers and a Tiger Monk from the Special Forces cadets training with us. We are going to try to advance that group in the next few days, as well as imparting some more skills andbat training to prepare these Acolytes for their time at the Academy.


    I have been informed that the Army will be taking over the training of the Beast Rangers."


    General Drath nodded. "Yes, they are already cadets assigned to the Special Forces, so we will take on their basic training, as we had already nned to when we thought they had no System ess."


    The other Overlords chuckled. It was clearly a power y by the Church Army, but it wouldn''t hurt anything, and they were going to be overloaded with students at the Academy anyhow, so letting the special forces students have special attention would help them immensely.


    Plus, it would give them an excuse to foist simr talents on the army for training, in the name of boosting the skills of the Elites.


    They were already short on teachers, and that problem was only going to get worse with the next influx.


    Anyone who could and would teach students was going to be needed very soon, but the Librarian was beginning to suspect that Monarch Karl was going to find a way out of that, somehow. Likely by bing a vital asset somewhere else, where there were no Elites to train. Or at least no freshmen for him to train.


    Overlord Joram snapped his fingers. "I get it now. There is a reason that you didn''t have those young Elites fighting on the North Front. They''re not just under your care, they''re still waiting to go to the Academy, so they haven''t been inducted as proper Elites yet, with all the responsibilities."


    Karl nodded. "Exactly. Three training days and a potion doesn''t make a proper soldier, and it definitely doesn''t make an independent Elite. Untrained fighters on the front lines are a nightmare."


    The Overlords looked like they were ready to retire to their own units for the night, but the Blue Dragon Priestess had more to talk to Karl about before he managed to escape from her.


    "We can all discuss the motivations behind the attackter. Elite Karl, I have a request for you. You have a talent for teaching, and a number of rare skills. I would like to make a formal request for you to transfer those skills to the Clergy scribes for distribution." She announced.


    Karl smiled and ced his hand on hers.


    {Skill Teaching Request} [Lightning Zone]


    The Librarian''s eyes opened wide in shock, and she read the system message quietly, but audibly.


    {Pack Master Karl Offers Knowledge} Skill [Lightning Zone] will be transferred to the alluring Priestess Kelithuza. n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om


    "Hey, why does it mess with me, but tters her? This is clear System favouritism." Tabithained.


    "A whole new skill, and a zone effect. That is lovely." The Librarian sighed happily, before a sudden sense of dread spread over her.


    "What are the restrictions on that skill book?" She asked, recalling the debacle of the [Refreshing Lightning] barrier.


    Karl smiled. "That''s the fun part. I have no idea who can use it."

 Chapter 665 User Friendly Cheat Code

    Chapter 665 User Friendly Cheat Code


    Karl inspected the option with Skill Book and realized that it was nearly exactly the same as [Refreshing Lightning] except that it included mages with high Lightning Affinity in the list with Lightning Element beasts, Clerics and Shamans.


    They already knew that limited it to mostly just a few beastkin and the Blue Dragon Clerics as well as Shamans, but if some of the mages could use [Lightning Zone] as well, it would be a little less frustrating for the Librarian and her people.


    The blue dragon sighed. "I suspected that it might be another of those evil spells. But it''s a good one again, so I will endeavour to teach more of our people to use it."


    "If you give me more time, I cane up with something more user-friendly. Honestly, I should spend more time in your Library trying to learn skills myself so that I''m notpletely limited to beast friendly skills." Karl replied regretfully.


    Overlord Joram smiled and brought out a small Peregrine Falcon, his bonded pet as a Ranger. It was just a normal beast, as Rangers couldn''t bond with intelligent creatures or Magical Beasts. But with Karl''s skill, he saw an opportunity.


    "You said that you raised a bunch of Beast Rangers, right? With Magical Beasts for partners? If my friend Dave evolved, do you think that I could be one?" He asked.


    Karl frowned. "You want to change your ss?"


    Joram shrugged. "My system has been fully active for a few weeks now, and I have all the Ranger Skills. There is nothing left in my tree, and the temple didn''t help me pick a new ss."


    Karl nodded slowly. "You likely still only get the one friend. However, it shouldn''t be hard for me to get him to evolve. Maybe."


    If Karl remembered his book learning properly, many species of magical beasts started as regr animals who ate a magical resource. Surely, Joram would have tried that already, if he was looking to have the bird evolve. But it was best to check.


    "Have you tried giving him resources?" He verified.


    Joram nodded. "Ever since I was a Royal, six years ago. Nothing changes him."


    [Make him a baby Hawk. It will be funny.] Cara suggested. n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om


    Hawk was intrigued by the idea. [A baby me?]


    [Yeah, teach him ming Body. Baby Hawk.] Cara suggested.


    She hadn''t known Hawk before he could do that, and Cara herself was a baby at the Commander Rank, so she hadn''t really considered that the others started off much lower on the power scale.


    If Karl had picked the skill to remove the restrictions on Evolution, he could just use that directly.


    No, by the wording, he might still be able to. [Evolution] Cause any bonded pet to evolve into a form one Rank Higher than when the skill is used. Usable once per beast, some materials may be required.


    The wording didn''t say that it had to behis bonded beast. That part was implied, and should bepletely obvious. But it wasn''t explicitly stated. So, he tried anyhow.


    {Nice Try} Invalid Target


    Well, that settled it. No tant cheating. Fine, he would bypass the evolution skill, and try to do it manually.


    [Hawk, can I get an Awakened Rank fire stone?]


    Hawk dropped the stone into his hand, and Karl brought it over to the bird, whose eyes lit up with greed.


    Even if it didn''t trigger an advancement, the bird still wanted it.


    That seemed like a good sign, so Karl fed the bird, and then stroked its head and activated [Follow Me Little One] to transfer [ming Body].


    The small bird suddenly lit on fire, then began happily rubbing up against Karl''s hand, thoroughly ignoring everyone else in the room.


    "Dave, congrattions. Come here, buddy." Overlord Joram informed the bird with a pleased smile.


    Dave turned to chirp at him, then rubbed possessively against Karl''s hand.


    "I know you made a new friend, but you need toe here, so I can inspect you."


    The bird chirped what was obviously a ''no'' and remained in position.


    "Did something go wrong?" The Librarian wondered.


    Karl shook his head. "No, it''s still bonded to him, I can see it in the system interface. Dave is just being stubborn."


    Joram took out a few small berries, and the bird turned away from Karl, then looked back to rub his head on Karl''s arm before flying back to his partner.


    "That''s better. Wee back, buddy. His thoughts are much clearer now than they were before he evolved. Oh, I see a system notice." Overlord Joram informed them.


    Everyone waited patiently for him to finish what he was doing. If he could change his system at Overlord, he should have a load of points avable to pick all the skills, and then he could guide all the Beast Rangers through their ss. Assuming that was what he got.


    Slowly, he opened his eyes. "There were five other options avable when I got the advancement menu. But Beast Ranger really is the best of them. It also appears to have skills to help me benefit from the beast''s abilities to a greater extent than a Ranger does.


    I will have to train to find out exactly how much, but I never gained physical abilities from my partner before, other than eyesight."


    Karl nodded. "Well, the others gainedrge amounts of strength and stamina, or strength and agility, from their partners at Common Rank, so I would suspect that you''ll get a percentage increase as well, though Dave has a ways to go to catch up.


    ming Body should take him through to at least Commander Rank, maybe into Royal Rank, so try not to send him anywhere too dangerous while he''s still advancing." The bird was still a Common Magical Beast, but that was changing quickly with the influx of energy from his partner. It was quite noticeable at this level, but only time would tell if that growth rate held as he got stronger.


    [And just like that, we have a volunteer to help us with our training regimen.] Hawkughed.


    [And a strong one, with lots of scouting andbat experience.]

 Chapter 666 Mark Of The Beast

    Chapter 666 Mark Of The Beast


    Now that Overlord Joram had a few seconds to adjust to his new ss, and to the enhancement of the bond with ''his Dave'' as Hawk called the bird, he was zoning out again, looking at all the skills that he had avable to him.


    "You know, starting out with this ss might not actually be optimal. There are so many introductory attack abilities, utility skills and hunting buffs with the Ranger ss, that simply aren''t part of this ss.


    A lot of the skills that Beast Rangers get are for improving the stats of our beast, or our targeting with ranged attacks. There is very little for actual attack skills within the tree." Joram exined.


    "Well, that is a bit of an issue. Nobody likes a one-trick pony. So, they will have to learn skills another way." Karl sighed.


    "There are a few, just not nearly as many as there are in the Ranger ss, and they look like advanced versions of base attacks. I''m not sure that skipping the Ranger ss will actually be best for everyone." Joram exined.


    The other Overlords got concerned looks. The Ranger had a point. If they missed out on the simple and easy skills, the ones that they would use every day, and only got the ones that were intended to buff them after they already had the basics, they would be in real trouble when it came to building their power base.


    They could only rely on their beast for so much before they were going to have to get intobat themselves.


    But there were options. Like the Special Forces Cadets that had been chosen for the first group, they could continue to train conventionally, and learn the basic skills from the Academy.


    It might lead to an imbnce in their abilities, but it would be better than nothing.


    But to Tabitha and Niall, the most offensivebat focused of the group, there was another issue that was bing apparent.


    The ss was only part of the issue. The real problem was going toe with what beasts they chose.


    Lightning Cerro had a versatile barrier that could also be used for melee offensive attacks. The Moor Cats had stealth on their side, and the bonded partner would have speed to help them. But what if a different beast was chosen?


    That girl who had gotten the small bird, for example. Or someone who picked a less impressive beast out of fondness for the species. Both would be at a huge disadvantage in their growth. Like Karl''s Beast Master ss, they relied too much on their beasts, and didn''t have a base of skills from multiple powerful beasts to get them through.


    "We could just assign a curriculum to them that focuses on learning skills from the start. Rae and the others learned quickly when they were young, and they''re still innovating. I think that if we have the right teachers in ce, we can help the students master at least two or three basic skills at the start, and then they can work from there.


    Speaking of which, how is the skill Librarying along?" Karl asked.


    "We''re up to twenty-seven different skills, but limited by what our Inscriptionists can learn well enough to make a tome. I really do need to steal you in the near future, and get you to put more down on paper for us." The Librarian insisted.


    Karl nodded. "I expected that there would be something like that in the near future. It''s not a problem, but I''m hoping that you will have a few skills that I can use as well. I will even rece the copies if I can learn them."


    "What skill books can you even use?" Tabitha asked, curious about the particrs of Karl''s ss.


    "Honestly, I don''t know. I''ve only really gone for ones that were useful to one of the others in the team. I haven''t tried to see the extent of what I can use. Likely no other trade skills, except maybe Dwarven Smithing, as I''ve already got Runecrafting. n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om


    As far as magic andbat skills, I suppose nearly anything is possible with the teamposition that I have right now."


    Lady Othello smiled at him. "Perhaps I can work with you and Thor, teach you both some Pdin type skills. It would make you both better in human formbat, and who knows what Thor can do with them in Cerro form."


    Thor was definitely up for that. "As long as you help us with our warriors and the monk, I have no objections at all. More teachers are better for everyone, and if we''re all training together, my training skills will affect all of you as well." Karl offered.


    That was an enticing offer. The beasts had some unique skills, and if they could get a chance at learning them, it would be well worth the effort.


    Of course, Karl would happily teach them a skill if he was able. Making powerful friends had been hammered so deep into his psyche by Thor''s instincts that Karl didn''t even notice that it was an outside influence anymore.


    Danni gave Karl a smirk that said she would also be pressuring him for a skill before the night was out. But the rxing with the Mackenzie sisters part would have to wait until the Overlords went home for the night.


    The Librarian snapped her fingers and nodded. "Yes, that is the right way. We will gather a copy of all the skill books that we can spare, and bring them to a training session downstairs. Say, first light tomorrow, so that we can see which ones work, and what other skills can be passed on from the Overlords? Then we can all go to train the youngsters and the young beasts. Say, I don''t suppose that you have a growth serum for Cerro, do you? If the beasts were Awakened Rank, they could learn much more."


    Karlughed. "We''re already feeding them better than even Thor was able to manage in the early days, so they will grow quickly. But you''ll have to give them at least a month or two if you want full-grown Cerro."


    The blue dragon sighed. That was still a huge improvement, as Cerro normally took two years to get past the adolescent phase to adult, but she knew that this project would go off the rails the moment that the controlled environment was gone.

 Chapter 667 Daves Not Here

    Chapter 667 Dave''s Not Here


    Overlord Joram looked down at the ming bird sitting on hisp with fondness. "I am going to retire for the evening. Dave wants to fly free and explore his new abilities."


    Karl nodded. "Do you want Hawk to look after him? There are many scary things in the world for an Awakened Rank magical beast."


    Joram shook his head. "I think he will be fine. He has been flying around as amon bird all his life."


    Karl got up and opened the balcony door. "He can join you back home when he''s done. I''m sure he''s not going to get lost."


    Before Joram could say anything, Dave was rocketing out the door, leaving a streak of fire behind him as he tested his newly enhanced wings. His species was already among the fastest of birds, and now he was even faster.


    His happy calls could be heard circling the building, as Karl left the door open, knowing that there were dozens of other magical beasts in the area, including the Blink Cats, who wouldn''t likely care that he was imed now that he was a viable food product.


    Catching him would be hard. Defeating his defensive mes would be harder, but Blink Cats were crafty, and they had a particr love for hunting low-flying birds.


    As amon Falcon, he wasn''t worth more than a bit of harassment, but that was different now.


    Karl turned to the Librarian. "Do you mind if I just shorten your name? Draconic names are terribly hard for me to pronounce, and I always get the z sound in names like Kelithuza wrong."


    The blue dragon gave him a curious look. "And what did you want to call me, other than my title as Librarian?"


    "How about Lady Keli?"


    Half of the Overlords choked on their drinks, while Othello giggled and Lotus nodded in agreement.


    The Librarian gave Karl a suspicious look, so he decided to borate.


    "Lady is properly formal for your Rank, Keli is easy to pronounce, and it''s got the sort of energetic and enthusiastic ring to it that I associate with a desire to learn."


    [Because you are around Lotus and Cara too much, and you associate learning with curiosity.] Thor noted.


    [They do learn many things, though.] Rae agreed.


    Overlord Othello slung apanionable arm over the blue dragon''s shoulder, and ruffled her hair. "Besides, you''re a young dragon still. No need to sound all stuffy and professional all the time."


    The Librarian actually smiled at that. "Little girl, you were born in the hotel room above my thousandth birthday party."


    Karl smiled. "See, a positively svelte young Debutante."


    The Librarian snorted in amusement. "We need to get you away from Nacht and Orthos, they''re messing with your sense of draconic age progression.


    However, if you canplete my learning challenge, I will agree to your nickname."


    Karl nodded. "I will warn you, unless it is written in Runic, I''m not actually all that strong with fancy words."


    Karl could sense the Librarian''s urge to facepalm, and the amusement of the other Overlords, as most of them had also finished formal education after middle school, where the Librarian had spent centuries as a University professor.


    The dragon took out a thick, ancient tome and ced it on the coffee table.


    "If you can unlock and learn that relic skill, then make a copy, I will allow you to give me a nickname." She insisted with a smirk.


    The book was so old that the name of the skill had been worn off the cover, and Karl could sense only the barest flicker of System energy still active in it, sporadic and failing.


    If he couldn''t use it, or if someone else didn''t in the next few months, it would fail entirely.


    Remi stared at the book with undisguised greed. [I have no idea what that is, and I must know.] She insisted.


    [Maybe that''s why you''re blue?] Thor pondered.


    The colour of the scales should say something about the person. He had gone from simple green, to in green and gold, to shimmering, showing how magnificent he was. So, Remi''s blue and ck scales should have something to do with her love of knowledge, logically.


    Neither Karl nor Remi was sold on that logic. Only dragons were colour coded by their Gods. But Remi did love knowledge.


    Karl ced his hand on the book''s cover and felt a tingle in his hand as it pulled a bit of energy from him. Karl activated [Analysis] and the name of the tome flickered in front of his eyes, then stabilized as more power flowed from his hand to the tome.


    [Book of Epic Guard]


    Karl stared at the notification for a moment. Was this an epic version of the warrior''s Guard skill? Was it a form of Golem or bodyguard? It seemed toorge to be a warrior skill, but it was Epic, ording to the title.


    Once the name of the book settled in Karl''s vision, he waited a few more seconds before trying to tamper with the ancient tome. He didn''t want to break or destabilize it at this point, when it was finally telling him something.


    Fortunately, he didn''t need to.


    [Learn Skill: Epic Guard?] {Skill Learned: Epic Guard}


    {Epic Guard} Golem ss Conjuration. Creates one Epic Grade personal guard.


    That gave Karl a most brilliant idea. He reached out and tapped both Dana and Ahmad on the foreheads, then activated [Follow Me Little One] to transfer the skill.


    Overlord Ahmad chuckled, and Dana blushed, making Karl wonder what sort of messages this skill was giving people when he used it. So far, it hade up with a rather unique description for everyone, and not everyone believed that Karl wasn''t picking them himself. n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om


    The Librarian waited impatiently for Karl to say something.


    "Why don''t we head to the basement training ground, and we can activate the skill? I would like to see how it turns out for everyone." Karl suggested.


    "Everyone?" The Librarian demanded.


    "It''s an Epic Golem type skill. I don''t know what it''s going to create." Karl exined.


    "And you taught others already?" She asked, confused.


    "Ah, yes. I used my daily teaching skill attempts to pass it on to Dana and Ahmad. They should both have an additional Golem of the Epic variety now."

 Chapter 668 Epic Guard

    Chapter 668 Epic Guard


    The whole group made their way down to the first training room in the lower levels, where they lined up against the wall, waiting for the trio with new skills to show off for the group.


    "So, how do we do this? The mages first, or the mages second?" Karl asked.


    Othello smirked at him. "I say we do the mages first, in case youe out with something ridiculous as a Golem. We already know that they got something normal for their first ones, but your friend Rae got spiders made of wood that evolved into something else, and then there are your Bodyguards, who appear to be real living monsters."


    Dana nodded and Ahmad shrugged. "She has a point. Giving all of us the same skill does not guarantee simr results, given your track record."


    Karl stepped back to let them work, and the two mages began to focus on the desired form and attributes for their new summon. Naturally, they would get the same one every time after the first, so this particr summoning was the most important.


    Ahmad finished his focus first, and summoned his new Golem. It was simr to the four he had from the main Golem spell, in that it appeared to be a human in ancient Legionnaire armour. But this one was different. It crackled with magical energy, and had a barrier spell active.


    Ahmad didn''t say anything to disturb Dana''s focus as she called forth her own creation.


    Her first ones hade out like Stone Karl statues, but this one was shorter, and much more slender. The Golem was wearing form fitting ck armour with ck tes over it, very simr to Tabitha, but the head and hands were different. Her golem was not human, but a violet skinned Demoness with a scimitar in both hands. When Karl looked closely, he could see that it was not living like the Bodyguards, but a stone facsimile of an actual Demoness. But its weapons were coated in ck energy, and Dana was smiling.


    "It can use my skill [Disruption de] as well as the [Windwalker Combat Style]. I believe it''s an Epic Grade agility type summon." She exined.


    Compared to Dana, the Golem was still huge, over two metres tall, but that put it a full metre shorter than the standard summon for the other Golems. It wasrge enough to block for Dana, and presumably fast enough to intercept most attackers. n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om


    It wouldn''t be Epic Grade if it wasn''t at least that fast.


    Ahmad nodded, and then his Golem duplicated itself. "Mine can use my [Duplicate Summoning] skill, as well as [Arcane Barrier] which serves as both an offensive and defensive skill."


    The Librarian snorted in amusement. "Of course, it can duplicate itself. Such a cheat code for the man who already has four Golems."


    The Mages didn''t dismiss their Golems, only moved to the side of the room with them, so that Karl coulde forward and see what he would get now that he was performing a proper summoning of his own.


    Karl knew that he likely coulde up with something great if he really focused. Dana had created a golem that mimicked the basics of her ownbat abilities, which was incredibly impressive.


    [Alright, group effort. I have no idea what we''re summoning anyhow. So, everyone focus on what they want out of the new Golem and let''s see what happens.] Karl suggested.


    [Oh, this is fun. I like this game.] Cara cheered. [SCALES!] Thor insisted.


    [And Stabby.] Rae agreed.


    [Let''s do this.] Hawk and Remi insisted at the same time, focusing on their desires for the Golem''s appearance.


    At first, the creation didn''t make any sense as it formed, surrounded by a ck cloud that was making it difficult to see properly. The other Golems had formed properly, but this one seemed to be taking its time deciding on what it was going to look like, even as Karl focused on making a functional humanoid Golem.


    For a moment, Karl lost his focus, wondering if he was the problem, as everyone else was focused on entirely different visions of what the spell should create, and they were all linked by their minds.


    Once he did, the ck cloud began to contract, and the new Golem formed.


    It appeared to be a Dryad, but mostly ck, and shifting in appearance, as if trying to blend with its surroundings. It had long branchlike fingers, ttened into massive talons, scales over the portion of its surface that wasn''t covered in bark and long flowing white hair that reminded Karl of the stripe down Cara''s back.


    But more concerning to everyone else in the room, the lingering ck aura around it was [Disintegrate] and it kept vanishing from sight if they weren''t directly focusing on it.


    Karl used [Analysis] to get a full overview of the Golem, and found that the skill could actually give him aprehensive description of his new ability.


    {Epic Guard}


    {Type} Shadow Drake Treant


    {Skills} [Perfect Camouge] [Disintegrate] [Rake] [Life Link] {Rake} Improved Rend, causes higher levels of bleeding damage


    {Life Link} The Shadow Drake Treant''s Healing, Regeneration, and Life Steal effects apply to all Party Members. Allows the Golem to absorb a percentage of damage done to the summoner.


    It could be buffed with Void Body, or Trollish Regeneration, which would spread healing to everyone, but if Karl knew some sort of healing spell, or a life steal dedicated ability, he was certain that the Golem would gain much more utility.


    Remi had [Healing Ssh] and her rarely used [Healing Totem]. That might work if Karl learned it himself. But there should be some other form of healing that he could manage.


    "That''s... unique..." The Librarian muttered as the rest of the group stared at the Golem.


    "It''s a coborative effort. You see, we''ve got sharp ws, scales, stealth, disintegrate, and life link. That should cover everything. At least once I manage to learn a healing skill for it to share, it will."


    Lotus frowned. "Now you want to be the healer, too?"


    "Life steal on hit would be just as good." Karl allowed.


    That was a little more reassuring for the Cleric. She couldn''t have some random summoning along and stealing her spot on the team.

 Chapter 669 Equipped Guard

    Chapter 669 Equipped Guard


    N?v(el)B\\jnn


    Ophelia got an excited look on her face. "You know, if you gave the Golem a de with Life Leech, wouldn''t it heal you pretty well as it fought? The ones I have are kind of low quality at this point, and I was going to pass them on to the newbies, but I''m sure we can find some new ones for you."


    Karl nodded. "That''s a great idea. Maybe short des, given that the golem has stealth and high agility."


    Othello took out a long de and handed it to Karl. "That has life steal on it. Why not see how the Golem can do?"


    Karl nodded in thanks, and handed the de to the Golem, who held it in its hands awkwardly, unable to make a fist to hold the de with such long finger ws.


    Othello facepalmed. "Alright, I can see how this could be an issue. I''m used to Golems that have human hands, but this one and the Spider Golems are different."


    The Golem carefully handed back the de, but Karl still had an idea to boost itsbat performance.


    He equipped the Haint w on the Golem, which actually looked a little like an all-ck and scaly version of Overlord Leafa. Karl smiled as the weapon melded with the Golem, which now had ghostly glowing eyes, and leaked Ghostfire smoke from its mouth.


    "What sort of weapon is that?" Niall asked, shocked at the transformation.


    "It''s a Haint w. I obtained it in Newbon. It doesn''t have life steal, but it''s got a Soul Leech effect that''s particrly nasty, and it adds Ghostfire to all attacks, including skills.


    Normally, it''s a weapon that I would use myself, inbination with my bow particrly. But for the moment, I think it works quite well with the Epic Guard skill."


    "Should we see how it does while sparring against Ahmad''s Golems? If it''s an Epic Rank skill, it might be able to hold off his regr Golems for a while." Niall suggested.


    Karl shrugged. "No better way to test it. I don''t know what sort ofbat instincts it inherited, since I don''t have an actualbat style skill."


    Ahmad summoned his four standard Legionnaire Golems on the far side of the training room, and Karl gave instructions to his new summon.


    [Show us how you would defeat these targets. They''re golems, so go full force.] Karl thought.


    The Golems took abat stance, and the Guard vanished. It reappeared in a swirl of Ghostfire in front of one Golem, then leapt into the air, kicked it in the crotch and stabbed all ten long ws through the Golem''s eyes.


    [One Hundred Percent, it learned to fight from Cara.] Rae noted.


    She would have appeared behind the Golem.


    The Guard was already moving, raking at the leg joints of the Golems and dodging attacks with an rming level of agility, then periodically vanishing in a puff of pale blue-green fire. It would reappear behind another Golem and try for a new target.


    First, it tried to rip their throats out, then stab through the neck of the armour to their hearts. But the Golems weren''t living things, and going for the vitals of a Golem didn''t work.


    Finally, the Golems caught it, and sliced it to bits, causing it to dissipate and return the weapon to Karl''s possession.


    All four of the Overlord Rank Golems had taken significant damage during the battle, and Karl was impressed. Even Ahmad was shaking his head in shocked dismay. "Well, for a Golem that didn''te with a trained fighting style, I have to say that one is particrly vicious, and learns fast. If those had been living creatures, I suspect that your Golem might actually have been able to fight above its rank."


    Tabitha chuckled darkly. "I just can''t get over the fact that its first instinct was to kick the golem in the balls and w its eyes out. What sort of fighter are you, Monarch Karl."


    Thest was said with a bit of a sneer, and Karl threw up his hands in a cating gesture.


    "That''s not really on me. I enlisted my team of beasts for suggestions, and their suggestions helped shape our new Golem. I believe that Cara''s fighting style is the dominant one. She would definitely start a fight that way. I''m surprised that the Golem didn''t lick him as well."


    Ahmadughed. "I think it might have. Being so close, the smoke of the guard''s breath was surely touching my Golem, and your Guard doesn''t have an actual tongue."


    Cara smoothed her fur in pride, like she was styling her hair. Karlughed at her expression, and summoned the Guard again, with the Haint w equipped.


    It flexed a little, as if it remembered being dismembered, or wanted to do a systems check beforebat. Then it turned to Karl for instructions.


    [Just wait here. There are no threats.]


    Rae giggled. [You don''t need to be so detailed. Golems get what you want instinctively. If you focus, you should be able to tell where it is, the same as you can with us and the Bodyguards.]


    [I got that part. Well, at least we know the new spell works.]


    Rae considered it. [I need to learn that er. I could have a third Spider Golem.]


    Karl used [Follow Me, Little One] to transfer the knowledge.


    {Ipatible Target}


    Rae sighed. [Boo this system. I can use Golems, but not more golems? How does that make sense?]


    Dana nudged Karl. "Mind having your Guard spar with mine? I want to see how it does. I thought it was odd that the only skill yours was using was that movement skill. So, they might need time to adapt to using all their abilities."


    "Sure. Let me remove the weapon ovey. It doesn''t need the extra damage to keep up this time." Karl agreed.


    The Haint w was put away, and the Guard went from animated to calm, waiting in a ready position for orders.


    Dana summoned her Guard, in its ck leather and te armour. Then, with a mentalmand, the two Guards were on each other.


    Dana''s Demonic looking Guard fired off a flurry of de energy at its Dryad looking opponent, which dismissively swatted them away with [Disintegrate].


    "Is it just me, or did itsbat stylepletely change?" Ophelia asked, as the two Guards locked inbat, right before Karl''s began to use Rake to systematically dismantle its opponent into small pieces.


    Niall nodded in agreement. "I think it did. Maybe it was the influence of the Haint w? The additional skill? Or perhaps the merger with the weapon grants it a bit more cognitive function? It fights very methodically now, in the most efficient way." Dana sighed. "I have to say, with or without the weapon, that Guard is brutal inbat."


    She called back her Guard again, and the violet Demoness shook herself out in the same way as Karl''s had, as if checking for damage. It had to be a function of the spell, remembering previous fights to improve.


    "Alright, we have our answers. Now, we really can go to sleep. I''m sure there will be far too many questions for us all in the morning. Librarian, you can stay in my spare room if you would like." Lady Othello offered.


    "I will see you all tomorrow." The Librarian agreed, then left with the Pdin, headed back upstairs.


    [Now we have a new sparring partner for the trainees.] Rae cheered.


    [I don''t think they would survive that.] Thor reminded her.


    [We could put pool noodles on her ws.]


    [That''s terrifying in a whole different way.]

 Chapter 670 Could That Be Why?

    Chapter 670 Could That Be Why?


    Back in the apartment, the Mackenzie twins were eager to catch up with thedies, while Cara stretched out across theirps, taunting Thor with her ability to get her head rubbed while indoors.


    As everyone chatted, Karl got to work turning [Epic Guard] into a new Skill Book.


    The Librarian had made him promise her that he would, and he knew that the Dragon wouldn''t want to wait for him to make good on his word. Plus, he was looking forward to the look on her face when she remembered that she had agreed to let him use a nickname for her if he did.


    As he worked, Karl checked in on everyone. Thor was very pleased that he had managed to give the new summon scales, while Rae and Cara wereughing about the fighting style when it was merged with the Haint w. They had a theory that it was actually Leafa''s default fighting style, as the Haint w hade from her, and the thought of the distinguished and ancient Overlord wing someone''s eyes out was highly entertaining.


    They were going to have to ask her about it the next time they met.


    "So, have you met any cute guys yet? Possibly snag yourself some hunky boy toy?" Ophelia was asking the twin mages.


    Donni scoffed. "Do you have any idea how hard it is for a female Elite to find a good man? We already know the true faces of the politicians and the power brokers, so the truly wealthy men are out.


    Our powers intimidate most of the civilians, though they wouldn''t openly admit it. So that cuts out the vast majority of the poption. Finally, half of the Elites are batshit crazy from too much time alone in the woods.


    No offence to those present, but you do realize that Ophelia holds Lotus like a teddy bear, and Karl talks to himself?"


    She gestured to where Lotus was sitting on Ophelia''sp, then to Karl.


    The whole group began tough, and Tessa decided to exin. "Ophelia likes to sleep in bear form, with Lotus as a teddy. I will admit, it''s odd, but it keeps her from wandering. Karl isn''t talking to himself, though. He''s talking to the beasts, and forgets that the rest of us can''t hear them."


    Karl nodded. "It''s easier when everyone is out, then I can just talk to them normally."


    "What are you even writing? Theplete encyclopedia?" Danni asked, cutting off her sister''s answer.


    "The copy of [Epic Guard] for The Librarian. If you want to know the skill, I will try to transfer it to you."


    The looks on their faces said it all. They wanted the skill, and they wanted it now.


    Karl activated the transfer, and sighed as the message came up.


    {Minimum Requirements Not Met} n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om


    {Minimum Requirements Not Met}


    "Looks like we will have to wait on that. It says that it''s not possible yet."


    Both mages eyes went to the freshly written skill book, and Karl made a reluctant weing gesture. Sure, it took hours. But that skill was so good, that he couldn''t bring himself to deny them.


    Danni went first, as the Golem Specialist of the pair. No matter what she did, she was unable to get the cover open. It was as if the book were a single block of steel, unyielding and solid.


    After a minute, she gave up. Donni traded her ces, and suffered the same fate, but with much less surprise after her specialist sister had failed.


    "It only said you didn''t make minimum requirements, but Dana can use it. So, you might just need to be a Royal." Karl offered, as a form of sympathy.


    "Well, it was worth a shot." Danni assured him, visibly annoyed by the situation.


    If he couldn''t teach them the cool golem, there were still other Mage type abilities that he might be able to share from Remi to them. Technically, Remi was a Shaman, but a lot of the abilities appeared to be transferrable. But first, he could start with the simple ones.


    {Skill Teaching Requests Pending} [Mental Fortitude]


    Both Mages gave Karl a raised eyebrow look that was somewhere between intrigued and offended, then rxed as the skill took effect.


    "Oh, this is a wonderful skill. It actually increased my mana regeneration to nearly double its base." Danni noted.


    "Odd, that''s not a listed effect. Could it be a side effect of Mental Fortitude? Just a second, I will pass it around." Karl offered.


    {Skill Teaching Requests Pending} [Mental Fortitude]


    One after another, everyone appeared to ept the skill. The beasts carefully watched everyone''s expression, wondering what it had called them.


    The first to break was Lotus, who was in a fit of giggles. "How did I be an adorable healing tree? What sort of title is that? I mean, I''m ttered. But does this mean that the System is actually more impressed with my skills as a tree than as a human? I should have spent more time practising my rain dance." Sheughed.


    Opheliaughed. "It calls me the friendly rage bear."


    Dana frowned. "You all get cool and cute nicknames. It gave me: {Pack Master Karl Offers Knowledge} Skill [Mental Fortitude] will be transferred to the Dana Mage."


    Hawk nodded in satisfaction. He knew he had her name right.


    Karl shrugged, then patted her on the back. "I don''t pick the names, the System does that. Remember that it called Overlord Tabitha a kitten?"


    Danni and Donniughed, but Tessa had gained a unique insight. "Alright, I don''t feel so bad now. I wonder if this is how the World Dragon sees us all? Like it just picks some aspect of our personality and assigns us a nickname. I wonder if the best nicknames go to the ones with the most favour?"


    Ophelia drummed her fingers on the coffee table as she thought about it.


    "You know, that is possible. The World Dragon is a God, but he''s also a Dragon.


    They don''t really see humans as equals most of the time, and with that much power, a psychic Dragon would probably see the entire world at once. Keeping track of everyone''s preferred names and titles would be a lot of trouble.


    In fact, it might be possible that the entire System interface is just a divine notebook, so the Gods can keep track of us all."


    Karlughed at the thought, then realized there was a greater than zero chance that she was right. There was no real reason that the System had to record and disy names or sses for others. But it did.

 Chapter 671 Blue Days

    Chapter 671 Blue Days


    Joan, the Red Dragon Acolyte, tapped the table to get Karl''s attention. "We should likely head back to the Cathedral for the night. Is Rae keeping Sybil for the evening?"


    [Nope, she can sleep tonight, we will train in the sun.]


    "You can all rest for the evening. We will work on training tomorrow. It will be a littleter in the morning, so if you finish everything, you cane here looking for us." Karl informed her, and the young Priestess began to herd her teammates toward the door.


    It was subtle, but she was already taking on the Red Dragon Cleric''s natural role as caretaker.


    Once the kids were gone, thedies called for wine from downstairs, and Karl knew that it was going to be a long night.


    Karl woke up the next morning to find the other upants of his bed were Rae, Cara, and a dishevelled Lotus, who was wrapped around the Void Badger making happy sleeping noises.


    There was snoringing from the living room, more than seemed likely for just two people, so most of the others must have passed out there after he went to sleep. Only habit had gotten him up this early, but it was a prime opportunity for them to order breakfast and not be the one tortured by the smell of fresh food for once.


    At first, Karl considered cooking, but after getting spoiled by the building''s chefs and the clerics, he couldn''t bring himself to have another of the simple meals that were all he actually knew how to cook.


    Bacon and eggs were a wonderful breakfast. But bacon and eggs with all the fancy sauces and garnishes was even better.


    Karl dressed in the ck pants and white shirt of his official uniform, then reminded himself to have Rae make more clothes for him when she had time.


    [There is a whole stack in my forest. The hut with all the little ghosts hanging from the roof.] Rae offered, without moving from her spot in bed.


    Indeed, there was. Quite an impressive selection, even if it looked like they were all the failed efforts to make something else. Not bad enough for her to destroy, but piled in a storage space out of the way.


    Karl grabbed a pair of ck pants and a light grey polo shirt with a spider embroidered over the pocket, and padded out to the front room.


    But not everyone was asleep.


    There was an assortment of breads, meats and cheeses on the table, apanied by five blue robed clerics.


    The cleric sitting at the foot of the table turned to smile at him, and spoke softly, in a practised Library whisper.


    "Monarch. Please join us for breakfast. We were sent over by The Head Librarian to see if you had time to make a copy of the new skill today, and to ask some questions about Runecrafting. She had wanted to ask them herself, but in all the confusion yesterday, she forgot. Today, she is busy with the Archbishop, and won''t be able to attend before you are busy with the students."


    Karl ced the [Epic Guard] skill book on the table with a soft thump.


    "That''s the new skill. I finished itst night. From what I can tell, you need to bepatible with Golems and at least Royal Rank to use it." n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om


    The Blue Dragon clerics immediately began to y rock paper scissors, and Karl wondered what they were up to. Then he realized. If they could actually use the skill, then opening the cover to read it in preparation to copy it would just teach them the skill and the book would vanish.


    Unfortunately for them, they were all Royal High Priestesses. So, there was some sort of chance that they could use it.


    The first to lose the match reluctantly reached for the book and caressed the cover as they made notes about the outside.


    It was a promising sign that nothing bad had happened when she first touched the cover, so the cleric carefully turned it over to inspect the back and make detailed notes of how it had formed.


    With great trepidation, the Cleric slowly flipped open the cover and breathed a sigh of relief as she read the first few words.


    "This is going to take forever to copy." The cleric sighed as she looked at the thickness of the book.


    "It took me about four hours." Karl agreed.


    The Clerics rolled their eyes at him. "That''s with superhuman hand speed. It would take us nearly a week to copy this."


    "Then I bet you''re d it didn''t teach you the skill."


    The Clerics all nodded in unison, and carefully flipped through the book with soft cotton gloves on, so they didn''t mark or damage the pages.


    "This is incredible. The details that go into this skill are so extensive that I can''t even really consider it a Golem. It is a construct, and built like a Golem, without internal organs, but otherwise, the magic is so far removed, that structure is all they really have inmon." The Priestess exined.


    Karl shrugged. "I''ve never looked through a Golem book. I wonder if I can even use them, since I''m not a mage. Rae can use Golems, but it wasn''t a shared skill." "Don''t you have enough summons yet? You''ve got all those bodyguards, and Rae''s Golems, and now this Guard. Plus all your partners. Are you trying to be an entire army legion on your own?" One of the Clerics asked, still in the hushed Library whisper tones.


    "That''s not a bad idea. I wonder if I can make an army of Spiderlings some day?" Rae asked quietly as she appeared at the table beside Karl.


    The Blue Dragon Clerics looked horrified.


    "An army of Spiderlings? Like dozens of tiny golems?" One asked.


    Rae nodded. "Or even an illusion that looks like them, but can still do spider things. Oh, the wonderful things that I could make with an army worth of little versions of me spinning silk."

 Chapter 672 Reading Comprehension

    Chapter 672 Reading Comprehension


    While most of the clerics were busy looking over the text, one had more in - depth questions for Karl about Runecrafting as an art. Or, at least, what the system had taught him about Runecrafting as an art.


    "So, did it teach you all the conjunctions to modify the spell outputs for item creation, or the proper characterpounding to make the spell phrase all fit on a single piece of paper to make talismans?" The cleric asked.


    "I don''t know what ones are used for item creation. I do know how topound the characters, though. In fact, I know how to do that in multiple different ways, depending on the desired meaning of the phrase, and the nature of the item that I am writing it on." Karl agreed.


    The cleric nodded slowly as she considered her next question.


    "So, the Runecrafting skill gives you all the knowledge of thenguage, but in an entirely theoretical way? You know what the word is, but not how it might be used to create an item, or describe a spell on a talisman?" She verified.


    Karl nodded. "That''s about right. I mean, I can guess. But that''s what it is, a guess. I don''t have any clue how those who came before me would have done it, so I can only do my best to try toe up with something workable."


    The cleric made careful notes, but was beginning to look discouraged, so Karl asked follow-up questions of his own.


    "What is it that you''re hoping to uncover? Some sort of lost crafting art?" The middle-aged woman''s face twisted into a rueful smile. "Nothing quite so grand, I am afraid. What we were hoping for was some sort of frame of reference so that we could tell how much has been lost from the various crafts that use runes as part of their art.


    You see, we''ve lost huge amounts of Smithing knowledge. We''ve lost almost the entirety of magical weapons creation as an art form, including the majority of the ability to improvise. Though, as Runecrafting spreads, we might be able to help them out with some theory.


    But there are vast quantities of items that are recovered from Monster Spawns in damaged conditions, sometimes intact but mostly inoperative.


    If we knew more about the craft that made them, we would be able to more easily repair them.


    Instead, we need to have a Runecrafter that knows what might be missing exin the problem to a cksmith who doesn''t know Runecrafting because we don''t have System ess to the subcategory skills that wouldbine the two." n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om


    Karl frowned. "So, what you''re saying is that recovering the Runecrafting skill actually just made everyone aware of how much they still have to learn, and created more questions than it answered?"


    The cleric sighed and nodded in agreement.


    "But if we had one of the subset skills but not the entirety of the Runecrafting Library, would we not still be in the same situation?"


    That caught the attention of one of the others.


    "No, if we had something like Talisman Master, the ancient crafting skill, we would think that it was whole andplete on its own. Nobody would connect that to the missing bits of knowledge that Runecrafting supplies."


    The cleric who had been grilling Karl nodded in agreement. "There is a distinct pain in knowing that you are missing knowledge that should be avable to you. It''s like having all the answers at your fingertips, and having someone remind you that you''re too uneducated to even know what to ask."


    For the blue dragon clerics, that was indeed a particrly painful situation. They were servants of the god of knowledge and teaching. Not knowing something was anathema to their goals in life. The HAD TO know. It wasn''t an option.


    "Alright, I think that I get where you''reing from. We could likely recover a bit of the lost knowledge from the old Dwarven Cities, if you sent someone with Runecrafting knowledge there." Karl suggested.


    There were murmurs of agreement with that. But no surprise at all, which suggested that it was an idea the blue dragons had already considered, and had likely acted on, or made ns to act on as soon as they had properly trained researchers avable.


    Like the green dragon clerics and their penchant for wandering off in the wilderness for indeterminate amounts of time. The Blue Dragon Clerics were known to get so immersed in research problems that they would forget about everything else for days and weeks on end.


    Karl could see that these clerics were already well on the way to bing obsessed with the lost knowledge associated with Runecrafting, even though it didn''t seem that any of them had actually learned the art yet.


    Possibly, only because they had previously be immersed in a project on another trade skill, and now they couldn''t switch.


    If they could figure out how to replicate the Epic Guard skill book and teach it torge groups of Elites, that might change. It was far more interesting as a skill than [Golem] was, and the power level was simrly impressive.


    The majority of the group was studying the skill book with increasing intensity, but the amount of work that it would take to replicate it was dampening their enthusiasm considerably.


    Spending an entire week on a project, only to have it used by someone else, was enough to put a damper on anyone''s day.


    Now, if this was a skill that they could use themselves, and then make copies to teach to the ones who needed it, they might be much more amenable to the concept.


    At the very least, they would have a cool Guardian to look at.


    [They''re all a bit odd. They might take it as the perfect friend, just because it''s always there and doesn''t talk to interrupt their concentration.] Remi noted.


    Thor seemed to agree with her.


    [If nothing else, it would give them someone who doesn''t run away when they begin to get too excited about their work. The sun isn''t even properly up, and they''re already this excited about work. Not even good work because it''s for someone else''s pack.]


    [When have you ever been reluctant to work?]


    [But you only ask me to do fun things like pull the wagon.] Thorined, feeling slighted by theparison between that and making books for strangers.

 Chapter 673 Efficient Study

    Chapter 673 Efficient Study


    After a few minutes of focus on the Epic Guard Skill''s outeryers, the clerics started to really get into the book, with one researcher dedicated to feeding the others breakfast, so that no greasy fingers would be touching the manuscript.


    It was a well practised routine, and Remi thought that it was hrious.


    Most species only hand fed their beloved ones, or the young. But the blue dragon clerics did it so that they could research more efficiently, without even taking meal breaks.


    [Give them a few minutes, and they will realize that they got entirely toofortable around Karl, and they will be all embarrassed.] Remiughed as they finished eating, and then the designated food holder carefully washed her hands before recing her white cotton gloves.


    "Is there a reason that the gloves are always white? Is it just so that it is easier to see if you''ve gotten them dirty?" Karl asked as they delicately flipped the pages.


    The clerics all shook their heads. "Cotton is naturally white. We choose white cotton gloves because there are no dyes added to them which might transfer to the pages if they have something on them or our hands are a bit wet." Lotus sat down beside them and began picking her favourite parts off the te of breakfast snacks.


    "As if a blue cleric would ever let wet hands around a research book. They''re so mean when we go to the library, like the books were their beloved children." Sheined.


    The others all rolled their eyes in unison, but didn''t respond. "Are you sure it''s not because they never know where a green cleric has been, and there is a greater than zero chance that you have both tree sap and peanut butter on your hands?" Karl asked.


    "That might be part of it. But they''re not only mean to us."


    The middle-aged woman leading the research team shrugged. "Well, we did personally write most of the copies that are in the Library. But nobody properly respects the books. We have entire teams dedicated to just cleaning and removing stains from our collection." She reminded Lotus.


    "Don''t I know it. I had to spend a whole week helping them after my botany textbook had an unfortunate mishap."


    The clerics allughed, and even Karl chuckled, knowing that almost anything could have happened to the book.


    The day that he had met her, Lotus wanted to take Rae to go nap in the trees. N?v(el)B\\jnn


    For the most part, they worked in silence as the rest of the team woke up and ordered additional breakfast items.


    The ones that the Blue Dragon Clerics had brought appeared to be mostly chosen for ease of consumption, but they didn''t cover everything that the others were used to eating.


    Once they were done, the rest of the group all prepared to head off to the training grounds, leaving Karl with the Librarians, while the beasts helped train the team.


    Well, not totally alone. Hawk had no intentions of going over there, though Remi was back in Spirit Snake form and apanying Cara on their mission to educate the students in the proper methods of training their bodies.


    She wasn''t going to feed them questionable resources today, as they were already advanced far enough that they would be suffering side effects. But she did have a number of nutritional beverages to help them through Thor''s physique enhancement training.


    Today, not even the small beasts would be spared his tender, loving care. Without Karl to keep them safely entertained, they would be training with their partners for the day, and that meant they had to keep building muscles and working towards an evolution.


    Thor had be his strongest after he evolved and his scales changed. So, naturally, the same should be true of them young ones.


    "Gather them all in the courtyard before you start so that I can activate the training skills on everyone. If I don''t, it''s mostly a wasted day anyhow." Karl reminded Thor, who was about to leave the apartment in human form.


    "No problem. We are trying to prove to the government people that we''re good at the job." The Cerro agreed.


    It never crossed Thor''s mind that being too good at your work could just lead to you being assigned even more work every time that it arrived. He was just happy to have hatchlings to train.


    What Cerro wouldn''t be?


    Rae was doing her best not tough at Karl being stuck in here with the Librarians, while they got to go outside and y and watch the newbiese up with new and inventive ways to avoid hard work.


    Everyone did their best to ck without getting caught, and this group had proven to be quite creative with their ways of doing just enough that they didn''t get in trouble.


    Of course, that didn''t work on Rae. She just kept pushing until her senses told her that you really were about to copse.


    She had a nearly perfect track record with it, and almost always managed to stop them for a break before that point. It was only when they stumbled and simply wouldn''t get back up again that she had to admit defeat.


    "Is it really that important to train a group of new recruits before they get to the Academy?" One of the Librarians asked.


    "In this case, yes. The Archbishop himself wants to know how far and how fast we can push various new Elites, in order to build up a military force that is capable of recing our losses during the war.


    We all know that the Giants aren''t going to give up that easily, so we are going to need to get the number of new Commander Rank and higher Elites up above the numbers that we have lost."


    He could see that the clerics were doing the quick mental math to determine if that was possible. They would need many new Commanders, more than any Academy group had ever counted among their ranks before, but it wasn''t too farfetched.

 Chapter 674 Dwarven Runes

    Chapter 674 Dwarven Runes


    Once the group had gathered outside the building where Karl could see them, he activated [Skill Master] on the students and their beasts, focused on the teachers that they would have for the day.


    The young beasts and their Rangers were well behind the initial five now that the first group of Acolytes had taken Remi''s special potions, but that didn''t mean that they wouldn''t try to catch up as fast as they could.


    The goal for the day was to help the Rangers learn their shared skill, and to work with everyone else to improve theirbat abilities. But only after Thor''s gruelling physical stamina improvement training.


    It was working wonderfully, and the students were adjusting rapidly, but Karl did notice that the students were not getting the initial boost in physical development that the ones who received the injection did.


    Karl had grown significantly while he was on the train, which was only a few days, and then again after they had reached the Academy.


    But these students, who had all been awakened by System linked items, were not changing in that sort of way. Instead, they were growing physically at a perfectly normal rate, but their power level was increasing steadily, as expected from the training that they were receiving.


    Karl turned to the clerics, who were watching the students, in case there was some visible effect from Karl''s abilities.


    "I''ve got a question for you. I awakened five of those students with system linked rings, and six of them, the ones with the beasts, with quest items. But they''re not getting the sudden burst of growth and physical improvement that the students normally get from the Divine Injection.


    It''s been over a week, and they look the same. No signs of rapid maturation, even for Sybil, the Rogue, who is years younger than the others. She''s younger than we had even expected to awaken, but she shows extremepatibility with her ss, and her progress rate matches the other students.


    She even shows higher than usual growth rate for skill learning, but she still isn''t gaining the physical boost." Karl exined.


    The Clerics nodded. "The clergy has noted that among others who were awakened that way. The working hypothesis is that the injection actually does have side effects, and that the rapid growth is one of them. It is also possible that it is not so much a side effect as a desired oue. The Divine Injection was created to give power to the humans who weren''t innately talented with magic. But it is a divine item, imbued with immense amounts of holy power. So, there is a chance that the holy power interprets the Archbishop''s desire for powerful defenders of the faith as a need for rapid growth.


    Of course, the more we study, the more we will know. But the fact that it is so obvious with your group shows that it won''t go unnoticed by the students once they''re sent to the Academy next week."


    The clerics began discussing the various possible oues among themselves, then the oldest of them suddenly paused and began tough.


    "Sisters, we have been sidetracked. There are too many things going on today, and we are losing sight of the reasons that we came here. The head Librarian was most insistent that we get some answers about the Runecrafting skill, and what it entails so that we could start building arger picture of the possible oues for it.


    I know that we already covered the theory, but we have brought texts on the various disciplines for you to try.


    The most likely of them would probably be the free-form use of Runes, as a Runepriest would simply write them in the air, but the most practical would be the Runesmith, who uses them to enhance objects.


    Which would you prefer to start with?"


    Karl considered that for a few seconds, then tapped the table with his knuckles. "I think that the ability to enhance items with Runecrafting is the most viable route for me.


    If it does lock me into a specialty, I would prefer if it were one that allows me to enhance the items, armour and living spaces for my team.


    I saw Runes everywhere in the old Dwarven Vige, and some of them remained functional enough that we could light a forge fire with mana to use it as a cooking grill.


    That sort of utility would be a huge boon to the Elites.


    When you''re travelling, the more versatile your items are, the better. I know that we''re all getting Inventory spaces now, and we don''t really need to carry massive backpacks and worry about weight, but there are still restrictions, and the stronger our Elites get, the more utility and progression items they are going to want to carry with them."


    The cleric nodded and swapped the books on the table, recing it with one that read "A summation of the lost art of Dwarven Runcerafting."


    Karl smiled. That choice of reading material felt right. The runes that Remi had recorded from over the forge in Graska looked just like the ones that were embossed on the cover, and slightly different from the standard runes, as they were stylized for a purpose. n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om


    Karl put on the offered white gloves, and gently ran his fingers over the tome. "This is incredible craftsmanship for a book that isn''t a skill book. The System makes all sorts of beautiful covers when you''re making them with a skill, but this looks like it was hand carved out of alloy. I don''t know what sort of alloy this is, but it''s much lighter than expected."


    The clerics nodded. "The book was actually made by Dwarves, before they left the continent after their battles with the Giants. There weren''t enough of them to safely hold their homnds here, and at the time we weren''t strong enough as an ally to do it for them. There are records in the Library if you are interested. It was a fascinating part of our history."


    Karl chuckled and the cleric sighed. "It''s far too easy to get distracted when someone actually asks us about historical knowledge. Please, continue."

 Chapter 675 Bad Translation

    Chapter 675 Bad Trantion


    Karl carefully opened the book and looked at the first page. The letters were unfamiliar, but the more that he looked at them, the more sense they made.


    He assumed that the system would do all of the tranting for him, the way that it did with spokennguages. So he simply waited, and examined the first page until it began to make sense.


    It didn''t.


    At least, not in any meaningful way. But most of thenguage was based on Runic, so Karl was slowly able to make out two thirds of what he assumed that it was saying, and then guess at the rest.


    "Can you read that?" One of the clerics asked as Karl flipped to the second page. n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om


    "Mostly. It''s not anguage that I would im to know, and I get the feeling that I am missing a huge amount of context to the words as I read them. But I can follow the descriptions well enough to at least tell what it is talking about.


    Now, when we get to the technical parts, that may be much more difficult. As I said, I am missing a lot of context, so as I read through the more detailed sections, I''m going to miss even more."


    The first few pages were mostly just an introduction, and a crude glossary, as if the writer had assumed there would be no need to flip through the book to find a particr section, and that the reader would simply read it cover to cover until it was memorized.


    That might be possible. That was how the mine bosses wanted them to treat thepany handbook. But a professional tradesman wouldn''t be quite as arrogant, Karl assumed.


    [For a true Dwarven Master Smith, the quality of their alloys and forging process is the key to everything. But the same cannot be said for a Dwarven Runemaster. While a runic Dwarven weapon will always be a vast improvement on the original, greater rtive gains cane from weapons that are further from the peak of perfection.


    As long as itsts, the Runic inscription will be just as effective on a low-quality de as a master crafted one. However, it is worth noting that a poor quality de, or an inferior blend of alloy will simply shatter if too much power is directed through it by a Runic Array.]


    None of that was a shock to Karl.


    What did shock Karl was the fact that it was immediately followed by a list of alloys by quality for Runic Weapon making, due to theirpatibility with high mana flows.


    Of all the things that he had expected it to say, he had not expected the author to put pure silver near the top, just under Mythril and a few alloys that Karl had never heard of.


    What did shock Karl was the fact that it was immediately followed by a list of alloys by quality for Runic Weapon making, due to theirpatibility with high mana flows.


    Of all the things that he had expected it to say, he had not expected the author to put pure silver near the top, just under Mythril and a few alloys that Karl had never heard of.


    Obviously, it was a lousy metal for making weapons on its own, as it was soft and wouldn''t hold an edge. But with Runes, that could be ovee, while the high mana capacity and essibility made it more viable than any of theplex alloys on the list.


    Karl made notes as he tranted, in hopes that he would be able to go over themter and glean some additional meanings that he had missed the first time that he read through the book.


    Karl flipped the page, and found that the foreword to the novel was only that one page long. As soon as the introduction of the best metals was over, the author dove straight into the important parts of how to use the craft to improve your work.


    [Now, if you are short of a proper Dwarven forge, as may be the case while travelling, you will need to know these basics to make the tools of the less advanced species viable for use.] The next page began, before being filled with scrawling and scattered Runic symbol clusters in various shapes for different objects.


    They all appeared to be designed to enhance the strength and durability of metal objects, but the author had not just included the runes for strengthening.


    That seemed curious, so Karl wrote out the Runes, separated into theirponent parts, and started trying to decipher what they all meant, and what part they yed in the overall inscription.


    It was not going to be an easy task, Karl realized. Instead of using a spell effect as the building blocks of his work, with the strengtheningyered over top, the Dwarf had used a paragraph - long rant about how humans couldn''t tell impurities from rare alloys. Then it went on about how they were too frail to stand next to a forge long enough to heat metal for shaping, and too poor to afford oil for tempering.


    "What does it all say?" The cleric asked.


    "It appears that the dwarf who wrote this was not a particr fan of the other races'' crafting. It''s an entire rant about how the humans can''t make a decent de, with a strengthening effect tacked on top."


    The Cleric looked confused by what he meant, so Karl went and grabbed a pair of knives from the breakfast cart. It took him the better part of five minutes to write out the runes on the butter knives with a fine tip marker, but the clerics simply remained silent and waited for him to finish before they asked any more questions.


    "See this? That''s the base metal strengthening rune group. This one is what the book rmended to strengthen a human made de. I don''t know if there is actually any difference in the effects between the two." Karl exined, gesturing between the knife with a simple rune on the handle, and the one that was entirely decorated.


    The cleric shrugged, then activated the runes with a gentle flow of mana.


    "See what it takes to bend them. The kitchen will forgive us a few damaged butter knives." He suggested.


    "The second one sure is pretty, though." One of the other clerics noted.


    "Yes, gorgeous Rune work. I can see why they would have done it that way. Even if it provided a marginal or negligible increase, it is much more pleasing to look at, and the Dwarves were known to be vain about their handiwork."


    Karl picked up the simple strengthening rune marked de, and forcibly bent it in his hands.


    Then he repeated the process as the Clerics sighed in regret at the loss.


    Strangely, the second de did appear to be significantly stronger, despite not having any other activation runes in the inscription.

 Chapter 676 Reading Dwarf

    Chapter 676 Reading Dwarf


    Karl gently straightened the two des and passed them to the clerics, who looked overjoyed to have such an interesting pair of test samples in their hands.


    "We could test how much energy can be passed through them, but that would be destructive testing. What I am more interested in is the fact that one of the two really is stronger than the other, despite having the same active rune. n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om


    Perhaps it''s the intent behind them, proving the superiority of this method on human tools. Or perhaps there is some more profound meaning that I have missed with my iplete trantions." Karl exined, then moved on to the next page of the manuscript.


    The details there were about how to enhance Elven steel for durability, as even the Dwarves recognized that it had a very fine edge. Their words about the things that Elves did with trees were far less polite than the insults they had hurled at the humans'' craftsmanship, and Karl did his best not tough as he read it.


    "Well, we can say for certain that this author was not a fan of Elves. Or perhaps not a fan of their supposedly hedonistic ways. But as I don''t have an Elven crafted weapon to test any theories on, we can keep going." Karl tranted, as the clerics dutifully copied the pages.


    They were Blue Dragon Clerics. The fact that they couldn''t actually read the pages would not stop them from transcribing them exactly as they appeared in the tome. One of them had some skill with Runes, but not at the level of having the Runecrafting skill, as the Librarian had not yet had time to finish a duplicate for the others to copy.


    [The artistry of Dwarven Runecrafting is not just about appearances, as many of the other races believe. In fact, the matrix of the Runes, even irrelevant filler, is integral to the even distribution of the flow of power across the surface of the item.


    I have no idea why I''m writing this, perhaps my memoir will be a children''s book, full of facts that any small child should know? Or perhaps just so that the basic knowledge is not lost if Runecrafting should fall out of favour in the future.


    Such was the fate of Golem Masters, whose constructs were so durable that for ten generations, no more needed to be made, and the basic knowledge was lost, making it nigh impossible to train new apprentices once the old masters had passed and left only their most valued tomes.


    Yes, that is what I shall do. Forgive the rambling of an old man as I impart to you the basics of the basics.]


    The text went on for two more pages, detailing the proper ways to write Runes on an item so that the effect applied evenly, the artistry behind how they wrapped amon surface, such as a hammer, vase, or armour te. To someone of his time, it likely would have been obvious, as they would have seen it every day, and heard the tales from their parents, or their master if they wereing from a different trade.


    That made Karl wonder what sort of societal set up the Dwarves had. Did they have something akin to a trade school, where System Users could just learn a trade of their choice? Did they have masters choosing apprentices, or teaching one of their children the arts to take over their business?


    None of that was included in these early pages, but Karl was learning a huge amount about the functionality of Dwarven sculpture, in ways that he had never even considered.


    In fact, the old man even included a few tidbits about how to activate Golems with Runes, though it was not his specialty, and he cked a level of patience suitable for Golem work'' in his own words.


    That made Karl wonder if it might be possible for some of the mages to learn Golem Crafting, as a subset of Rune Crafting, and make armies of autonomous Golems to defend small towns that didn''t have much of a guard force.


    The Clerics were thinking the same thing as they made their copies, but they were wondering if it would be possible for their brotherhood. They were the keepers of knowledge, and it would be wonderful if they could use golems, whose hands did not sweat or shake, to handle the precious tomes of their libraries.


    To them, it would be a dreame true. An assistant whose hands would not harm the books, who never cked off or forgot directions. One who never needed sleep and didn''t get promoted out of their assigned tasks.


    Then Karl flipped the page once more, moving past the old man''s ranting about basic knowledge, and moving into what he called ''the first day of apprentice training''.


    The diagram of what Karl first thought might be a pickaxe, but with a battleaxe de on the scoop side, took the entire page, with the description of how to ce the runes on the opposite page.


    The two sides were different, as the runes were not duplicated, but wrapped around the head to give even mana flow, and stopped just short of the sharpened edge.


    They weren''t just bare runes, though. Instead, a grid pattern had been stamped into the metal, serving as a guide for the Rune work, but also turning the runes into a decorative pattern of line work that hid its true meaning, while keeping an apprentice''s work on track.


    One of the clerics snapped his fingers. "That, we have some of those axes. Not with the runes, but the design survived the years, and there are some in the armoury. We''ve been using the design as a polearm, on a long spear''s handle. But you could certainly cut it down to hand axe sized."


    Karl nodded. "Should we continue transcribing, or should we call for a delivery, and test the lesson that we are learning?"


    That was one of the great challenges of their lives. Prioritizing knowledge.


    "We have all day, so we should at least try one sample of the art, as a proof of concept to show the others that we have been productive, and that the tome we are transcribing has value." The leader of their team reluctantly agreed.


    As much as he wanted to see what was on the next page, testing what was on this one was still the priority.


    As long as the delivery got here quickly.

 Chapter 677 Cleanliness Is Paramount

    Chapter 677 Cleanliness Is Paramount


    The delivery took nearly ten minutes, just long enough that Karl could see the stress building on the faces of the Clerics as they snacked, then carefully sanitized their hands in preparation for writing.


    Their dedication to cleanliness was admirable, and Karl was gaining a new respect for what it took to keep a Library full of books in readable condition. But as soon as the axes arrived, along with the chisels and small hammer that would be needed to carve the Runes, they were as giddy as small children in front of a candy bowl.


    Karl double-checked the descriptions that were in the book, then referred to the details on how much mana each alloy could transfer. These weapons were stainless steel, which was not even on the list. It was probably counted as the ''generic human steel alloys'' that were mentioned near the bottom, so Karl would be careful not to give them too much of a boost.


    The actual power of activation would depend on the user for this sort of weapon, unless you added something to make it always active, which Karl assumed cameter in the book.


    The total for the weapon was only thirty runes, not more than a few lines of written text. But when you had to precisely carve it into steel, the practice was much more nerve wracking.


    The book noted that that depth of the carved runes would have different effects on the oues, so he couldn''t just paint them on and call it a day without sacrificing an unknown amount of the effect. That was unfortunate, as Karl wasn''t well known for his skills as a sculptor, and the intent as you were carving the runes mattered, so he couldn''t just have Rae or Remi carve them for him. N?v(el)B\\jnn


    Fortunately, the chisels were enchanted, and given his enhanced strength, they cut through the metal with little resistance. Even without Karl using a skill. If he had coated the chisel in [Rend] or [Disintegrate] he could have written the runes as easily as writing with a pen on paper. But that woulde with the risk of messing it up and carving too deep, which would ruin the axe head. Definitely not worth the risk on a piece that could bepleted without it.


    Line by line, the piece came together, and the somewhat in axe with its dimpled surface began to take shape as a piece of metal art.


    Even Rae agreed that it was worth the title, and her tastes in artwork were much more particr than any of the others.


    Karl checked the work to ensure that he had not made any major mistakes with the runes, either in the depth of the carvings or the shapes. But this was intended for beginners such as him, and the symbols were all quite straightforward.


    "I believe that it is done. I will first increase the level of the enchantment to Awakened, and make sure that the weapon is holding up. Then I will bring it to an Ascended, followed by a Commander Rank weapon enchantment.


    It''s just a durability carving so that the weapon holds an edge well enough, but it should sharpen the steel to the point where it will actually cut through a Commander Rank nt.


    At least, that''s how I interpreted the description."


    Going on half to two thirds of what the runes might actually mean was a gamble, but if he could make Commander Rank or better magical weapons with a half hour''s worth of work, Karl knew that he was about to be a very wealthy man.


    Well, wealthier. Remi''s space was beginning to regrow all fresh sprouts from what was burnt away during her advancement, and her swamp was all at Monarch Rank now. With the resources that he had avable, Karl could probably never im poverty and expect anyone to believe him.


    The first bit of mana made the runes glow in a dull copper tone, and Karl smiled.


    "Is that for the sess? Your smile has a nostalgic look." One of the clerics noted.


    "The Runes advance simrly to the badges at the Academy. Except that the Runes are ck for Common, Bronze for Awakened, Silver for Ascended, Gold for Commander." Karl exined.


    "I see that the Runes really did turn bronze when you brought them to the Awakened Rank.


    Fascinating.


    I wonder if that was a hidden meaning in the badges themselves? The Archbishop decreed that they were the colours to be used, but most of us never questioned it, as bronze, silver and gold are the standard progression for awards of all sorts." "Do we have something to test on" Karl asked, then realized that he was the one with the test materials.


    A branch borrowed from Thor''s space, from a durable Commander Rank bush, should be enough to test it.


    It was flexible, but strong enough that a regr de wouldn''t cut it. Awakened Rank might not be enough either, but it would serve as a reliable test sample.


    "I will try with this. First, with a regr de, if someone has one." Karl informed the group.


    One of the clerics handed him a dagger, and Karl sliced at the branch, scratching the bark, but not doing any real damage.


    Then again with the axe, slicing across the same way he had used the dagger.


    That cut through the bark with moderate force, but only scratched the wood inside.


    The clerics nodded, and then made entire pages of notes on the test.


    One of them put a barrier on the countertop, and Karl set the branch down to hack at it with the axe, using what he hoped was a regr human''s strength. He was basing it off Dana shoving him, so it should be close enough.


    The axe made chips in the wood, and would eventually cut through the branch, but not efficiently.


    "Yes, I believe we can call that suitable for an Awakened Rank de." The lead researcher agreed.


    "Wonderful. Now, to Ascended Rank, and I will repeat the process."


    As he increased the mana input, the Runes turned from Bronze to silver, shining on the dull metal of the axe head. They didn''t glow, but they were clearly silver, and not polished steel. At that point, Karl was certain the weapon could be sold for a decoration, even if it wasn''t as effective as he was hoping.


    Ascended scratched the wood much more easily, and took solid chunks when swung as an axe, but it still took a half dozen hits to cut through the branch.


    "You know, this test is giving me a whole new appreciation for the value of a Cleric''s blessing on the weapons of the line soldiers, the ones without superhuman strength or magic. Just one Rank higher, and the effect is so much more noticeable, even while using the same amount of strength.


    Now, on to Commander Rank." The Runes turned golden as he increased the power once more, and the whole axe head appeared to smooth its surface, gleaming like polished stainless steel in the light of the kitchen.


    A gentle swing of the axe cut right through the thin branch, carried mostly by the weight of the weapon itself.


    "Gentlemen, we have a winner. The weapon has undergone a qualitative improvement as Commander Rank, and it cuts through Commander Rank wood with ease. Against Awakened Rank monsters, this level of enchanted weapon should be immediately lethal."

 Chapter 678 Runic Weaponry

    Chapter 678 Runic Weaponry


    The blue dragon clerics looked at each other with excitement. This was something that they could do. If they had Runecrafters trained, they could copy this and make Commander Rank weapons, as long as they were powerful enough.


    It would be immensely time-consuming to provide them to the entire army, but they could provide higher quality weapons to the Academy and the new students.


    Karl was thinking the same thing. He had eleven students in total, between the Acolytes and the Beast Rangers team. Eleven weapons was a day''s work, but he could manage that without any majorints.


    "Should we go further and see the extent of the capabilities of our modern steel?" Karl asked.


    "It should be more durable than ancient steel, unless it was from a System Enabled period of history.


    We don''t actually know when this book was written, and there hasn''t been any mention of the System in it, only of crafting skills. So, it could be from nearly any point in the past." The team leader noted.


    "More durable doesn''t always mean more manapatible, though. This alloy probably wasn''t in use at the time, so we may have to continue to study which alloys are the most suitable in the modern era." One of the others added, sparking a small argument about which alloys should be tested first, after they had their own Runecrafters trained.


    Karl let them argue as he began to inscribe the other axe, making an identical copy. One of the two was going to be destroyed by the testing, and he was certain that the clerics would want one brought back as a sample for whatever sort of presentation they were going to have to give to their superiors.


    The final consensus was that they might have to bring back some of the old alloys, the ones which had silver mixed into them, or other precious metals. That was not good for the utility of a nonmagical weapon, but for one with Runes on it, the change could be critical.


    By the time that they finished arguing about the answer, Karl had already finished the other weapon, and the delivery man had brought him a whole pile of short swords and daggers for the students.


    "We are ready. Please begin to upgrade the de." The clerics announced in unison, then began tough at their synchronized thoughts.


    Karl slowly added mana density to the test weapon, and the runes began to turn from gold to a shimmering amethyst purple, which filled the carved runes like a solid gemstone.


    It was absolutely exquisite.


    Just as the transformation finished, Karl stopped adding more power, leaving the weapon at the lowest possible Royal Rank power level. That was enough to prove the point, and he wanted to see if the weapon was going to remain stable.


    The clerics began to cast spells on it, and turn it carefully in their white gloved hands as they studied it, then one went to the phone on the wall and made a call.


    "I have summoned a Royal Rank warrior to us. They will be able to test it in the basement training room without fear of overpowering the enchantment identally. Then we can see how it will react to having a skill used as an ovey to the Runes.


    That will be the most telling part of our trials." The cleric exined.


    Karl nodded. "Then I will bring this other axe to mid-Commander Rank. Please summon a Commander as well, in case the first test fails.


    Or even if it doesn''t. So that we can see if there are any hidden stability issues." n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om


    Karl wasn''t sure if the response could have been more excited, even if he had told them that they were celebrating every national holiday on the same day. The Clerics were overjoyed, practically vibrating with energy, and sorting through piles of cameras and sensor equipment in the backpacks they had left by the door.


    The two Elites came running only minutester, prepared forbat, or some other emergency.


    "Rx, it''s just a weapons test. The Blue Dragon gets a bit excited about new knowledge." Karl warned them.


    "A weapons test?" The shorter of the two men asked.


    Karl pointed to the axes on the table, and the two Elites began to visibly freak out about the presence of the magical ''artifacts''.


    "Where did you find these? Commander Rank and higher weapons are so difficult toe across, even in the Dungeon. Is that really a Royal Rank de? Dragon Gods, that is beautiful." The Royal Rank warrior gushed.


    "An experimental Royal Rank weapon. We don''t know if it''s stable enough for regr use yet. What we need you to do is follow us to the training area, and see how they do when you actually use them, especially with higher ranking skills." Karl exined.


    "Certainly. What will we be using them on? I doubt that the standard training dummies will hold up to repeated hits at Royal Rank." The warrior noted.


    "You will be using them on me. Or, more correctly, on my barrier. That way the dummies shouldn''t be mangled with every hit, and we can continue to stress test the alloy used in the weapons." Karl exined.


    No need to tell them that it was just a regr axe whose appearance was altered by the empowered Runes.


    The two Elites took their Rank Matched weapons, and were immediately ushered out the door by the hyper group of Clerics.


    Karl was beginning to think that all Clerics were secretly nerds, but they all just had different things that set them off. Red Dragon Clerics got all mushy and maternal around orphans, Green Clerics were constantly looking to go interact with nature, and as Karl could clearly see, giving Blue Dragon Clerics new knowledge to test was better than any sugar rush.


    In fact, they were nearly as worked up as Lotus when she saw that Remi and Cara had advanced. It was far more entertaining to watch than Karl had expected, and he had to jog to keep up to their pace, so he didn''t miss the elevator.

 Chapter 679 Quality Control

    Chapter 679 Quality Control


    The two volunteers were dragged out of the Elevators before the doors had even opened, then the Clerics realized that they needed Karl to let them into the training rooms, which were locked to all but the residents of the building, or those with passes.


    Karl selected the first room, and had it bring out a pair of dummies, which were charged to his ount, in case they were destroyed during training.


    Then Karl realized that he didn''t actually need the dummies, he could have his Guardian or one of the Lamia Bodyguards do the job instead.


    But, it felt much more formal and controlled to just put an [Eternal Lightning] barrier over the dummies.


    After all, the Bodyguards were intelligent creatures, and asking them to let someone hack at them with an axe was just rude.


    "Let''s start with the Royal Rank weapon. The barrier on the training dummy is Monarch Ranked, and I will refresh it between hits, so there is no need to hold back on your skills." Karl exined.


    "You seem quite confident that I can''t take it down in one strike." The warrior noted.


    "I am. You will understand once you actually hit it. It''s much more than a Guard skill or an introductory level Mage Barrier."


    The warrior didn''t look convinced, but the barrier was a challenge to his might as an Elite, so he put his all into a [Sunder] attack that sent out a glowing green arc of de energy toward the dummy.


    The signs on the wall of the training ground read the maximum energy peak, the same standard that the Nation used to judge advancements, though it wasn''t really a great indicator of actual damage output.


    It was a mid-Royal Rank energy signature, so there was no doubt about the effort. But the real question was whether the weapon would hold up to it.


    Eternal Lightning had briefly flickered at the hit, but nothing close to failing, which made the warrior frown in annoyance.


    There was arger gap between his stage of Royal and the entry to Monarch than he had thought.


    The clerics rushed over to examine the weapon, and noted that there was a tiny chip in the de of the axe that they hadn''t recorded earlier.


    "Please do that again, repeatedly. Until either the barrier fails or the weapon does." They instructed.


    Karl focused on keeping the barrier up, and the warrior began to hack at the dummy with all his might. He cycled through different attack skills, testing them for effectiveness. But what he didn''t see, but Karl could, was that every strike was chipping and cracking the weapon a bit more until a [Sunder] attack split the axe deep enough that it damaged a rune, and the weapon went dark.


    "Dammit, I almost had the barrier down." The warrior panted, exhausted from the effort.


    Karl nodded. "That was quite the effort. If I didn''t have such arge mana reserve, the barrier certainly would have failed first. Unfortunately for our tests, that still means that Royal Rank is beyond the capability of that alloy. It held up during enchantment, and for a few minutes of use. But a few minutes of use are not going to pass muster for military procurement, or even training use at the Academy.


    Fortunately, we have a Commander Rank user, and he can go wild as soon as my energy level has recovered."


    The clerics nodded, while the Commander frowned. "How long will that be? I can ask for a mage friend of mine toe over and assist." Karl waved off his concern. "Give me two minutes and I will be good to go again. My barrier recovers stamina. Being two ranks above you, the draw on my barrier won''t be as bad as it was for thest test."


    The Commander nodded in understanding. Two Ranks was a nearly insurmountable advantage for most Elites, especially the Warrior ss, who didn''t often get an overpowered cheat ability that would let them fight significantly stronger opponents one on one.


    Karl nodded and gestured to the dummy once he was sure that he had enough mana again, and the Clerics double-checked all their recording equipment, then waited patiently with their pencils in hand for the test to start.


    The warrior put all his might into a [Cleave] attack on the barrier, and then stepped back so that they could check the weapon for damages.


    Even to Karl''s eyes, there didn''t appear to be any stress points, cracks or fractures in the gold iid weapon, and the power appeared undiminished.


    "There are no ws detected. Please do continue until you are exhausted, or there is a weapon failure." The lead cleric instructed.


    Karl watched carefully as the warrior began to hack at the barrier, and noted something fascinating. The weapon absorbed a little bit of each attack''s energy, refreshing itself. He couldn''t say whether it was tempering itself with use, but it was certain that continued usage would prevent the Runes from discharging.


    As long as a skill was passed through it on a regr basis, the weapon should remain empowered indefinitely. That was much better than having to send it to a specialist to reactivate it, or having to teach everyone who bought one the technique to bring the Runes to life. N?v(el)B\\jnn


    The Commander was panting and sweating heavily after fifteen minutes of steady attacks, but he didn''t give up until the half hour point, when his knees began to shake with exhaustion.


    Once the clerics took the weapon away for examination, Karl cast [Eternal Lightning] on both volunteers, allowing the skill to refresh their stamina so they could at least make it safely home again once the clerics were done with them.


    "wless. If anything, the weapon appears to be in even better condition than when we started. There are no signs of wear or damage, and the runes are fully empowered. They are also at a slightly higher standard than when you began using the weapon, so they have adjusted to your own peak power, not just where they were set."


    Karl frowned. "So, it may be possible to overload the weapons if a more powerful user passes an incredibly powerful skill over them." The Clerics looked up from their notes. "That is a possibility. If we had more samples, we could test that more thoroughly. The difference between where it started and where it is now is less than three percent, so there is a chance that it is a natural process, where the runes are finding equilibrium after use."

 Chapter 680 Dont Leave Yet

    Chapter 680 Don''t Leave Yet


    The Commander cast a longing look at the weapon in the hands of the Clerics, but everyone knew that he wasn''t getting that one back. He had gotten to test it, but they would be taking it back to the temple as part of their research project, where it would be subjected to weeks or months of scrutiny before being filed away in the Library as an exhibit, or evidence of a theory.


    They also knew that Karl could make another, as they had gleaned that much information from the ramblings of the Clerics, but asking an unknown Monarch, who might be one of the nation''s hidden assets, to make them a new weapon was an expensive proposition.


    Neither of them knew Karl, but he was a Monarch already, so he was probably older than he looked, and deliberately hidden from the public.


    That was the logical conclusion for any Elite when they met a powerhouse that was not in the public eye. The idea that Karl simply advanced too fast to make a public reputation for himself didn''t even cross their minds.


    "Thank you both for your time. We will keep you updated with the progress of this project, and put you first in line when additional units be avable for distribution, as a reward for your assistance." The lead Cleric informed the volunteers he had called.


    "Thank you, Librarian." The warriors responded in unison, using the Blue Dragon Clerics'' preferred honorific.


    They left the training area, and the clerics gathered around the two weapons,paring notes to ensure that there was nothing overlooked before they returned to the apartment to continue their studies.


    At this rate, they would probably end up making multiple attempts at new weapons during the day, which would greatly slow their progress rate at reading and transcribing the book. However, the oues and new knowledge gained from practically testing the lessons was so much more valuable than the efficiency.


    Knowing that the lessons worked on the mass-produced weapons they already had was going to revolutionize the arming of soldiers once they had enough craftsmen.


    "Now, what does it tell us to try next? This was a wonderful sess, so there should be a next step up, right? Perhaps we could obtain some real silver silverware to test the runes on." The lead cleric noted.


    Karl smiled and tried not tough at the thought. A Royal Rankedbat butter knife was possibly the most excessive and unnecessary item that he could imagine.


    Though, he could reshape it into a throwing knife or a dirk with his fingers before enchanting, as the silver was so softpared to his strength, and a barrier would protect his hands.


    But the clerics had a better idea. There were ceremonial silver daggers in the Cathedral, and they had arge supply of them. The White Dragon''s healing clerics carried them at all times, as they were used in wedding rituals and to open holy water during burial rituals.


    The metal was supposed to be great for the purpose of Runecrafting, so they requested that a half dozen be delivered to the apartment for testing.


    That naturally brought even more clerics who were wondering what the Blue Dragon adherents were up to, and then they brought acolytes to help them take notes, until Karl''s apartment was packed with blue and white robed researchers.


    "Should we move this to the training centre downstairs?" Karl suggested as he realized that he would be working on a metal te ced on the kitchen table, surrounded by clerics.


    "That would be less convenient. It is customary to let others work in and not monopolize the space, as there are limited time slots avable. I promise, we won''t bump you or interfere with your work." One of the new arrivals informed him in a gentle, musical tone that immediately put Karl on guard.


    Her voice was lovely, but there was something about it that was triggering his danger response. Karl turned to look at the speaker, but she appeared to be an ordinary Ascended Rank Priestess. Cute, in a girl next door sort of way, and very approachable in appearance.


    For a moment, he was going to shrug off his concern, then she smiled and spoke again.


    "I am part Siren. You can likely feel the lingering magic in my voice. I don''t take offence, all the stronger Elites notice it right away." She exined softly, her voice too low for the vast majority of the room to hear.


    That gave Karl a great idea. "Do you have a metal instrument on you?" He asked.


    She nodded, then handed him a small silver flute with the mark of the clergy on the end cap.


    Karl picked up his tools and carefully engraved the strengthening runes on it, skipping the borate bits of insult, and the wrapped format, which would interfere with the keys. He was sure it was possible to work around that, or include them in the design, but he hadn''t read that far yet, and he had no idea how it would work.


    But with a simple Runic phrase meaning beautiful music added to the strengthening runes, Karl slowly added mana until the runes vanished, then turned gold.


    There was no restriction that he could feel, so he went one step further, and brought it to Royal Rank, where the runes turned amethyst purple.


    "Do you know any magic that uses music?" Karl asked as he finished.


    The cleric nodded. "There is an area healing song that all the white dragon clerics know. I can perform it with the flute, but it''s not a strong magic. Mostly, the church uses it to have people leave feeling refreshed and a bit less sore after a sermon."


    Karl nodded slowly, and realized that he knew the song. They yed it at the end of every sermon at the church at home. He just hadn''t realized that it was magic. Or it might not have been magic in a ce as rural as the Lithium mines, but itcould be magic when the right Cleric was doing it.


    "Please, y the song for us, and tell the Librarians if there are any differences in the oue."


    The happy tune from the flute had all the clerics swaying along and humming the words as the Siren yed. Karl could feel the healing magic seeping into his bones, and see the weariness of some of the older clerics fading away as the tune progressed.


    That was real magic, of the sort any bard would be envious of.


    It wasn''t in the book, at least not the parts he had read, but magical instruments for the bard sses might help them regain a bit of respect from the other Elites, who mostly viewed them asedy relief, or a sideshow.


    The song finished, and the clerics all pped for the performance. n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om


    "Thank you for your assistance. I am certain that your blue dragon following kinfolk have many questions for you, and you can negotiate when you will meet with them." The white robed girl giggled. She would be ying her flute all day and night for them, just so they had arge enough sample for their studies. But it was a lot more fun for a cleric who was part Siren to y music than to study healing herbs and poultice techniques that saved on mana use.

 Chapter 681 Sequential Learning

    Chapter 681 Sequential Learning


    "Let''s move on to the next page and see what the book has in store for us. We now know that the standard mass-produced weaponry can be enchanted to Commander Rank with these runes without failing in the short term, and that a silver flute can sustain the Royal Rank.


    But there is so much left to learn, as we''re only on the second page of this Dwarven Crafting book, my brothers and sisters." One of the clerics was exining to the new arrivals.


    They had originally thought that the trick was a new skill or lost art that Karl was employing, but those closest to the workspace had already realized that they were testing knowledge from a book.


    Karl flipped the page again, and began to read the runic writing and make notes of the trantion as he understood it, while a half dozen clerics made exact copies of the book, to be able to more effectively spread its wealth of knowledge.


    [I would assume that you have either learned the basics as a child, or tested the earliest pages of my tome, so I will continue in sequence. Now that you know how to create an array of Runes that spreads the effect evenly over an item, remember one simple fact. No matter what else you write, it must not be contradictory to the intent of the primary Runes. Even if the phrase is used in a different context, words that counter the active Rune will reduce its effect. As such, many of my peers have taken to writing positive affirmations on their work, as asinine as such a practice might be.


    Now, our next lesson is topound the effects so that you can build upon the original effect.


    There are three basic categories of Runicpounding. First, is using effects that may bepounded into a single rune. Simple concepts like ''Giant Wall of Destruction'' and the modifying Rune for ''Strength'' or ''Expansion'' flow smoothly into one coherent Rune.


    The Second category are linked Runes. Ones that would logically be spoken after each other. Done that way, you can create aplex rune without worrying about excessive failure rates when the item is used by amateurs or inferior minds.


    The third, and most controversial, are the decorative arrays. The ones that are designed to make a specific effect that doesn''t flow with the nature of magic. These are normally the mostplex, and are viewed as masterpieces due to the versatility of their use.


    We will cover those muchter in this tome, or perhaps in another. What Runecrafter wishes to duplicate human or Elven magic anyhow? Preposterous.


    Included is an example of the first stage. I will have to assume that if you are going through this book, you do at least read Dwarven properly. If you do, this should be simple enough. Just make apound phrase and ce it on your target.]


    Karl examined the runes on the other page, and found that what the Dwarf had included was a variable output light source. That was useful, but they had electricity here, so it was not at the top of Karl''s list of useful items the way that it would have been for any other nation.


    Remi giggled. [Oh, I get how this works. See, this symbol means Giant Ball of Fuck That Thing In Particr. Put that on a de, I want to see what happens.]


    From her spot on the training field, Cara chimed in with her opinion. [I don''t know what Sister Remi is making, but I approve this message. Come show meter.]


    Karl chuckled. [I''m not certain that you''re supposed to use modern human ng to modify the runes in Dwarven. But, the way that Remi wrote it, the phrase also means to make the target cease to exist. That should be a viable spell effect.]


    It wasn''t quite a destruction or disintegration effect. In fact, it wasn''t really specified. But intent was arge part of the activation of a spell. "I will test this theory with a different rune than the one in the book, unless someone needs a magical shlight." Karl informed the Clerics.


    "That''s fine. We can keep to the theme of weapons. Do you read thisnguage well enough? Or is the Runic part different enough from the written that your skill covers it?" The leader of the original Blue Dragon research team asked.


    "The Runecrafter''s Runic Language is different from the tome''s writtennguage, but it shares the majority of the alphabet, as it were. So, I''m much more confident in the actual work than my trantion of the descriptive contents." Karl agreed.


    Remi''s rune ended with an arrow shaped symbol, so Karl arranged them down the length of both sides of a dagger, then activated the silver de''s enchantment until the runes turned Amethyst.


    The clerics immediately realized that they had made a mistake. They needed to test it in the training room, as it couldn''t be done in here. But they had already given up the room, and now there were too many of them to conveniently watch.


    Karl smiled. "Send a small group down for testing, and you can have them report back. You only need one person at Royal Rank to use the weapon at its full potential. If the warriors are still nearby, you can call them back."


    Acolytes were sent running to retrieve the warriors, who were out in front of the building, smoking and talking quietly about what they had seen.


    "We will report back on the results. Do we get to know what to expect in advance, or is this a blind test?" The oldest of the White Robed clerics asked.


    "That''s a fun idea. We should do a blind test. I will make another at Commander rank. Do not tell him what it does. But give this note to the Royal Rank Warrior so that he knows.


    Do we have someone who can create a strong enough barrier, or am I going to have to go down with you?" Karl asked.


    The old cleric shook his head. "I will borrow a friend from upstairs. He''s napping now, but he''s an Overlord Ranked Spellde."


    That should be a strong enough barrier for any sort of testing that they might do.


    [I will apany them. I want to see what my Rune does.] Remi insisted.


    "I will send Remi, my Naga Queen, to apany you as well." N?v(el)B\\jnn


    Remi transformed into herrger form, as she had been sunning herself on a rock in snake form, watching her home regrow, and prepared to head out.


    She even had a notebook with her to make detailed notes in case it was relevant to her own advancement.


    She had been stuck a while on the development of new totems, or improvements on the ones that she had already made. Her library survived her advancement intact, but none of the books she had gone through so far had been able to help her in her search. Something would trigger a breakthrough eventually, and Karl''s Runes might be just the thing, even if they weren''t the samenguage as the ones she used.

 Chapter 682 Blind Test

    Chapter 682 Blind Test


    Karl flipped the page as the group headed out to obtain the assistance of the Spellde, and found that the next page was more examples of the same concept. If they had flipped the page first, they could have just copied the ones here, as many were intended for weapons. But testing Remi''s creativity was also an important aspect.


    She was working on upgraded totems, and for that, she needed to expand her knowledge of Runes and Shamanistic Magic. n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om


    The clerics were dutifully copying everything, while Karl made notes of the different ways that the same words were being used and linked between the various examples.


    The master who had created this really knew how to make things easy to understand, and Karl was already getting the hang of how the Runes should be bestpounded for the effects that the Dwarf was trying to exin.


    Some of that was surely his Runecrafting skill filling in the nks with the knowledge that it contained, but the tome was making no attempt to be condescending towards the reader, or unnecessarilyplex.


    If the author knew that it would be read by humans, he would have certainly been much harsher with his words.


    The team was down in the basement now, with the same two warriors. Both were overjoyed to get to test more weapons, even if this blind testing was strange. They didn''t know if it was intended for newbies to use the weapon without introduction, or if it were to prevent the weapons from being used by their enemies. But the Commander, who had been given no instructions except to use the de to attack the barrier, was ready to start.


    He lunged forward with a thrust and sent power surging through the Commander Rank dagger. On contact, a two-metre explosion of magic erupted, throwing him backwards across the room with its force.


    Remi doused him with a [Healing Ssh] spell, and the warrior spluttered as cold water was tossed in his face.


    "Thanks, I think." He muttered as he got to his feet.


    Remi nodded happily, and continued taking notes.


    The mage that they had recruited was doing his best not tough. "Well, we can say for certain that it is likely intended to be a ranged ability. My guess is that it''s some sort of arcane st. It felt like [sh] does when a warrior uses it. That same sort of converted energy, not raw mana. But the explosion engulfed the entire target." He noted.


    {Yes, it worked exceptionally well. There was very little wasted. Just enough to cover the whole target.} Remi agreed.


    The mage nodded in agreement, while the Clerics turned to him for trantion, as Remi was speaking Serpent.


    "It''s in my notes." The mage shrugged. He was here for the barrier and his curiosity about the new weapons, not to trante for clerics who failed foreignnguage ss.


    The Royal Rank warrior treated it as a short ranged attack, and flicked the dagger out in a thrusting attack to send the attack forward in a piercing motion.


    The attack didn''t have a visual effect between him and the target, but the same explosion urred, shaking him on his feet.


    The Commander stared at the target in confusion. It really did just look like [sh] had hit the target from all sides at once, then rebounded off the shielding to create the st.


    It wasn''t innately an explosive effect, that was a side effect of failure. If it worked, the target should be obliterated from all directions.


    The clerics motioned to the Royal Rank warrior. "Please see if the weapon is damaged by continued usage. We don''t detect any signs of ws or damage from the first strike."


    The mage held up his hand. "First, I would like to see what happens when a Cleric uses that dagger. I know it''s among the weapons your god approves of."


    A High Priest was tasked with the duty, using the Commander Rank dagger with a dismissive flick, as if shing across the face of the target from a distance.


    The effect this time was a golden glow that rebounded off the barrier with a re of holy light, instead of a physical force.


    "Fascinating. The effect isn''t defined, only the oue. So, it appears the way that the user thinks of it. Or perhaps a certain way, depending on the ss of the user. We will have to do more study on thatter. I don''t suppose that you would be able to provide a few of those for my tower to study?" He asked.


    "Probably not today. But in the near future, we certainly will be able to include your Spelldes in the research process. In fact, we will soon have Runecrafting books avable, and you might be able to get one of your people included in the test group." The aging cleric agreed.


    The Spellde nodded. "I have a few disciples within the tower who have not yet taken a crafting skill specialty. They''re still Awakened Rank, but that gives them time to grow. Much better than teaching us old folk, I suppose."


    The old cleric smiled. "It''s a tradeoff. We all want the strongest results right away, but how many of our people make it to Commander Rank without having picked a specialty? Every new thing that we learn from the System disrupts centuries of practice and the bnce of skills that we have epted as optimal."


    The Spellde chuckled. "I heard from Prince Corbin that the Runecrafter who made these daggers is a monster in every sense of the word except his personality."


    The old cleric shrugged. "This is the first I have met him. But he seems quite agreeable."


    The Royal Rank warrior frowned. "You say that he''s a monster, but he also seemed like a friendly sort of person to me."


    The old mage just shook his head. "That''s not what I mean. He''s barely sixteen years old. He made Monarch in two years after the injection, and I have it on good authority that he managed to knock out a Torton Monk in a fist fight during the challenge for the new Commander Rank Dungeon."


    The Commander Rank Warriorughed. "I heard about that as well. I was sent thereter in the day, but it was the talk of the camp. Plus, the Naga Queen, Remi I believe he said her name was, is part of his team of bonded beasts."


    Remi nodded, and made a note for them, as only the mage spoke hernguage. [Don''t tell him. He''s already got an inted ego. But when ites to fighting, there aren''t many who can match his power. Even if you disregard the fact that he''s basically immortal.


    It''s probably better that nobody ever taught him martial arts or de skills.]


    The team did a double take when they read that.


    "Immortal?"


    Remi nodded happily. [Trollish Regeneration and Limited Invulnerability, so he doesn''t burn.]


    The Spellde whistled in appreciation, while the warriors shook their heads in dismay. "That''s just unfair. I swear that the rare sses are actually a cheat code."


    Remi wholeheartedly agreed with that. At the same Rank, she could probably beat up either of these warriors, and she was just one part of the team. Plus, she wasn''t even the scary one inbat. That was Rae, or maybe Cara. Depending on how you looked at it.

 Chapter 683 Runic Writing Styles

    Chapter 683 Runic Writing Styles


    While the research team in the basement was pounding away at the barrier, load testing the weapons to ensure their stability, Karl was moving on to the next pages in the book.


    The page full of examples ofpound runes was dutifully copied, and the listed options were giving Karl ideas on how to make more useful sorts of items, things that would improve on what technology was already doing and make life easier.


    For example, it would take very little effort to inscribe a t rock with proper runes to make it into a heating element, in ce of a camp stove. They could even do it with a thin piece of aluminum for a lightweight camping stove that didn''t require carrying fuel or finding firewood.


    There were magical options already, but they were all unaffordable for the majority of young Elites.


    "I would like to test something if we have a moment. Reading the page gave me an idea.


    Can someone please bring me the roll of tinfoil from the kitchen, or a simr lightweight metal sheet." Karl requested.


    The Clerics looked confused, but they brought him the tinfoil without asking any questions. Karl folded it over a dozenyers thick, then pressed it into a flexible, but somewhat durable sheet.


    [Earth Barrier] made a stamp with the runes he wanted to be arranged on the sheet. Then Karl carefully made the negative of the stamp and squished the sheet between them.


    A light pulse of mana as he focused on the ability to make a variable heat source activated the runes in a light bronze colour, while the clerics watched in wonder.


    "Please ce that on the stove and activate it to a medium cooking heat. I want to see if tinfoil is durable enough for the spell." Karl exined.


    The foil cast a bronze glow through the kitchen as the lucky cleric started the test, and Karl could feel the heat growing in the room.


    After a few minutes, the cleric let it fade, and the clerics began to cheer.


    "That is brilliant. It''s a travel stove. If a Runecrafter can stamp that out of a proper metal sheet, we can eliminate the fuel canisters from the standard travel kit, and save nearly two kilos in weight.


    Well, that''s not as vital now that more are getting ess to an inventory, but still. It''s two kilos of weight that we don''t need to carry, and it won''t run out on the fifth day." The tester announced.


    One of the white robed Clerics turned to Karl with a notebook and pencil ready. "Your group spent long durations on the road. Did that hardship inspire this development?"


    Karl chuckled and shook his head. "No, I have [ming Body] as a skill, so I just use it on my sword and use that as a grill. We haven''t gathered firewood since I was Ascended Rank."


    The cleric sighed. "You really do have it easy. Is there anything that your group can''t do?"


    Karl shrugged. "We don''t have portal, or an equivalent skill yet. Other than that, we''re pretty well-rounded. You should see some of the dinners that wee up with both a Red and Green Cleric along. They can both use advanced food creation spells, it''s positively gourmetpared to travel rations."


    "And you have multiple kinds of golems to keep guard at night, so you can all sleep. Is it true that your Bodyguards are sentient? That would make things so much easier." One of the other white robed clerics asked.


    "Yeah, they''re remarkably intelligent. Both mine and Remi''s are capable as night guards, as they can all see in the dark. With no need to sleep, they aren''t even groggy on night watch. n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om


    But the real benefit to a good night''s sleep is Rae. Her hammocks and tents are the best."


    The blue dragon clerics were giving meaningful looks at the book Karl was ignoring, urging him to get back on track and read through now that they were finished copying the pages.


    The next page covered the use of the Runic Phrases, the runes that would flow naturally into each other when spoken out loud.


    That was actually easier thaning up with runes that would naturally link with each other and create a coherent effect. But as Karl read through the description page, he realized that was not the goal of the Dwarves when they made items. They didn''t deliberately give the items a specified effect. Their usual was closer to Remi''s idea of simply expressing a desire for the oue. Trying to make a specific effect would fall under the third category of unlinked Runes, which they looked down on. But doing it this way, he could make an equivalent of the Giant Strength rings with very little trouble, or use some of the ambient mana to boost spell effects.


    There were a few examples on the page, and more on the following two, when Karl checked them.


    One of them was to create and amplify an impact ability. It was simr in function to [Crushing Blows] but apparently intended for forging difficult metals that couldn''t be rendered too close to liquid without destroying the properties of the alloy.


    In fact, the phrasing in the example even mentioned that it was going to be ced on a hammer. "Does anyone have a war hammer, or a mace of some sort?" Karl asked.


    One of the white robed clerics handed over a war pick, a long handled hammer with a spike on the back, and Karl began the process of deciding how to wrap the Runes properly around its head.


    It was just a Common Grade magical weapon made by the church, with a mild dose of holy energy, so Karl decided to incorporate that into the Runes. Amplifying the holy magic flowing through the weapon should improve the effect with minimal input.


    After a few minutes of careful carving, the process wasplete, at the Commander Rank, and Karl passed it back. "Please take that downstairs and test the effect. I am quite certain that the god of knowledge is eager to see how it turned out."

 Chapter 684 Hammer!

    Chapter 684 Hammer!


    The cleric sighed as he realized that he had just been volunteered to make reports for the Librarian and her assistants, but this was his personal weapon, so he didn''t see a reason he couldn''t keep it when they were done, even if it was now enhanced to a level well above his rank.


    The next few dozen pages were all descriptive ones, describing techniques for using the Runes. The trantion was questionable, as many of the words appeared to be Dwarven technical terms, but they were faithfully copied to the duplicate tomes.


    Karl was quite certain that he was missing the majority of the depth of these descriptions, but every page brought new revtions, and the Dwarven Runes were getting easier to read with every passing page. By noon, he was rarely needing to refer to his knowledge of Runecrafting to guess what a word meant, but he was the only one who was improving at that sort of speed. The scribes were falling further behind hisprehension of the trantions with every page, and Karl was beginning to hope that he would find a new technical section again soon, so he could make an item and let them rest before they drove him insane.


    His trantions were making the clerics increasingly excited about the new knowledge, and they had many ideas on how this could be used to improve the weapons that they were already making with basic runes on them.


    They didn''t have Runecrafters in their ranks, but some of the Runes were used in other enchanting processes, including the ones they used to make weapons for the Church.


    Karl turned another page, and found that the topic had taken a hard turn somewhere, as if the author had gotten bored with the previous exnation.


    [Improvised Runecrafting.


    Not all Rune crafted items need to be permanent. The most obvious case of this is the spirit shamans of the various species. The Cleric types who specialize in using Runes to cast their magic and drive off troublesome evil forces.


    But there are other options as well.


    For example, painted on runes will work as well as carved in many cases where you are not concerned about them being damaged, though without the third dimension, the effect is far weaker.


    Alternately, those with Elemental Magic, such as the Forgemasters, or the Earth Shamans, can create the Runes with their Elemental Magic, and add a more profound meaning to their spells.


    An Earth Shaman might engrave the rune of destruction into a mine wall to carve away the rock between themselves and the next vein. A Forgemaster might create the runes in the ash pile of a makeshift forge to bring it up to the needed standard. Or they might ce the rune in the foam of cheap tavern ale to increase the liquor content and improve the taste to a tolerable level.]


    That caught the interest of everyone who read the trantion. None of them had considered that was even an option. Would that be a sort of creation spell? Perhaps a transmutation? And what element did that even fall under?


    Every traveller had suffered nearly inedible local beverages in the past, but the Dwarf seemed to mention it in passing, as if it should bemon knowledge.


    Once the pages were copied, Karl moved on, and found that thement really had been in passing, as the examples that were drawn and described were simple singlepounded runes.


    The Destruction Rune for carving rock was given with four different variations, depending on what sort of sting work you intended to do with it, while the provided heating rune for the makeshift forge was simr to the one Karl had used for the portable stove, but with modifiers for much higher intensity.


    Writing the rune in the ash was brilliant, Karl decided. Normally, you worried about heat damage to the object, but ash was already burnt, and the forge wouldn''t harm it. So, you could create intense heat with a seemingly unimpressive pile of ash to the point that the limiting factor was the construction of the forge itself.


    Presumably, the Forgemasters would have magic for that as well. But it was the versatility of these temporary Runes that was getting the clerics all worked up.


    If you could just write the effect you wanted, wouldn''t you be an instant Archmage?


    Karl knew that there was going to be some sort of limitation onplex runic phrases, like when he tried topound advanced skills with [Skill Merger], but for simple effects, there was no real reason that he shouldn''t be able to use Runes to activate them at his current power level if he wasn''t worried about destroying the carrier.


    [Oh, that is a brilliant idea. I will try it with an icicle.] Remi insisted as she heard Karl''s thoughts on the matter. n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om


    [How did the testing go?] [The warriors are tired. You should have cast a Thor barrier on them. But they will be fine soon, and the weapons are both undamaged. We also tested the higher grade weapon with the weaker warrior, and it makes a difference, but not enough to call it a Royal Rank effect the way that our advanced skills were when we were Commanders.]


    A few secondster, Remi giggled. [The clerics look funny waving around an icicle like a wand. But the rune works. For some reason, it makes the icicle melt, even though it''s not fire magic. I will have to work on that.]


    Karl tried not tough at the words nobody else in the room could hear. [I think that it''s using up the mana from the icicle to activate the spell. How is the power outputpared to their Rank?]


    [Oh, you''re right. It''s better than expected. I made a Monarch Rank icicle for the task, and it melted, but if the extra mana is going to the spell, it makes sense.]


    That also made her wonder if she could make a higher density item, with more mana, to make the item more useful to lower powered creatures. Like a portable smashing post that would transfer some stamina to the user on impact. Brother Thor would love to have that for his trainees.

 Chapter 685 Commotion

    Chapter 685 Commotion


    Across the park, at the training grounds, the beasts and their trainees were causing quite a scene. Though, it wasn''t really fair to me it on the beasts.


    Firstly, the Lightning Cerro group had all grown to the size ofrge dogs, while the Moor Cats were already the size of a mountain lion, weighing well over a hundred kilos after only a week of quality feed and hard training.


    The regenerative sprints were doing them all worlds of good, and the physique of even the mage ss trainee, Owen, was phenomenal.


    But more importantly, the Overlords had joined them to help with the trainees, passing along as much of their knowledge as possible in the few remaining days that they had.


    The majority of the team from the Special Forces Cadets was very close to reaching the Awakened Rank, thanks to their beasts, and Nikki the Tiger Monk was already there.


    Today, they had gathered over two hundred soldiers who wanted in on the training, and Thor was happy to help them with his barriers as they ranps up and down the bleachers.


    They weren''t Elites, and they would not advance, no matter how much training, but they were rapidly gaining muscle mass and physical stamina that would save countless lives on the battlefield.


    The same Red Dragon High Priest that had met Karl after he altered the trial instance hade to watch as well, and assist Tessa in training Joan, their new Acolyte.


    It had been agreed that instead of the Seminary Academy, she would go with the old man to the Academy, where he would train her personally, and they would do the duties of the church for the students.


    Healing, support spells, guidance. The natural roles of the War Clerics. n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om


    "You know, Sister Tessa, the number of skills that these students have already learned is incredibly impressive. Not just from using the points they gained in battle, but the ones that they have learned through hard work.


    To think that just a change in teaching methods would make such arge difference." He whispered, not wanting to stroke the ego of the students.


    Tessa smiled at her senior. "It''s not just a teaching method, but a teaching skill. Or, rather a group of skills stacked to help them learn, along with a load of high-grade resources for the beasts.


    But I had an idea the other night. You know how the Drake Riders have a huge advantage inbat due to their mounts, even without the system? We should implement the same program on a limited scale. The Lightning Cerro forces will be essential to the defence of soldiers and Elites, but if we had a group of Gryphons or Manticores, we would have flying scouts with high rankedbat potential as well."


    The High Priest smiled. "And where do you suggest that we find these volunteers?"


    Tessa winked. "I hear that there are numerous Rangers who lost their bonded partners in battle. It''s amon urrence for them, and they can bond a recement.


    So if we can find a way to bond them to a flying magical beast, or evolve a regr animal into a flying magical beast, wouldn''t we have a shortcut to trained flying troops?"


    The High Priest smirked. "Well, it''s not possible for them to bond a magical beast in a conventional way, but I have considered that there might be a shortcut.


    It''s not as morous as a Chimera, but are you familiar with the Giant Redwing Butterfly? Ites from amon caterpir that is exposed to the right stimulus during its evolution period. I suggested it once before, but the army shot down my idea as pointless, as the Giant Redwing Butterfly has no attack or defensive skills. But if it can cause a ss advancement, and the Rangers already have skills that let their pet use attacks, wouldn''t that be a small issue?"


    Tessa chuckled at the mental image. "I think that it would help if we had more Elves. But I suppose that we could ask thedies because I can''t see many of the men willingly choosing a butterfly as their bonded partner."


    The High Priest gestured toward Overlord Joram, whose evolved bird, Dave, was happily perched on his shoulder. The bird had already reached the Commander Rank, and while it hadn''t evolved any more than it had the first day, it was showing incredible potential as its power grew to match its partner.


    Tessa poked the old Priest. "What if we gave them a way to make the birds huge? Someone has to have a proper skill for giant growth. We know how to evolve Falcons already, we just need to make them big enough to fly on."


    That idea might actually make it past the scrutiny of the leadership. The evolved Hawk had already shown Commander Rank potential, and it was still growing. Plus it had [ming Body] which was both offensive and defensive. The High Priest snapped his fingers and smiled. "I know just the thing. It''s a Pdin skill called Divine Mount. If we can teach that to a Ranger, or a Beast Ranger, then they can have their giant flying mount. It increases the size of the beast to be rideable."


    Teaching it to the Cerro would likely be easiest, but they would soon berge enough to be ridden by their partners anyhow. Finding other beasts or Rangers that werepatible with holy magic would be much harder.


    Tessa nodded. "I will let you handle it. You will be at the Academy, and around a lot more veterans."


    The High Priest nodded. "They intend to cycle the Commander Rank Elites through to do training courses for the newbies, as we are expecting so many of them. They might even call on some of the stronger ones, if things calm down a little."


    "Oh, I would imagine that they will be calling on as many of the strong ones as they can after today''s practice. You see, Karl''s training skill works better when the user''s knowledge of their skills is more profound. And who has better knowledge of the intricacies of their skills than the Overlords?


    I suspect we will be seeing some real progress by the end of the day."

 Chapter 686 Shade Of The Lotus Tree

    Chapter 686 Shade Of The Lotus Tree


    The day''s training was taking ce in the shade of Lotus'' [Tree of Life] form, which was standing in the middle of the training grounds, overseeing everything so that she could heal the inevitable injuries and strains that woulde from such extreme exertion. Most of the time, the injuries had healed before the soldiers had even noticed that they had been wounded, but Thor was keeping barriers over everyone, so none of it was too major, other than one broken leg which had to be set after a bad fall during grappling training.


    Such idents were to be expected with hard training, and there were plenty of clerics on hand to take care of the issue, even if they didn''t have Lotus in tree form in the middle of the training grounds.


    But that was a minor setback for him, and the soldier was back to regr training again within a few hours. So, with everyone so focused on training, they were caughtpletely off guard when a horde of reporters descended upon the training grounds.


    "High Priestess, can you tell us anything about your feelings on today''s announcement from the President''s Office?" One of the reporters shouted to Tessa, who was near the edge of the sand.


    Tessa gave her a confused look, and walked over to see what they were on about.


    "I''m not sure what you mean. We haven''t seen the news, as we have been here training all day." She exined.


    "The President''s Office announced that all active duty Church Soldiers would have the chance at a second awakening for their service. Is this true? What are the odds for the soldiers to gain Elite status? Does the War Goddess have any thoughts on the matter?"


    The questions were asked all at once by different reporters, and Tessa put on her best public rtions smile.


    "These soldiers here have already been given that opportunity. As I understand it, close to one in ten soldiers was moved from the standard unit to a special training force, but I am not privy to any more details than that.


    The War Goddess is naturally pleased that there are more capablebatants, but it will take time for them to be ready to serve as Elites, much like the students who were awakened with the Divine Injection.


    Unfortunately, for any more details than that, you will have to go to the Strategic nning Office." She exined.


    "Are these young Elites not freshly awakened soldiers?" One of the reporters asked.


    Tessa shook her head. "No, these ones were awakened early as part of a separate project. They are not soldiers of the Church, or at least they aren''t yet. However, they are performing quite admirably, and I am sure that they would not object to being the backdrop for your daily news articles.


    However, I must insist that you do not interrupt their training, as this is a crucial time in their development before they officially join the Academyter this week." n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om


    That was good enough for the reporters, who were happily clicking pictures for the news of the intensive training program for the next few minutes, as well as taking short videos of the young Elites practising their skills.


    It was all great footage for the news, and the faces of the cadet Elites would be blurred if the content was deemed sensitive, as they hadn''t been officially inducted or signed any waivers for the use of their likeness.


    The chaos that the videos would cause when they were leakedter that day was not even part of their calctions. After all, how were they to know that the presence of the handful of obviously inhuman and unknown trainers in the group would cause an uproar among every nation that found out about them?


    Thor could be passed off as a human Pdin. But only if he had his helmet on. With his extended ears and green hair, there was no doubt that he was not a human. Rae was much less human, while neither Cara nor Hawk were even trying.


    Hawk was just using System Messages to give instructions on the proper use of fire magic, while Cara enjoyed the show and asionally volunteered as a training partner.


    The Overlords were already well known to everyone else, so the respect that they showed to the new inhuman arrivals was a sign that they were not Commanders or other mundane trainers.


    Then there were the skills that they were teaching. The warriors were practising a shield bash to overhand chop with [sh]bo that just seemed to be off somehow.


    Shield Bash, the skill, had a distinctive motion and glow on the shield that this skill didn''t have. But the effect was clearly intended to be the same.


    Compared to that, the fact that the young mage was using a Golem and magic missiles to train in defence against multiple attackers was much less concerning.


    The Rogue, on the other hand, was incredibly concerning. Everyone who was anyone knew Niall was the head assassin for the Inquisition, and the fact that he was training a young prodigy in public with an unknown foreign assassin was extremely concerning to the leadership of every nation on the continent.


    The first thought was that this was a subtle flex by the Golden Dragon Church, showing off one of their new killers in training. She was obviously young, but herbat skills were far beyond the average.


    Sybil was highly motivated that day. Lotus had discovered that there might be a way to fix her hearing. Her eardrums had grown in wrong, a developmental anomaly. But it was how her body thought that they were supposed to be, so healing spells didn''t change it. Lotus'' n was to let Cara precision disintegrate the inner ear, while Lotus regenerated it. If her theory was correct, unlike damaging it and healing it,pletely disintegrating it should cause it to grow back in the way that Lotus understood ears to work, not how Sybil''s body had grown it the first time.


    It was definitely not a Church approved method, as a small error would cause permanent nerve damage, or obliterate a portion of her brain. But Cara was confident that she could do it.

 Chapter 687 Recruitment Day

    Chapter 687 Recruitment Day


    Three dayster, Karl was ready to deploy himself back to the border just to escape the Blue Dragon Clerics and their never-ending quest for knowledge.


    But today was a special even that they simply couldn''t miss. It was time for the annual Elite Recruitment, and this year was expected to be a huge spectacle.


    The Bureau of Elite Development had been teasing the reporters for weeks that the sess rate would be going up, and the Injection Ceremony would have minor celebrities, in the form of Karl and his team. Normally, it was done by doctors with a few Commander Rank and lower Elites on guard.


    Karl looked down at the suit he had on, freshly made by Rae for the asion, then smirked at Dana, who looked ufortable with the amount of gossamer fabric among theyers of her cream and gold coloured Hanfu style dress.


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 Chapter 688 Long Winded Speeches

    Chapter 688 Long Winded Speeches


    The speech was just as dull and long-winded as the one that Karl remembered, and he wondered if the local school superintendents all read from the same prepared speech.


    Keeping a straight face and professional stance while the bureaucrat droned on was an art of its own, and Karl mostly entertained himself watching the various expressions on the faces of the students.


    To think, it had only been two years since that was him. Finally, the main speech was over, and the Superintendent gestured towards Karl''s group.


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 Chapter 689 Job Fair

    Chapter 689 Job Fair


    Once the sales pitch for the job fair was open, the announcers dered that the students coulde up and meet with the Elites. There was no need to do that for the others, they were about to be the Elites, but for those left in the auditorium seats, this was a big event for them.


    Karl came down from the stage to meet with the kids, who looked shocked that someone was actuallying down to talk to them, not just answering questions from above.


    "Mister Monarch, is it true that you led the soldiers to defend the north side of the city?" One of the kids asked, eyes sparkling with hero worship.


    "Not just me. My whole team spread out along the north side of the city so that we could coordinate. With so many brave soldiers on the line, we had to do our best." Karl agreed.


    A group of the kids immediately swarmed him to hug him, reminding Karl that many of these people had family in the army.


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 Chapter 690 Project Planning

    Chapter 690 Project nning


    After fifteen minutes of chatting with the Elites, the job fair was officially beginning. The booths were set up in the park outside the auditorium by employers who were looking for workers and apprentices, with the first hour dedicated to the new graduates and then the rest of the weekend for the general poption to job hunt.


    It wasn''t justpanies in the Capital, but those in the surrounding regions as well, and many of the positions would be filled by the university educated and lower ranking Elites.


    The Librarian nudged Karl with her shoulder. "Are you going to go look for a full-time job? You know, something to build up your public image and reputation with the people? If you wait for Overlord Rank, you''ll be too busy for such leisurely pursuits."


    Karl shook his head. "I already have a n in mind. I just didn''t expect things to change so quickly. But that reminds me, I need to talk to a certain banker to speed up the ns."


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 Chapter 691 Nekos Cat Cafe

    Chapter 691 Neko''s Cat Cafe


    Karl watched the cleric run back to her work, and then noticed a small stand at the edge of the financial sector of the job fair, as if it had been forced out by the more powerful conglomerates.


    The operator appeared to be a Nature Priestess, or an Acolyte. Karl moved forward so that he could see the sign, while the operator nervously waited for someone toe close enough to call out to.


    [Neko''s Cat Cafe. Hiring food service staff and cooks. Willing to work with investors of all sorts.]


    {Remi, bring Lotus to us. There is a cat caf¨¦ opening. I think she will love it.} Karl instructed.


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 Chapter 692 Cafe Funded

    Chapter 692 Cafe Funded


    "Princess, what sort of business is this?" One of the girls whispered to Dana.


    At first, she was startled, not used to being called Princess so reverently, and Karl made a mental note to do it more often.


    "It''s a cat caf¨¦. Nature Priestesses and Beast Masters seem immediately drawn to it." She whispered back.


    "Like, a caf¨¦ with cats just running around to pet? That is great. Are they hiring, I would apply for that."


    Lotus came over and hugged the girl from behind. "Yes, she will be hiring as soon as the talks are done. They have openings for ten servers and four bakery staff."


    One of the boys who hade over mostly to just get a better look at the Elites turned to look at her in shock.


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 Chapter 693 Altruism

    Chapter 693 Altruism


    Now that the details were finished, Tessa handed over the short list of potential staff and their job was done.


    The train would be here soon to pick the students up, and then there would be an escorted parade of sorts as it left the city. This was the first stop, and the others would be picked upter in the day, when the cars were transferred between lotives for the final leg to the Academy.


    "What is the n for the rest of the day?" Tessa asked, as she carefully tucked the folder with thend deed documents into her coat. That little rental property would provide a nice, steady monthly ie for her parents, no matter where she happened to be in the future as an Elite. Threemercial units with shopkeeper suites brought in far more than was necessary to be called afortable living in her neighbourhood.


    Karl smiled. "Well, I should send a little something to my parents. I haven''t heard from them in a while, and I missed them when we went on the mission to the area. I know my dad got promoted, and they''re making good money now, but I''m sure I can do better than that for them."


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 Chapter 694 Movie Night Interrupted

    Chapter 694 Movie Night Interrupted


    As Karl had suspected, their night of rxation was doomed from the very start. They had just finished the first movie when a knock at the door pulled Tessa away from her reading to let in their guest.


    "General, to what do we owe the pleasure of your visit?" Tessa asked as she looked up at the unfamiliar man.


    "High Priestess. I havee looking for Monarch Karl. There is an urgent matter that we require his assistance with." The General replied.


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 Chapter 695 Wenmouth Castle

    Chapter 695 Wenmouth Castle


    The General nodded in satisfaction as the basic details were settled. "How long will you need to pack up for a week-long trip? We can leaveter in the evening if you prefer. It is safe enough with your group in the bus." He offered.


    "I think we should be able to get ready for a trip within the next hour. We all have a fully functional System interface, so we keep the majority of our stuff in our inventory. Other than the clothing and personal items we wouldn''t want to take intobat with us, of course."


    The General chuckled. "We can provide clothing for the meeting with the King. Nobody owns the traditional cultural outfits anymore, and they''re still the dress code for the Throne Room."


    Karlughed. "You mean canvas pants and a miner''s apron? Ie from the Lithium Mines, our traditional wear is a bit unsuitable for court."


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 Chapter 696 Rules and Customs

    Chapter 696 Rules and Customs


    Dana leaned against Karl''s side and smiled.


    "I wonder how many people fall for the maid bit? Well, I''m sure she''s actually doing the job. But even I can see through her power shielding." She giggled.


    Karl shrugged. "Well, she''s a Commander Rank Mage, which isn''t too shocking. Aren''t Ladies'' Maids supposed to be like guards in cute uniforms, when soldiers or male bodyguards would be inappropriate?"


    The General chuckled and shook his head. "How much do you know about the Royal Family that didn''te from a Pce Drama novel or movie?"


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 Chapter 697 Handoff

    Chapter 697 Handoff


    Hourster, Hawk returned to his space as the bus pulled up to the well-guarded walls of the Pce, much to the General''s relief. He had been the butt of the jokes between the Princesses and that vicious tongued maid for most of the trip, and he was ready to get out and go to bed.


    As soon as the bus stopped, he stepped down to greet the Captain of the Guard with a grateful smile.


    "Captain. I have delivered Monarch Karl and his four Holy Oath bondedpanions. They are required to work together, by oath to the Red Dragon. Please find amodations for them, I will be retiring for the evening." The General announced.


    The Captain was about to object that it was not his job to get guests settled, but the General was already politely retreating, and the two were old friends. He could do this much when the General was clearly stressed out by whatever had happened that day.


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 Chapter 698 Throne Room

    Chapter 698 Throne Room


    For a few seconds, the King just stared at Karl, wondering what this young man had done in his life to get a list of titles like that. The presence of the Darklight Host Grand War Champion Tabard unsettled him, but the other titles were no less fearsome.


    "Rise, Monarch Karl. The Crown recognizes your contributions to the nation."


    Then the King made a gesture, calling the others forward.


    {Royal High Priestess of the Red Dragon, Tessa, Hero of the Piltash Satyrs, has entered.}


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 Chapter 699 Bubbles

    Chapter 699 Bubbles


    Once the bubbles were in the bath, Cara hopped in the metre square tub with a small ssh. That was Karl''s signal that it was safe to enter, and he settled in slowly, enjoying the scented bubbles.


    "Oh, I forgot the washcloth." He muttered, annoyed.


    "Here you go, Sir."


    "Thank you."


    Karl turned left and saw that Cara was floating belly up, sshing water on her belly fur and making happy noises that were making the maidugh quietly.


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 Chapter 700 Chat Log Love

    Chapter 700 Chat Log Love


    Gareth began to do a happy dance around the room, confusing the maids. Then they began tough as he took Cara by the front paws, and they began to dance together.


    "What did you teach him?" Lotus asked.


    "Lightning Zone. It''s a great skill for blue dragons."


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 Chapter 701 Sleep Schedules

    Chapter 701 Sleep Schedules


    The next morning came entirely too early, with Cara''s cold nose poking Karl''s cheek to wake him up.


    [There are people waiting in the other room for us to wake up. I rmend no pants.] The Void badger informed him in a yful tone.


    Karl smirked at her. [Why no pants?]


    [It should make them go away so I can sleep.]


    Karl sighed at the impable logic. It would indeed make most guests go away if he went outside with no pants on. But Cara didn''t have to get out of bed just because he did.


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 Chapter 702 Day Job?

    Chapter 702 Day Job?


    The train stopped at the University, and the Advisor motioned for Karl to follow him. "This is our stop, and then we have a short walk to thebs. They will have a security card for you once you are signed in so that you can open the doors yourself from tomorrow onward. Please keep it secure, as they are a pain to have reced."


    The Advisor led them through a series of magically reinforced double doors, then down an elevator and down a long hallway to another elevator going down.


    The sign on the wall when they exited the second elevator said ''Armoury'' and there was a whole team of Commanders in security uniforms standing at the ready.


    The Advisor and Professors stepped out of the Elevator and turned left, following the instructions of the guards towards a scanner.


    Then Karl stepped out of the lift, and red lights began to sh, while an rm red.


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 Chapter 703 The Lab

    Chapter 703 The Lab


    The Inquisitor led Karl down a hallway opposite the direction of the scanners that the others were going to take him through, then down a set of spiral stairs, which led to another long hallway.


    That ended in a massive circr st door with an entire team of Pce Guards standing at it.


    "Interesting. The actualbs are not under the University facility at all, but to the west. This isn''t under a residential area, is it?" Karl asked.


    "How can you tell that?" The Inquisitor demanded, visually scanning Karl for apass or other tracking device.


    "I''m from the mines. Never once in my life have I been lost underground. Now, can you tell me what is a kilometre west of the University? I haven''t had a chance to see the surface of the city." Karl exined.


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 Chapter 704 Team Leaders

    Chapter 704 Team Leaders


    Karl instinctively disliked this man, even before he noticed that the man was using a transformation spell to keep up his young master disguise. He couldn''t really judge the man for his vanity when he had also been considering using magic to increase his height, but something about him just struck Karl as off.


    Soul sight told Karl much more about the head of Research and Development. He was definitely human, but his soul looked slimy. Like food scraps left outside to rot in a bucket of water, the outeryer of his soul seemed to have a greasy, rotten sheen.


    The man swung azy kick at Fizzspark, only to pull up short when Cara appeared between them, baring her teeth.


    "Put your beast away, researcher. Such a creature doesn''t belong in theb."


    Karl sighed, but he didn''t reprimand Cara.


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 Chapter 705 Strength Test

    Chapter 705 Strength Test


    "That would be my department. Pleasee this way, and we will go to the skill testing rooms. Fear not, they are enchanted to the same level as the training rooms used by the Royal Rank Elites in the Capital." Duke Ambrose bragged.


    Karl nodded. "Then, should we call an Overlord down here? I wouldn''t want to break them. I am a Monarch, after all."


    The head of Research and Development froze in his tracks, only now realizing the issue, while Forgemaster Granite winked at Karl.


    "The barriers were made by Overlords, and reinforce themselves constantly from the mana crystals in theplex. As long as you''re notnding constant strikes, there is no danger in letting you go all out to test the weapon.


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 Chapter 706 Limited Power Supply

    Chapter 706 Limited Power Supply


    Karl and Cara both put a bit more energy into the storage for the barriers, as they had done more damage than expected, and the array was likely to suffer for it until the draw was replenished. "There we go, that should make up for the usage of the room. Now, I suppose that we should send this de off to be tested for any production issues. Was there anything else we needed to do before repeating the process with differentbinations to test for viable alternate effects?" Karl asked.


    "Do you have more variations prepared?" Forgemaster Granite asked.


    "I have a few. The viability of them hasn''t been tested. But theoretically, they should work."


    Duke Ambrose frowned as he realized that he had been entirely cut out of the process. He was the head of research and development, but they had sent someone here with a skill that he didn''t know. Someone who had already prepared designs for the testing phase, which was what Research and Development was supposed to be doing.


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 Chapter 707 Just Karl Things

    Chapter 707 Just Karl Things


    Forgemaster Granite shook his head. "Those tables weren''t intended to be consumable items. First off, how did you shatter an Overlord Rank barrier with a Monarch Ranked crafting failure?"


    Karl shrugged. "It likely pulled the mana out of the enchantment when I didn''t have enough to feed it."


    What none of them could have known was that a single bolt of ck lightning had hit the park overhead at the moment that the de disintegrated.


    Karl began to draw another inscription. "This one is a bit less overblown. Can you get me a blunt weapon? A maul or a war pick of some sort, preferably. I will try to enchant this one to add both durability andrge amounts of impact damage to strikes."


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 Chapter 708 Forgemaster Granite

    Chapter 708 Forgemaster Granite


    Forgemaster Granite''s arms were powerful, and the first swing that he made with the regr hammer caused a re of light on the barrier over the dummy.


    "Impressive strength without using abat skill. Do you need me to teach you one quickly for more effective testing?" Karl asked.


    Forgemaster Granite shook his head. "I know how to fight well enough. But pure strength should always be the first test for a weapon. You never know when that fancy magic mumbo jumbo will fail you, and it will be time to just beat something to death."


    Duke Ambrose looked somewhat dubious about the logic behind that, but Karl knew that it was true in more ways than one. You could be injured, out of mana, exhausted, or simply in an argument with Cara, and you wouldn''t be able to use the skills that you were after.


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 Chapter 709 Archery

    Chapter 709 Archery


    After following Fizzspark into the archery room, which had its own shooting gallery in the back, Karl was flooded with cheerful greetings and the sound of cheerful conversations.


    It was a very different feeling than the forges, where everyone worked in silence, as the noise of the forge was too loud for casual conversation.


    Surprisingly, arge portion of the room was not crafters who had some special skill in creating bows, but Nature Priestesses.


    Bows were traditionally created from wood. Nature Priestesses excelled at growing more of it. It was a perfect fit for them, Karl decided.


    Karl walked over to one of the bows and picked it up to examine the enchantments on it.


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 Chapter 710 Underestimated the Customer Base

    Chapter 710 Underestimated the Customer Base


    The Gnome sighed. "We have underestimated the stronger Elites. I told them that something like this was happening when they returned thest batch of weapons we tried to send them."


    "What feedback did they give you?" Karl asked.


    Duke Ambrose scoffed. "Our researchers didn''t have clearance to discuss the matter with the end users. It was determined that such interaction could unduly affect our development ns to favour the ones who had responded, instead of creating weapons for the majority of the Elites." "Determined by whom?" Karl asked.


    The answer was clear on the man''s face. Determined by him.


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 Chapter 711 Only Five?

    Chapter 711 Only Five?


    Karl leapt up from the ground level to stand on the catwalk and inspect the new arrivals, who all waved happily at him.


    "I thought that there were ten of youing?" He asked.


    "Security rejected five of us because of family political connections." One of the girls, a tomboy with a crew cut, replied.


    Or perhaps that was a very effeminate boy?


    Karl checked the system interface for the truth.


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 Chapter 712 Blue Acolytes In Training

    Chapter 712 Blue Acolytes In Training


    Karl joined the Acolytes in the central room and motioned for them to sit around one of the round tables.


    "First up, you need two basic skills to be able to help with the job. [Life Leech] and [Holy Weapon]." He announced, then used [Follow Me, Little One] to transfer the skills.


    He didn''t have high hopes for Life Leech, but it transferred without issues. Blue Dragon Clerics had an affinity for knowledge, and even if it wasn''t something that they would use, they had an easy time learning most skills.


    Even when they didn''t have Karl to just imprint it in their brain.


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 Chapter 713 Hawks Forge

    ?


    Chapter 713 Hawk''s Forge


    At the mention of filling a set amount of progress, Forgemaster Granite began tough.


    "So, it works like cksmith or Weaponsmith does as a System skill. You need a thousand points of progress to reach Journeyman. Not every creation will give you an advancement, but sometimes when you learn more than expected it will give you more than one point.


    Now, it''s all up to talent and time. If they''re starting as Apprentices, it might be a year or more before they''re Journeymen, and a decade before they are getting close to being called real Rune masters.


    But lucky for us, the System will give them new bursts of knowledge when they advance."


    That was the one saving grace for the new crafters of all sorts. If the system wasn''t giving them knowledge, the entire craft that they had gotten a skill for might remain lost to time.


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 Chapter 714 Berserker

    ?


    Chapter 714 Berserker


    Karl decided not to use tools, but to use a careful application of [Rend] on a pencil to carve the runes, in honour of Hawk''s first skill. Somehow, it just felt right for Rend to make the first weapon that was imbued with Hawk''s fire.


    Hawk had chosen deep red fire element stones for the two spells, which should go well with the Runes when Karl was finished. The amount he wanted to add would stretch his skills to focus on all the effects at once. But with the gemspleted separately, at least it lightened his load somewhat.


    This might actually be why so many ancient weapons had enchanted gems. Purely practical reasons for the enchanters.


    With one long stroke, Karl wrote the runes across the entirety of the axe head, never once lifting the pencil, while continuously imbuing power and intent into them.


    Then, with thest rune carved, he began to increase the energy level until he felt the two gems link at Commander Rank.


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 Chapter 715 Custom Orders

    ?


    Chapter 715 Custom Orders


    Forgemaster Granite handed out notepads and pencils to the other team members, then went to survey the damage from the strike.


    "Don''t forget to write your direct phone number so I can contact you when all your weapons are ready. They might be simr to this one, unstable until bonded." The Dwarf reminded the group.


    "dly. If punctuality is all that it takes to get a Monarch Ranked ss customized weapon, I will bring the team to you as many times as necessary," the mage agreed. The other warriors were crowded around Garrick, examining the tool work on the weapon.


    "Are we allowed to know where this came from? Is there a resource that might produce more like it?" One of the warriors asked.


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 Chapter 716 Infiltrators

    Chapter 716 Infiltrators


    Karl buzzed the security at the main door and informed them that he was headed back to the Pce for the evening.


    The guards opened the door to let him out, then motioned for him to wait while they called for a security detail to escort him back out of theplex. Nobody moved alone around theplex, not even the guards, and Karl was the only real threat to the structure of the building.


    Not that anyone thought he would be attacking anything. The guards didn''t get any news about what was going on inside thebs, but when a portal had been opened from the outside, they had been scrambled, and had gotten some information that there had already been progress and that an item was being passed to an Overlord.


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 Chapter 717 But Why No Acolytes?

    Chapter 717 But Why No Acolytes?


    Lotus stared expectantly at Karl as he entered the room. "So, where are the Acolytes? Did they send cute ones? Why aren''t they here?" Karl patted her on the head and gave the little cleric a pitiful frown. "I''m afraid that they sent all Blue Dragon Acolytes, and they couldn''t be pulled away from new knowledge so easily. They''re still at work, and they will be staying at theb tonight. However, they are all beastkin Clerics. I suspect that it was a little prank yed on theb, as half of them were sent home, leaving only five Acolytes.


    But they have all learned the basic skills that they are going to need, and from there, we can start building their skills."


    Lotus frowned. "So, am I going to have to go there?"


    "No, I will bring them back in a day or two, once they sort out the dangerous situation here. But one day I will have to bring everyone from theb out to meet you. There is a Gnomish woman named Fizzspark there that you would get along very well with. She even rides Cara around theb like a Cerro."


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 Chapter 718 Waiting For The Inevitable

    Chapter 718 Waiting For The Inevitable


    There was a rather low chance that the enemy would actually attack during the daytime under normal circumstances, but what really got to Karl was that not only had they done it, they had done it twice after he had left for work.


    Was it because they were waiting for the increased guard detail at night to rx and fall asleep? Or were they really targeting his friends when they thought he had left them unprotected?


    The dishes were efficiently cleared once they had all finished eating, and Thor immediately began to redecorate the main room.


    "What are you nning, big guy?" Tessa joked as Thor slid the sofa she was sitting on.


    "Not all the spots can see the TV for movies. Thest time got interrupted."


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 Chapter 719 Raes Reputation

    Chapter 719 Rae''s Reputation


    Even the Maids got augh out of that. The spies and stealth agents of the Pce were supposed to be among the finest in the world, and regr attempts were made to poach them for elite foreign forces.


    But the Guard Captain hadn''t mentioned any chance of Rae being injured, only a concern that she might consider them a food product.


    "It seems that you have a fearsome reputation, Lady Bloodbath." One of the maids noted, then slowly processed the actual name that she had spoken.


    "Oh, you haven''t seenme yet, have you? Just this human form." Rae noted.


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 Chapter 720 Battle In The City Of Wenmouth

    Chapter 720 Battle In The City Of Wenmouth


    "Driver, there is a battle in the city overhead. I have enhanced hearing." Karl warned the only other upant of the train.


    "I will take you to the University, then I will wait for more instructions. I don''t know what to do in this situation. All my instructions just say to wait for passengers unless I have a scheduled pickup." The driver replied nervously.


    They pulled up to the train station at the University, and Karl reached out with [Nullify] again, using it to sense for magic in effect.


    He didn''t want to mass dispel the whole area, as there werebs above and below him that would be using magical barriers.


    But he didn''t sense anything on the tform, and Soul Sight didn''t find anyone waiting for him.


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 Chapter 721 Trapped

    Chapter 721 Trapped


    The Guardian grabbed him and the world went blue for an instant, then Karl found himself standing inside theb, and the Haint w on the Guardian.


    Rumbling outside the st door and a sense of loss told him that the area had copsed, crushing the Bodyguards, which he immediately summoned to his side.


    "Monarch? Thank the Dragon Gods, you''re alright. Have the security teams rescued us from the intruders? Wait, how did you get in without opening the door?" Fizzspark demanded.


    Karl patted the Guardian on the head, and felt the pulse of energy from the Haint w. It wasn''t awareness, more like a preset safety mechanism. The Haint w could inhabit the Guardian, and in that body, it could use its ethereal form to move between targets, the way that it had inbat against Overlord Ahmad''s Golems.


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 Chapter 722 Details Incoming

    Chapter 722 Details Iing


    A message came in from Inquisitor Niall, filling Karl in on the details, as far as he had managed to decipher them.


    {Monarch, there are Spelldes from three different nations attacking today. A bounty has been put on the heads of a number of ranking Elites, as well as the King. I must say, if we weren''t friends, the amount that they put on your head is enough to tempt even me to take the reward and go into retirement.} Overlord Niall joked in a System Message.


    {Oh, that good?}


    But the Overlord replied to Karl''s sarcasm in a serious manner.


    {Whoever issued the bounty is making the continued survival of the northern nations contingent upon thepletion of the list. But more personally, they have also offered the equivalent of a hundred million credits and four hundred acres of fertile river bottom farnd for your death.}


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 Chapter 723 Through The City

    Chapter 723 Through The City


    The mage with Othello sealed the ceiling with a barrier, and Karl closed itpletely with the [Stone Barrier] spell, locking them all back inside.


    Then the mage cast a spell that brought the main barrier back online, though it was nearly out of mana storage.


    "We can open the barriers again when it''s time to leave. But for now, we all need to rest and recover before we make ourselves a vulnerable target." He exined.


    Karl shrugged. "That''s fine by me. But isn''t this a bit too much? It sounds like a full invasion of the Royal Pce and surrounding area. Nevertheless, they''re so confident that they''re not even trying to hide their identities. I get that we''re not exactly the most feared nation on the continent, but they''ve got some serious guts."


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 Chapter 724 Mana Storm

    Chapter 724 Mana Storm


    In theb beneath the ruins of the Universityplex, there was not much that Karl could do about the storm other than wait for it to pass. There were no more sounds of nearby battle, and Othello''s entire team was exhausted after battling the allies who had arrived with the Overlords that Karl had defeated.


    The fact that she had held the foreign Overlords off four on one before they had separated and broken in to attack Karl was truly impressive, but it had taken a toll on her team''s stamina levels, even with [Eternal Lightning] now active on the five of them.


    High above the city, the final battle of the day still raged. But not as an assassination attempt, or for control of the city.


    Overlord Ahmad stood on the shoulders of a Wind Elemental conjuration, facing off with Overlord Kenichi, whose ck Drake mount waszily pping its wings, hovering in ce. But both of them were wary of the third arrival to their party.


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 Chapter 725 Distinguished Guests

    Chapter 725 Distinguished Guests


    While the battle appeared to have ended, the chaos in Wenmouth was far from over.


    Two thirds of the city had been damaged or destroyed,rge portions of the Pce were rubble, and the Universityplex had copsed, trapping an unknown number of students and employees.


    But that was not thergest concern for Karl and the others in his suite.


    There was a growing sense of power overhead as the storm began to fade, and the auras of at least a half dozen Totem Rank powerhouses had surrounded the city, while something stronger was flying overhead.


    Their best guess was that whatever had happened here had attracted the attention of the Mythic Rank ck Dragon that held the unofficial title of overseer of the continent.


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 Chapter 726 Leaving The Lab

    Chapter 726 Leaving The Lab


    In thebs, Karl and the others were fully recovered and ready to face the chaos of the city.


    Overlord Othello was on her feet already, motivating the rest of her people to move.


    "Is the train station copsed? Most of these people are notbatants. And we destroyed all the spare weapons anyhow." Karl asked.


    Forgemaster Granite took the first de they had made, and the war maul, out of a hidden storage spot under his forge with a conspiratorial wink.


    "If they never find them, it''s as good as destroyed. These were too good to give up."


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 Chapter 727 A Blade For Othello

    Chapter 727 A de For Othello


    Othello stared down at the glimmering silver de, with its blood-red runes and golden hilt. It was beautiful, and the runic inscription scrolled down the de like a Gordian knot of power.


    The moment her hand touched the de, Karl could see it bond with her, and a smile slowly spread across her face.


    [de of the Avenging Angel] Adds 20% Skill Damage. Adds 40% Physical Strength. Deals 150% additional weapon damage as Holy Damage. Deals double damage to targets with impure intentions toward the wielder. Not usable by {Unholy} or {Male} wielders.


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