B.F.HUUPS

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Book 3: Chapter 27

Aaron just kind of stood there for a moment after killing Countless Lorella. The victory felt a little empty.

“Shall we?” Talia said, patting his shoulder.

“Yeah, let’s move.”

“Alright. Let’s make this quick,” she called out. “I want this place searched. Our job isn’t done, and we need to keep moving as soon as possible.

Immediately, the group got to work, scouring the lair. But nothing much of value was found. There was some furniture in the countess's rooms, but no one wanted it. The crimes she had committed went beyond murder, and having her possessions just made everyone feel off. Besides, simple furniture, while helpful, wasn’t a high-ticket item.

Once they were done rummaging through the underground lair, the bodies were put to rest in graves, and a few words were said on their behalf.

Aaron had wanted to keep things moving fast, but leaving the dead to rot felt wrong. Their deaths had already felt so valueless and unceremonious, what with the way Lorella had so thoughtlessly snuffed them out. And so to leave them without burial just felt wrong.

But on their way out, they caught a glimmer of metallic, green veins running through some of the walls.

“What have you got there?” Aaron said, spotting a couple of his group looking curiously at the green veins.

“Dunno. Metal, I think. Never seen anything like this, though,” one man said, running his hand across it.

“Metal? I’m sure we have some prospectors we can send here.”

“I’ll see that it happens,” Talia said.

“Alright, then let’s keep moving,” Aaron said and checked the next beast lord marker on his map. 

There was a part of Aaron that wanted to stop by the settlement to see what could be done with Lorella’s corpse. It held power, and he was sure that it could be useful. But wanted to get an idea of what they were dealing with in the next beast lord first.

After marching some way from the caverns and toward the next marker, Talia sent a couple of scouts back to the settlement with news of everything that had happened and to ask Julius to form a prospecting party. They were also to return to a spot she marked on a map with any news the settlement might want to pass on.

After that, they continued travelling east, swinging back around in the direction they had come, and then tracing along the sharp cliff edges. Waves crashed below against the hard rock until reaching the river basin. Soon after that, they reached the forests beyond Aaron’s fledgling farmlands and continued into them.

The group traveled at a speed higher into the forest for several hours, going far further than Aaron had while picking ingredients. Many miles were covered, and soon a chill filled the air, and the forest grew darker and less inviting.

There were a few beasts along the way, but nothing of much note, and they were easily slain. Aaron got a strange feeling from the depths of the forest, but it was nothing compared to the jungle. The dangers that roamed here simply were not comparable.

As they grew closer and closer to the marker, he expected that to all change. However, Aaron found himself lost for words with what they actually found. 

Instead of powerful beasts, they found a town? It looked like the System had scraped together a wrecked collection of brick buildings from some small, rural town’s main street.

There was a post office, gas stations, a corner shop, and various other small buildings.

“Ookay, not what I was expecting.”

“Stay on guard, everyone,” Talia said, summoning her avatar.

But the strangeness of the situation didn’t end there. Peering out from the buildings weren’t beasts, but humans. And after only a short moment, a small squad of armed humans arrived.

There were only a few at first, but more and more of them joined the group until they outnumbered their party two to one.

“Howdy,” a spear-wielding man said, and took several steps forward. “Don’t mean to frighten. What with all the weapons, but you can never be too careful.”

“It’s fine,” Aaron smiled, but it was very surface-level.

He was almost certain that these were, in fact, real humans. He was running his [ Soul Vortex ], and it didn’t pick up anything strange on them. However, his map marker was still pointing just ahead.

If these are humans, what are they doing sharing their home with a beast lord?

“Now, now, everyone,” the man said. “Let’s show our guests some hospitality. Don’t point your weapons at them.”

Aaron looked across at Talia.

“We best do the same,” she said. “Everyone, lower your weapons.”

“Well met, traveler,” the man continued, walking up to Aaron. “The name’s Nigel. And this here is New Haven. Our little piece of paradise in this otherwise broken world we share. If you’re looking for a safe place to lay your head, you’ve come to the right place. All humans are welcome here.”

All Aaron could do was nod. He had his map open and was looking at the marker as they spoke.

“Anyhow,” Nigel continued. “My people and I were just the guards. We try to keep people around here safe. But if you want to stick around or have business for us, you’re going to have to speak with the elders. They’re the ones that make the decisions around here.”

“Elders?” Aaron said, sharing a curious glance with Talia.

Nigel and his people seemed friendly enough. After all, they had lowered their weapons first. But everything about the town still gave Aaron the creeps a little.

“Yes. The elders are five peak talents who saw us through the Tutorial. They’re the reason most of us here are alive. And as such, they’re the ones we put in charge. But don’t be frightened. Everyone is welcome in New Haven.”

“Got a plan?” Talia asked.

“Take us to them. I wanna meet these elders.” Aaron said after a moment of thought.

He wasn’t sure what to expect, but if these were actual humans, then he would hear them out before making any decisions. After all, while he wasn’t sure exactly what his vision was for their small but growing settlement, he knew it certainly didn’t include going around and subjugating small, peaceful villages. If they were colluding with beast lords somehow, that changed things, but they had treated them well and deserved to be heard.

“Alrighty then, come on in,” Nigel waved them in. “But y’all gonna need to stow your weapons in town. If you have spatial storages, please feel free to use them. Otherwise, you can hand your weapons to one of our people. Only guards chosen by the elders are allowed to carry weapons in New Haven. It’s part of what keeps us so friendly.”

Aaron looked down at his metal gauntlets.

“Yep, those too,” Nigel confirmed when he saw Aaron. “Sorry to be a bother.”

“It’s fine,” Aaron said and removed the gauntlets, placing them in his scabbard. He didn’t particularly want to disarm, but he wasn’t too worried, either. The powerful gauntlets sure improved his punching power, but their use wasn’t necessary against any of the people he currently saw before him, even if these people did turn on them. As long as they didn’t come across a D-grade beast, his bare fists were more than enough to handle any problems that arose. 

Talia was a little more reluctant, but when she saw Aaron do it, she put her weapons away too. Five others in the group also placed weapons in storages. The rest had to share each other’s storages, as they didn’t own their own. But it was better than handing their weapons over to strangers.

Once disarmed, the group was led through the village, with guards on either side of them, and Nigel leading the way.

Despite the peculiar nature of the whole encounter, the village was very ordinary. There was a blacksmith hammering away, someone spinning thread. A leather tanner at work. There were even a few tables set and people out eating.

All in all, the town really did look like just normal humans trying to survive the integration.

The locals even took an interest in Zero, steering clear of the intimidating beast like those in their own settlement had when Aaron first visited it. In fact, they appeared intimidated by their entire group, keeping a wide berth whenever they passed.

There was one weird thing, though. A giant bear statue is in the middle of town. But what really made it stand out was the fact that it was newly crafted, unlike the buildings that were all pre-integration from the looks of it.

Finally, they reached an old school that had seen much better days. The windows were all smashed, and some of the walls had collapsed. 

Nigel walked right up to it and then turned to them with a brimming smile. “Now, just wait here a moment. I won’t take long. If you need anything, refreshments and such, just ask any one of my people. They’ll be sure to fix you up.”

More guards had joined the group as they had passed through town, and now they were outnumbered at least four to one. Then again, Aaron had looked at their levels, and there wasn’t a lot to be worried about. In fact, they had probably called up so many people after inspecting him and Talia.

However, his anxiousness about the town hadn’t faded. And it didn’t help that they had moved closer to the map marker, which looked to be just beyond the school.

A moment later, the doors swung open to reveal a big, cheerful man. His arms were wide and welcoming, and his cheek plump and red.

“Welcome, visitors! It has been too long since we invited new people into our settlement. My name is Bobo, and I’m one of the elders of New Haven.”

“Hi… Bobo? I’m Aaron.”

“And I’m Talia,” Talia smiled and extended a hand.

“Come, come. Let me welcome you inside. Sorry, it's a bit of a mess around here. We’ve been busy. So much to do. But no matter, we can always take a moment for newcomers. After all, it has been a while since anyone has stumbled upon us.”

Bobo seemed so cheerful, even more so than Nigel. But as they walked into the partially ruined school, they only grew closer and closer to the map maker.

Aaron almost told the man to stop. Wanting to come up with a plan in case they were marched straight into a beast lair, but his [ Soul Vortex ] wasn’t wrong. These were humans, and there was no strange power or aura in the air.

He hadn’t been able to detect Julius’ mind control, but it hadn’t taken long for him to find the corrupted void. This was different. There was nothing besides the beast lord marker.

And so, he let the man lead them further. 

Bobo led them into a small waiting room, and they took seats.

“Be back soon. Please help yourselves to tea and cookies should you feel so inclined.”

They waited for him to leave before speaking.

“What’s your take, Aaron?” Ryan asked, glancing around.

“I… I honestly don’t know. I’m certain these are normal humans. But the quest marker is right here.”

“Maybe we should arm ourselves?” Talia said, glancing down at her spatial container.

Aaron considered it. But if they armed themselves now after being asked politely not to, and these really were a friendly settlement, then their relations would be off to a bad start.

“I think it’s best that I go alone. I’ll mark you with my relay stone, Talia. And if something happens, I’ll warn you. Then you can all arm yourselves. I can still fight with my fists, and I’m not so easy to kill.”

“Are you sure, Aaron?”

“Yeah. It’ll be fine. If there were a lot of beasts around, I’d have detected them by now. Truth is, I can’t sense any. I can see the map marker, but that’s it.”

“Okay, just be careful,” Talia said.

“Careful, of course. I’m always careful.”

Talia shook her head, but didn’t get a chance to say anything further as Bobo returned.

“Come, right this way.”

“It’ll just be me, if that’s okay,” Aaron said.

Bobo looked at the others and then nodded. “Sure, whatever pleases you. I assume that means you’ll be speaking for them?”

“Yeah, sure,” Aaron said.

“Good, right this way then.”

Bobo led him around into another room where the other four elders sat around at a table, as if he were about to be interviewed. 

The elders really did look like they belonged in a school. They were all older, with loose weight, and half of them were wearing glasses, and in office attire.

“Please, take a seat,” Bobo offered, and then made his way around the table to join the others. "Share with us your story. How did you get here?”

Aaron briefly recounted his experiences since the trial ended, and an obfuscated explanation of their settlement, providing an incorrect location for it.

Once he was done, they shared a brief history of their settlement. Though it was fairly clear they were leaving stuff out, as the explanation he got was very basic.

As they got done speaking, his brow furrowed, and he raised a finger. “One thing, though.”

“Oh, what’s that?” Bobo asked.

“You see, I have this quest. I’ve got to kill beast lords. And it says that one of them is here?”

“Oh,” Bobo said, and then looked around at the others, who took turns sighing.

“I see, so that’s what brought you to us,” Bobo said.

“The fact that you’re so calm about this is making me uneasy,” Aaron said.

“Oh, it’s more complicated than you think. Shall I explain?”

The other elders glanced around at each other for a moment before nodding, and then Bobo continued.

“Our settlement here is lies above a System dungeon. It all happened by chance. We came here looking for shelter, and then realized that none of the beasts would wander into this area, so we stayed. It was perfect. Safety and shelter. What more could one ask for?”

“And?” Aaron probed.

“Then we discovered the dungeon below. A few of us went down there and never returned. At first, we didn’t know what to think of it. Perhaps just a powerful dungeon. But then we saw the beast emerge. A big thing. Mean and furry. At first, we thought it would wipe us all out. But it never did. Some of us left. I heard word that to the west of here, some of them even found another town to settle in. But the rest of us, fearing the danger, stayed.”

“You stayed with a powerful beast beneath you?” Aaron blinked in disbelief.

“Well, that’s the thing. The beast never leaves its lair. But its presence provides all the security we need. Just living here is enough to keep the others away.”

Aaron shook his head. “That makes no sense. Every beast I’ve seen has been more than happy to kill humans to grow stronger.”

“We believe that it’s the dungeon. That’s why it disappears. It goes into the dungeon to hunt and grow stronger. And because of this, it cares little about us. It’s our guardian angel, really.”

Wait, they’re not serious, are they?

Aaron couldn’t believe what he was hearing. These people were mad. Even if this beast lord was distracted hunting the dungeon, it was only a matter of time before it turned its sights on them.

“I know this might be hard to swallow. But we understand each other. The beast is a powerful protector. Our guardian. Our salvation.”

Aaron didn’t know how to break it to the man, but he was certain that their little deal wouldn't last. After all, it was a beast lord, and his entire quest was about territory control. The moment that beast lord stopped getting good gains from the dungeon, he was sure it would turn to its surroundings and expand its territory, and humans weren’t going to be a part of that.

Also, he kind of wanted to know what was in the dungeon.

“I see,” Aaron looked down at his hands, and then back up to Bobo. “Would it be too much to ask that I be allowed to go down there?”

Bobo frowned.

NEXT CHAPTER

Book 3: Chapter 26

Aaron almost immediately threw himself into a controlled rage as he engaged the beast lord, but a sudden and very powerful shockwave of sonic energy curtailed his attack. The sonic wave was emitted from the Countess, and it was on a different level than what he had felt from her minions.

The energy that filled this sonic shockwave was fiercely powerful. But it was more than just powerful. There was a darkness to it, as if powered by something vengeful and hating. And when it hit him, it didn’t just hurt and throw him backward, but he felt all of his energy and energy organs rippling out of control.

He actually had to fight back convulsing shockwaves that put him on unbalanced feet, and had his [ Soul Vortex ] temporarily disabled.

He looked down at his hands, vision blurring, and had to kickstart his inner energies with a powerful burst of aether into his [ Reverse Cycle Faux Core ], which got his energies circulating again.

And to make matters worse, Countess Lorella wasn’t just standing around waiting for him to recover. In a splash of blood that streamed toward him, she dematerialized into blood and then appeared before him. It all happened in an instant, and razor-sharp claws swung out at him in furious succession. Not only that, but they were coated with empowering blood that cut streaks through the air, extending the range of her claws, and instantly opened several wounds across Aaron.

But she still wasn’t finished yet. The blood that stained her hands and cut through Aaron’s flesh snaked into his new wounds, traveling across his skin as if it were alive. He could feel her blood entering him and poisoning his own blood. It was weakening him and damaging his tissue.

The fight had gotten serious. Very serious. And he immediately created range, passing through one of her attacks with [ Spectral Rush ] and appearing several meters away, behind her. 

He acted fast, before she could continue the fight, and he lopped off his hand with a well-placed karate chop.

He had gotten a little overconfident against the vampire bat minions and wanted to try to fight Lorella with the ring on. But her initial barrage had quickly taught him that this wasn’t an enemy to take lightly.

However, it was now Lorella’s time to be surprised, and she froze for a second, canceling her follow-up attack and looking at Aaron with newfound respect. She had felt his true power unleashed when the ring was removed and understood he was no weakling. It did not last long, though, and her brow twitched as she threw herself back into the melee.

She was still a deadly D-grade beast, and her attacks came fast. But without the ring, Aaron was no longer a sitting duck, barely able to keep up with her speed. That said, he restrained himself. Preventing himself from bursting into an uncontrolled melee with overflowing power. 

Instead, he leaned back into what he had been doing, only with more strength and speed now that the ring was off. And he dodged every strike of her initial barrage with frustrating accuracy, and could see the anger building on her pasty white face.

The blood that dripped from her hands extended into deadly weapons from her fingers, and managed to cut open some new shallow wounds as the melee pressed back and forth. But none were direct hits, and against Aaron’s inhumane recovery speed, minor wounds meant little.

But also, he wasn’t alone. A lot had happened in only a few seconds of combat, but as Aaron employed perfect footwork, carefully curated his movements, and avoided getting hit, thanks to reading fate, the others had caught up.

Talia ordered the bulk of them back, ordering them to close off the exit and build a defensive perimeter. Zero, on the other hand, didn’t hesitate, and the moment he spotted the beast lord, he blasted a beam of silver light at it.

Lorella had disengaged Aaron for barely a second when the silver light crashed into her. A blocking forearm came up to meet the energy beam, and a yellow shield flashed into existence around it. And while it no doubt saved her from much of the damage, the defensive Skill was far from perfect. The yellow light flickered, and she was thrown several meters back.

But she wasn’t out of the woods yet, and Aaron wasn’t about to let her off the hook, and he immediately took advantage of the situation. Closing the distance between them in a flash, he unleashed a devastating combination on the staggered bat boss.

The first few strikes were blocked by her shields, but when a [ Soul Shattering Strike ] slipped between her defenses, crashing into her chest, her yellow shields flickered out, and she had nothing to stop the haymakers that followed.

However, just as things were looking bleak for the monster lord, an explosive wave of blood burst out from her, forcing Aaron into retreat as it appeared to be the same blood that had poisoned him earlier.

And then, she fled. Once she had some distance, she started to heal. But it was an unnatural healing ability, Aaron could tell. Within her, she had an absolutely massive store of energy bubbling away, and he had a feeling it was the very same energy she had stolen from all those poor souls she killed.

Gritting his teeth to stop himself from falling into a rage, he flew into her. The moment they met, his strikes rained down with perfect precision, and after a short melee, she was put on the back foot again and forced into a purely defensive stance. They traded for a moment, but Aaron was getting the better of it, and she broke, retreating across the chamber with another splash of blood.

But Talia was waiting. And an all-powerful blast of blinding light came down upon the vampire bat from her avatar’s massive sword.

The beast lord tried to block, but the attack was far too powerful, smashing straight through her defenses and sending her flying across the chamber and smashing into the far back wall.

She was bloodied and beaten up when she climbed out of the rumpled hole. But again, stores of energy within her were drained, and her wounds instantly healed.

The beast lord’s brow bent, and a flash of angry blood energy poured out as she shot straight toward Talia, furiously wanting her revenge.

But Talia was no pushover, and a ring of floating shields appeared around her, and they flashed with white energy as Lorella’s strikes cascaded down upon them.

But before she could beat down Talia's defenses, Aaron and Zero attacked from both sides with a relentless tag-team assault.

It barely lasted a second, and once more, Lorella was forced into retreat as she gathered new wounds. Even as she was escaping, she was pouring energy into and recovering from deep wounds as if they were nothing. But there was no doubt in Aaron’s mind that she was quickly draining through the reserves she had stolen.

The moment they caught up to her, a shockwave of sonic power blasted, catching them with their defenses down. It was a powerful attack, disrupting their energy and cancelling any attacks they were in the process of.

Both Zero and Talia were staggered by this, and Talia actually had to resummon her avatar, demonstrating just how powerful the attack was.

But energy was kind of Aaron’s thing. And he immediately pulled from his adipose reserves, and cycled energy through his core to battle back against the disruptive attack, barely losing a step as he continued toward her and threw.

The exchange was short, and both landed. But Aaron was cool and collected. His skill in hand-to-hand combat when calm was simply too much for her, and the power gap between him and a D-grade wasn’t what it had once been.

He dodged far too many of her strikes and landed far too many of his own. And after eating several particularly hard strikes, Lorella was in flight once more.

Cursing under her breath, the vampire bat hissed and groaned. It was clear that the monster lord understood her predicament. This was a losing battle. When she tried to reposition herself and, in an attempt to turn the tide against Aaron, a flash of silver light brought Zero to her side, and a split second later, claws opened new wounds across her.

Maybe against one of them she’d have stood a chance, but with attacks coming from all angles, it was simply too much. And with another burst of blood, she fled, flying as fast as she could deeper into the cavernous lair.

Aaron wasted no time, shooting straight after her, grabbing his ring on the way out, and throwing it into his scabbard.

Only seconds behind him were Talia and Zero, with the rest of their party remaining where they were to seal up the exit.

Passing down into the lower chambers, Aaron sped ahead, relying on the spiritual energy filling his eyes to light the darkness.

He continued further down, making it all the way to her main chamber without spotting any sign of the vampire bat. But an explosion rippled through the cavern, loosening debris and rocks. And a second after that, a scream echoed out behind him, and he swung back around.

“Talia!”

It only took seconds to shoot back up, tracing his path, and he found Talia at the losing end of a blood-fueled rampage. It seemed that Lorella had tried to escape, tripping several mines laid by their resident explosive expert, and Talia had intervened.

But most of the group provided little help against the monster lord, and Talia had quickly been put on the defensive. 

 Luckily, she was still standing, thanks to her defensive Skill, but it wasn’t looking great, and the shields were flickering dangerously, as if they were about to be extinguished.

The two clashed as Aaron sped toward them, and as claws swung down on Talia, and the shield cracked around them, ribbons of blood cut across her armored frame, opening wounds across Talia’s body.

But that wasn’t all, Lorella inhaled, and the blood from the wounds was pulled into her, recovering some of her reserves.

But before she could make much of her situation, Aaron came from behind, landing with a series of lightning-fast attacks that immediately disrupted her little plan. Chasing the bat down, he didn’t let up, and a second later, he landed a [ Soul Shattering Strike ] using up much of his remaining adipose reserves.

The beast lord was good at siphoning energy, but Aaron was better. And he could feel that she was running low.

But Lorella wasn’t about to give up, and she turned to flee into the dark once more. Unfortunately for her, Zero was there, blasting her with a beam of silver energy and following up with clawed attacks and bites.

She tried to disengage, turning to the side, but Aaron was right there, waiting for her. And his strikes were perfect. Despite the chaos of the melee and his evasive enemy, he had kept control of himself and wasn’t going all madman.

He picked his strikes, and he flowed from one to another, seamlessly avoiding Lorella’s counters as he hit hard and beat down her remaining defenses in seconds.

Hit all over, the beast lord actually fell from the sky when a simple punch slammed straight into her stomach. The crashing, crushing blow sent her hurtling into the ground.

Aaron looked down as her body thudded loudly into the ground, but before he could act, a vengefu,l blinding light came crashing down, slamming straight into the newly formed hole where the vampire monster lay, and burning light filled the hole with extraordinary power.

Countess Lorella hissed in agony, her flesh melting away as the white light cleansed her evil shell. Filled with rage, she tried to claw her way out of the hole. And another burst of blood energy tried to fight back the burning while light, and recover her wounds.

Talia’s attack was strong, but the blood energy just kept coming. A store of power built up from consuming many lives.

But the moment the white light faded, Aaron took its place, ready to lay down a beating, and immediately landed with another [ Soul Shattering Strike ], that beat the last bit of blood energy out of the stubbornly hard to kill beast lord, and the haymaker he followed up with, crushed her face in.

You killed: Countess Lorella [ Level 120 ]

Bonus Experience rewarded for killing a creature of a higher level than yourself!

[ Empty-Handed Energy Monk ] has LEVELED UP!

68 → 71

Purchasable Skill Available!

Despite gaining three levels and having a new Skill to purchase, that wasn’t what caught Aaron's attention, looking down at the corpse.

Even in death, he could feel the stolen blood energy rich in Lorella’s veins as if it had enriched her body in a fundamental way. A disconcerting thought hit him. He could use this corpse, but what was he if he did?

They’re already dead…

If the body could be used to strengthen their settlement, was it doing so wrong? He couldn’t undo what had happened to those people, but he could make use of what remained. Let their sacrifice better humanity. If he were in their place, he would wish the same for himself.

Reluctantly, he took the body and threw it into his scabbard. Such a resource couldn’t be wasted, even if it felt wrong to consider its use.

*Somewhere in the jungle*

The battle had been hard fought, lasting several hours, and the jungle floor was proof of that. Burn marks were all over the place, and pools of acidic saliva sizzled away at the vegetation. More than a thousand corpses of ants littered the ground as the lone marmoset chieftain stood his ground against the endless horde.

At first, the ants had barely been a problem. The marmoset chieftain himself was a D grade already, and his tribe members were in the upper levels of E grade. The ant workers were instantly crushed as soon as they went too far into their territory. 

Then came the soldiers. The marmosets crushed them as well, turning their bodies to ash with powerful lightning surges. More soldiers followed, this time stronger. The marmosets won again, but it was not as easy. The time after that was even more difficult.

For a week after that, the attacks had stopped. The chieftain thought that the ants had given up. Today, his assumption had proven incorrect. Calamitously so.

The ant army covered the jungle, turning the ground black. Most were soldiers, but there were elites mixed in, and in the ensuing battle, many of the marmosets had perished. The worst part, and the part that infuriated the chieftain most, was how little the ants cared for their own lives. They charged in suicidally, dying to get their comrades a few meters further. Each of the lightning marmosets had killed dozens of ants, but against the never-ending insect tide, it didn’t matter.

When the first marmoset fell, its corpse was immediately taken by the ants. Workers near the body suddenly lost interest in the battle entirely, casually carrying the body back while the rest fought on. 

Now, all that was left was the chieftain, surrounded by ants, with his tribe nowhere to be seen. They had all perished and been carried away. He was still alive, for now, but his reserves of energy were not endless. Perhaps if he fled, he could have escaped through the trees. There were a few winged ants, but none were fast enough to catch the D-grade primate. 

However, the thought of fleeing never crossed his mind. He was enraged, felling ants by the dozen in mindless fury. Surrounded by a pile of charred carapaces, he fought on. The ants were no match for him. He was nearly level 120, and not a single one of his foes was even D grade. In his berserk final stand, hundreds of ants fell to him alone.

But in the end, it was not enough. More ants took the place of the ones that fell, and the marmoset grew weary. Its attacks grew weaker as its reserves dwindled, and its awareness dimmed as exhaustion took its body. The first ants to reach him could not break his skin with their mandibles, but their weight slowed him down further, allowing more to latch on, draining the rest of his Stamina and Vitality before he finally perished.

The moment it perished, the ants all responded as one, changing their directive from battle to collection. The marmoset’s body was taken, alongside the bodies of their fallen comrades, and less than an hour later, the area of the jungle was empty. Not a single body had been left behind. The ants had taken them all back for their queen.

NEXT CHAPTER

Book 3: Chapter 25

Trying to force energy and everything that came with it from one Skill into another was an extraordinarily crude method of using Skills and hardly provided a desired outcome. Especially not to Aaron in his current form. But that wasn’t his intent. And against the relatively mediocre bat minions, he didn’t really need to go all out and had plenty of energy to spare, which was great, because with all that excess energy, he could comfortably go overboard for the sake of training.

What’s more, his ring was soaking up much of the energy output he was exuding, and having extra to feed was helpful, but also insightful. However, there was a strange vibration to the energy that was being sucked up by the ring.

However, there was a more pressing realization that struck him as he funneled energy from one Skill to another. It was changing. The very makeup of the energy changed when it was converted into a Skill, which made it unsuitable to then try to push it into another Skill.

In other words, his [ Soul Vortex ] Skill required either mana or aether. But what he was trying to use was time mana? Well, at least that was what he was mentally calling it.

It was mana that had turned into something different when used to power [ Gorgon’s Time Dilation ], and as such, it had developed different attributes from regular mana.

This had led him to another realization. He was at but the tip of the iceberg when it came to understanding the energy of the multiverse. And while energy or mana that had formed into a Skill wasn’t quite the same as a unique energy source, it was its own thing. And he believed understanding that would help him pursue better control over it.

Within minutes of his deadly dance against several disabled bats, his mind was both in the battle and musing on his revelations, and he started to gain a more sensitive feel for energy.

Spinning through the air like some kind of Kung Fu practitioner, he dodged several attacks at once and returned with his own perfectly placed, but not overly powerful strikes.

Aaron was no longer a pushover against beasts like this. He didn’t need to throw everything into an attack, and palms, kicks, and punches could send them flying backward like henchmen in a Jet Li film.

In truth, he was toying with them. He could end the fight quickly, if it pleased him to do so. But this was a good opportunity. He could feel the aura and the energy of the beast lord below, and it wasn’t moving.

If the boss wasn’t going to attack, then he would take all the time he wanted to sharpen his Skills. After all, he had bigger, looming threats to deal with, and if he continued to put his training off, he’d never be ready for them.

He also realized that this was yet another area of his technique that he had ignored. Developing sensitive control of energy forms had been what got him to where he was. Without that, he’d never have achieved as much as he did in the trials. But as his reserves had grown, and his methods of recovery multiplied, he had left this area of his personal development to go untrained. But it wasn’t entirely laziness. He hadn’t realized that there was more to learn. 

However, he was starting to truly understand that there was always more to learn in the multiverse.

And as he drew on his reserves mid-fight, using the chaos of battle, and the way it honed his senses, a deeper understanding of energy and how it was manipulated started to take root within him.

He could feel it growing stronger. He could feel the energy following through him, and he could feel as the ring gripped hold of it with an entirely different type of energy, and drew it into its grasp.

And as energy was consumed by the ring, a faint pulsing could be felt from it, emanating from deep within. There was something truly different about it, and Aaron had a feeling that he wouldn’t discover such a thing until he understood how exactly energy was converted and twisted into different things at a deeper level.

However, what he did understand was that the ring was quite something to overcome, especially while under attack by multiple enemies. And it was made harder still when they began to hit him with their sonic abilities. 

Every chance they got, they fired disruptive waves of sonic energy that crashed into him, not so unlike his own attacks, rippling through and aiming to disrupt his energy.

It wasn’t just his energy that was under attack, though. The sonic waves staggered him, put him off balance, and even made him feel a little sick in the stomach.

The problem for the bats was that they needed far greater numbers to overcome Aaron’s superior skill. A vicious smile came across his face as he realized how much harder the sonic attacks made him work.

Pure terror warped the faces of the bats as they realized what was going on. The mad human before them was enjoying this. He was enjoying that their debuffing Skills were making him work harder than ever to overcome them.

“Baha!” Aaron laughed as he smacked one of them away and then threw himself at two others. “I haven’t had a brawl like this in a while!”

The bats looked at each other, concerned, but there was no break in the battle, and they had no choice but to do whatever they could to survive the madness that was Aaron Dober.

Aaron, on the other hand, was grinning from ear to ear. This fight was as perfect as they came. The simian reaver had been too strong, and every other fight hadn’t been quite challenging enough to really drag new breakthroughs out of him. The beaver and Zero had been close, but he had dispatched of them a little too quickly; perhaps that was more his fault than theirs.

The only thing that would have made it better would have been if his life were truly in danger. But sometimes one had to slow things down a little to truly get a better feel for what they were doing and what needed improvement.

His senses heightened as his mana followed from one Skill to the next, and he paid close attention to how it changed and mutated. This was the key to Skill merging, he realized. As the mana then transformed into a Skill, it changed, and understanding this new, altered form was the key to controlling it better.

This wasn’t just about Skill merging, though. Aaron realized that if he better understood how energy changed when funneled into a Skill, he would likely be able to control Skills better as well.

But even though he was toying with his enemies, they could only handle so many strikes, and they were collapsing around him with each exchange. And he wasn’t the only one. Even without taking a look, he could sense that his companions were close to ending the rest of the group.

This battle had been a good bit of training for not just him, but also the others. 

His attention temporarily shifted to the aura beneath them. It was a little troubling that it hadn’t moved. There hadn’t been that many bats down there, and there had to be a reason it wasn’t surfacing to save its companions.

Not that it mattered too much. Because of his training, he had kept [ Soul Vortex ] running at all times, and as such, was tracking his surroundings in detail, and was easily able to keep an eye on the aura.

That said, the battle hadn’t been without cost. Training himself against the bats had been energy exhausting, and had long whittled down his adipose reserves to nothing, even forcing him to eat while fighting the relatively weak enemies. 

Part of the reason it had used so much energy was that he had also kept [ Gorgon’s Time Dilation ] running the entire time. And that had come with its own benefits. Slowing down his perception of time had given him the ability to really focus on what he was doing and examine the inefficiencies in his techniques.

This wasn’t what he had been aiming to achieve when trying to merge his Skills. All he really wanted to do was to free up some space to purchase new Skills, and hopefully make a better Skill in the process. And that kind of made him feel a little bit like an idiot, because what he had discovered was perhaps even more useful.

It was all too obvious. Slowing time was the perfect method to tweak the finer aspects of his style, and he was annoyed that he hadn’t thought of it sooner. And he made a mental note to practice it further once his training cube had finished construction.

His fist landed hard against a bat as he was mid thought, crushing the beast’s larynx, and it crumbled to the ground before him.

He had once again entered into a bit of a trance and blinked as he realized that he was surrounded by corpses.

In the end, he had killed eight of the beasts, and they well and truly outleveled him, resulting in a good bit of experience.

Bonus Experience rewarded for killing a creature of a higher level than yourself!

[ Empty-Handed Energy Monk ] has LEVELED UP!

65 → 68

He was a little surprised that he hadn’t hit level 70, considering how many high E-grade beasts he had just killed. There must have been a considerable boost in experience when defeating D-grades, at least from the E-grade.

Then again, he was approaching high E-grade fast, and grinding experience was no doubt getting harder. And he could see why weaker people would start to struggle at these levels. Anyone who hadn’t taken advantage of the Tutorial’s bonus experience and generous Quests now had to level up the hard way, and even Aaron—as powerful as he was—wasn’t given a free pass.

He looked over as he surveyed the battlefield, and Talia was watching as the last of their people defeated the stragglers. It seemed she, too, understood the importance of not fighting everyone’s battles for them. The fight was won, and they might as well earn some experience.

But Aaron’s thoughts quickly trailed away as he thumbed his ring again. His thoughts had returned to the odd energy he had sensed within it, which now felt like it was completely hidden. It was so subtle that it was very easy to miss, but when it was consuming energy, there was something awakening within it. There was definitely a missing piece to this puzzle, he didn’t understand. But he doubted any answers would come now. But if he further improved his understanding of how energy is converted into different forms, he believed that he could piece it together.

He barely even realized when the last of their enemies fell, and Talia flew over to him.

“That could have been worse,” Talia said, dusting herself off.

“Right,” Aaron agreed, sounding distant and lost in thought. “Strange, though. There weren't that many of the beasts below. Why hasn’t their leader shown themself?”

“You actually worried?”

Aaron wasn’t actually sure if he was or wasn’t worried. More curious.

“A little. But we don’t have time to sit around.”

He thought about his response as he gave it. He did feel a little worried, but it was more aimed toward the ants, rather than the beast lord beneath them. So while taking an opportunity to train without diverting from their mission had been a great opportunity, anything that slowed them down weighed on him. And that worry seemed to be shining through.

And this was one of those times. Unless there were gains to be had, they needed to keep pushing because that was exactly what the ants were doing.

“The aura is disconcerting, but we can’t sit around,” he said. “I’ll lead us down there. There shouldn’t be many left. Hell, it might only be the beast lord herself left. And if we can’t beat her, then what chance do we have against the ants?” 

“Point taken,” Talia nodded. “Round up, everyone! We’re heading below!”

“But Talia, hang back with the group. That way, if we’re walking into a trap, I’ll be the only one who gets themself killed,” Aaron smiled.

“Sounds good to me.”

But before heading to work and descending the caverns below, Aaron made sure to throw the corpses into his scabbard. No one else seemed to care, although that might have just been out of a feeling of debt toward Aaron. Nonetheless, he wanted the meat. Also, perhaps Marko could do something with the hides. He also made sure to have a good feed before they got moving, much to the concern of everyone else.

Clearing the rubble from the cave entrance didn’t take long with twenty-plus superpowered individuals, and soon they were descending down into the caverns once more.

But they didn’t get as far as Aaron had in his spirit form. For when they reached the massive chamber where all the prisoners were held, Aaron came face to face with Countess Lorella, her bat wings stretched wide.

“So you’re the owner of that delicious blood I smelled?” She licked her lips with an eerily long tongue and sniffed.

Aaron noted her human-like features again, and now, face-to-face, he realized her eyes were completely gray and appeared empty of sight.

“Me? Must be,” he said, limbering up. “And you’re the beast lord, right?”

“Beast lord?” Lorella tilted her head. “I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

It seemed that the System took liberties in the naming conventions it used for its quests.

“Answer me this,” Aaron said, voice cold and stony. “What did you do to these people?”

“Oh, them,” Lorella gestured around. “You’ll see. I must say, though, before we do this. It was quite the little trick you pulled against my poor little bats. But down here, I am the Countess, and you’ll find I don’t go down as easily as they did.”

Her bright red lips smiled wide, and she began to laugh hysterically. Then, ribbons of red energy shot out from all around, and Aaron could sense through [ Soul Vortex ] that the very essence of the humans around them was sucked from their bodies and drawn into Lorella, leaving their bodies to fall to the ground limply.

And just like that, hundreds were dead.

Even for Aaron, it was disturbing to witness, and he felt a pang of guilt hit him. What if he had tried to rescue those people instead of following through with the plan that they had made? Could he have saved them?

Probably not, he realized.

What she had just done was casual. Easy. She could have done it at any time, and she waited until he was standing in front of her. Even if he rushed straight there, she would have just done the same thing. 

Regardless, this wasn’t the time nor the place to get caught up in guilt. He had a beast lord to slay.

NEXT CHAPTER

Book 3: Chapter 24

Leaving his body behind on a soiled bed beside Talia in the wrecked house, Aaron took control of his spirit and began toward the cave. 

Inside, he descended quickly and was met by a dark, damp, and very gloomy cavern that had many adjoining passages veering off in all directions, but he continued onward toward where he felt the aura emanating from.

Strangely, even after a couple of minutes passing down through the passages, he had yet to see any sign of anything—beasts or otherwise.

Aether burned in the eyes of his spirit, as he cycled the energy to help him see in the total darkness. A little darkness wouldn’t dissuade him from going further.

As he traveled further down, the cave tunnels expanded outward, and soon he was looking down at an absolutely massive cavern. It must have been hundreds of meters across, and who knows how deep, as complete darkness gripped it further down, and even Aaron couldn’t see that far with his aether and superhuman Perception, though it was heavily hampered by the dark.

But he could sense something down there. Souls and energy sources by the hundreds. They were incredibly weak, though, which gave him pause. Whatever was behind the aura, it certainly wasn’t what he was currently sensing. 

What is that? They're so weak. I’m not sure I’ve felt anything like this since… since, well, ever.

Aaron stepped out from the cave tunnel and into the cavern and glided down to the bottom of its rocky floor. As he floated down, his mouth fell ajar. The entire cavern floor was filled with figures standing shoulder to shoulder, barely moving in the complete darkness. There must have been hundreds of them. Humans. Gaunt, ribs exposed, and looking barely alive. And just like the corpses above, they were littered with little bites.

What is this… who did this to these people?

Their eyes were empty. Just staring ahead mindlessly.

Aaron remembered Douglas’ warning of slavery in the new world as he scanned the destitute people, and blank people. Was this what he had meant?

He didn’t even know these people, and he had seen enough bloodshed not to get overly emotional over injustice. But this was just revolting. Hundreds of people were kept in these awful conditions. It was enough to make him sick.

But he couldn’t do anything until he knew what they were dealing with, and so he continued on, moving toward the source of the aura.

There was another tunnel a dozen or so meters above the cavern floor, out of reach of the weakened people. He continued down the tunnel until he entered another huge chamber. But this time, there were no humans. There were energy signals, though. And they were much stronger than the ones he had felt previously.

In the distance, he spotted them. Perched on the ceiling and dangling down, wrapped up in themselves. There were dozens of them.

Sanguine Chiropteran [ Level 95 ]

Titles: [ Bloodsucker ]

So, those are the bastards responsible for this?

They were vampire bats, and there were a lot of them. But not a single D-grade in sight. Under other circumstances, he might have been praising his luck. But Aaron could see the quest marker on his map just ahead. 

These guys aren’t the main prize.

Sighing, he continued on. Luckily, he sensed nothing probing him from them, nor anything else. The aura was ominous, and he had no doubt about finding out why, but he had no reason to believe they posed any threat to his wandering spirit, which was a relief.

He continued to the far end of the cavern and through a narrow adjoining tunnel that led into the final chamber. Bodies were strung up all around the place, and resting within a coffin was a… woman?

Aaron blinked. And then noted her bat ears and wings. She also had patches of fur about her. But her face and midsection were uncannily human-like, and he hated to admit it, but the silver-haired bat-woman was a looker.

What the fuck? Is she human, or a bat? 

Countess Lorella [ Level 120 ]

Titles: [ Matriarch ] [ Bloodsucker ]

The sight of the human-looking bat made him remember his own evolutionary options, and Bec’s. Could beasts get similar options upon evolution? Could they become more human if they wanted to? And if they could, what were the implications of that?

Aaron backstepped. There was an obvious moral dilemma when it came to beast hunting if his conclusions were correct. But in this case, it meant little. Human or not, what they were doing to these people was beyond foul and needed to be punished.

However, despite the horrible aura the place was giving off, and the fact that his quest marker indicated that this Lorella bat-thing was indeed the beast lord, she was at least a lower level than the simian reaver.

Sure, alongside all of her companions, she might have very well been a considerably more difficult challenge than the simian reaver. But he, too, had companions. 

Hmmm,  perhaps she might not be a bad punching bag to prepare for the others, Aaron thought, rubbing the finger where his ring would have been if he were not in spirit form, and considered his chances of winning.

Racing back up, he headed straight back to the tiny town where the others were waiting. Although ultimately, it mattered little whether he was confident in winning or not. He knew they couldn’t just leave those people to suffer. That was a step too far down the pragmatic survivalist route, and he was not ready to completely surrender his humanity, even if it came at risk to himself.

“Really?” Talia frowned as Aaron explained what he had seen. “That’s disturbing.”

“That’s fucking terrible, is what it is,” Ryan shook his head.

“Yeah. It’s fucked. No doubt about that. Those people… they must be feeding on them, or something. Keeping them down there for midnight snacks.”

“So, I take it we’re heading down there, then?” Ryan said.

“Wait,” Talia raised her hand. “Of course, we have to save those people. But let's be smart about this. We have an entire squad here with a variety of different abilities at our disposal. You said there were tunnels leading between the caverns, right? Maybe we could make use of them. Use them to our advantage, and avoid taking on all the bats at once. Or lure them somewhere that’s advantageous for us?”

“That’s… that’s not a bad idea,” Aaron said.

Talia’s idea wasn’t just a Hail Mary, either. They had all the best fighters from the settlement, and several different Classes and Skill types that could be put to use.

In the end, they settled on one of Julius’ men who had joined them for the mission. He had quite a reputation, and Julius’ group on several occasions during the Tutorial.

The man had been at Julius’ side most of the time, but was handed over to Talia’s command ever since they had started working together, as he was better suited to combat missions.

And this man, Nicolas, had just the Class that might help them in their current situation. A Bombardia Cleric, he had a knack for making things go boom.

That said, his Skills required stupid amounts of mana, and because of that, he had delved heavily into improving his MP, and his Fortitude was rather lacking, which had earned him the nickname Glass Cannon.

He was, however, able to create a rather powerful explosive. As long as they could help him deliver the explosive to the target, he might be able to help them tip the scales in their direction.

That said, Aaron wasn’t sure how long some rubble or even a full-blown cave-in would slow a D-grade beast lord down. He doubted such a deception would do much, but even a few minutes might make culling her minions easier.

But that involves going into the cave where the aura is. Fuck, I don’t like this…

“Aaron?” Talia probed.

“I don’t want to fight them in there. Not if we can help it.”

The group continued discussing plans. If Aaron sensed something off and didn’t want to fight within the cave, everyone listened.

But what if they could fight them outside of the cavern? They were vampire bats, after all. It wasn’t just the deadly aura. Just how much would they be weakened if they were forced to fight in the sunlight?

A new plan was devised. A decision was made to wait until nightfall. With any luck, the bats would leave the cave to go hunt, and they would destroy their way back.

Perhaps the plan wouldn’t work, but night wasn’t so far away. And they decided it was worth at least trying. Either way, even if it didn’t work, fighting outside at night was likely better than in the caverns. At least there was moonlight to aid them.

Doing their best to mask their energy signals, the group took cover around the area, splitting up so that there wouldn’t be a concentration anywhere.

Nicolas and Aaron hid further up the mountain. They were within distance so that Nicolas could detonate the mana-powered explosive he had placed around the cave entrance, and Aaron was on standby to guard him.

They waited until nightfall, and then, nothing. Complete silence filled the night air, and they wondered for a good few hours if their plan was a complete failure before the beasts finally emerged.

The flock of bats flew out. Huge things, their bodies about the size of a man, but with massive wings that extended multiple meters in both directions, and the sound of their flapping wings and high-pitched echoes carried for miles.

But it became immediately obvious that they weren’t easily tricked. Instantly, they turned toward them, darting out in all directions as they attacked.

Oh, right, they don’t need to see us, do they?

Their plan was already falling apart, and in a panic, Nicolas detonated the explosives.

A deafening explosion rocked out and caused the rock to collapse over the entrance. 

The plan felt like it was falling apart quicker than it had been devised, but then Aaron realized he couldn’t sense or see Lorella, the beast lord. If nothing else, that was a victory.

It seemed that they wouldn’t be given the opportunity to wait until daylight to fight the vampire bats, but at least they had some time to take them out before the boss arrived. 

Aaron wasted no time, targeting the wings of the nearest bats as he took flight toward them, clashing as they charged toward him. With precise punches, he landed against their wings, and after a second of the deadly fury, he had sent two of the bats hurtling toward the ground, unable to fly.

Since they naturally had wings, it seemed that the bats hadn’t bothered with movement Skills, allowing them to fly. And the moment they were disabled, they fell like bricks.

He was going to need to finish them off, but first, he made his way to more of the diving bats. They were aimed at Nicolas, and the man was far too slow to escape them with wings. He could, however, keep free of them once Aaron disabled them, and so that’s what he aimed to do.

He intercepted more bats, appearing from his incorporeal state for a blink of an eye and disabling one, and continued onto the next.

Everything had happened so fast, and as he picked his enemies apart, he realized that he was still wearing his ring. This was pure skill. Finding targets and then hitting them with lightning-fast strikes, breaking down their defenses and moving on to the next.

This was what he had been wanting to get back to all along, but powerful enemies continued to show themselves. He had to take this fight as seriously as any other, but the vampire boss hadn’t shown herself yet. And a vicious smile came over his face.

If they were going to give him time, then he would make the most of it. After all, there were bigger fish to fry, and he had to make sure he was ready when the time came.

As the battle continued, he realized that the others were already engaged in battle, and he could see separate skirmishes dotted across the land. However, he also realized that they outnumbered their enemy. At least the mobile ones.

He himself had disabled several already, and Talia was taking on four alone. This had put them in a position where some of their strongest fighters could take the bats on one-on-one, while the weaker members could team up against them.

However, it was obvious this was a delicate situation. If the beast lord, or more vampire bats, appeared, the situation would quickly swing against them.

With a devilish grin, Aaron decided to risk it. He delved within as he weaved through the battle, perfectly picking his attacks as he considered who he was as a fighter, and what he wanted to be.

He had been reminded of how he was able to essentially fake Skills in the trials. Bending his energy in new ways to overcome challenges, which he had then used to develop the powerful Skills he now relied upon.

This had been fundamental to becoming what he was, and he needed to get back to that. The problem was that his Skills had become so strong and complete that he had slacked a little when it came to considering how to improve them and where the next step forward would come from.

But that had all changed when he learned about Skill merging. No longer did he have to try to think about what Skill could possibly be worth dropping one of his current Skills. No, now he could merge multiple powers into one and create room for new ones.

And with that thought in mind, he wondered, could any Skill type be faked? And if they could, did that mean he could do something similar with Skill merging?

That led him to an idea that had been on the periphery of his mind for a while. He had been thinking about [ Gorgon’s Time Dilation ] for a while. It was a powerful Skill, no doubt about it. But it was very energy-expensive, and with such incredible Skills and Perception on his own, he often found that it wasn’t an overly worthwhile use of energy in many fights, limiting its utility.

However, what would happen if he attempted to expand his power outwards with his [ Soul Vortex ]? And tried to change the nature of it? 

Perhaps it was a waste of time. But he was curious now, and as long as the beast lord didn’t show her face, he wanted to capitalize on the moment to train.

As he continued to beat down another one of the crippled vampire bats, he activated [ Gorgon’s Time Dilation ] and pressed his incredible willpower into it, as he tried to parse its power into [ Soul Vortex ].

If there was anybody you could push the boundaries of what was possible, it was Aaron, and he stubbornly pressed forward, brow crooked and smile wide and toothy.

NEXT CHAPTER

Book 3: Chapter 23

Despite his nervous laughter, Dorian had managed to calm down enough to go on to explain just how bad fire ants could be. Of course, there was no way of knowing just how many of their original traits these ants had kept, and what had changed and evolved thanks to the System. Either way, though, their description posed a scary challenge.

It wasn’t just fear of fire ants that made Aaron apprehensive, though. He remembered seeing the heavily guarded mound and entrance to their home. It was like an entire army of ants was marching around the thing, and there were even peak E-grade ants guarding the entrance itself, and he could only imagine what he would find inside. Not to mention that was a couple of weeks ago by now, and who knew how strong they had gotten since then. Aaron himself could handle hordes of enemies, and he had in the trials many times, but the ants were stronger and more numerous than anything he had faced there, and he alone wouldn’t be enough to take them on. Even with Talia and the others, it would be a tall order.

We’re totally not ready for that yet.

With an apocalyptic ant colony on their border, it seemed like he wouldn’t be getting much time to relax. Unless he got hold of some good, high-quality ingredients, cooking was put on hold. He could only justify the time sink if he was confident he would grind a bunch of quick levels.

Which left him pondering his next move. Grinding, even if it led to less favorable Skill options, seemed vitally important. He needed levels, and he needed them quickly. The ants weren’t just going to sit around and wait for him to get stronger.

But there were also the two other beast lords encroaching on their territory. And they had to seriously consider the possibility that those beast lords were as deadly a threat as the ants were. After all, they were all from the same quest.

That led him to his next thought. Before he could go all out grinding, he needed to figure out what those beast lord threats were. If the other two were as dire a threat as the ants, they needed to know. And if not, then perhaps they could be used to grind against in preparation for the ants.

Nodding to himself as Talia raised a brow, since he had gone silent as the group continued to talk, Aaron placed all of his newly acquired free points from grinding his Profession into Dexterity. Then, he started to limber up, followed by rapid-fire snacking.

“What are you doing?”

“Oh, right. We need to deal with this.”

“He really does eat a lot, doesn’t he?” Ryan said.

“And I thought my teenage sons were bad,” Dorian said.

“You don’t all have to stare,” Aaron said, turning away as he continued stuffing his face. “Look, if the ants are really as bad as all that, then we need to find out what these other beast lords are. So, I’m preparing to go out and scout, okay?”

“He’s not wrong,” Talia said. “We can’t go all in against the ants if we don’t know the other threats against us.”

“So, do we have a plan then?” Ryan asked.

“I could go out with some scouts to study the ants,” Dorian interjected. “Try and learn some more about them while you investigate the other beast lords. Perhaps I can even learn something useful about them, so that when we do decide to face them, we might have some advantages.”

Talia looked at Aaron for an answer.

“Wait, I’m not a leader, remember?” Aaron shook his head. “But yeah, that sounds like a good idea. You do that, Dorian.”

“And what are we doing, then?” Ryan said.

“We?”

“Mate, I might not be as insane as you are, but I’m not just sitting around waiting to be saved.”

Aaron looked at his friend for a moment and then just nodded. Ryan wasn’t quite as bullheaded and risk-prone as he was, but he also wasn’t some pushover.

“Okay. Well, I dunno if I’d call it a plan. But I say we go investigate the beast lords. If we can take them, we do. Grind out experience to prepare for the ants. If not, we retreat and find something easier to kill, I guess.”

“Not much of a plan,” Talia said.

“We need to move out anyway,” Ryan said. “The remaining beasts around the camp are pretty weak, and we need everyone to get stronger. Not just us. It makes sense to leave the weaker beasts for weaker people to kill while we go hunting for bigger prey.”  

“In that case, I’ll gather a hunting party,” Talia said.

“A hunting party?” Aaron questioned. “Doesn’t the base need them? Besides, I’m used to fighting alone.”

“The base needs strong warriors, and they can’t get strong without hunting,” Talia rolled her eyes. “No one is forcing you to fight with others. You can do your own thing. But we don’t know what we'll find. There might be swarms of beasts guarding the beast lord. With numbers, we’ll have people to handle the weaker beasts, while you can go crazy fighting the lord alone if you like.”

“Good points,” Aaron relented. “Okay, fine. I like it. We use my relay stone to keep in contact with the camp.”

“Good,” Talia said, and patted Ryan on the shoulder to follow. “I’m going to gather the group. Meet us at the edge of camp in an hour.”

“Sounds good to me.”

Aaron collected Zero for the hunting party. He had half a mind to bring some goblins along with their wolves too, but the goblins themselves were too under leveled still. They were catching up quickly, but still had a long way to go, and even though their wolves could hold their own, he worried that bringing them along would just result in unnecessary casualties.

At the edge of camp, he found Talia and her small hunting party. The party included several of Julius’ people. Ryan and the hunters Aaron had killed the beaver also joined the group. In total, there were about twenty people, considerably more than he had expected. 

“Big group.”

“Yeah, and for good reason,” Talia said, walking over to him. “I know what you’re thinking. Look, you don’t have to worry about them. Your job is to deal with the beast lord if we encounter it, or any other strong beasts. Let me and Ryan deal with the group. Everyone here understands the risks they are taking coming along.”

Aaron nodded. He reminded himself of Elvanas once more. He needed to get used to this. Trying to cover everyone’s backs was a bad idea. Sure, people would die. That was the reality of the world they lived in now. But if they all remained weak, more would die. After all, he wouldn’t always be around, as he, too, would have to go out in search of more strength if he didn’t want to end up subjugated in the multiverse.

His gaze swept across the group, and he noted their high spirits. These weren’t terrified goblins trying to escape a jungle with their lives. These were warriors ready to defend their home.

“Okay, sounds good,” he finally said. “I’ve picked out our first target. Want to see?”

“Of course.”

“Come,” he said, looking into the sky and then shooting up into it with a gust of spiritual energy.

Talia summoned her avatar and its wings, and wasn’t far behind, lifting into the sky with huge flaps of shimmering white wings.

“There, that’s where the marker is pointing,” Aaron said, pointing out into the distance.

Luckily, it was a clear day, as they were high above the clouds, and even still, it was hard to spot the destination, as it was quite some distance away.

There was a visible darkness in the direction Aaron pointed. Like there was a cloud of dark smoke that just lingered in the air, distinguishing it from the surrounding land. At the center of the darkness was an impressive mountain, with what appeared to be a huge cave opening near the foot of it, though it was hard to make out details from such a distance.

“That’s it? The ominous dark mountain?”

“Seems like it.”

“I shouldn’t have expected anything less,” Talia put on a steely gaze and nodded. “Shall we then?”

“We shall,” Aaron smiled, and the two of them drifted back to the ground where the group was waiting.

“Alright, everyone, we move,” Talia said, waving a hand in the air and gathering them all up.

There were additional, unplanned benefits from their excursion. The group got a better feeling for the lands that surrounded their base as they marched.

The flat, grassy plains and peat bogs that surrounded the Bellagio and adjoining campgrounds didn’t extend that far in the north and east. Aaron’s camp, which occupied the eastern flank, had flat, grassy paddocks and occasional patches of trees for several kilometers, and was then bordered by the light wooded forests he had been searching for ingredients in. 

In the north, the basin reached the ocean with sharp jagged cliff edges where waves crashed, and to the north west, the directions that they were currently heading in, scattered, skeletal trees and burnt land gave way to rocky mountains.

Roaming boars and hell hounds hunted these burnt and blackened lands between them and the mountains, and they provided a nice bit of experience for the party as they passed through it.

Even Aaron took a few kills, despite the beasts being rather weak for him, and pushed himself to level 65 in the process of their journey.

He didn’t want to make a habit of killing beasts that were too easy for him, but he felt a degree of urgency, and so he made an exception. Then again, it wasn’t all bad. Even against beasts of his own level, he could gain some insights while wearing his energy-draining ring.

But a few roaming beasts did little to slow the group down, and before long, they had reached the base of the mountains, and a disturbing chill filled the air.

“This isn’t just cold weather,” Aaron said, extending his [ Soul Vortex ] out. “I’m pretty sure there’s an aura in the air. A Skill, or maybe something else. Its origin is too far to get a good read, but it’s certainly affecting the area.”

“Good to know,” Tali nodded. “But do you know what it does?”

“Nah,” Aaron shook his head. “Not yet, anyway.”

“Everyone, on your highest guard,” Talia called out, and they continued cautiously toward the mountain.

It wasn’t just the aura that put Aaron on edge, though. The beasts had thinned the closer they got to the mountains, and there had been no sign of any beasts for some time now, well before he had even felt the aura.

Not only that, but they had yet to see any sign of the beast lord or its followers besides the aura. It hadn’t taken anywhere near this long when entering the territories of the wendgio or simian reaver, indicating that this beast had a bigger territory and was likely stronger.

But Aaron was also constantly getting stronger, and now he had Talia and her people at his side. Not only that, but he had hesitated at the thought of going back and killing the simian reaver and the wendigo first. The ants were obviously expanding, and he wanted to keep them off their backs as long as possible. And since the D-grade beasts seemed to respect each other’s territories, he hoped that would mean that those two would keep the ants at bay for a while.

“Look at this,” Talia said, lowering beside a beast corpse. It looked like a giant, horned cow. But it was hollowed out and gaunt with no color in its fur or skin, like it had been drained. 

“That is… disturbing,” Aarom grimaced.

“Ah, fuck,” Ryan said. “What are we getting ourselves into?”

He was right. They were potentially marching into a deathtrap. But they had no way of knowing until they saw their target. Besides, the ants hadn’t just instilled fear in him. It had instilled urgency. A reminder that if he sat around and took his time, the world would keep spinning, and the deadly beasts that inhabited it would keep growing stronger.

“I didn’t force anybody to come with me. Keep moving,” Aaron said without missing a step as he climbed the rocky path up to the mountain base.

The group shared apprehensive glances but followed his lead, and soon they reached the cave entrance. The thing was absolutely massive, its ceiling maybe thirty or forty meters above their head, and it was dressed in vines and protruding roots wrapping around and peeking through its rock walls.

“So, what now?” Ryan asked.

“Set up patrols and form a perimeter. Secure the area and wait for further instructions, got it?” Talia commanded.

“You heard her. Step to, everyone.”

“Wait, Talia. I think we'd better fall back a little,” Aaron said. “Set up base a bit further back until we know what we’re dealing with. I don’t like the aura here.”

The mission had been a little disappointing so far. He had really hoped that they would find some more concrete evidence of what they were up against before having to enter a creepy ass cave.

“Ryan,” Talia said.

“Yep, on it.”

Ryan called over his people and directed them back. Aaron led them back out of the aura’s range.

Tracing back on a slightly different path than they had taken to reach the mountain, they found a small town in the burned and blackened land. It was mostly abandoned, burned-out wooden houses, but a couple still had roofs intact.

At first, they figured that the desolate village was just a leftover from the integration.

“Aaron, come look at this,” Talia beckoned him over, and he followed her into one of the houses.

On the stove was a pot filled with meat and vegetables. It was cold, but not mouldy or anything.

“This isn’t very old.”

“Exactly,” she said.

“What the bloody hell is going on around here?”

Ryan entered the simple kitchen a second later.

“We’ve gone through everything. Not a person in sight. But we’ve found scratch marks and broken timbers. Like, there was a struggle. But no corpses.”

“Just keep your guard up,” Aaron said and turned to Talia. “Think you can guard my soulless body for a while?”

NEXT CHAPTER

Book 3: Chapter 22

While the goblins were busy at work raising their camp—first by building several simple, settler-style log cabins—Aaron was out gathering ingredients in a nearby wooded area.

Which was incredibly frustrating. Not only were the herbs, wild berries, and whatnot he found scattered throughout the surrounding forests of a lower Rarity than he was used to finding in the trials, but their Rarity actually lowered even further when he picked them.

“Serenity. Serenity now,” Aaron repeated to himself while taking several deep breaths. He was trying to relax, and getting worked up over Rarity wasn’t worth it. “They’re herbs and berries. Who cares about the Rarity?”

However, just as he was mumbling to himself, he spotted something. 

Magnificent Velvet Berry [ Epic ]

His eyes lit up. It was the first really decent Rarity food item he had found in the forest, and he couldn’t wait to cook with it. Skipping over, he snatched it up.

Sullied Velvet Berry [ Uncommon ]

“God dammit!” Aaron shouted at the top of his lungs, sending birds throughout the forest into flight. “Stupid, fucking berries! I don’t even need you!”

He threw the berries on the ground and then just stood there staring at them for a few seconds before scooping them back up and putting them in his scabbard.

“Serenity now, serenity now. They’re just berries. You can find rare stuff later. Not every dish has to offer great boons.”

His mumbling calmed him a little, but he was definitely still annoyed, no matter how much he pretended otherwise.

Luckily, most of what he found after the velvet berry was already of a low Rarity, and he calmed a little as the day went on.

“Stupid bushes. Stupid vines, stupid trees,” he grumbled as he continued collecting stuff.

There was nothing to be done about it, though. He suspected that it was the System’s doing. Likely picking stuff required a gathering or herbalist-style Profession, and since he didn’t have one, it was affecting the quality of what he was picking.

Nonetheless, he persisted. He had a small mountain of meat stored up by now, thanks to the kills he had scored. And he needed something to cook it with. Not that it mattered too much. The main importance was stocking up his scabbard so he had food to heal himself with and restore energy. If he created some useful dishes on the side, then that was just a boon. A boon that seemed further and further away the longer he searched.

It took him the better part of a day to collect a nice store of wild ingredients, but the longer it went on, the more it actually got kind of relaxing. The forest was actually peaceful. There were warm rays of light piercing down through the canopy, and the underbrush was thin and easy to traverse.

There had been a few weaker beasts dotted about, but they were so far below him that their deaths barely registered a thought. Unless they had meat on them, in which case they went in the scabbard.

Once he had a nice haul, he decided to head back and set up his portable kitchen in the center of the camp. But he didn't get to cooking immediately.

There was a commotion not far from him, and he went to check out what was going on.

It seemed that as a sign of goodwill, Julius had sent one of his people over. Carmen was a pleasant lady with long, wavy dark hair and a brimming smile that drilled dimples into her cheeks. And apparently, she had a teaching Profession. 

What he saw when he got closer was quite an amusing sight. While he had been gone, she had set up a small, makeshift outdoor classroom, and sitting around her inside of it were his goblin buddies.

The goblins had finished their work, and now they were sitting around Carmen cross-legged and looking up at her wide-eyed like a group of small children as she taught a beginner’s class in English.

“It sure is a sight, isn’t it?” Marko said, appearing at his side.

“I’ll say. When did this all happen?”

“Eh, she rocked up a couple hours back, I'd say. The gobbos took right to her and helped her set this up. They’re planning on building a cabin for classes, but until then, it’s all beneath the stars.”

“I see. This is not what I expected… but if everyone is happy.”

“It was Julius’ idea,” Marko continued. “Not just with the goblins, either. Apparently, he has a few followers with the various teacher Professions. And one of his first orders is to get everyone speaking the same language. Which is going to be English, since most of us already speak it.”

“Makes sense.”

“Can’t have unity without mutual understanding, or something like that.”

Aaron was quite relieved with this development. He really didn’t want to have to be the settlement’s translator. And while he was pretty sure Talia had Lingua Multiversa as well, both of them were busy doing their own things.

“I guess I’m not needed. Good…” Aaron nodded as he watched, and Carmen looked up at them and waved before continuing her lesson. “Anyway, I'd better get back to it. I’m heading into my kitchen. See you in a bit. Oh, and don’t interrupt me unless it's an emergency. I tend to go into these trances. No big deal, but I work better in my own space.”

“Got it. I’ll make sure no one disturbs you unless it’s important. See you, boss.”

Boss? Aaron thought. It felt strange to be called boss by someone other than Sooty, but he left it and went to cook. 

Inside the kitchen, he rolled up his sleeves and got to work. He wasn’t really planning to go super hard trying to invent new dishes. He just wanted to take it easy for a bit. Try to enjoy the moment and relax a little while restoring his supply of snacks. 

Things had been nonstop since, well, since he had gone splat at the start of the Tutorial. And it was nice to just enjoy going through the motions of cooking without too much pressure.

And before long, hours had passed. He cooked dish after dish. Meats braised in sweet berries, and mash made from some strange, screaming roots he had found in the forest. He felt a little bad boiling them like lobsters, but the screaming was driving him nuts.

He made many different dishes, including some pies, though they weren’t anything particularly special. He even whipped up some bread for a sanga and made his own sausages to go with it. It was a tiny taste of home, but not quite the same as he remembered. Still, he savored every bite.

Hang on, I’m actually enjoying this…

He was enjoying normal human food. Of course, the moment he tested his taste buds with something more ogre-like, they lit up with excitement. Still, it was nice that his taste buds were at least a little more human-like.

Many more hours passed as he spent time in the kitchen. His time in the kitchen wasn't entirely about taking a moment, though, nor was it just about filling his scabbard. He also figured it was about time to grind out some Profession levels.

He needed to get stronger, as always. And it wasn’t just about the quest, either. He really wanted to go get his revenge against the simian reaver and wanted to take out the wendigo for the spirit well. There were also the ants, which had been playing on his mind, and he had a bad feeling about them. But as long as none of them were going to cross into the plains, he had time.

Of course, he doubted the beasts were just sitting around waiting. They were stronger because they had gone out and gotten stronger. And they would likely continue to grow strong if left alone. The ants, especially, since they seemed to be actively conquering. However, he doubted they could keep up with his Profession level grinding, especially with how many ingredients he had stored away.

Over a week of restless days came and went, and Aaron’s casual cooking had quickly given way when he entered a trance, and it was replaced by his usual furious pace

He spent every second of those days locked away in his kitchen cooking and was rewarded for it.

Experience rewarded for discovering a recipe!

Experience rewarded for discovering a recipe!

Experience rewarded for discovering a recipe!

Ding!

[ Ogre Gastronomist ] has LEVELED UP!

46 → 58

He had gained 12 full levels before his grinding had really started to slow down, and experience turned into a trickle. It turned out that using ingredients he had picked himself seemed to provide an extra experience boon, at least for a while. But then it just kinda fell off a cliff.

Aaron’s theory was that the Rarities of the ingredients were simply too low. Even the D-grade beast meat he had wasn’t anything special. It was D-grade, but creature evolving didn’t necessarily increase the Rarity of its meat. Rather, it just increased the grade of the meat, and so, he had a bunch of low-quality D-grade dishes.

Still, despite the dishes he had cooked being altogether mediocre, he had well and truly refilled his stocks. And even a mediocre Stat boost was still something. Especially when he wanted to save the few remaining servings of his rare dishes, and maybe his new dishes were not fit for taking out bosses, but he wasn’t always doing that, and a boon was still useful, even if he didn’t necessarily need it.

He also had another Skill purchase with all his new levels, but when he saw the options, he discarded it. There was nothing worth picking up, and he decided to wait until his next unlock for something better. And with the speed he had gained levels, that probably wouldn’t take too long. Besides, in his trance state, he had been completely focused on cooking in his seclusion. And realizing how much time had passed, he was desperate to check out all the progress in his camp.

Cleaning himself quickly with a towel, he stepped out and into his camp. Aaron blinked and rubbed his eyes. It hadn’t been that long, and there were already three basic cabins built, and work on a larger ranch was in progress, with a timber frame currently going up. There was even a field being worked, with weeds and stones being removed so it would be ready for his soil. Which was just in time, as his cooking experience had told him he was going to need some high-quality ingredients sooner rather than later.

“This is… this is amazing.”

Smiling, Treg hurriedly rushed over, passing by several other goblins busy at work. “Hey! You’re back!”

“Oh, hey Treg. How’s everything?”

“It’s good,” Treg said in crooked English.

“English? Color me impressed. Things really have changed around here.”

The goblin smiled widely like a child being praised.

“You like?”

“Sure. But you don’t have to do it for me. But I’m certainly impressed. Although, to be honest, I’m impressed with everything. You and your people have outdone yourselves.”

“I’m glad it's to your liking! We really wanted to get things moving. We owe you our lives, after all. Oh, and the eggs you gave us have hatched, too. The little roaches are just infants for now, but a couple of our tamers have taken them out with their wolves on hunting parties to level them up a bit. Hopefully, we’ll be able to make use of them soon.”

“Really? Damn, you move so fast. Good to hear it, though. It sounds like you’ve really got things worked out. I should go away more often.”

“Oh, we do what we can. Nothing too special,” Treg shyly scratched the back of his neck.

“Hey, Aaron!”

Aaron swung around as his name was called and spotted Talia being followed by two others, one being Ryan, and the other a dark man with long dreadlocks. 

Talia raised a hand over her head as she approached, waving something. “Brought you a housewarming gift.”

“Housewarming? You didn’t have to do that.”

“Sure, I did. And you deserve far more than this.”

She handed him a glowing blue orb that hummed with energy.

Minor Mana Core [ Rare ]

“It’s only a minor mana core,” Talia said. “Nothing too special. But it should be enough to keep a few things going for now.”

‘Really? Thanks! I owe you.”

“It’s a gift, Aaron. And if either of us owes the other anything, it’s me.”

“Nah, you don’t owe me anything. But thanks for the gift.”

“How’s your camp going anyway?” Talia said, scanning the area. “I’ve been meaning to stop by, but I heard you were… umm, anyway…”

That was odd…

“Good. You came just in time. As you can probably tell, I've got some industrial little helpers. They did all this while I’ve been cooking this whole–”

“I’m not hungry,” Talia interjected and grinned awkwardly.  

“Oookay, that came out of nowhere. Anyway, yeah, things are looking pretty good around here. How’s the Bellagio going?”

“It’s good. There are still a few rough edges to work out with Julius. But nothing major.”

“Oh?”

“It’s nothing. Really. He’s just got quite the picture in his head of how everything should go, that’s all. It can take a little back and forth to get him to see another point of view. Nothing worth losing sleep over, though. And definitely nothing you need to get yourself involved in. If we really have trouble, I’ll come knocking. Don’t you worry about that.”

Aaron was glad to hear that. As long as they didn’t need help sorting out their problems, he was more than glad not to give it.

“Well, that’s good.”

“Umm, also, I didn’t just come to say hi.”

“Okay, spit it out then. We’re all friends here, Talia.”

“Well, we’re building a fund. We’ll take any items off your hands that you can part with. We’re going to use them for quest rewards. We can’t be everywhere at once. For example, there are some burrowing mole rats around the area. They’re weak beasts that max out around level 60, but there’s a lot of them, and they’ve become quite a pest. We're hoping that by offering quest rewards, we can get more people out dealing with problems like that. Save people like you and me doing everything.”

“Oh, sure. Sounds like a worthy cause,” Aaron said, and started grabbing out a bunch of old items from his scabbard, like the focus stone. He didn’t need them anymore. For a lot of those old items, they no longer provided any aid to him, but for someone with less understanding of themselves, their path, and the multiverse, an item like that could be very valuable.

He supposed he could have sold the items, but with the mana core in his grasp, he didn’t have an immediate need for anything. And besides, he wanted to help the settlement. It was his, after all, even if in name alone.

“Great,” Talia said, taking several items from him and putting them into her storage.  

“Talking about quests, I had better deal with the settlement one soon,” Aaron sighed.

“Oh, the one you were given when taking ownership of the obelisk, right? You mentioned that earlier, I recall? Beast lords or something, was it?”

“Yeah,” Aaron nodded. “I’ve been trying to relax a little. But the quest has been eating at me a little, if I’m completely honest.”

“Really? Why’s that? Surely the great Aaron Dober can handle a few beasts?”

“You’d think. But, you see, there are three markers on my map ever since taking that quest. And one of them just happens to be somewhere I’ve been before.”

“Oh? And what’s so special about that?”

“Well, I’m not entirely sure if there is something special. Look, I dunno, maybe I’m overthinking the whole thing.”

“Mate, Aaron. Chill. You’re not going to scare us,” Ryan said.

“Aaron, please,” Talia added, placing a hand on his shoulder. “Just tell me what’s wrong. I’m supposed to be the guard captain, remember?”

“Well, there were these ants back in the jungle we escaped from while coming here. It’s weird, though. I never actually saw them achieve any particularly impressive combat feats. But nonetheless, they gave me a bad feeling. There’s also a shit ton of them.”

“Ants,” the dreadlocked man said, shaking his head.

“What is it, Dorian?” Talia said, turning to the man as he scratched his chin.

“Beasts are one thing… but ants? I don’t like this. Not at all.”

Talia turned back to Aaron. “Is there anything else you know about them? Anything that might be helpful?”

“Err, not really. It’s just a feeling I have. I saw one of them die and call a swarm to its corpse. But nothing overly special. Not compared to anything else I’ve seen. None of them was very high-level. There were just a lot of them.”

Aaron went on to give a description of what the ants looked like and what he had seen while the others nodded along.

“What are you thinking, Dorian?” Talia asked. “Should we be worried?”

Dorian seemed lost in thought, and then he addressed Aaron. “Hi. As you no doubt already know, I’m Dorian. Formerly, an entomology professor at Cornell, and currently, Wilds Shapeshifter.”

“Aaron Dober, Good to meet you.”

They shook hands, but Aaron felt something was off. Dorian seemed distant, like he wanted to say something but was considering his words.

“I’ve been studying every insect species I’ve come across since the Integration. What I’ve seen has been nothing short of incredible. But ants… well, I’d say they are already rather incredible.”

“Umm, so it’s a good thing?” Aaron probed.

“No. Not a good thing. A really scary thing, in fact,” Dorian flashed a toothy grin as he chuckled to himself softly. “The integration seems to enhance everything. It plays on our natural gifts. Making us stronger. And based on your description, I believe these ants were once fire ants.”

“Fire ants? Is that bad?”

“Oh, it’s really, really bad,” Dorian started to laugh. “We’re in trouble.”

Talia’s gaze caught Aaron’s.

“Oh, shit. That’s not good.”

NEXT CHAPTER

Book 3: Chapter 21

After a short stop at the main camp, Aaron gathered all of his people and made for the plot he had scouted earlier.

There was a lot to be done, and the goblins were the first to get started, throwing up some temporary tents and scouting the area around them.

Several of the goblins had gotten particularly close with their wolves, he noticed, and they were already naturally using them as mounts as they scanned the region from their backs.

While Zach and Marko decided that they would set up their first proper shop within his land, it was going to be a joint venture, after all.

And while all of that was going on, Aaron’s first order of business was to pull everything useful he had for building a camp out of his scabbard. And it was a long list of items.

There were items from early in his trials that he had basically forgotten about, like his orc banner, which he planted in the middle of his camp. It was a red thing with crude paint that looked to have been painted with somebody's fingers, but he didn’t hate it.

And while he didn’t necessarily want his camp to look like an orc camp, extra boons were extra boons. A 10% bonus to stats after resting was no small benefit, either. But he realized after placing it down on his plot and glancing over the settlement status in the System page, that there was an area for a banner, and it was now occupied. 

It made sense that if banners were as powerful as this, there would be a limit to how many one could use. But since he had no other banners, he left it. If someone else had something better, then he could remove it.

As he continued through his list, there were some items, like the griffon breeding grounds, that he decided to keep in the spatial storage for now.  For example, the Griffon breeding building required both Griffons and a tamer Class to run it, and so it was useless for now. If they happened upon some griffons and managed to catch some, he would absolutely place the building. But since they couldn’t use it yet, it made more sense to wait. After all, he had no idea how his camp would expand over time, and he wanted to keep it as orderly as possible.

Next was his Basic Regeneration Ward, which was hung from a wooden post in the middle of the camp and provided a weak healing effect for the entire settlement. 

There didn’t appear to be a limit to the number of wards he could place, but they did require mana to operate. For now, he infused his own mana into it and asked that his followers top it up if they noticed it run low.

The ward also wasn’t overly strong and was nearly useless for Aaron. However, his people could heal quickly at home, which was no doubt handy. And if they managed to place enough of the wards, perhaps their effects would be strong enough to give a real healing buff if they were forced to defend their home against attackers.

He also made a note to get some of those mana cores Julius had mentioned. He already had a use for passive mana within his camp, and he was confident it was only going to get more and more energy hungry.

Next, he placed the rod of camouflage, which also came with a mana cost. It made his camp blend in with its grassy surroundings. But it didn’t make anything invisible. The Bellagio was also relatively easy to see for a keen eye, but the camps around it were hard to distinguish from their surroundings. Still, despite not being perfect, it could cause an enemy not to spot their outer perimeters and walk into a defensive turret or ambush.

That said, he decided to turn it off for now. He didn’t want to be stuck charging everything up with his own mana, so until he had a mana core, it was impractical to use everything. Also, he was at home and could defend the place himself. He would probably turn it on when he left.

After that, he placed the Cosmic Training Cube. However, it wasn’t instantaneous, like some items. A transparent cube the size of a McMansion appeared near the center of camp, but it was hard to make out any details as it was colorless and transparent. Slowly, it began to construct itself with a seven-day System timer. 

Seven days wasn’t particularly long, though, so he wasn’t about to complain. Especially not when compared to the Divine Temple, which he placed beside it. 

A huge, transparent pyramid appeared, and beside it was a System timer with one month displayed upon it. 

Ah, okay. Guess you’ll be taking a while. Shoulda guessed.

Rummaging through his scabbard, Aaron looked at what else he had to place. There were a few items like the communication orb, Well of Truths, and material fusing device, which he also decided to keep within his spatial container until he had a building to put them in. He also kept the soil in the container until the goblins had prepared his new farm. It didn’t need to be lying around, losing moisture.

Next, he placed his six sentry orbs around the settlement, which also would require mana. According to the System, the sentry orbs would hover around, shooting lasers at any would-be attackers, and required someone stationed as a guard to give them commands. None of that mattered immediately, though, as they would take three days to build.

His Obelisk of Dominance also remained in the scabbard. From the sounds of its description, it was purely for conquering people and had no use in a friendly settlement. Not unless he wanted to go all evil dictator on them.

There was also the antler roach eggs he still had from way back in the trials that he wanted to make use of, but wasn’t sure exactly how he was supposed to.

As he walked around, he noted that a few goblins had already left to fell nearby trees, and spotted a few of them hauling the downed trees back with the help of the wolf companions.

Aaron continued to stroll around the little camp. He was officially impressed. His little green companions mightn’t have been the strongest warriors, but they were proving their worth already.

With most of his buildings placed and everybody hard at work, he took this moment to go through his scabbard with more detail than he had in perhaps ever.

There were a bunch of items he didn’t really need anymore. He wasn’t sure if he should just give them away to the others or not, but decided to wait on it and make a decision later. He had, after all, gotten as strong as he had thanks to his hard work, and wasn’t entirely sure about just giving his people handouts.

The gods certainly didn’t seem to think that they should just give him anything without earning it. Even at the very end, he was expected to beat them on his own merit, and Yendal had certainly made him pay many times. And they no doubt understand the multiverse better than he did.

He had almost forgotten about the communal quest token when he spotted it in the scabbard. It was set to open three months after the trials, and over a week had already passed in what felt like the blink of an eye. He was going to need to keep a close eye on the token. After all, he didn’t want to miss out on it.

“This camp is coming along nicely. I feel like my people finally have some security. We owe you thanks,” Treg said, interrupting Aaron’s thoughts.

“Oh, don’t thank me. I intend to make you and your people work for it.”

Treg smiled. A little hard work was a small price to pay for safety in a world like this. “I’m serious. You have saved us all if there’s anything. Anything at all. Just tell me.”

“Mate, Treg, it’s fine. Don’t worry about it. Unless you can look after a bunch of antler roach eggs for me, just keep doing what you’re doing.”

“Eggs?” Treg scratched his chin unexpectedly. “I don’t know what antler roaches are, but are they like beast eggs? Why do you have them?”

“Quest reward,” Aaron shrugged. “Don’t know what good they are, though.”

“I see. Interesting. You know, I don’t know if you noticed, but a few of the younglings have really taken to the wolves. I have been meaning to tell you, but on the way over here, a couple of them hit level 25 and were offered beast taming Classes. We’ve now got two Verdant Plains Tamers and a Feral Beast Rider. Quite lucky for them, really. They were struggling and had really fallen behind. You see, tamer Classes can bond with their beasts and actually gain experience as their beasts grow stronger and kill things. Those young ones who didn’t fare too well in the Tutorial are now out-levelling the rest of us, thanks to how strong the wolves are, and since they can grow when their wolves kill things, I don’t see it stopping anytime soon.”

“Damn, that is good. They’ll be the strongest of your entire group soon.”

“I’m sure they will be. But that’s not why I mentioned it. If you like, I can see if they can do anything with those eggs of yours.”

“Right, nah, yeah, that's a great idea. They’re all yours,” Aaron said, scooping the eggs out of his scabbard and piling them up for Treg. “Mate, you do what you have to, no pressure. I’m just glad we might get some use out of them.”

“Gladly! I’ll see to it! Oi, boys,” Treg said, yelling out to some nearby gobbos. “Collect the eggs and put ‘em somewhere safe! No eating!”

He still needed griffons, but it sounded like with his gobbo companions gaining tamer Classes, he was already halfway to being able to use the breeding grounds.

Treg’s news also inspired him. If he found more F-grade or even E-grade people who were good with animals, setting them up with a wolf so they could get a tamer Class evolution wasn’t a bad idea.

Hang on, I wonder if that cat girl has a tamer Class?

Whether she did or didn’t, it didn’t really matter. The point was, for anyone weaker than the wolves currently were, they presented a surefire easy way to gain levels and get stronger. A good way of pulling up weaker members of the camp, at least as long as they still had wolves to spare.

With the basics underway and having to wait some time until his camp was properly built, Aaron took a seat on a log and opened up his status page. It was time to check his Skill unlock and finally get around to spending the free points he had been building up.

And for once, Sooty was nowhere to be seen. But Aaron knew exactly what the devious goblin was up to. Ever since fraternising with the goblin girls, he had taken far less interest in Aaron. And he decided to select his Skill without the little soot goblin to teach him a lesson. If he was too distracted chasing goblin girls, then that was his own fault.

Pack hunting [ Uncommon ]. The pack that hunts together sticks together. Passively, provides minor damage and resistance buffs when fighting as part of a pact.

Mounted Charge [ Uncommon ]. From atop your mount, you charge your enemies with powerful force. When activated, this Skill provides both you and your mount a speed bonus when moving toward your enemy, and a damage bonus for the first attack that you land, the damage of which increases the faster you are moving.

Submerged Strike [ Rare ] Your martial abilities extend beyond the hard surface of the ground, and into the depths below. When activated, the user strikes with an immensely powerful attack that increases in power the deeper they are underwater.

Void Crusader [ Epic ] You are the light against the darkness. Freeing the multiverse of a most corrupt and deadly infection that threatens to spread across it. Passively provides the user with void resistance, and increases their energy resources and raw power output when inside a void corruption.

Skill merge [ Soul Shattering Strike ] + [ Turbocharged Haymaker ] = [ Soul Shattering Haymaker ] [ Legendary ]. With this attack, you have created an absurdly powerful combination of power and raw soul-crushing energy. When activated, the user throws a punch that exists in both the physical plane and the spiritual. This attack does ridiculous damage to both energy, soul morale, and the target’s physical form, and is enough to break both bones and fighting spirit in a single attack.

Aaron audibly sighed as he went over the selection. He wasn’t giving up any of his current Skills for Skills that were only useful while fighting with Zero, regardless of how much he liked the wolf’s companionship. That removed the first two options. And not just because he didn’t like these Skills on offer, but also because he didn’t want to risk steering himself toward a tamer Class.

Submerged strike was rejected for similar reasons. He didn’t fancy himself an underwater fighter.

Void Crusader was equally limiting. Sure, if he had lots of void corruptions to deal with, it might be nice. But he didn’t.

However, his last option was at least interesting. He didn’t want it, though, since it didn’t sound like much of an upgrade. It wouldn’t just limit him to a single attack where he currently had two attacks for different purposes, but there was no combo chain, and not only that, but it was the same Rarity as his Soul Shattering Strike. 

However, despite not sounding any better than what he currently had, the fact that he had unlocked a Skill merge option was interesting in and of itself. He used his haymaker and his soul-shattering attack all the time, so it wasn’t hard to understand why he got an option to merge them. If he wanted to merge something else, he would need to focus more on using the Skills together, he realized.

Not picking a new Skill wasn’t the end of the world. Sooty had already explained that a certain amount of energy would be stored, increasing his likelihood of getting better unlocks next time.

But it was getting a little annoying, and he realized he needed to think about his leveling more going forward. He was at a point where he really needed to think about his direction when leveling, since all the Skills he had were pretty good, and not Skills he could just throw away. If he wanted to continue growing and getting Skills worth discarding what he currently had, he needed to level with purpose and plan in mind.

But at least he had a better idea to work toward now. After all, he was pretty happy with all of his Skills, and it made focusing and thinking about what to get next exceptionally difficult, and had resulted in him leveling without much direction for a while now.

However, Skill merging changed all that. He just had to take a moment to think about what he wanted. What Skills did he have that would be better combined into a single Skill?

It was something he would need some time to think about.

Dismissing the Skill selection without choosing anything, Aaron moved on to the 60 free points he had to spend. And he decided to throw them into Dexterity, as the stat was falling a little behind, and his body was only getting stronger and faster with every level. Dexterity was massively important for fine motor control, which only got more and more difficult as one got stronger.

Once his points were placed, he then gazed over his status page before getting back to work.

[ Name: Aaron Dober ]

[ Age: 23 ]

[ Race: Human [ Awoken ]  ]

[ Grade: E ]

[ HP: 75800 ]

[ MP: 41300 ]

[ SP: 115400 ]

[ Class: Empty-Handed Energy Monk, lvl 64 ]

[ Profession: Ogre Gastronomist, lvl 46 ]

[ Stats ]

[ Strength: 824 (+491) ]

[ Vitality: 758 (+461) ]

[ Fortitude: 1154 (+677) ]

[ Dexterity: 570 (+345) ]

[ Agility: 900 (+520) ]

[ Intelligence: 499 (+302) ]

[ Willpower: 413 (+273) ]

[ Charisma: 377 (+276) ]

[ Perception: 574 (+333) ]

[ Titles: Shadow Trials Trailblazer, Stamina Control Prodigy, Mana Control Prodigy,  Vitality Control Prodigy, Holder of a True Blessing, In the Eyes of the Gods, Aether Wielder, World Overlord, Endurer, Dominator, Challenger, Shadow Trials Hall of Famer, Behemoth Slayer, Pack Leader ]

[ Traits: Fate Weaver (Alpha), Major Blessing of Oozagh the Rotund, True Blessing of Yendal the Empty-Handed, Herald of a God, Death Cheat, Pack Alpha ]

[ Racial Skills: Inspect, Lingua Multiversa, World Map ]

[ Profession Passive Skills (3/3): Mass Produced Cooking!, Conductive Gut, Adipose Fusion ]

[ Profession Active Skills (6/6): Spirit Toes, Oozagh’s Breath, Foul Ichor, Unsightly Degustation, Perfect Measurements, Spirit Hands  ]

[ Class Passive Skills (3/3): Reverse Cycle Faux Core, Equal and Opposite, Soul Vortex ]

[ Class Active Skills (6/6): Soul Shattering Strike, Spectral Projection, Gorgon’s Time Dilation, Turbocharged Haymaker,  Spectral Rush, Spectral Bullet Punch ]

“Not bad. Not bad at all.”

He let out a satisfied sigh, happy with how much his stats had gone up since getting back to Earth. He was finally able to level his Class and was making great progress. However, that had come at the expense of leaving his Profession behind, and on top of that, he was just about out of food. He turned his attention back to the rest of the contents of his scabbard, which were almost entirely meat. 

Time to get cooking.

NEXT CHAPTER

Book 3: Chapter 20

An awkward moment followed the capture of Julius, and Aaron glanced across to his comrades. “Talia?” He said, catching her gaze. “...I think you can drop the sword.”

She hesitated a moment, and then nodded and lowered her scepter, and the avatar shadowed her. Zero picked up on Aaron’s demeanour without a word and calmly walked over to nestle his nose in Aaron’s palm.

Exhaling, he patted the man on his shoulder, trying to make sense of it all. “Mate, what happened?”

“It’s… it did something to me,” Julius said, sounding lost for words as he rested on his knees. “My mind was a fog. It’s strange, so strange. “I felt like I was in control. Like it was me the entire time. But this fog. The moment it was lifted, everything was different. Like the world around me had been distorted. How could I not see it? It’s all so obvious now.”

“Slow down, mate. Take a moment and gather your thoughts.”

Julius nodded and swallowed. Aaron offered him a hand and pulled him to his feet.

“Hold your thoughts. Let’s go somewhere a little more comfortable.”

Leaving the vault behind, they headed back to the elevator. Aaron had plenty of questions to ask, but the man was clearly rattled and needed time to process, and it made no sense to interrogate him down here. After all, he didn’t really blame Julius. The mind-controlling powers were strong. He had felt them himself, and he had fought off similarly powerful effects before. And could only imagine how hard it would be for someone unprepared.

 But as they were leaving, Aaron noticed a little black marble on the ground and collected it.

Drained Void Core [ Epic ]

This was once a void core capable of storing and expelling huge amounts of void energy. Drained of its power, a small remnant of energy remains deep within. 

“Huh..”

Aaron rolled the marble between his fingers. He could sense the tiny amount of power within. It was nothing like the void he had felt before, but the thing was likely still dangerous and not to be left lying around. He didn’t know if he actually wanted to keep it himself, even if he could purify it, but he threw it in his scabbard for safekeeping. Better in there than falling into the wrong hands, he figured.

Once down, they went upstairs and made their way to a private room. Julius’ guards were concerned when they saw his state, but he waved them off and told them to leave him, and they reluctantly obeyed.

Lying on his bed, Julius sipped healing potions and gathered his words. “It all started back in the Tutorial. A dungeon, to be precise. At the end of it, I was given a choice as a reward: power or wealth. Considering the circumstances, I figured that power was an easy choice. But the damn thing tricked me, and I was given an inhabited void core. Not that I knew what it was at the time.”

What a strange dungeon reward, Aaron thought. It was a good bit of information to learn. If dungeons could deceive people like that, caution when looting rewards was likely worth keeping in mind.

“At the time,” Julius continued. “It seemed like a blessing. My energy was so much greater when using the void. I could hold the core in my hand and draw on it to use Skills instead of mana. But soon it started to grow. Getting larger every time I killed something in the Tutorial. And soon, it turned into that cloud of void you saw, and Maverick began to talk to me. He offered me all kinds of things in return for my help feeding him souls.”

“Right, you mentioned souls before,” Aaron said.

“Yes. Beast souls. I had people bring them to me alive for special rewards. It wasn’t easy, and I’m ashamed to say that people lost their lives trying to capture beasts alive. Damn that bastard!” Julius suddenly spat, rage filling him and his hands shaking.

“Easy. He’s dead now.”

“What do we do?” Talia crossed her arms. “We can’t exactly blame him for what Maverick did, or even just for being deceived, but I don’t really think we can trust him yet.”

Aaron agreed about not trusting him, but he also didn’t quite distrust Julius either. Aaron had a better understanding of how the void worked than most, and it was clear that Julius deeply regretted what he had done. The fact that he had immediately thought of the people who died trying to bring him live monsters spoke volumes about his character. He couldn’t really just give in and let him have the leader position, but his Class and Profession were too useful to completely oust him. And he didn’t feel like Julius really deserved such a severe punishment.

“Yeah, I was thinking the same,” he said, scratching his chin. “What about you? What do you think we do, Julius?” 

Julius’ expression shifted to shock.

“Me? After everything I’ve done? I don’t deserve anything. I will accept whatever punishment you give me. I deserve death for bringing that thing here.”

“Whoa! Mate, we’re not going to kill you. Chill. There’s no way we’re going to punish you for being mind-controlled, Jules. Now, please. Relax a little. Maverick was the monster. Not you. Now, let me ask you again. What would you do in my shoes?”

“Why are you asking me?” Julius said, face in his hands. “I’m a failure of a leader.”

“Look around, mate. You’ve got a whole following. And from the sounds of it, you have always had. Even before the void, right? I need help, not a pity party. Seriously, look at me. Sure, I’ve saved a few stragglers, but I’m far from being a leader of any kind. And Talia,” Aaron said, glancing back at her.

Talia threw up her hands and shook her head. “I’m not much better, honestly. They just follow me because I keep them safe.”

“See. This isn’t our game. Talia’s people rally around her because she’s strong; that’s it. We’re fighters. Not leaders. So, please, what would you do, Jules? Talk to me. Help me out, mate.”

“...I would… I would keep it under wraps at first. Make sure no one realizes anything has gone wrong. Take the prisoner behind closed doors and have a serious discussion until things are settled. Then, I’d have the group present a united front and make a public announcement talking about the resolution of the obelisk issue without letting on that anything strange had happened. The people might be confused by the outcome, but that’s better than the fear or outrage that they would feel if they knew the whole truth.”

“Brilliant. You’re not my prisoner, though. However, you are a pretty good leader, see?” Aaron said. “Alright, let’s do it!”

“Do it?” Julius looked up, and Aaron just smiled.

The trio made their way to the foyer, where the obelisk was. Julius assured his people that he was alright, then ordered them to clear out and to make a perimeter and lock all doors so they wouldn’t be interrupted. Before they got to any real discussion, though, Julius verbally revoked his claim on the obelisk. With no competing claims, all Talia had to do was confirm her own claim to receive ownership. Aaron thought that this part would have waited, but Julius seemed intent on revoking his claim, and with no one else around, Talia was really the only option.

“So, what are you waiting for, Talia? It’s right there,” Aaron said.

“Maybe you should do it?” Talia said, hand hovering over the obelisk.

“Me? Why the hell would I do it?”

“I’ve been thinking,” she said. “With everything that’s happened. There’s a tension in the camp. Even if Julius tells his people to go along with it all, they’ll be pretty unsure. The two groups don’t really get along that well yet.”

“Okay? I’m still not sure how my taking control of the thing helps any of that?”

“Settlements have roles, don’t they?” She said, turning to Julius.

“Roles? Yes, I believe so. That’s what the inspection window said. But I haven’t claimed it, so I can’t say for certain what they do. I haven’t seen the obelisk’s control menu, after all.”

“What are you getting at, Talia?” Aaron said, missing whatever was going on between them.

“Well,” Talia said. “The inspection window says here that the owner of the obelisk has ultimate power over it, including the ability to delegate roles.”

“And?”

“Well, the leader doesn’t have to be like an actual leader from the sounds of it. More like a figurehead with veto power. Sounds almost like modern royalty, or how presidential figures work in some countries.”

“Oookay. You’re going to have to explain a little better than that. What are you getting at, Talia?”

“I’m saying that perhaps the owner of the obelisk should be someone we can all trust with veto power. And Julius and I have a history… And more importantly, there are all our followers to worry about. Even if we do it all peacefully and have Julius publicly declare his intent to concede, that’s not really going to help resolve the tension and bad feelings.”

“Wait, wait, wait! How am I meant to fix any of that?”

“You and me, we’re not leaders, right? You said so yourself. But if you had veto power, we could put Julius where he belongs. Leading this place. I’d be happy with that, since you would have veto power, and I’m sure my people would be fine with it too. And that way, Julius’ people wouldn’t have to worry about me taking control. You’re the closest thing to a neutral party here, and you’re the strongest. Maybe they won’t be happy that their preferred leader didn’t get the role, but it won’t make the divide any wider, and we still get the benefits of Julius’ abilities.”

“Julius?”

“I… uh… I don’t deserve this. But I’ll do whatever you want me to. I owe you that much.”

Aaron furrowed his brow, still uncertain of the logic behind the proposal.

“Think about it, Aaron,” Talia continued. “It’s not just about keeping the peace. You’re the strongest person here, and that’s while underleveled. In a few months, the gap between us is likely to widen even further. No one will mess with you. Heck, most people won’t even dare to mess with the settlement if they know you’re attached to it. Just having your name plastered on the thing is likely to give us security. Just be a figurehead. Maybe settle arguments between us if they arise. That kind of thing.”

“You’re the highest ranker out of us,” Aaron countered.

“Come on.” Talia rolled her eyes. “Don’t blow smoke up my ass. We all know it won’t stay like that forever. You’re probably the strongest person in our world, and anyone who doesn’t realize that yet, soon will.”

Aaron looked across at Julius.

“I’m not complaining. You did beat Maverick, after all. I might have been in a daze, but I could feel his power. To be honest, I didn’t think an E-grade beating him was even possible.”

“Fine,” Aaron exhaled in defeat. “I suppose I can be the damn leader. But don’t make me regret this!”

Walking up to the obelisk, he pressed his hand against its surface and waited. He had missed the original window to claim it, so he couldn’t challenge for ownership as per normal, but a moment later, Talia relinquished her claim, and the option to claim it appeared. Aaron accepted, and as the original challenge window had expired, he was immediately made the owner of the obelisk.

A sprawling menu appeared before his eyes in an instant, with far more options than he had been expecting.

“Bloody hell,” he groaned, trying to make sense of it all.

There were pages upon pages of options. There was even a map mode that showed the extents of their System-recognized territory, with a few labels dotted upon it.

Quest Received: Slay the Encroaching Beast Lords 

Three beast lords encroach on your new territory; slay them to secure your land.

0/3 Completed

Rewards: Increased System Controlled Territory

Great, a Quest! So much for getting my bearings! They’re already throwing things at me, he shook his head and swiped away the quest for now. Having a goal was nice, but it could’ve waited.

“Something wrong?” Talia asked.

“No, just a quest. I’ll deal with it later. First, let’s figure out these roles, so I don’t have to deal with this anymore.”

“Okay, ready when you are,” she said.

He scrolled down the list of roles. At the moment, everything was available. Just as Talia had expected, there were multiple roles to divide management responsibilities between. Aaron was granted the owner role, which wasn’t a normal role that could be granted through the menu, like the others. However, it did come with perks, just as the erst of roles did.

Let’s see here…

Available Roles:

Owner: This default owner role allows the user to provide other roles and lock roles, preventing mayors and other leadership roles from changing selected user roles. An owner may also claim plots and build buildings.

Mayor: The mayor takes on the senior role, managing the overarching governance of a settlement. With this role, the user can distribute other roles, and may claim plots, place System buildings, and allocate managers for them. They can also provide all kinds of quests.

Builder: The builder role allows users to place System buildings and allocate resources for their construction.

Guard Captain: The guard captain role allows the user to promote other guards. All users with the guard role can operate buildings with the defense tag. They can also provide combat and defense-related quests.

Store Manager: The store manager role allows the user to operate the store building and allocate resources where needed. They can also provide quests related to resource gathering.

The list went on and on with all kinds of roles granting different things related to settlement management. But Aaron didn’t care for all the details. This was already beyond what he had agreed to.

“What have you gotten me into, Talia?”

Aaron quickly read over the details of the roles that sounded to be the most senior ones for them to hear.

“Sounds like Mayor is the most senior role. Are we giving this to Julius, then?”

“Yes, sounds good to me,” Talia said. “From the sounds of it, the mayor will put Julius in a position of hierarchy over everybody besides you.”

“Are you sure?” Julius said. “After everything…”

“Mate, enough of that. Please. It’s starting to annoy me,” Aaron said.

Julius glanced between the two and nodded.

“Good,” Talia said. “This way, we’ll still get your leadership boons; that’s not something we can waste. And if I understand correctly, your Class will gain experience passively just for being the mayor, right?”

“Correct,” Julius nodded. “I’ve always received experience for being a leader. I’m sure this will work the same. It is the very reason I am at a higher level than all my followers, despite the fact that many of them have hunted considerably more beasts than I have.”

“Well, it’s settled then,” Aaron said, and made Julius the mayor. “What about you, Talia?”

“I’ll take the guard captain role if everyone is okay with it.”

“Done,” Aaron said, not waiting for anybody else to respond.

“I’m surprised this moved along as smoothly as it has,” Julius said. “I really can’t thank you enough.”

“Just do a good job, okay?”

Julius nodded again.

“Besides, we’re only just getting started,” Aaron said. “We’re sure to have plenty of hurdles.”

“By the way, Aaron,” Julius said. “Let me get my people to set you up with a room. You can have a presidential suite. All yours. I’ll make sure you get everything you need.”

“No, keep it. I’m good. I already spotted a piece of land I want.”

“Are you sure? They are quite luxurious, even after the damage done to them by the Integration. And now that we have the obelisk claimed, I’m sure our people can get all the building’s systems functioning again. You know, plumbing, power, and such. I’ll even get the lights going. We can use it as a beacon to gather more survivors!”

“Power?” Aaron raised a brow. He hadn’t expected that.

“Yes, we can buy mana cores from the System Store for System Credits. We’ll have this place up and running in no time.”

“That’s amazing. But no thanks. I’m good. I’ve got plans in mind.”

“Suit yourself. But let me know if you change your mind.”

“Will do. And you, you good, Talia?”

“Yes, this turned out perfectly,” Talia beamed.

“Yeah, not bad,” Aaron said. “Take a moment, everyone. Gather yourselves and rest. In the morning, we’ll call the people and make an announcement.”

Morning came, and Julius called his people, sending out runners to gather people from all around the fledgling settlement, and herd them to the courtyard in front of the Bellagio.

As a crowd formed, Aaron and Talia stood beside Julius. He still looked pale and less certain than he had previously, but nonetheless, he did his duty, passing a short nod to Talia and Aaron as he stepped up to a podium to address his people.

“Thank you all for coming on such short notice. I’m sure you all have places to be this morning and work that needs doing. And so I’ll keep this as brief as I can. But this is important. I want you all to know that I willingly gave ownership of the obelisk to Aaron here.”

Gasps filled the crowd, but they were silenced as he raised a hand.

“Calm yourselves. Aaron, here is an incredible man. None other performed as well in the Shadow Trials as he did. And he might just be the strongest person on our world. Owning this settlement adds a great deal of security for us. But those are only the supplementary benefits.

“The real benefit to ceding the ownership of the obelisk to Aaron is unity. Before, there was tension in the settlement. Talia and I were competing for ownership, and the people were divided as well. This world is far too dangerous for us to be working against each other like that when we haven’t even fortified the settlement yet. 

“Despite his role as the owner, Aaron will not be making the day-to-day decisions. He has left that role to me and has given me the title of Mayor. I will be continuing in the same role I have been, taking charge of the settlement’s fortifications and day-to-day business.”

The crowd brightened at that news, and a few cheered and whistled.

“Talia, meanwhile, will be taking the role of Guard Captain. She will be using her prodigious skill to keep the settlement safe from harm. This arrangement plays to both our strengths, and with Aaron at the helm, we will be able to focus on our roles without worrying about either side overstepping.

“Together, we can build something truly amazing here. Through compromise, our people can come together, and that is what will truly make us strong. Together, we can keep our people safe and work as one. So please, all of you, celebrate this day, as we have taken one massive stride forward!”

The crowd hesitated for a moment, and then cheers broke out. It seemed nobody wanted conflict, and with both leaders working together, peace seemed achievable. It was obvious this was the best of both worlds. Strong leadership and strong defenders.

With his speech concluded, the crowd gradually began to clear out. There were plenty who still wanted to celebrate the day, but the settlement wouldn’t build itself, and there was no shortage of jobs that needed doing.

Aaron said his goodbyes and made his exit. It was time to gather up his people and settle the little plot he wanted. Then, he could deal with the Quest and other pending issues they had to worry about.

NEXT CHAPTER

Book 3: Chapter 19

**Author Note**

Thank you for your comments. I'll take them to heart, and I don't want to write scenes that feel rushed to the point. And will try not to.

**Author Note**

Aaron reached out, and the moment he touched the darkness, he felt himself falling into the void. Immediately, as he felt the cold darkness envelope him, countless echoing laughs seemed to bounce off the walls all around him, mocking his descent into its madness. 

This void… it was different. A departure from the fear he had felt the first time. Not necessarily as strong, but neither as empty. Like it had been claimed.

Slowing his fall with a thought, he suddenly found himself on solid ground. The void was messing with his reality, and with a calming breath, he tried to meditate. To find his center and make sense of it all.

But just as he did, and the cloudiness invading his mind started to calm and clear, he felt something. Through the darkness, there was something else. And a second later, an energy source began to materialize before him.

The huge, roundish figure with purplish-black skin, dark, beady eyes, and a huge, laughing mouth lined by massive fangs formed.

“AHAHAHA. You. Mortal. Are you really foolish enough to enter the void? To enter my void? AHAHA!”

Aaron looked up at the mocking figure. It was intimidating, sure. But there was something else. A weakness. An insecurity. And it made his brow furrow as he tried to understand its nature.

“I’ve been wondering about something,” Aaron said, thinking as he closed his eyes and kneeled before the giant being. 

He kept his eye on the threads of fate, ready if Maverick attacked. But he didn’t sense an immediate will to strike, and the meditation was helping his mind focus in the perverse and invasive void.

Maverick titled its monstrous body curiously, as if it looked down at the meditating form of Aaron, clearly intrigued.

“This is the void,” Aaron said calmly. “I know that much, I’ve been here before. And I know you’re not a god. So, does that mean you’re one of these so-called tarnished?”

A massive, mocking smile crept up the monster’s face, somehow widening even further, twisting into a wicked caricature of a smile. “You know what I am? Perceptive for a little whelp. How’d you learn such things?”

“Oh, just through an experience with an actual god. Can you tell me what the tarnished are? Or what the void is?”

“You enter my realm and ask questions of me? Ahaha! So insolent! Who do you think you are?”

“My understanding,” Aaron said casually. “Though admittedly limited, is that the void represents something in between everything. Like the barrier, or maybe it’s what connects the universe, or rather the multiverse, with other realms like the divine realms. And maybe other realms? A place where unexplainable things like the trials can take place.”

“Not far from the truth,” Maverick said. “Maybe I underestimated you. Yes, the void is a realm between realms. But it is so much more. The void is power. A means of ascension. Tell me, why waste a millennium fighting through a million near-death experiences to reach godhood when you can embrace the void?”

“Ah, so that’s it,” Aaron’s eyes shot open as he wagged a finger. “It’s a cheat. A means of skipping all the hard work. Damn, so that’s what it was this entire time. That was what all the promises of power were that I felt last time. I didn’t realize it was so pathetic. To think, I thought there was something scary about this place.”

Aaron dusted himself off and got to his feet. Cheating trials were one thing, but he wasn’t about cheating ascension. Yendal had taught him the proper way. True strength had to be earned, and this was an affront to everything she had taught him. A cheap ladder to the top, and that no doubt meant that the power it provided was deeply flawed, and ultimately very weak. For nothing so easy could ever come without drawbacks. And Aaron was starting to understand that everything within the multiverse was part of an equilibrium. 

“YOU WHAT?! You insult the power of the void? The great horrors of the multiverse? The endless plague of the tarnished? AHAHA! Foolish mortal. You shall see! You shall see truth!”

The entire void began to shake and tremble as Maverick became more enraged, and the echoing laughs that bounced off the darkness soured and turned to taunting roars and insults. But through inner peace, Aaron ignored it all.

This void seemed weaker than the one he had met with Oozagh. But it was being controlled, and that made it dangerous.

Maverick’s tantrum escalated, and the world around him felt like it was being torn apart, but he ignored it all, allowing his spirit energy to flow out from him as he meditated.

There was still something else about the place that intrigued him, though. There was something about how his spirit energy had cleansed the void in his previous encounter. And it brought his thoughts back to the spirit well he had seen in the jungle, guarded by the wendigo.

He felt there was a truth connected to it, hidden not far from him. Something that connected the void and spirit plane. Maybe not directly, but perhaps inverse of one another. 

Needless to say, another confrontation with the void had sent his questioning thoughts spiraling, and he was desperate for more answers. He would have to prepare himself, as this experience made him want to seize that treasure more than ever.

But he still had a task ahead of him, and Maverick’s shouts grew louder and more agitated. They sounded impatient and almost scared as spiritual energy spread out across the void, fighting back the darkness, and after a final screeching roar, Aaron felt the monster’s energy source ripple and explode with furious anger.

Gone was the impenetrable darkness all around, fought back by an aura of spirit energy pouring out from him, but black flames and darkness licked at its edges, threatening to fight it back and to consume it all.

However, that wasn’t all. Before him, the monster was gone, and in its stead stood a man. He was a simple, wrinkled man with sunken eyes and gaunt features.

“What have you done? What have you done to the void?”

“So, is that who you really are, Maverick?”

“You… you have some weird power. But do not think me so easily defeated. This is still my realm. And I am still the master here!”

Maverick [ Level 150 ]

Titles: [ Tarnished ]

Despite the massive level imbalance, Aaron wasn’t particularly afraid. Not only had he easily broken down at his tarnished veil and the void surrounding them, but this man was… he was weak.

Maverick’s only Title was Tarnished. Considering he was halfway through D-grade, it was really quite pathetic. This man truly was mediocre. A weakling that couldn’t gain a single Title on his own, and Aaron suspected that he had given himself to the void in hopes of gaining some actual power.

He almost felt bad for the man before him. Stripped away of the void, his aura felt desperate and needy. Perhaps a truly powerful person giving themselves to the void would be something to fear, but this?

Aaron shook his head. “You really are nothing, aren’t you? Just a weak nobody desperate to steal some power. Tell me, how did you even find the void? How did you reach my world?”

Maverick’s expression twisted with absolute rage. His face was red and white, color leaving the area around his mouth as he gritted his teeth so hard and his gaunt fists balled up.

“C’mon,” Aaron poked. “Cool your jets and humor me. How’d you get here? Can you just go anywhere with the void? Was Julius just easy pickings, or was there more to it than that?”

Maverick didn’t answer. Tendrils of void energy shot out, sizzling as they darted into the spirit energy surrounding Aaron, but continued regardless.

The purplish dark shadow that had enveloped Maverick was gone, but his eyes were still of pure black, and he rushed forward with a cloud of the dark energy as the void assaulted Aaron from all directions.

He dodged the first attacks that came incredibly fast, and met Maverick face-to-face, careful not to underestimate the power of the void energy.

But before they met, Maverick raised his hands, void missiles shot out, followed by black flames that continued to burn after the Skill had ended. 

But if there was one archetype that Aaron had always had an edge against, it was the spellcaster, and through unmatched Skill, he dodged and avoided the spells with expert precision.

However, there was more to this than raw power, and Aaron could feel it. He could strike Maverick down a thousand times within this place, and it would do little.

The actual concentration of void energy itself was weak, but it had more than enough power to fuel the life of someone like Maverick, or Julius, for that matter. It could bring them back and fuel their Skills countless times before it ran low on energy, and Aaron knew the only true way to fight him was to fight the void itself.

So, instead of diving straight into an attack, he called forth his [ Soul Vortex ], but he didn’t use it to inspect his surroundings. He pushed aether into it and forced a dome of spiritual energy out to fight against the creeping darkness.

Then, he used [ Spectral Rush ], flying around as fast as he could, avoiding Maverick’s attacks and pouring aether into his Skills as he spread his energy.

His [ Reverse Cycle Faux Core ] was on overdrive, and his minor adipose reserves were drained as he used everything in his power to produce aether, expelling it in spiritual energy cast out by his Skills.

As he flew around, he ate. And slightly regretted not cooking more of his meat, as his reserves were starting to run low, but that didn’t stop him. He needed every ounce of energy he could get, and he needed to funnel it all out and into aether.

And gradually, as he poured his concentration and energy into the task, he painted back the void, extending his own spiritual taint over the place inch by inch.

“What are you doing? Face me, coward!”

Despite his power, Maverick truly was weak. He was limited in what he could do and didn’t seem to have much of an answer for anything. It was the void that powered him, and without it, he was a nobody.

However, this encounter was a serious warning. Had a truly powerful being possessed this void energy, his decision to enter it would have been ill-advised, and he took note to think twice before trying such a thing in the future. 

And to be fair, he hadn’t really known what exactly to expect when entering, and Maverick’s presence within the void had been somewhat of a surprise.

The void he experienced with Oozagh must have been unclaimed. Tainted energy source hoping to ensnare somebody and turn them into their tarnished host.

But what happened next was even more surprising. As the void was beaten back, it reached out to him. It offered him power, just like the pool of void energy had back in the cave. But not just any old power. It was offering him this void. It was offering him Maverick’s place.

It wanted to discard its weak host and latch onto another, more powerful one.

He turned it down, of course, but it was a curious revelation. Was all void energy somewhat conscious? Were they all out amongst the stars of the multiverse in search of powerful hosts to corrupt? Or had it simply realized that Maverick had a few tricks or tools up his sleeves, and now it was reaching out to him in the hopes of saving itself?

Whatever the answer, it meant little in the backdrop of their confrontation. And the battle only became more desperate as it dragged on. Maverick weakened further still as the void receded, and his body became frail and stickly thin. Soon, he was trembling and unable to even raise his arms, looking like a desperate walking corpse unable to fight back.

And by the time the last ounces of darkness had fled back, cleansed by dense spiritual energy, he had fallen to the ground heaving and coughing. 

“You really are pathetic, aren’t you?”

“Yes,” Maverick groaned, too weak to hold up the facade any longer. “I'm nobody. I always was. I couldn’t even survive my own Tutorial… but I found this. This void. It gave me hope. But once more I am reminded of all my shortcomings.”

Aaron almost felt bad for the shriveled-up man. Had he been so weak and desperate as this man was, would he have taken the void’s offer of power? He didn’t like to think of himself as desperate, but if he was in a situation where his options were death or accepting this… he probably would have taken it too.

No longer did he feel anger towards Maverick. He felt pity, and honestly, he didn’t want to kill the man. Not when he was no longer a threat. But it was too late. The void had stripped Maverick of everything, and now that its tainted power was stripped back, he was dying, and there was nothing to be done about it. His spirit had been essentially destroyed by the void, bound and twisted by its dark energy, and one could reverse such perversions.

“Kill me. At least let my failed path fuel yours. Let my pathetic life mean something.”

Aaron sighed. He’d have much preferred the man to have fought to the end. This was just depressing. But he wouldn’t deprive him of what he asked, and slammed his heel into the back of the man’s neck.

You killed: Maverick [ Level 150 ]

Bonus Experience rewarded for killing a creature of a higher level than yourself!

[ Empty-Handed Energy Monk ] has LEVELED UP!

58 → 64

Even six levels couldn’t entirely wash away the bitter feeling he had. He would have much preferred Maverick to fight to the end. But he wouldn’t linger on it. He had a feeling that this victory had been far more important than just beating Maverick himself.

He had mentioned the great horror of the void and called it an endless plague. That hadn’t sat well with Aaron, and he had a feeling that it was far more than just a parasite that infected people on an individual level.

Well, at least it’s gone now.

The void was already collapsing around him, the pillars of dark energy that had held it up too weak from the cleansing energy he had pushed into it, and it was fading away by the time Aaron turned to step out of it.

Like a fading dark cloud, it all sank away to nothing, and he was once more standing in the vault.

A couple of meters away from him, Julius was on his knees, staring down at his hands as if he had committed a terrible crime.

Talia and her avatar stood over him, its giant sword held only inches from his neck, but she had stayed from killing the man. And a couple of meters back was Zero, lips curled back to expose deadly fangs as it growled furiously at the man.

But Julius was not fearing for his life. He was mourning his actions.

“Julius, are you here with us now?” Aaron said, taking a step toward the broken man.

“I… I am… And I’m so terribly sorry. What have I done? What did I invite into our home?”

NEXT CHAPTER

Book 3: Chapter 18

Aaron had no idea what this guy's deal was, but he was almost certain he was no god of shadows. Firstly, why was he here? If gods could interact so easily with their world through the barrier, then surely Yendal would have told him so. Or Lenriel, for that matter, who was granting Pentival power as his proxy. Why go to all that effort if they could just appear like this and directly interact with their universe?

Also, he had felt gods come to him, and he had felt the void. This just all felt so wrong. 

“Julius?” Talia said, as if waiting for an explanation.

“I was just getting to that,” Julius said, but was cut off before he could continue.

“So, you’re supposed to be a god? Do I have that right?” Aaron said.

“What are you getting at, mortal? I warn you to watch your tone.”

“It’s just… You don’t look like any of the gods I met. You don’t feel like them either. Your aura… It’s weird, but it doesn’t feel particularly divine to me, and I’ve been to a divine realm, so I feel like I would know. Also, what’s with the void energy?”

“I’m not on your world, mortal! This is why you can’t feel the real power of my aura! You fool! This is the reason for my contract with young Julius here. He is to serve me souls, and in return, I shall protect you and your people once I am free of this place. Don’t test me with your innocent drivel!”

But it wasn’t just drivel. Aaron could feel the false god trying to weasel its way into his mind, and thankfully, he had prepared himself for such a thing, strengthening his mental resistance. He was also aether running through him, leaning into his spiritual powers to increase his resistance and make his mind more difficult to conquer.

He glanced over at Talia. She seemed less certain, but in control of herself.

What are you trying at, you conniving false god?

Aaron turned to Julius, waiting for his side of the story.

“That is correct. But do not be alarmed. I would never harm a person. I feed only beasts to the Shadow God. And in return, we shall survive this multiverse.”

“Beasts? As in living ones?”

“Unfortunately, yes. They must be caught alive and brought down here; else, their souls will leave their bodies, and they will be of no use to Maverick. But it is a small price to pay for our protection by a divine entity. I’m sure you can understand this.”

Aaron couldn’t understand it, well, mostly because he didn’t believe that this was a god. Also, capturing and bringing living beasts down here didn’t sound like an easy job.

However, whatever this Maverick was, it was powerful, even if it was lying about being a god.

Then why? Why does this thing go to all the effort of tricking Julius into feeding it living beasts?

Aaron didn’t really understand. Maybe its body wasn’t presently in the room with them, but he could feel the density of its power, and while void energy wasn’t divine, it was incredibly powerful, and he had little doubt it was stronger than anything from Earth.

“Yeah, I don’t buy that,” Aaron said after considering his words. “You’re no god. I’ve met too many at this point to have the wool pulled over my eyes so easily. Now, tell me what you really are, and what you’re doing here.”

“Julius?! Your friend here dares to make demands of me? Maverick the God of Shadows?! What insolence is this?!”

Talia stepped back, her body tensing up as she summoned her avatar.

“Sorry, my lord! Aaron, please. Apologize immediately! This is a god you stand in the presence of! You can’t speak to it like that!”

“Bah. No, he isn’t. I’m guessing you didn’t get a blessing in your short time spent in the trials; otherwise, you’d have realized the same. This is a pretender through and through.”

“Annoying little brat.” Maverick spat, his mood suddenly changing. “I suppose I’ll have to dispose of you myself. Pity, you could have been useful.”

Suddenly, Julius’ eyes went completely black, and the dark, dense energy flowing out of the void at the room’s end filled him with an incredible power.

Muscles tensed across the man, and his veins filled black, making him look as if black lines were marked across his skin.

“It is unfortunate we are unable to work together, Aaron Dober,” Julius said, his voice suddenly guttural and monstrous.

“Oh, great,” Aaron sighed. “Are we really doing this here? Talia, you know the drill.”

Talia nodded, ready.

But there was no answer from the distorting form of Julius; instead, a thick, dark cloud of energy began to flow out of him, and that told Aaron all he needed to know.

As the void energy coalesced, tendrils of dark energy stretched out from the man, and a cackling laugh grew louder as he tilted his head back.

“Not a god? AHAHA! What do you know of gods, infant!”

“Aaron!” Talia beckoned urgently.

“I’m fine,” he called back, already reading fate and coming up with an attack plan. “We got a little fighting to do, that’s all.”

Delving into fate, he could see how this thing lashed out, counting him as he attacked, and Aaron studied several different methods of attacking it before settling on one.

Rushing forward, he dodged the dark tendrils of energy and threw fists. But it was far more than just an attack that he was throwing out there. As he engaged Julius, he sent his own energy rippling out. He had a plan, and now wasn’t the time to play it safe.

Julius himself wasn’t particularly strong, but he had a feeling that Maverick could push his body far beyond its normal limits, especially while it was right next to the concentration of void energy. But luckily for him, Zero had attuned himself mightily well to Aaron already, and when he pushed his energy up to its limits, he was sure to alert the wolf.

With energy filling his fists, his attacks came fast and hard, and he dodged expertly, closing the range, but when his punches landed, it was as if they didn’t hit a solid surface, like something was cushioning Julius, and absorbing the impact.

Following up his own attacks almost immediately was Talia. She wasn’t far behind, and energy wrapped around the sword of her avatar as it mimicked her movements, and she swung her scepter at Julius. The massive sword came down, but it was stopped short of her target by tendrils of black void energy that shot out at it from all around.

Her attack might have been stopped, but it was revealing. He might have been willing to take Aaron’s normal punches, but Maverick didn’t want to be hit by that, and seeing it, Aaron followed up with a [ Soul Shattering Strike ]. However, he didn’t manage to reach the possessed man.

He had been fighting carefully, following the threads of fate, and trying to get good reads before completely committing himself to a strategy. But he hadn’t seen what happened when he tried to use [ Spectral Rush ] through one of the tendrils. And what he found was that the void energy slammed straight into him, even in his incorporeal state, and it flung him back against the vault wall, like a shadowy octopus swatting a fly.

“Now you see, don’t you? Now you see what I have become. I’m no longer a simple prisoner. And to think, this is only the beginning. Now die!” Maverick roared, his guttural voice sounding more twisted than ever as it came from Julius.

In an instant, a cloud of black energy came over the possessed form of Julius, and he flew forward, Aaron with incredible speed.

But a flash of silver light intercepted him on his path, clashing with Julius and sending the consuming dark in retreat as it knocked him away.

Then, in the blink of an eye, the silver light flashed away, and Zero was beside Aaron, howling.

“Good boy. But the two of you,” Aaron said as he got to his feet. “You'd better stand back. Hit him from afar whenever you get a chance. But let me tank the shots.”

Fueling himself with a burst of adipose energy, he threw everything into his attack, increasing speed and power all at once as he flew toward Julius. He was sick of this intruder, and he was about to make it pay.

Even if his incorporeal state didn’t work against the void attacks, he could still dodge, and he closed the distance, weaving through countless tendrils of void energy to land an earth-shattering combination that started with his soul-crushing special attack and ended with too many strikes to count.

The dizzying array of attacks was devastating. The link between Julius and the void was temporarily broken as he beat down his energy organs and reserves, and for the briefest of moments, he saw the color return to the man's eyes.

Another powerful strike sent him flying backward, but before Julius hit the far wall, he exploded in a burst of black smoke, and then, less than a second later, he appeared at the other side of the void energy concentration, laughing.

“AHAH! Good one! But it’ll take far more than that to stop me!”

It was at that moment that Aaron remembered something. The void energy was what constructed the trials, and if void energy could be twisted into resurrecting people within the trials, could it be used in a similar fashion outside of them?

He hadn’t more than a second to stew on the thought, as Zero was already on the attack, shooting a beam of silver energy at the reformed Julius, but a burst of void energy countered it and consumed the attack entirely. But just as it did, a blinding light came down upon him. It was Talia’s avatar; the massive sword it wielded cut straight through Julius, splitting him in two.

His face went blank, and the two halves of Julius fell to the ground, but before hitting it, they exploded in black smoke again, and less than a second later, he reappeared.

Aaron was on him, though, not wanting to give him a chance to recover,  and he laid down a vicious combination of punches and [ Soul Shattering Strike ], crushing the man’s newly formed body before he could even mount an offense or defense.

But again, as a final blow crushed what little life he had left, his body exploded in smoke again.

In a second, he reappeared just in time for Zero’s maw to clamp around his head, and yank it straight off.

A second later, a sword strike impaled him, and after that, a haymaker blew apart his head.

Remembering the color he saw in Julius’ eyes, he went after him with renewed vigor, using [ Soul Shattering Strike ] several times in a row, opening to bash Maverick straight out of him. But unlike the first time, the dark void never left his eyes, and Maverick respawned his body, laughing louder and more mockingly than ever before.

It wasn’t just his failed plan that made his nostrils flare with irritation. Aaron was starting to understand what it must feel like to fight against himself, and it was thoroughly annoying.

Within a few minutes, they had killed Julius more than a dozen times, and there seemed to be no limit to his resurrecting power.

But then Aaron remembered the void well he had conquered back with Oozagh, and he stared into the dense pocket of void energy at the room’s far end.

Void tarnished? He remembered Oozagh saying something like that, and he had survived such an encounter once already.

What he was thinking was beyond stupid and reckless, but they couldn't just keep hacking Julius down forever, could they? And what would happen to this energy if he did what he did back in the cave with Oozagh? Could he purify it by pouring his energy into it as he had back then? The void energy didn’t feel any stronger than it had then, and if anything, it was weaker, but back then, it still took multiple days for him to finish. Then again, he was more powerful now, too. And it didn’t look like the three of them were going to be able to hold this being off for too long while his source of power remained intact.

“Talia, Zero!”

“What is it?” Talia said as she hacked Julius down again.

“Keep doing what you’re doing. I’ll be back in a minute.”

He had a feeling she would protest if he told her his plans, and so he kept them for himself, but her eyes followed him as he walked toward the void.

“What are you doing, Aaron!?”

NEXT CHAPTER

Book 3: Chapter 17

Deep within the lower levels below the casino, he sensed it. A spot of pure darkness and immense density. It was otherworldly, and as Aaron sensed the incredible object, a chill ran down his spine.

But the strangeness of whatever it was only scratched the surface of his growing concern. But the odd energy was somewhat familiar, like he had felt it before. It was a dark, dense, and consuming energy. It seemed to drag energy around it, fueling it further. And it was deep within the Bellagio.

Ah, fuck. This isn’t good, is it?

He didn’t know what this dense source of energy was supposed to be, or why it made him feel so cold and uncomfortable, but it had to be linked to Julius. Not just because it was in the casino, but because through his [ Soul Vortex ] Skill, he sensed the man all over the room it was held within.

Better go check this thing out.

With a thought, he glided down, passing through the floors as he sank down toward the secret vault beneath the casino.

It was handy being a spirit, and he effortlessly passed straight through impossibly thick steel that the casino used to guard its hidden treasures.

He landed in the vault and saw his goal at the far end of it. A dense, all-consuming darkness that sucked in both light and energy. Even his shadow began to flicker as he stepped toward it, and he halted, unsure if it could harm him.

But it was more than even that. He could feel the darkness pulling at him. Beckoning him toward it, even in his spirit form, it reached out to him.

“Who goes there?” A deep and guttural voice came from the void. “You, you are not Julius… Intriguing. Come, step closer. Speak with me, mortal. Show your face. Reveal yourself.”

The voice was commanding, worming its way into him, and trying to dig its way into his mind. Aaron had felt something like this before. This was some kind of mind power, and an incredibly powerful one at that. After all, the fact that it was even trying to press its will upon a bodiless spirit was remarkable.

However, he doubted it could succeed. Either way, it was intimidating that it even tried, and Aaron backstepped.

And as he focused his senses on it, he realized he knew what it was. This energy was the void. He had felt it during his trial with Oozagh. It was undeniable.

He was limited in what he could do as a spirit, and flicking gave him cause for concern. Now wasn’t the time to confront this thing, and he doubted he’d get straight answers from it. Not only that, but it worried him that it could sense him in his spirit form, meaning it could be dangerous, and he had little to defend himself with.

Having found what he was looking for, he decided to back out of the room and head back.

There was still a problem, though. He didn’t know exactly why void energy with some kind of being within it was below the casino. It was definitely ominous and very much alive and aware. It was hard to imagine that it was anything good, but still, he knew he was going to have to confront Julius about it. 

He had a very bad feeling about what he had found, but he didn’t yet know enough to condemn Julius. 

Aaron made his way back to camp and got ready for the evening. Zero hadn’t been invited, but he decided to bring his companion along anyway. He didn’t know what would happen when he confronted Julius, and figured he might as well bring along some insurance, since he had it anyway.

After all, it was one thing to attack him alone, and another entirely to attack both of them. And while he doubted he’d have any trouble besting Julius, he had no idea how many of his people would be around, and what tricks they might have up their sleeves.

After seeing both Marko and the beaver make use of trap Skills, it made him wonder what other kinds of Skills might exist out there, and he didn’t want to take the possibilities lightly.

But as they neared the casino entrance, Aaron’s brow rose. The guards standing outside were dressed in tuxedos, a far cry from what they had been wearing earlier in the day.

“Nice suits.”

“Yes, they are,” one of the guards nodded. “Julius wanted to show you just what we’re capable of. We’ve got fine tailors among us and much more.”

“Hear that, Zero? We can get ourselves a tux.”

Zero howled.

“Right this way, sir,” the guard continued, beckoning Aaron inside. “Julius is waiting for you in a private lounge.”

The guards led him back through the foyer and to the private lounge. It wasn’t just the guards that were dressed up, either. The regular folk who had been milling about earlier had been cleared out, and it seemed only Julius’ direct reports were around, and they were all dressed for the occasion.

The women, including servers, were dressed in sparkling, revealing dresses, and all the men in tuxedos. There was no attempt at equality here, although it was an impressive display. Tailors could no doubt be used for more important things, like crafting gear, so having them work on pretty clothing to impress a guest sure was a power move, Aaron thought.

Passing through into the private room, he was settled down at a massive oval table with Julius and a few of his senior people, one of whom was Carlos. Zero had been led to an adjoining room and was enjoying a massive bone.

Aaron was fine with this. It was only one room over, and he had really only brought the wolf as a backup plan, and doubted he would actually need any support anyway.

“I’m glad you came,” Julius smiled. “Carlos has told me all about your mission. Dangerous stuff from the sounds of it. And it seems I owe you for saving one of my crews. You will be paid in System Credits for this, mark my word. Keeping this place safe would have been made far more difficult without them. So, you have my eternal gratitude for that.”

“No worries, mate. Happy to do so.”

Julius smiled.

“Well, let’s get to business then.”

Aaron wanted to start yapping about the void energy he had seen, but he restrained himself. He decided it might be best to hear Julius’ proposal before he started to press the man for answers.

“Look,” Julius said, strumming the table with his thick fingers and sighing. “You and Talia are no doubt powerful. Likely the two most powerful people in this entire camp. High in the rankings, too. It’s incredible, really. We could be a true powerhouse with the likes of you two backing us up. But that isn’t what this is about, is it? It’s about leadership. And that’s why I ask. Why do you need leadership? Why make Talia the leader? It seems so… irrational.”

Aaron nodded to the side. Julius had a point, but obviously, there was more to the decision.

“I know, I know. But think about it. Myself, I have a Leader Class and a management Profession. I even have a special Skill that allowed me to form a Guild. All of my people are in this Guild, and I can empower them, and their achievements help me get stronger. It’s a mutually beneficial agreement.

“I might not be a combatant that can go toe-to-toe with either you or Talia, but I’m growing more powerful by the day as the leader of this Guild, and every single one of my abilities is geared toward raising a group. My Skills are becoming more refined, and I’m growing more and more into this role, allowing me to make everyone else stronger, too. This isn’t just a power play. I’m the perfect person for this role. And if you, Talia, and her people were to join, then I would grow even stronger through my Guild, and in turn, the entire settlement would be stronger. And in doing so, we as a collective would grow stronger.

“If I weren’t in that role, though, the whole settlement would lose that. I’m really not trying to blackmail anyone or threaten, but it’s just an objective fact. My Skills only affect those who view me as their leader, and even if I have a leadership position under you or Talia, it will be drastically weaker than if I was myself in charge of the settlement myself.”

Aaron nodded. What he said made sense. If Julius was trustworthy, then he was undoubtedly the perfect candidate. He had seen what a proper Leader Class could do in the Viewing Room. He himself didn’t really want to rely on it for his own path, but for a settlement of people with no ambitions of godhood, full of people who just wanted to live peacefully, a powerful Leader Class would make them much safer than anything else.

However, his skills weren’t really what Aaron was caught up on. He didn’t need to be convinced that a Leader Class would be good at leading a settlement. What he needed to be convinced of was that Julius wouldn’t lead them somewhere they didn’t want to go. And to know that, he would need to figure out what that thing in the basement was.

“That is interesting,” Aaron said. “I can’t deny that having a Leader as the leader makes sense.”

“Good, I’m glad we can agree on at least that much.”

The doors swung open, and servers rushed in with steaks, appetizers, and wines, bending low in their revealing clothing as they placed the food down before them.

There were several women, and one very buff, Mr. Universe-looking guy amongst them, all with a lot of skin revealed.

Aaron coughed and reddened a little as the server leaned too far over him to serve his food.

“Do you like them?” Julius bounced his brows. “You can have yourself a servant, if you like. I can make many things happen around here.”

“No, I’m fine,” Aaron said. “No need for servants. I’m good.”

“Well, if you change your mind, just let me know.”

“I’m good. Anyway,” Aaron said, but paused and waited for the servers to leave, but the big, shiny man's glistening oiled muscles stopped and gave him a wink before leaving.

“Oh, is it Andreas that takes your fancy? You can have him too, if you like.”

“No! Andreas definitely doesn’t appeal. That’s not my thing. And I don’t need any servants, men or women. I’m good. I swear.”

“Hmm, fine. I won’t push the matter.”

“Anyway,” Aaron cleared his throat. “As I was saying. There’s a matter,” he stopped and glanced across at Carlos and the other two before continuing.

“Anything you can say to me can be said in front of them,” Julius said, giving him the all clear to speak.

“If you say so. You see, the thing is, I found something. Something below the building. Something kind of odd. And dark.”

Aaron’s eyes caught Julius’, and a sudden rush of realization, the man’s eyes widened.

“Carlos, Rachel, and Lars, please, see yourselves out. I wish to speak with Aaron privately.”

The three of them nodded and took their leave.

Waiting until they were in complete privacy, Julius continued, face hardening. “What exactly did you see, Aaron Dober?”

“That’s the thing, I don’t exactly know what I saw. But I know that dense energy. It’s incredibly powerful. I’ve felt it before. Void energy. Very strange to find such a thing under the casino, stranger still that it spoke to me. So yeah, that makes me curious.”

“I see. So, you snuck down into my private quarters and intruded without my permission?’

“Pretty much,” Aaron shrugged. He wasn’t about to apologize, considering the circumstances of their situation. If Julius wanted them to join him, he was going to need to start being honest.

“Fine,” Julius sighed and collected himself. “I suppose I can’t hide it from you any longer. Come, walk with me. You must understand what is going on. Why I do what I do.”

“Wait,” Aaron raised a hand. “This is really between you and Talia. She needs to come too. This is important. I can mediate, but I can’t make decisions on her behalf. And I won’t keep something like this from her.”

It wasn’t just about diplomacy, though. He might be the stronger of the two, but Talia was no pushover. And going down into that lair with the void energy alone seemed rather reckless. And Julius was probably more likely to let him bring Talia, rather than Zero, who had no reason to be down there.

Julius nodded, a look of defeat in his eyes. He didn’t appear to have sinister intentions, but he also clearly didn’t want it to come to this.

“Fine. I suppose there’s nothing to be done about it now. You may gather Talia. I will be waiting for your return.”

Aaron quickly gathered Talia and shared his last two servings of Heavenly Bog Infused Bánh mì with her. He had felt the intrusive nature of the thing below them and knew they needed to increase their mental defenses before heading down there.

Returning with Talia in tow, Julius led them down to an elevator that took them to a secret floor, where the vault was. They passed through several impossibly thick steel blast doors before finally reaching the vault proper.

“This world… this multiverse we find ourselves in. It is so full of danger, you understand that, right?”

“Better than most,” Aaron said.

“Yeah, we’re both aware,” Talia said.

“Good. So, you can understand that measures must be taken to survive it all. After all, what we are experiencing now is but our first baby step. So much more is to come, and soon, our world will find itself against foes of incredible power. Foes we can’t hope to beat, not even you.”

Aaron had heard this spiel before. It sounded exactly like something Lenriel would say. And it wasn’t wrong. How on earth could anyone on their world stand up to a god, or even somebody close to godhood?

Such a feat would be impossible. At least for a very long time, and they didn’t have a very long time.

However, this was different. Whatever it was that Aaron had seen down in the vault, it wasn’t a god. Or at least he didn’t think it was. The void was powerful, from his understanding, but it wasn’t divine.

“And so, sometimes we make deals. Deals meant to help us through these difficult and uncertain times.”

“It troubles me that you make deals alone,” Talia admitted.

Aaron just nodded, waiting for him to get to the point. But he just rambled until they walked up to the dense darkness filling the far end of the vault.

“Ahh… What is it that you have brought me, Julius? I know this one. This is the one I sensed earlier, is it not? And the other one… is she for me?”

“What is this thing?’ Talia hissed.

Julius glanced over at Aaron, ignoring Talia.

“Yeah, I suppose I am," Aaron said, confirming Maverick's suspicion that it had been him to enter the room in spirit form.

“Welcome then. Let me introduce myself properly. I am Maverick. God of Shadows. Has Julius filled you in on our little agreement?”

NEXT CHAPTER

Book 3: Chapter 16

Aaron had no time; Carlos had already disappeared beneath the water, and he doubted he could handle the beaver alone. Immediately, he activated [ Spectral Rush ], sending himself shooting after them. He didn’t like the idea of fighting it underwater, but he couldn’t just leave Carlos to die.

Crashing through the surface, his eyes widened. It had only been a couple of seconds, and already the water was filled with a mist of blood, and Carlos’ twisted body was swirling around uncontrolled.

Whirlpools had formed beneath the surface, some kind of Skill of the beaver’s. and one of them dragged the armored man into it, and sent him swirling out of control, which the beaver used to land additional attacks with its claws. He was trapped and unable to do anything in his hopeless situation.

Anyone else would have already been dead, but the man’s armored shell was extending his life, and the torture he was being exposed to.

Immediately, Aaron interjected in the fight. And he was surprised by the pull of the whirlpools. They were not normal. At this level, he would have easily been able to swim out of any normal whirlpool, no matter its size. But these were fueled with mana, no doubt, and the pull they had was incredible. In fact, he had to be careful to steer clear of them, or he’d be slowed too much to keep up with the beaver. Which only added to his disadvantages, as the beaver was clearly better suited to fighting underwater than he was.

But this was Aaron Dober. And he had bested harder foes than this. Sure, it had some neat tricks, but it was no Mo’han, or even the simian reaver, and he chased it down with the same dogged determination that he did everything.

Chasing after the beast, he slammed into it with another combo and [ Soul Shattering Strike ], fighting it with little concern for himself, and landed several devastating blows. But he was exchanging strikes with it, unable to take his time, else Carlos was sure to die.

However, despite the less-than-perfect conditions for the fight, there was a benefit to fighting underwater. There was no one to see him die down here but Carlos, and Carlos wasn’t in a state to take notes. And over his next few exchanges with the beaver, that was exactly what happened.

The first clash ended with Aaron landing clean, but he had half his body torn off. The second, he made it hiss in anger as he lowered its defenses and crushed bones and burst blood with a well-placed haymaker, for that, he had a claw stab through his heart.

A rush of energy sent his incorporeal form rushing behind it, taking the beast’s flank, and they clashed a third time, by which point the beaver seemed utterly angered, frustrated, and confused.

Razor-like claws took a limb from him, and in exchange, it ate another  [ Soul Shattering Strike ], and with it, he felt the last pillars of the beast’s energy organs and reserves shatter.

It was open, and Aaron was ready to end things, but another sea mine of timber shrapnel peppered him as he closed the distance, but he still had the aether reverses to resurrect once more, and he gritted his teeth as ignored the very real danger to his own life, and went after it with a flurry of powerful blows that crashed against the energy starved beaver.

The beast was strong, but it was out of tricks, and Aaron pulled in the last of his adipose reserves as he pounded into its furry flesh, one strike after another, blasting Skills into its unguarded form, once, twice, and again, snapping and breaking things beneath his furious fists. Blood soaked through the water as he unleashed endless fury and felt its squirm helplessly against his rampage.

An apex predator and ruler of its territory, the beaver had never experienced anything like this. First, its morale was utterly crushed, and then its body was broken down until it was nothing but a bloody pulp, and then it was mercilessly finished.

You killed: Steeltooth Builder [ Level 109 ]

Bonus Experience rewarded for killing beasts of a higher level than yourself!

[ Empty-Handed Energy Monk ] has LEVELED UP!

53 → 58

Panting, Aaron smiled. During the battle, he had almost felt that he was back in the trials with the way he was dying, but seeing his level jump by five in one go reminded him where he was. He wasn’t constrained by them anymore. He could level up as he pleased.

Grabbing hold of the beaver’s fur, he swam back to the surface, bringing the corpse along with him.

What he found when he resurfaced was… nothing. He pulled the corpse up, threw it onto the dam, and looked around.

“Where’d they all go?”

Several seconds later, Yuki appeared from the sky. The embarrassment on her face was impossible to hide, and she fell to the ground, bowing.

“Sorry. Sorry, Aaron!”

Only seconds later, Carlos appeared. He was healing, but still in terrible shape, bleeding all over the place with limbs twisted in the wrong direction. It was clear he had only just survived.

“Fuck. You actually did it.”

He glanced over at Yuki, then walked over and patted her on the shoulder with his only good hand, and she rose.

“Forgive her. This was all my idea. I thought the mission was a failure. I called the retreat the moment I resurfaced. I’m sorry. Truly. That thing nearly killed me in seconds. I didn’t think we had a chance. Or you, for that matter. I owe you… again.”

Annie and Boris appeared a moment later, and all of them were still in terrible shape, even with Annie’s healing. But they were getting better by the second. 

It was close, wasn’t it?

Aaron just sighed. He didn’t blame them. It was his fight to win anyway, and he was just glad there were no deaths.

“It’s fine. However, you mentioned owing me?”

Carlos nodded apprehensively. “I did. And I meant it.”

“Good. Because I do have a few questions you could answer, if you’d like to make up that debt,” he said, smiling.

Carlos looked nervous, glancing back at his broken party. “I…. I suppose we owe you that much. I’ll answer your questions as best I can.”

“Great. And one more thing. I get to keep the corpse.”

Carlos looked down at the beaver and nodded. “That seems only far.”

“Nice. We make a good team,” Aaron patted him on the shoulder. “Now, to those questions.”

The group settled down around a temporary camp as Aaron asked his questions. They were still healing, and it was nice to sit around on logs and take the load off their legs while Yuki made a fire.

First, Carlos went, and Aaron sat and nodded as he listened to the man’s spiel on Julius, and before long, was groaning and rubbing at his temples.

“Something wrong?” Carlos asked.

“Yeah, you could say that. You say he is odd, but you can’t give any details? What do you mean, odd? I need something to work with, Carlos. You can’t just go dropping bombs like that without any details.”

“Well, he is,” Carlos shrugged. “Why is this all on me? Someone else, say something. You all know what I mean.”

Annie nodded, her hands glowing as she continued to heal while they sat. “He’s not wrong. I don’t really know why, but Julius has always given me a weird feeling. Looked at me strangely, you know?”

“Looked at you strangely?” Aaron raised a brow. “Look, the man is creepy, I know that. But that isn’t enough. I need to know if he is a genuinely good leader. If I can put my trust in him.”

“I know what you mean,” Boris grunted. “He can lead. That much is for certain. But what I always found weird was the disappearing. Bad excuses, too. I stopped asking where he was a while back because of those answers. Figured a man is entitled to a few secrets, but if I were being entirely honest, there was always something about it I found uncomfortable about how he went about it.”

“Disappears?” Aaron’s eyes lit up as he had finally gotten his smoking gun.

“That’s right!” Carlos nodded. “I almost forgot I got so used to it. Every now and again, he just disappears. Sometimes only for a few hours, but every now and again, he is gone for a full day. Can’t help you with any more than that, though. Nobody ever knows where he goes. It’s a mystery we all just came to accept back in the Tutorial.”

“I see.”

Scratching his chin, Aaron realized that he had little choice but to go investigating and figure out what and where Julius went. A decision on what to do about leadership couldn’t be made until they knew exactly where he wandered off to and what he was doing.

“Well, I’m obviously going to have to investigate this.”

“That’s fine,” Carlos said. “I’ve always wanted to know where he went anyway. I won’t stand in your way. I agreed to fight for everyone in our Tutorial. Julius just happens to be our leader.”

“Agree,” Boris said. “Julius is the boss, but we’re not mindless lap dogs.”

“Good. It’s for the best anyway. If there’s nothing to be concerned about, then I’ll probably have to agree to Julius being the leader anyway. And we can all move on from this dispute.”

The moment Aaron said what he said, he got a bad feeling. Julius understood the situation they were in as well as anybody. If he chose to hide something anyway, despite needing to earn their trust, then there was likely a good reason.

He looked up to the sun, which was midway through the sky. He pulled out and checked his pocket watch and confirmed the time. He needed to get moving if he wanted to investigate whatever Julius’ secret was before dinner. 

It’s probably best that I find out what he’s hiding first. Then I’ll know how to properly react to whatever he proposes at dinner.

Aaron got up and grabbed the corpse. “Thanks for this. Consider our debt paid. And Yuki. If you ever need someone to talk to, seek me out. I’ll be around from time to time.”

“Thanks, Aaron!” She smiled and waved. “I’ll do that.”

Getting back to camp was a bit of a pain. One of the drawbacks of his travel Skill was that the incorporeal nature of it only extended to him and his gear, meaning he couldn’t pull the massive corpse and use it at the same time. And the corpse was too big for the scabbard.

The moment he got back to base, he dropped off the corpse with Marko and Zach, who were elated at its sight.

“Whoa!” Aaron said as Zero raced around a corner and lunged at him, wrapping its big paws around him and tackling him, almost knocking him off his feet, and licking everywhere it got a chance. 

He took some meat from his scabbard and fed him. “There you go. Good boy.”

It seemed his short time away was already too much for Zero, and the wolf was eager for his company.

“I got one last thing to do. It shouldn’t take too long. But after I get done with this, we can go hunting together, okay?”

Zero nodded and rubbed himself against Aaron’s hand, and licked. 

“Good. Look after these two for me. Make sure they don’t get into trouble, okay?”

Zero nodded and then prowled around Mark and Zach, which immediately put both of them on edge and raised a wry smile from Aaron.

“Good enough,” he chuckled to himself. “Is there a tent around here I can use?”

“Y-yeah,” Zach swallowed as Zero’s tail whipped against his chest. “Just in there.”

“Perfect,” Aaron said, rubbing his hands together as he entered the tent and sat down cross-legged.

It was time to expose some secrets, and he activated [ Spectral Projection ], leaving his body behind and stepping out into the tent city.

Zero was more intuitive than he had first realized, and the wolf’s head shot up, and it sniffed the air, and its ears twitched as he strolled past in spirit form. It seemed not to be able to see him, but it certainly sensed something was around.

However, as he walked through the alleys, it was immediately obvious that the rest of the people he passed on his way to the casino were not like Zero and were completely oblivious to his presence.

He passed by the outer defenses still being constructed and straight through the building's wall without issue, and wandered down its halls.

However, there was still one question remaining. He had yet to test the next part of his plan, and wasn’t entirely sure it would work.

Well, here goes nothing.

Closing his eyes, he drew on the aether around him. He couldn’t expend too much, or risk losing his connection, and it was a delicate balance to maintain, but he was determined to do so. 

With full concentration, he activated [ Soul Vortex ] and gasped.

“What the hell is that?” He murmured as his identification field washed across the Bellagio, and the hidden vault beneath was revealed to him. But it was what was held inside that locked his attention.

NEXT CHAPTER

Book 3: Chapter 15

Aaron flew beside Yuki, who used some kind of Skill that made it look like a bridge of energy was materializing beneath her feet, letting her run through the air.

“Really, Fukuoka, you say? It rings a bell, but I couldn’t place it on a map.”

“And you? Where are you from?”

He had decided to make small talk as they flew toward their target. He figured that if he wanted Julius’ people to open up, he would need to get to know them first.

“Oh, me? A little town on the Central Coast of Australia. You wouldn’t have heard of it. But I haven’t been back there since. Well, since long before all of this.”

“It’s sad,” Yuki said, looking a little glum. Beneath them, the other three members of her party sped with the use of land-based movement Skills, and she looked down at them sorrowfully. “We’ll never see our homes again. It’s all gone.”

Aaron’s reaction wasn’t intentional, but he was distracted by the sudden mood shift of their conversation by the sight of a massive wooden structure in the distance.

“Hey, Yuki! Look, there it is. And it’s fucking massive,” Aaron said, almost shaking his head as he admired the sprawling mega structure.

The truth was, he had always thought beavers were kinda cool. The idea of them building giant dams was appealing. He had always thought there was something interesting about animals building things. And this? Well, it was on a completely different scale to anything seen in the pre-integration world.

The dam stretched on for hundreds of meters, and the rivers pouring into it had already begun to form a lake, which would without doubt grow larger and larger if something wasn’t done about it.

Okay, I get why they were worried. 

“Amazing,” Yuki gulped. “It built all of this?”

“You weren’t aware?”

“No,” she shook her head. “I wasn’t part of the scouting missions. And I can’t understand the others. Not well, anyway. I catch a word here or there, but it's hard.”

“I see.”

That admission was a little disappointing. Perhaps Yuki wouldn’t be the best insider. Still, she would have seen things, and so he didn’t give up on her. All the information he could gather on Julius and his people could help him make a decision, after all.

“So, first time fighting a D-grade?”

She nodded, uncertainty written on her face.

“No worries. We’re going to be fine. You're a ranged attacker, right?”

“I am, yes.”

“Well, just stay back. It’s not my first time, and I’ll be up front.”

She nodded to that too, and while it did seem to relax her a little, the stress wasn’t entirely gone, and Aaron realized he would have to get used to this at least until he had a higher level.

“Oh, and Yuki, I’ve been meaning to ask. Have you been with Julius’ group the entire time?”

“Ah, yeah? Pretty much.”

“Since the Tutorial?”

“Yes,” she nodded. “For most of it, anyway. I was always a bit of an outsider, but they’ve treated me well.”

Well, that’s good to hear.

“Great. Here’s the thing: if we get through this, would you mind answering me a couple of simple questions? I just want to get to know your people better. Nothing too special.”

Aaron tried to be careful with the words he picked. But he wanted to be up front about what he was asking. He didn’t want to trick her or worm the information out of her. That’s not the first impression he wanted to make, and if Julius was a good guy, he didn’t want to go making enemies of his people.

“Sure… I don’t see why not. But I’m not sure how much help I’ll be. There’s a lot that goes on that I don’t understand.”

“That’s fine. I expected as much. Now, let’s go kill ourselves a beaver, shall we?”

Yuki nodded, and the two of them glided down to where the rest of the group was. As they moved, Aaron already started eating from his pouch, growing bigger with every second, and he knew he had caught Yuki’s attention with his absurd Skill. But this was a D–grade, and he couldn’t let first impressions get between that and taking the fight seriously.

“Wow, that is something,” Carlos said, and cleared his throat as he eyed Aaron’s increasingly rotund form grow.

“Haha, maybe I changed my mind!” Boris laughed. “I like this one. What a Skill!”

Aaron smiled. “It’s useful, too.” Flexing seemed to make his adipose bulge further, and Annie, who looked like she could be used as his toothpick, forced a timid smile.

“So, are we ready, everyone?” Carlos said.

“One minute,” Aaron raised a finger, and then threw his shadow cloak over himself, earning a gasp from his new companions when he disappeared into the shadows.

They could no doubt sense him, as the item granted an imperfect invisibility, but all he wanted was for them not to see what he was about to do.

He needed to take the ring off. It wasn’t just because their target was a D-grade, but because there were others with him, and he didn’t want to risk their lives over his training methods. But he also didn’t want them to see him sever his own limb. Not yet, at least. Something like that needed time to explain.

A quick karate chop cut his arm straight off, and he threw the entire thing into his scabbard, and then forced a ridiculous amount of energy into his arm, regrowing it as fast as he could before returning from the shadows.

Within a short moment, he was back with the group, smiling like a child pretending he hadn’t just stolen a cookie from the cookie jar.

“Err, I would ask what you just did, but I already have so many questions,” Carlos groaned. “And we need to kill this beaver.”

“Great!” Aaron grinned. “Kill the beaver, and then let’s all sit down and have a chat, shall we?”

“Actually, I’m not sure. Maybe I don’t like him,” Boris scratched his chin as if genuinely confused. “He is odd.”

Carlos snapped his fingers like an impatient boss. “Focus, people. We can go over Aaron’s weirdness later. We have a job to do. Now, to the plan. I’ll be leading the charge. I will try to draw the beast out as best I can into an open area. Annie will be on heals as usual, backing me up. Boris, you’ll stay back and look for an opening. Don’t waste it. I don’t want you using one of your best attacks just to have it land on the beast’s defenses. Wait for a good opportunity, got it?”

“Yes,” Boris nodded.

“Yuki will do what she always does,” he glanced at her briefly. “Which is why it’s important we keep that thing out in the open. The faster we can land real damage, the faster it goes down. And you, he continued, turning to Aaron. “Just do whatever you do and stay out of our way, okay?”

“Ah, I guess so,” Aaron shrugged.

Carlos’ speech mightn’t have been the most polite way of saying it, but Aaron was used to doing his own thing anyway and was, quite frankly, glad not to be given instructions.

That said, the group did intrigue him. He was excited to see a party of fighters well-experienced working together, engaging a beast with a plan, and wondered how much stronger it would make them.

The group moved toward the dam. Clearing the swampy surroundings and circling around to the side to avoid the huge, growing lake.

But the beaver was nowhere in sight.

As they got closer, the group fanned out. Boris was the first to drop off, waiting back somewhere, ready to strike, as instructed by Carlos. While Annie followed Carlos several meters back.

Still, they got closer and closer to the dam, and there was still no sight of the beaver. He eyed Carlos, but the leader seemed unfazed, continuing to lead the march into enemy territory.

And soon, they were jumping up and onto the dam itself. They still couldn't see the beaver, and Aaron raised his [ Soul Vortex ] to get a better feel.

And the results were instant. He sensed a powerful aura beneath them. It had condensed itself and was hiding, but it couldn’t hide from his Skill, and it knew it.

“Shit! Watch out everyone!”

It all happened in an instant. The moment it knew that it had been detected, the beast hurtled toward them from below. He could already tell that it was massive, and it was moving fast.

For barely a second, the dam shook and rattled, and then the timber beneath their feet erupted into an explosion, sending giant splinters large enough to impale a man flying outward, and a huge, furry beast shooting out from the ground catastrophically.

But that wasn’t the worst of it. The beast was going straight for Annie, and she gasped, staggering backward and clutching at new wounds that the timber shards had opened across her body.

The beast was too fast, blinking toward her in a second, and it was clear that neither Carlos nor Boris was going to get there in time. Aaron activated [ Spectral Rush ], pouring energy into it to move as quickly as possible, and appeared between them in a flash, immediately following up with [ Equal and Opposite ] and cancelling the beaver’s attack just in time.

Before the beast even understood what had happened, he immediately followed up with his own devastating attacks, plunging himself down with a deadly flurry of strikes, crushing furry flesh beneath his fists.

Aaron hadn’t wanted to waste so much energy so soon into the fight, but it was the only way he was saving Annie. And the healer had already begun to back off, with a cooling green light enveloping her.

He clashed with the beaver, relentlessly punching into it as he activated Skills, and was met with a wall of wooden missiles that shot out from the beaver. Several of them landed, opening wounds, but he ignored them and continued his attack.

A haymaker hit the chin of the beast hard, and it sprayed blood as it was knocked back. It retreated several meters to snarl at him, and Aaron took the chance to inspect the beaver that was about the size of a two-story home.

Steeltooth Builder [ Level 109 ]

Titles: [ Construction Prodigy ] [ Giant Slayer ]

Aaron nodded at the notification. A level 109 was nothing to take lightly. But between its level and what he had felt so far, he already knew that it was nothing compared to the simian reaver. 

“Not bad, big fella. But I think this is going to hurt, for you,” Aaron cracked his knuckles.

Glancing over his shoulder, he confirmed Annie had gotten away, and her wounds were healing nicely, and less than a second later, Carlos appeared only a few meters away, seething at the beast with his shield held high.

“I owe you one,” he growled at Aaron, almost reluctantly, and then, without a second wasted, leaped across the ground. He seemed to shimmer into multiple versions of himself as he closed the distance and swung with his mace. But Aaron could tell that it wasn’t some kind of clone Skill like Voidrin, but a cheaper, weaker blurring Skill that seemed to increase his speed.

But before the short man could reach the beast, he seemed to step on some kind of landmine, and it exploded with timber shrapnel. Luckily, his armor and shield dampened the attack, but several of the nasty and incredibly strong spikes stabbed between the metal plates of his armor and were soon dripping blood.

Worse of all, the Steeltooth Builder didn’t wait. The moment the explosion happened, the beast pounced forward, but before it reached the wounded man, Boris came lunging out of nowhere, reaching the beaver in an instant and swinging down on his axe. A massive transparent wave of power extended from the axe and came down on the beaver. It hit hard, and a giant gash was opened across the beast’s back.

But instead of whimpering or fading. The massive beaver immediately turned to the barbarian, and the man’s eyes widened in terror.

In an instant, it was upon him, bearing down with razor-sharp claws and fangs. The power gap between them was simply too great for a direct confrontation, and Aaron knew he needed to get there quickly.

Speeding toward them as fast as he could, it took him barely a second to reach the battle, but barely a second was all the time the beaver needed to open a massive wound across the barbarian’s chest and sever two of his limbs. He would have died too, if not for Aaron interrupting a following slash with his [ Soul Shattering Strike ].

Not even a D-grade could brush off Aaron’s ultimate punch, and as his combination followed the opening strike, the beaver exploded in spikes again before fleeing back to its dam.

The spikes crashed into Boris, littering his already gravely wounded body, but Aaron had no time to help the man.

Yuki wasn’t just standing around, either. Purple blasts of energy were raining down as she ran through the air, blasting across the beaver’s fur coat.

Annie, who was circling around, had already started to heal Boris, leaving her partially healed wounds to finish the job on her own, and green light filled the near-dead man before he passed on.

Carlos, having recovered, chased after the beaver, but then suddenly, an explosion burst out from the dam near Annie, showering her unprotected body in spikes. The attack didn’t kill her, not yet at least, but several steel-strong wooden spikes protruded from her body, and she fell to her knees.

Damn those traps!

It seemed that taking a D-grade beast on in its own home was not a great idea, and Aaron banked that thought for later. But for now, he had little choice but to continue the fight.

The armored Carlos roared as he chased after the beaver, and Aaron got a very bad feeling as the beaver dived into the lake, and Carlos followed after. 

“Dammit, wait for me!”

NEXT CHAPTER

Posting announcement!

Hi everyone! I'm going to be dropping down to 5 chapters per week, so there won't be a weekend release anymore.

That said, Too Stubborn to Die will remain 40 chapters ahead of RoyalRoad, which I think is pretty decent.

Ultimately, though, as much as I love writing this story, I feel like I need more than 1 day of break from it per week. In the long run, I think this will be better for both me and the story, though especially since chapters feel like they're becoming longer on average.

Book 3: Chapter 14

Talia said her goodbyes. She needed to go and inform Julius that Aaron was taking her spot on the hunt. Meanwhile, Aaron chattered for a short while with Ryan before heading off himself to take a stroll about the little settlement. There were more people than he had expected, and soon, he spotted the small group he had seen when arriving. They were sitting around a fire, and it looked like one of the guards was explaining things to them.

Okay, can’t fault them on that.

All in all, the camp seemed pretty inviting. Although that made sense, he thought. Safety in numbers, and all that. After all, he might be the only one around who could take down a D-grade beast himself. Well, Talia probably could beat a weak one, and maybe Julius. But that didn’t matter with numbers like these. With so many people, they could like take out D-grades simply by overwhelming them. At least the weaker ones.

Taking it all in, he kept moving. He wanted to get a better feel of the camp and decide for himself what he thought about the place.

As he walked around, he realized that the defenses, which were a combination of some kind of system-built turret and walls, had some kind of pattern to them. They were built in rows and created paths that led toward the Bellagio, almost like they were designed to funnel attackers to the heart of the settlement.

That’s odd.

Then again, the paths built between the walls are also used by the people to get around. Still, he would have thought you just built a wall around the camp.

Jumping into the air, he used [ Spectral Rush ] to get an aerial view of the settlement. It didn’t take him long to spot something of interest, either.

Not far from the casino itself, he spotted a nice bit of open land stretched out for some distance. It was still close enough to the main camp, but still its own thing, and lay outside of the defenses.

Two streams ran down either side of the grassy land, and there were a few pleasant hills rolling through the mostly flat landscape, and a handful of trees dotting it.

Perfect. I think I might settle down right over there. Assuming everything works out.

He kind of wanted to immediately go and whack his System buildings down and get started on his camp. But he restrained himself. First, he had to deal with the beaver, and then figure out Talia and Julius’ dispute.

If Talia and Julius couldn’t agree on anything, and she ended up leaving, then so would he. Especially now that Ryan was also part of her group.

This little plot of land was nice, but not so nice that he would say goodbye to what might be his only living friends on this new world.

But he had to be careful how he approached the topic. He really didn’t want to fight other humans unless they were genuinely bad guys, like Darius. Far too many people had already died since the Integration, and he didn’t want to add to that unless it was necessary.

He scouted around the camp a little longer, spotting the furthest reaches of it and the small patrols that marched around it before going back. 

Before he met up for the hunt, it was time to figure out what had happened to his own entourage.

It didn’t take long, either. Aaron asked one of Julius’ men, and it seemed that word of him had spread, as their attitude was far more cordial. After just a couple of words, they led him straight to a small gathering of tents where his group had been fed and offered temporary lodgings.

The tents were set up for newcomers, as there was a constant stream of them pouring in, fleeing the beasts of the wilderness. But everyone was to build their own homes, or pay someone else to do it, if they wanted to stay.

“You’re back!” Marko said, bouncing up off a log he had been sitting on around a fire.

Zach, already standing nearby, nodded at him appreciatively, and then, appearing from a tent, Treg rushed over, looking gleeful as ever.

Huh, I didn’t realize Treg had taken such a liking to me.

“You’re back, thank goodness! I think something has gotten into your little friend. He is acting like the leader of my people!” Treg said.

“My little friend?”

As if on cue, a wolf carrying Sooty on its back came rounding a bend, passing through a narrow alley cutting between the tents, and heading in their direction. There were goblin girls on either side of it, chatting with Sooty.

“Ye can all be my wives. No need to fight. I’ll make sure ye are all looked after, I promise. I am basically Aaron’s treasurer, after all. You wouldn’t believe the things I carry for him in this spatial pouch.”

 “Sooty, what is this?”

“What!” Sooty jumped, eyes widened, and almost fell off the wolf’s back. “Ahh, it’s ahh… lemme explain!”

“What are you promising those goblins in my name?”

“Nothing, nothing at all, bossman! I swear it!”

“Nothing?” One of the goblin women said. “I dunno about that. He told me that you're going to build him a palace and we can live in it as his wives.”

“Sooty?”

“I’m… yeah, it’s taken out of context.”

“What context is there?”

“Well, you see–”

But before Sooty could lay out his defense, a cowled man appeared behind Aaron in a flash.

“Huh? Who are you?” Aaron said, turning to the stranger.

“That’s not important. I’m just one of Julius’ men. He sent me to call you. The party is ready and waiting.”

“Ohhh, for the beaver hunt?”

“Correct.”

“Dammit. Okay, Sooty, no more weird shit while I’m away. Just try to get along with everyone. And Terg, umm, I forgot to ask, what are your plans now?”

“My plans?” Treg said, glancing back at the other goblins. “We can’t go back out there, not into the wilderness. We’ll never survive. And the humans don’t trust us… We could… we could work for you,  I suppose. Assuming you’d have us, that is.”

“Work for me?”

Aaron didn’t know what details of that meant. He was a fighter, and they couldn’t hold their own against the things he fought. Even if they hit D-grade in the next couple of months, he doubted they’d ever be anything more than a dead weight, at least when he was off fighting stronger things.

But then he remembered all of the things he had collected for a settlement of his own. There was even soil, and he had always planned on setting up some kind of farm to replace the food he was collecting in the trials.

Hmm, I mean, they could be pretty useful if they’re okay working. 

“Okay, I have a few ideas. But let’s save it for later. We can go over them when I get back.”

“Thank you,” Treg bowed. “This would give my people a future.”

“No need for that. A handshake will do, mate.”

“Yes,” Treg grinned from ear to ear as he shook Aaron’s hand with both of his and shook it wildly. “Thank you, thank you!”

“What about you two?” Aaron continued, pulling his hand free and turning to Marko and Zach.

“I suppose we’ll restart our leatherworking business. Actually, I had an idea…”

“What is it? Spit it out.”

“Well, we might not be able to help much with the fighting. But if we could come along and get that beaver hide…”

“I see. Look, I’ll ask. But I’m not sure I can make demands like that just yet. That thing is probably valuable, and they probably want it.”

“Yes, sorry, I understand.”

“It’s cool. I don’t blame you for trying to get ahead. Just understand that I might not be able to do much on this one.”

“Yes, I understand,” Marko nodded. “Perhaps not this time. But if you are able to get us other hides… particularly strong hides, then we’d be willing to share a cut of the finished product with you. Hell, we could go into business together. Having your name on our shop would no doubt bring security as well.”

“Ahh.”

Aaron hummed as he thought about it. It wasn’t a bad idea. He didn’t know what else he would do with the hides besides sell them, and if he could get a bigger cut through them, then why not? Also, he was no doubt going to kill a decent number of the beast anyway. After all, once things were sorted out, he would be off once more, sharpening his edge and getting stronger, and they likely meant corpses.

“Yeah, I don’t see why not.”

The two shook on it, and Aaron followed the cowled man, who leaped into the air with Skill that sent him flying at a speed even faster than Aaron could travel. And within seconds, they had reached the group of hunters, with Aaron trailing a little behind.

Landing a few meters away, he scanned the area on the edge of the camp and inspected the hunters.

Boris Becker [ Level 72 ]

Titles: [ Monster Slayer ]

Planetary ranking: 55,892 of 5,127,244,732

Annie May [ Level 66 ]

Titles: [ Savior ]

Planetary ranking: 492,899 of 5,127,244,728

Carlos López [ Level 70 ]

Titles: [ Monster Slayer ]

Planetary ranking: 129,728 of 5,127,244,723

Fujimoto Yuki [ Level 74 ]

Titles: [ Giant Slayer ]

Planetary ranking: 47,898 of 5,127,244,721

There were four of them. And in order of the Inspection windows, they were as follows. The first was a guy who looked like a barbarian with a few pieces of leather armor and a bare chest, carrying a massive axe. Second, a thin girl, maybe twenty at most, who carried a silver staff and wore silken robes. Next was a tank of a man who barely stood an inch taller than five feet, was covered in thick, metal armor, and held a mace and a shield that was bigger than he was. And finally, there was a girl with a gun. But not just any old gun. It kind of looked like a shotgun and had magical runes all across it. She smiled at him when she caught Aaron mesmerised by the fascinating weapon.

The girl smiled back at him wordlessly and lifted the gun a little to make it easier to see.

“These are our hunters,” said the cowled man, interrupting Aaron’s staring. “Julius says his thanks. He said to tell you that it’s good you decided to help with this. Things are tight at the moment. And until the camp is better set up with defenses, he wants to keep as many strong people back to defend it as possible.”

“Makes sense,” Aaron said, turning to the cowled man.

“Enough chatter,” groaned Boris, the barbarian one. “Are we going to do some beast hunting or what? We’ve already been waiting longer than I would’ve liked.”

“Yeah. So, this is the one, is it?” Carlos said, glaring at Aaron.

The group, for the most part, seemed undecided about him, and the looks they were giving him said about as much. They no doubt understood how difficult it was to get a ranking as he had, and if these were Julius’ elites, they no doubt knew about the trials and what it took to succeed in them. And since Aaron had his Title on display and his ranking, they were a little apprehensive about dismissing him over his level alone.

But ultimately, there was still uneasiness. He was a stranger, and an odd one at that.

Maybe I should have brought Zero?

Aaron briefly toyed with the idea, but then decided it was probably for the best that he didn’t. If the beast was weak enough that these guys could handle it, he likely didn’t need help. And Zero might put them even more on edge.

“Well, if you wanna go, I’m good. Shall we head off?” Aaron said, limbering up.

“Can you keep pace? We don’t want anybody slowing us down, and we’re pretty fast,” Carlos said.

“He can keep pace,” the cowled man said. “I didn’t go easy on him.”

“Wait, you kept up with Tarj? Okay, I’m officially impressed,” said Annie.

“Bah, don’t be won over so easily, Annie!”

Aaron’s gaze filtered past the group talking and toward the only silent one. It was Yuki, the one with the magical-looking gun.

“She can’t speak a lick of English. But she follows our lead without issue,” Carlos said. “Can the same be said about you?”

Aaron ignored him and turned to Yuki.

“Hey, Yuki.”

Yuki suddenly straightened. “You Japanese?”

“I speak a little of everything. Perk of the trials.”

Her eyes lit up, and Aaron had a feeling she hadn’t had a conversation in a very long time.

Talia’s Tutorial were Australians, and Julius’ were Americans. And while that didn’t exclude Japanese people, they weren’t exactly a huge demographic of either country, and since the Tutorials were only a couple thousand people each, many of them had died, so it wasn’t too surprising there weren’t Japanese amongst them.

And while there were others in camp, they were randoms from all kinds of Tutorials, banding together, and it seemed the settlement had yet to form its own little Tokyo. 

“So, you don’t speak English. Were you on holiday or something?”

Yuki nodded.

“Oh, you’ll have to tell me all about it.”

She beamed, and words started to roll out as they headed out.

Aaron smiled back as they bounced into the air and flew toward their target. It was nice to give someone the opportunity to share their thoughts when it had been such a long time.

NEXT CHAPTER

Book 3: Chapter 13

“Aaron?” Ryan blinked. “Bloody fucking hell, mate. It is you!” 

The two walked straight toward one another and embraced in a hug, patting each other on the back as they separated.

“When Talia mentioned you, I couldn’t believe it. She spoke of this guy who kept dying in the trials. Same name and everything. Sounded just like you, but I couldn’t believe it was actually you. And now here you are. What are the bloody odds of that?”

“Not much, mate. Good to see you, though. After everything I’ve been through.”

“Tell me about it, mate.”

Standing awkwardly to the side of the reunion was Talia. Silently smiling.

“And good to see you, too!” Aaron said, turning to her and pulling her into a massive hug. “How’s it been?”

“Good,” she squeaked through his arms. 

Releasing her, Aaron stepped back and smiled. “It is bloody good to see you two. What a day!”

“Ahem,” Julius coughed.

“Oh, right. Your mate here has been filling me in on the situation.”

“Has he?” Talia said. 

“How about we take this somewhere private?” Julius said. “We can go over all the details together.”

Anatasia led everyone back to a private room. There was a big round table in the middle of it, and Julius, his closest people, Talia and hers, alongside Aaron, all took seats at it. 

Aaron felt a little weird about it all. He had just gotten here and was expected to mediate the feud. Diplomacy was not one of his skill sets, but he couldn’t really say “no.” Not until he heard Talia’s side, at least. 

As soon as everyone was seated, Julius launched into a long retelling of how the settlement had gotten to its current situation. Aaron didn’t really care for some of the details on how Julius led his people, but he did note that when he got to the part where they found the settlement, Talia didn’t dispute any of it. She didn’t interrupt him, at least, though he noticed that she didn’t seem too pleased with it either.

“And that’s where we are,” Julius said as he finished giving his spiel on the situation. “Differences aside, we have come far. That is why so many people are here. They come wandering, find this place, and decide to settle down. I hate to make this about myself, but most of the defenses and building have been as a result of my decisions. Talia and her people have helped, without a doubt. But the people rally around me. It only makes sense that I am to lead.”

“Is that true?” Aaron asked, turning to Talia.

**Talia**

She didn’t know how to immediately respond to Aaron. The way Julius had made his argument wasn’t necessarily dishonest, and she didn’t want to go throwing accusations around. Some of his descriptions of the events after discovering the obelisk weren’t exactly flattering to her and her people, but they weren’t wrong either. He didn’t go too far either. It reminded her a bit of corporate politics. Nothing he said was necessarily sinister, but it was clear that he wanted the leadership role and wasn’t willing to give it up to her. And unfortunately for her, he had gotten there first, and he had demonstrated himself to be a relatively competent leader, so he had a strong case in his favor.

But how could she just throw her trust behind him? There were several defenses going up, both shields and automated defenses bought through the System, and their two forces were already each other’s equals. If Julius wasn’t who he claimed to be, it would be too late, and the balance of power would be shifted in his favor. And there was something about him that rubbed her the wrong way, even beyond his sleazy politicking.

And she couldn’t just leave, either. Not if she wanted to bring the other members of her Tutorial with her, at least. In every direction, there were D-grade beasts with their own territories. If she wanted to claim another obelisk, she would be forced to fight one of them. Even if they came away with a win, it would likely cause losses, something she just couldn’t expose her people to without a very good reason.

On the other hand, she didn’t want to fight, either. Even with Aaron’s help, supposing he joined them, there would likely be losses on both sides if she were to challenge Julius openly. Not only that, but if his intentions were good, then what would that make her?

“I’m just… It’s a big decision to make,” she finally said. “Julius has done well to build up defenses and get a lot of things running. I can’t deny that. But I barely know him. How can I just give him control over everything? What if he turns those defenses against my people and me? I’m responsible for these people. Whatever happens is my burden to carry.”

“And that is completely understandable,” said Julius. “I am more than willing to agree to a contract of sorts to protect you and your people. My goal is a safe, peaceful, and harmonious settlement that can spark the beginning of a new era. Even if you don’t believe in my morals, it’s still in my best interest to keep you, and everyone else, satisfied.”

“I know…” said Talia. “But it’s not a decision I can make so easily.”

She glanced over at Aaron, hoping to glean some of his thoughts, but apparently, he mistakenly took her look as a prompt to start speaking.

“Honestly, I’m not really good at all this stuff,” he said. “And I just got here. Even if you guys want me to mediate, I really can’t make any kind of decision right now.”

“Of course,” said Julius, seeming relieved that he had not immediately taken Talia’s side. “We have a few weeks. Why don’t you stay a little while and settle in? See what we have to offer. Get a firsthand look at the situation. Then you’ll be more comfortable making a decision.”

“Yeah, that sounds good,” said Aaron.

“And I hope it’s not too presumptuous of me to ask, but would you mind joining me for dinner tomorrow night? I’m sure you’re eager to reunite with your friends, but I’d like to talk with you one-on-one later, if you don’t mind.”

“Yeah, sure, why not?” said Aaron with a shrug.

“Excellent,” said Julius, smiling. “Then I won’t keep you any longer. Have fun! Anastasia?”

Talia felt most of the tension leave her body as Julius and his assistant left the room. She wasn’t sure why yet, but being around the man always put her on edge and left her exhausted. It was the main reason she hadn’t given in. She really didn’t have any explicit reason to distrust him beyond just a gut feeling and a sense of personal responsibility.

“Well, he’s certainly a character,” commented Aaron.

“Yeah…” 

“Hey, Aaron, check this out,” said Ryan suddenly, sliding a bottle across the table. 

Aaron caught it deftly and took a look at it. Then, he popped the cork off and smelled it. He grinned when he did, and immediately downed a swig.

“Damn, that’s good,” he said.

“I got a brewer Profession,” said Ryan proudly. “Talia mentioned you had weird tastes, so I gave you the strongest I’ve got. Looks like that was the right choice.”

“Yeah,” said Aaron, looking at the bottle. “You have more?”

“Loads.”

“Wanna go grab a drink?” Aaron turned to Talia. “You too. And whoever. I’ve been on the road for weeks now.”

Talia hesitated, then rolled her shoulders.

“Yeah, I could use a drink.”

**Aaron**

“It’s not much yet, but I have big plans for this place,” Ryan said, leading the trio as he showed off a partially constructed building beside a river. “Brewery and distillery all in one. I’ll put a bar over there,” he added, pointing out an empty patch of land.

“Nice. Looks good, mate.”

“Doesn’t it just? Might have room for a restaurant too, if you’re keen on getting in on this.”

"Be careful what you wish for,” Talia said.

“Yeah, nah mate. Thanks for the offer. I won’t be around anywhere near often enough to help with any of that. I might be able to help you with staffing, though. If you’re okay with goblins working here.”

“Goblins?”

“Impressive, isn’t it?” Talia interjected. “And Ryan is only one of many who are building businesses. There are so many plans for this place. If it weren’t for our disagreements…”

“Take it easy, Talia. Relax. Have a drink. We have plenty of time to talk. Your little disagreement isn’t urgent. Besides, we’ve got weeks to figure it out. And with me here, he can’t bully you into anything.”

Talia brightened at that. “Thanks, Aaron.”

“You said you wanted it strong, right?” Ryan said, walking back over. “These IPAs will certainly put hair on your chest. Give ‘em a crack.”

Aaron took a sip, his eyes brightened, and then he gulped it down. “Fuck me, Ryno! That is… that’s actually pretty damn good.”

“What is that?” Talia winced and gagged after a sip. “That’s not beer, is it?”

“This one is a bit of a failed experiment. Looks like Aaron likes it, though.”

“Of course he does…”

After a couple of drinks, the three of them took to sitting on the grass by the river, sharing their experiences. Ryan had already learned much of the trials from Talia, but Aaron hadn’t fully explained his own experience to Talia yet, and so they both listened intently as he started from the start.

“Bloody hell. That is one hell of a story. I’m not sure if it’s worse than the Tutorial, though. Those first days… they were rough. It seemed to place you with people from the same area. I saw an old lady who lived down the street from me. Never talked much, but she seemed pleasant enough. Watching a raptor consume her on my second day in the Tutorial sure was a good way to drive home the seriousness of it all.”

Aaron patted Ryan on the back. “Yeah, must have been rough. Well, at least we made it through it intact. Mostly.”

“Yeah. It makes you wonder how these stats mess with your brain,” he said, tapping his forehead. “Would I be this well adjusted without them? God only knows how many people I watched die. And yet here I am, looking forward to the future. Looking forward to brewing ales,” he continued, staring off into the water, and the red evening glow reflecting from it.

“Never thought about it like that.”

“Hah,” Talia chuckled, and the two of them glanced over at her. “Sorry. I didn’t mean to ruin your moment. It’s just, after everything I’ve seen Aaron do, it’s kind of funny seeing him contemplate his lack of PTSD.”

Aaron smiled and shook his head. “You’re not wrong. By the way, you both have your first racial evolutions, right?”

They both nodded.

“I wonder if that’s what’s doing it. The racial evolutions did apparently make us a better version of ourselves. Maybe it makes us immune to these kinds of ailments.”

“Yeah, probably. Makes sense to me,” Talia nodded along. “I hope we don’t become robots without any feelings, though.”

“Doubtful,” Aaron said. “Going by the gods I know.”

“You know gods?” Ryan lit up.

“Oh yeah. You wouldn’t have experienced any of that,” Aaron said, and told stories about Oozagh and Yendal.

“I don’t want to push the point too much,” Aaron changed topics after telling of his duels with the gods. “But I will be meeting Julius tomorrow. What makes you so uneasy about him? I can tell it's not just rational distrust of someone you don’t know well. You seemed… uncomfortable in that meeting.”

“A lot, honestly,” Talia sighed. “He’s clearly power hungry. Does that disqualify him from the job? I’m not sure. Not to mention the defenses that are going up, this place will be no easy target for attack once they’re completed.”

Talia slumped, twirling a fingertip around the mouth of her bottle.

“And?”

“The thing is, I’m not sure. I don’t want to be seen as making baseless rumors. It’s just that there’s a weirdness to him. Everything feels so rehearsed. Like everything he says has been thought through like some clever plan. Maybe I’m wrong, but I can’t get it out of my head that he’s got some ulterior motives.”

“I see. And so I’m going to try and drag that out of him? The guy who punches things? Yep, we’re doomed.”

“Maybe. But I do have one idea,” Talia said, looking up. “There’s a rather concerning D-grade beast not far from us. It’s a giant beaver, and it's damming up one of the rivers. Being a D-grade is bad enough, but we’re becoming increasingly worried that the massive dam it's building could end up flooding the settlement. Getting rid of it is one of the few things we agree on, and we’ve been planning a hunting party.”

“A hunting party?”

“Yes. I was going to join a couple of Julius’ elites. But maybe you could take my place. I doubt they’ll open up to me. But who knows? You’re new here. Maybe they’ll be looser-lipped around you? It might at least be worth a try. I doubt you’ll get a straight answer from Julius.”

Talia had him at D-grade beast. All this talk of politics had made Aaron want to go hunting more than ever before. And if taking this beast out could provide additional benefits, then all the better.

“I’m in!”

“Well, that was easy.”

NEXT CHAPTER

Book 3: Chapter 12

As they walked toward the imposing casino, it didn’t take long for them to spot a few tents and makeshift shelters scattered around the camp’s outskirts. And the further they walked, the more eyes they caught.

“They’re watching us,” Marko whispered.

“Looks like you got fans, bossman,” Sooty said from atop his own wolf.

Aaron smiled and waved back, leading the mounted group along a worn path trodden into the ground between the camps.

As they neared the Bellagio, they spotted what appeared to be a few patrols keeping watch of the camp, and they too took immediate notice of the strange group. Aaron watched as they sent their comrades racing back toward the casino, whilst others kept a vigilant watch on them.

Calling for help already, huh? Well, I hadn’t intended on sneaking in anyway.

Despite the patrols going for help, the camp seemed pretty liberal in regard to their defenses. Across from them, Aaron spotted another group of people. They looked equally out of place, climbing out from the surrounding vegetation. There were four of them, and they were looking around at the tents and patrols with curiosity.

The leader of the small group spotted his gaze, and Aaron waved. But the man’s gaze went straight through him, and to the wolves. A panic seemed to wash through him, and he raised his arms, stopping his group and freezing in place as his eyes locked on Zero.

Oh, right. I guess Zero is pretty intimidating for most. Oh well, I’m sure they’ll come around.

His thoughts didn’t linger on them long, though. As only moments later, dozens of armed people started to appear around them. Their weapons were drawn, and they quickly formed a perimeter around Aaron and his companions, with more coming by the second.

Once a formidable formation had been formed, one man stepped through them, wielding a large, two-handed sword.

“Always causing trouble. Some things never change. Now answer me, who is this, Becky? Are they your friends? We’ve said it a thousand times, beasts aren’t welcome here!”

The man shouting at Becky had a buzz cut and held his chest out. Aaron had no way of knowing whether or not the man had been a soldier once, but he sure looked like he wanted to give off that energy.

However, for all the bluff and bluster, when the wolves reacted by growling and inching forward, the formation of guards flinched backward, raising their weapons shakily.

“Easy, boy,” Aaron said, patting Zero and calming him. 

He wasn’t in the least worried about the confrontation, at least not his own safety. But he definitely didn’t want his first impression to be fighting other humans, especially not ones in Talia’s camp.

“Those  guys?” Becky scrunched up her nose at Aaron and his group. “I wouldn’t call them friends. Besides Zero. He’s a good boy. Oh, actually, all the wolves are pretty cute. The humans? You can keep them,” Becky said, only turning to look back at them for a second, and then continuing.

“Halt!” The man screamed at her. “Not one step further until you answer my damn questions! Who are these people, and why are you with them?!”

Charlie Mathers [ Level 77 ]

Titles: [ Monster Slayer ]

Planetary ranking: 102,891 of 5,127,246,874 

Charlie, who seemed to be some kind of defense leader, was at least five levels higher than anybody else who had come to the camp’s defense and surrounded them, and ten or more levels higher than most of them.

That mightn’t have intimidated Aaron, but still, compared to Marko, Zach, and the goblins, this would have been a rather frightening confrontation if he weren’t here.

“And what the hell are those?” Charlie, the guard leader, continued, turning to the goblins and pointing. “This is a human camp! Do you see any monsters around here?”

“Oh, go suck one of Julius’ digits, loser,” Becky waved him away. “We’ve been through this a thousand times, Chucky, Shadow won’t hurt anybody unless I tell her to.”

“I’m not talking about Shadow!”

“Then why are you still talking to me?”

“She’s right, talk to me,” Aaron said from atop Zero, and patted the wolf’s side, and it walked forward.

Becky had already passed the guards, but they seemed to have forgotten about her, their focus firmly set on Zero.

Every step the wolf took drew a reaction from the armed group, and Aaron couldn’t blame them. He might have had some nice Titles on display, as well as a high rank, but he was still just a level 53. Zero, on the other hand, was a D-grade. After all, as far as they were aware, maybe he had his high rank because he was rich.

Charlie swallowed and straightened, as if fighting back a tremor. “Do you speak for this group?” He asked Aaron.

“I do. How’s it going, mate? You’re not scared of Zero here, are you? He’s a good boy.”

“I’m, no—” Charlie cleared his throat. “I mean, where are you from? Why are you traveling with goblins and wolves? What do you want with our settlement?”

“The wolves? That’s easy. I’m their pack leader. They’re loyal to me,” Aaron smiled, and hushed whispers bounced back and forth amongst the guards. “As for the goblins, they’re my wards. I’m protecting them, and if anyone hurts them, they’ll have to answer to me.”

“W-what… That thing’s a D-grade beast. You expect me to believe any of that nonsense? How do I know it’s not mind controlling you, or something?”

“Mind control? Really? Look, I’m sure you’re doing your best. But are you the leader around here, or is there someone else I can talk to?” Aaron said.

“I’m the leader of the guard, that’s all you need to know!”

“Psst, Chuck, he has a point,” a woman behind Charlie said, sword in hand. “Maybe we should call Julius for this. He did say to call him if any D-grades are spotted.”

The guard leader glared at Aaron for a moment before turning back to his companion. 

“Fine! But you stay right here until Julius arrives, got it?” He huffed, pointing at Aaron.

“Fine,” Aaron shrugged. “We won’t go anywhere, promise.”

He didn’t really appreciate the way he was being talked to, but wasn’t about to start a fight over it. And more so than anything else, he was curious to find out who exactly this Julius fellow was. And where was Talia? She was the leader of her group, wasn’t she? And if this was where her group was, why wasn’t she the one in charge?

Chuck turned to leave, but then stopped and looked back. “And make sure the goblins stay in place, got it?”

“Yeah, yeah, just hurry up with it. We’re going to stay right where you are until you get your boss. Don’t you worry about it, mate.”

Chuck eyed them all for a long moment and then took his leave, trailed by two others.

Several minutes later, as the crowd of curious onlookers grew larger and larger, they returned, walking alongside a rather big man. 

The big man had thick, dark curls, a broad brow line, and a very square chin. He was also dressed in a pin-stripe suit, but unlike most suits, it was armored, with plates of metal dotted across it like he was about to go medieval rollerskating.

“You weren’t lying. Wolves and goblins in my camp. What a peculiar sight it is.”

Julius Caparelli [ Level 86 ]

Titles: [ Tutorial Champion ] [ Builder of the New World ]

Planetary ranking: 89 of 5,127,246,211

“Wait, I know you,” he raised a stubby finger toward Aaron as he separated from the group and marched toward him. “It’s you! Everyone, put down your arms immediately. These are our guests!”

The guards all looked at one another, confused, but did as they were ordered.

“You know me?” Aaron tilted his head, confused.

“Of course I do. I was a little late, so you probably didn’t spot me, and the crowds were quite large by the time I got there. But I remember you,” Julius said, waving his finger as he walked toward Aaron. “The insane man, unfazed by death. Over and over again, you threw yourself at those trials. It was nothing short of inspirational. Hah, amazing. So, what can I do for you? For what honor do we have the great Aaron Dober visiting my little camp?”

“Your camp?” Aaron’s brows rose a little. “I was actually looking for Talia. Is she here?”

“Talia? Of course,” Julius threw his hands up, exaggeratingly, and smacked his forehead. “Now I remember. I saw you with her on many occasions in the trials. Of course, you want to see Talia. Please, come with me. I’ll take you straight to her.”

“Ah, boss.”

“What is it?” He turned to Chuck with a scowl. 

“What about the wolves and the goblins?”

“If they’re with Aaron, then you show them hospitality, dammit! Do I have to spell everything out for you? These are our honored guests!”

“Yes, boss!”

Chuck scampered off, ordering his subordinates around and leading Aaron’s group off somewhere else within the camp, which drew Aaron’s gaze.

“Don’t worry about them. I’m not stupid enough to make enemies with the man who is too stubborn to die. They’ll be fed and offered somewhere to rest. Come, let me take you to Talia. But perhaps the wolf goes with them. A D-grade beast will cause quite a ruckus.”

Julius spoke loudly, which was mildly annoying, since he was right next to Aaron. For a moment, Aaron wondered if the man was perhaps a bit deaf until he saw the gazes of the people they passed by. Then, it dawned on him. Julius’ loud speech and excessive praise were as much for their benefit as anything else. Why he wanted them all to hear it, Aaron wasn’t sure, though, and he didn’t really have the time to think it through.

“You heard him, Zero. Go with the others. I’ll be fine,” Aaron said, and then turned to the group. “And Sooty, keep an eye on everyone,” he called out as they were led off.

“Will do, bossman!”

“Okay,” Aaron said, turning back to Julius and following him.

“Impressive, no?” Julius said as they walked deeper into camp.

There was action going on all around them. Timber frames were being covered in metal sheets to make walls. System-purchased buildings were being self-constructed, and several layers of defenses were being put together. 

Everywhere he looked, people were doing something.

“Yeah, it is.”

“It’s still some way off, but this place will be the safest place in the world soon. I swear by it,” Julius said as they stepped onto the tiled courtyard before the Bellagio, where the fountain had once been.

The closer they got, the thicker the crowds grew. There was commerce and trade passing hands, with stalls set up, and sentries on watch around them.

“Quite a number of people you have here. This isn’t all from Talia’s Tutorial, is it?”

“No, not at all. Both myself and Talia were leaders of our own Tutorials. Both having our own Waypoints. As leaders, we were given Quests upon arrival in this world. It was those quests that led us here to find and claim an Obelisk. Some complications have followed… and some tense moments…” Julius trailed off.

“Tense moments?”

“Oh, I don’t want to bother you with details,” he waved his hands.

“Please, bother me,” Aaron said.

“It’s politics. Nasty stuff. You see, only one of us can fully complete the Quest. As you can imagine, that has created some complications.”

“Wait, so you haven’t claimed it yet?”

“Not fully. I’m sure it all sounds rather confusing,” Julius said as he led him through the casino doors, and soon they were before the huge obelisk that extended out from the ground in the middle of the main foyer, crushing through the roof above, and extending up through at least a couple of floors.

“There it is. The heart of our marvelous settlement. Impressive, isn’t it?” Julius continued.

Aaron just looked at him, like he was waiting for him to finish his earlier explanation.

“Come, come,” Julius beckoned him forth. “Anastasia,” he snapped his fingers, and a young redhead appeared a second later. “Please, call Talia. I have a friend of hers with me.”

“Yes, boss.”

As Anastasia disappeared, Julius turned back to Aaron. “I’m sure this is all very confusing. The truth is, these obelisks are quite devilish with how they work. Up to five people can claim the damn things if they do it within twenty-four hours of the first claimant, which in this case was me. Then, it gives you a full month to figure out who will become the true leader. If you fail to pick a leader, then the obelisk will disappear and reappear somewhere else in the world.”

“I see,” Aaron nodded.

“You can probably already see where this is going. I claimed this a little over four days ago. And it has been tense here ever since. It’s not to the point of open conflict… but it’s not good either. I’m not sure what Talia has been telling her people, but they don’t seem to trust mine at all. I just want to make a peaceful settlement. 

“When I saw you, I had a great idea. I’m afraid that Talia and I are talking past each other at the moment. I honestly don’t understand her stance, but she doesn’t seem willing to let go of her position, no matter what I say. So, I was hoping that you might be able to act as a sort of go-between, and maybe help us understand each other better.”

Aaron looked unsure. There was logic to what Julius was saying. But he also didn’t want to throw his trust behind someone he had just met. Especially not when Talia didn’t trust him. He hadn’t known her for that long, but he more or less trusted her, and if she didn’t trust Julius, that was more than enough for him to be wary.

“I’ve been hospitable,” Julius continued. “Things have been tense, but I’ve never once turned away requests from her people, and I’ve offered them all the same things I’ve given to my own. There’s definitely some mistrust, but things are peaceful, and I’m certain that once the obelisk is fully claimed, things will finally settle down. I really just want the tension to be gone, so we can focus on building up this community without the threat of conflict breaking out.”

“Yeah, I understand. It makes sense. But I’m not deciding on anything until I see Talia.”

“Oh, of course. Completely reasonable and rational. My assistant should be collecting her as we speak. She should be here any moment now.”

Across the foyer’s marble tiles, Aaron spotted them. Talia and her small entourage were walking toward him. And with them was someone he hadn’t expected to see.

“Ryan, mate! What the fuck are you doing here!”

NEXT CHAPTER

Book 3: Chapter 11

Aaron Dober:

Planetary ranking: 1942 of 5,127,446,925 

Aaron stared at his ranking for a good moment. But not because of the over 600 spots he had climbed, as impressive as that was. But because of how many people had apparently died.

It had only been a couple of days since arriving on their new world, and if his eyes weren’t lying to him, well over a hundred million people had already met their ends. Worst of all, the number didn’t even really feel that high.

After all, the last couple of days had been incredibly difficult, and he hadn’t been far from having his own name crossed off the list. That said, it was clear that not everywhere was equally dangerous. The plains, for example, were undoubtedly far safer than the jungle.

Wow… what a start to the multiverse. 

Still, despite understanding why the numbers were so big, the implication of that many people dying briefly threw his thoughts into disarray. And while nothing changed, and his course of action remained the same, it forced him to rethink their post-trial existence.

Also, if he had jumped that many spots without even killing a D-grade, he wondered how many spots he’d jump after he had. He figured that there really couldn’t be that many people on Superearth who were able to kill D-grades solo yet.

I'd better let anyone who needs to rest get some sleep. I don’t want to be responsible for more deaths than necessary.

“If anyone needs to sleep, do it now. I want to keep moving. We’re making good progress, and if we keep this up, who knows, maybe we’ll find the camp soon.”

A few weaker goblins nodded and started to make temporary beds for themselves. But most of the group seemed fine to keep moving. The System had hardened them, and for most, a few days without sleep was nothing.

For Aaron, it was more about getting to the settlement before something bad happened. He couldn’t save everyone. He had no illusions about that. But he could at least make sure the people he knew were going to survive the initial shock of everything.

Talia was strong, he reminded himself. But so had Elvanas been. Maybe not as strong as Talia, but the elven warrior was certainly no pushover. And yet, his life had ended shortly after the Tutorial. 

Even with all of the Tutorial survivors, could she handle a beast like the simian reaver? He wasn’t sure. He knew she couldn’t do it alone, and he knew that she was the strongest of her Tutorial.

Even if the jungle was a particularly hard place to start, there were, in all likelihood, roaming D-grades everywhere, and that thought urged him on impatiently.

Aaron tapped his foot against the ground as the weaker goblins slept for a couple of hours, and then they all got moving again, packing up camp in no time. It was still the very early hours of the morning, dark and frosty. But they had a mission to see done.

Looking down at the compass as they charged across the landscape, he noticed something he hadn’t seen earlier. The arrow on the compass given to him by Talia had slightly enlarged. Aaron had a feeling that it was indicating that they were getting closer, but there was no point of reference to determine how much closer.

Either way, the plains were a godsend over the next couple of days. They travelled far, far further than they could have even imagined in the jungle. And it was as much thanks to the flat land before them as it was thanks to not running into powerful beasts constantly.

Over that time, Aaron gained two more levels, hitting 52 thanks to the beasts they encountered roaming the plains, while Marko had gained 8, and Zach 9, with Treg trailing a little behind at 6 gained levels. 

The combination of the well-matched enemies of the plains and their new mounts provided a near-perfect environment to level, and by the time the terrain started to change, he felt like they had truly made the most of it.

But the open plains eventually started to give way to sparsely dotted forests and snaking rivers over rocky lands and peat marshes. 

Checking the compass occasionally, they rode their mounts beside the clear rivers, soon it appeared that they were reaching what appeared to be a fertile basin, and the many rivers from all around were converging into larger ones.

And then, just as the fog was clearing and rays of light were starting to fill the air with warmth, Aaron spotted something peculiar in the distance.

Standing completely on its own, beside the river and surrounded by peats, and with a forest marking its background, was a huge and rather impressive building.

“That… that building…” Aaron’s brow bent contemplatively as they rode toward it. “Is that. No, it can’t be.”

“I think I might be going crazy, because that looks like the fucking Bellagio plopped down in the middle of the Scottish highlands,” Marko muttered and rubbed his eyes as he shook sense into his head.

“That’s what it is!” Aaron raised a finger.

He had seen the building on holiday a few years ago and knew that he recognized it.

However, their attention was stolen only a second later by crackling thunder ripping through the air, and they all turned to the angry sounds.

Flashes lit up the sky in the distance to their left, and Aaron narrowed his gaze as he tried to figure out what was happening.

Soon, the flashes were accompanied by explosions that rocked the land, and then, they spotted tiny figures in the distance.

Lightning was bursting down from the sky, and the figures were doing everything in their power to avoid from being zapped.

“Wait here!” Aaron shouted and patted Zero on the head. “Let’s go, boy!”

In an instant, they were zooming toward the battle, and Zero’s legs had turned into silver light. The wolf was using a weaker version of the silver movement Skill it had during their fight, but this one allowed Aaron to remain mounted. Which was something he appreciated when hunting weaker monsters.

Within seconds, he could make the features of the figure, and what he saw surprised him.

It was a girl. But not just any old girl. A girl with big, pointy ears and a tail—cat ears and a cat tail, to be precise. And she was riding atop what looked like a rather large panther.

But something told him that she wasn’t an alien, and not just because Superearth didn’t have a cat-person race. There was something human about her, and then he remembered a story that Talia had told him some time ago, back in the Trials.

However, there were bigger problems than determining the person’s race. Namely, the giant flying eel snaking through the sky and shooting lightning bolts.

Flash Sky Serpent [ Level 102 ]

Titles: [ Monster Slayer ] [ Sky King ]

“Shall we?” He asked Zero, and the wolf nodded.

The silver light carried them up and into the sky. Riding on Zero’s back,  Aaron was able to focus entirely on offense. Although, in truth, he was faster with [ Spectral Rush ], not to mention the Skill's defensive properties.

So, obviously, this style of combat had its own drawbacks, especially since he was trying to get back to basics. But it definitely made clearing out weaker beasts easier, as he could focus all of his energy on attack. And Aaron had a feeling he wouldn’t have too much difficulty with the level 102, even if it were D-grade.

As they neared their enemy, the entire body of the serpent filled with crackling lightning, and it was clear that it intended to blast him with a particularly powerful version of its lightning bolt, but [ Equal and Opposite ] made short work of the powerful attack, and the sky serpent looked shocked as its attack vanished.

That second of surprise was all it took for Zero to carry them straight into melee range. And the moment they closed in on their enemy, a blast of Zero’s debuffing silver needles shot out, weakening the serpent.

And Aaron’s attack was less than a second behind, following up with a [ Soul Shattering Strike ] that continued into a deadly combination of haymakers and flying spectral fists.

Almost immediately, the eel realized that it was in for a bad time. Damage was building up across its slimy body very quickly, and already several deep wounds had been opened.

Another powerful zap of lightning followed, and as Zero fled, Aaron flew straight through it with [ Spectral Rush ], and immediately started punching again, landing yet another combo.

The serpent already knew this was an unwinnable fight and tried to turn and escape, but Aaron was relentless, and he continued to attack, only to be joined by Zero a second later.

Claws and fists rained down upon it, and within seconds of their relentless attack, Aaron had killed his first D-grade.

It was a little disappointing that he hadn’t done it by himself for his first time, but he’d have won regardless. Besides, ultimately, it was important to know how much of an aid Zero was in combat. After all, survival was always going to be the most important thing. And knowing Zero’s capabilities would no doubt help with that.

Also, despite getting assistance, he had managed to kill the D-grade while still wearing his ring, which made up for the fact that Zero helped.

You killed: Flash Sky Serpent [ Level 102 ]

Bonus Experience rewarded for killing beasts of a higher level than yourself!

[ Empty-Handed Energy Monk ] has LEVELED UP!

52 → 53

“No bad, I suppose,” Aaron grumbled as the notification appeared.

He had gotten a level, so he couldn’t really complain. But he felt like a D-grade should provide more experience. And he had a hunch that it was because the experience had been shared with Zero. And maybe the other woman and her mount as well. While they hadn’t done much, they had made the serpent spend a lot of mana, so maybe that counted for something in the System’s eyes.

As they glided back down to the ground, the rest of his party caught up, spears aimed at the stranger and her panther.

Rebecca White [ Level 71 ]

Titles: [ Unbreakable Bond ] [ Monster Slayer ]

Planetary ranking: 747,891 of 5,127,386,544

Shadow [ Level 68 ]

Titles: [ Unbreakable Bond ] [ Monster Slayer ] 

“Hey,” Aaron said as he landed near the girl.

She had raven hair in a bob, pointy ears, a tail, and furry mittens, but the rest of her looked to be human.

“Hey to you too, weirdo. Is that wolf yours?” She replied, barely glancing at Aaron as her eyes locked on Zero.

“Zero? Yeah, I guess. But more importantly, what are you doing out here?” 

“He’s beautiful, isn’t he? Can I get a pat?”

“You want to pat Zero? Err, Zero, you want a pat?”

Zero kind of shrugged, and the girl got all giddy as she rushed over and ran her hands through his thick fur.

“Ooo, so soft. Not as soft as Shadow, or as pretty. But he’s still a cutie.”

Aaron was confused. He had just saved this strange girl, but all she seemed concerned with was Zero’s soft fur.

“Umm, what’s your deal?” Aaron said, looking down at her from atop Zero as she pressed her face into his fur.

“Huh?”

“Like, what are you doing out here by yourself? You almost got yourself killed.”

“Nah. I was fine. Thanks for taking the ugly snake thing out for me, though. He was annoying, and I really didn’t want to have to touch his slimy skin. Yuck, yuck, yuck!”

This girl has a real thing for animals, doesn’t she?

“Sooo, ah, you, like, live out here or something?”

“Me? Yeah, kinda. We go into camp when we have to. Not too often, though. Too many humans. I hate that place.”

“Camp? Wait, we’re heading in that direction, looking for my friend’s camp,” Aaron pointed. “Is that the same camp?”

“A friend? It’s not Julius, is it?” Her nose scrunched up, and she made a hissing sound. “I hate that guy.”

“Julius? No. I have no idea who that is.”

“Good. Anyway, I should be going. Nice meeting you, Zero,” she scruffed Zero’s fur.

“Wait! The camp. Is it in that direction?”

“Oh. Yeah, I thought I said that? Anyway, if you're not Julius’ friend… Bye!”

“Wait!” Aaron said, cutting her off as she walked toward her panther. 

“What is it now?”

“My friend is called Talia. I just want to know if she’s living in the same camp you’re talking about.”

“You’re one of Talia’s friends? She did mention the Shadow Trials… I kind of forgot what she was saying, though… And you’ve got that Title…” she eyed him up and down. “Not gonna lie, but I kinda expected more from someone who went to the Shadow Trials. Did you cheat somehow?”

“Wait, so you know Talia?”

As he spoke, Aaron remembered the conversation he had with Talia in more detail.

“Hey, are you the cat lady?”

“Cat lady?! Is that how she talks about me, hmph?!” She crossed her arms. “I’m Becky, and this is Shadow. Not ‘Cat Lady’. Got it? I’m not some weird cat-obsessed freak with fuzzy hair who walks around in her night gown.”

“I never said you were. But you did choose to become a cat… Cat person?”

“So? The System let me evolve my race and gave me an Agility and Dexterity bonus with this option, dumbass! Why wouldn’t I pick it? Those Stats are important to my build. Like really,” she crossed her arms. “Some of you normies are so caught up on the little things. If something can make me stronger, why wouldn’t I do it? Honestly, how did someone like you make it to the trials? C’mon, admit it, you cheated, didn’t you?”

She wasn’t entirely wrong, but he didn’t feel like admitting it. Mostly because it was hard enough to keep this strange girl on a single topic of thought as it was.

“It’s a long story. Maybe I’ll tell you how I got to the trials later. IF you tell me whether or not Talia is in that camp,” Aaron pointed again.

“Yeah, she’s in the big ugly building. Or at least she was last time I was there. Happy?” 

“The big ugly building? So people are actually living in the Bellagio?”

“You mean the old casino? Yeah, they are. It was Julius’ idea, I think. Or maybe not… Oh, I forget. There’s this big pointy thing in the foyer, though. I think it's important. An obelisk? Maybe I’m getting that wrong. A pillar? I dunno. Wait, what was the original question again?”

“It doesn’t matter,” Aaron shook his head. “Just tell me, is Talia and this Julius guy working together?”

“Kinda. I think. They’re not exactly friends. I don’t think they are, anyway. I don’t really talk to them. I answered your questions! Can you stop yapping my ears off already? They’re sensitive!”

“Fine. Thanks. You were helpful, in a very odd kind of way. And yeah, I guess I kind of did cheat to get to the trials. But not intentionally.”

“I knew it!” Becky threw her fists in the air, celebrating.

Aaron just sighed and let her have her win. He didn’t want to go around in circles trying to talk to her again.

“Alright, let’s move everyone. It looks like we’re going to the Bellagio!”

“Oh, you’re going there too? So am I,” Becky smiled.

“What?” Aaron blinked. “What did you think I was doing?”

“Dunno. I forgot. Your Talia’s friend, aren’t you? You think Shadow and Zero might become friends?”

“Yeah, maybe,” Aaron groaned. “You can travel with us, I suppose.”

He looked back across the rag-tag group as they started toward the grandiose casino in the distance.

Something tells me things are only going to get stranger.

NEXT CHAPTER

Book 3: Chapter 10

“So, anyway. Yeah, that’s basically what she said. Calls herself Erdek Foulbreath. Not gonna lie, she seems pretty strong,” Aaron said, talking and walking as they neared the jungle edge.

“Sounds about right,” Treg nodded thoughtfully. “I’ve never heard the name. She sounds like a high blood, but she mustn’t have been very important before the Integration. Or at least she isn’t from any of my people’s tribes. But she’s correct. Goblins tend to follow the strongest. Before the Integration, our world was split between four major tribal coalitions. But in reality, they were all held together by one power bowing to the Great Warlord, Nardak Flesheater.”

“Wait, I didn’t even realize at first, but you don’t have a surname like they do.”

“Right. I was just a peasant. A nobody. I was never granted a family name by my chief. Some might call me Treg of the Skullcrusher Tribe. But officially, I am just Treg.”

“I see. Well, Just Treg, maybe you can be more than just a peasant in this world.”

“Maybe, we’ll see.”

“C’mon, be a little more optimistic, mate! Oh look!” Aaron pointed his thoughts, quickly shifting as he spotted the thinning trees at the edge of the jungle.

Within a dozen meters, the last trees gave way to endless green fields, and within seconds, they had left the jungle behind them and stepped out onto the plains.

A wolf bounded past Aaron, and Sooty waved down at him from atop it. “Ye should really get onto this,” He said. “So much better than walking. Gotta hand it to you, bossman. Becoming the pack leader was a great idea!”

Aaron looked up at Sooty and then across to the others. Lower-level goblins were struggling, trudging along with their packs full of belongings, and they weren’t very fast.

On the other hand, leaving the dense jungle behind, they were met with a seemingly endless steppe, and grassy plains and small, rolling hills flowed on for as far as the eye could see.

“You’ve got a point,” Aaron said and turned to his wolf pal. “Oi, Zero, are we able to ride you and the other wolves?”

Zero yipped and nodded.

“Really? Okay, that’s handy. Right, so, how does this work, then?”

The large silver wolf lowered, and Aaron jumped on top of it. He didn’t really need a mount, but he kind of wanted to try it out. 

However, his companions were another story. Not only were they not particularly fast, but they were lower level than the wolves, so if they could ride them, it might make their journey much quicker.

“Find a wolf and mount up, everyone! No more walking!”

Uneasy glares met his announcement. But Aaron wasn’t just going to let the opportunity pass them by, and he pleaded with them to at least give the wolves a go.

After a little back and forth, Marko and Zach climbed atop wolves, but the goblins required more convincing. It took several long minutes, and the humans showing off that the wolves were indeed safe to ride, for the first goblins to give it a try. And several more minutes before the last of them had finally mounted up.

There were fourteen goblins who had survived the jungle, and along with the three humans, that made seventeen wolf raiders, and there were five remaining wolves that ran alongside them, which were the smallest and lowest level wolves.

The moment they started riding their mounts across the plains, it became immediately clear how much quicker their journey was going to be.

The truth was, while Aaron himself was plenty fast, their group’s speed had slowed to a crawl thanks to his new companions. The problem was that they had to keep pace with the slowest and lowest-level goblins. So now that they were mounted up, their speed skyrocketed.

If he had really wanted to, Aaron probably could have carried a few of the goblins to increase their speed. But he needed to have his senses about him in case they wandered into another D-grade, not to mention it would put him in an awkward position having to worry about the weak goblins if he got attacked.

However, now that they had their wolf mounts, they could race across the grassy plains at impressive speed. It was still nothing compared to Aaron spamming [ Spectral Rush ] but it was a pretty good compromise, and much more resource-efficient, since Aaron didn’t have to stuff his face to maintain his energy.

In minutes, they raced across the fields, spotting beasts in the distance. A part of Aaron wanted to make good time and reach Talia as soon as possible. But time couldn’t come at the cost of their progression, and so when they spotted some roaming beasts, it was time to do some hunting.

First, they hunted ostrich-like birds that spat acid, and Aaron remained at the rear watching. Some hyena-like creatures followed, and his companions made short work of them as well.

It was all too easy for his companions to let their mounts do most of the fighting, but he encouraged them not to. And surprisingly, they took his advice to heart.

If the wolves killed everything, they would remain weak, and they knew it. Still, it was extremely helpful for them to have their wolf mounts. They made them faster and more agile, for the most part. And because of this, his wolf riders were able to dodge attacks without much thought and focus on attack. This worked especially well for the spear-wielding goblins, but Zach was also becoming quite the formidable mounted archer, zooming around, loosing arrows.

He was quite impressed by what they were turning into. And only got involved when a particularly powerful beast threatened the group.

He didn’t need Zero’s movement Skill, but he couldn’t deny it was useful. The silvermane carried him up to his enemy in a second, who was flying above, and Aaron was able to rather easily finish off the hippogriff.

If he got involved in all of the fights, Aaron could have, without doubt, leveled much quicker if he wanted to. But he was back to wearing the energy sucking ring and using the battles to hone his skills. Not to mention, he wanted to gain a decent Skill when he hit 50, and didn’t want that tarnished with weak kills.

The hippogriff came down with a series of precise attacks in the waning hours of the day, and it was just in time, for he gained his 50th level.

You killed: Razorwing Hippogriff [ Level 92 ]

Bonus Experience rewarded for killing beasts of a higher level than yourself!

[ Empty-Handed Energy Monk ] has LEVELED UP!

49 → 50

Purchasable Skill Available!

With a Skill point to spend, Aaron wanted to make camp. And luckily for him, the others were just as keen to take a rest as night began to creep across the plains.

They had been leveling quicker than he had expected, and were gaining more levels than Aaron himself, even though they were of similar level.

Ultimately, grinding levels were quicker and easier when you killed anything and everything you found. But Aaron was focused on quality over quantity and cared little. In fact, he was quite glad of their progress. The stronger they got, the less he would have to worry about them, and perhaps they would even get strong enough to help in harder fights eventually.

They marched a little longer after that before finding a small oasis in the middle of the open plains and set up camp around it. 

The wolves prowled around, sniffing and securing the perimeter as Aaron got out his portal kitchen and set it up.

It was really quite handy, and all he had to do was press a button, and the Portable Cosmic Kitchen unfolded into a full-blown kitchen.

He had enough food to feed himself stored away in his scabbard, but he wanted to make something everyone could eat.

Doing his best to restrain himself from making something dastardly, he braised some toad meat and vegetables in a hot pot. It was nothing special, stat-wise, but it tasted deliciously boring and had no side effects. In other words, it was perfect. If his ogre taste buds considered the flavor lacking, it would be perfect for normal people.

He dished it up into bowls that came with the portable kitchen, and they sat around a fireplace, with a starlit sky above them. 

Dotted around the little camp, the wolves ate slightly grilled owlbear, growling and play-fighting as they tore the meat apart between themselves.

“Not bad,” Treg said, nodding appreciatively as he gulped down the stew. “Kind of reminds me of home.”

“I have to say, this is one of the better meals I’ve had since the integration,” Marko said.

“Glad you all like it.”

“I wouldn’t have guessed you were a chef. But this is good,” Zach added.

 “Great. Well, I think I’m going to go AWOL for a bit. I’ve been dying to check out my new Skill. If you don’t mind.”

“Go for it,” Zach said.

The archer was clearly enjoying relaxing with the others as wolves were doing sentry duty. He still took turns doing the job, but he wasn’t required to be on lookout all the time anymore.

“Take as long as you like,” Zach added as he overfilled his mouth.

“Sooty, get over here and help me pick a Skill,” Aaron said, and opened the list.

Elegant Footwork [ Uncommon ]. Combat is more than flashy moves, and nobody knows this better than you. Passively enhances Agility and Dexterity, whilst also reducing energy lost between attacks, as it guides your attacks into smooth, flowing motions that weave into one another.

Flagrant Masochist [ Rare ] You, you’re not afraid of pain… no, in fact, you invite it with a smile. A rather eerie one that makes people feel uneasy. Passively boosts morale and sensitivity when taking damage. High morale, in turn, provides additional multipliers for morale-damaging attacks.

Silvermane Palm Strike [ Elite ] You feel the power of the silvermane pack running through you. When activated, fire a blast of silver light energy from your palm, calling on the power of your pack for guidance.

Zombie Stance [ Epic ] You’re not just a deadly combatant, you’re a dead one. When activated, this Skill allows the user to fuel their body with the use of aether even after death, allowing it to fight on, even after your soul is gone.

Aura of the Alpha [ Epic ] You are your pack’s alpha, and when around you, your pack is inspired and stronger than they would usually be. Passively creates an aura around the user that provides a morale and power boost to those carrying the [ Pack Bond ] racial Skill, and also loyal to the alpha.

Aaron was immediately surprised to see two options related to his new position as the pack alpha. He supposed it made some sense, but it seemed a bit much, and not at all what he had expected.

“Eer,” Sooty mumbled. “That’s an odd Skill option you have there.”

“What do you mean?”

Sooty smiled with crooked teeth.

“Oh, I know what you’re talking about, you little fiend. Dammit, yeah, ignore the second one,” Aaron groaned, feeling a little embarrassed that it was even offered.

“Sure, whatever you say, bossman. The System doesn’t always get things right. Just because it offers a Skill, doesn’t mean that Skill is necessarily related to you. Or one of your proclivities."

“Yeah, yeah, yeah! I got it. Let’s just move on, okay?”

“Sure. But these Skills… they’re not great. Not compared to what you have. The aura would be good if you were a leader-type Class, and no doubt scales with Charisma. But you’re not.”

“Yeah. I know.”

Zombie Stance at glance sounded okay, Aaron thought. But when digging into it, it was kind of bad. He was better off just saving his aether for resurrecting himself. Being in zombie mode sounded like it would have a persistent drain on his aether, and he didn’t really have a lot of it. It also sounded like it probably wouldn’t be able to fight all that well. More of a dying throw kinda thing. Even so, he would have been interested in taking it, if not for the fact that it was definitely not better than any of his current Skills

“Man, these kinds of suck, don’t they, Sooty? What am I going to do? I don’t think I want to give any of my current Skills up for these.”

“Well, don’t then. Not like you have to, bossman.”

“Wait, I don’t? So I just lose my selection? That kind of sucks, though.”

“It’s not a complete waste. The System retains some of the recorded effort you put into your Skill gain when you choose not to select something, and it carries it onto your next selection. It’s not perfect, and it doesn’t keep it all, but it can help push a Skill or two of your next selection up a Rarity if you’re lucky.”

“Okay, that’s not bad. Not bad at all.”

“One thing, though.”

“What is it?”

“This is your level 50 Skill, right?”

“Yeah,” Aaron nodded.

“Well, from now on, you’re only getting a Skill purchase every ten levels. So think about that. That said, you will get some extra slots at D-grade. Which should make things a bit easier for you.”

Aaron thought about it. He wanted to focus on Yendal’s path, and while the first option leaned into that, it wasn’t anywhere near good enough to give up one of his current Passives.

“These aren’t good. Who cares if I have to wait ten more levels? I’m not throwing something useful away for anything on offer here.”

“Good,” Sooty rocked back and forth on his heels. “I agree, bossman.”

Aaron played with the ring on his finger a moment, wondering if it might have had an effect on his options, but he was resolute. Hopefully, he would at least get better options next time.

With a thought, he dismissed the Skill selection and confirmed the prompts as the System asked him to confirm that he wanted to surrender his purchasable Skill.

It was a minor downer. But then again, the Skill gain had come quickly. And at this rate, he was likely to reach level 60 pretty fast.

Also, Sooty’s mention of extra slots made him more eager to hit D-grade than ever. It was getting difficult to make Skill choices, and he couldn’t wait to have the weight of the decisions eased back a little.

“Hey, look at this!” Marko exclaimed, dragging Aaron from his thoughts. “I’ve gone up fifty thousand rankings just from what we’ve been killing!”

“You’re right! This is fucking amazing! I’ve gone up seventy thousand ranks!” Zach added.

Aaron looked across at his companions. That was a lot of ranks for a day. But then again, they had started at a rather low ranking. And with the help of their new mounts, they were able to kill much stronger foes than they had previously been able to.

But it did pose an interesting question. How many positions had Aaron climbed up the rankings from the beasts he had killed?

With that thought, he decided it was time to check his ranking.

NEXT CHAPTER

Book 3: Chapter 9

Silver light flashed out from the silvermane alpha’s maw as they clashed, and erupted into a beam that felled trees as it exploded across the jungle. Sending wolves bouncing out of the way.

The goblin spectators cowered and held shields up at the display of the destructive power, despite it not coming in their direction. And Treg didn’t blame them. This was easily the strongest beast they had ever seen.

Appearing before the wolf in a flash, the human flew into a barrage of bunches, his chest burned from the energy beam. Treg had seen him at least partially dodge the beam, just barely, though. His eyes struggled to keep up with the two powerful fighters.

Dodging was one thing, but surviving that attack? It was impressive, and not just because of the power it held. Treg couldn’t understand how someone at Aaron’s level could survive such an attack.

He could only begin to imagine what kinds of bonuses Aaron must have. He had seen his Blessings, of course. But were those alone what gave him the ability to survive such attacks? Probably not, he figured. Besides, if he could get a True Blessing to begin with, he was a great talent, and probably had a bunch of Titles powering him up.

Truly incredible.

Aaron landed, and Treg could feel the strange energy in the air as the punch slammed into the wolf. The D-grade beast that could slaughter him and all his people with ease didn’t like it, and a wisp of silver light carried the alpha away from the human.

“You’re not getting away that easily!” Aaron shouted and took chase.

Treg watched intently as the human chased the large wolf around, briefly turning into a ghost to keep pace whenever the wolf turned into a mote of silver light. This duel was something else. Something he couldn’t even imagine being a part of.

But more than that. Aaron seemed to have the beast on the back foot. Whenever they clashed, it shot out a few of its beams and claws, but then quickly tried to break from the melee and create distance. If Treg had to guess, he’d say that the wolf didn’t want any part of the melee fight and wanted to keep things at a distance.

They clashed again, and silver needles shot out, followed by another beam. Even to Treg’s relatively untrained eyes, he could see that the wolf was draining quickly, especially whenever Aaron hit it.

But then, the unexpected happened. The wolf went all out and managed to catch Aaron, blasting him straight in the chest with its beam, and blowing a hole straight through it.

“Oh no!” Treg gasped, fearing the worst.

But instead of falling dead, the human convulsed once and kept moving, as if it had momentarily died, and then slammed straight into the wolf with a combination of attacks that blasted away at its energy reserves and opened small wounds that stained its fur blood red.

The goblin leader had never seen anything like it. Had Aaron really died in that moment, or were his eyes playing tricks on him? Were others truly capable of such feats? He wandered on these thoughts, and they took him back to where it all started. 

Their Tutorial had been a clusterfuck from the start. Chaos reigned, and goblins were dying all over the place.

It had been set on a mountain range, and most of the beasts were giant carnivorous birds that swooped down and hunted him and his people. 

It had been hopeless from the start. And a struggle just to survive.

Worst of all, he knew that it had just been the tip of the iceberg. He had seen the big one, the boss. It was an absolutely massive bird at the top of the highest peak. 

When he saw it, he knew they had no chance of ever beating their Tutorial and decided to play it safe.

He felt foolish watching Aaron fight. But back then, it had all seemed so impossible. They struggled so hard against even the beast’s minions, and so how could they challenge the boss? 

Deciding they couldn’t, he took the lead and led his people to relative safety. Caves dotted the mountainside, and it hadn’t been long before they found one to settle in.

However, it hadn’t been safe in there either. The caves were home to giant spiders, but they were the lesser of two evils. And with Treg leading the way, his group managed to clear out a cave passage and turn it into a little base.

Looking back on it now, it all seemed so pathetic. He had thought that he was doing the right thing. That he was saving his people from the birds and the spiders. But maybe he was enabling them. Helping them remain weak.

Of course, no matter how hard they tried, they weren’t able to completely avoid danger. It came looking for them. But they killed only what they had to, creating warbands to hunt spiders that got too close to their camp. He himself had taken on some of the stronger spiders, which was how he came to grow stronger, and before long, he was the strongest living goblin in his Tutorial. But that wasn’t saying much at all.

The reality was, they had wasted their time. They had remained weak, and when they arrived at their new world, they had nothing for the beasts that inhabited it.

Already, they had lost more than half of those they came here with. It was heartbreaking, and Treg felt like an absolute failure. But seeing the human fight, he realized something.

It wasn’t how they managed their arrival here. The failure had started long ago. It had started when he fought others’ battles for them, when he decided to hide away in a cave and wait until the Tutorial was over, when he decided to avoid all but the necessary battles.

He had doomed them in that moment. And if they were going to survive, they would need to undo the mistakes of the past.

The goblin’s brow bent as he watched Aaron slam into the incredibly powerful wolf again. Wounds appeared on the human’s body, but he barely seemed to care, shrugging them off and returning with his own devastating blows.

This was a true warrior. It didn’t matter that he was facing a stronger D-grade beast. He wasn’t scared, not in the slightest. He would do everything in his power to carve out a victory, however he could. And that was the very reason he could fight the beast.

This was how one survived the Integration, Treg realized. They had to take their futures into their own hands. 

We have to be more like Aaron. We have to fight harder!

**Aaron**

It felt a little weird having all the wolves, goblins, and his two human companions watching. But then again, it wasn’t the first time a duel of his had drawn a crowd. And it probably wouldn’t be the last.

Something was off, though. It wasn’t as if the silvermane alpha wouldn’t kill him if given the opportunity, but he felt that it could probably fight harder than it currently was.

Then again, he had hit it with a few [ Soul Shattering Strikes ], and its morale and energy were no doubt taking a beating. Maybe this was all the spirit and fight it had left in it?

Dodging another beam, he flew into range and drew on the last of his reserves as he landed another of his soul-damaging strikes, and the alpha whimpered, bouncing away.

Aaron, of course, followed, landing another combination as his enemy fled.

However, instead of trying to return the attack, it zipped away as silver light and then appeared far from him, cowering in submission.

“Huh?”

Despite the wolf’s unusual behaviour, it wasn’t actually that damaged. It had a few wounds and blood soaked through its knotted fur, but nothing a D-grade beast couldn’t handle.

And so why was it kowtowing to him?

On the other hand, Aaron had already died twice. He felt he had the upper hand either way. Long fights were kind of his thing, and the wolf wasn’t strong enough to keep killing him before he could recover. If the fight dragged on, he had a pretty good feeling he would eventually beat it down and defeat it, regardless.

But considering how close the fight was, he felt that the silvermane alpha could at least push him harder, if it wanted to. It was strange, and he felt like it almost wanted to surrender to him.

Instead, it kept its head low, and when he took a step forward, it rolled onto its back, showing its belly submissively.

“Ahh… okay?”

Silvermane Alpha Wolf has submitted to you.

Trait Acquired: Pack Alpha

You have gained the trait of Pack Alpha, marking you as the strongest in the pack, and by doing so, you become the leader of the Silvermane Wolf Pack.

Provides: [ Pack Alpha ]

Pack Alpha

This racial Skill interacts with those marked with the [ Pack Bond ] racial Skill, granting the owner of this Skill leadership over the pack.

Title Acquired: Pack Leader

You have become the leader of a wolf pack, and through it, you appear more fearsome and intimidating than ever.

Provides +10% Charisma

He blinked in disbelief. He hadn’t actually expected to win that easily. But more interestingly, the silverman alpha started to change before his eyes.

Silver light glowed around the wolf, and it began to shrink a little. Its fangs shortened slightly, and its deadly maw took on a less intimidating presence. It was still a menacing beast, but as it changed, it started to look a little more domestic. It was smaller, and its facial features looked softer, almost gentle and happy.

Aaron just blinked, and then he inspected it.

Silvermane Ruffian [ Level 105 ]

Titles: [ Giant Slayer ]

The alpha hadn’t just shrunken a little and changed its appearance slightly, but it had lost the trait that Aaron had gained. Not only that, but he became suddenly aware that all of the wolves around had the [ Pack Bond ] racial Skill.

Turning to look around, the wolves all lowered into a bow and howled to the sky. Not only that, but he innately felt like they would listen if he gave them a command. Like something had awoken within him.

“Oookay, that’s new.”

This wasn’t how he had expected the fight to go. Not at all. Then again, having a pack of loyal wolves wasn’t so bad. He did kind of want the experience of killing his first D-grade outside of the trials, but this was probably the best alternative.

The silverman ruffian then got up and walked over, nestling its nose in his palm.

“You are a good boy, aren’t you?” Aaron said, as he saw a softer side of the beast.

But it did seem strange. It all happened so fast, and it made him wonder about what exactly the deal was with the wolf pack.

The silvermane ruffian then yipped and turned, beckoning him to follow with a glance over its shoulder.

It was a short walk through the jungle, which Aaron was grateful for, as he still wanted to get out before the ants caught up. Hopefully, they wouldn't be wandering into the wolf territory anytime soon, but still, he had a bad feeling about encountering them.

Soon, they found a small burrow, and the ruffian pressed its nose against it.

“You want me to look inside?”

It barked and nodded.

“Okay. I suppose I’ve done worse,” Aaron grimaced at the wolf-sized hole. It was surrounded by bones and smelled not great.

But nonetheless, he crawled inside and searched through it until he felt something. With a tug, he pulled something out and climbed back outside with it firmly in his grasp.

When he met the light outside, he realized that it was a dog collar with old dog tags tied to it.

“What’s this?”

He eyed the collar suspiciously and then looked to the silvermane ruffian, who just nodded. An idea began forming in his mind. While all the humans had been taken into Tutorials, what happened to all the animals? He had already known that the System affected everything, not just humans, but he hadn’t really thought about the implications as far as pets went. Now, faced with a monster oddly willing to submit to a human’s hand and an old collar, understanding dawned on him.

“This is yours?”

The wolf nodded again.

Aaron turned the collar over and grabbed one of the tags, reading the name.

“Zero? Wait, that’s your name?”

Again, the wolf nodded.

“Hmph, I like it. Beats Silvermane Ruffian. Let’s call you Zero, from now on.”

Rename: Silverman Ruffian to Zero

Y/N?

“Wait, I can rename you? Does that mean you’re like my pet or something, now?”

The wolf just stared back and shrugged at that.

“Okay. Well, at least we’re as confused as each other. So, do you want me to call you Zero again?”

The wolf just stared back silently.

“I suppose that means you want me to make this decision? Fine. Zero it is.”

Aaron accepted the prompt, and its inspection window changed before his eyes,

Zero [ Level 105 ]

Titles: [ Giant Slayer ]

“What’d you know? It actually did change your name.”

He scratched the former dog behind its ears as it pressed its body into him, then looked back at the collar. There was a second tag hanging from it, but this one looked slightly different. The one with Zero’s name was shaped like a bone, like a normal pet’s dog tag, but the other was a simple metal rectangle with rounded edges, like one that would be used in the military. Or it would have been, if the end wasn’t torn apart. It looked like a bullet had torn through it. He flipped it over and read its contents as well.

WILLIAMS

JAMES R

5487229104

USMC O POS

NO PREFERENCE

As soon as he read it, he knew that this tag hadn’t belonged to a dog.

“James R. Williams…” he read aloud.

At the sound of the name, Zero’s tail drooped slightly, and he pressed tighter into Aaron.

“Is that your former owner?”

Zero let out a small whine. Aaron wanted to say something comforting to Zero, telling it that its owner might still be alive after surviving the Tutorial, but then he glanced down at the tag again and the bullet hole at the end of it and frowned. And while it took him a moment, he eventually recognized the USMC acronym as well. This James R. Williams person had been dead before the Tutorial.

He spent a few seconds just petting Zero before the goblins and humans wandered over, not sure what to do. They recognized that the battle was over, but while Zero had shrunk, he was still a menacing D-grade, so they were now standing around, still looking apprehensive. 

“Well, it looks like I have a pack of wolves helping us now. Should we keep moving?” Aaron said as if it were just another day.

“What?” Marko muttered, still holding his weapon tightly. “What the hell happened?”

“Are you sure this is safe?” Treg swallowed and jumped as a wolf stepped too close. But then something seemed to come over him, and he relaxed a little, like he was trying to force himself to be more like Aaron.

“Eh, maybe?” Aaron shrugged. “I can’t say for sure. I was not expecting this at all. But Zero here seems like a friendly doggo, aren’t you, Zero?”

Zero nodded and nestled its neck into Aaron’s hand as he gave it a rub. “There you are. Feels good, huh? Who’s a good boy?”

“Woof!”

Aaron's brow bent as Zero sounded way too dog-like. That and the collar made his suspicions about the beast run wild. Had it been a regular dog before the integration? He had a vague memory of being told that the animals of Earth would evolve and turn into beasts. Was this part of that?

And if Zero was just a doggo dragged into the mess of the multiverse, had that been why it seemed to submit so easily? Did it want to find an owner?

Aaron looked into its eyes, and gone was the malice of the beast they had first met. Big eyes blinked back, and he couldn’t help but grow a soft spot for it.

“I’m pretty sure the wolves are safe now,” he said after a long pause. “Now let’s get moving before the ants find us.”

NEXT CHAPTER

Book 3: Chapter 8

“Okay, listen up,” Aaron said as they walked toward the D-grade wolf and its pack. “I don’t need any heroics. I want us all to come out the other end alive, okay? So here’s the plan. I want you, Treg, and your people to create your shield wall. Focus on drawing the fight out and staying alive. No risk-taking. No fancy stuff. Do just enough to keep the wolf pack’s attention on you, and not me. You’re not looking for kills, you’re not looking to win. Just keep them engaged, okay? Watch each other’s backs, be smart. That kind of stuff.”

“I suppose we can do that,” Treg agreed.

“And you, Marko, I want you with them, laying traps. Work with Treg. I know you can’t understand each other, but figure out some hand commands or something. Find out where the weak spots in the goblin defenses are, and plug them up with your traps. I’ll try to draw them out, but I’ll need you and the others to hold their attention, and that requires everyone working together as best they can.”

“Got it! I’ll see what I can do.”

“Zach?”

“Yeah!”

“Do what you do. Stay out of sight and shoot arrows. If you can, use them to draw the wolves to the formation. Hell, if it’s possible, draw them to the traps. But most importantly, keep them off my back. I’m going to need some time. If I’m right about this, and the alpha is a leader-type Class, everything should get much easier once I take it down. I doubt it’s going to be easy, though. If you got anything to buff yourself, potions and whatnot, use them now.”

Aaron, of course, got his own food out. Unfortunately, he never really cooked much for others, especially not weaker people. He had his couple of remaining servings of his Heavenly Bog Infused Bánh mì, but it required high morale to work. He was fairly certain it was wasted on the goblins, and honestly wasn’t sure it would work on either Marko or Zach.

If it didn’t work, it would have no effect, but still cause minor side effects after it wore off. Was it worth the risk? There was nothing about the wolves that made him think they had mind attacks, which was one of the buffs the dish carried. And so that lowered its usefulness. The dish also provided Energy efficiency, which would be useful. It also provided a nice Vitality and Willpower buff. Vitality in particular would be useful to those on the ground, but still, if they didn’t have the morale for it to work, it would just end up being a debuff, and Aaron didn’t feel good taking that risk.

Luckily, the goblins had an alchemist. It was the very alchemist their herbalist had been collecting ingredients for earlier, and they had several potions of Stoneskin, and even a potion of Eagle Eye for Zach. And while the potions weren’t amazing, they were probably better suited for the situation, even if the banh mi worked.

Aaron, on the other hand, grabbed a serving of Ichor Braised Bison Meat Pie from his scabbard and devoured it, along with a bunch of other stuff, and caught the gazes of his companions as he enlarged, while eating copious amounts of food.

“Okay, are we all ready?” Aaron asked, stuffing the last handful of food down his mouth as they reached the edge of the wolf territory.

“As ready as we’ll ever be,” Marko said.

Zach had already left them to take a spot in the trees, but an arrow shot down to confirm he, too, was ready.

“Err, I suppose so. Let’s get this over with,” Treg said, still sounding uncertain.

“Okay. So, their lair proper, where the wolves rest, doesn’t begin until some way into the territory. We’ll march until we spot them, but when we do, the fight could start in an instant. So you need to be ready. You have to be able to get into formation within seconds, okay?”

“Okay,” Treg said. “You hear that, everyone? Be on the ready! In formation, the moment I give the command!”

“Good. It looks like you got things under control. Let’s move.”

A couple of minutes later, they spotted the raised heads and twitchy ears of a few wolves, who had obviously already heard, and possibly sensed their arrival.

Aaron raised a hand, and Treg started barking some commands. The goblins immediately got into formation, and Marko got to work laying traps.

“Good luck,” he said, waving and dashing toward their enemy.

He didn’t charge straight into battle, though. He closed the distance and tried to gain their attention. It wasn’t hard, though, and within seconds, all of the wolves were rising from where they lounged and prowling toward him, fangs exposed and dripping with saliva.

But Aaron’s attention was firmly set on the biggest one at their rear, its silver fur glistening in the midday light. Its eyes were cold and hungry like a predator, and it looked at him like nothing more than another meal.

The smaller wolves parted for the big one, and its eyes locked with Aaron’s as it stepped forward, growling softly.

But he didn’t wait for it. Aaron immediately activated a Skill, peppering the entire wolf pack with [ Spectral Bullet Punch ], before shooting back out of range with [ Spectral Rush ]. It didn’t do much but annoy the alpha, but his attack did do some damage to the weaker ones, while others erected defenses to save themselves from the fast-firing ghostly missiles.

But none of that really matters. His attack served its purpose, driving the wolf pack mad with anger and sending them charging forward. 

The silvermane alpha led the charge, bounding toward him, and then suddenly turning into a beam of silver light as it closed the distance in an instant, appearing within inches, biting down with its steely fangs.

A last-second [ Spectral Rush ] was all he could do to survive the attack, and dodging to the side, as he successfully kited the alpha away from his companions.

Arrows shot down from above, slamming into the sides of a couple of smaller wolves the moment they stepped into range. It was perfectly timed, and was turned from Aaron, and toward the formation of goblins banging their weapons and hollering insults at the wolves.

The plan seemed to be working, and the wolves went straight for them and began to circle around the shield formation.

It seemed that it wasn’t hard to draw them away from Aaron. Probably because the alpha was the largest and strongest by a good margin, and they obviously had confidence in its ability to deal with him alone.

Claws struck out, sending blades of silver light at the shield formation as they circled. As the attacks landed, the shields shook against their might. But they didn’t fall. Not yet, at least. And the goblins had Skill too, and defensive barriers flickered up, only to vanish seconds later as they were summoned and quickly destroyed by beams of silver light.

The shields themselves took a beating from the attacks raining down upon them as well. And the opportunistic wolves darted in and out of melee range, biting down with razor-sharp jaws that crushed shields beneath them, alongside unlucky goblin hands.

But the goblins weren’t helpless. They drove their enemies back with coordinated spear attacks and sword thrusts, drawing blood and sending the beasts whimpering backward.

Traps were detonated around them as the wolves circled, some catching the wolves and temporarily turning them into sitting ducks for counterattacks, while others poisoned, set aflame, or skewered their paws on spikes. Though as helpful as the traps were, none were killing blows.

But they didn’t need to be. Wounded wolves broke from their assault, fleeing back to the rear of the pack as others took their place. Away from the action, the wolves could heal and recover. But at least it gave the defenders some breathing room, and their objective was to distract, and that was exactly what they were doing. They just needed to hold on long enough.

Not far away, Aaron clashed with the silvermane alpha again, and little pins of silver light shot out from its fur, cutting through his body and opening hundreds of tiny wounds across it.

But that wasn’t all. The little needles of silver light remained in his skin, slowing him down and making him heavy. Although as bad as the debuff was, it wasn’t as bad as the ring, and he felt like he had already gained an edge from the short time he had worn it.

Grunting, he fought through the pain and the debuff. Aaron slammed into the wolf with a series of flashy attacks that sent it bouncing back as it readjusted for another attack.

However, it was obvious that he had taken the worst of it, and new wounds were opening up across his body every time they fought. Also, while he could somewhat work through it, the silver pins were an annoying debuff. However, he was fairly certain he knew how to get rid of them. The only problem was finding a good opening to do so.

He jumped in and out of the shadows with the help of his cape. The alpha could smell him and mostly followed his scent, but nonetheless, the little trick did seem to confuse and slow its attacks, giving him yet another edge against it.

Dipping into Fate Bender, he lined up his plan and set it into motion. He gave the wolf an opening, let it come to him, and blasted straight through its first attack with [ Spectral Rush ], taking partial damage from the silver light, which opened a wound across his chest. But that was fine. He already knew it was going to happen.

When he appeared, he countered with his own attacks, funneling a good portion of his adipose reserves into a combo chain that started with a particularly powerful [ Soul Shattering Strike ], which was followed up with a strong haymaker slamming into its chin.

The wolf squealed, and its maw was knocked off course; however, its claws weren’t, and they ripped Aaron to gory pieces.

But unfortunately for it, this too was part of his plan, and when his aether shocked him back to life, he appeared before it minus the silver needles.

At full strength, and his adipose reserves still mostly intact, he gritted his teeth and pounded the wolf with an absolutely apocalyptic [ Soul Shattering Strike ].

The beast howled as Aaron slammed his fists into it, drawing blood for the first time, and blasting away at its energy reserves.

And against all odds, the D-grade beast was actually forced into retreat, bouncing away to gather itself. Snarling and growling at Aaron, it didn’t immediately charge back into the fray, either.

His attack had woken it up and scared it.

It was obvious that this wolf had seen him as easy prey, but that had changed. It now knew that he was a real threat, and wasn’t so quick to charge straight back into action so carelessly.

But even more curiously, was the way the pack behaved. They had been rotating in and out, taking turns attacking the goblin formation, and gradually breaking down the defenses little by little.

And it had been working, too. There were more of them, and they were at a higher average level than the goblins or the humans. 

All the goblins could do, even with Marko and Zach assisting, was hang on for their lives, and unfortunately, a couple had already succumbed, dragged out from their positions, and flayed across the ground by the wolves.

It was a desperate situation, and the goblin defenders, marked by many wounds, looked to be close to breaking.

But when Aaron landed his terrifying [ Soul Shattering Strike ] on the alpha, causing it to howl and squeal in pain and terror, they paused. The wolves turned and watched as their leader limped away from Aaron, their gazes laser-focused.

Aaron and the alpha clashed again only moments later, and it wasn’t the man who had come away worse for it. He had landed several attacks, and while they didn’t look like much to the naked eye, anyone with a sense for energy could feel the fluctuations traveling through both the silvermane alpha and the air.

The wolf leader hadn’t liked that, and now it stared him down with great trepidation. It was obvious the mood had changed, and fear was dripping into the alpha.

Gone was the mantle of the fearless, fear-inducing alpha wolf. And what stood in its place was a mere beast, and the others took notice, as if a veil had been slightly pulled back.

Despite this, though, Aaron grimaced. He was beating the alpha, just like he thought he would, but the others weren’t holding out as well as he hoped. He doubted they would last another minute. He needed to finish this as quickly as possible, but as he saw the fear and confusion in the alpha’s eyes, a chilling thought came to him. What if it fought scared? What if it ran and fought defensively? Would Aaron be able to kill it before its subordinates killed the goblins?

He gritted his teeth and crouched down slightly, filling his legs with Stamina. He had basically forced these people into the battle. He knew it was going to be tough, but he thought he would have more time. Now, faced with the possibility of failure, he knew that if the others all died, even if he survived, he would be haunted by it for the rest of his life. 

He wasn’t just going to let them die like that. 

He took a second to focus his mind and prepared to shoot forward and end the fight as soon as possible, but right when he was about to charge, something odd happened. The fighting in the clearing suddenly came to a halt as a System notification appeared in front of him.

You have been challenged to duel for the Title of alpha and supremacy over the pack. 

Reward: Alpha Trait and silvermane pack leadership

Accept? Y/N

What? Aaron thought.

Was it challenging him… for control of the pack? But why? If it had just held out for a minute longer, its victory would have been more or less assured. The other wolves would have joined the battle against Aaron, and the tides would have turned. So why would it do something like this?

He glanced back and saw that the fighting between the others had stopped. They weren’t in good shape, but they were alive, and for the moment, they had a chance to catch their breath. He had a feeling that if he rejected the request, though, that would no longer be the case.

Fuck, he thought.

He couldn’t help but feel he was somehow walking into a trap, but he didn’t really have a choice. Not if he wanted to guarantee the others’ lives.

Accept.

***

“What’s going on?” Treg growled, blood dripping from his lip, as he gripped his hammer tightly.

“They’re leaving us?” Marko said, only a few meters away, his expression confused and equally wounded.

“What do we do?” A goblin said.

“Wait,” Treg raised a hand. “It doesn’t look like they’re going to attack him. Let’s see what happens.”

Treg wasn’t just trying to save himself, either. The wolves didn’t look like they were planning to join the fight to attack Aaron. They were calmly strolling toward where the battle was taking place.

And then, one by one, they began to take spots, sitting around as they intended to watch the fight.

Neither the goblins nor the humans had any idea what was going on. But if they were given a moment of reprieve, they had to take it. If they had healing potions, they drank them. If not, they used healing salves or whatever else they had available, trying desperately to recover whatever they could before the battle resumed.

But it didn’t. It seemed something else was taking place. The wolves showed no intent to resume fighting, instead choosing to become observers as Aaron and the silvermane alpha stared each other down, preparing for the next round.

“Let’s see where this goes,” Treg finally said, and then the goblins and human companions too joined as spectators.

NEXT CHAPTER

Tomorrow's chapter

Just wanted to let people know that tomorrow's chapter will likely be quite a bit later than usual. My co-writer does Thanksgiving, and since they edit/review this story, it'll likely release whenever they're done with that.

Book 3: Chapter 7

Aaron eyed the ant for a moment as it dug through the old camp. It was very thorough, sniffing around and giving particular attention to any spot where they or their belongings had been.

After its short investigation, it seemed to activate a Skill that puffed something into their air, and then continued to follow their trail.

It was too… organized. Eerily so, and while it wasn’t strong, the little ant gave him the creeps.

But a single ant wasn’t worth changing directions over. He needed to keep going and see what its buddies were like.

Gliding through the jungle, he continued down the path they had previously walked, figuring that if there was one ant following it, there were probably more.

There was another thought playing on his mind. Ahead, there were three clearly defined D-grade beast territories. But there hadn’t been behind them, at least not from what they had seen.

Sure, there were a few somewhat strong beats, like the huge toad and owlbear, but they wouldn’t have stood a chance against the D-grades. And so what was stopping them from expanding their territories in this direction?

Aaron got a sinking feeling as he felt like he already knew the answer.

It didn’t take long before he spotted more drones. Like the first one, they were mostly marching along the tracks he and his group had left. But not mindlessly. It was a careful investigation. They were stopping to sniff about, antennae twitching all the while. They shoved their faces into things and sifted through what the group had left behind.

Again, it was the methodical nature of them that gave him the creeps. He even spotted one of the drones investigating a tree he remembered peeing on, and then turned back to the group and continued its careful march down the path.

I have a feeling there’s no escaping these little guys. Not for long, at least.

But Aaron didn’t turn back. Not yet, at least. He still lacked information on the little guys and continued in the direction they were swarming from.

And soon, what had been a trickle of ants turned into a wave. Thick lines, three or four abreast, filled the jungle corridors beneath the massive trees, looking like rivers of ants scuttling along.

Furthermore, it wasn’t just drones he spotted. Formic Soldiers were dotted about the place, as if on sentry duty. And they were not just ten to twenty levels higher than the drones, but had hard, prickly shells and mean, sharp-looking mandibles.

Still, he decided to travel further. His spirit link with his body was starting to weaken, but he still had some distance left in him. 

By this point, he had already traveled further than the cave he met Marko and Zach in, and the further he went, the more the landscape began to change.

It was obvious that these ants weren’t simple beasts. Trees, even massive ones, had been felled, and land cleared. Paths weaved through the barren land like roads, carrying hundreds, maybe thousands of the industrial little guys, and beyond it all, he spotted a mound.

Armored and winged ants guarded the peak of the mound, and they looked even meaner than the soldiers, and some were even at the peak of E-grade.

But that wasn’t the worst of it. He could feel something far worse. Something within the mound, likely burrowed beneath the earth. It was strong and certainly D-grade.

I’m guessing the queen is in there.

This was all the evidence he needed. Facing off against the ants was a bad idea, and their territory seemed to stretch on in all directions. If they attempted to go around them, they would be forced to leave the cover of the jungle and march across the cleared lands of the ants.

Yeah, I have a feeling that isn’t going to work.

Even if individually, the ants weren't as strong as the other D-grades, there were thousands of them. And there was no guarantee that they weren’t as strong as the other D-grades, after all, from what he could see, their territory was by far the largest.

He started heading back to his body, but paused when he noticed a giant lizard facing off against an ant. He floated towards the fight, wanting to see what would happen. Calling it a fight was a stretch because the lizard had 40 levels on the ant, but they were still having a bit of a standoff, because even with the level difference, the ant clearly made the lizard nervous.

After a few seconds, the lizard finally dashed forward, and after a brief, one-sided struggle, the ant was dead. However, when it died, it released a burst of mana into the air, which rapidly traveled back through the jungle. It moved too quickly for Aaron to track, but it was obvious that it was heading back to the main ant force.

He flew back in the direction it had gone for a bit until he saw a group of ants rapidly moving toward where the one had died. There were dozens of drones, and a half dozen soldiers this time. Aaron was tempted to watch the fight because even with the numbers advantage, he still thought the lizard had good odds, given its level, but instead, he grimaced and turned away. He didn’t have time to sit around watching like this.

Shaking his head, he glided back through the jungle and flew straight into his body, animating it and coming to life in an instant.

“He’s back!” Marko exclaimed, and Treg and the others gathered around, feverish for news.

Panting, Aaron slowed himself down and then explained what he had seen. 

“Giant ants? Troubling,” Marko scratched his chin. “Their levels are low… but if there really are that many.”

“No, no, no,” Treg whined. “This is no good! Thousands? I just want to be out of this damnable jungle already!”

“I know,” Aaron said. “But let’s calm down and think this through.”

“Agreed,” Marko nodded. “If we’re calm, I’m sure we can work this out.”

Leaves rustled, and a moment later, Zach dropped down beside them. “I’ve been scouting the area a little. I think we might be able to cut between the D-grade territories if we’re careful. If I’m not mistaken, there is some kind of no-man’s land between each territory. There are no marks there, no corpses or bones, et cetera. Leaving me to believe they stay clear of those areas.”

“Hmm, perhaps,” Aaron murmured.

He honestly didn’t like the idea. Sounded riskier than just taking the wolves on. If either the simian or the wendigo spotted them or sensed them, death was highly probable.

But he also didn’t want to just go ordering people around. He decided to help these people, not dictate to them. If he demanded that they go through the wolves, he had a strong feeling that they would do it. After all, without him, they weren’t surviving this situation.

But he didn’t want to do it like that.

“I know that sounds safer, but it’s also riskier,” he said. “We might be able to sneak by, but if we don’t, we’ll have not one but two D-grades on us with the ant army coming from behind. I can’t beat the Reaver, and honestly, I’m even more terrified of the wendigo, so I don’t want to risk running into either of them. But I know we can beat the wolves. The D-grades won’t enter each others’ territory, so we’ll only have to deal with them, and if we take them out, we’ll be home free.”

“I dunno…” said Zach, clearly not quite buying into it. 

“Absolutely not!” exclaimed Treg. “You want to get my people killed!”

“I don’t,” said Aaron. “But mate, if we try anything else, and it goes wrong, all of us are going to die. If we get caught between three forces, we’re dead. If we try to fight our way through the ants, we’re dead. If we challenge the Reaver, we’re dead. If we challenge the Wendigo, we’re dead. The only way everyone survives without being in much danger is if we get lucky, and I don’t like relying on luck.”

“And I don’t like relying on an overconfident human I just met a few days ago,” countered Treg. “You say you can beat the D-grade wolf, but what if you’re wrong? We’re just as dead as if we took any of the other paths, but in this case, there’s no chance we survive. I’d trust luck over a stranger’s confidence any day.”

“Dude, you’ve seen me fight,” said Aaron. “You saw me survive the Reaver.”

“Survive, yes,” said Treg. “But I don’t know how. Maybe you had some ultimate escape item. You’re strong, but the difference between an E grade and a D grade isn’t something you can overcome so easily.”

“I can do it,” said Aaron.

“So you say,” said Treg.

Aaron was stone-faced in his frustration. He had a really bad feeling about trying to squeeze between two of the D grades. They had already tried it before with the reaver and ended up almost dead. There was a possibility that Aaron could hold it off while the others ran by, but he would most certainly die doing that, and he knew that the weaker goblins couldn’t move quickly enough to outrun the reaver once it killed him.

And as for the wendigo… Aaron didn’t even want to try it. It was the kind of monster that Yendal had warned about. One of the very few that could exploit is only our true weakness. He had no idea what was in store if he went that route, and in the worst-case scenario, he would die instantly and wouldn’t be able to protect the others at all.

It was only the wolves that he felt confident against, but he needed the goblins on this side if he wanted a chance. He felt certain he could beat the D-grade alpha, but only if the others occupied the weaker wolves, and Marko and Zach weren’t strong enough to do that on their own.

But he couldn’t think of a way to convince Treg. As frustrating as it was, Treg had a point. They had only known each other for a few days, and Aaron was a level 48 claiming he could defeat a D-grade. Even if he had done some impressive things in the past, gambling an entire tribe on Aaron’s claims was extreme. If Aaron were in Treg’s position, he might feel the same way.

But this wasn’t the time for empathy. The ants were constantly getting closer, and the longer they waited, the less time they would have to prepare for battle. He hadn’t wanted to order people around, but it looked like he didn’t have a choice. He took a moment to swap out the Titles displayed on his namecard so that they showed his Blessings, then spoke.

“Treg,” he said sternly. “I am not making empty claims. I am the holder of the True Blessing of the Martial God herself. I have the Greater Blessing of the God of Cooking and Gluttony. I survived the Shadow Trials as a level one. As a level 46, I placed in the Shadow Trials Hall of Fame. I am not just some guy talking big. I can beat the Alpha wolf. I can get us out of this jungle. But I can’t do it without you. I need you and your people. I can’t guarantee that everyone will survive, but I can guarantee that most of us will make it, and that’s not something I can say about any of the other paths. We are going to fight the wolves, and we are going to win. Understand?”

As Aaron spoke, something odd happened. The moment he invoked Yendal’s title, something in the air seemed to shift. The air became heavier, and his words seemed to become louder and carry more weight. The effect was increased when he mentioned Oozagh’s title, and it carried through the rest of his speech. The originally defiant goblin shrank back, and Aaron noticed more than a bit of fear in his eyes.

Treg hesitated, glancing first at Aaron, then back at the other goblins. Then, he gulped. Then, he nodded.

“Good,” said Aaron. “Everyone, get ready to move.”

Aaron turned and walked away from the group, not sure what else to do. As he did, he heard Marko mutter behind him.

“Damn… That was cool as fuck.”

Aaron felt a little embarrassed, but at the same time, he was glad it had worked. He was also curious as to exactly what had happened. It didn’t take long for him to figure it out. The description of his Blessing from Yendal called him a herald. By invoking her name, he was invoking the power contained within her Blessing as well, which allowed the others to catch a glimpse of exactly who was backing him. Invoking Oozagh’s title had a similar effect, though somewhat lesser, as it was a Greater Blessing instead of a True Blessing.

Still, it was good to know he had that kind of power. He didn’t expect to go around announcing himself as Yendal’s chosen, but the fact that he could make his presence and identity seem more powerful so that others would take him more seriously was good. He could see a few situations where such an ability might be useful. 

He waited by a tree, using [ Soul Vortex ] to keep an eye on their surroundings until a minute or so later when Zach and Marko arrived. He noticed that they were both a little more nervous than they had been before.

“We’re all ready,” said Marko.

“Good,” said Aaron. “Let’s get moving.”

“Do you have a plan for beating the wolves?” asked Zach as they started walking.

“Nothing specific,” said Aaron, shaking his head. “But I have a few ideas. We can discuss as we walk.”

“Sounds good,” replied Zach. “I’ll go grab Treg then.”

NEXT CHAPTER

Book 3: Chapter 6

It slammed down onto the forest floor several meters away, reverberating through the earth far louder than one would expect for its size, and Aaron felt an odd wave of energy ripple through.

It was the first time he had really experienced something like it, and his [ Soul Vortex ] was telling him that it was Earth Affinity energy.

Hmph, interesting.

The man-sized primate glared at him, barely even registering his party lined up behind him. Its white fur was woven through a hide that looked oddly similar to laminar armor, and huge claws jutting out from its fingers, looking more like daggers.

Judging by its level alone, Aaron knew he had to take the fight seriously. Even if it was no Mo’han in terms of prowess and inherent Skill, it was not only a D grade, but it was more than 30 levels into D grade. 30 levels in D grade was the stat equivalent of 90 levels in E grade, and that wasn’t even counting evolution bonuses or the qualitative change that the stats took on when race went up a grade.

This thing is stronger than Mo’han, Aaron realized. And I’m wearing a parasite ring.

He was stronger than he had been when he fought Mo’han, but only by a few E-grade levels. Even if he removed the ring, he doubted he could win. He had lost against Mo’han the first time, after all, only winning after literally dying half a dozen times to figure out Mo’han’s abilities and finding a single small opening. This Simian Reaver was stronger and faster, and unlike in the Shadow Trials, Aaron didn’t have the luxury of true immortality to aid him.

He activated Fate Weaver to try to get a read on the monster, but he wasn’t even given a second more to think, because at that moment, it flashed before him, appearing only inches away, and slashing out with its huge claws.

In less than a second, Aaron was barely saved by a [ Spectral Rush ] that sent him incorporeal just in time to survive, and then flew him backward and out of range.

However, his Skill put him out of position and placed several goblins between him and the primate, forcing him to shoot back into melee range without a plan.

He wasn’t some superhero throwing himself in front of a train for strangers. He wasn’t going to dive on a bullet and sacrifice himself. But he knew that these little greenskins would be massacred in seconds if he didn’t intervene, and at least he had the means of surviving a losing battle.

But it only took seconds for him to realize just how bad this battle really was. The simian's claws cut through the air stupidly fast, and within a couple of microclashes, Aaron had wounds up and down his body, leaking blood all over the place.

Between the deadly slicing attacks, he had managed to land a few weak punches, but they barely fazed the irate reaver. And the moment he broke engagement, and created some distance between them to try and get his wits about him, the simian shot razor leaves that continued to cut his body up.

Bouncing around and only just keeping himself alive with the thanks of fate reading, vines whipped out from the surrounding trees, and tried to tangle his legs whenever he stepped foot on the ground.

It was attacking from all angles, and if he stopped moving for even a second, something was going to get him.

The battle had only been going for seconds, and Aaron had spent most of it incorporeal, spamming [ Spectral Rush ] as he dashed around just to keep himself alive.

His goblins and his human companions had barely registered what was happening, and within a few seconds of the furious melee, Aaron had his right arm sliced off by a vicious attack from the simian.

But despite the gory wound it had inflicted, the simian actually paused for a second. It too could feel the massive influx of energy pouring into Aaron, and within a second or two, he was a different man. It hadn’t even been that long since he put the ring on, but he had leveled up multiple times since then and had never felt his body at 100% with this newfound power. It felt good.

Drawing on some of his reserves, he funneled energy into his severed arm, and within moments, it had regenerated. But he was far from convinced of the outcome of this fight.

This thing was no pushover. It was powerful. It was smart. And it was angry.

“Everyone, get back already! Run for your fucking lives! I’ll meet you back at our temporary camp!”

They didn’t need to be told twice. The goblins and his human companions turned and fled without another word. Perhaps a sneaky trap or a well-placed arrow might have provided some assistance. Maybe Treg had something up his sleeve he wasn’t aware of, too. But Aaron knew there was no messing around in this fight.

Just one mistake, and it would be all over. It would only take this enemy seconds to slaughter his companions, and he couldn’t be everywhere at once. And he wasn’t about to throw their lives away on the gamble that they might be able to provide a little help.

The simian attacked again, but this time the reaver appeared behind him, and it seemed to be able to use the shadows of the giant trees as some kind of movement Skill, appearing around him in a blink.

And once more, the battle turned into desperate chaos as the D-grade beast continued its relentless attack. As expected, even with the ring removed, this was no easy foe.

Delving into Fate Weaver, he searched for an opportunity and engaged. But no matter how well he picked his battles, wounds were quickly mounting up across his body.

But if he could drag the fight on for just a few more seconds, then he could help the others escape and then focus on himself. They clashed again, fists meeting fists, and punches were exchanged for wounds, but within the exchange, he landed a [ Soul Shattering Strike ], and not even the deadly simian could pretend like that was nothing.

Its energy went wild, fluctuating, and a second later, the primate’s eyes glowed with hatred. This was new, and certainly not the fear he was used to inflicting on his enemies.

But he had no time to muse on the outcome, as the reaver attacked furiously in that instant.

But there was an even bigger problem than the rage he had induced in the beast. While he had damaged its energy, physically, it looked undamaged, while he was starting to look like a walking corpse. And the battle was becoming more and more one-sided as it continued, and it was starting to look like a hopeless fight.

Another clash ended with several very deep wounds slicing Aaron up, and simian followed up with poisonous vines that shot out from around him, cocooning him in their venomous, leafy flesh.

And seconds later, he was dead, overwhelmed by the toxins seeping into his broken and bloodied body. But unlike how he usually fought, he restrained the aether from rushing back into his lifeless body, holding his resurrection back, and took control of his spirit.

For a few seconds, he just stood there as a spirit and watched the simian. It sniffed the air and looked in the direction his companions fled, but it didn’t follow, and then he noticed the scratch marks on the trees.

He wasn’t entirely sure what the simian’s deal was. He figured that it must still go hunting for prey, as it was very strong, and it needed to kill to get stronger.

But it also seemed unbothered by hunting his companions as long as they were outside of its marked territory.

Perhaps they were too weak? Maybe this beast wasn’t dumb, and it understood the System as he did. Understanding that killing weaker foes would only weaken its own path and therefore, its ascension. Especially when they were so much weaker than itself, it was one thing to kill a slightly weaker foe from time to time, or even to slaughter a group of them, but making a habit of doing so would likely have consequences.

But it also wasn’t in a rush to go anywhere, which was rather annoying. It just plotted around, scanning the surroundings, but then again, this was its territory.

It was at that moment that Aaron wondered if he had gained experience for killing him, since he wasn’t technically dead yet. He needed to know exactly what enemies felt when they killed him, he realized, and would test this later when he was somewhere safe.

But for now, he needed an escape. However, first he needed to recover his belongings, and used some of the tiny reserves of aether active in his spirit to activate [ Spirit Hands ], pick up the ring, and delicately slide it into this scabbard without alerting the simian.

Next, he had to save himself. But wandering around as a spirit wasn’t the same as using [ Spectral Projection ]. He had very limited aether and no other energy sources. It was really just an in-between state when he died, and it weakened by the second, threatening true death the longer he prolonged resurrecting himself.

But he also had to be smart. This thing was going to kill him again if he tried resurrecting within sight, and once it knew his trick, there was a good chance he wasn’t getting away.

He either had to wait for the simian to wander off or distract it somehow. And waiting for it was leaving his future in the hands of destiny, and that simply wasn’t something he was willing to do, unless he could see his fate for himself.

But as he mused on his options, several ideas came to him. And one in particular got him excited. If he could just distract the simian for a second, then maybe it would work.

With his plan devised, he used the last dregs of aether to grab hold of some meat from his storage, cupping it in his spirit hands to hide it, and then moved as far away from his body as he could before flinging it into some bushes away from him.

The trick wasn’t perfect, but it worked. The suspicious simian turned and looked in its direction. And for a moment, he thought that it wasn’t going to take the bait. But as it sniffed the air, it must have caught the scent of his meat, and couldn’t resist investigating.

The moment it was far enough away and looking in the opposite direction, he revived and had to hold in the gasp of life pouring into his body. It was one of the longest times he had spent dead, and he could feel the otherworldly necrosis threatening his life.

It was too close, and the feeling was ice cold and terror-inducing. But he couldn’t linger on that. He needed to act quickly. He wasn’t out of danger yet, and he immediately used his Cape of Shadows to hide in the shadows.

It all happened in a second, but the simian wasn’t easily confused, and it turned straight back to where he was, sniffing and scanning the area.

But it had neither seen him use the cape, nor had it seen him previously use shadow abilities, and therefore, it hadn’t expected it. Not only that, but it hadn’t seen him resurrect or had any reason to believe he might still be alive.

However, his corpse was missing, which was no doubt suspicious. But if he had to guess, the simian seemed to think something else was around. And whatever it was, it had caused both the distraction and stolen his corpse.

But although he was invisible in the shadows, he knew that his Skill wasn’t perfect. Yendal, for starters, could see straight through it, and this simian clearly had good senses and smell. It wasn’t a Perception-focused monster, or else it would have already noticed him, but it clearly didn’t treat Perception as a dump stat either, and sooner or later, Aaron would be found.

He had to think quickly, and only one idea came to mind. He started to throw more food, picking the most pungent, stinky food he could find in his scabbard.

Of course, he wasn’t just throwing it. Aaron used his [ Spirit Hand ] Skill to sneakily pick out the food without breaking from the shadows. It also allowed him to grab and conceal the food within the spirit hand, and drop and throw it from further away, not giving away his position.

The simian was no fool, though. It didn’t just go running after every piece of food he threw, but that didn’t matter. All the pungent meats, foul herbs like rotweed, and disturbing dishes he chucked out filled the air with a rotten stench that twisted the simian's senses into overdrive. It resisted for a long moment, but it soon became too much. And after a few seconds, it bounced away to the treetops in search of fresh air, and Aaron didn’t waste a second fleeing.

Flying through the forest, he barely spent a second in his corporeal state, blasting [ Spectral Rush ] repeatedly, with no concern for the energy drain it had.

And soon, it seemed that he had done it. But escaping the powerful D-grade hadn’t been cheap. He had wasted a good portion of his stored meals, including some of his best. It was very bittersweet, but at least everyone had survived.

He paused and took a moment to catch his breath, closing his eyes and thinking back on the battle. Then, he shuddered.

I almost died, he realized.

If not for a lucky combination of abilities and items, Aaron would be dead. And not Shadow Trials dead. Dead dead. All that time he spent pushing himself beyond his limits would have been wasted, barely a week after he got out. 

He replayed some of the scenes from the battle in his head. He saw the reaver’s terrifying claws carving up his body, trying their best to tear him to pieces. They were incredibly fast, and even with [ Equal and Opposite], he wasn’t able to block them. They simply had too much force behind them. And yet…

I should have done better, he thought. Yendal could have won.

Despite its immense speed and power, unlike Mo’han, its attacks did not have residual energy that forced Aaron to waste resources when he didn’t even get directly hit. If he had just predicted and dodged its attacks better, he would not have wasted any energy at all. And with Fate Weaver, something like that was more than possible.

He glanced back the way he had fled from, and for a moment, he was tempted to go back and test himself against it again. He had been caught off-guard before, and was not only fighting on the back foot, but was distracted by the thought of Zach, Marko, and the goblins escaping. If he went back there right now, now that he knew more about its abilities and what he needed to do to defeat it…

He hesitated for a moment, then shook his head. No, it was still too risky. Even if he was calmer, it was still too fast and strong for him at the current moment. He would just die again, this time permanently. He needed to work hard and train before challenging it again. And now that he had that experience, he understood why Yendal had given him the ring. Against an opponent that so thoroughly outclassed him in terms of stats like that, he would never be able to make up the gap with more energy unless he matched its level. If he wanted to beat it as he was, he needed raw skill. And there was no better way to train than with the parasite ring inhibiting the crutch that his energy reserves had become.

That was not to say that he would abandon that part of his style, but it was now more clear than ever that he had been relying on it too much. Yendal was right. While Oozagh was powerful, she was the Martial God, not him. He could use Oozagh’s tactics to enhance his energy, but her style of supreme efficiency and perfected basic skill had to remain at his core.

I’ll come back for you later, you bastard, he thought, looking in the reaver’s direction.

Then, he turned away and returned to the others.

“You made it back!” Marko cheered as Aaron appeared through the trees and raised his arms as if he wanted to give him a big bear hug, but caught himself and stopped short.

“Yeah, only just, though,” said Aaron. “That was too close.”

“Damn, we really are doomed, aren’t we? We’re all gonna die here,” Treg bemoaned, shaking his head and falling into despair.

“We’re not gonna die here. Stop being so damn dramatic. We’re just going to have to change our plans,” Aaron huffed.

Treg looked up, but he didn’t appear convinced.

“You got another plan? What are you thinking?” Marko asked.

“There’s no way we can take the simian. Or the wendigo, for that matter. We could try backtracking and circling way around, but honestly, I don’t think that will work. It will be a long detour, and there’s no guarantee that there won’t be more D grades. I think that our best option is to go through the wolves.”

The others were silent for a moment, which was broken by Zach dropping down from the trees. Catching Aaron’s gaze, he spoke up.

“Mate, I know you’re strong and all, but that’s a D grade with a pack of monsters higher level than all of us. I don’t think that’s any better than trying the other two ways.”

“No, it is,” said Aaron, shaking his head. “I’ve been thinking. That wolf might be a D grade, but it also looks like a Leader type. That means it should have weaker combat ability.”

“And wouldn’t that mean it makes all the others stronger?” said Marko. “It doesn’t matter if it’s weaker if it can turn all the other wolves stronger.”

“It does, though,” said Aaron. “Because I can kill it. I’ve killed D grades before, and I’m stronger now than I was then. This one is a leader type, too. The only problem is that I need you guys to keep the other wolves off my back until I do. If we do that, then we should be able to route the others no problem.”

Marko and Zach shared a glance, then shook their heads.

“Sorry, mate,” said Zach. “I know you’re confident and all, and I know you want to get to your friend, but I’m not going to risk my life like this.”

“I need to find my parents, and I can’t do that if I’m dead,” said Marko. “I want to get to your friend’s settlement as much as you do, but I’m no fighter. I’d rather take the longer, safer route if we can.”

“I have people to take care of,” said Treg. “I’m not going to sacrifice my people on a gamble.”

Aaron opened his mouth to continue to plead his case, but then stopped himself. He wasn’t in the Shadow Trials anymore. These people weren’t the ones who were willing to push themselves to the point of near death to get stronger. These were ordinary people thrust into a dangerous situation, and they just wanted to survive. If they were the type to take these kinds of risks, they wouldn’t be at such a low level.

“You’re right,” Aaron sighed. “Sorry. I was thinking too selfishly. Let’s back up and go around. That’s my bad.”

As he said those words, the others seemed to release a lot of tension from their bodies. They were probably worried that Aaron would insist. Even if they weren’t keen on trying it, they also couldn’t afford to lose their strongest warrior in such a dangerous place. 

“Thanks, mate,” said Zach.

“Nah, I wasn’t thinking clearly,” said Aaron. “I’m used to rushing into things. Thanks for talking some sense into me.”

“No worries.”

“Alright, Treg, tell your people to get ready to move. We’re backing up.”

The goblin nodded and turned to the rest of his people, and soon, the group was on the move again. They barely spoke as they moved back through the jungle, occasionally scouting ahead and around to the sides to see if they could find a viable route around the D-grades. 

Soon, however, the goblin druid returned from their own scouting with a concerning report. In the direction they had come from, something was killing monsters, creatures, and plants alike on a massive scale. A chill ran down Aaron’s spine as he wondered what kind of creature could possibly be doing something like that. 

He had recovered enough by then that he was able to use his own scouting Skill and soon sent his spirit forward to see for himself what was happening. At first, he found nothing and wondered if the druid was somehow lying to them, but after traveling more than a dozen kilometers, he finally found something: an ant.

Formic Drone [ Level 36 ]

It was about the size of a dog, and while it didn’t look very threatening, especially considering its low level and lack of Titles, Aaron knew that ants never came alone. With a stony face, he watched as it walked around, antennae twitching until it stopped, bending down to smell something. Aaron flew closer to see what had interested it, and his face fell. 

It was an empty fire pit—one of their empty fire pits. The ant was tracking them. 

NEXT CHAPTER

Book 3: Chapter 5

Hearing news of the D-grade beast ahead of them, Aaron asked Zach to keep watch, while Treg and Marko were to set up a perimeter

With Marko’s traps lined around them, he figured they would be relatively safe, at least for a short while.

“Okay. Good. I’m going to scout ahead. Look after my body, okay?”

Marko’s brows twisted in confusion, but he just nodded along, seemingly no longer bothering to doubt anything Aaron said.

They couldn’t just keep marching ahead, especially not with D-grade beasts around. It was going to cause trouble sooner or later, and he didn’t want to get everyone killed. And so, he figured it was about time he tested out his new Skill.

Activating [ Spectral Projection ], he split his spirit from his body and walked it several meters away. It was an odd sensation, as it allowed his spirit to separate further than it had been able to previously.

And thanks to his previous training, he was able to maintain a weak spectral link with his body, allowing him to control both. Unfortunately, the further he moved away from his body, the weaker the link grew, and soon he had no real control over his body.

But despite losing his ability to control his body, he could still feel it. It was like he could faintly sense what was happening around him, and hopefully, he’d be able to sense if he came under attack. 

Nonetheless, he trusted Marko and Zach to look after his body. Not necessarily because he had gotten to know them well enough for such a trust exercise, but because he knew it was in their best interest to do so. If they wanted to survive this place, they were going to need to keep him alive, and that was good enough insurance for him.

Projecting his spirit out, he continued to walk ahead, stopping to wave at his companions, and confirming they couldn’t see him. Marko was just looking at his limp body strangely, and then poked it. When he got no response, he sighed and got to work, adding a few additional traps around Aaron’s soulless body and then standing watch with his cleaver in hand.

These guys are growing on me.

Feeling as secure as he could, considering the situation, he kept moving. He hadn’t yet decided on their plan of action, but wanted to get a feel for what this D-grade threat was and what else was around before charging into anything.

And what better way than to do it with an invisible spirit? After all, it wasn’t just his life he was playing with. Even if he could escape this D-grade, what if he led it back to the others?

That wasn’t something he wanted to risk, but with his spirit, he could go incognito and see what dangers lay ahead without taking such risks. 

And it didn’t take him long to find evidence of the D-grade. There were bones, and they were everywhere. It wasn’t just scattered bones either. There were literal piles of them dotting what he figured was its lair. 

He had heard mention that the beasts had inhabited the land since the Integration, growing stronger and stronger, which was why they hit D-grade first. And these bones were likely the remains of the beasts that had helped this one get so far.

And soon, he spotted the culprits. It appeared to be a pack of wolves, and they were lying all about the place, sleeping, itching, and rolling about. But it wasn’t the pack members that caught his eye, but the big one they were all scattered around.

Silvermane Alpha Wolf [ Level 105 ]

Titles: [ Pack Leader ] [ Giant Slayer ]

At level 105, the silvermane wolf would be the strongest D-grade Aaron had ever fought, if he decided to. It would likely be stronger than the leeches, although he doubted it was nearly as strong as Mo’han. That said, he was now weakened by the ring. Not only that, but he had barely survived that fight on his second attempt, and that was hardly a pretence to gauge other fights on.

Even if I can take it down, what about the others? I doubt I can deal with its pack at the same time, and the others can’t resurrect as I can…

Aaron decided to glide away and scout around the D-grade and see if he could find a safer path. That said, there was an undeniable part of him that wanted to throw himself at it and keep going until he killed the damn beast. The same part of him that made him a little disgruntled with the thought of avoiding action.

But for now, he held that urge back. There would be plenty of time to go around hunting beasts, and it would be better saved for when he wasn’t looking after a group of destitute people trying to survive the apocalypse.

Not only that, but it was probably best to take on a peak E-grade first, or maybe a beast that had just evolved into D-grade. Something to gauge his power a little more than he already had. After all, the ring really screwed with him, and he wasn’t quite used to its heavy aura weighing him down.

But when he started skirting around to the left of the wolf’s territory, he found something even more disturbing, but also deliciously interesting.

It was faint. But undeniable. A thick hum of spiritual energy hung densely in the air, and it got stronger the further he moved towards it.

Aaron greedily smiled. He had no idea what it was yet, but his senses told him that whatever it was, it would be helpful to him.

However, he started to get uneasy as the skeletons and bones grew even thicker the further he went from the wolves. He had figured they were all the remains of the wolf’s enemies, but why were there more bones the further he got from their den?

And soon, he started to spot decaying wolf bodies, sending a chill down his spine.

A territory dispute?

He kept moving forward, but it made him uneasy. There were a lot of wolf corpses, and that meant whatever was around here wasn’t scared of the D-grade Silvermane.

That said, the increasingly strong spiritual power he felt drove his curiosity onward, and moments later, his hair stood on end as he felt the pull of whatever it was.

Narrowing his gaze, he spotted something through the trees ahead and then saw them dancing around. 

They were spirits. Forest sprites, and they appeared to be dancing around something.

What is that?

A sense of danger sprang up within, but Aaron ignored it and moved closer. What he saw was a glowing, azure pond, and the spirits were passing in and out of it. He had no idea what it was, although he assumed it was some kind of spirit pond or well. But more importantly, he had a pretty good feeling it was valuable, especially to someone like himself.

My lucky day! I think I want this thing!

His eyes were already glowing with the promise of a treasure that could help his spiritual side, but then he saw it.

Just through the trees, only a few meters past the pond. It was long and lanky, striding between the trees with a jerky, awkward movement. It was a huge, ten-foot humanoid standing upright, and his breath caught as he spotted it, pulled in by its deathly aura for a split second.

The jungle around it seemed to wilt where it walked, and then, as his eyes were locked on the reindeer-like humanoid, who wore a skull for a face, it suddenly turned to him.

In an instant, its yellow eyes locked onto his, and it felt as if they were piercing straight through into his soul.

Fuck this. FUCK THIS!

Cursed Wendigo [ Level 121 ]

Titles: [ Aether Wielder ] [ Kinslayer ]

A danger sense as he had never felt before screamed at him, and he wasted no time turning his soul around, sending a blast of aether out to send himself flying away from that thing as fast as he could.

His spirit began to shimmer and grow weak as he fled, and Aaron knew he was draining far too much aether, far too quickly, but he didn’t stop.

He remembered Yendal’s warning about his spirit getting destroyed by creatures that could see it, and the way the wendigo had looked at him gave him a terrible feeling.

Okay, we’re not going that way. Not a fucking chance.

But the moment Aaron made it back to his companions and reached his body, dispelling his Skill and jumping back into his skin, there was an annoyingly invasive part of him that wanted to go back and punch the thing. But he knew that was a dumb, dumb idea, at least for now. And his hair was still standing on end from the experience.

“Something wrong?” Marko asked. “You look like you’ve seen a ghost.”

“You have no idea,” Aaron said, still panting.

He had seen the wendigo’s description. It was an aether wielder, and he wasn’t entirely sure what that meant for his resurrecting ability should he choose to fight it. If it could see his soul, then perhaps it could destroy it. And that meant that if it managed to kill him during a fight, it might just be able to finish the job.

Not only that, but it was level 121, meaning that it had well and truly settled into D-grade. Even if it weren’t an aether wielder, that wasn’t the kind of enemy who should recklessly get into a fight with, now that the trials no longer protected him.

“One moment,” Aaron raised a hand as he steadied his thoughts.

“Not gonna lie, you’re starting to scare me a little.”

“Sorry. It hasn’t chased me, from the looks of things. So we should be okay.”

“That made it so much worse,” Marko said, glancing around at the trees all around them.

“Don’t worry. I can sense it. It’s not coming.”

“Fuck,” Marko shook his head. “It must have been one gnarly beast to scare you like this.”

“It was. We’re not fighting it, though. Don’t worry.”

“So, you got plans, then?” Marko asked. 

“Kinda.”

“Please tell me you do. I’m sick of this damn creepy ass jungle, and listening to that awful language is driving me nuts,” he added, glancing back at the goblins, and Aaron was reminded that they couldn’t understand one another.

“Gotcha. Okay, just give me a moment longer. I need to check out a few more things.”

Marko nodded. “We’re not going anywhere.”

Taking several deep breaths, Aaron then shot up into the sky. This time, frightened by the wendigo, he decided to scout above the jungle. He wouldn’t get as good a look from all the way up there, but he didn’t want to use his spirit anywhere near that thing.

Flying into the sky above the jungle with [ Spectral Rush ], he continued to travel until he could see past the furthest reaches of the jungle.

Beyond it, he could see rolling green fields that seemed to stretch on forever. He shot toward them, keeping a very wide berth from the jungle below, still worried the wendigo might appear and eat his soul.

But when he reached the lush green fields, he was pleasantly surprised. He spotted a few wandering beasts far in the distance, but even from a cursory glance, it was pretty obvious that these lands were far less densely packed with dangerous beasts than the jungle.

The jungle was thick with vegetation, though, and no doubt many opportunities for the beast to grow stronger, and so he wasn’t too surprised that it attracted so many, including the strongest ones.

But this was perfect for his weaker companions travelling alongside him. They could get some reprieve out here, and there was likely still more than enough beasts to gain them some good levels on the way to Talia’s camp.

But he still needed to figure out how they were going to escape the jungle.

Darting back around, he then decided to scout the right-hand side of the wolf den. This side seemed much more promising. There were a few beasts around, but none higher than level 80, and there were no huge groups, like the wolf pack. He occasionally caught glimpses of wolves patrolling to the left, but they seemed to just be defensive, never breaking the line of their territory. As long as he and the others stayed a kilometer or so away, he doubted the wolves would pay them any mind.

Looks like we’ve got our route, he thought happily. 

He scouted a bit further ahead, trying to find the end of the wolf pack’s territory. It was much bigger than he originally anticipated, and he didn’t want to go too far away from the group, fearing they could be attacked while he was gone. Still, he did find what he believed to be the edge of the wolves’ territory. They seemed to like marking the trees with their claws, and after a few dozen kilometers, the claw marks stopped. 

He took a few minutes to double-check and make sure that was the end, and once he was satisfied, he flew back. He saw a few half-eaten carcasses as he flew, which was somewhat concerning, but none of the dead beasts looked particularly strong, and such sights were to be expected in a world like this one. 

“I think I’ve got it,” he said once he got back to their temporary camp.

“Did you find a path?” asked Marko.

“Yep,” said Aaron. “It’s a bit of a detour, but if we go that way, we can get around the wolves’ territory. There are a couple of monsters in the way, but I didn’t see anything too strong. We’ll still need to be careful, though.”

“Of course,” said Zach, looking relieved. “This is good news, though.”

“It is,” said Aaron, nodding. “I’ll let the gobbos know, and we can get moving in a few minutes.”

It wasn’t long before Aaron and his impromptu caravan were on the move again, skirting around the territory of the wolves. They moved carefully with Aaron in the lead, but thankfully, they didn’t encounter too much trouble. Aaron got to adjust to the ring against a couple of moderately strong monsters, and Marko, Zach, and the goblins were able to level up a couple of times against the weaker ones, but otherwise, nothing unexpected happened.

It only took a few hours for them to reach what Aaron believed to be the edge of the wolves’ territory. They found a relatively safe clearing and took a short break while Aaron prepared to activate [ Spectral Projection ] again to double-check their route. The last thing he wanted was for them to think they were home free, only to stumble upon some horror like the wendigo.

Just when he was about to start, though, he hesitated. Something felt wrong. He looked around, activating [Soul Vortex ] to see if there were any monsters hidden nearby, but he sensed nothing. Wondering if maybe he had subconsciously heard something, he tried listening, but the goblins were chattering away, and he couldn’t hear anything over the din.

“Something wrong?” asked Marko, seeing Aaron’s expression.

“I’m not sure,” Aaron muttered. “I need everyone to be quiet. Treg! Tell the other goblins to quiet down.”

“Oi!” shouted Treg. “Pipe down, idiots!”

A few seconds later, the entire group was silent, giving Aaron a chance to listen to the sounds of the jungle. However, he heard nothing: no beasts approaching them, no fighting in the distance, no harrowing roars.

Then, his eyes widened. He heard nothing. The usual sounds of the jungle were entirely gone. 

“Shit!” he said. “Something’s wrong. Everyone, prepare to move!”

The humans and goblins frantically started packing up the items they had taken out during their break as Aaron began to swell up in size. And not a moment too soon either. Right as the last of the goblins were getting their things ready, [ Soul Vortex ] finally detected something perched in one of the trees nearby.

He whirled around to look at it and was met by the sight of a pair of baleful yellow eyes looking directly at him.

Simian Reaver [ Level 132 ]

Titles: [ Slaughterer ] [ Cannibal ]

NEXT CHAPTER

Book 3: Chapter 4

Jumping up above the treeline, Aaron followed Zach’s outstretched finger toward the sounds of battle and used [ Spectral Rush ] to shoot through the sky towards it.

It didn’t take him long before he spotted two dozen or so little figures stretched across the land, battling back a swarm of giant toads between the towering trees and marshy lands.

Redirecting himself downward, Aaron sent himself flying toward the ground with another burst of power. And as he got closer, his brow perked curiously. It wasn’t a group of humans engaged in battle.

“Goblins.”

The little greenshins were scattered about and poorly equipped, from the looks of it. And despite the strongest giant toads being mostly level 50s to 60s, they were struggling.

In fact, more of the goblins were avoiding the bigger toads and doing all they could to take out the weaker, smaller ones that were mostly around level 30 or so.

It’s not looking good for these little guys, Aaron thought as he landed with a bang that sent a shockwave blasting out.

What had caught his eye was the largest of the toads. It was called a hivemother, and at level 90, it was surrounded by four of the little greenskins.

Three of the goblins held shields high and appeared to be working purely defensively to distract, while a fourth was using Skills to empower its large hammer, to strike where it could.

It was lucky they had some kind of plan and strategy; otherwise, they’d have been wiped out quickly, as they weren’t a match for the toad's head-to-head.

But despite this, Aaron didn’t rush off into battle. Standing near the hivemother, he studied the battlefield for a short moment. He didn’t know if the goblins were friendly yet, but it was pretty clear that they weren’t a threat. Not far away, he spotted a couple running away from a toad, and just before it caught up to them, arrows cut it down.

Coming in for the save. Thanks, Zach!

He decided he wanted to help. It felt wrong not to.

But before engaging the hivemother, he stood there for a moment, feeling his energy and comparing it to the giant toad. Everything felt a little off now that he had the ring on. Calibrating himself was important, and it was important to do it during a real battle.

There was something about the way his energy fluctuated, and he knew it was important to get a feel for it. 

That’s enough of that. I'd better do something before these little guys get themselves killed.

But when Aaron finally decided to enter the fray, he did so far more calmly than he had in most recent battles.

This was his inner zen that he had been missing of late. He’d been falling too in love with power and Skills, and needed a little bit of a course correction.

Instead, charging in, he forced himself to slow down. Didn’t just rush in with overwhelming power. In fact, he didn’t even use Fate Weaver, not wanting to rely on the crutch unless he needed to. Instead, he felt the toad's energy and watched its muscles and body for tells.

“Watch out!” One of the goblins yelled as the hivemother’s tongue lashed out, slapping two of the goblins on their shields and sending them flying into lush, viny vegetation.

The toad then turned its attention to Aaron, but when its tongue shot out at him, he simply sidestepped and ducked the bullet-like appendage, while calmly walking toward it.

A bit too far, he thought, frowning.

He slowed his speed, allowing the toad to strike again, and this time, he barely moved, simply tilting his body. The tongue brushed past his side, ruffling his clothes before retracting.

Perfect.

As he got closer, poison barbs shot out from the toad’s serrated, leathery hide. But just like when he was attacked by its tongue, he effortlessly placed his body exactly where it needed to be, dodging the attacks he could and using [ Equal and Opposite ] to cancel the ones he couldn’t.

Still too much, he thought.

He had overestimated the strength of the attack and burned too much energy. Once again, he slowed down on purpose, allowing the toad to attack again. This time, he reduced the energy in his defense, and unfortunately, he overcorrected, and one of the barbs pierced his skin. It didn’t go deep in, but it was toxic and he was forced to cycle his Vitality Heart. It wasn’t much, and usually, it wouldn’t have been a problem, but with the ring sapping his energy, every little bit of waste was impactful.

On the third volley, he finally nailed it. The barbs he couldn’t dodge were slowed by [ Equal and Opposite ] until they just barely touched his body with no force behind them before dropping to the ground.

Not an ounce of wasted energy. Everything movement measured and perfect, he told himself as he continued walking the toad down.

This monster was perfect for the task at hand. It had just the right level of power; it wasn’t too strong for Aaron, and he wouldn’t be forced into bad habits. He could find his center against a beast like this, get back into the swing of things without going overboard, but also strong enough that it was a real threat. At least, if it hit him. 

As he got closer, almost within melee range, little craters that dotted the toad’s body spewed toxic fumes, and he nonchalantly used [ Oozagh’s Breath ] to blow them away.

Then, the toad tried to escape, hopping away, but a [ Spectral Rush ] brought him right up beside it, and with swift, simple punches, kicks, and elbows, he began to break it down.

The attacks were nothing special—no extra power. Just infused with minimal Stamina, but used expertly, hitting weak spots at great speed.

Within seconds of his precise, but measured strikes, the toad tried to leap away again, but was knocked to the ground, and Aaron finished it with a perfect strike to the back of its head, killing it instantly.

You killed: Wart Toad Hivemother [ Level 90 ]

Bonus Experience rewarded for killing beasts of a higher level than yourself!

[ Empty-Handed Energy Monk ] has LEVELED UP!

48 → 49

The fight was a poignant reminder of what he was capable of, he realized. He hadn’t needed any flashy antics to kill the toad: just well-placed precision and exploitation of weak spots.

He would need to fight something stronger, though, he knew. It was one thing to beat the relatively weak toad using the techniques taught by Yendal, but if he needed to keep pushing himself. He needed to up the ante and fight something actually powerful.

Okay, good first step. But this isn’t going to iron out all the creases.

He needed this measured technique to come more naturally to him. He needed practice. He needed to get to a point where he could combine everything he had learned into a single fighting style without letting any one element supersede the rest.

Because it was exactly this weakness that caused him to forget and rely too much on strength, he had learned a lot, but he had also done it in a very short period of time, relative to the lessons. 

Focus.

There was still a battle raging on around him, and he realized that even with the big one down, the goblins weren’t in a great position. 

But then he spotted an engagement at the far end of the battle; arrows began to fly from the trees, and when a few toads turned to attack in their direction, they were promptly caught in traps.

Oh, look at them go! Good work, team!

Aaron watched as his new companions took down several toads, evening the odds. Soon, the goblins outnumbered the remaining toads and cornered them, finishing off the stragglers. 

He wouldn’t just sit back and watch people die; if possible, he would avoid killing weaker monsters and avoid it having an effect on his unlocks.

But the moment they finished with the toads, the little greenskins turned to Aaron and Marko, who had appeared nearby. As it turned out, the goblins were far more apprehensive of them than they were of the toads.

Spears, shields, bows, and swords lined up, and they backed up into a defensive formation. Aaron spotted the goblin that had been attacking the hivemother with its big hammer at the heart of the formation.

They were trying; ultimately, the goblins weren’t the most intimidating lot. It wasn’t just their struggle against the toads, either. Most of them ranged from level 20 to level 40, except one, the goblin with the big hammer, who appeared to be the leader and was level 54.

But when neither Aaron nor his two human companions attacked, the one he suspected to be the leader broke rank and stepped out of the formation toward him.

He was a little guy, as were all goblins from the looks of it. Bald, greenskin, long pointy ears, and several piercings. Pretty standard. But what made him stand out was that he was dressed in plated metal armor and wielded a large hammer with both hands. Not what Aaron imagined typical goblin attire to be.

“Can ya understand me?” The goblin growled as it stepped closer.

“Yep. Sure can, mate.”

The goblin gave Aaron a cold look, but didn’t look like he wanted to attack, unsurprisingly. “Friend or foe?”

“Me?” Aaron thumbed his chest. “Mate, do I look like a foe?”

The goblin gave Aaron a good, long look up and down before relaxing a little. “What are ya then? A monster? Where’d you come from?”

It was at that moment that he realized anyone who didn’t reach the trials wouldn’t have met the other races. And to these goblins, he and his companions were the aliens.

“I’m a human. This is my… Um, new world. Like you.”

“I see. So does that mean you’re one of the races we share our world with?”

“Exactly! So you do know?”

“I know only what the Tutorial told us. That we would share our new world with two other intelligent races.”

“Well, that’s pretty much it,” Aaron shrugged. “There are plenty of monsters and beasts around, so I figure there’s no need to be each other’s enemies, right?”

“Right,” the goblin nodded warily.

“I’m Aaron, by the way,” he said, stepping forward with an extended hand.

“Treg,” the goblin said, eyeing Aaron’s hand for an awkwardly long moment before taking it. “And this is what’s left of my… my Tutorial.”

There was grief in the goblin's words, and Aaron almost felt bad for it. However, he was pretty desensitized at that moment.

“Oh, all from the same Tutorial?” Aaron nodded. “So, you came here with a Waypoint, then?”

“We did. Our levels… they are insufficient for this place. Our casualties have already been too high, and we’ve only been here for several hours.”

“Bummer. Sorry for your loss. Well, I guess you can tag along with us if you like. Just make yourselves useful.”

Treg didn’t immediately respond.

“Aye, ye can join us if ye like,” Sooty proclaimed as he appeared from the jungle surroundings. 

“What is that?” Treg blinked in Sooty’s direction.

There were undeniable similarities between the soot goblin and the actual goblins. Sooty was far smaller than the actual goblins, though, who stood between four and five feet tall, while Sooty was only about a foot tall, pointy ears included. But as for features, they were pretty much the same.

“Meet Sooty, my traveling companion. Are goblins and soot goblins related?” Aaron asked, suddenly curious.

“Nah, not really, bossman. We soot goblins are a magical creation modeled after goblins, but not related to them. I doubt they’ve ever seen one before.

Sooty was probably right, given the curious looks the goblins were giving him.

“Anyway, we’re meeting up with a friend of mine. Dunno how long it’ll take to find her. Or how far we’ll have to walk, or what we’ll bump into along the way, but if you like, you’re free to join.”

Treg looked back at his disheveled little army, then to Aaron again. He was clearly a long way from trusting a human, but Aaron represented a sliver of hope in a sea of misery.

“How do we know you’re not going to cut our throats when we sleep?”

“Ahh, you don’t, I suppose. I’m not forcing you, though. Stay here if you want.”

“Treg, we can’t keep going like this! Our wounded…” One of the goblins called out from the formation. “What’s going to attack us next? What are we going to do?”

“Anyway, we’re not going to be waiting long. Also, I claim the big one’s hide and meat. I did do the killing, after all. And if you’re not planning on using the other corpses, we’ll take them too. Hey, Marko, over here!”

Marko ran over, slowing as he neared to suspiciously eye the goblins.

“That big one over there. I scored that kill fair and square. It’s ours. And Treg, was it? What about the other corpses? Are you claiming them? Or can we have them?”

“We ahh,” Treg stopped mid-word to consider himself. “We were going to take some meat, but I suppose you can take them. As long as we get protection.”

“Fine by me. So, I take it you’re tagging along then?”

“We are.”

“Great.”

Aaron sat back as everyone got to work. This was nice. Although he was aware that if his motley crew of tag-alongs continued to grow, it would only take longer and longer to get to Talia.

But it wasn’t like they were useless. The goblins had herbalists already out collecting plants as they waited for Marko to finish up with the corpses. There were also a couple of lumberjacks picking out valuable trees and felling them for timber, which they then worked into smaller pieces that they could carry.

His storage space wasn’t big enough to carry large amounts of timber, but they could keep some of the most valuable items. Also, Treg had his own very small storage, which helped.

There was even a shapeshifting druid amongst them that turned into a hare and delved into a burrow to ask the inhabitants about the local monsters, and if they’d seen humans, at Aaron’s request, which they hadn’t. They had, however, seen something else. Up ahead, in the exact direction that the compass was pointing, was the territory of a D-grade.

NEXT CHAPTER

Book 3: Chapter 3

At the insistence of his new travelling companions, Aaron sat and waited as they prepared their most recent kills.

It had been a short fight. A bunch of lizards, and he let Marko and Zach handle most of it. 

And as it turned out, Marko wasn’t just a skinner. Good thing too, because being a skinner sounded like a very limited Profession. What he was was a skinner and butcher, and once he knew that Aaron wanted meat, he was more than happy to assist.

Aaron had to admit, he was very grateful. He watched as Marko’s knife dexterously cut the animals into perfect steaks. It was a far cry from the butchered mess he created. 

Well, the owlbear is still good for a stew…

Marko was already in the habit of butchering beasts, but before meeting Aaron, he saved his Skill for ones that actually looked appetizing, and didn’t bother with meat from beasts like the owlbear. But with Aaron around, nothing went to waste.

I’m going to have to make some edible dishes for these guys. Prove to them that all meats are born equal.

“Good thing you were here,” Marko piped as he butchered a lizard. “I dunno if we’d have been able to take the leader of these alone.”

There’d only been half a dozen of the lizards, and the leader was a measly level 75. Even with how weak the energy shackling ring made him feel, it was still an easy fight. However, there did seem to be more and more lizards the further they went in this direction.

It felt weird being thanked for such a thing, but it was pretty obvious these guys wouldn’t have survived out here alone.

“Okay, are we good to go?” Aaron said as they finished up.

“Yeah, all good here.”

“Same, ready and waiting,” Zach called from a treetop.

Zach was an archer with a far-seeing Skill that stretched his vision for miles, making him a great lookout. It was limited, of course. Caves, for example, were a problem. And the jungle limited the Skill’s usefulness, but he worked around it by jumping to the tops of the trees.

From the treetops, Zach could see for miles, and if Aaron hadn’t upgraded his [ Gust Step ] into [ Spectral Rush ], he likely could have taken him even higher into the sky to see further afield, not that he was complaining. The improvement to the Skill was more than worthwhile.

Still, it concerned him that Zach couldn’t see anything promising. Just jungle as far as the eye could see. 

Then again, they were essentially in a virgin world now. It made sense that most of it would be covered in forests and jungles until they managed to cut some of it away and build cities.

But that wasn’t what worried him. The idea that Talia and her Tutorial buddies could be a very, very long way away was still bugging him. A couple of days marching through the jungle was one thing, but he didn’t want to get stuck doing it for months.

“Keep up, I’m running!” Aaron shouted as he blasted off through the trees, making sure to keep his pace reasonable so they could keep up.

But only a few minutes later, Zach called down from the treetops as he was leaping between them.

“Hey, Aaron, up ahead!”

“What is it?” He said, skidding to a halt.

“It’s a big one. Level 99 Spitfire Goanna. It looks mean, too.”

“Oh? Well, that sounds perfect.”

“Ahh, are you alright?” Mark asked as he spotted Aaron’s eerily twisting expression.

“I’m better than alright. I finally found some decent prey. You two, just stand back and keep yourself safe. I’ll be back in a minute.”

“Are you sure? I’m sure I can weaken it for you.”

“Weaken it? Why the hell would I want you to do that? I want it at full strength.”

Marko looked at him like he was mad, but didn’t say anything. After all, he had killed the owlbear alone, and that seemed to give the guy pause when it came to doubting him.

“Okay. I’ll be waiting back here.”

Aaron nodded and turned toward the beast. In a small clearing ahead, he spotted the goanna sunbathing. There were bones scattered all around the giant beast, indicating that the clearing was some kind of lair.

“Okay, here goes nothing. Just keep out of sight. It shouldn’t spot you back here. I’ll be back before you know it,” Aaron flipped Marko a thumbs up, cracked his knuckles, and walked straight out into the clearing.

The huge, snarling lizard was closer to a dragon than the goannas Aaron remembered from Earth. Huge fangs accompanied its maw, and its hide looked thick and leathery.

“Hey, big fella,” Aaron limbered up, and it turned toward him.

He already knew what was going to happen, thanks to Fate Bender, and activated [ Spectral Rush ] as it opened its mouth and spat fire.

Flames shot out, whipping across the ground, and he darted from side to side, avoiding them as he closed the distance.

But to his surprise, he hadn’t been fast enough. Flames blasted across his body, and half his body was burned and blackened by the goanna’s attacks.

Dammit! Was I always this slow?

He remembered the ring he was wearing. Had it really slowed him down this much? He knew it was going to make him weaker, but he hadn’t expected it to mess him up so much. He had only fought weak monsters so far, and never needed to go all out, so he hadn’t noticed it so much before.

Oookay, this is going to take some getting used to!

Against a beast like this, Aaron didn’t really plan too much anymore. He had fought stronger and was confident in his ability. But that quickly changed when a moment later, another fireball sent him flying backwards with an explosive shockwave just as he was about to get into striking range.

He hit the ground, bounced, and slammed back into a gigantic tree, spitting blood and falling to his knees.

Glancing up through dizzy vision, he spotted the lizard. It was fast, damn fast, and it was dashing straight across the landscape toward him, razor-lined mouth ajar. 

It no doubt figured it was going to get itself a nice meal, but before it reached him, a powerful arrow surrounded in shimmering azure energy slammed into its head.

Knocked off course an inch or two, the lizard looked up and hissed, but Zach, who had fired the arrow, was already jumping away, bounding from treetop to treetop.

It was only a second, but that was all the distraction Aaron needed, and he shot forward. He was slower with the ring on, but he wasn’t that slow, and in less than a second, he was upon the lizard, swinging a [ Soul Shattering Strike ].

The weakening powers of the ring proved more intense than he had expected. But [ Soul Shattering Strike ] was no normal attack, and this wasn’t a Mo’han tier prodigy.

The attack slammed into the beast’s soul, sending vibrations rippling through it and shutting down its energy organs. But more than that, the beast looked terrified.

He had punched straight through, into its soul, and in an instant, its spirit for combat was shattered.

But Aaron didn’t just throw the one punch. He followed up with a combo, pummeling into it with a haymaker that was immediately accompanied by a burst of spectral punches blasting off into the weak spot he had created.

The attacks were weaker than they would have been without the ring, but they still hurt, and splattered gore about the place as he opened a gnarly wound.

But the real fight-deciding attack had been his [ Soul Shattering Strike ], and now, the goanna didn’t want a piece of him. It had lost scales and was bloodied up from Aaron’s attack, but it looked in good enough shape to continue the fight, if not for its morale being crushed.

Normally, that wouldn’t have bothered Aaron, but it was fast. Really fast. If not for the ring, Aaron wouldn’t have just been able to keep up, but would have outpaced it. But he was determined to keep it on, even if it meant his kill getting away. Yendal had chosen the reward for him, and she didn’t do anything without a reason.

If she believed wearing this ring would be good for his development, then he was going to wear it. At least as long as he wasn’t fighting truly powerful enemies.

However, that proved annoying at that moment, as the goanna was creating more and more distance between them. 

He was blasting [ Spectral Rush ] over and over again as he tried to keep pace with the fleeing beast. But the goanna also seemed to have a movement Skill that covered it in flames, and made it move incredibly fast.

But then just as he was starting to lose hope, something happened that he hadn’t expected. The goanna’s foot got snagged on something as it raced through the jungle.

The trap that had caught the goanna appeared to be a giant bear trap formed of energy, and it was anchoring the beast in place.

“You’re mine now!”

Stuck in place, it couldn’t do much. And Aaron’s strikes came fast and relentlessly, first destroying what was left of the lizard’s energy and defenses, and then beating the life out of it.

Bonus Experience rewarded for killing beasts of a higher level than yourself!

[ Empty-Handed Energy Monk ] has LEVELED UP!

46 → 48

He took a moment to enjoy the feeling of energy flowing through his body as he leveled up. He knew these insane gains weren’t going to last forever, but man, was he enjoying it in the meantime. 

Wiping his hands, he also decided to spend his stored Stat points quickly. He decided to throw all his spare points into Agility. Agility provided explosiveness, and whilst it didn’t increase his power and damage output as much as Strength did, it helped. However, what it certainly did do better than Strength was to make him more agile and better at dodging.

He didn’t really need to improve this part of his game, but he wanted to get back to what had made him strong to begin with.

It was something that had been bothering him for a short while now. He felt like he was leaning a little too much into reckless strength and abundant energy, and his last Skill selection only confirmed this suspicion. This aspect was a part of him that was undeniable, and he had needed that power to be able to damage Mo’han, but it wasn’t his entire story. He needed to remind himself that the best way to survive an enemy attack was to avoid it altogether. And his newfound weakness brought on by Yendal’s ring had given him a much-needed wake-up call.

While he had trained a long time with Yendal on precise movements, dodging, and general efficiency, after the battle with the lizard, he realized that he needed more. In the trials, he had relied heavily on his ability to infinitely revive to hone his skills. It made him very strong against the opponents there, but there was still something he was lacking: experience. He had almost no experience in battles with real consequences. Every battle he ever fought against a powerful opponent, it was either in a situation where he would survive no matter what, or with the crow, where he already knew all its moves.

Now that he was in the real world, he could only revive as long as he had aether, and any opponent strong enough to kill him once could likely do it again. He didn’t have infinite do-overs. He couldn’t afford to recklessly charge in and figure out his opponents’ moves at the cost of his own life. He needed to settle down and get back to the basics.

He glanced over his status page briefly.

[ Name: Aaron Dober ]

[ Age: 23 ]

[ Race: Human [ Awoken ]  ]

[ Grade: E ]

[ HP: 72300 ]

[ MP: 37700 ]

[ SP: 97800 ]

[ AP: 3000 ]

[ Class: Empty-Handed Energy Monk, lvl 48 ]

[ Profession: Ogre Gastronomist, lvl 46 ]

[ Stats ]

[ Strength: 656 (+403) ]

[ Vitality: 723 (+442) ]

[ Fortitude: 978 (+581) ]

[ Dexterity: 410 (+265) ]

[ Agility: 740 (+440) ]

[ Intelligence: 467 (+286) ]

[ Willpower: 377 (+253) ]

[ Charisma: 335 (+250) ]

[ Perception: 541 (+316) ]

[ Titles: Shadow Trials Trailblazer, Stamina Control Prodigy, Mana Control Prodigy,  Vitality Control Prodigy, Holder of a True Blessing, In the Eyes of the Gods, Aether Wielder, World Overlord, Endurer, Dominator, Challenger, Shadow Trials Hall of Famer, Behemoth Slayer ]

[ Traits: Fate Weaver (Alpha), Major Blessing of Oozagh the Rotund, True Blessing of Yendal the Empty-Handed, Herald of a God, Death Cheat ]

[ Racial Skills: Inspect, Lingua Multiversa, World Map ]

[ Profession Passive Skills (3/3): Mass Produced Cooking!, Conductive Gut, Adipose Fusion ]

[ Profession Active Skills (6/6): Spirit Toes, Oozagh’s Breath, Foul Ichor, Unsightly Degustation, Perfect Measurements, Spirit Hands  ]

[ Class Passive Skills (3/3): Reverse Cycle Faux Core, Equal and Opposite, Soul Vortex ]

[ Class Active Skills (6/6): Soul Shattering Strike, Spectral Projection, Gorgon’s Time Dilation, Turbocharged Haymaker,  Spectral Rush, Spectral Bullet Punch ]

“Eh, this thing is quite the training aid, but it didn’t make it too hard,” Aaron murmured, glancing down at the ring as he panted above the corpse.

“Wow, you actually killed that thing,” Marko said, appearing through the trees nearby. “I mean, I knew you could do it. But.. still, it was a big one.”

“Oh, hey mate. The trap, was that you?”

“My little trick worked, did it?”

“Trick?” Aaron raised a brow.

“I didn’t mention it. But my Class is Beast Trapper. In fact, most of my Class Skills are focused on traps. I actually only have a couple related to this bad boy,” he said, flailing the cleaver he used as a weapon.

“I see. Well, thanks, you did well. If not for your trap, this guy might have gotten away. And that would’ve been a pain.”

“No, don’t thank me. We’d die out here without you. I’m just trying to make myself useful,” Marko said, walking straight past Aaron and getting straight to work on the corpse.

“You’re doing plenty, mate. Don’t sell yourself short.”

He wasn’t lying or trying to make the guy feel good. He hadn’t expected any real help from these two when he decided to save them. He was doing it out of his own humanity. But it seemed he had underestimated them, assuming that because they didn’t stand a chance against the owlbear, they were essentially useless.

How wrong he was. Of course, even if the goanna had managed to eat him whole, Aaron was harder to kill than that. Still, it saved him from having to resurrect and use a bunch of energy. Whilst he had collected a lot of meat already, he didn’t have the endless stores of food from the Dining Hall and Crafting Station anymore, and so it was probably best that he didn’t waste energy unnecessarily. Not until he had a reliable source of food, at least.

And all of that was before even mentioning Marko’s help in trapping the escaping lizard. Sure, he could just take the ring off. But this way, he could have his cake and eat it too.

Zach can probably make me some cool stuff, too.

“All done. Meat and hide carefully separated,” Marko dusted off his hands and looked proud.

“Thanks,” Aaron said, and grabbed the neat piles of meat and hide and stuffed them into his scabbard. “Okay. We've got lots of land to cover. Let’s keep moving.”

“Umm, guys…” Zach shouted from a nearby treetop.

“What is it?” Aaron cupped his hands and called back.

“It looks like there’s a battle taking place up ahead. A big one.”

“A large battle?” Aaron's eyes glittered with excitement.

He had just been thinking about how he needed more practice, and a big battle sounded like the perfect place to start.

NEXT CHAPTER

Book 3: Chapter 2

Calculating rank based on Level, Tutorial points, Titles, Achievements, Wealth, including the total value of both SC and all items in possession, and Kills.

Initial ranking: 2608 of 5,304,184,488 

Aaron blinked. 2608 was a pretty random number. When he saw the ranking countdown, he had two possibilities come to mind. Either he would be near the very top for his performance in the Shadow Trials and overall strength, or he’d be in the middle or bottom due to his low level. 2608 was too low if it was strength-based, and too high if it was level-based, so he read through more carefully to see exactly what it meant.

Trial points weren’t mentioned… he wasn’t sure why exactly, but maybe it was not to off-balance the ranking too greatly. After all, most people were excluded by the trials, and those who made it were already at the top of the heap. Adding the points to their totals would just skew this more in their favor, and unlike Aaron, most trial takers wouldn’t have needed any extra points to sit at or near the top of the rankings.

However, while Trial Points weren’t included, Titles, Achievements, and wealth were, and Aaron had some very impressive Titles and Achievements, as well as some very expensive items. Those probably helped boost his rank a lot, while his low level and complete lack of Tutorial Points held him back.

When you think about it, my ranking is actually really fucking high, isn’t it? 

The only thing that really made sense for his high ranking was that either the temple and his mythical rewards were doing the heavy lifting, or his Titles were… or maybe a bit of both. Still, to be ranking 2608 out of over five billion whilst missing the entire Tutorial seemed like a lot.

Hmm…

He glanced across at Marko and Zach, who had both stopped working on the corpse to read the notifications about the ranking system.

Zachary Miller [ Level 45 ]

Titles: [ Beast Hunter ]

Planetary ranking: 704,689,001

Marko Petrović [ Level 49 ]

Titles: [ Beast Hunter ]

Planetary ranking: 599,894,659

Huh, Aaron thought.

Both of these rather average hunters were ranking in the top billion. That actually surprised him and made him wonder just how weak most people were.

During his run as Elvanas, Aaron hadn’t actually come across anybody outside of their settlement before it was destroyed. The ranking system also wasn’t activated, for whatever reason. But maybe that was just the limitations of the trial. The point being, all of the combatants from his elven camp were stronger than these two. That might have just been because he was there to push them, but it was a telling observation. 

Okay, so the average human is weaker than I realized they would be. I'm guessing that the same goes for the other races, too, since all of us appear to be part of the same rankings.

He then reopened the ranking list and scrolled up to the top ten.

Planetary rankings:

1. Darius Nessar

2. Raksha Tiksus Vakmal

3. Johan Svensson

4. Ernest Sheridan

5. Erdek Foulbreath

6. Talia Rhineheart

7. Ikran Teshk Ungari

8. Vikran Takeshi Udon

9. Kim Soohyun

10. Edwan Coser

Aaron blinked. This wasn’t what he had expected. Darius had overtaken the top talent thal’kesh in points, despite having a lower level. And although he didn’t actually know whether or not he was right, he had suspected that Raksha had performed better in the trials than Darius and had expected the thal’kesh to take the top spot.

But that was hardly the most surprising thing he spotted on the list. Talia was one of the first to arrive in the trials, but Johan and Ernest were both above her in the rankings now. Also, the goblin leader was higher than he had expected.

And who the hell is Edwan?

He hadn’t watched that many top rankers in the viewing room, and so it wasn’t that surprising that he missed people. He probably missed a bunch of powerful people who didn’t quite make it to the top of the rankings. Also, there had been a couple of other humans at the meeting they had during the trials. Maybe Edwan was there? He considered.

Still, it was a surprise to see a name he didn’t recognize in the top ten, especially when there were other top talents he had met in the trials missing.

Scrolling down a little further, he spotted Joseph Lefiti at rank 14 and Emmy Sharp at rank 19, further confusing his understanding of the rankings.

There had to be things providing points he wasn’t aware of, perhaps things related to their new world.

Shelving the thought, he glanced over at the two hunters again, who quickly got back to work when they spotted him looking at them. 

“It’s fine. You don’t have to be scared of me. I’m as curious about this ranking system as you are,” he said.

“Interesting, isn’t it?” Marko said as he made precise cuts on the hide and carefully peeled it back. “They didn’t mention anything about a ranking system in the Tutorial.”

“They didn’t?”

The men looked at each other curiously.

“Did yours mention it?” asked Zach.

“Ah, no,” Aaron said. “It’s a long story, but I don’t really know much about the Tutorials. Suffice it to say, I didn’t exactly get the same Tutorial experience as most people.”

“How so?”

“I’ll go into detail later. For now, I’ll just say I missed out on a lot.”

“Really? That’s hard to believe. To think, you still got such a high rank. Incredible. Not that I’m surprised, what with how you handled that owlbear.”

Aaron realized that, while his rank might seem kind of low to himself, after everything he had achieved in the trials, he probably looked like a straight-up celebrity to these two. 

“Eh, it was nothing. I’m sure we’ll find far worse out here.”

“Worse?!”

For a brief moment, he felt bad about scaring them, but then he reminded himself that things wouldn’t be getting better anytime soon. Maybe once the world was tamed and settlements grew into cities. But for now, things were going to be tough, and survival was going to need some guts. There was no point babying people. In fact, doing so might actually be bad for their development, he realized.

“Yeah. I’ve had unique experiences, and I know a bit about what we’ll face. There are all kinds of beasts and monsters in this world now, including D-grade ones. Not only that, but they’re all getting stronger, just like we are. If we fall behind and the beasts outlevel us, they can absolutely make this world their own. And from my understanding, that’s not even that rare. So, if I were you, I’d man up.”

Marko swallowed and glanced across at Zach, and then the two nodded at each other.

“Thank you. You’ve already been such a big help to us. I hope we can live up to your expectations.”

“Expectations? I don’t have any. I said all of that for your benefit. Now, finish up already. Let’s get moving. I’ll let you kill the weaker beasts we come across. Hopefully, you can gain levels quicker with me watching you back.”

Aaron wasn’t going to sacrifice his own growth for these two. But he needed to continue pushing himself. He knew that advancement was often based on achievement, especially when it came to Skill and Class options. He had grown as strong as he had because he took on impossible challenges. If he now started to grind weak beasts and monsters, it would just limit his potential. If anything, having these two around to take the low-quality kills was a benefit to him.

At the end of the day, he was better off taking a little longer to level and doing it at a higher quality, while having his life threatened. In the long run, this would make him far, far stronger, and besides, he was already used to punching up, anyway.

Marko finished up, and Aaron got up and made his way to the corpse. “Excuse me,” he said, passing the two and getting his hands dirty.

He was no butcher, but he couldn’t just leave so much good meat to rot. And so, he proceeded to very roughly cut the body up as the two men watched on, grimacing at the gory act.

“Okay, let’s move,” Aaron said, placing the last of the meat in his scabbard and glancing at his compass.

“You’re going to eat that?”

“Yeah? I don’t see why not.”

The two men shared another uneasy glance, but left it at that. Aaron didn’t even take note of them. For he had already opened his status page as he walked.

“Keep up!” Aaron said, and Sooty skipped alongside him as they pressed on into the primordial-looking jungle that now seemed to cover much of their new world, dotted by trees that would make redwoods look like dwarves.

He felt no need to waste any more time standing around. He could pick a new skill as they walked, and they might have a long way to go. 

Wait, this world is supposed to be absolutely massive, isn’t it?

Suddenly, he got a sinking feeling. What if he were on the other side of the world from Talia?

He glanced back at the two men walking behind him. He could use [ Spectral Rush ] and eat at the same time, covering ground much faster. But could they keep up? He had already decided that he was going to save them, and it didn’t feel right just abandoning them.

Aaron groaned internally. 

Dammit! Okay, first I pick a Skill, then I can figure out what I’m going to do about this journey.

“Sooty, I’ve got a Skill to pick. Wanna help?”

“Hell yeah, bossman!”

Food Fight [ Uncommon ]. It’s unconventional, some would even say absurd. But you, well, you’re more than happy to bring food to a knife fight. When activated, this Skill transforms food held by the user into missiles that can be used in combat, thus making the use of food in combat far easier.

The Bigger They Are [ Rare ] You’re a real big game hunter, searching the multiverse for bigger and bigger prey. Passively provides damage and armor-piercing benefits to your attacks when fighting enemies at least twice your size.

Flowing Spirit Style [ Epic ] Styles elevate the martial combatant, and you’ve taken to your spirit for inspiration. Passively draws the user closer to their spirit, making the use of spirit-based attacks and aether flow more naturally and, by doing so, improving their power.

Spectral Projection [ Epic ] Why be bound to your body, when you can walk the world in spirit form? When activated, the user can separate their spirit from their body and is no longer contained by usual limitations, allowing them to travel great distances using their spirit alone.

Feral Brawler [ Epic ] [ Set: 1 of 4 ] You are not bound by what most perceive as sensible. You relish battle and fight with everything and anything you can muster. When activated, Feral Brawler draws on your raw emotions, amplifying them to bring you closer to your instincts and increasing your strength and speed. Unlike normal berserker Skills, you do not lose yourself, but your emotions can still get the best of you if you’re not prepared.

“Do ye really want to be a food fighter, bossman?”

“No,” Aaron grimaced. “Of course not.”

“Just asking.”

He couldn’t deny that he would be able to make use of the Skill if he were to select it. But not only was it Uncommon, but he really, really didn’t want to lean into that. It was one thing to cheat himself out of a difficult situation, and another thing entirely to become some kind of food-fighting maniac.

Moving on, both immediately agreed that [ The Bigger They Are ] was not for him either. There was no way he was wasting an entire Skill slot on something like that. Not when he spent as much time fighting human-sized enemies as he did huge monsters.

Flowing Spirit Style sounded right up his alley, though, and Sooty agreed. But it was vague, and he figured if he were going to select a style, he would take just the one. And nothing about it sounded special enough to commit to. Especially when he would have to sacrifice a Passive Skill Slot to do so, and all his Passive Class Skills were too useful to even consider dropping.

Spirit Projection, on the other hand, did sound useful. However, it was essentially a scouting Skill, from the sounds of it. To take the Skill, he would have to surrender a combat Skill, which he just wasn’t sure about.

“Hmm, maybe,” Aaron murmured as they curried onto the final option.

Feral Brawler did, in fact, sound like a perfect replacement for [ Relentless Scourge ]... Well, almost perfect. There was one huge, undeniable problem.

It really didn’t suit the techniques passed down to him by Yendal. Sure, he wasn’t trying to emulate her, but this seemed like a bridge too far. Taking on Oozagh’s energy was one thing, but a “lite” berserker Skill was essentially doing a full u-turn on what she had taught him. Yendal’s style, and Aaron’s, by association, was about rational observation, prediction, and precision. He needed to consciously watch Fate and make choices that would allow him to avoid bad fates and achieve good ones. This Skill, however, looked like it would lean away from that, focusing on his instincts and emotions rather than skill.

It was a pity, though. Being part of a set made him want to see what the rest of it had going for it.

Then again, it would be a complete pain in the ass to try and fill out an entire set, especially if it wasn’t perfect for him.

After all, how would he make room for 4 Class Skills to finish the set? Once he got the fourth Skill, it would, of course, turn into one. But he would have to give up so much to get there, and everything he had was useful.

So, in truth, a set didn’t mean anything unless he really wanted to finish it.

In the end, it was a rather easy choice to make. He wasn’t going to throw out everything Yendal had taught him, even if he planned on weaving his own path.

Not only that, but the more he thought about [ Spectral Projection ], the better it sounded, and he shared his views with Sooty..

“Hmm, ye got a point, bossman,” Sooty nodded. “It’s a utility Skill, but since most can’t see spirits, it could be pretty handy. Besides, who knows, maybe it’ll be more than that with an upgrade?”

That was a good point, he thought. If he could upgrade it to more than just a spying and scouting Skill, then it could prove an amazing asset to his current Skill set.

With that thought in mind, he decided to take a risk. After all, he didn’t really need a low-level buff like [ Relentless Scourge ] that much anymore. It was a little bit of a shame to surrender the skill without replacing it with a new buff, but he could live with it. 

Besides, it wasn’t like it was his last Skill choice ever. If he regretted it, he was sure he’d get another opportunity to pick up a buffing Skill in the future.

No additional Class [ Active ] Skill slots available.

Discard [ Active ] Class Skill: Y/N?

Aaron confirmed the prompt and discarded [ Relentless Scourge ], and suddenly, he realized that his two new companions were looking at him.

“Oh, right. Hey, do either of you two have movement Skills?”

“I have a retreat Skill to help disengage from fights,” said Marko.

“I’ve got a leaping Skill that gives me some good vertical mobility,” said Zach.

“That’s it?” Aaron groaned.

This was going to be a long trek.

NEXT CHAPTER

BOOK 3: Chapter 1

Low to the rocks, two men kept out of sight, skirting the edge of a cave entrance in desperate search for escape.

Their prey and reason for being in the cave was long dead. It had started innocently enough. They had spotted a couple of cocoa birds and entered to hunt the beasts.

But fortune quickly turned to despair, as they spotted a terrible beast outside the cave’s only entrance.

Suddenly, the man leading stopped dead in his tracks and steadily raised his shaky hand, then gestured to back up.

He looked like a ghost, directing his companion back, deeper into the cave.

“What is it?” His companion whispered.

“The beast,” he swallowed. “It’s right near the entrance now. Keep your voice down. The bloody thing is huge, but who knows, it might be able to squeeze itself inside here.”

“Dammit all to hell,” the other man huffed. “It was your idea to come in here, Marko! You owe us a way out! To hells if I’m going to starve to death in here because of your dumb ideas!”

“Fine, go for it. I ain’t going to stop you,” the bigger man pressed his chest against his smaller companion, making the man stumble backward. “Go out there. I dare you. Test yourself against a level 96 beast and see how well you fare. And don’t you blame this on me. I didn’t force you to follow me in here. You wanted to score some easy hides as much as I did!”

“I… I… fuck! Are we really stuck here, aren’t we?”

“Just calm down, you fool. I’m sure it’ll get bored eventually and wander off. We just have to wait it out. Better than getting ourselves killed.”

“Ahhh, okay,” the man growled and dropped himself onto a rock. “To think, I thought things would actually get better after the Tutorial! And now this! At least the high-level beasts stayed in their zones in the Tutorial. Those bastards are all over the place now! How the hell are we supposed to survive this bullshit?”

“What did I say about calming down, Zach? We just need to find more people. We made yourselves useful in the Tutorial, hunting, skinning, and leatherworking. And we’ll do the same now. You remember that little brat, don’t you? I’m sure she’s not the only one who somehow managed to cheat the System and get strong. There’ll be others. And I’m sure they’ll be safe camps, just like there were in the Tutorial.”

Zach opened his mouth to reply, but was cut short as a strange whistling sounded through the air.

“What’s that?”

“Shhh.”

Both men looked up toward the whistling sound, captured in silence. It was getting louder, and louder, and louder.

Without a word, Marko pressed a finger to his lips and carefully walked towards the entrance. Zach followed, and they made their way to a large boulder, which they’d used earlier to spy on the beast.

There it was, in all its terrifying glory—the level 96 owlbear. An elephant-sized beast with fangs as long as fingers. But it was no longer strolling around the cave entrance, pecking with its massive beak at the ground. Like them, it too was looking up into the sky, trying to place the origin of the whistling sound.

But unlike the owlbear, neither Marko nor Zach could see the sky, and so when the beast leaped backwards, toward the cave entrance, they jumped. The beast hadn’t spotted them, though. And barely a second later, something slammed straight into the ground with a resounding shockwave that blasted dust and debris into the air.

“What the…” Marko grunted, waving the dust away from his face.

And the moment the air settled a little, his eyes widened. A chill traced his spine as he spotted the growling owlbear. It was even more terrifying now. It had lowered into a pouncing pose, and seeing it prepare itself to attack, almost made Marko soil himself. 

But it wasn’t looking at them. No, it was fixated on the small crater created by whatever had landed several meters away.

“Look, it’s a man,” Zach pointed and gasped as a figure rose from the crater, which was still shrouded in dust.

Gradually, the dust cleared, revealing the true nature of the silhouette. It was a man in simple robes and armed with spiked gauntlets.

Aaron Dober [ Level 46 ]

Titles: [ Shadow Trials Trailblazer ] [ Stamina Control Prodigy ]

Marko briefly wondered what the hell a stamina prodigy was supposed to be as he inspected the man, but it mattered little.

Shadow Trials? Wait, were those—

His thoughts got cut off by his companion. 

“Poor bastard,” Zach muttered. “Should we do something?”

“Are you mad? Do you want to die? He’s only a level higher than you, and three less than me! Going out there is suicide, even with the three of us. Maybe we’d stand a chance with a party of five or six with a good healer. But that thing is close to D-grade.”

“Yeah, you’re right… fuck. I can’t watch—”

Zach’s words were cut short as the owlbear suddenly leaped forward with a blast of energy, and his whole body tensed up expectantly. But to the complete and utter shock of both men, the beast missed its attack.

It almost looked too easy. The man had stepped to the side as if he knew exactly where and how the beast would attack, and then, without pause, he countered.

The level 46 man just punched the damn thing like it was another day in the office. What’s more, the punch didn’t even look particularly special. It was very fast, and they had barely managed to see it, but otherwise, it had looked like a normal punch.

But even they knew otherwise. The moment the punch had landed, they felt a fluctuation in the owlbear’s energy, and then, it actually staggered to the side.

“What the fuck,” Marko’s jaw fell agape.

But what came next really widened their eyes. The man followed up with another punch. They could feel the energy swirling around it, but it was still just a punch against a giant beast. But then, it hit. The punch slammed into the owlbear and was met with seemingly no resistance, and it blew a freaking chunk straight out of it.

The terrifying beast growled, and both men tensed up again, and then it fell over.

“Huh?”

Marko's brow curled as his mind churned away, unable to comprehend what he had just seen.

“Did that really just happen?” Zach asked.

“I… maybe it’s a trick. A level disguise or something?”

Marko searched for answers. There had to be some trick. What else could explain it? This stranger couldn’t have just killed a beast more than twice his level. That was absurd. Too ridiculous to even consider.

But neither man wanted to step outside and ask. Not everyone had been peaceful during the Tutorial, and if this man was inclined to kill humans, they knew they didn’t stand a chance, not after what he did to the owlbear.

“Hey, I can sense you two,” the man waved.

Instantly, both men swallowed and froze, and began to tremble. This wasn’t good.

“W-what are we going to do, Marko? Why is he looking at us like that? That smile…” Zach’s voice began to break and waver.

“Just shut up and leave the talking to me,” Marko hissed, but the unnerving grin bending the man’s face out of shape like a terrifying cartoon villain sent a tremor down his spine.

**Aaron**

Bonus Experience rewarded for killing beasts of a higher level than yourself!

[ Empty-Handed Energy Monk ] has LEVELED UP!

44 → 46

Purchasable Skill Available!

Title acquired: Behemoth Slayer

Slay a denizen of the multiverse that is at least 50 levels higher than yourself.

Reward: +10% All Stats

Levels! Finally! Oh, and that’s how you get the Behemoth Slayer Title.

He was a little curious how his experience was calculated. He doubted killing a single beast would normally level him up at his current level, let alone twice. But if the bonus experience multiplied by the level gap between him and his foe, then it made a lot more sense.

I should be able to grind to D-grade pretty quickly at this rate.

But that thought was cut short. He was still going to level, of course. But his style wasn’t all about leveling and System-granted strength. If he went down that road, Yendal might just disown him, and he remembered the ring he had.

If all the beasts around here are as weak as this guy, I might as well use this.

Aaron slipped on the ring he had gained from the quest reward for fighting Yendal during their final duel and felt the pinch of its teeth digging into his fingers.

It really is draining, isn’t it?

He already felt a little sluggish and heavier than he normally did. But there was no gain without pain.

His musings were cut short as he sensed others nearby and raised his [ Soul Vortex ] to get a better sense of them.

His Skill did more than just sense energy, though, and he could feel the fear bubbling inside of his spectators.

Oh, shit! That’s not my fault, is it? Okay, let’s think this through—time to be unthreatening. I want to make a good impression. Make them feel at ease.

He tried his best, but a few too many deaths in the trials had left their mark, and what was supposed to be a pleasant and welcoming smile turned into the maniacal grin of a madman.

“Hey, I can sense you two!”

Wait, why the fuck did I say it like that? Am I trying to creep them out?

“I mean, I know you’re there!”

Fuck!

“Come out, you’ll be safe with me!”

Why does everything I say sound so fucking creepy? Be normal, dammit!

Aaron took several deep breaths, repeating the mantra “be normal” in his head.

“Sorry. It’s been a while since I’ve talked to normal people. I just got here. I didn’t mean to scare you.”

Alright, that’s better.

An awkward moment followed, but eventually, two men poked their heads out of the cave. They were quite the sight—messy, disheveled hunters in light equipment. Their hair was greasy and tangled, and they looked like they’d been living in the forest for some time.

I guess the Tutorial wasn’t equally good to everybody. These guys are a mess.

“H-hello,” the bigger man waved with a trembling hand, and the smaller one cowed behind him.

“Relax. I’m not going to hurt you. It’s just good to see another human face,” Aaron said.

The two men nodded, but they didn’t look entirely convinced. However, they still cautiously approached closer, brushing off their clothes and sharing glances. Aaron wasn’t sure how best to look non-threatening, so he decided he would try to appear like he didn’t care about them.

Remembering Talia's gift, he whipped it out and flipped up the antique wooden lid as he pulled up the description. 

Wanderer’s Compass: No matter how far you wander, you'll always know the way back home. Each Wanderer's Compass is linked to a Hearthstone, and the compass will always point to the Hearthstone, no matter how much distance separates them.

So I’m supposed to follow this thing, huh?

Unfortunately, it didn’t say where she was or how far away she was. It was, however, pointing in a direction. He at least knew which way he had to go.

Aaron glanced up at the two terrified men again, realizing he had gotten distracted.

I had better take these two with me as well. I don’t want their deaths on my hands.

Aaron saw no point in leaving the two men behind. He figured that as long as they were decent people, it was somewhat the duty of the strong to save the not-so-strong. After all, what kind of world would they be building if they left the weak to die?

But suddenly, a loud whoomping sound filled the air, and within seconds, a burst of light appeared beside him, and Sooty materialized into a roll, bouncing across the ground.

“Whhaaa,” the soot goblin gasped, falling onto the ground and then immediately jumping to his feet and throwing his arms up in joy. “I’m back! Thank you, thank you, thank you! Bossman! I love you!”

“What the hell? What’s gotten into you?”

Wells were filling up in the corners of Sooty’s eyes, and he fell to the ground, kissing the earth. “I thought… I thought I might have been trapped again. The lonely darkness of the void…I wouldn’t wish that on anyone.”

“Oh, right. Well, glad to have you back.”

Glancing across, he quickly realized that the men had been shaken even further with Sooty’s sudden arrival.

“Dammit. Sorry. I should probably explain. We came from the Shadow Trials—”

“Oh!” The big man said, as if something clicked in his head, and he suddenly understood.

“You know what the Shadow Trials are?”

“Yeah, of course we do. That’s where you go if you manage to beat the Tutorial. I wasn’t thinking when I inspected you…”

“Right,” Aaron nodded. “Then I take it neither of you made it?”

The two men shook their heads. “We, ahh, stayed out of the final zone. It was safer that way. There were still plenty of beasts to kill in the other zones, and even better, they didn’t go above level 50. They were also more passive. Heck, most of them didn’t even chase if you fled.”

Seriously? Now I get it. These guys have been taking EasyMode. The world is going to be one hell of a shock for them.

There had been crafters and other weaker members of his group during the trial as Elvanas. But he had pushed the fighting members to get out and level in every zone. These guys looked like hunters. They should have been out pushing themselves. Still, at their level, there was still plenty of time to catch up if they put in the work.

“Okay, I think I get it. Here's the deal. I’m going to meet up with a friend of mine. I believe she should have some kind of camp setup by the time we reach her. If you want to tag along, you’re welcome. Otherwise, I dunno, good luck, I guess?”

The two men looked at each other, and then the owlbear corpse, and then hurriedly started to nod.

“Good. Okay, well, let’s move. Unless you need something first? I suppose I can wait a few minutes if necessary.”

“We’re good. It’s a shame we can’t skin that thing, though. I’m sure it’d have a nice hide. But it’d be too damn big to carry around.”

The big man slumped as he finished speaking, and Aaron spotted the skins over their shoulders.

“You have some kind of skinning Profession, do you?”

The man nodded. “Yeah, me, Marko. And my friend here, Zach, is a leatherworker. We make a decent team. I skin and he crafts it into stuff.”

“I see. Well, lucky I have a spatial storage, then.”

The two men’s eyes lit up. They mightn’t have had a storage device themselves, but they seemed to understand what they were.

“Alright. Looks like we have a plan. Get to work, because we’re moving as soon as you’re done.

“Yes! Getting to work!” Macko stiffened as if called to attention and then made for the corpse, pulling a knife out.

Aaron nodded and turned for a rock. He wanted to get a sense for where he was and was going to raise his [ Soul Vortex ] to a larger area, and to select his new Skill, but just as he was about to take a seat on the rock, a System notification appeared before his eyes.

Final arrivals from the Shadow Trials accounted for.

Planetary ranking system activating in 5…

4…

3…

2…

1…

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